NewsDesk

Boeing has increased 787 production to five a month and has increased 777 rates to 8. 3 a month.

Earlier this year Boeing increased 787 production from 2. 5 to 3. 5 aircraft per month and plans to have 10 787s a month rolling off its three production lines by late 2013. Boeing says that to date, 35 787s have been delivered to eight airlines.

The increased rate of 8. 3 per month for the 777 is the highest production rate ever for a twin-aisle airliner.

Airbus Sales Hit Record

Airbus deliveries reached an all-time year-to-date record at the end of October with 462 aircraft delivered to 76 custom-ers. This year’s sales also saw Airbus reach the 7,500 mile-stone for total aircraft delivered.

Orders for the A330 and A350 totalled 23 during October with 57 deliveries made during the month. Also in October five A380s were de-livered, bringing to 22 the total delivered so far this year. Airbus expects to deliver 30 of the type by the end of December.

Libyan carrier Afriqiyah, meanwhile, has increased its A350 order with the announcement of a fur-ther four A350-900s. This brings total A350 orders by the airline to 10.

Eads Profit Growth

European aerospace manu-facturer EADS has posted a 14 per cent increase in revenues during the first nine months of 2012 to post an EBIT of €1. 6bn (A$1. 9bn) from rev-enues of €12. 3bn (A$15bn).

Net profit fell one per cent to €309m (A$377m).

The company says the strength of sales from its Euro-copter, Astrium, Cassidian and Airbus Military businesses, to-gether with “ongoing momen-tum” at Airbus commercial un-derpinned the positive results.

“Our performance over the first nine months shows double-digit revenue growth and a strong increase in profit-ability. The latter reflects, not least, our continued focus on program management and execution,” said Tom Enders, CEO of EADS. “However, we will not run out of op-erational challenges anytime soon, especially at Eurocopter and Airbus. And for the rest of the year, we’ll put strong emphasis on cash generation. Aircraft deliveries are key. ” During the period, EADS invested €2. 14 bil-lion (A$2. 6bn) in research and development.

First Sharklet A321 Takes Flight

Airbus has begun flight testing its first A321 fitted with fuel-saving Sharklets. The aircraft took to the air in Hamburg, joining the ongo-ing certification program for the new wingtip design.

Jetstar Asia will be the first Singapore-based Airbus op-erator to begin using Sharklets on its new A320s. Qantas claims the devices will save the airline approximately 1,000 tonnes in fuel burn each year.

A350 Xwb Vertical Tail Plane Delivered

The 10 metre vertical tail plane of the first flyable A350 has been painted up at the manufacturer’s facility in Ger-many. This is the first compo-nent of the A350 to be painted in Airbus’s distinctive livery, using environmentally-friendly, chromate-free primer paint.

Mating of the fuselage com-ponents will be complete by the end of November, with the first flight of the A350 planned for mid-2013 prior to delivery of the first aircraft, to Qatar Airways, in the second half of 2014. Orders for the A350 stand at 558 from 34 customers.

A350 Final Assembly Line Inaugurated

Airbus’s new 74,000m2 A350 final assembly line (FAL) has been inaugurated by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Airbus president and chief execu-tive officer Fabrice Brégier.

Attendees at the official ceremony in Toulouse saw the first flyable aircraft, MSN1, taking shape on the line before its first flight scheduled for mid 2013. Fuselage mating of MSN1 should be complete by the end of November. The static ground test aircraft is already nearing completion.

Airbus says that at full production, the FAL, which has been named after Air-bus pioneer and founding father Roger Béteille, will employ some 1,500 peo-ple who will build up to ten aircraft a month from 2018.

First Humanitarian 787 Flight

Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines and Seattle-based Anaesthesia Outreach have delivered nearly nine tonnes of medical supplies to Ethiopia’s largest hospi-tal in what is the first flight under Boeing’s Humanitarian Flight Delivery program.

The equipment included several anaesthesia machines, patient monitoring equip-ment and intensive care beds.

The Humanitarian Flight Delivery program is a col-laboration between Boeing and airline customers to support non-profit organisations. Freight is loaded into the otherwise empty cargo bays of new aircraft being delivered. Ethiopian, which has seven 787s on order, has been a key partner in driving the initiative.

Military

A35 For Raaf F-35s

Defence has confirmed that the serial prefix ‘A35’ has been assigned to the Lockheed Mar-tin F-35 Lightning when it en-ters RAAF service from 2014.

