Beacon continues expansion with MRT deal: Beacon, a maintenance platform from EmbraerX, announced that it has signed an agreement with The Mobile Repair Team (MRT), an executive and commercial structural repair team with bases in Europe and North America. The partnership is focused on onboarding MRT’s maintenance teams into Beacon’s multi-sided platform to improve coordination among stakeholders, including their mobile teams and operators. By joining Beacon, MRT will gain efficiency throughout its repair process and respond faster to maintenance requests from operators. The Mobile Repair Team offers worldwide structural repair support for fleets of aircraft. Striving to provide superior customer service while helping their customers reduce significant costs, MRT is joining Beacon’s platform to empower their mobile teams to achieve a faster return-to-service as they continue to grow their customer base across the globe. MRT’s strategy is to run all maintenance cases through Beacon, replacing the use of informal communication channels with one single, compliance-ready channel, thus facilitating an agile flow of information and an easier handoff during shift turnovers. Moreover, MRT will significantly reduce the time spent coordinating with technicians and other stakeholders during maintenance cases by focusing mostly on high-frequency events, which represent about 70 percent of the total number of interruptions.
Emirates ramps up operations to meet summer demand: Emirates is ramping up its operations and expanding services across its network to meet strong leisure travel demand over the summer, as entry restrictions ease for travellers. The airline has been gradually and safely rebuilding its route network and advancing its strategy to optimise its presence in key markets to serve leisure and growing business travel demand, as well as segments of travellers visiting friends and relatives. Today, Emirates serves 115 global passenger destinations, and by the end of July, it will have recovered close to 90 percent of its pre-pandemic network, operating 880 weekly services across 124 cities. The airline will resume services to seven cities in July including: Venice on 1 July; Phuket, Nice, Orlando and Mexico City on 2 July; Lyon on 9 July and Malta on 14 July. Emirates will also launch flights to Florida’s second largest city and one of the world’s most popular holiday spots, Miami, starting 22 July. Emirates will also boost its A380 network this summer, bringing its flagship experience to 15 cities on 129 weekly services. During the summer, the airline plans to activate over 30 of its A380s to augment its 151 strong fleet of Boeing 777s.
Air New Zealand employees recognised with share award: The efforts Air New Zealand employees made during one of the airline’s toughest years will be recognised via an award of $1,000 worth of company shares to all permanent employees. Air New Zealand Chief Executive Greg Foran says this means it is more important than ever to ensure Air New Zealand staff are recognised for the work they’ve done – and will continue to do – as the airline recovers. “This is the right thing to do given the mahi and sacrifices Air New Zealanders have made to get the airline through Survive and into its Revive phase,” said Foran. “And by awarding shares to our employees, we want them to have the chance to benefit from the future success we will really need their help to deliver. I’m immensely proud of the way our people have responded to the COVID-19 crisis. They have risen to the occasion, working hard to keep New Zealand connected and Kiwis safe.” Around 8,000 employees will be eligible for the share award, which will be made in the last quarter of this calendar year. This will be available to New Zealand and Australian employees, and as a cash equivalent for those in other global locations. In addition, after 15 months of reduced salaries, the airline will end employee salary reductions from 1 July.
GKN Aerospace will build D328eco empennage: Deutsche Aircraft selected GKN Aerospace for the D328eco’s empennage production. The global Tier 1 aerospace supplier is one of the world’s market leaders in aerostructures and is aligned with Deutsche Aircraft in advanced technologies. The D328eco is a new 40-seat turbo prop aircraft being developed by Deutsche Aircraft. Based on the proven D328 platform, the D328eco not only inherits the aerodynamic advanced D328 performance, but also will focus on sustainability for both product and production. In the development of D328eco, Deutsche Aircraft looks for reliable and environmentally conscious partners. Deutsche Aircraft will be working with GKN Aerospace on the development of the empennage and the industrialisation of this airframe main assembly which includes the rear fuselage and the vertical- and horizontal tail plane fin. The empennage will feature advanced lightweight solutions involving state-of-the-art composite technology. Working in partnership, both businesses are committed to continuously improve the environmental performance of the platform.
Henkel, Boeing collaborate on adhesive for aircraft interiors: Henkel Adhesive Technologies recently collaborated with Boeing to develop Loctite EA 9365FST, a new two-part epoxy adhesive that reinforces and bonds thermoplastic and thermoset substrates and can serve as a matrix resin on fiberglass to strengthen the thin walls of thermoplastic assemblies. Developed for use in aircraft interiors, the halogen and antimony-free adhesive meets industry fire retardancy, smoke density and toxicity (FST) requirements, is REACH and EH&S compliant worldwide, and is qualified to Boeing process specification BAC 5568. Loctite EA 9365FST cures in just two hours at 70°C (158°F) or in 7 days at room temperature. The adhesive offers good mechanical performance when bonding properly treated thermoplastics and thermosets to a range of other substrates. This user-friendlyepoxy provides an excellent balance of adhesion performance and FST compliance. Designed not to yellow over time, the product is paintable, delivering good colour performance with less show-through than older adhesive formulations.
TOPCAST, ECT launch distribution agreement: Topcast Aviation Supplies and Engine Cleaning Technology (ECT) signed a distribution agreement in May 2021, delivering biodegradable, non-toxic and non-flammable compressor cleaner for aviation jet engines. ECT R-MC’s patented formula is eco-friendly, easy to rinse chemicals that meet the stringent needs for MIL85704 and all OEM specifications. The revolutionary technology for washing engines entails a quick and easy procedure by injecting R-MC jet engine cleaner into the running engine. The environmentally online engine cleaning formula cleans by removing layers of contaminant deposits. ECT, the only US manufacturer of aviation compressor wash, has developed cleaners (R-MC and PowerBack), injection equipment and patented power augmentation systems for industrial gas turbines, and various other centrifugal and axial flow rotating equipment.
