Commercial Aviation News

Air Tanzania's first Airbus A220-300 going through its paces in Montreal.

CFM International's Leap-run A319neo has been given joint certification from the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The engines have been testing for over 500 hours since the first flight happened last year in March 2017.

Royal Air Maroc has now taken delivery of their first Boeing 737 MAX 8 in the new special livery mentioned in the above-mentioned quote. The registration on the first unit is CN-MAX with the delivery happening on the 21st of December.

The third test unit of the Comac 919 certification fleet has taken to the sky. The maiden flight for this particular plane last around 1hour and thirty nine minutes. The aircraft has registration in testing as B-001D and will soon join the other two test articles. On 18 December, Comac announced that the first prototype, B-001A, had completed ground tests prior to airborne flutter testing seen below.

Qatar Airways continues its expansion with the acquisition of a 5% share of China Southern Airlines. China Southern says it comprises of 3.5% of ‘A’ shares and 1.5% of ‘H’ shares with the purchase being finalized towards the end of last year, December 28th. China Southern is just the latest in a global push for minority control in key airlines and airline groups. They have stakes in LATAM, IAG, Air Italy as well as Cathay Pacific.

Air Senegal's first Airbus A330-900neo has emerged from the paint shop and is one of two ordered by the airline during the middle of 2017. The aircraft will be powered by Rolls Royce Trent 7000 engines. The first aircraft is expected to be put into service from Dakar to Paris in February.

The founder of jetBlue, David Neeleman has made an important step in the development of his new start up airline which has been going by the project name 'Moxy' ever-since it was announced. At last year's Farnborough Air Show, a tentative announcement was made regarding acquiring the Airbus A220-300 (formerly Bombardier CS300). Now the head of 'Moxy' (or whatever it will be officially called) has firmed those tentative agreements. 60 A220-300s are now firm orders and can expect to be delivered from 2021. The planes are to be built in the United States in Mobile, Alabama where Airbus already has an existing A321 assembly plant.

Boeing reached another milestone regarding the new generation 777X. They hung the massive GE Aviation GE 9X powerplants from the wings of the first test article. These engines are a bit larger than the ones used on the Boeing 77W (777-300ER).

Boeing continues to outdo itself in-terms of shipments of commercial aircraft. For the year 2018 the US airframer shipped 806 jets which although fell just shy of their delivery forecast of 810 to 815 jets represents a staggering number. Bare in mind, for 2017 the company delivered 763 aircraft. Part of the push is really the company's desire to pump out as many narrow-body aircraft as possible. For them, this means the 737 family rate is up even further. Between NGs and MAX variants these accounted for 580 out of the 806 units shipped. The 747 demand clearly isn't there any more as the company only handed over a handful (six) and the 787 family is still selling well as well as shipping well with 145 being delivered. New 777s remain okay business with 48 and 767s are still relevant at 27 units. Boeing managed to barely edge out its biggest rival Airbus in the year-long deliveries race for 2018, 806 vs 800.

Etihad Airways cancels Airbus A320N order. The airline appears to not be looking at the A320neo anymore as it canceled the order citing restructuring of its capacity and requirements. The A320N order were for 10 examples and were also part of a wider 320 family order which extended to the A321neo (36 planes overall). The A321N commitment still stands at this point for 26 examples.

CebuPacific has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321neo. The aircraft seen below climbing out for its delivery flight is the first of 37 A321neos. 32 are ordered directly from Airbus and 5 are leased planes from lessor company Avalon. 236 seats are arranged in a single-class configuration. The aircraft is powered by Pratt and Whitney PurePower GTF engines. Selected for their outstanding operational efficiency, comfort and range, these new-generation single-aisle aircraft will allow the fast-growing carrier to expand its Asia-Pacific network.

Boeing [NYSE:BA] (on the 17th Jan) delivered the first of ten 787 Dreamliners to WestJet, marking the start of the airline's global expansion. Having long operated a fleet of Boeing single-aisle jets, WestJet will use the super-efficient, long-range 787-9 Dreamliner to profitably serve new international routes. "Today's delivery marks a new chapter for WestJet," said Ed Sims, president and CEO of Calgary-based WestJet. "Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is one of the most technologically advanced aircraft ever flown and is the perfect platform for our transition to a global network carrier. We look forward to bringing Canadians to the world and the world to Canada in comfort and style."

Mirus is happy to reveal the first of our new customers to be TUI. TUI Group is the world’s largest leisure, travel and tourism company. This project will see Hawk seats retrofitted to a number of airplanes operated by the TUI Group Airlines in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. With deliveries starting 2019, we are excited to see Hawk seats flying with such a well-known European business.

GetJet has added its first widebody aircraft to its fleet. The aircraft is an Airbus A330-300. As you would expect narrowbodies make up the airline's fleet, which consists of 737 and A320s. The A330-300 is configured with 300 seats with 30 business class and 270 economy.

The ebb and flow of Emirates new orders dilemma. A380 vs 777X, A350 vs 787. The tension could perhaps further add nails to the coffin of the A380.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-boeing-emirates-777x-order-airbus-a380-story.html

American Airlines has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321neo, the first of an order of 100 of the type. The aircraft, MSN8647, departed Hamburg early Friday for the trans-Atlantic ferry flight to Pittsburgh where American’s technicians will get the A321neo ready for customer flights. The aircraft is powered via a pair of CFM International LEAP-1A engines.

With the first Boeing 777X test aircraft coming together nicely in assembly it is a good idea to look at some of the interior elements of the new jet and what it will offer to customers. The windows are going to be larger than what exists on any other widebody commercial airliner in service today. The 777X will have a window that is 162 in2 compared to that of its smaller sister the 777 at 140 in2 and the rival Airbus A350 at 125 in2. The windows will also be dimmable much like on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner family however, the company making them, Gentex, says they will react twice as fast. One of the complaints on the Dreamliner from passengers was that the windows took too long to dim and even when fully dimmed still let in light. Below is a representation of the 777X dimmable window mockup.

The 777X's overhead bins were redesigned to give a sense of a much larger cabin. Design sculpting of the interior is at work here and removal of the center bin line and increasing the angle of the face of the side bins achieves this look. Despite this, the bins are larger and can accommodate more than they appear to take which is important on this aircraft type which is carded to carry from 350 to 425 passengers depending on the configuration.

Delta's first Airbus A220 has entered commercial service. The aircraft flew with paying passengers from LaGuardia Airport to Boston Logan yesterday. The entry into service for Delta Airlines with this type was supposed to have happened much earlier but because of the United States Partial Government shutdown that lasted 35 days, that pushed back the EIS.

EASA has finished preliminary test evaluation of the Irkut MC-21. Irkut is positive on certifying the MC-21 both in Russia and Europe hence why EASA is onboard with initial testing of the aircraft. These were evaluation tests designed to test the plane's handling characteristics with altitudes flown at between 10,000 and 33,000 ft.