“The serial number blocks as-signed to the F-35 are A35-001 and following, with the final number to be determined by future government acquisition decisions,” a Department of Defence spokesperson has con-firmed to Australian Aviation.

Components for the RAAF’s first F-35 JSF, the future A35-001, dubbed AU-1 by Lockheed Martin, are now under construction. Rollout of the jet is planned for late 2013.

Further, the Alenia C-27J Spartan has been assigned the A34 serial block, with aircraft to be numbered A34-001 through to A34-010.

The Navy’s forthcoming MH-60R ‘Romeo’ Seahawk helicopters have been as-signed the ‘N48’ serial range.

“The serial number blocks that have been as-signed to the MH-60R are N48-001 to N48-024. ”

Eglin Completes 500th F-35 Sortie

The Eglin US Air Force, Florida-based Integrated Training Force has com-pleted 500 F-35 JSF sorties.

Operating both the CTOL F-35A and STOVL F-35B, the Integrated Test Force accom-plished the 500 sortie milestone in 238 days, Lockheed Martin says, reducing the time between each 100th sortie from initially 123 days to currently 16 days.

By early November there were 22 F-35s at Eglin.

10 Tonne Airdrop A Herculean Feat

The RAAF made its last heavy airdrop from the C-130H Hercules when a 10-tonne bulldozer was deliv-ered by low altitude parachute extraction into the London-derry Drop Zone in northwest-ern Sydney on October 31. The exercise was part of a trial to certify the bulldozer, a type un-der evaluation by the Australian Army, as suitable for airdrops.

Commanding Officer of Air Movements Train-ing and Development Unit

(AMTDU) WGCDR Carl Newman said airdrops can place massive stresses on the load and aircraft alike.

“The objective is to ensure that airdrop of the load does not adversely impact the aircraft, and that the bulldozer is in working order after the airdrop,” Wing Commander Newman said.

Heavy airdrops will in future be undertaken by the C-130J and C-17 transports following retirement of the C-130H on November 30.

Cfs To Mark 100th Anniversary

The RAAF’s Central Flying School plans to mark its centenary of formation in March 1913 with a reunion dinner at its East Sale, Victoria base on March 8 2013.

CFS first formed on March 7 1913 at Point Cook near Melbourne as the first flying unit within the Australian Flying Corps. The unit has been based at East Sale since December 1947 and is responsible for flying instructor training. It is also home to the Roulettes aerobatic display team.

The unit is calling for former members to make contact to take part in the reunion dinner and related activities.

Email email fiona. jazownik@ defence. gov. au for details.

Cfs To Mark 100th Anniversary

Boeing has celebrated 50 years since it delivered its last B-52 Stratofortress to the US Air Force.

Of 744 B-52s built between 1952 and 1962, H‑model 61-040 was assigned to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota where it remains in active service.

The USAF currently has 76 H-model B-52s in service, with two test aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base and the remaining aircraft at both Minot AFB and Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.

Nzdf To Take Four King Air B200s

The New Zealand Defence Force has signed a contract with Hawker Pacific for the supply and support of four Hawker Beechcraft B200 turboprop aircraft that will be used to provide interim pilot training and domestic transport.

The four aircraft have already been ferried to New Zealand and had modifications made to meet the standards of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, which have required certification from both the civil aviation authority and the NZDF. The aircraft are being delivered and supported under a five-year performance-based contract, which includes an innovative finance leasing solution.

Saudi Arabia Requests Large C-130j Buy

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency says the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested a Foreign Military Sales buy of 20 Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 transports, five KC-130J tankers, and associated equipment from the US government in a deal worth up to US$6. 7 billion.

The possible sale also includes 120 Rolls-Royce engines (including 20 spares) and 25

Sales  • AIRBUS A320 FAMILY: Etihad has upgraded its current order for seven A320s to A321s. TransAsia Airways (Taiwan) has placed a firm order for another six A321neos.

• AIRBUS A330: Etihad has signed for two additional A330-200s.

• AIRBUS A350: Libya’s Afriqiyah has ordered four A350-900s and has converted its existing six A350-800s to -900s.

• BOEING 737: Aeromexico has finalised orders for 60 MAX 8s and 9s worth US$6bn at list prices. Kuwaiti lessor ALAFCO has firmed orders for 20 MAXs. Aviation Capital Services has be-come Russia’s first customer for the 737 MAX, with an order for 35. SilkAir (Singapore) has finalised its order for 23 737-800s and 31 737 MAX 8s.

