Salus Aviation becomes first IQSMS customer in New Zealand: The Austrian aviation safety and quality specialist ASQS announced that Salus Aviation, a provider of sales, maintenance, repair and overhaul services in Australasia and the US, will be the launch customer of ASQS’s Integrated Quality and Safety Management System IQSMS in New Zealand. IQSMS is a web-based, integrated and modular quality and safety management system that helps aviation organizations streamline internal safety and compliance management processes, enabling them to operate more effectively while both enhancing their safety performance and improving their quality assurance. The agreement between ASQS and Salus Aviation means that ASQS has one of the largest general aviation businesses in the Pacific Rim region as its newest customer. The privately held group, which includes two subsidiaries – Oceania Aviation, an NZCAA Part 145 and Part 148 organization in New Zealand, and FAA Part 145 approved facility Heli-Parts Nevada in the US – offers 25 years of experience and a wide range of services and support in fixed-wing and rotorcraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. This includes aircraft sales and leasing, maintenance, component and engine overhaul, blade repair, avionics, design and manufacturing, parts supply and helicopter reconfigurations for operators, owners and service providers.
Aero K go live with Rusada’s ENVISION: South Korean start-up Aero K has gone live with Rusada’s ENVISION software in time for its maiden flight. Aero K initially signed up for ENVISION in December 2019 but was unable to proceed with its original launch plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The carrier is now looking to take advantage of easing travel restrictions and a pent-up demand for travel. Aero K conducted it first scheduled flight on 15 April, flying an Airbus A320 from its base in Cheongju to popular travel destination Jeju. It will look to add international destinations such as China, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam as the situation improves. Rusada worked closely with Aero K throughout the pandemic to get them up and running on 9 of ENVISION’s modules in time for their first flight. Due to the constraints of the pandemic, Rusada used an array of collaboration tools to remotely configure the system, load aircraft data and train staff. Aero K are now using the software to manage their airworthiness, maintenance, inventory, and support activities.
Schiebel CAMCOPTER performs surveillance in Estonia: The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) is operating the CAMCOPTER S-100 for enhanced maritime surveillance in the Baltic Sea. The Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) service is delivered by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and is also extended to Finland. The CAMCOPTER S-100 is currently supporting the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board, followed by the Finnish Border Guard later this year, in carrying out enhanced maritime surveillance in the Baltic Sea. The RPAS is being used to gain a better picture of what is happening at sea, particularly useful in this region, where busy shipping lanes and high cargo traffic make maritime safety and security a challenge. Operational cooperation is possible among all the participating member states which, in addition to Estonia and Finland, also include Latvia and Sweden. The information collected on board the CAMCOPTER S-100 is shared simultaneously with these neighbouring countries, thereby helping them to create a common maritime picture and respond in close coordination with each other.
OneSat final design review successfully achieved: Airbus has passed an important milestone for the OneSat flexible satellite product line, with the Final Design Review successfully achieved with customers and space agencies. The fully reconfigurable OneSat product line features major innovations and disruptive technologies including the latest digital processing and active antennas enabling several thousand beams. In addition, to meet the demanding schedule for OneSat development, Airbus is applying agile new ways of working with its industrial partners, customers and space agencies. Airbus is currently manufacturing seven OneSats for its customers as well as eight state-of-the-art Eurostar Neo telecommunications satellites. Development of both programmes is supported by ESA, as well as the French Space Agency (CNES), and the UK Space Agency.
Etihad continues work on sustainable flying: Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, has operated its first ecoFlight for 2021, continuing research and testing under the Etihad Greenliner programme to assess environmental sustainability initiatives during scheduled services. This is Etihad’s fourth ecoFlight, operated on the airline’s signature Greenliner aircraft which is fully offset for all operations through 2021 as part of the airline’s mission toward carbon neutral flying. The maiden 2021 ecoFlight, EY83, departed Abu Dhabi for Rome on 17 April, testing a range of flight and engine optimisation initiatives, as well as onboard product enhancements to reduce weight and single-use plastics, with successful trials to be incorporated into regular scheduled operations. On board, the trial focused on three key pillars: sustainable products, incorporating initiatives identified on past ecoFlights to reduce single-use plastics, and an overall weight reduction study. Etihad also tested initiatives to mitigate the challenges imposed by Covid-19, driving home the Etihad Greenliner Programme mission to identify challenges and call upon the industry to work together for meaningful solutions that ensure safety, environmental and fiscal inclusivity.
Airbus to transform its European set-up in aerostructures: Airbus has provided more details to its social partners during a European Works Council (SE-WC) meeting about the company’s ongoing assessment of its industrial set-up in Europe, notably regarding aerostructures activities in France and Germany. Airbus has reaffirmed its intention to build a stronger aerostructures assembly value chain across its industrial system to its social partners, and considers aerostructures assembly as core to its business. Airbus presented its plans to create two integrated aerostructures assembly companies at the heart of its industrial system in order to reinforce its value stream management and prepare the company for its short- and long-term future. As part of these plans, and upon successful completion of the ongoing social process, the new company in France would bring together the activities currently managed within Airbus in Saint-Nazaire and Nantes together with those of STELIA Aerospace worldwide. Another company in Germany would bring the activities of Stade and Structure Assembly of Hamburg together with those of Premium AEROTEC in Nordenham, Bremen and partly in Augsburg, while rebalancing activities towards the upper part of the value chain and reviewing its involvement in the manufacturing of detail parts. Airbus also intends to create a new global player in the detail parts business, anchored in Germany. Born out of today’s Premium AEROTEC, this new entity, with its scale and advanced technologies, would be empowered to capitalise on the significant long-term growth prospects with Airbus as well as external customers, on both civil and military platforms.
VINCI airport in France tests biofuels: VINCI Airports is making sustainable biofuels available to Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne airport users with Michelin Air Services as its first customer. These are provided by Air bp under a fuel contract with VINCI Airports, and are produced from used food oils. Biofuels are one of the key items of VINCI Airports’ environmental commitment to decarbonise aviation, as demonstrated by its response in July 2020 to the state’s call for expressions of interest on the production of sustainable aeronautical biofuels in France. Biofuels are a decarbonisation solution for aviation that can be implemented immediately, before other technological innovations such as hydrogen-powered aircraft are introduced As the first airport operator to implement a global environmental strategy, VINCI Airports has been committed since 2015 to a global approach of control and reduction of its environmental impacts. This has resulted in a significant decrease in its carbon footprint (a 22 percent reduction in gross CO2 emissions between 2018 and 2020 across its network). In parallel, VINCI Airports is committed to prepare tomorrow’s aviation, alongside local authority partners and the industry.
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