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Monday, February 18, 2013

Prince Alwaleed sells A380 flying palace


(AFP/Getty Images)
(AFP/Getty Images)
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal last year sold his yet to be delivered Airbus A380, dubbed 'the flying palace', the chief financial officer of his Kingdom Holding Company said.
"It was sold in the second half of last year," Shadi Sanbar said in an interview with Arabian Business, declining to say to whom the plane was sold and for what amount.
"We can't disclose any details what so ever because of confidentiality agreements we have with the parties," Sanbar said.
Alwaleed, 57, who already owns a Boeing 747-400 which he paid about US$220m for, bought the A380 double-decker in 2007 when it sold for about US$319m at list prices. However, after the outfitting of the aircraft was completed the estimated value of the superjumbo would have been more than US$500m.
The superjumbo was supposed to have a layout that accommodates two Rolls-Royce cars and a number of horses. The A380 is powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines that provide a combined thrust of 72,000 lbf, allowing the plane fly a top speed of Mach 0.96 or 1,020 kmh, with a maximum service ceiling of 43,028 feet. The aircraft's commercial configuration has a passenger capacity for 525 people, which increases to 853 in an all economy class mode.
When contacted by Arabian Business, Habib Fekih, the president of Airbus MENA, declined to comment about the sale of the prince's A380 and would not provide any information on whether there are other customers in the Arab world operating the plane as a private jet.
In addition to the Boeing 747, Alwaleed also owns a Hawker jet and a Airbus A321. The prince's New Kingdom 5KR, when completed in 2014, will cost more than US$500m and be the third largest yacht in the world. Alwaleed's existing 5KR was bought from Donald Trump in 1991.
Alwaleed, nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, owns 95 percent of Kingdom Holding, which he chairs. He is the largest individual shareholder in Citigroup, also holding stakes in News Corp, EuroDisney, Apple, Time Warner and 4 percent of Twitter as well other investments in Saudi Arabia and across the Arab world. The prince retains 47.5 percent of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and fully owns the George V hotel in Paris and the Savoy in London.



http://www.arabianbusiness.com

Boeing readies short-term battery fix, facing uncertainty

Boeing will propose to the FAA some short-term solutions to get its 787s flying while it redesigns the batteries for the long run.


