Category Archives: Aviation

Etihad Engineering has been awarded a heavy maintenance contract by Virgin Australia for its Boeing 737 fleet. The scope of the contract covers heavy maintenance and modifications on more than 30 nose-to-tail aircraft for the largest airline by fleet size under the Virgin brand. The contract was announced during the Dubai Airshow. Etihad Engineering is showcasing its comprehensive range of aircraft maintenance and engineering solutions at Stand 1110 at the show, taking place from November 14 to 18, 2021. Abdul Khaliq Saeed, Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Engineering, says, “We are pleased to welcome another valued customer from Australia to our facility in Abu Dhabi. With Australian borders reopening and international flights resuming, we are all geared up to support the Virgin Australia team ensuring its Boeing 737 fleet continue to take to the skies in top shape as they meet the projected increase in passenger demand.” Stuart Aggs, Chief Operations Officer, Virgin Australia, says, “As domestic and international flying ramps up from an Australian perspective, Virgin Australia is as focussed as ever on safety and on ensuring our aircraft operate at, and are maintained to, the highest possible standard.” Etihad Engineering has been consistently adding to its comprehensive capabilities on major commercial Boeing and Airbus platforms, including the A350 and the A320neo, and partnering with industry leaders regionally and globally to strengthen its global customer footprint beyond the Middle East across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Latin America. Etihad Engineering’s state-of-the-art facility is located in Abu Dhabi, adjacent to Abu Dhabi International Airport, over an area of 500,000 sq. m., with 140,000 sq. m., dedicated to aircraft parking and preservation. Aircraft hangars at the facility cover approximately 66,000 sq. m., …

At the Dubai Air Show, Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding with Ethiopian Airlines that will help the airline to bring cost savings to its maintenance operations with Boeing’s 787 landing gear exchange program. “As the fastest growing airline in Africa, much of our success depends on our ability to seek out new ways to drive operational efficiency in our processes,” said Tewolde GebreMariam, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ethiopian Airlines. “As the commercial airline market continues to recover, we believe these services offered by Boeing provide a reliable way to realize more stability and predictability in managing our overall maintenance operations and costs across our fleet.” With the landing gear exchange program, Boeing will guarantee availability of 29 landing gear shipsets wherever and whenever they are needed to support the Ethiopian 787 fleet, enabling more efficient and cost-effective maintenance operations. The Boeing 787 landing gear exchange program greatly simplifies the contracting, scheduling and management of the landing gear overhaul process. Through this program, air carriers can quickly exchange landing gears that need to be repaired or overhauled with a replacement set of certified landing gear from a dedicated resource pool maintained by Boeing. By managing all parts, engineering and technical aspects of the program, Ethiopian Airlines will have the flexible exchange solution they need to repair and replace landing gear while lowering inventory costs. Boeing will also provide access to loaner Landing Gear shipsets and parts during unexpected AOG situations.

Sanad, the global aerospace engineering and leasing solutions leader wholly-owned by Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (Mubadala), has secured a new US$ 100 million evergreen revolving credit facility with First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) the UAE’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions. The new financing deal, signed during this week’s Dubai Airshow 2021, extends Sanad and FAB’s 10-year relationship which has now seen the two UAE-based companies close over US$ 950 million worth of combined agreements. The various financings are extended in support of Sanad’s global spare engine leasing and component access portfolios. Troy Lambeth, Group Chief Executive Officer of Sanad, said: “Our longstanding banking relationship with FAB, the oldest and largest within Sanad, has played a key role in our growth as a reliable financial solutions provider within the industry. Working closely with each of our banking partners, we have been well positioned to provide attractive long-term financing solutions to our customers since our launch. We are delighted to see our relationship with FAB expand to this new facility as we now look to extend our product and service offerings further across the industrial services sector.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the commitments towards strengthening climate action made at COP26, and called on the global efforts to decarbonize aviation to be supported with practical, effective government policies. Management of international aviation’s climate commitments sits outside of the COP process and is the responsibility of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Nevertheless, airlines at the 77th IATA AGM in Boston, October, agreed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with the stretch Paris agreement target to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees. “Airlines are on the pathway to net-zero carbon emissions, in line with the Paris agreement. We all want the freedom to fly sustainably. Reaching net-zero emissions will be a huge task requiring the collective effort of industry and support from governments. The pledges made at COP26 show that many governments understand the key to rapid progress is to incentivize technological change and fund innovative solutions. This is particularly true of sustainable aviation fuels, which will play a major role in addressing aviation’s environmental impact—they need the right incentives from governments to ramp-up production,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

Boeing announced the addition of three conversion lines for 737-800BCF across North America and Europe. The company also signed a firm order with Icelease for eleven of the freighters as the launch customer for one of the new conversion lines. In 2022, the company will open one conversion line at Boeing’s London Gatwick Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) facility, modifying 737-800 commercial aircraft into Boeing Converted Freighters and increasing its footprint in the Crawley area, and two conversion lines in 2023 at KF Aerospace MRO in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. “This new work for London Gatwick not only is a result of the cargo demand we’re seeing worldwide, but also because of the aviation industry’s valued position in the United Kingdom,” said Sir Martin Donnelly, president of Boeing Europe and managing director of Boeing in the UK and Ireland. “From Lossiemouth to Sheffield to Gosport to Crawley, Boeing’s footprint in the UK across defence, commercial and services is robust and growing, and today’s announcement is yet another in recent weeks that demonstrates our partnership here.”