• EMBRAER E-JET: Azerbaijan Airlines has ordered four E-190s. Sales • AIRBUS A320 FAMILY: Etihad has upgraded its current order for seven A320s to A321s. TransAsia Airways (Taiwan) has placed a firm order for another six A321neos.

• AIRBUS A330: Etihad has signed for two additional A330-200s.

• AIRBUS A350: Libya’s Afriqiyah has ordered four A350-900s and has converted its existing six A350-800s to -900s.

• BOEING 737: Aeromexico has finalised orders for 60 MAX 8s and 9s worth US$6bn at list prices. Kuwaiti lessor ALAFCO has firmed orders for 20 MAXs. Aviation Capital Services has be-come Russia’s first customer for the 737 MAX, with an order for 35. SilkAir (Singapore) has finalised its order for 23 737-800s and 31 737 MAX 8s.

• EMBRAER E-JET: Azerbaijan Airlines has ordered four E-190s. Link-16 Multifunctional Infor-mation Distribution Systems made by Rockwell Collins.

Champ Ew Missile Tested

Boeing and the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate have successfully tested the new Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) missile during a flight over a range in Utah. CHAMP is designed to render electronic targets useless, and is a non-kinetic alternative to explosive weapons that use the energy of motion to defeat a target. The company says that during the test, the CHAMP missile navigated a pre-programmed flightplan and emitted bursts of high-powered energy, effec-tively knocking out the target’s data and electronic subsystems. CHAMP allows for selective high-frequency radio wave strikes against numerous targets during a single mission.

Military Briefs

• Boeing delivered the fifth production P-8A Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft to the US Navy on November 2. The aircraft was one of 24 low-rate initial production (LRIP) maritime patrol aircraft for which Boeing is currently contracted. The US Navy plans to acquire 117 P-8As to replace its P-3 fleet. Australia will also likely acquire the P-8A as the manned element of a two-pronged replacement program for its AP-3C fleet.

Airlines

Qantas Continues Engineering Restructure

Qantas has announced further maintenance staff job losses as its Avalon base, a reduction in line maintenance positions at Sydney, and cuts at Qantas Defence Services with the loss of RAAF C-130H maintenance work, although 120 positions are also be-ing created in Brisbane.

With the winding up of a program to refurbish nine 747-400s with new A380- style interiors in November, Qantas says it was “releasing” 250 Forstaff contractors, plus “a small number” of Qantas staff who work at its Ava-lon heavy maintenance base, while the 200 line mainte-nance positions at Sydney will go due to “overstaffing”.

Meanwhile, 45 Qantas Defence Services employees will be retrenched as mainte-nance on the RAAF’s C-130H Hercules fleet winds up with the C-130H being retired from service at the end of November.

The creation of the 120 new positions at Brisbane fol-lows the May announcement that the airline was shutting its Melbourne Tullamarine maintenance base and moving 737 maintenance to Brisbane. Qantas says these 120 new jobs are in addition to the 100 positions created at Brisbane since May, plus the current recruitment of 30 apprentices.

In all the airline says the changes mean net job losses of 400 positions.

Earlier on October 18 the airline announced it will invest a further $30 million in its Brisbane maintenance base.

The work will see the cur-rent line maintenance facili-ties expanded into three lines and will include new aircraft docking systems, safety equip-ment and infrastructure.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said: “We’ve already started on a process to consolidate our heavy maintenance facilities from three sites, to now two sites, to ultimately one in Australia. We have no set timeframe but it’s something that needs to happen. ” Signalling the likely de-mise of the airline’s Avalon facility, which was established in May 1998 amid great fanfare as the future of 747 heavy maintenance, Joyce said Brisbane was “the obvi-ous candidate to become our one heavy maintenance site, given the purpose built hangars and modern equipment”.

Air Nz Pulls Hk-london & Forms Strategic Agreement With Cathay

Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific have launched a strate-gic alliance which will see both airlines codeshare on the others’ services on the Auckland-Hong Kong route and offer recip-rocal frequent flyer benefits effective January 31 2013.

The agreement, which has received New Zealand regula-tory approval, is intended not only to optimise performance on the route from existing demand, but to attract ad-ditional inbound Chinese visitation to New Zealand us-ing Cathay’s Hong Kong hub.

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe said: “Hong Kong is a key strategic Pacific Rim port and an important gateway to Mainland China for Air New Zealand. This agreement with Cathay Pacific will provide our passengers with a huge range of additional connections through Hong Kong to Main-land China, as well as access to better-value fares on these connections on Cathay Pacific or its sister airline Dragonair. ” Meanwhile, Air New Zealand will terminate the Hong Kong-London service it introduced in 2006. The 777-200 capacity freed up by the change will be redeployed to the US. The withdrawal comes into effect on March 4.

