Vietjet resumes flights to South Korea: Vietjet will officially reopen frequent return flights between Seoul and Ho Chi Minh City from 7 October. The carrier will operate one flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Seoul (Incheon) every Wednesday from 30 September. Vietjet has also launched a new Deluxe ticket class and upgraded Skyboss services on its entire flight network. The new services will offer incentives such as flight care insurance, luggage packages, priority check-in/boarding, hot & diverse choices of food and beverages and seat selection option. All passengers flying between Vietnam and South Korea must submit their proof of a negative COVID-19 test obtained within three days prior to boarding their flights as well as abiding by compulsory quarantine requirements of the local authorities.
BARIG endorses EU’s airspace reform plans: The Board of Airline Representatives in Germany (BARIG), the association of international and German airlines operating in Germany, endorses the European Commission’s plans to reform the European airspace. The “Single European Sky,” an endeavour that has long been advocated by BARIG and other international aviation associations, as well as a more efficient, uniform air traffic control in Europe may finally be achieved with this reform. BARIG Secretary General Michael Hoppe said “we welcome the project of EU Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean as it revives the dynamics of this important topic for climate protection and efficiency. The course has been set, now the EU member states must finally take the actual steps to follow these announcements. Today’s anachronistic system of a ‘patchwork quilt in the sky’ must be replaced as soon as possible by a Single European Sky and the respective enhancement of air traffic control – for the sake of climate protection, as well as for the efficiency and cost reduction that are more urgently needed than ever in the air transport industry.”
Airbus H175 to bolster Omni’s oil and gas operations in Brazil: Omni Taxi Aereo, a Brazilian oil and gas transport company and part of OMNI Helicopters International group (OHI), becomes the first operator to introduce the H175 in Brazil. The aircraft has arrived in Brazil, where it will perform cargo load and passenger transport missions for the country’s key oil and gas industry. OMNI’s current fleet includes Airbus H135, H155 and H225 helicopters, which are largely dedicated to transporting passengers and cargo to offshore platforms and ships, while also providing emergency medical services for the oil and gas industry. Developed to answer oil and gas industry needs, the H175 provides outstanding performance, unmatched cost efficiency and the ability to comfortably transport 16 passengers up to 160NM. The H175 is equipped with Helionix, Airbus Helicopters’ integrated suite of advanced avionics and 4-axis autopilot, which offers enhanced situational awareness and improved operational safety by helping to reduce pilot workload. The aircraft also provides fully automatic oil platform approaches, thanks to the Rig’N Fly mode.
Embraer achieves 250th business jet delivery milestone in Latin America: Embraer announced the delivery of a Phenom 100EV and a Phenom 300E to two separate Brazilian customers, marking the company’s 250th business jet delivery in Latin America. The Phenom 100EV was delivered to an undisclosed industrial company, which selected the aircraft to maintain crucial business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Phenom 300E was delivered to AGROJEM, an agribusiness company. “We are proud to deliver the ultimate experience in business aviation to two new valued customers from Embraer’s home country of Brazil,” said Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets. “These deliveries are proof of the inherent value of business aviation, in that each company is purchasing their first business jet for the exclusive time efficiencies and cost savings, as well as the privacy, health, and safety benefits.”
AMECO Joins Pratt & Whitney GTF network: Pratt & Whitney announced that it will expand its global network of providers that maintain the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine to include Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Corporation (AMECO). AMECO, a joint venture between Air China and Lufthansa German Airlines, will provide engine maintenance for the PW1100G-JM by building state-of-the-art capability at its Beijing-based facility. The AMECO shop will become the fourth facility in Asia supporting GTF MRO work, alongside Pratt & Whitney’s Eagle Services Asia (ESA) in Singapore, as well as IHI and MHIAEL in Japan. China is home to one of the largest GTF fleets, powering 11 airlines with 140 A320neo family aircraft in operation. Pratt & Whitney has a long history in China, dating back more than 90 years. The relationship with AMECO traces back to the JT3D, JT8D and JT9D engine types in the 1980s. AMECO later began providing PW4000 engine MRO service in 1994, and came on as an approved repair station in 2015 to provide V2500 engine services.