Qatar Airways launches Oryx Connect: Qatar Airways is introducing a new platform for trade partners that will enable them to build tailored travel experiences for their customers. Called Oryx Connect, it has been developed based on the New Distribution Capability (NDC) data transmission standard developed by IATA in partnership with the travel industry. Oryx Connect will benefit travel agents through improved functionality, intuitive user experience, access to rich content and the ability to tailor travel experiences for their customers. It provides various options to consume Qatar Airways’ NDC content. In addition to an existing intuitive and user-friendly web-based portal powered by Accelya Farelogix SPRK tool, agents can now access NDC content a range of aggregators including Aarongroup, Duffel, Travelfusion, Travvise and Verteil. The Amadeus Travel Platform will be added in early 2022. Discussions are underway with a range of other Global Distribution Systems and aggregators.
Collins Aerospace unveils touchless in-flight solution: Collins Aerospace, a Raytheon Technologies business, is increasing the operating efficiency of in-flight services, enhancing passenger experience and reducing cabin touchpoints with its new Electronic Cabin Bag (eCB) Solution. Now available to airlines across the globe, eCB digitalises and automates cabin crew tasks while enabling passengers to use their personal electronic devices for inflight shopping and service requests. By digitising documents, inflight processes and inflight inventory, the eCB solution puts the information that the cabin crew needs to better serve passengers on a single device, replacing traditional paper-heavy processes. The solution also eliminates the need for passengers to touch high-traffic call buttons. In addition, eCB enables airline passengers to access real-time onboard inventory of food, beverage and inflight shopping at any stage during the flight, with the knowledge that what is being shown to them is what is available to purchase. eCB is further enhanced when the aircraft has a satellite connection to enable real-time credit card payment verification — reducing the levels of fraudulent transactions.
AJW Group signs power-by-the-hour contract with TUS Airways: AJW Group has secured a new power-by-the-hour (PBH) support contract with Cypriot carrier, TUS Airways. AJW ensured a flexible service launch for the A320 operator, initially with pool access and increasing to the full power-by-the-hour service contract once operations stabilise beyond the pandemic. TUS Airways began commercial operations in 2016 with a fleet of Saab and Fokker aircraft, operating out of Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus, offering both charter and scheduled services. The multi-year PBH contract recognises AJW’s global reputation in the marketplace and the agility with which it comprehensively supports start-up airlines with complete supply chain solutions.
AXIS rehost as a service deployed for ATR 600 avionics suite: Full flight simulator manufacturer AXIS is now providing avionics rehosting services using its proprietary IRIS rehosting platform. The service is certified and in use for the ATR 600, and can be implemented for any other aircraft. AXIS RaaS – Rehosting as a Service – is cloud-based. All development takes place transparently in the cloud, and the training operator can source the avionics software at any time. For low-level training the software operation is also cloud-based, for ubiquitous availability via web browser. On-premise hosting is enabled for full flight simulation. This substantially reduces the operator’s time and cost burden for software installation and updates. There is no need for service calls to deploy or update software, or for costly specialized hardware and proprietary interfaces. The avionics run with off-the-shelf hardware, meaning a single FFS can use multiple avionics suites for much greater training flexibility and efficiency. This flexibility extends to low-level training, which is browser-based. Students can complete it anywhere they have web access, using a laptop or tablet. An AXIS full flight simulator at training provider Simtech Aviation in Dublin is currently using RaaS for ATR 600 training with the 2.1 version of the avionics. Version 3.1 is under integration, and when operative will enable the user to switch freely between 2.1 and 3.1 and all versions in between. Switching is a matter of seconds and can be done between training sessions.
SAF orders three H145s for EMS missions in France: SAF Group will be operating three more five-bladed H145s for emergency medical services (EMS) in France. These three aircraft will be based in Grenoble, Valence, and Montpellier. They will complement the three H145s already ordered by SAF in 2018 and 2020, the first of which was delivered recently and will be deployed for EMS missions in Belgium. SAF CEO Tristan Serretta says: “Introducing six new H145s in France and Belgium in just 12 months is in line with our strategy to increase the capacity of the growing number of EMS services that place their trust in us. This increase of our positioning is made possible by the level of performance and the versatility of this successful helicopter. SAF is determined to help demonstrate, together with the heads of emergency services, that having the right performance and at the right cost is key to saving lives”. SAF is a key actor of EMS in France and Europe. This French company already operates 55 Airbus helicopters. SAF’s fleet includes a Super Puma, H135s and H125s. The H145 will bring increased capabilities for the EMS missions.
FACC announces supplier awards: Once a year, FACC’s best suppliers are presented with awards in recognition of their outstanding performance with regard to product quality and on-time delivery. Factors such as environmental protection and sustainability, customer service, flexibility, cooperation and the willingness to define, accept and implement cost-reducing and process-optimising measures are also taken into account when selecting the winners. As the best supplier of 2020, Howmet Fastening Systems was distinguished with the FACC Excellent Supplier Award in gold. The industrial group is part of the American aerospace company Howmet Aerospace and offers a wide range of fastening solutions for the aerospace industry. The silver award went to Tata Advanced Systems. The subsidiary of the Indian industrial group Tata Sons is an important international supplier of radar and control systems and contributes its know-how to ensuring greater safety and efficiency in the airspace. The FACC Excellent Supplier Award in bronze went to Vaupell China and Vaupell Europe GmbH. Vaupell offers technical component solutions in the field of injection molding for international aerospace companies, and impressed FACC with its outstanding delivery and quality performance.
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