Boeing will propose to regulators as early as this week a short-term fix to bolster the 787’s defenses in case of battery fires like those that have kept the jet grounded for the past month.
The goal is to get the planes flying passengers again, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, while Boeing works on a comprehensive redesign of the lithium-ion battery system that could take nine months or more to implement.
The interim fix includes a heavy-duty titanium or steel containment box around the battery cells, and high-pressure evacuation tubes that, in the event of a battery fire, would vent any gases directly to the outside of the jet.
Boeing's approach implicitly acknowledges that four weeks after two batteries overheated — one catching fire on the ground, the other smoldering in flight — investigators have still not pinpointed the cause.
That leaves Boeing little option for now but to engineer a solution that will better contain any such incident and protect the airplane.
However, it’s unclear if the FAA is ready yet to accept containment of an overheated battery cell rather than prevention.
“We’re not there yet,” said a government official with knowledge of the ongoing discussions, who asked for anonymity. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we’re still talking weeks before everyone is comfortable.”
Even if the FAA agrees, the short-term fix will take at least three months to design, test, certify and retrofit, said an Everett source who knows details of Boeing’s proposed solutions.
That would mean the earliest the Dreamliners could fly passengers again would be May. If it’s much longer than that, assembly of the jets in Everett will probably have to be slowed and Boeing’s plan to ramp up production will be severely disrupted, he said.
“This cannot drag out for six to nine months ... from a financial standpoint. Think about nine months of airplanes just sitting there,” said the Everett source. “This is a gut-wrenching issue.”
Boeing will not disclose any details of the solutions it is working on.
But unlike Airbus, which this past week said it will switch to nickel cadmium main batteries for its forthcoming A350 jet to avoid the possibility of delays, Boeing insists it will stick with the high-energy lithium-ion batteries that provide emergency backup power for the 787.
“Boeing is confident in the safety and reliability of lithium-ion batteries,” said spokesman Marc Birtel, and “good progress is being made” in resolving the battery problem.
But aviation experts are increasingly worried.
Adam Pilarski of consulting firm Avitas warns that though Wall Street currently accepts Boeing’s optimism that the 787 grounding will be relatively short, this forgiving attitude may not last.
“Boeing is trying to play it down to some degree, hopeful the solution is just around the corner,” said Pilarski. “But it may take much longer. And it could have a significant financial impact.”
Ken Herbert, senior vice president with Los Angeles-based investment bank Imperial Capital, wrote in a note to investors Friday that, “there are still considerable concerns as to whether the FAA will sign off on a solution that contains a potential battery fire, rather than one that prevents a fire.
“The risk to Boeing and the supply chain as a result of the 787 grounding is increasing,” Herbert wrote. “We believe the grounding costs Boeing over $25 million a month in direct costs, and the total cost to Boeing could be over $1 billion.”
That will add to the 787’s one-time development costs, which financial analysts estimate have already cost Boeing somewhere between $15 billion and $20 billion.
In addition, before the grounding Boeing had built up more than $21 billion in undelivered 787 inventory. For now, it continues to build the airplanes at a rate of five per month, even though it cannot deliver them.
The 50 Dreamliners delivered previously are all grounded. Boeing has 800 more on firm order.
Top-level teams
Boeing’s proposed fixes are the result of intense, round-the-clock work by hundreds of engineers and technical experts in Everett and elsewhere.
According to Herbert, Boeing currently has approximately 90 engineers in Japan working on a complete redesign of the battery.
Boeing also appointed a top-level team from outside the 787 program, including non-Boeing battery experts, to provide clear-eyed analysis by people not wedded to previous approaches.
The initial redesign includes a fireproof battery box, made of titanium or steel, several sources said. That will seal the cells, keeping moisture out and flames in.
It also includes a venting system that will directly evacuate to the outside any vapor and liquid flowing from the battery.
In the two recent battery overheating incidents, flammable liquid and vapor sprayed out of the battery and across the electronics bay where the battery sits, before reaching an outflow valve.
Longer term, the battery box will be enlarged to provide more separation between the battery’s eight cells, several sources said.
That will help ensure that overheating of one cell doesn’t spread to others — a so-called “thermal runaway” that occurred in both recent incidents.
