ATW Daily News

Singapore Airshow News

Friday February 5, 2010

Singapore Airlines A380s stealing market share, Airbus claims
Pratt confident GTF can be installed on 737NG
747-8 first flight very near
India's Air Works looks to enlarge footprint in commercial MRO
Additional stories

Bombardier displayed a Q400 for ATW's Phoenix Award winner, airBaltic at the Singapore Airshow.

Singapore Airlines A380s stealing market share, Airbus claims

The A380 is proving a winner on medium-range routes and is lifting passenger loads by up to 8%, Airbus claimed. Speaking to ATWOnline in Singapore, Director-Product Marketing-A380 Richard Carcaillet said Singapore Airlines is delighted with the aircraft's performance on the medium-range Singapore-Hong Kong and Singapore-Tokyo Narita routes.

On the Narita service, SIA, the dominant carrier on the route, has lifted its passenger count by 8% after introducing the A380 while all other airlines have experienced declines, according to Sabre booking data analyzed by Airbus and supplied to this website. ANA dropped 13%, Japan Airlines 19%, United Airlines 22% and Delta Air Lines 7%.

While some of the decrease can be attributed to the economic downturn, these figures, which heretofore have been confidential, cover the period of May-December 2008 before the full impact of the downturn was felt. SIA and Qantas are averaging an 83% load factor across their A380 flights, Airbus says.

Carcaillet also told this website that SIA's A380s are achieving a 20% reduction in fuel burn over the 747-400. He said this supports Airbus figures that show the A380 with 525 seats has an 8% fuel burn advantage over the yet-to-fly 405-seat 747-8. Airbus has adjusted its seating figures to reflect the new business class flat beds, while Boeing claims there is just a 100-seat difference between the two jets.

On reliability, Carcaillet said the A380 had a 97% technical dispatch record in the first year, which compares favorably with the 777 at around 98% and is well ahead of the 747-400, which swung between 89% and 93% when it entered commercial operations. Airbus is targeting 98% reliability for the A380 this year. The first major batch of software upgrades was introduced on Ship 33, the first for Air France, and these are "making a difference," he said. The upgrade is being refitted to the other 26 aircraft in service. The A380 has generated approximately 100,000 revenue flight hr. on 10,000 flights.

On the production front, Carcaillet said Airbus will deliver 20 aircraft this year, including three that were supposed to have been delivered in 2009. "We are at 1.5 aircraft a month and moving up to two a month by year end," he noted.
by Geoffrey Thomas

Pratt confident GTF can be installed on 737NG

Pratt & Whitney's PW1000G can be installed on the 737NG and will achieve a double-digit fuel burn improvement, according to Senior VP-Sales Bob Keady. Responding to a question from ATWOnline here, he said preliminary studies have been completed and Boeing has "some very smart engineers" and would not need to modify the main undercarriage.

Whereas Pratt is supplying the engine under its own banner for the Bombardier CSeries, Mitsubishi Regional Jet and Irkut MC-21, it appears likely that for the A320 and 737 re-engine it will be marketed and supplied through IAE. Airbus confirmed this week that it hopes to announce a re-engine option for the A320 by the Farnborough Airshow.

Keady was coy on how the IAE partnership could be extended to cover the geared turbofan, saying, "IAE is a great brand and P&W is talking to customers to achieve the best possible solution."

He was upbeat on the PW1000G's performance, telling media that the demonstrator engine has completed 40,000 simulated takeoffs at maximum torque and "the original machining marks" are still visible. "We have also tested the engine to 2.5 normal takeoff load with no gear or bearing stress," he added. "We have mastered gearbox technology and we have a significant advantage over any other engine."

While the PW1000G was not selected for the COMAC C919, Keady said that door is still open and discussions are ongoing.
by Geoffrey Thomas

747-8 first flight very near

Boeing is set to announce the first flight window for its 747-8F possibly as early as this week for first flight late next week. At the Singapore Airshow, VP-Marketing Randy Tinseth said Ship 1422, the third aircraft in the flight test program, is "91% complete."

He added that 93% of the engineering data has been released for the 747-8I, which "was ahead of the [rescheduled] plan." Gauntlet tests on the first 747-8 have been completed and low-speed and high-speed taxi tests are underway.
by Geoffrey Thomas

India's Air Works looks to enlarge footprint in commercial MRO

Air Works India Engineering, the country's leading aviation services company, is looking to leverage recent EASA repair station certifications for the 737NG and ATR 42/72 to boost its presence in India's commercial aviation sector, according to Director and Group Head Ravi Menon, who spoke with ATWOnline in Singapore this week.

