Debrief

As part of its strategy to engage more girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)  based subjects and career paths, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has launched a new initiative based around a character named Jasper created in a partnership between Air Force Plan Jericho and UTS Animal Logic Academy. Jasper is based on Squadron Leader Jacqueline Killian, who voices the grown-up Jasper in the new short animated video.

Canada’s Auditor General has criticised a plan to acquire between 18 and 25 second-hand RAAF F/A-18A/B Hornets for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) from 2019. Auditor General Michael Ferguson found in a report that Canada lacked the pilots and maintenance personnel to support and operate Canada’s existing fleet of about 80 CF-18s, let alone additional aircraft.

The RAAF C-130J Hercules could have more range, more time on station for missions such as search and rescue, and more fuel offload capacity at forward bases thanks new external fuel tanks. Amid a growing requirement to refuel ADF and coalition vehicles and helicopters on the ground at forward bases direct from tactical transport aircraft, two C-130Js are being fitted with new external tanks. Each has four tonnes of fuel capacity, dramatically increasing the amount of fuel the aircraft could offload without compromising its own reserves. The first C-130J fitted with external tanks will be deployed to Guam for the joint Operation Christmas Drop exercise, conducted with US forces, delivering food, clothing and toys to outlying communities in the Marshall Islands. “Extra fuel is useful during forward arming and refuelling point (FARP) operations, where the crew land and offload fuel to another aircraft, vehicle or storage tank,” Commander Air Mobility Group AIRCDRE William Kourelakos said.

OEM News

Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of marketing Randy Tinseth says he expects orders for the airframer’s in development 777-8X large widebody to start coming in once the first 777-300ERs near retirement age. “The 777-8 is really about the replacement for the 777-300ER,” Tinseth told Australian Aviation in mid-October. “And we’re not going to see that replacement cycle for that aircraft until we get into the next decade. So even though the 8 has lagged the 9, at the end of the day I think we have great opportunities, especially as the 777-300ERs start hitting 20 to 25 years in terms of their age.” As at the end of October, the Boeing website showed there were 326 orders for the 777X family of aircraft with 53 the 777-8X and the remainde the larger 777-9X.

Still on the 777X, Boeing said on November 20 the program had achieved a major production milestone with the first fuselage section of the first 777X flight test aircraft completed. The aircraft has completed the “final body join”, where the nose, mid and aft sections are connected. Flight tests are expected to in the first quarter of this year. Boeing vice president and general manager of the 777X program, Josh Binder, said the project is progressing on schedule. “With the 777X, the production system was integrated into the development program sooner than any other airplane, and the team is doing a great job of hitting our milestones as expected,” he said in a statement.

And in more 777X news, Boeing has added the aircraft to its business jet BBJ lineup. The BBJ 777X would be available in both the 777-8 and 777-9 models, Boeing announced at the Middle East Business Aviation Association Show (MEBAA) on December 10. The BBJ 777-8 would have a range of 11,645nm and a cabin size of 302.5 square metres, while, the larger BBJ 777-9 would offer a cabin measuring 342.7 square metres and be capable of flying up to 11,000nm.

Airbus has officially opened its Zephyr High Altitude PseudoSatellite (HAPS) operating site at Wyndham in Western Australia. The site is the first operational launch facility for the Zephyr, a solar-electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can fly in the stratosphere for weeks at a time. “The official opening of the Airbus Wyndham launch site in Western Australia, the world’s first operational HAPS site, marks the start of a new era for Zephyr,” Airbus’s Head of Unmanned Aerial Systems Jana Rosenmann said. “We are proud to see Australia become part of the Zephyr operational network. The site is our gateway to the stratosphere and will be the main flight base for Zephyr going forward.”

Still on Airbus, the aerospace giant has appointed Dominic Asam as its new chief financial officer. Asam, currently chief financial officer at Infineon Technologies, will take over from Harald Wilhelm on April 1. Separately, the company named Michael Schöllhorn as Airbus Commercial Aircraft chief operating officer. Schöllhorn will join the company on February 1 from BSH Home Appliances GmbH where he has been chief operating officer since 2015. He replaces Tom Williams, who is retiring.

Industry News

Airservices Australia said on December 4 the Onesky joint civil and military air traffic management project has moved into the detailed design phase following the completion of the system definition review of the Civil Military Air Traffic Management System – CMATS – conducted by Airservices and supplier Thales. Meanwhile, Airservices said Melbourne, Perth and Sydney air traffic management (ATM) service facilities had switched over to the Civil Military ATM voice communication system, with Brisbane expected to switch over in 2019. “Achieving this milestone on schedule and with no disruption to existing services is an exceptional demonstration of how civil and military air traffic operations will work together,” Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield said in a statement.

A federal parliamentary committee has called for a ban on the use of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used for aviation firefighting on military bases, and the establishment of a coordinatorgeneral to manage the fallout from their use. The recommendations were two of nine included in the report by a Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade inquiry into PFAS contamination in and around Australian Defence Force (ADF) bases. The report was released on December 3.

‘Boeing has added the 777X to its business jet BBJ lineup.’