The battery control system will have sensors to monitor the temperature and voltage of each individual cell rather than the battery as a whole, one source said.
And the same source said engineers are also working on using an inert gas such as halon or nitrogen to expel the oxygen generated when a battery overheats.
Vince Battaglia, a battery scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, said it is simply a matter of proper engineering to dissipate any excessive heat in a battery cell, vent any gases so it doesn’t explode, and prevent a cascade of overheating from cell to cell.
“Good engineers will know how to get the heat out of these cells,” Battaglia said. “If anyone knows how to do that, it’s Boeing.” He added that the original battery design was probably done by the Japanese manufacturer, GS Yuasa, not Boeing.
Boeing’s engineers have had to work on solutions to the battery challenge with a big handicap: They don’t know the precise cause of the two events that grounded the Dreamliner fleet.
Root cause uncertain
Forensic work by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the battery fire in early January on an empty 787 parked at Logan International Airport in Boston started with a short circuit inside one of the battery’s eight cells.
Battery experts caution that while the most likely culprit is a tiny metal shard contaminating the cell during the manufacturing process, the root cause may never be definitively proved because of destruction from the thermal runaway.
Brian Barnett, a battery specialist with Mass.-based technology development company TIAX who has closely studied lithium ion battery failures, said that in his lab’s experience, about half the time “you cannot reach solid conclusions” about the root cause.
Boeing must therefore assume that sometime in the future one of these battery cells will overheat again — and ensure that if that happens, it’s fully contained.
Pilarski of Avitas said that though the NTSB “would like to have 100 percent safety,” the FAA has to recognize that, “You cannot have 100 percent safety. You have to have compromises.”
The FAA accepts that, and certifies aircraft on the basis of minimizing known risks through multiple redundant safety features to leave an extremely low probability of any critical failure.
During 787 certification, the FAA imposed a “special condition” on the battery that demanded safe temperatures be maintained in any foreseeable circumstance that could arise more than once in 10 million flight hours.
But even if Boeing can demonstrate that its battery improvements reduce the chance of a catastrophic battery failure below that level, the FAA may still find it politically difficult to approve Boeing’s short-term fix.
In part, that’s because the flying public will be leery of containing rather than preventing an overheated battery.
“People will be afraid to fly something that smolders in the air,” Pilarski said. “Surprise, surprise.”
That leaves him doubtful that Boeing will easily persuade regulators to let the 787 return to service soon.
Polish national airline LOT on Thursday declared it’s not planning on having its 787s back in service before October. “I think even October is optimistic,” said Pilarski.
Increased pressure
Airbus’ decision, announced Friday, to abandon lithium ion batteries on its A350 jet increases the pressure on Boeing.
The European jet maker was driven by concern that future regulations stemming from the 787 problems might slow down its A350 development schedule.
But for Boeing, it’s not so easy to make such a switch to older technology batteries.
First, the timing is different. Airbus still has certification by European regulators ahead of it, but if Boeing were to switch now to nickel cadmium batteries that would trigger an automatic recertification process, ensuring a long grounding.
Secondly, as Teal Group aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia points out, the Airbus jet’s critical systems are more conventional — most of them powered by hydraulics or pneumatics, not electricity. To increase fuel efficiency, the 787 uses electricity for those systems, and so it requires a high-energy, quickly recharging backup power source.
“Boeing needs a faster response time,” said Aboulafia. “It needs lithium ion.”
Despite Boeing’s battery problems, TIAX’s Barnett said lithium ion technology is not inherently unsafe.
He pointed out that although nearly all U.S. cars use traditional lead-acid batteries, an average of 66,000 car fires a year are blamed on malfunctioning electrical systems.
“Nobody writes about it. It’s old news,” said Barnett. “This is a classic case of new technologies getting orders of magnitude more scrutiny than older technologies.”
Likewise, Lawrence Berkeley’s Battaglia said that, “Once they get the engineering right, it’s not going to be a problem.”
Whatever Boeing proposes to the FAA, the federal agency knows its decision will draw intense scrutiny from Congress, the media and the public.
The Everett source with knowledge of Boeing’s plans said the company has a separate team weighing what alternatives it may have.
“There is what they call a gray team that is looking at what happens if the FAA does not approve the redesign of the battery,” he said. “They’re looking at what else they’d need to do.”