Jetstar Celebrates 100 Million Passengers

Jetstar carried its 100 mil-lionth passenger on Octo-ber 31, marking a significant milestone in the airline’s eight and half years of flying.

In doing so, Jetstar becomes one of the fastest growing airline brands in the world, now carrying approximately 20 mil-lion passengers a year to 60 des-tinations in 16 countries with a fleet of nearly 100 aircraft.

In addition to its Australia and New Zealand operations, the Jetstar group has estab-lished businesses in Viet-nam, Singapore, Japan and most recently Hong Kong.

Qantas Announces Debt Buy-back

The board of Qantas has approved the repayment of $650 million in debt six months ahead of schedule and the buy-back of approximately four per cent of the company’s issued shares to the value of up to $100 million. The transac-tions begin this month.

Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford said the Qantas group is well positioned in terms of its business port-folio and balance sheet.

“The Board believes the cur-rent Qantas share price does not reflect fair value of the Group, particularly consider-ing the underlying strength of its domestic, loyalty and Jetstar businesses and the proposed partnership with Emirates,” said Clifford.

“Our continued progress towards the turnaround strat-egy for Qantas International, plus cash inflows from recent transactions, gives the Board confidence to approve these capital management measures. ” The share buy-back will be funded in part by the sale of StarTrack and “the settle-ment from Boeing in relation to the Group’s B787 order. ” Qantas says it has added 24 unencumbered aircraft to its balance sheet since July 2010.

Qantas Accelerates 767 Refurbishments

Qantas has placed the first of a planned 15 refurbished 767-300s into service. The aircraft are being fitted with new interiors and individual inflight entertainment systems as part of a broader investment Qantas is making in refresh-ing its domestic product.

The airline says the 767 refurbishments are now due to be completed by the end of March 2013, six months earlier than first announced.

Each 767 takes around two weeks to be upgraded, with the work being under-taken at the airline’s Brisbane heavy maintenance facility.

Despite the upgrades Qantas says it will retire the last of its 767s by mid-2015.

Tiger Continues To Bounce Back

While Tiger Airways looks set to pounce on the domes-tic market with even greater energy after Virgin Australia’s announcement it will take 60 per cent of the low-cost airline, Tiger has returned to Adelaide and Hobart.

Twice-daily services have been scheduled between Melbourne and Adelaide. The services have been timed for business travellers, while the capacity will also ben-efit South Australia’s tourism industry. Adelaide Airport CEO Mark Young said the return of Tiger would provide customers even greater choice.

Meanwhile, the airline has re-introduced twice-daily flights between Melbourne and Hobart, representing more than 5,000 seats a week between the two cities. The services have been welcomed by the Tas-manian government, which it says will further boost inbound tourism. Tiger’s re-entry to Tasmania comes a week after Qantas announced a significant upgrade of capacity to Hobart, Launceston and Devonport.

Both services started on November 1 and have been timed to coincide with the traditional surge in demand during the summer holidays.

Tiger says it continues to engage with tourism au-thorities and airports around Australia about new services. It now operates to 11 desti-nations across the country.

Velocity Cleared For Take Off

Virgin Australia changed its radio callsign to ‘veloc-ity’ at the end of October, replacing the four separate callsigns the airline previ-ously operated under. On the same day the airline changed its ICAO code to VOZ.

The changes occurred to create what the airline de-scribes as a “new group code and callsign [to] support the integration of Virgin Australia’s domestic and international airlines under the new brand and identity”. The callsign was chosen because it ties well with the Virgin Australia brand.

Air Nz Safety Video Goes Viral

Air New Zealand’s lat-est safety video has become a global hit on YouTube with 6. 2 million viewers so far.

Featuring characters from the film The Hobbit in advance of the release of the first in a new trilogy from award-winning Peter Jackson, the video was watched by more than one million people in the first day of its release.

Air New Zealand’s head of international marketing Jodi Williams said: “The video has been simply fantastic for growing global awareness of the forthcoming movie, Air New Zealand’s brand and New Zealand as a destination. ” The airline is investing sev-eral millions of dollars to help market the movie in a cross-promotion aimed at stimulating more tourism to New Zealand. A themed Air NZ aircraft will be revealed just prior to the movie’s global premiere in Wellington on November 28.

Thailand, Aus Sign New Capacity Mou

The governments of Thailand and Australia have signed a memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) allowing more flights between the countries.