DHL Express inaugurated a new cargo airline DHL Air Austria, headquartered at Vienna Airport. DHL Air Austria will handle European cargo flights in the future with eighteen Boeing 757 aircraft and around 176 pilots. The inauguration flight of the first registered Boeing 757 under the Austrian flag also took place in the presence of key partners from the responsible aviation authorities such as the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology and Austro Control. The founding of DHL Air Austria is an important milestone for DHL Express in Austria, which began 41 years ago: “With this important step, we are making our air freight network in Europe more flexible and stable, while at the same time continuing to meet our customers’ high demand for cross-border express deliveries and providing them with sufficient capacity,” says Ralf Schweighöfer, CEO, DHL Express Austria.

American Airlines Cargo has further expanded its international network with the introduction of service to New Delhi, starting on Nov.12, 2021. American marks its return to the Indian capital city with a daily service from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). This expansion will be followed by daily service between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR) in early 2022, linking two critical global technology markets with the U.S. and beyond. The New Delhi service will operate using a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, the largest widebody in American’s fleet. The freight forwarder community in India is eager to support the launch of this international service that will connect many commodities, such as leather products, textiles, ready-made garments, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and technology parts with destinations around the world via JFK. “India is a really exciting market for our cargo business and we are delighted to be returning to these key destinations. There has long been a demand from our customers in the region for a direct link with New York, and we anticipate strong support for the service,” said Tim Isik, Sales Director – EMEA & APAC for American Airlines Cargo.

Lufthansa Cargo reported traffic revenue increase of 37 percent to €2.4 billion for nine months ended September 30, 2021, from €1.8 billion in January-September 2020. The increased capacity (available cargo tonne-kilometres) by 5 percent compared to the previous year and sales (revenue cargo tonne-kilometres) increased 11 percent to 5.2 billion. “Cargo load factor improved four percentage points to 71.8 percent and yields, adjusted for exchange rate effects, went up in all traffic regions and were 25.4 percent higher overall than the previous year,” an official statement said. Lufthansa Group’s cargo business revenue increased 37 percent to €2.8 billion for January-September 2021 on higher sales and better yields. Carsten Spohr, CEO, Lufthansa Group, told analysts, “The unprecedented strength of the air cargo market will continue”. “Cargo results remain on record levels even in the lower-volume summer months”, CFO Remco Steenbergen added.

Go First becomes the first airline to start a direct international connection from Srinagar to Sharjah. It has inked a pact with UAE-based Lulu Group and becomes the first airline to commence international cargo services from Kashmir Valley. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Go First Head (Corporate Affairs) Mohit Dwivedi and Lulu Group Director Salim M A, in the presence of Principal Secretary Industries and Commerce, and Administrative Secretary, Civil Aviation Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Ranjan Thakur. “On behalf of the Lulu, I am very thankful to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Government of India for giving us the opportunity to come to Kashmir. We are quite surprised to see the immense opportunities that we have for the exports from here. As Lulu, we will be able to take a lot of fruit, vegetables and antique and craft and a lot more items. We assure you that we will do our best to export goods from Kashmir.” said Salim M A, Director, Lulu Group “On behalf of Go First, I would like to thank the Jammu and Kashmir government, Lulu Group and the Government of India, for giving us this opportunity for taking up the cargo for gulf countries. We are happy with this agreement. The airline will start the operations from December this year.” said Mohit Dwivedi, Head (Corporate Affairs), Go First.

cargo.one announces the launch of a real-time data and analytics product called cargo.one360. This will provide cargo.one partner airlines with unique insights to maximize their sales performance in digital channels. cargo.one360 helps airlines to accelerate the airlines’ adoption of best practices in digital sales, delivers valuable customer insights, and reflects market changes and trends to facilitate better tactical and strategic commercial decision-making. As the Boston Consulting Group recently noted, data-based steering can boost net profits by up to 12 percent in the first year. While an increasing shift towards digital sales predates the pandemic, Covid-19 has supercharged this trend: volatile schedules, constrained capacity, and disrupted pricing mechanisms have sent customers seeking transparency on offers, and instantly confirmed bookings.