seattletimes.com

Rolls-Royce 2012 profit figures rise 24%


Rolls-Royce Holdings reported an underlying post-tax profit of £1.1 billion ($1.7 billion) for 2012, up 24% on the previous year’s figure of £896 million, on underlying revenues of £12.2 billion, a rise of 8%.
The company comprises four main divisions—civil and defense aerospace, marine and energy, of which civil aerospace is the largest.
Civil aerospace reported underlying revenues of £6.4 billion, up from £5.5 billion for the year-ago period. The division delivered 668 powerplants, up from 554 for the preceding year.
“In the full year, underlying profits increased for the tenth consecutive year,” CEO John Rishton said. “The strength of our order book demonstrates the confidence our customers have in our products and services.” The company as a whole reported its order book had grown 4%, to £60.1 billion.
Order book for the civil aerospace division was up 5%, at £49.6 billion and the division anticipated “modest growth in revenue and strong growth in profit” in 2013.
Chairman Simon Robertson will retire at this year’s annual general meeting May 2 after eight years in the post. He will be replaced by Ian Davis, who has spent more than 30 years with McKinsey & Co., including six as chairman and worldwide managing director.


atwonline.com

Three Aeroflot SSJ100s cleared to resume service


Airworthiness certificates for three Sukhoi Superjet 100s (SSJ100s) operated by Aeroflot have been renewed, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. (SCAC) said in a statement. The aircraft, which were grounded temporarily due to technical reasons, will be back in service by the end of the week.
Russia’s aviation authorities had grounded four SSJ100s; the last aircraft is supposed to renew airworthiness certificate in a few days.
SCAC reported on three main deficiencies that had been discovered during SSJ100 operations—erroneous leakage detection system engagement, a slat extension fault and landing gear-up fault. The manufacturer said it has implemented solutions for all three deficiencies.


atwonline.com

German airports security staff strike continues Friday


German airports Hamburg and Cologne are facing more flight disruptions and cancellations Friday, the second day of strikes by security staff over pay, Trade union Verdi said on Thursday. The strike is set to start early Friday morning and to continue through the day.
On Thursday, Dusseldorf Airport said it had to cancel 200 flights, affecting several thousand travelers as 400 workers walked off the job. Hamburg airport announced 103 cancellations.
Verdi has called for a 33% increase in pay for around 1,000 security personnel employed by private firms at the two airports. It said talks with the Federal Association of Security Industry have not reached an agreement.

German airports were also impacted in January by strike action.


atwonline.com

Farelogix creates ‘Airline Commerce Gateway’


Farelogix has pulled together several of its key products to create the Airline Commerce Gateway, a single platform designed to enable airlines to deliver dynamic content to all distribution channels, from websites to kiosks to GDSs.
“This is not an either/or,” CEO Jim Davidson said. “This doesn’t replace the GDS. The technology exists to accommodate all the distribution channels.”
Davidson said the combination of three interactive engines, covering pricing, merchandising and distribution business rules, put the creation of offers into airlines’ control.
An XML-based direct connection links the airline host system with the three engines, which in turn are linked to various distribution channels, both direct and indirect, via Farelogix’ FLX API.
“We’re not talking about being a GNE,” Davidson said, referring to the so-called GDS New Entrants that caught a lot of attention in the 2006 round of airline-GDS negotiations. “And we’re not talking about just doing direct connects. We are capable of responding to any outlet.”
One of those channels could be the GDSs, he said, but since the events leading up to the ongoing legal battles between airlines and GDSs, “we no longer have access to a GDS.”
Davidson said the system will enable to depict airline merchandising efforts, such as flat beds, upgraded meals and lounge access, in both still shots and videos.
Traditional travel agency screens reduce a seat that converts to a flat bed to a symbol, he said. “How does a travel agency get value out of selling an ‘x’?” he asked.
The GDS companies’ newer, upgraded agency desktops do offer visual enhancements, but airlines complain that most agents prefer to work in the “green screen” environment.
Davidson said that once IATA settles on standards for its New Distribution Capability, the Gateway will become NDC-compliant.
That should not take long. There are indications that IATA has selected the Open AXIS schema, now under ATPCO’s control, as the NDC standard. That schema was donated by Farelogix.


atwonline.com

Ukraine’s South Airlines grounded after fatal Donetsk crash


Ukraine’s aviation authorities have grounded the operations of local charter carrier South Airlines after a crash Wednesday involving an AN-24 at Donetsk airport left at least five dead.
First reports said the aircraft overshot the runway, while later reports said the accident happened when the pilots were trying to land in fog. The aircraft was on a domestic flight from Odessa.
South Airlines` AN-24 was produced in 1973. According to Aleksander Vilkul, vice prime-minister, responsible for the crash investigation, no technical failures were reported.
There were 52 people onboard the charter flight, including eight crew and 44 passengers who were soccer fans traveling to a championship league match.
South Airlines’ fleet consists of a mix of AN-24s, Saab-340Bs, Yakovlev Yak-42Ds and Embraer Legacy 500s.
The airline was founded in 1999 and specializes in charter flights.