Airlines of the respective countries can now each operate up to 20,000 seats a week to and from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. Regional airports will also gain benefit from the MoU with Thai carri-ers given open access to all in-ternational airports. The agree-ment also allows unrestricted codeshare opportunities.

Roughly 1. 2 million Aus-tralians holiday in Thailand each year. Traffic between the countries has more than doubled in the last six years.

Alliance Flags More Aircraft

Resource charter FIFO operator Alliance Airlines has used its annual general meet-ing to flag plans to continue expanding its aircraft fleet.

“Despite the current econom-ic environment your company continues to experience growth and this will result in the need to acquire further aircraft,” chairman Steve Padgett said.

Alliance’s current fleet of 26 aircraft comprises 18 Fok-ker 100s, two Fokker 70s and six Fokker 50s, all but one of which are operational.

Jetstar Inaugurates Darwin To Osaka

Jetstar has introduced Osaka as its fourth international des-tination served from Darwin. Inaugurated on November 1, the service will initially be operated three times a week and will extend to four return flights a week from December as an extension of the existing Darwin-Singapore operation.

Japan is the Northern Ter-ritory’s largest trading partner and the new service is expected to be a significant boost to business in the region. It already exports more than $2. 5 billion annually to Japan, a figure set to increase as a result of the new service.

Jetstar Asia Starts Fleet Renewal

The first of six new Airbus A320s has been delivered to Jetstar Asia marking the start of the airline’s fleet renewal program, which by Febru-ary 2013 will give it one of the youngest fleets in Asia.

Five of the six new aircraft will replace older A320s and will bring the fleet size to 17 aircraft. Jetstar Asia expects to be the first Singapore-based airline to operate A320s with wingtip Sharklets, which it says will save up to 1,000 tonnes in fuel burn each year.

The six A320s are part of the aircraft order announced by Qantas in August 2011. Other Jetstar group airlines are also scheduled to re-ceive new A320s in 2013.

Singapore Re-orders A380s And A350s, Shifts 787s To Scoot

Singapore Airlines has ordered five more Airbus A380s and 20 A350-900s, plus announced plans to transfer its 20 787s on order to low-cost subsidiary Scoot.

The new Airbuses are valued at US$7. 5 billion at list prices. It is the third A380 order by Singapore Airlines and brings its total commitments for the type to 24, while it now has 40 A350s on order.

“This major order will pro-vide us with additional growth opportunities and is consistent with our longstanding policy of maintaining a young and modern fleet. It demonstrates our commitment to the Singa-pore hub, and our confidence in the strength of the mar-ket for premium full-service travel,” said Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong. “The aircraft will enable us to further enhance our network, providing more travel options to our customers. They will also feature the next genera-tion of in-flight cabin products to keep us at the forefront of airline product innovation. ” Under the deal Airbus will trade-in the airline’s five A340-500s, which will be removed from service in the fourth quarter of 2013. As a result Singapore Airlines will cease non-stop Singapore- Los Angeles and Singapore- Newark flights, “in the absence of replacement aircraft in the SIA fleet with sufficient range and operating economics”.

Said Mr Goh: “Although disappointing that we will be halting these services, we remain very committed to the US market. Over the past two years we have increased capacity to both Los Angeles and New York by deploying A380 super-jumbos on flights via Tokyo and Frankfurt. We will also contin-ue to explore additional options to enhance our US services. ” Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines’ 20 Boeing 787s on order will now be trans-ferred to its low-cost, long haul Scoot subsidiary.

“Today’s announcement that we’ll be acquiring 20 Boeing 787s to power our growth is exciting news and great for our guests – not least because the aircraft’s fuel efficiency will help keep ticket prices low,” said Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson.

The 20 787-9s will be delivered from 2014. “The 20 fuel-efficient aircraft will be used to replace Scoot’s Boeing 777-200 fleet and facilitate the airline’s ongoing expansion,” the airline said in a statement.

Rex Retains Nsw Rights

Regional Express (Rex) has retained all eight of its New South Wales intrastate routes, which it now has a renewed licence to operate through to March 2018.

Despite the positive out-come, Rex general manager of network and strategy Warrick Lodge said: “Whilst Rex is the biggest beneficiary of the NSW licensed route regime, we have called on the NSW Government, just as we have done five years ago when the licences were last awarded, to discontinue this route licence regime as we believe that such a scheme distorts free competition without achiev-ing any practical outcomes. ” The routes link Bathurst, Broken Hill, Grafton, Mer-imbula, Moruya, Narrandera, Parkes and Taree to Sydney. The airline operates around 1,300 flights each week.

