Commercial Aviation News

German carrier Lufthansa flew one of its Airbus A320NEO to Heathrow yesterday. It was the first time the carrier flew the re-engined type outside of Germany. The aircraft that did the flight was the second A320NEO from Lufthansa and was a familiarization visit (one-off). The carrier said that they will continue to operate the A320NEO domestically for now because of the lead time needed with the PW1100G warm up. The aircraft was registered D-AINB but pictured is the first Lufty A320NEO D-AINA.

Garuda Indonesia initially ordered seven (7) Airbus A330-300's and then subsequently cancelled them in favour for the re-engined type. That's right, the airline put in an order for twice as many aircraft as the cancelled order but for the new NEO variation of the A330. Garuda Indonesia are expected to start receiving aircraft of the new type from 2019. The order for the fourteen (14) Neo's is estimated to be around 5.75 billion dollars.

Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) second flight test article is preparing to conduct taxi runs and take to the skies in May. Right now the aircraft is in the open being evaluated with functionality testing.

LATAM (The merged company between LAN and TAM) unveiled their new livery recently on a repainted Boeing 767-300ER/WL. The first flight under this new livery will be a special one-off flight where the repainted 767 will fly from Rio de Janeiro to Geneva to collect the Olympic torch and return. Actual revenue service with the repainted aircraft under the new LATAM branding will commence on May 5th with flights between Sao Paulo and Santiago. Several Airbus A319s have been repainted as well. LATAM says more than 50 aircraft will be repainted by the end of 2016 and by 2018, the entire fleet will be rebranded. Below is a render of how the 787-9 appears in LATAM's branding.

A British Airways Airbus A380-800, registration G-XLEB performing flight BA-32 from Hong Kong (China) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was climbing out of Hong Kong close to reaching the top of climb when the crew received a tyre pressure indication. The crew decided to continue the flight to London and requested a tow tug to be available for landing in case the aircraft would not be able to taxi on its own. The aircraft landed safely on Heathrow's runway 09L and taxied to the gate. The aft right outboard body tyre caused a lot of head scratching trying to explain how the stunning square shape of the damaged tyre came together (editorial note: the original of the photo does not exhibit any indication of photoshopping). (Av Herald)

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that Swiss International Air Lines (“SWISS”) has selected Bombardier’s Smart Parts Program to provide component support for the airline’s fleet of 30 all-new C Series aircraft. The 10-year agreement positions SWISS as the launch customer for the C Series Smart Parts Program and provides the airline with comprehensive component maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, access to a strategically located spare part exchange pool, and an on-site inventory based at the airline’s main hub in Zurich, Switzerland. SWISS is the launch operator for the C Series aircraft, with the first CS100 aircraft scheduled to be delivered by Bombardier in June 2016. SWISS will take delivery of a total of 30 CS100 and CS300 aircraft.

The second A320 Family aircraft delivered from Airbus’ U.S. Manufacturing Facility – an A321ceo for American Airlines – was handed over 17 May 2016 in Mobile, Alabama.

JetBlue Airways will equip its Airbus A320/A321 airliners with the capability to signal their position over oceanic spaces when it begins fleetwide cabin interior modifications in August. The carrier has also specified that A321s it has ordered be equipped for data communications between pilots and controllers. Jeff Martin, JetBlue executive vice president for operations, said the Airbus fleet will be provisioned for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) Out position reporting to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration’s 2020 equipage mandate, as well as space-based ADS-B, which is not now required. The FAA system is based on a terrestrial network of ground radio stations; space-based ADS-B is hosted on satellites and provides coverage over oceanic and remote spaces outside the coverage of other surveillance. (AIN)

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today (June 6th) the successful completion of a C Series aircraft demonstration flight carrying senior executives from about twenty Star Alliance member airlines and media representatives. The historic flight of the innovative C Series aircraft, which features state-of-the-art technologies, departed Dublin at the conclusion of the 2016 Annual General Meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on June 3, 2016. The CS100 airliner carrying 100 passengers, along with six Bombardier crew members, was operated by Bombardier’s crew and featured the livery of launch customer Swiss International Air Lines (“SWISS”). With the passengers, their luggage and fuel on board, Bombardier confirmed to passengers that its calculations indicated the aircraft could have flown direct from Dublin to Montréal. The one hour and 50 minutes ride from Dublin to Zurich consumed 20 per cent less fuel than competing single-aisle aircraft currently flying that route.