atwonline.com

American, US Airways agree on mega-merger


The boards of directors of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and US Airways have “unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine to create a premier global carrier” with an equity value of $11 billion, the two airlines announced Thursday morning.
The new, combined airline will be called “American Airlines” with US Airways chairman and CEO Doug Parker heading the company as CEO. It will be based at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. AMR chairman, president and CEO Tom Horton will temporarily serve as chairman of the board of the new company through its first annual shareholders meeting.
The combined carrier is expected to generate $1 billion in annual net synergies by 2015. Including mainline and regional aircraft, the new American will have more than 1,500 aircraft in its fleet and more than 600 new aircraft on order.
American has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since November 2011, and had originally planned to emerge from bankruptcy as a standalone entity. However, US Airways executives and American’s unionized workers have been pushing for a merger for months, with speculation heating up over the last week that a deal was imminent.
The board of the new company will be comprised of three American representatives, including Horton, four US Airways representatives, including Parker, and five representatives from AMR’s creditor’s committee. 
According to American and US Airways, US Airways stockholders will receive one share of common stock of the new American for each share of US Airways common stock they now hold. In aggregate, US Airways shareholders will hold 28% of the combined airline while 72% will be held by AMR stakeholders, which will include American’s labor unions and current AMR employees.
The merger is contingent on a US bankruptcy court approving AMR’s plan of reorganization to emerge from Chapter 11 as part of the combined carrier. The US Department of Justice must also clear the deal, which is expected.
The new American will operate 6,700 daily flights to 336 destinations in 56 countries. “The combined airline is expected to maintain all hubs currently served by American Airlines and US Airways,” the companies said.
“Today, we are proud to launch the new American Airlines,” Horton said, adding, “The combination of American and US Airways brings together two highly complementary networks with access to the best destinations around the globe and gives us a strong platform to provide our customers the most connected, comfortable travel experience available. The operational and financial strength of the combined airline is expected to enable continued investment in new products and technologies and will create exciting new opportunities for our people, even as we deliver strong cash flow and sustainable profitability.”
He continued, “It is unusual in Chapter 11 cases—and unprecedented in recent airline restructurings—for shareholders to receive meaningful recoveries. I look forward to working closely with Doug Parker.”
Parker said, “American Airlines is one of the world's most iconic brands. The combined airline will have the scale, breadth and capabilities to compete more effectively and profitably in the global marketplace. Our combined network will provide a significantly more attractive offering to customers.”
The merger would leave the US with just three full-service international airlines, down from six five years ago, as the US Airways brand would join Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines as existing only in the history books.


atwonline.com

Iberia cancels 400 flights during first strike wave


Iberia Airbus A320. Courtesy, Iberia
Spanish flag carrier Iberia has canceled 39% of its scheduled flights over the period Feb. 18-22, as it braces for the first wave of staff walkouts in protest against its restructuring.
Detailing its contingency plans, Iberia said it will cancel 415 of its 1,062 flights during the four-day stoppage. The canceled flights comprise 206 domestic sectors (53% of the normal schedule), 190 medium-haul services (39% of normal services) and 19 long-haul flights (10% of normal services).
“In the case of the long-haul flights, less than four flights a day canceled out of almost 40. There are no flights canceled to the US and only a few flights to Latin American destinations,” an Iberia spokesman told ATW.
However, the loss-making Spanish carrier will continue to operate the remainder of its 600 daily flights in line with a Spanish government decree dictating minimum service levels. “Under the decree, 90% of all scheduled long-haul flights will take place during the first strike period, along with 61% of all medium-haul international flights, and 46% of domestic flights,” Iberia said in a statement.
It has also relaxed its ticketing rules and made arrangements with its oneworld partners and “another 10 airlines” to carry passengers where needed.
Contingency plans for strikes on March 4-8 and March 18-22 will be released over the coming days.