Cautious Forecast For Airline Profitability Iata

has forecast better profitability for the world’s air-lines, revising its June 2012 pre-diction of US$3 billion to now US$4. 1 billion for this year.

A cautious Tony Tyler, direc-tor-general and CEO of IATA, said while profitability looks to be improving, “we should not get too excited”, describ-ing the expected 0. 5 per cent profit margins as “anaemic”.

2013 profit performance is expected to improve further, with US$7. 5 billion forecast (equating to a 1. 1 per cent margin), supported by expected lower oil prices, faster growth and upward GDP forecasts. The profit is still a long way off the US$19. 2 billion in profits generated by IATA member airlines in 2010.

Tyler said joint ventures in longhaul markets were “starting to make a difference”, but there was “still a long way to go be-fore ‘normal’ profits are earned”.

Date Set For Malaysia Oneworld Entry

Malaysia Airlines will join the oneworld alli-ance on February 1 2013.

oneworld says Malaysia Airlines will substantially expand the alliance’s network in South East Asia, adding 15 destinations to the 840 already served in 156 countries. oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said Malaysia Airlines’ Kuala Lumpur hub was geographi-cally well-placed between existing hubs. “This will greatly enhance oneworld’s offering throughout one of the world’s fastest growing regions for air travel demand,” he added.

The two million members of Malaysian’s frequent flyer pro-gram will gain reciprocal ben-efits across all airline members as well as 25 affiliated airlines. There are some 125 million frequent flyer members across the oneworld alliance airlines.

Malaysia Airlines, which has a fleet of 88 aircraft, will be the second airline in the group operating the A380 alongside Qantas, which is sponsoring Malay-sian’s entry to the alliance.

Airline Briefs

• Air New Zealand has become the first international airline to offer self-service check-in kiosks at Sydney Airport. Fifteen of the kiosks have been commis-sioned allowing passengers to scan their passport and be issued a boarding pass. Pas-sengers with luggage will then proceed to a bag drop desk.

• Air Mauritius will add a third weekly flight to Perth from April 1 next year. The additional flight each Friday represents a 50 per cent increase in capacity and complements the exist-ing Wednesday and Sunday schedule. The three services will be operated using an Airbus A330 in a two-class configura-tion of 24 business class and 251 economy class seats.

• Before it has even started services between Honolulu and Brisbane, Hawaiian Airlines is adding capacity between the two cities in response to demand for services between March and May 2013. The airline, which starts flights to Brisbane on November 28, will add 18 flights – or 4,700 seats – to the existing schedule of three flights a week.

Airports 

Passengers To Double By 2030

The federal government has released a report showing the number of air passengers is to double to 279 million by 2030.

The forecast statistics issued by the Bureau of Infrastruc-ture, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) are based on projected sustained eco-nomic growth over the next 20 years. It estimates passenger growth will continue at an average 3. 7 per cent a year, with international services tipped to grow 3. 3 per cent and domes-tic demand by 4. 9 per cent.

Passenger growth will add to already congested major airports’ woes. The report doesn’t identify how govern-ment policy will evolve to facilitate the growth in demand, something that has been – in the case of Sydney – an intractable debate between federal and state authorities.

Growth at the respective airports is forecast as follows: 3. 6 per cent a year in Sydney to 72. 0m in 2030-31; 3. 9 per cent a year in Melbourne to 60. 4m in 2030-31; 4. 2 per cent a year in Brisbane to 45. 1m in 2030-31; 3. 1 per cent a year in Adelaide to 13. 5m in 2030-31; 4. 4 per cent a year in Perth to 25. 7m in 2030-31; 3. 0 per cent a year in Ho-bart to 3. 5m in 2030-31; 4. 2 per cent a year in Darwin to 4. 2m in 2030-31; 3. 3 per cent a year in Canberra to 6. 1m in 2030-31; 3. 1 per cent a year in Newcastle to 2. 2m in 2030-31; 3. 7 per cent a year in Cairns to 8. 0m in 2030-31.

Joyce Rejects Brisbane Third Runway Charging

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says airlines shouldn’t have to pay in advance for the con-struction of Brisbane Airport’s new parallel runway, which is not due to open until 2020.

