Preflight

As part of a deepening of the existing decades-long partnership with Qantas, American has announced a new direct service between Sydney and Los Angeles with its own metal from December.

American’s Boeing 777-300ERshave eight seats in first class, and 52 fully flat business class seats each with direct aisle access. In economy, there are 30 main cabin extra seats and 220 main cabin seats in a 3-4-3 configuration.

Parker says American will offer a phenomenal product to Sydney, with great people providing the service.

“The perception now is not reality,” Parker told reporters on June 9 after launching the new route on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association annual general meeting in Miami.

“We are going to put a level of service in the sky that customers when they travel recognise as a

The market “needs” the A380 says Airbus’s Leahy

level of service they are used to.

“We can talk all we want about it but the reality is we need to produce and we plan to. ” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, who toured an American 777‑300ER at Miami Airport the day before the announcement, described the flagship of the US airline’s fleet as world-class.

“American is different to what it was in the 1990s. It has invested a lot in a very impressive product,” Joyce told reporters in Miami on June 9. (American last served Australia with its own aircraft in the early 1990s, when it briefly operated a four times weekly LAX-Honolulu- Sydney service using Douglas DC‑10 trijets. ) “We want the Australian market in particular to recognise the big change in American that has taken place. ” American’s arrival on the Sydney-Los Angeles route brings to five the number of carriers jetting across the Pacific between the US West Coast’s biggest international gateway and the NSW capital, joining partner Qantas, Virgin Australia, Delta Air Lines and United.

It has also allowed Qantas to schedule four fewer flights a week on the Sydney-Los Angeles route (there will be an overall increase in capacity because of American’s entry) and operate one less Melbourne-Los Angeles-Melbourne rotation.

That frequency reduction has freed up a Boeing 747-400 for Qantas to return to San Francisco for the first time since 2011.

The first flight back to SFO will take off on December 20 and ramp up to six times a week by January 2016. Qantas said in a statement San Francisco was the most popular destination among its corporate customers that it did not fly to with its own aircraft.

The network moves have also prompted a change to American and Qantas’s current joint business agreement, which will now incorporate a revenue sharing arrangement that required approval from both the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the US Department of Transportation.

Both Parker and Joyce were confident regulators would see the consumer benefits of the new partnership.

“This is a highly competitive market,” Joyce said. “There is a very solid case. ” Parker added: “It is wholly consistent with the antitrust immunity that was put in place before. We are highly confident that we will have it in time to start the service in December. ” Qantas said in a statement there would be a nine per cent net increase in the capacity on Australiamainland US routes, while capacity between Sydney and Los Angeles was increasing by six per cent.

Joyce said the market would easily absorb the extra capacity being added.

“With the strength of the US dollar and the growth that we think will come with this partnership behind it, that is manageable,” Joyce said.

“We grew LA by 12 per cent and we’ve seen really solid loads and really solid yields on it. ” American’s new big Boeing twins, as well as its mid-size 787 siblings that were also being introduced into its fleet, has given the US flag carrier the aircraft to boost its presence on trans-Pacific routes, including new service to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai in the past 12 months.

Parker said the decision to serve Sydney could also lead to future growth into other markets in the region such as New Zealand.

“It is certainly is an intriguing opportunity to us. It is at this point a matter of aircraft availability and we hope to get to it before too long. ” The airline has 16 777-300ERs currently, with four more due to arrive between now and 2016.

CAPA – Centre for Aviation executive chairman Peter Harbison said American’s entry on the Sydney-Los Angeles route would be good for both carriers.

“If I was looking at this through American’s eyes it is a fairly lowrisk place to stick a couple of aircraft because the market is there and there is a partner we can crosssell with in Qantas, assuming the ACCC approves everything which I assume they will,” Harbison told Australian Aviation.

“From Qantas’s side, they want American in there because it strengthens their market. They want to be capturing that American inbound market into Australia because the American market is going to start growing now as the economy improves.

“It is a pretty nice win-win. ” Joyce said conditions in San Francisco were very different now compared to 2011 when the airline pulled off the route (and moved its second US gateway to Dallas-Fort Worth), citing the growth in the market due to the lift in activity at Silicon Valley, Qantas’s lower cost base due to its transformation program and American’s expanded network of connections from the city.

And Parker said the resumption of non-stop service from Sydney to San Francisco would also help secure more corporate accounts, given currently United was the only airline flying the route.

“It allows us to do a better job of being competitive with United,” he said.