atwonline.com

Flydubai seeks new aircraft deal


[Corrected] Arabian low-cost carrier (LCC) Flydubai is in talks with Airbus and Boeing over a major order for single-aisle aircraft. The carrier is believed to be looking for up to 50 aircraft, either A320 or 737 family aircraft.
The news came from Flydubai’s chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum as he was delivering the carrier’s 2012 results in Dubai Wednesday.
Revenue for Flydubai was AED 2,778 million ($756 million), while net profit reached AED151.9 million. This is the first time the airline—which began operations in 2009 and is wholly owned by the government of Dubai—has released any financial figures and none were available from 2011 for comparative purposes.
Ancillary revenues accounted for 16.5% of total revenues and would continue to be a significant component of the company’s earnings, Sheikh Ahmed said. Flydubai’s added-value services include inflight entertainment, seat preferences, checked baggage allowances, travel insurance and visa facilitation services.
The rapidly expanding airline, whose route network has grown from 25 to 52 destinations over the past two years, carried 5.1 million passengers in 2012.
The LCC operates an all-Boeing 737-800 fleet.
Sheikh Ahmed said it was possible that any new order for aircraft could be announced during the Dubai Air Show, which takes place in November.
ATW understands it has not yet been decided to what extent any new aircraft would replace existing examples or feed further expansion. An order for either the Airbus A320neo or Boeing 737 MAX families would be unlikely to arrive much before the end of the decade, by which time early examples in the current fleet would be approaching the 10-year mark.


atwonline.com

American, US Airways aim for 3Q completion of merger


Courtesy, American Airlines
American Airlines and US Airways aim to complete their merger in the 2013 third quarter and see no regulatory hurdles to finalizing the deal. The two airlines entered into adefinitive merger agreement Thursday morning.
American parent AMR Corp. will emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the merger is finalized in the third quarter, US Airways chairman and CEO Doug Parker and American chairman, president and CEO Tom Horton told analysts and reporters in a conference call. Parker will serve as CEO of the new “American Airlines” while Horton will temporarily be chairman of the new company’s board of directors.
Of 900 combined routes the two carriers operate, “there are only 12 direct overlaps,” Horton said. Consequently, “We think this should clear regulatory approval without any carve-outs,” he said. Parker added, “We don’t expect any issues with regulatory authorities.”
The main authorities that will have to clear the deal are the US Department of Justice and the US bankruptcy court overseeing AMR’s Chapter 11 process.
The two carriers have more than 600 aircraft on order through the rest of this decade and don’t plan to change their order books. “The existing aircraft orders we have in place for the two companies we like with deliveries remaining in place,” Parker said.
There are more than 1,500 aircraft in the two carriers’ combined fleet (including regional aircraft), which would make the new American the world’s largest carrier by fleet size. Horton noted that many of these are older aircraft that can be retired as new aircraft are delivered. “We have tremendous flexibility in the new fleet to dial up or down capacity,” Horton said.
The new American plans to keep operating all of the hubs American and US Airways now operate, with American main hub Dallas/Fort Worth and US Airways main hub Phoenix playing key roles. “We’re not at a point where we can start looking at network rationalization,” Horton said. “The plan is to keep both hubs operated by both companies … There will be some changes, but it’s going to be based on the notion that we are going to maintain our own hubs.”
Executives from both airlines said labor deals already agreed to by work groups from both companies will facilitate the merger transition. “The fact that we have labor on board means we have 100,000 people working on the integration and it should go much smoother than [airline merger integrations have] historically,” US Airways president Scott Kirby said.
In terms of systems integration, Parker said he has learned from mistakes made following the 2005 America West Airlines-US Airways merger in which America West (which had been led by Parker) attempted to impose its systems on the larger US Airways. That caused a raft of operational problems. 
“It’s much easier to put the larger airline's systems in place,” Parker said he now believes. “The ingoing premise is you’ll see most of the American Airlines systems put in place at US Airways.”