Joyce, speaking at an Aus-tralian Institute of Company Directors luncheon in Brisbane in late October, said “airlines are not very keen on paying for infrastructure that’s not giving them the benefits today. ” Joyce likened Brisbane Air-port’s proposal to add a levy to fund the runway works to “Ap-ple asking you, its customers … you get an iPhone 10 maybe in 10 years’ time – it will fix the maps problem, it will have a super-duper camera [but] you’ve got to pay for it now. ” At the same luncheon, Bris-bane Airport CEO Julieanne Alroe defended the plan.

“People don’t like delays and they want to see growth, and we think a couple of dollars on a landing fee, it’s a cup of cof-fee, is a small price for people to pay to see Queensland growing and growing and growing. ”

Brisbane Airport Opens New Taxiway, Aprons

Brisbane Airport has offi-cially opened a new taxiway and four additional parking aprons at the international terminal.

Taxiway Bravo, in front of the international terminal, allows aircraft to simultaneously arrive and depart the international apron and offers a more direct route to the runway. According to the airport the $12 million works will cut several minutes off taxiing time, resulting in lower fuel burn and improving airfield and air traffic efficiency.

Brisbane Airports Corpo-ration CEO and managing director Julieanne Alroe said the opening of the section of taxiway Bravo between B7 and B8 was a long time in the making but worth the wait.

“This section of missing taxiway is hugely beneficial for our air traffic controllers who will be able to more efficiently manage aircraft movement on the ground, as well as provid-ing time and cost savings for airlines,” Alroe added.

Adelaide Suffers Profit Drop

Adelaide Airport has suffered a sharp downturn in profit, with the pre-tax result for 2011-12 slumping to $6. 7 million from $21. 1 million in the previous year. Total revenue fell from $153 million to $147 million.

Chairman David Munt said the grounding of Tiger Airways and its decision not to resume services to Adelaide, coupled with industrial prob-lems at Qantas, had impacted on the company’s finances in the past financial year.

Other events such as ongo-ing global uncertainty and subdued economic conditions had conspired to keep a lid on passenger growth, with an overall reduction in passenger traffic from 7. 4 million to 7. 1 million in the past year, he said.

Domestic traffic through the airport fell 6. 1 percent to 5. 84 million passengers, but regional traffic showed a moderate increase and international traffic rose 11. 5 percent to 660,700 passengers – a figure expected to grow this year following the start of Emir-ates services on November 1.

Auckland Airport Appoints New Ceo

Auckland Airport has appointed Adrian Little-wood as its new CEO.

Currently the general man-ager of retail and commercial, Littlewood joined the airport in 2009 and takes over from Simon Robertson who has been acting in the role since August.

Chair of Auckland Airport Joan Withers said Littlewood had played an instrumental role in delivering the com-pany’s new strategic approach. “In particular he has done an outstanding job leading the growth and development of the retail and commercial division, our key non-aero-nautical revenue lines which now deliver approximately 40 per cent of the Airport’s income – NZ$166m revenue. ”

Environment

Eu To Suspend Aviation Ets Scheme

The European Commission has suspended its planned con-troversial inclusion of aviation in its emissions trading scheme in the wake of mounting inter-national and industry pressure.

The EC said it has “stopped the clock” on further consid-eration until after the ICAO general assembly next autumn, bringing hope that a coor-dinated global approach to emissions can be achieved.

Industry and foreign govern-ments had called on the EC to get ICAO to arbitrate on ETS on behalf of airlines.

China played a lead role in breaking the momentum of the EC’s planned scheme, prohibiting its airlines paying any European emissions-related charges and threatening re-taliatory exclusion of European airlines from Chinese airspace.

Business Aviation

Hawker Beechcraft Ends Chapter 11 – But Without Bizjets?

Wichita-based Hawker Beechcraft plans to exit Chap-ter 11 bankruptcy protection in the first quarter of 2013 as a standalone company after a potential deal with Chinese partner Superior Aviation Bei-jing Co fell through. The two companies failed to agree terms.

The future focus for Hawker Beechcraft will remain on high performance single and twin-engine piston and turboprop aircraft, variants for the special mission market, and the T-6 and AT-6 military trainer and light attack aircraft.

However, the critical ele-ment missing from the lineup is business jets. In a statement Hawker Beechcraft says: “The company, in consultation with its key creditor constituents, is evaluating its strategic alterna-tives for the Hawker product lines, which could include a sale of some or all of the product lines, or a closure of the entire jet business if no satisfactory bids are received. ” Hawker Beechcraft retains a windfall US$50 mil-lion non-refundable deposit from Superior Aviation.

Airbus, Boeing Announce Enhanced Business Jets

Airbus and Boeing have both announced upgraded busi-ness jets at this year’s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) conference in Florida.