Menon, a member of the family that founded the company in 1951, noted that Air Works is no stranger to the MRO market, having performed C checks on Jet Airways' 737s in the early 1990s. In 2007 it made the decision to transform the family-owned business by bringing in two outside investors--Global Technology Investment Group, a New York-based investment firm, and Punj Lloyd, an Indian company specializing in the energy and infrastructure sectors.

With fresh capital, the company began growing its footprint beyond the corporate and general aviation sector (where it is India's biggest provider) into MRO for the burgeoning airline industry. Currently, India has very little domestic third-party MRO capability, with transports either maintained in-house or sent out of the region to MRO facilities in places like Malaysia and the Middle East.

Last November, Air Works became the first Indian company to receive EASA certification, covering airframe and component maintenance for 737NGs and Classics and the ATR family. It already held DGAC authority, Menon pointed out, but EASA certification makes it possible to attract aircraft that are on lease to Indian airlines, as lessors typically require carriers to have such aircraft maintained at FAA- or EASA-certified stations. In January, Air Works received Airbus certification for the A320 up to A check and is working toward C check authority.

The company is developing a maintenance center at Hosur, a privately owned airport near Bangalore. Menon noted that India's primary and secondary airports are too crowded and space-constrained to develop new MRO capability. The first hangar at Hosur is operational and can handle one 737/A320 and a turboprop. It has carried out C checks on a pair of Kingfisher ATR 72s and a 737 for SpiceJet.

The second facility will be a paint hangar, with construction set to start in the next three months. Air Works also has plans for a general aviation hangar to undertake major checks and in 3-4 years, depending on how the market develops, a widebody facility.
by Perry Flint

Airbus is upbeat on airline growth prospects in 2010 based on January traffic figures. COO-Customers John Leahy said this week that passenger traffic was up 3.2% in January on the year ago month, according to ICAO and IATA data. He said the figures led Airbus to believe that "our best-case scenario may come to pass." That scenario sees 4.5% growth this year and 6% next year.

The manufacturer also is bullish on the growth potential of low-cost carriers in the Asia/Pacific region. In figures released at the Singapore Airshow, Leahy said that in September 2001 only 48 city-pairs were connected by LCCs while in September 2009 there were 576 airport pairs. Interestingly, whereas the average distance between LCC city-pairs in 2001 was 700 km., this grew to 1,800 km. last year. While yearly passenger growth in the region has averaged 6% since 2001, LCC's have grown at 38% annually and have seized a 14% share of the intra-Asia travel market.

Separately, Leahy said Airbus expects to sell around 10 A380s this year. At the company's press event in Seville, he said it expected 250-300 orders this year, including "some" for the A380.

CAE signed a contract with AirAsia to train student cadets for the airline in a Multi-Crew Pilot License beta program designed to ICAO standards. According to CAE, the program "is the first application of an MPL program that will adhere to new performance-based Approved Training Organization certification requirements developed by Transport Canada." At the conclusion of the 56-week program, successful cadets are expected to receive an MPL license from Transport Canada and authority from Malaysia's Dept. of Civil Aviation and will enter AirAsia's initial operating experience program for A320 first officers.

GE Aviation said the GEnx-2B engine for the 747-8 is undergoing icing tests at GE's Mirabel, Quebec, icing facility, its final test before certification. In January the GEnx-2B completed its second round of flight tests aboard GE's 747 flying testbed and has racked up a total of 53 flights and 275 flight hr.

Honeywell said that Indonesia's Lion Air extended an avionics selection for 78 additional 737NGs, completing the entire 737 fleet of 178 aircraft with Honeywell avionics including its IntuVue 3-D Weather Radar. Other systems include the CAS 100 ACAS with ADS-B, Quantum Line comm/nav radios, High Frequency Radio CNS, Solid-State Recorders, FDAMS and Rescu 406 ELT.

Honeywell will provide an avionics suite for Hainan Airlines' 13 A320 deliveries beginning in 2010 with options for 30 more. Value was not disclosed. The package includes the ADIRU, ACAS, CVR and FDR, EGPWS and Air Traffic Services Unit with Airline Operational Communication software.

The company will provide wheel and brake carbon materials for Qantas's fleet of six A380s as well as 14 additional aircraft on order. It will provide APU repair and overhaul services for China Eastern Airlines' 331-350 APU on 20 A330s and five A340s over the next 10 years.

Honeywell announced that Jeju Air will replace the wheels and brakes on its 737s with Honeywell wheels and steel brakes. It extended an agreement with Vietnam Airlines covering APU MRO for three more years; the deal covers 36-300, 331-350, 36-150RR and 331-500 APUs on two F70s, 10 A320s, five A330s and 10 777s. It finalized a 10-year maintenance agreement with Singapore Airlines covering its IntuVue 3-D weather radar on SIA's fleet of 19 777-300ERs.

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