General Aviation/Helicopter News

Non-commercial aircraft are expected to carry one in nine international visitors to the World Cup in Brazil next year by some estimates, but industry leaders say the country is unprepared for the oncoming swarm. Desperately needed new airstrips will not be ready in time for the tournament and air-traffic plans at crowded airports are still unresolved, said executives in Sao Paulo this week for LABACE, the world's second-largest business aviation conference.

"Brazilians are last-minute sprinters. It is part of our culture," said Eduardo Marson, chairman of Brazil's general aviation association ABAG. "The investments are coming much slower than we'd like. It's too late for most of them." The crunch comes as Brazil races to expand commercial airports already operating beyond capacity, driving up demand for more efficient charter flights, but pushing the necessary infrastructure to the back burner.

That means Brazil, whose fleet of private aircraft is second only to that of the United States, may have to open its military airstrips and hangars in order to accommodate all the jets in town for the 2014 World Cup, Marson said. Some 3,000 business aircraft will fill Brazil's skies during the tournament, according to the Dubai-based United Aviation Services (UAS), which books charter flights with over 500 private jet operators globally. Privately chartered airliners make up less than 5 percent of that estimate. UAS is touting VIP packages for the event at LABACE in the hopes that a healthier world economy will boost demand from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Fewer than 8 percent of visitors to the tournament three years ago opted for private flights over commercial ones, according to UAS, which forecasts the share will rise to 11 percent in Brazil next year, including charter flights carrying football teams, heads of state and corporate delegations. ABAG's Marson said the UAS estimate may be on the high end of possible scenarios, but he agreed air traffic outside of commercial airlines would outpace any prior event in Brazil. Officials estimate that the World Cup will draw about 600,000 international visitors, spending nearly BRR7 billion reais (USD$3 billion). Aviation has deeper roots in Brazil than in South Africa, due to its continental size, growing ranks of millionaires and a long history of flight - from aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont to plane maker Embraer.

But private and public airports, like nearly all of Brazil's transport infrastructure, have suffered from decades of scarce investment, resulting in a lack of runways to keep up with the booming demand of the past decade. "In big cities we're seeing major problems. In Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro there's almost a blockade of executive aviation services," Civil Aviation Secretary Wellington Moreira Franco told journalists this week. "Soon that story should be different," promised Franco, highlighting a handful of private initiatives to build new airports around Rio and Sao Paulo, Brazil's two biggest cities.

Those projects were made possible by a recent change to federal rules allowing private investors to build, operate and charge fees at new airports. However, the only such airport expected to open by the start of the World Cup in June 2014 is the Aerovale airstrip outside Sao Jose dos Campos, about 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Sao Paulo. A closer project in the southern reaches of Sao Paulo's city limits, has been slowed by trouble obtaining environmental licenses and is unlikely to open before the end of next year.

(Reuters)

Singaporean budget carrier Scoot is now the second airlines in Asia to have implemented child-free zones on its aircraft. Situated to the rear of business class, its 'Scoot in Silence' cabin is out of bounds to children aged 11 or under.

Mitsubishi Aircraft will push back the initial deliveries of its regional jet to mid-2017 due to problems with procuring engines, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday. The Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), Japan's first commercial aircraft in half a century, was set to start being delivered to customers in 2015. The Nikkei said the company was facing delays in engine deliveries from Pratt & Whitney.

A Mitsubishi Aircraft spokesman declined to comment on the Nikkei report.

Mitsubishi Aircraft already has 165 firm orders for the MRJ. The company has pushed back the jet's test flight and delivery schedule twice so far. The aircraft, which has 70-90 seats, has a list price of USD$42 million. It aims to compete with jets made by Embraer and Bombardier. The first delivery of the jet, developed at a cost of USD$1.9 billion, will go to Japanese airline ANA.

(Reuters)

A 777 for Emirates did a flyover during the Boeing Classic golf tournament in Snoqualmie, Washington.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theboeingcompany/9579052742/in/photostream

Red Wings signs for Russian jets and Q400s. This is from the MAKS Airshow in Moscow.

Electric Taxiing Unveiled

Safran and Honeywell have unveiled an electric taxiing system for airliners that is expected to save millions of gallons of fuel and make airports a little more environmentally friendly. The system, which puts electric motors on the main wheels to allow pilots to maneuver on the ground without using the main engines. The system is virtually silent and the weight penalty is more than compensated for by the smaller fuel load it allows aircraft to carry. It's estimated that about 5 percent of jet fuel is burned before takeoff and after landing and taxi times are on the increase at airports all over the world. The companies are demonstrating the system on an A320, which is actually at the upper end of the target market.

The Chinese Comac C919 is finally progressing now... Comac has started the installation of parts on its C919 iron bird ground rig, and is targeting to have the aircraft's landing gear installed by late September, 2013. This bird has been pushed back from the original date. First flight for the narrowbody is now set for end-2015, a push back from the original 2014 schedule.

A planned order by American Airlines for new Bombardier or Embraer regional jets has been delayed, as it fights a US Department of Justice (DOJ) challenge to its proposed merger with US Airways. The postponing of the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier's exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of the challenge is cited as the official cause of the delay, in a US District Court for the District of Columbia filing on 28 August.