Airbus has introduced the ACJ318 Enhanced aircraft, a new version of the small-est of the manufacturer’s corporate jet family.

New features on the A318 derivative include an extensive cabin upgrade, and commu-nications and entertainment improvements. The aircraft will also feature wingtip Sharklets to extend the range of and fuel economy of the aircraft.

Boeing, meanwhile, has announced its intention to offer the BBJ MAX 8 and BBJ MAX 9 aircraft in what the manufacturer describes as “furthering Boeing’s dominance in the large cabin ultra-long-range business jet market”.

The MAX 8, the first of the two upgraded BBJs to be offered, will feature CFM’s new LEAP-1B engines and new winglets, which will see a 13 per cent improve-ment in fuel economy and range extended to 6,325nm.

Hondajet On The Starting Line

The long-awaited decision by Honda Aircraft that it will be-gin production of the Honda-Jet has finally been made. Announced at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention in Florida, the first production HondaJet is now under assembly after 12 months of flight, systems and structural testing of the design.

“An assembly line for HondaJet production is in place, major aircraft compo-nents including the fuselage and wing have been produced, and we have started assembly of the first customer aircraft,” said Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino.

The company’s fifth FAA-conforming test aircraft will take to the skies early in 2013 and will be the first with production-standard fitout.

Shell Launches Bizjet Refuelling Service

Shell has launched its VIP JET dedicated refuelling service for fixed and rotary wing corporate and business aircraft customers at Sydney, Brisbane and Perth Airports, aimed at reducing turnaound times.

Pilots and flight operations departments can phone the VIP JET service 30 minutes prior to landing to ensure their aircraft is met on the tarmac by a refuelling truck. Jet A1 and Shell AeroJet (with FSII) fuels are available through VIP JET.

Shell spokesman Paul Zen-naro, said: “Shell is the only provider in Australia with this unique and premium service offering, it’s a great offer for those who don’t want to wait up to an hour or so to refuel whilst in transit. ”

Tae Appointed As Ge H80 Repair Centre Tae

has been appointed GE Aviation’s Designated Re-pair Center for the Asia Pacific for the new H80 turboprop as well as the Walter M601.

The H80 is a modernised development of the Czech M601 which has been se-lected to power the Thrush 510G agricultural aircraft and the Aircraft Industries L410 commuter aircraft.

Support

Airnet Promotes Australian Industry Capability

Aviation/Aerospace Aus-tralia (A/AA) has created an industry resources network aimed at supporting small to medium sized Australian aviation companies develop business opportunities in Asia.

The Aviation Industry Re-sources Network (AIRnet) has been created for A/AA mem-bers to share opportunities, market intelligence and news on potential business in Asia, and was launched in response to recent successful trade mis-sions to China and India.

A/AA CEO Jim Carden said AIRnet would help its members develop leads into opportunities and ultimately into business. “There is a real sense that developing com-plementary capability can unlock valuable opportunities in these markets,” he said.

The success of the recent missions will lead to follow up visits to Asia in 2013, in addition to reciprocal visits planned by Chinese organi-sations, including airlines, manufacturers, regulators, airports and universities.

ATC & Airspace 

Airways Nz World First

Air navigation services provider Airways New Zea-land has become the first ANSP in the world to re-ceive ICAO endorsement as a designer of instrument procedures for Performance- Based Navigation (PBN).

People

Aviation Community Mourns The Loss Of Ron Yates

The Australian aviation com-munity is paying its respects to Ron Yates, who passed away in Sydney on October 27.

Yates is acknowledged as being instrumental to shaping today’s aviation industry, having been principally responsible for introducing the Lockheed Electra, Boeing 707, 747 and 767 to Australian service when he was the Qantas project manager in charge of the evaluation and introduction of these aircraft into service.

He also played a prominent role in bringing the Super Constellation into Qantas service as part of a career with the airline that spanned some 40 years, culminating in his role as chief executive between 1984 and 1986.

He joined Qantas following service with the RAAF as flight test engineer. His development work on the 707 improved the performance of the aircraft to enable Qantas to operate it on trans-Pacific routes with what became the 707-138.

That Yates became the patron of the project to bring back Australia’s first 707-138 (below) was one of his great-est delights. The aircraft now resides at the Qantas Found-ers Museum in Longreach.

He was bestowed the Order of Australia in 1983 and in 2000 was made an Honor-ary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Ron Yates’ legacy to com-mercial aviation in Aus-tralia will be remembered for generations.