Commercial Aviation News

Colombia's Avianca is ready to look at the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner but has questions about its performance, its head of fleet management said. "Boeing is trying to sell us the 787-9. We are analysing that option right now, but the performance is volatile," Jose Yunda, director of fleet management, said. "If performance improves a little, we would like to take another look," he told a conference organised by the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT).

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has unveiled a new "Star Wars" Paintscheme/livery on its latest Boeing 787-9. The significance of this is that marks the start of a five-year bond with The Walt Disney Company (Japan). The aircraft has been finished with the iconic Star Wars R2-D2 character. The aircraft's livery was unveiled to fans on 16 April.

Vietnam Airlines ' first Boeing 787-9 rolls off the assembly line at the Boeing factory and is now on it's way to the paint shed to have its final body paint completed. The airline is expected to take delivery of this aircraft by June 2015 and by the end of 2015 they expect to have five 787-9s in their possession out of an overall order for 17 -9s.

On April 22, 2015, UK-based low cost carrier easyJet took delivery of its 250th Airbus A320-family jet, a new A320 fitted with Sharklets. The aircraft wore a unique livery featuring a large '250' made up of 250 miniature aircraft symbols on the A320's rear fuselage and that the number is made up of miniature aircraft symbols. This photo, which is © Airbus S.A.S. 2015/Christian Brinkmann, shows the large number '250' on the aircraft's rear fuselage.

MRJ (Mitsubishi Regional Jet) is eyeing the last week in October to make the first flight of their MRJ. The test flight is anticipated to take off from Nagoyo Airport and last for approximately an hour. So far MRJ has received firm orders for 223 MRJs.

Airbus is in the works preparing for the first flight-testing of the new Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engine which has been designed to power the A350-1000. It has fitted the powerplant to an A380 testbed, in the left inboard position.

Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian is ordering another 19 Boeing 787-9s, with options on a further 10 of the type. Norwegian has previously ordered 11 787-9s through lease deals and operates a fleet of eight of the smaller 787-8. No engine selection has been disclosed for the additional -9s but the airline’s 787 fleet is fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 powerplants.

The first flight for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) has been pushed back due to hitches. The new Japanese jet was suppose to take to the skies for the first time in October but that seems in doubt at this point. Mitsubishi Aircraft has announced a two-week delay to the MRJ regional jet's first flight, apparently because of issues with the jet’s rudder pedals. The two week delay pushes the first flight back to early November.

Air Europa officially unveiled their revised livery on an Embraer ERJ195. The new scheme is set to be on the airlines new flagship Boeing 787 Dreamliner when the start taking deliveries but for now we can see it on their smaller regional jet. Air Europa says the livery features a “crisper, clearer” typeface which will “serve to make us more visible”.

Mitsubishi Aircraft has gained approval from Japan’s transport ministry for the MRJ regional jet to take its first flight, following the replacement of the aircraft's rudder pedals.The aircraft is now scheduled to make its maiden flight in the week of 9 November.

First COMAC C919 Rolls out as the first test bed formally launching the Chinese effort into the global race of commercial aviation manufacture. The aircraft was rolled out before a gathering of more than 5,000 that comprised of Aviation experts, suppliers, chiefs and of course the media. The new jet was exposed to the world at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai.

Cathay Pacific unveils 'new' livery

Delta Air Lines apparently has reached a new agreement to purchase 20 used Embraer 190s from Boeing Capital and order 20 new Boeing 737-900ERs from the airframer. It is said the E190s were used by Air Canada prior.

German carrier Lufthansa has taken delivery of the first Airbus A320-200NEO. Qatar Airways originally was to be the launch customer but Lufthansa out-nudged them this time around. Handover happened today and the aircraft is expected to be pressed into service on the Frankfurt-Hamburg route Jan. 24.

There is a war going on between the engine manufacturers for the Airbus A320NEO. With the 'problems' that the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G have been giving in relation to the start-up times that led launch customer Qatar Airways to back out for a bit, CFM International now claims to have their equivalent with a 50 second start. Late last year manufacturer Airbus delayed the much hyped A320NEO service entry by approximately one month after original launch customer Qatar Airways objected to the start-up time requirement for the PW1100G engine. This allowed second customer in the line-up, Lufthansa to take delivery of the first A320NEO and already have it in service. The new Leap-1A engines from CFM International come just a couple seconds with in the start up time of the CFM56 engines they are replacing. The Leap-1A engines are expected to enter service for the A320NEO in mid-2016. Part of P&W's problem is that they needed the extra start-up time so many of the components in the engine didn't overheat. The parent company United Tech indicated this. CFM International placed sensitive electronic components up to the front of the engine -near the intake fan- to keep them much cooler.

Mitsubishi Aircraft has resumed testing on their new generation jet, the MRJ90. It is the company's first major aircraft in years and has been hit with delays since trying to make the first test flight. News is though that entry into service has been postponed once again and now we are looking at the first half of 2018 perhaps. The first testbed article flew a couple times in November before being pulled out of testing.

Boeing seems to be set on launching a new aircraft by the end of 2016. This perhaps is the answer to the long-asked question, 'what is going to happen with the gap between the Boeing 737 MAX 8/9 and the Boeing 787-8 DreamLiner?' The Boeing 757-200 has long been the mainstay and with Airbus working things up with a longer ranger A321 there is even more need for Boeing to find a replacement for the 757-200. Unclear what this new proposed aircraft will be, it is said to be 20-percent more in capacity and range than a current 757-200. Now if all of this equates, there is no rush to see anything as even if it is 'launched' at the end of the year, a certified and tested aircraft towards a customer production article.

Emirates is doing it again. They trumped Qantas' DFW to Sydney for the world's longest flight but clearly they are not satisfied with just one record. They want as much as a buffer between themselves and Qantas. So they are launching a new insanely long route with will take in Dubai to Auckland. This will effectively push Qantas to the number 3 spot for world's longest commercial flight. Once inaugurated, Emirates will claim both #1 and #2 spots.

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft and Air Inuit Ltd. announced today that they are working together on a passenger-to-freighter conversion for the Q300 turboprop aircraft. The freighter will include a large cargo door. Dorval, Québec-based Air Inuit, a long-time operator of Q300 aircraft has championed this modification and will be the launch customer for the conversion. In support of this conversion, a new Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) will be developed under license by a specialized third party entity. “With its excellent airfield performance – especially on gravel runways – the Q300 aircraft is well adapted for remote operations like those required to support Canada’s resource industries and Northern Communities,” said Christian Busch, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Air Inuit. “The Q300 aircraft has served us well in our passenger, charter and cargo operations in Nunavik and other markets for many years, and we look forward to enhancing our cargo services with three Q300 Large Cargo Door freighters.”

Four A380s – which had been scheduled to join the Gulf carrier's fleet this year and in 2017 – were deferred by a year each, the airline's chief executive Akbar Al Baker said today at the ITB travel fair in Berlin. A delay was agreed with Airbus more than two years ago because Qatar needed to "protect" itself against high fuel costs, he explains. He adds that the A380 "becomes very efficient when the oil is where it is now". If the oil price stays at around $60, says Al Baker, there may be "a possibility" of Qatar exercising options for three additional A380s. However, he sees the oil price reduction as a "double-edged sword" for airlines. Low fuel prices serve as a tailwind for carriers to reduce operating costs but also lead to reduction in premium traffic as companies cut back travel costs, he observes. (FG)