Air travel technology provider SITA says it is continuing to talk with the Australian Government about further measures to streamline the arrivals and departures process for international travellers. “Immigration is not yet integrated and we are still discussing with the governments and the authorities to make it work,” SITA president for Asia Pacific Sumesh Patel told Australian Aviation. “It is all to do with a process. It’s not that the governments don’t want to do it. But they also need to prepare themselves in terms of systems.”

Sydney Airport has taken out the capital city airport of the year award at the Australian Airports Association (AAA) national conference for a second straight year. The airport also received an innovation and excellence (technology) award for its facial recognition trial conducted earlier in 2018. Others to be recognised at the AAA national conference dinner in Brisbane on November 14 included former Brisbane Airport chief executive Julieanne Alroe who received an outstanding contribution to the airport industry award.

‘We as a nation can’t afford that kind of attitude towards investment in airports.’ LYALL STRAMBI

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) chief executive and director of aviation safety Shane Carmody says the number of incidents involving drones has levelled off amid their growing popularity. “When we talk about drones … the amount of safety reports on drones and aircraft interactions appear at least to me to have plateaued,” Carmody told delegates at the Australian Airports Association (AAA) national conference in Brisbane in November. “We hope that this is at least in part due to a strong educational campaign. There is a lot more work to do and an awful lot of focus goes into this.”

Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi says the energy sector is a good example of what happens to an industry facing regulatory uncertainty and has urged the aviation sector not to go down the same path. “It really concerns me greatly to see some of the regulatory uncertainty and upheaval in some other segments at the moment,” Strambi told the AAA national conference. “You know the change in the energy market at the moment, that constant change, I think is just having a chilling effect on investment. We as a nation can’t afford that kind of attitude towards investment in airports. The cost would be huge to us.” The regulation of Australia’s airports is currently the subject of a Productivity Commission inquiry.

Airline News

Melbourne Avalon became Australia’s newest international airport on December 5 following the arrival of AirAsia X flight D7216, operated by Airbus A330-300 9M-XBA. The low-cost carrier has switched its twice daily flight between Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne from Tullamarine to Avalon, having signed a 10-year deal with Avalon Airport’s operator Linfox Airports earlier in 2018. To cater for the start of international operations, a new terminal was built at Avalon in partnership with the Commonwealth and Victorian governments.

Fiji Airways has become the first operator in Oceania to take delivery of the Boeing 737 MAX. The airline received 737 MAX 8 DQ-FAB at Boeing’s Renton facility  in Washington State on Friday, November 30. The two-leg delivery flight began with a six-and-a-half hour trip from Boeing Field to Honolulu. After a two-night stop in Hawaii, the final leg departed at about 0600 on December 2, arriving at Nadi at about 1250 local time on December 3.

Still on Fiji Airways, the airline officially joined the oneworld airline marketing alliance as a “oneworld connect” member on December 5. The new category of membership, which was launched in June, allowed airlines that wished to join the alliance but did not have either the resources, or need, to offer full reciprocity of frequent flyer benefits and integration with the rest of the full oneworld membership the opportunity to do so.

In other oneworld news, the alliance announced in December that Morocco flag carrier Royal Air Maroc would be its latest full member.

TAP Portugal has become the first airline to take delivery of the A330neo family of aircraft after accepting A330-900 CS TUB at the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. The official delivery ceremony for TAP’s A330-900 – one of 21 it plans to operate – took place on November 26. The airline plans to deploy the aircraft on flights from Portugal to the Americas and Africa. The aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines.

Airbus has delivered the first A321LR long-range narrowbody to launch customer Arkia Airlines. The delivery ceremony was held at the Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany on November 13 with representatives from the Israel-based airline, Airbus executives, invited guests and media. The A321LR 4X-AGH took off from Hamburg on its ferry flight to Tel Aviv a little after 1420, landing at Ben Gurion International Airport about four hours later. Arkia became the launch customer for the A321LR following the collapse of Primera. The aircraft is powered with CFM LEAP 1-A engines.

Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) preliminary report on the crash of Lion Air flight JT610 said the pilots of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 PK-LQP had a “flight control problem” before the aircraft plunged into the Java Sea. The report, published in late November, said information from the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) showed “a difference between left and right angle of attack (AoA) of about 20° and continued until the end of recording”. Further, the report said the second in command requested approval from air traffic control “to some holding point” due to what was described as a “flight control problem”.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has brought in additional oversight of Lion Air Group airlines Malindo and Batik’s flights to Australia following the crash of flight JT610. CASA director of aviation safety Shane Carmody said the additional oversight involved ramp checks and focusing the CASA’s inspection regime to see if anything had been missed. “This week and last week, my staff were at aerodromes and airport in Western Australia and in the Northern Territory conducting active surveillance on Malindo and Batik Air as a consequence of the Lion Air tragedy of a couple of weeks ago,” Carmody told the AAA national conference in Brisbane.

Regional Express (Rex) has reaffirmed expectations of doubledigit profit growth in the current financial year even as it faces substantial challenges from the impact of global events on the local economy. “The board is cautiously confident that the group will still be able to turn in at least double-digit growth for the new financial year if fuel prices remain at today’s level,” Rex deputy chairman John Sharp told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on November 21 in prepared remarks.