The market “needs” the A380 says Airbus’s Leahy

The A380 was one of the top topics of discussion at this year’s ‘Airbus Innovation Days’, Airbus’s annual media briefing for the aviation media, and not least because the location of this year’s event was the European planemaker’s A380 final assembly line facilities at Toulouse.

Ten years after its first flight, the future of the world’s largest airliner – which has not received any new orders so far this year and has seen existing orders either cancelled or deferred – is hotly debated. Today, total A380 firm orders stand at 317, and more than half of these have now been delivered.

In addition to no new orders so far in 2015, doubts remain over the robustness of at least some of the existing order backlog, such as the six on order for Virgin Atlantic. Other airlines such as Qantas and Air France have deferred A380 deliveries. And two A380s have been built for Japan’s now-bankrupt Skymark Airlines, which Airbus now has to remarket.

A perception has taken hold that the A380 is a good aircraft, but too big for all bar a small number of high-density city pairs.

“Is it a big market? It’s not a gigantic market,” Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy said of demand for the A380 at the Innovation Days briefing on May 28. “But if aviation doubles every 15 years the market will need it. It needs it today. ” “We should have some more orders for the A380 this year,” Leahy promised.

“The fact is there is demand for the A380 out there, we’ve got several campaigns under way. ” One campaign definitely underway is Emirates’ push to convince Airbus to develop a re-engined A380neo. Emirates, the world’s biggest A380 customer, has 60 A380s in its fleet, with 140 in total on order, and its president Tim Clark is the aircraft’s greatest advocate, both for the existing model and the proposed A380neo.

But developing the A380neo would cost an estimated €2 billion, which Leahy described as a “hard sell” given that it is only now the A380 program is breaking even on aircraft now being built.

“I’ve said publicly already that it is a very hard sell to our board to do anything for one customer, even a big customer. But the fact is Tim [Clark] has made it very clear that he sees demand for 200 just from Emirates for that aeroplane,” Leahy said.

But, said Leahy: “We’re still studying the business case”.

Leahy was also bullish about the A380’s prospects on the secondhand market. The A380 first entered service in 2007, and given key operators such as Emirates and Singapore Airlines generally only operate aircraft up to 10 years of age, the first examples could soon be on the secondhand market.

Leahy said of used A380 aircraft: “I see as a big opportunity. ” He said that an A380 at its half life, with a book value of US$100 million, could be leased for around US$1 million a month.

“What’s a 777-300ER going for at the moment? It’s going for more than $1m a month,” Leahy said.

“So I think we open up a really unique opportunity here that some operators who have never even considered an A380 before are starting to look at the fact that for about the rental per month of the 777‑300ER you could have an A380, maybe there are some routes I should try. I see this as a great market opportunity. ” Airbus head of strategy Kiran Rao said interest in secondhand A380s could come from long-haul, low-cost carriers in Asia configuring the aircraft to seat between 600 and 650 passengers in two-class configurations optimised for six to eight-hour missions.

Meanwhile new Malaysia Airlines chief executive Christoph Mueller told delegates at the IATA annual general meeting in Miami there had been some interest in the two A380s it is looking to offload as part of the airline’s massive corporate restructure.

RAAF pilot makes first flight in a RAAF F-35

Australia’s first F-35A Lightning II pilot, Squadron Leader Andrew Jackson, has flown a Royal Australian Air Force F-35A for the first time. The flight took place at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona on May 15.

“My focus is on representing the RAAF as a valuable partner in the F-35 enterprise,” SQNLDR Jackson told the 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office. “It is very exciting to finally be at Luke with the 61st Fighter Squadron, and to get to fly a RAAF F-35A.

“Whilst I am told that all the F-35s are the same, it is awesome to finally go flying in a jet that has Skippy painted on the side. ” SQNLDR Jackson completed his first F-35A flight in a US Air Force aircraft in March at Eglin Air Force Base; since then, he has qualified as an F-35A pilot and concluded training at Eglin.

Boeing starts wing assembly of first 737 MAX

Boeing says the development of the 737 MAX is progressing on schedule as work begins on the wings for the first test aircraft.

The company said on June 2 its Renton production facility has started assembling the wings of the updated, re-engined and more fuelefficient model of the existing 737.

“Machine operators loaded 737 MAX wing skin panels and stringers into the new panel assembly line that uses automation to drill holes and install fasteners in the upper and lower wing panels,” Boeing said in a statement.