Death of the Airbus A380 in the future? Here is what Forbes thinks.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/richard...airbus-a380-the-final-countdown/#32fb602b61b6

Irkut rolls out their MC21-300 single-aisle jetliner. They too want a piece of this market segment and is not leaving Bombardier to feed on the scraps of Boeing and Airbus alone. Irkut to date has launched the smallest two versions of an envisioned three-member family. A 240-seat model dubbed the MC-21-400 remains a distant objective for the program. We will have to see how that latter model comes into being but have a look below at a photo from the unveiling ceremony.

Air Lease Corporation (ALC) said it has placed its first Boeing 787-9 in operation with Hainan Airlines. It is also a first for Hainan Airlines but it also makes the carrier the first Chinese airline to have both variants of the Dreamliner in operation (-8 and -9). Here is a look at the new -9 powered by twin GEnx-1Bs

Airbus announced recently that it is pushing back the delivery of the first Airbus A350-1000 to the second half of 2017. The airframer still insists that the first test flight is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2016. Three test aircraft are in production at the moment while the first customer aircraft is in pre-final assembly status. The aircraft is expected to be powered by the Rolls Royce Trent XWB-97 powerplant. So far 181 orders are penned for the A350-1000.

Comac's first ARJ21-700 enters service with launch customer Chengdu Airlines. The aircraft took off from Chengdu International Airport to Shanghai's Hongqaio International. The aircraft is expected to be employed on short runs domestically initially so that the populace can become accustomed to the new home-grown commercial jet.

Star Alliance carrier Air Canada has put in orders for Bombardier CSeries aircraft according to a Bombardier press release issued today. Bombardier Commercial Aircraft and Air Canada announced today that they have finalized a firm purchase agreement consistent with the Letter of Intent (LOI) announced in February 2016. The purchase agreement includes a firm order for 45 CS300 aircraft and options for an additional 30 CS300 aircraft. “I’m pleased to officially welcome Air Canada to our CS300 family of operators as one of our largest customers and early adopters,” said Alain Bellemare, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. “As an innovative operator, admired for successfully reinventing itself and, like Bombardier based in Québec, Air Canada and the C Series aircraft are a perfect match.

Today marked the day that Bombardier delivered the first CSeries aircraft to launch customer Swiss Airlines. The aircraft is of the smaller end of the CSeries -CS100- . This is the first of 15 CS100 aircraft that Swiss ordered from the Canadian company. They also ordered 15 of the larger CS300 variant. Swiss' first CS100 is expected to start revenue service on July 15th, July 15th perhaps being symbolic to the order number.

There is talk of Boeing perhaps thinking to take their larger widebody 777 model and stretching it to compete in the jumbo-category with a model namely, the Airbus A380. For more on this you can check this out...

http://www.ibtimes.com/boeing-ba-ma...airbus-air-a380-superjumbo-jet-report-2388407

The first client aircraft of the new Mitsubishi MRJ has begun assembly. This initial aircraft is going to All Nippon Airways (ANA) who is the launch customer for the MRJ in Mid-2018.

The CFM International Leap-1B powered Boeing 737 MAX has arrived in Farnborough ahead of its debut at the show and any major airshow. The aircraft is still within flight testing mode enroute towards certification. The new 737 MAX took to the skies at the end of January this year. The model is expected to enter service with SouthWest Airlines next year.

Business class treatment with Qatar Airways