“The revenue growth in the first quarter of the financial year bears out the optimism of the board.”

Cobham Aviation Services Australia said on November 19 it had secured a three-year contract extension to provide fly in/fly-out (FIFO) services to mining company OZ Minerals. Under the new deal, Cobham will operate 14 flights a week between Adelaide and the $900 million Carrapateena copper-gold project in South Australia’s far north with Avro RJ100 aircraft. The contract expands on Cobham’s existing work with OZ Minerals that includes five services a week to the Prominent Hill copper-gold mine, south-east of Coober Pedy, and current four to Carrapateena.

Air New Zealand has started operations with its Airbus A321neo narrowbody. The inaugural service, operated by ZK NNA, was the NZ739 from Auckland to Brisbane on November 23. The airline has chosen Pratt & Whitney PG1000G engines to power its six A320neos and seven A321neos are due to arrive between now and the end of the year. The airline also plans to use the A321neo on the Auckland-Gold Coast route from February.

Virgin Australia News

Virgin Australia group executive for airlines Rob Sharp has reaffirmed the group’s commitment to operate from the Western Sydney Airport being built at Badgerys Creek. “Sydney Kingsford Smith is basically full from a practical perspective,” Sharp told media on the sidelines of the AAA) national conference. “All the key slots that align with overseas are largely full so we’ve been a big supporter of Badgerys Creek. We’ve announced that both Virgin and Tiger will go in there. We clearly see that that capacity is going to be needed.”

Still on Virgin Australia, Sharp said the airline group’s relationship with the nation’s airports was strong, even as the airlines’ industry group Airlines for Australia and New Zealand (A4ANZ) lobbies the Productivity Commission for changes to the current regulatory arrangements for the nation’s airports. “We are working closely with them and they are key partners for us at the end of the day,” Sharp said. “Does that mean we don’t have some concerns around some of the structures of privatisation. No, we do and we are raising those through A4ANZ. But we’ve got a strong relationship with airports.”

‘Virgin has raised the prospect of using Tigerair on trans-Tasman routes.’

Australia’s International Air Services Commission (IASC) has approved Virgin Australia’s application to vary a number of the traffic rights agreements it currently holds to include a condition permitting its low-cost carrier (LCC) subsidiary Tigerair Australia to utilise its allocated capacity. The IASC decisions handed down on November 30 allowed Tigerair Australia to operate international flights from Australia to New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Tigerair Australia has not operated international flights since it ended service to Denpasar in 2017. However, Virgin Australia has raised the prospect of using the LCC on trans-Tasman routes in response to Air New Zealand’s decision to walk away from its alliance with the Australian carrier.

Qantas Group News

Qantas looks set to return to Fiji for the first time in many years in 2019 after lodging an application for capacity rights to serve the popular Pacific Island tourist destination. The airline has asked Australia’s International Air Services Commission (IASC) for 696 seats per week between Australia and Fiji. As Qantas’s Boeing 737-800s are configured with 174 seats – 12 business recliners in a 2-2 layout and 162 economy class seats at six abreast – the application for 696 seats a week suggested the airline is planning to operate four return flights a week. Qantas last flew to Fiji with its own aircraft in the early 2000s. Currently, it codeshares on Fiji Airways’ nonstop flights from Nadi to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as between Sydney and Suva.

Still on Qantas, the airline received its eighth Boeing 787-9, with the aircraft arriving in Melbourne after its ferry flight from the United States on November 22. Named Great Barrier Reef and registered VH-ZNH, the 787-9 completes the initial order for eight 787-9s that Qantas placed in August 2015. However, Qantas has a follow-on order for six of the next generation widebodies with those aircraft due to begin arriving between late 2019 and late 2020.

Jetstar Japan announced plans in November to acquire three long-range Airbus A321LRs to boost capacity in its home market and for expansion into mediumhaul routes. The three aircraft are expected to join the fleet from 2020. Jetstar Japan is the second member of the Jetstar family of airlines to opt for the A321LR, following Qantas’s announcement in February 2018 that Jetstar Australia And New Zealand would add 18 of the type to the fleet from mid-2020.

Qantas is up-gauging its flights between Alice Springs and Darwin from 125-seat single class Boeing 717s to 174-seat, two-class 737- 800s from the end of March 2019. The airline also planned to start twice weekly nonstop flights from Uluru to both Adelaide and Darwin with 737-800s.

Still on Qantas’s Top End network, the airline is dropping nonstop flights from Cairns to Alice Springs and Darwin, while Perth-Darwin will no longer see additional services during peak travel periods, instead remaining at seven 737-800 flights a week throughout the year. Finally, Perth-Alice Springs would be cut from daily to twice weekly. The route is served with 717s.

Finally, Qantas has launched flights between Sydney and Bendigo with Dash 8 Q300 turboprops. The flights will begin on March 31 and operate six days a week, with the service increasing to daily during the peak summer season. Qantas said in December it will be the first airline to offer commercial flights out of Bendigo in 30 years.