“Mechanics also loaded the initial parts of the first 737 MAX spars – internal support structures in wings – into automated spar assembly machines. ” Boeing said the wings would be attached to the first 737 MAX fuselage on the new central line at the Renton final assembly facility later in 2015.

The new production line specifically for the 737 MAX was designed to allow production of the current 737 models to continue at a rate of 42 a month while the build process for the MAX was developed.

Boeing has previously flagged increasing the production rate of its top-selling 737 to 47 a month in 2017 and 52 a month from 2018.

The first 737 MAX, which competes mainly with the re-engined Airbus A320neo in the single-aisle market, was on track for first delivery in the third quarter of 2017, Boeing said. First flight was expected in 2016.

Virgin Australia has 23 Boeing 737 MAX 8s on order, with deliveries to start from 2018.

Australia key to Air NZ’s new Buenos Aires route

Air New Zealand chief sales and commercial officer Cam Wallace says Australia will be a key market supporting the launch of its new Auckland-Buenos Aires service due to take off in December.

In fact, the decision to head to Argentina was made under the expectation Australians would represent the highest number of passengers travelling to one of South America’s most popular destinations.

Wallace says Air NZ’s strong frequency offering across the Tasman and relatively smooth international-to-international transfer process at Auckland Airport meant the airline’s three-times-a-week service with Boeing 777-200ER aircraft was the most efficient way to reach Argentina from Australia.

“The majority of the business for that city pair will be sourced out of Australia,” Wallace told Australian Aviation when the airline opened its refurbished Sydney Airport lounge on May 22.

“For the three services a week, the business case we have done is that Australia will be the largest contributor to that city pair. ” At the other end of the route, Air NZ has been working with Aerolineas Argentinas on securing access to destinations beyond Buenos Aires, as well as in-market sales and marketing support. The Skyteam alliance member, which previously served Auckland in 2012, will also codeshare on Air NZ’s Auckland-Buenos Aires service.

However, Wallace said the success of its three-times-a-week flight did not rely on just Aerolineas for South American traffic, with Air NZ also looking at interline arrangements with other carriers.

“We launched the services being fully aware that even if they didn’t change their schedule that we were comfortable with the connectivity that we were getting to the beyond points,” Wallace said.

“We are continuing to work with them in terms of optimising their schedules and their feed. There is also other carrier feed so we will open up to as many carriers as we possibly can for the connectivity. ” Air NZ is bolstering its trans- Tasman network to make it easier for Australians to connect onto its North American and South American flights from December when it adds three extra flights a week from Perth to Auckland.

The seasonal offering, which starts on December 11 2015 and runs until May 1 2016 will be flown with Boeing 767-300ERs and operate during daytime hours in order to meet the Star Alliance member’s flights to the United States, Canada and Argentina.

Air NZ flies to Los Angeles, Vancouver, San Francisco and Honolulu from its Auckland hub. In addition to Buenos Aires, the Kiwi flag carrier is also launching service to Houston in December.

In recent times, it has been heavily promoting one-stop connections from Australia to the US via Auckland, with some advertised return fares well below $1,000 on selected dates.

Wallace believed there was still “fundamental growth to be driven out of Australia” for Air NZ.

“For us, we have always had quite a significant amount of revenue which was sourced from states like Victoria, WA and South Australia travelling on our trans-Tasman services and using Auckland as a hub in a one-stop scenario to North and South America,” Wallace said.

“That works well for us because we have got a lot of frequency on the trans-Tasman and Auckland is a very efficient and effective transfer point,you don’t have to change airports.

“So what we are doing, as we grow as a market we fundamentally want to grow the Australian point-of-sale business through to North America and South America. You will see more of that.

“We just want to move Australia from being a top-up contributor to our New Zealand business to being a more fundamental part of our business irrespective of what’s happening with the exchange rate because this is a medium to longterm play for us. ” That push to increase passenger flows from Australia to the Americas via Auckland does put Air NZ in direct competition with its alliance partner Virgin Australia, which has its own joint-venture on trans- Pacific routes with US-based Delta Air Lines that has just been given the green light by Australia’s competition regulator to continue for a further five years.

While Air NZ’s fresh emphasis on Australia-US travel could create tensions with its trans-Tasman alliance partner Virgin, Wallace said the two carriers have appropriate processes and procedures in place to manage the situation.