Boeing expects China to need more than 5,500 aircraft in the next 20 years, a six percent increase over last year's two-decade estimate, citing growing demand for single-aisle and small wide body planes as travel within Asia-Pacific surges.

Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey Deploys Refueling Equipment in Flight Test

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/Bell-Boeing-V-22-Osprey-Deploys-Refueling-Equipment-in-Flight-Test

How does Apple ship their new iPhones to 9 different countries for a launch event? Use a 777!

Bell delivers first 407GX to Russia.

Regional airline LIAT's newest aircraft is on its way to the region. This is going to be the first ATR 42-600. They have been receiving ATR 72-600s which are slightly larger carrying 68 seats. The 42-600 will be carring around 48 I believe. She just left French Guiana on her last leg into the region. Registration is V2-LID. The previous other ATRs are 72-600s being V2-LIA, V2-LIC, V2-LIB and the fourth 72-600 will be V2-LIP which should arrive in September as well. The new ATR42-600 should probably be in service by this coming week.

Apparently...Lufthansa CEO Franz May Soon Resign.

The chief executive of IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Spain's Iberia, said the group would not take part in any European airline consolidation, seeing better opportunities outside the continent. "We don't see anything attractive to buy or merge with in Europe at the moment," Willie Walsh, IAG's CEO, told the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London on Tuesday. "There may be more opportunities globally, outside Europe, but we're not looking to do anything with Qantas at the moment." Qantas, the Australian airline, announced a tie-up with Dubai's Emirates a year ago, ending its 17-year alliance with British Airways.

(Reuters)

Bell has delivered the first Russian-owned 407GX helicopter to its St Petersburg-based distributor, Helidrive. The light, single-engined aircraft – the latest version of the 17-year-old 407 – will be operated by Helidrive both privately and for commercial charter purposes.

Venezuela said the United States banned President Nicolas Maduro's jet from flying through US airspace over Puerto Rico en route to a state visit to China in what Caracas called an act of aggression.

There was no immediate comment from the United States, and it was unclear why Maduro's flight would be rejected. He is due in Beijing this weekend for talks. China is a major lender to his government, and Chinese firms are heavily involved in the OPEC nation's oil industry. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said a flight plan filed by Venezuela that would have routed the president's plane over Puerto Rico had been rejected by US authorities. "We denounce it as yet more US aggression," Jaua said. "We reserve the right to take whatever measures we have to if the US government and its aviation authorities don't rectify this new assault on Venezuela's sovereignty." Jaua told reporters that Washington had no right to deny airspace to any presidential plane. He said the government was studying other routes and the move would not stop Maduro from visiting China.

The US Embassy in Caracas did not respond to a request for comment.

Maduro has often clashed with Washington since winning an election in April that was triggered by the death from cancer of his mentor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. "What's going on in the United States? Why are they so nervous? Why so much despair?" he asked on state TV during a meeting with his party's candidates for local elections. "Denying a head of state permission to fly through airspace that they colonised, like in Puerto Rico, is a grave mistake." His trip to China would go ahead regardless, Maduro said, to applause from the crowd. "They can't stop us!"

UN VISA DISPUTE

Venezuela's president later accused the United States of not wanting to issue a visa for General Wilmer Barrientos, his minister in the office of the presidency, to attend meetings of the UN General Assembly next week in New York. "They want to put conditions, if we decide to go to New York... They don't want to give a visa to my minister," he said. "Do we want to go as tourists? We're going to the United Nations. You're obligated to give visas to all the delegation." In July, Venezuela said it was ending efforts to improve ties with Washington after the Obama administration's nominee for envoy to the United Nations vowed to oppose what she called a crackdown on civil society in the "repressive" country.

The latest diplomatic spat is reminiscent of this year's incident when Bolivia said France, Spain, Italy and Portugal denied their airspace to President Evo Morales' jet, apparently on suspicion the aircraft might have been carrying fugitive US intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden out of Russia. Days after that, Venezuela's Maduro became the world's first leader to offer asylum to Snowden, who is wanted by Washington for disclosing details of secret surveillance programmes. At a news conference in Bolivia late on Thursday, Morales expressed solidarity with his Venezuelan counterpart.

He also suggested that the 33 members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, consider kicking out their US ambassadors in response to the action against Maduro. "As a CELAC member we ask for a summit to address seriously the arrogance of the United States. At this meeting the Bolivian government will suggest the immediate withdrawal of the US ambassadors," Morales told reporters in Santa Cruz. Bolivia's president also suggested the leaders of the leftist Latin American and Caribbean ALBA bloc - once led by Chavez - should not attend the UN General Assembly meetings.

(Reuters)

Eurocopter introduces EC130 T2 and EC145 T2 to the UK.

During Jet Expo 2013, Jet Transfer, Bell Helicopter’s independent representative (IR) in Moscow, secured agreements for the sale of seven corporate-configured helicopters. They were five Bell 429 and two 407GX helicopters.