Korean Air’s Asiana acquisition on schedule: Korean Air continues to make progress obtaining necessary business combination approvals to acquire Asiana Airlines. Korean Air has announced that Thailand’s Office of Trade Competition Commission (OTCC) recently completed its review of the business combination with Asiana, and stated that the submission of a prerequisite business combination report was not necessary. In February, the airline received approval from the Turkish Competition Authority for its business combination with Asiana. The competition commission of the Philippines, where reporting is arbitrary, also approved of the business combination in May. The remaining regulatory bodies from which Korean Air requires a business combination approval include the competition commissions of Korea, the United States, the European Union, China and Japan. The airline is actively cooperating with the respective commissions and providing additional documents upon request in order to finalize the acquisition process as early as possible.
Airbus expands India COVID-19 relief: Airbus has doubled down on its response to the COVID-19 crisis in India, delivering more than 36 tonnes of additional medical equipment to the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) and deploying humanitarian flights to move supplies from abroad as well as within the country. Airbus is delivering oxygen plants, ventilators, oxygen concentrators, BPAP breathing machines and mobile intensive care units (ICUs), further boosting its individual contribution to the global humanitarian effort to tackle the second wave of COVID-19 infection in India. An A350 test aircraft delivered a part of the consignment comprising oxygen concentrators and ventilators from Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse, France, on Wednesday. The remaining materials are sourced from India. The latest mission is Airbus’ second tranche of support to the country. The company has already contributed with funds to a consolidated response coordinated by the French embassy in India, which included the delivery of eight large oxygen generators, ventilators, electric syringe pumps, anti-bacterial filters and patient circuits as part of a 28-tonne consignment. Much of the equipment has been deployed, and it is helping save hundreds of lives across India.
Emirates restarts flights to Venice: Emirates will resume flights between Dubai and Venice from 1 July, initially offering three flights a week on the route, increasing trade and tourism connectivity between the UAE and Italy, and offering customers more travel options. The airline will also increase services to Milan from eight to 10 weekly flights in July. This will comprise of a daily service on the Dubai-Milan-New York JFK route, and thrice-weekly return flights between Dubai and Milan. Together with Emirates’ 5 weekly flights to Rome and three weekly flights to Bologna, this will take the airline’s total services to Italy to 21 weekly flights to four cities in July. Emirates will serve Venice, Milan, Rome and Bologna with its modern and comfortable widebody Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Emirates’ expansion of flight services in Italy follows the start of “Covid-Tested flight” arrangements, which allow its passengers to travel to Italy without quarantine on arrival. Effective 2 June, Emirates customers travelling to Italy aged two years and above, are required to hold a negative COVID-19 PCR-RT or Rapid Antigen test result valid for 48 hours prior to departure. Travellers must also take a Rapid Antigen swab test on arrival in Italy, at their own cost. For more details on entry requirements to Italy, customers can check the travel requirements page on emirates.com.
Aviator Airport Alliance reopens lounges in Copenhagen: Aviator Airport Alliance has announced it has reopened both business lounges located at Copenhagen Airport (CPH). Following some positive signs of recovery, and upcoming events taking place in Denmark, the lounges welcome customers while maintaining all health and safety precautions. “The reopening of Aviator lounges at CPH is a positive sign, not only for the ground handling arm, but the whole Avia Solutions Group family of companies. Having felt the sudden impact of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020, seeing the first signs of recovery is the sight we have all been waiting almost 1.5 years for. As businesses worldwide will continue to reopen, and travel demand picks up in both executive and tourist sectors, the addition of two great places for relaxation and dining at Copenhagen Airport will nicely complement the journeys taken by every traveller,” said Vygaudas Usackas, Aviator’s chairman of the board.