And those passengers from Australia travelling beyond Auckland still provide a contribution to the Air NZ-Virgin revenue pool for their joint trans-Tasman partnership.

“We’ve got a fundamental and really strong and growing relationship on the Tasman with Virgin,” Wallace said.

“We are very clear, they are very clear and the regulators are really clear that it is just the Tasman.

“We compete vigorously on some parts of our business, not only North America but out of New Zealand to the Pacific Islands – and you’ve seen that with the prices. ” Wallace, who speaks with his counterpart at Virgin, chief commercial officer Judith Crompton, most weeks, said Air NZ has been very happy with how the alliance has matured over the past four years and the two carriers had a strong relationship.

“Their success in securing more of the government and corporate [business] has been very beneficial to us because those customers generally do travel across the Tasman,” Wallace said.

“We think we’ve got the right fleet, competitive positioning and the right partnerships so we are very happy with our market position on the Tasman and even though the New Zealand dollar has lifted significantly, we still think there is demand that we can generate. ” Recognising the importance Australia, and specifically Sydney, plays in Air NZ’s route network, the NSW capital was chosen as the first port to showcase the airline’s new lounge concept and design.

Sydney is Air NZ’s largest offshore destination with about 20 flights a day to destinations in New Zealand, Rarotonga and Norfolk Island, in addition to being a major hub for trans-Tasman alliance partner Virgin.

The updated facility, designed in partnership with US-based architectural firm Genseler, caters for just under 300 customers and features 14 different seating types from lounge chairs to long benches and quiet nooks for users to work, rest or play prior to their flight.

Auckland will be the next airport to receive a lounge makeover as part of the airline’s $40 million lounge refurbishment program, with Brisbane and Queenstown to follow.

Air NZ looking to extend 767 fleet

Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon says the airline’s Boeing 767‑300ERs are likely to remain in the fleet longer than what had been initially planned to take advantage of new flying opportunities.

The airline is expected to end 2014/15 with five 767s, with the type projected to be fully withdrawn by the end of 2017/18 according to a slide presentation accompanying the airline’s first half results in February.

However, Luxon says the 767s may stick around beyond that to serve the Pacific Islands, Australia and some “fly and flop” outbound NZ destinations.

“It is a real option that we have and we probably will extend them I suspect just a couple more years,” Luxon told reporters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting in Miami on June 8.

“That’s because at the moment our capacity growth in this last six months of this year is about 12 per cent and all of next year it will be around 11 per cent.

“So we are growing fast and we are growing profitably through creating this demand and then adding the supply and the capacity that we need. ” In addition to maintaining the 767s, Air NZ also had options for six more 787-9s beyond the confirmed order for 12 of the type due for delivery between now and the end of 2018/19.

Luxon said Air NZ’s three 787-9s currently in service had performed better than the airline’s own lofty expectations. Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon says the airline’s Boeing 767‑300ERs are likely to remain in the fleet longer than what had been initially planned to take advantage of new flying opportunities.

The airline is expected to end 2014/15 with five 767s, with the type projected to be fully withdrawn by the end of 2017/18 according to a slide presentation accompanying the airline’s first half results in February.

However, Luxon says the 767s may stick around beyond that to serve the Pacific Islands, Australia and some “fly and flop” outbound NZ destinations.

“It is a real option that we have and we probably will extend them I suspect just a couple more years,” Luxon told reporters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting in Miami on June 8.

“That’s because at the moment our capacity growth in this last six months of this year is about 12 per cent and all of next year it will be around 11 per cent.

“So we are growing fast and we are growing profitably through creating this demand and then adding the supply and the capacity that we need. ” In addition to maintaining the 767s, Air NZ also had options for six more 787-9s beyond the confirmed order for 12 of the type due for delivery between now and the end of 2018/19.

Luxon said Air NZ’s three 787-9s currently in service had performed better than the airline’s own lofty expectations. Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon says the airline’s Boeing 767‑300ERs are likely to remain in the fleet longer than what had been initially planned to take advantage of new flying opportunities.

The airline is expected to end 2014/15 with five 767s, with the type projected to be fully withdrawn by the end of 2017/18 according to a slide presentation accompanying the airline’s first half results in February.

However, Luxon says the 767s may stick around beyond that to serve the Pacific Islands, Australia and some “fly and flop” outbound NZ destinations.

“It is a real option that we have and we probably will extend them I suspect just a couple more years,” Luxon told reporters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting in Miami on June 8.