World ATM Congress Briefs


Canada-based PolarSat has won a multi-phase order from GECI to supply equipment and technical services for a VSATPlus®3 satellite communications network to upgrade ATC communications within Mozambique as part of Aeroportos de Mozambique’s master plan to improve its overall Communications, Navigations and Surveillance capabilities. The Mozambique ATC network comprises 11 sites with two regional control centers all connected in a full mesh all-IP based network. The VSATPlus®3 provides a full mesh, hubless network with no single point of failure, automatically providing connectivity between the two centers in the event of a failure at one of them.
Airbus ATM subsidiary ProSky has been selected by Zurich Airport and Swiss air navigation services provider Skyguide to optimize the Instrument Landing System protection areas of Zurich’s ICAO CATIII runway. They have selected the Exact Landing Interference Simulation Environment services as the best solution to precisely simulate and optimize the critical and sensitive areas of the new localizer antenna for Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 operations. The analysis will also assess the possible gains in terms of size of protection areas by using different localizer antenna systems.
Harris Corp. has unveiled what it claims is the first pure Internet Protocol-based air traffic control voice communications system that can be scaled to support one to 800-plus controller positions. The Harris VoIP system has been specifically designed for ATC, replacing proprietary, time-division multiplexing communications hardware with standards-based, VoIP-enabled voice nodes thereby minimizing dependency on traditional point-to-point communications. It allows net-centric and legacy voice systems to coexist, and offers both US NextGen and Single European Sky ATM Research features and functions.
NAVCANatm, a division of Canada’s air navigation service provider NAV CANADA, has agreed to partner airfield lighting specialist New Bedford Panoramex (NBP) to integrate their airfield ground lighting technology into the NAVCANsuite tower automation system. Integrating NBP’s Integrated Control and Monitor System into NAVCANsuite will give controllers immediate access to an easily configurable airfield lighting control interface. NAVCANsuite integrated ATC products combine flight, surveillance and operational data, providing access to critical airport, tower and terminal information.


atwonline.com

World ATM Congress Briefs


Canada-based PolarSat has won a multi-phase order from GECI to supply equipment and technical services for a VSATPlus®3 satellite communications network to upgrade ATC communications within Mozambique as part of Aeroportos de Mozambique’s master plan to improve its overall Communications, Navigations and Surveillance capabilities. The Mozambique ATC network comprises 11 sites with two regional control centers all connected in a full mesh all-IP based network. The VSATPlus®3 provides a full mesh, hubless network with no single point of failure, automatically providing connectivity between the two centers in the event of a failure at one of them.
Airbus ATM subsidiary ProSky has been selected by Zurich Airport and Swiss air navigation services provider Skyguide to optimize the Instrument Landing System protection areas of Zurich’s ICAO CATIII runway. They have selected the Exact Landing Interference Simulation Environment services as the best solution to precisely simulate and optimize the critical and sensitive areas of the new localizer antenna for Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 operations. The analysis will also assess the possible gains in terms of size of protection areas by using different localizer antenna systems.
Harris Corp. has unveiled what it claims is the first pure Internet Protocol-based air traffic control voice communications system that can be scaled to support one to 800-plus controller positions. The Harris VoIP system has been specifically designed for ATC, replacing proprietary, time-division multiplexing communications hardware with standards-based, VoIP-enabled voice nodes thereby minimizing dependency on traditional point-to-point communications. It allows net-centric and legacy voice systems to coexist, and offers both US NextGen and Single European Sky ATM Research features and functions.
NAVCANatm, a division of Canada’s air navigation service provider NAV CANADA, has agreed to partner airfield lighting specialist New Bedford Panoramex (NBP) to integrate their airfield ground lighting technology into the NAVCANsuite tower automation system. Integrating NBP’s Integrated Control and Monitor System into NAVCANsuite will give controllers immediate access to an easily configurable airfield lighting control interface. NAVCANsuite integrated ATC products combine flight, surveillance and operational data, providing access to critical airport, tower and terminal information.