Cranfield proud to support ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric aircraft flight: Cranfield University said it has supported ZeroAvia in achieving the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered flight of a commercial-grade aircraft. The flight took place on 24 September at the company’s R&D facility at the University-owned Cranfield Airport. The Piper M-class six-seat plane completed taxi, take-off, a full pattern circuit, before landing back at the airport. The flight was watched by the Aviation Minister Robert Courts. Commenting on the achievement by ZeroAvia, Professor Iain Gray, Director of Aerospace at Cranfield University, said “this is a momentous day for the aerospace and the aviation industry. Arguably, this is as a big a moment in aerospace as any in the last 75 years, comparable with the first flight of the jet engine.”
Air Transport Services Group selects GE Aviation for digital agreement: Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) selected GE Aviation for a comprehensive digital agreement including FlightPulse and eFOQA. The programme gives ATSG subsidiary airlines ABX Air, Air Transport International, and Omni Air International access to advanced analytics with enriched data sets that will ultimately drive greater understanding of flight trends. This program implementation includes the Boeing 777, 767, and 757 aircraft. FlightPulse is a mobile app that uses aircraft data and smart analytics to enable pilots to securely access their own flying metrics and trends. FlightPulse can be used to optimise efficiency, reduce operational risk, and improve pilot awareness through advanced flight data analytics. FOQA (Flight Operations Quality Assurance), also commonly referred to as FDM (Flight Data Monitoring), is the process of analysing and reviewing routinely recorded flight data. Airlines and operators that adopt FOQA are better able to identify and eliminate potential safety hazards in flight operations.
SEOSAT-Ingenio starts its journey to space: The Spanish satellite SEOSAT-Ingenio, built by Airbus, was loaded last week at the Torrejón de Ardóz air base, near Madrid, on board an Antonov 124 cargo plane to fly to the Kourou launch site. SEOSAT-Ingenio shares the flight to Guyana with the French satellite Taranis from CNES. Once in Kourou, the launch campaign will begin including functional tests, integration on the launcher adapter and encapsulation into the launcher for final inspection. Launch is scheduled for 18 November aboard a Vega launcher. As both SEOSAT-Ingenio and Taranis are destined for similar orbits, at an altitude around 700km, they will ride-share on this launch. A VESPA payload dispenser, produced by Airbus in Madrid for Avio, will enable Vega to accomplish this dual launch. SEOSAT-Ingenio is the first Spanish satellite with optical technology, developed primarily by the Spanish space industry led by Airbus in Spain as the prime contractor. It will give Spain the capability to capture high resolution satellite images. Imagery will be used for civil and military purposes covering services such as: security, land management, natural resources, border surveillance, agriculture and crisis management for natural disasters. Together with the PAZ satellite, launched in 2018, Spain will have a dual Earth observation system for both optical and radar imagery. This combined data set will produce higher resolution images and better information about our planet to Hisdesat, operating the constellation for the Spanish government.
GEODIS commits long-term airfreight capacity to Asia-Europe corridor: As part of its AirDirect service, which is an own controlled network (OCN), global logistics provider GEODIS has confirmed a two-way schedule of flights from China to Europe and back, through to early 2021, guaranteeing its customers a regular & reliable service. GEODIS originally instigated its full aircraft charter arrangements on this route in March with ad hoc flights and introduced a weekly timetable in June to meet the urgent need for air cargo capacity which had diminished due to the effects of the pandemic. Now, with both freighter and passenger belly-hold space still in short supply, the logistics provider has announced a permanent schedule reaching into next year. Weekly direct flights will depart from Shanghai (PVG) every Monday and from Amsterdam (AMS) each Sunday to service what is expected to be a post-COVID resurgence in demand during what is traditionally a fourth quarter peak season. The advent of the China-Europe-China service brings the company’s total investment in GEODIS’ OCN to over 70 million euros. More than 400 flights have been successfully completed across Asia, Europe, North and Latin America to date.
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