“That’s because at the moment our capacity growth in this last six months of this year is about 12 per cent and all of next year it will be around 11 per cent.

“So we are growing fast and we are growing profitably through creating this demand and then adding the supply and the capacity that we need. ” In addition to maintaining the 767s, Air NZ also had options for six more 787-9s beyond the confirmed order for 12 of the type due for delivery between now and the end of 2018/19.

Luxon said Air NZ’s three 787-9s currently in service had performed better than the airline’s own lofty expectations.

RAAF declares Wedgetail fully operational

TThe Royal Australian Air Force’s E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control platform has achieved final operational capability – FOC.

“The fleet of six Wedgetail aircraft reached the milestone this month, with the entire capability from physical aircraft to logistics, management, sustainment, facilities and training now fully operational and able to support ongoing operations,” Minister for Defence Kevin Andrews said on May 26.

“The Wedgetail has already proven to be highly reliable and effective on operations. ” Deputy Chief of Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Leo Davies stated that the platform provides Australia with the ability to control and survey vast areas, and contributes to the development of the modern and fully integrated combat force envisaged under the RAAF transformation strategy known as Plan Jericho.

“The aircraft’s advanced multirole radar gives the Air Force the ability to survey, command, control and coordinate a joint air, sea and land operation in real time,” he said.

“As we transition into a more technologically advanced force as part of Plan Jericho, the Wedgetail will be able to support future aircraft and surveillance systems. ” The technically ambitious and once troubled Wedgetail platform has been maturing rapidly in service since initial operational capability (IOC) was declared back in November 2012.

Since then the Wedgetail has been deployed on a number of exercises and deployments, including Operation Okra, the Australian contribution to the effort to combat Islamic State in Iraq, where by late May it had completed more than 100 surveillance sorties in concert with coalition partners, and flying more than 1,200 hours.

The Wedgetail is operated by Williamtown-based 2SQN.

Airbus contemplates building 60 A320s a month

Airbus is contemplating the remarkable industrial feat of building more than 60 A320 Family aircraft a month.

Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy told the European airliner manufacturer’s annual “Innovation Days” media briefing on May 28 that a healthy order backlog likely to be sustained by growing demand for air travel in the Asia Pacific would justify the rate increase.

“I, for one, am looking for a rate over 60,” Leahy, Airbus’s chief salesman for the past two decades, told journalists.

Currently, Airbus is building A320 series aircraft at the rate of 42 a month, with already-announced plans to increase this to 50 a month in early 2017. Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams said the earliest a rate of 60+ aircraft a month could be achieved would be in 2018, saying the key challenge in achieving such a high rate would be ensuring the program’s 7,500 suppliers, but in particular the engine manufacturers, could ramp up to the increased levels of production required. Already 50 aircraft a month meant a “drumbeat” of one A320 series aircraft leaving Airbus’s factories every six and a half working hours, Williams said.

Airbus A320 Family production is centred on final assembly lines in Toulouse, France and Hamburg, Germany. Four aircraft a month are also assembled in Airbus’s Tianjing, China plant, while a fourth A320 Family final assembly line is being established in Mobile, Alabama – the first major components for an A320 Family aircraft to be assembled in Mobile, an A321 for jetBlue, departed Hamburg via ship on May 29.

Airbus had over 5,100 A320 Family aircraft on order at the end of April, including 99 A320neo aircraft for the Qantas Group/Jetstar.

Meanwhile the first A320neo test aircraft powered by the CFM LEAP‑1A engine, F-WNEW, made its first flight from Toulouse on May 19.

Sydney Airport to talk with builders about Badgerys

Sydney Airport plans to talk with construction firms about what building a new airport at Badgerys Creek will involve once the formal consultation period with the government concludes, chief executive Kerrie Mather says.

However, no decision on whether the company will take up its right of first refusal to build and operate the new airport will be made until 2016 at the earliest.

The nine-month consultation between the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development and the owners of Sydney Airport was due to end on June 30.

Once that concludes, the government will develop a proposal for the airport outlining the technical specifications, contractual terms and the timetable.

Mather says Sydney Airport expects to have ongoing informal consultations with the government after June 30, as its team of internal and external experts continued to evaluate the opportunity that a Western Sydney Airport (WSA) at Badgerys Creek represented.

“In addition to continuing engagement with the Commonwealth, Sydney Airport will engage with the construction market in the third quarter of this year to assist us to gather information as to the efficient and optimum design to determine the cost and viability of the WSA project,” Mather told securityholders at the company’s annual general meeting on May 14.