Lufthansa Systems supports Montenegro’s new national airline: Lufthansa Systems announced that Air Montenegro has signed a consulting agreement for operational start-up consulting services related to the establishment and training of the new airline. After a successful project kick-off, the new Montenegrin national airline is planning to start operations in June. In addition, Air Montenegro has strengthened its partnership with Lufthansa Systems by awarding a contract to the airline IT and service provider for Lido mPilot, a charting solution that enables pilots to benefit from increased situational awareness, safety and efficiency. Lufthansa Systems will support Air Montenegro and its operations throughout the ramp-up in the upcoming summer season and well beyond. The start-up airline has already successfully obtained its Air Operator Certificate (AOC). Now the entire project team is working toward the start of service. “In the current times, our industry is continuously facing unfamiliar landscapes. We are therefore particularly proud to support the government of Montenegro in setting up the country’s new flag carrier in this volatile market environment,” said Olivier Krueger, CEO of Lufthansa Systems. “With strategic guidance complemented by our broad airline service portfolio, we are able to serve airlines of all business models, and we are ready to lead Air Montenegro to success as the world evolves to new realities.”
JET MS sign partnership agreement with The Allen Groupe: Jet Maintenance Solutions (JET MS), the leading global provider of integrated aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul solutions for business and regional aircraft, announced the signing of a new agreement with the European-based professional aircraft detailing company The Allen Groupe. Building on JET MS’s complete range of MRO services, the partnership agreement with The Allen Groupe will confirm JET MS’s commitment to providing the highest standard of service in the most timely and cost-effective manner. With unprecedented growth in the demand for MRO services in the business aviation sector The Allen Group will provide unique services to complement the existing range of line maintenance support services through, interior cleaning, exterior cleaning, maintenance, restocking services, and aircraft disinfection services.
Deutsche Aircraft selects Garmin G5000 Avionics suite: As a key milestone within the D328eco aircraft development program, Deutsche Aircraft announced it has selected the Garmin G5000 avionic suite to equip the brand-new benchmark, CompanionTM flight deck: a built-in and fully integrated avionics suite that will be fitted on the new D328eco aircraft. As main design goals, the new CompanionTM flight deck is being developed to offer a cognitive & intuitive operation, with reduced workload, enhanced ergonomics, safety and improved maintainability. To achieve these main design goals, some features and characteristics are being implemented like touchscreen control for avionics and aircraft systems, flight path-based guidance, enhanced synthetic vision, active electronic checklists, increased system automation & integration, single lever engine control and paperless operations capability. To enhance safety, an important focus and attention has been given to human factors, increased situational awareness and features like envelope protection, automatic emergency descent mode and runway awareness and alerting. Offering a flexible and configurable maintenance computer, highly integrated built-in testing and diagnostic functions with quick and easy upload and download of data, the CompanionTM flight deck will offer unprecedented maintainability.
RUAG receives SAR approval for J85-GE21 engines: RUAG has received SAR (Source Approval Request) approval for maintenance and repair work on J85-GE21 engines for the federal government of the United States of America. Only suppliers with SAR approval are taken into consideration for tenders and con-tracts of the US Department of Defense. With SAR approval for complete engines in the field of F-5 services, RUAG will continue to secure its strategic partnership with its customers in the long term and pro-vide high-quality services. The SAR approval for maintenance, repair and overhaul work on J85-G21 engines, which are used in F-5 fighter jets in particular, is a unique seal of quality for RUAG that is based on proven technical competence and long-standing expertise. It was granted by the US Department of Defense and will be valid for several years.
IATA awards Laminaar Aviation Infotech license: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has granted a license so Laminaar Aviation Infotech software and applications can use extensible mark-up language (XML) for data involving IATA Operations Safety Audit (IOSA) manuals. Securing this license is significant because it means Laminaar is now one of only seven providers of audit software and applications in the world that IATA has approved to use and offer the IOSA XML format in audit software and applications for the benefit of customers. IOSA, which has been adopted by airlines globally, is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline in the interests of safety.
BOC Aviation names new head of aircraft sales: BOC Aviation has named Remi Le Meur as head of aircraft sales, replacing Andrew Taylor who will remain with the company until his retirement on 30 June 2021 to ensure a smooth transition of his duties. In his new role, Le Meur will oversee the aircraft sales department globally with primary responsibility for selling aircraft with leases attached and managing relationships with aircraft investors. He will be based in the company’s headquarters in Singapore. Le Meur joined the company in 2011 and was most recently head of airline leasing and sales for Europe and Africa, based in the Dublin office. He has 23 years of aircraft sales, airline marketing and leasing experience.
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