atwonline.com

Aeroflot’s final SSJ100 receives renewed AC


Aeroflot’s fourth and final Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) has received its renewed airworthiness certificate by Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia.
The aircraft were grounded temporarily due to technical reasons.
According to a statement by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co., deficiencies that were detected during SSJ100 operations—erroneous leakage detection system engagement, a slat extension fault and landing gear-up fault—“have been eliminated in cooperation with the airline.”


atwonline.com

Oman Air leases extra capacity


Oman Air is increasing capacity to the Indian sub-continent by leasing two additional Boeing 737-800s.
The two aircraft, in a 162-seat, two-class layout (12 business, 150 economy) are being wet-leased; Oman Air declined to reveal the lessor’s identity.
The move follows the November 2012 signing of MOUs between Oman, India and Pakistan to help meet increased demand for air services between the Arabian Gulf nation and the two Asian countries.
The two aircraft, which entered service earlier this month, will be used to increase daily services to double-daily from Muscat to Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad. They will also enable the Muscat-Lahore sector to increase its 4X-weekly service to daily and its 3X-weekly Muscat-Islamabad service to daily.
Oman Air operates 15 Boeing 737-800s. It is due to take delivery of a further six 737s from Boeing from 2014, while six 787 Dreamliners are scheduled to start arriving in 2015.


atwonline.com

German airport security staff will not strike this weekend


German airport security staff will not strike over the weekend, according to Trade union Verdi.
German airports in Hamburg and Cologne have been dealing with flight disruptions and cancellations on Thursday and Friday as security staff walked off the job over pay.
Cologne Airport said it had to cancel 107 flights from 194 planned flights, affecting around 10,000 passengers Friday.
Hamburg Airport reported two-thirds of all flights had been cancelled. Passengers had to wait in security lines for up to three hours.
No details about further strikes were available, but actions could continue Monday.


atwonline.com

SkyWest swings to profit in 2012


SkyWest Bombardier CRJ aircraft. Courtesy photo
Utah-based SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines, posted a 2012 net profit of $51.2 million, reversing a $27.3 million net loss in 2011. Full-year total revenue was $3.53 billion, down 3.3% year-over-year.
SkyWest chairman and CEO Jerry Atkin said the company continues to “make positive progress in our cost reduction efforts that are resulting in improved profits, quarter over quarter.”
SkyWest’s fourth-quarter 2012 net income was $13.9 million, reversed from a net loss of $18 million in the year-ago period. SkyWest’s fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2012.
Total operating revenue for the fourth quarter was $810.7 million, down 9.9% year-over-year. SkyWest said the decrease was due primarily to the reduction of $115.8 million of fuel and certain engine overhaul amounts, “which are directly reimbursed by major partners and recorded as operating revenues, offset by an increase in revenues of approximately $27.5 million as a result of additional block hour production and incentive amounts for improvements in completion factors and on-time performance for its flights.”
Total airline expenses decreased $139.1 million, or 15% during the quarter. According to SkyWest, the decrease was primarily the result of “reduced non-pass through maintenance costs of approximately $14.7 million, reduced United Express [Bombardier] CRJ200 engine overhaul costs of approximately $8.7 million and reduced customer service labor of approximately $7.9 million due to the elimination of handling of flights at certain airports.”
As of Dec. 31, 2012, SkyWest’s fleet comprised 744 aircraft, compared to 732 aircraft at the end of 2011.
SkyWest firmed an order for 100 MRJs in December 2012. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2016.


atwonline.com