“We are working actively to understand all stakeholder impacts and expectations. In particular we are considering our investor base and its priorities which we are very familiar with. ” Mather said its experts were analysing issues such as “maximising aviation capacity in the Sydney Basin, risk and cost minimisation, value engineering, optimum design and staging, efficient pricing structures, and precedents for governmentassisted private sector provision of infrastructure”.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss told the Preparing for Take- Off conference in Sydney on May 1 the government’s formal proposal, called a notice of intention, would take some months.

“It is possible that we would have a formal proposal to present to Sydney Airport as soon as the end of this year,” Truss told the conference in prepared remarks.

“If Sydney Airport refuses this proposal, then we will take it to the open market and offer the opportunity to build and operate the new airport to other parties. ” Mather said Sydney Airport would be required to make a decision on the government’s proposal “either four or nine months later, so some time in 2016″.

The government has said previously construction at Badgerys Creek was earmarked to start in 2016 and be operational by the mid-2020s. The airport would initially have a single 4,000m runway and operate without a curfew.

Some early engineering work has already commenced on the 1,700ha site, including a second phase of geotechnical analysis that involved digging 100 boreholes up to a depth of 40m.

Jeff Boyd new CASA chairman

Current Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) deputy chairman Jeff Boyd has been appointed chairman for the next three years.

Boyd will replace current chairman Allan Hawke, who is stepping down after almost six years on the CASA board, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss announced on May 13.

Truss said Boyd would bring a wealth of aviation experience in both management and operational roles to the chairman position. A commercial pilot and licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, Boyd founded Brindabella Airlines in 1994, and sold the business in 2011.

“I look forward to working with Jeff and the new CASA board as they engage with the Australian aviation industry to implement the government’s response to the Aviation Safety Regulation Review Report,” Truss said.

Boyd was appointed CASA’s deputy chairman in July 2014.

Meanwhile, the federal government has re-appointed Sir Angus Houston as chairman of Airservices for a further two years.

“Sir Angus’s performance as Airservices chair over the last three years and his role in leading the Joint Agency Coordination Centre in the search for MH370 demonstrate the attributes that will stand the organisation in good stead for the next two years,” Minister Truss said.

“This is particularly important as the board works towards the harmonisation of the civil and military air traffic management systems in Australia, in conjunction with the Department of Defence. ”

Airservices and RAAF sign MoA on UAVs

A memorandum of agreement between Airservices and the Royal Australian Air Force has cleared the way for the Heron remotely piloted unmanned aircraft to be used in civil airspace.

The Air Force currently has two Heron, which operate out of RAAF Base Woomera in South Australia. So far, the Heron has only flown in restricted military airspace.

The MoA enabled the Heron to fly in civilian airspace from Rockhampton Airport as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 in July.

Airservices executive general manager Greg Hood and Commander Surveillance and Response Group Air Commodore Chris Westwood signed the MoA in Canberra on May 29.

“The purpose of the MoA is to set out procedures for Airservices Australia and Air Force to work within, and allows the Heron to be safely flown in civil airspace without any significant impact on civil air traffic,” AIRCDRE Westwood said.

“The MoA aids both Airservices and Air Force by facilitating the initial operation and integration of remotely piloted aircraft into civil airspace, based on Air Force’s mature and thorough airworthiness and aviation safety system. ” Hood said the MoA recognised the “changing way that airspace is being used to embrace new technologies”.

“We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Defence on the use of this type of technology safely in Australian airspace,” he said.

Defence said the Civil Aviation Safety Authority would also monitor the arrangements.

The government announced a six-year, $120 million lease extension in October 2014 that would keep two Heron aircraft in RAAF service until the introduction of the MQ-4C Triton, subject to the satisfactory execution of the US Navy development program.

Triton was intended to complement the Boeing P-8A Poseidon, replacing the AP-3C Orion under AIR 7000. About seven of the high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft were expected to eventually be based at RAAF Base Edinburgh, north of Adelaide.

The precise number to be acquired by Australia, and their scheduled introduction into service date, would be considered by the government at some point in 2016, following the release of the 2015 Defence White Paper.

First F-35 built with Marand-made vertical tails

The first F-35 Lightning II to feature Australian-made vertical tails has rolled out of Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility.

Built by Melbourne-based manufacturing company Marand, the vertical tails are on F-35 AF‑73, which emerged from Lockheed Martin’s aircraft final finishes facility on April 29.

Work on the vertical tails has been contracted to Marand by BAE Systems, and was one of the largest F-35 manufacturing projects being undertaken by Australia, with 722 shipsets planned.

Marand is also the global sole source of the F-35 engine removal and installation trailer.

Etihad brings the A380 and 787 to Australia

Capacity between Sydney and Abu Dhabi has increased by about 30 per cent with the arrival of Etihad Airways’ Airbus A380 on the route.

Sydney is only the second port to receive Etihad’s A380, which debuted on the Abu Dhabi- London route in December 2014, and the aircraft, A6-APA, was greeted by a traditional water cannon salute upon arrival at Kingsford Smith a few minutes after 1800 on June 1.

Etihad now deploys the A380 daily to Sydney, with EY454 arriving in the evening and the reciprocal EY455 heading back to the United Arab Emirates after a short turnaround.

The airline said upgauging to the A380, as well as replacing some services operated by Airbus A340‑600s with Boeing 777‑300ERs, to Sydney would increase the total number of two-way seats on the route by 30 per cent to 9,568 seats a week.

Etihad chief executive James Hogan said the increase in capacity would help meet the growing Hogan said.

“The A380 will provide us with much-needed additional capacity, particularly in business class, where we consistently enjoy high levels of demand for our services.

“This capacity increase is particularly good news for our premium guests and for high-end leisure and business tourism at both ends of the Sydney-London route. ” Then a day later, Brisbane Airport welcomed the arrival of Etihad’s inaugural Boeing 787-9 service to Australia.

Flight EY484, operated by A6‑BLB, landed just before 1750 local time on June 2. It was Etihad’s first 787 service to Australia and its first direct flight between Brisbane and Abu Dhabi.

Previously, Etihad served Brisbane from its Abu Dhabi hub via Singapore.

Finally, Etihad is also scheduled to launch a second daily flight to Melbourne from the start of August with Boeing 777-300ERs, representing an increase of 4,500 seats per week on the route.

Gulfstream’s G500 takes flight

Gulfstream’s newest business jet, the G500, has successfully completed its maiden flight.

G500 test aircraft N500GA took off from Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport at 1039 local time on May 18 and was in the air for two hours and 16 minutes.

Gulfstream experimental test pilots Scott Martin and Kevin Claffy and flight test engineer Bill Osborne took the G500 to a max altitude of 15,000ft, and flew the aircraft at a maximum air speed of 194kt.

“The crew exercised all primary flight control systems; evaluated handling qualities in takeoff and landing configurations; performed a simulated approach and go-around; and checked all systems using the Symmetry flightdeck touchscreen controllers,” Gulfstream said in a statement.

The all-new Gulfstream G500, which seats up to 18 people, has a range of 5,000nm and a cruising speed of Mach 0. 9, was launched in October 2014 alongside larger sister-ship the G600.

The Savannah-based company was expecting to receive type certification for the G500 from the US Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency in 2017, with entry into service planned for the following year.

The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW814GA engines which power the G500 received certification from Transport Canada in February.

Gulfstream planned to have five aircraft for the G500’s flight test program, including a fully outfitted production aircraft.

Philippine Airlines to serve Cairns, Auckland from December

Philippine Airlines (PAL) will add Cairns as its fifth Australian destination and introduce flights to Auckland from December with Airbus A320s.

The new four-times-a-week service kicks off on December 1 and will operate via a Manila-Cairns-Auckland routing, the airline said on May 21. Currently, Philippine Airlines serves Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane via Darwin from its Manila hub. PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said the airline would have pickup rights on the Cairns-Auckland sector and help stimulate travel between Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia.

Moreover, PAL would offer the 40,000 Filipinos living in NZ a convenient link to their home country. PAL’s A320s are configured with either 150 seats (12 business and 138 economy) or 156 seats (12 business and 144 economy).

Rex adds weekday Cairns-Townsville service

Regional Express (Rex) is further expanding its presence in North Queensland with the addition of weekday services on the Cairns-Townsville route from early July.

The airline will offer three flights a day between Cairns and Townsville on weekdays from July 6. Rex began flying one flight on Saturdays and one on Sundays between Cairns and Townsville in January 2015. Under the new schedule from July 6, the airline will offer three flights a day on the route on weekdays and maintain its two weekend services.

Currently, QantasLink is the only airline offering weekday flights on the Cairns-Townsville route.