Archive for year: 2019

The Airbus A380 (ex-)lifeline supplier and flagship operator as well as the largest Boeing 777 operator in the world, Emirates keeps it simple when it comes to their fleet: they pick large planes and stick to them. But how the Gulf carrier’s fleet will look like in a decade once the superjumbos begin going out of service?

In Emirates World Interview podcast, Tim Clark, the CEO of the airline, has revealed how the Emirates fleet might look like at the end of the next decade. Currently flying only two types of aircraft – Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 – the fleet will likely be more diverse and far bigger by the end of 20s and early 30s.

According to Clark, at one end of the scale it will still have 500+ seating superjumbos, while on another there will be the “smaller twins”. “Smaller”, of course, in Emirates standards as the “twins” are A330neo, A350XWB and Boeing 787-9, -10 pairs, all of which seat 280+ passengers.

In particular, the 787-9 seats 280, while the 787-10 seats 290 to 310 passengers. In turn, A330-900 seats 310 passengers, while A350-900 accommodates between 300 and 350 passengers.

Emirates and the Boeing 777(X)

Of the 268 aircraft that Emirates currently flies, according to planespotters.net data, the majority of them ‒ 155 ‒ are Boeing 777s. In 10-15 years, the aircraft will likely still hold a considerable place in the fleet.

Emirates will be one of the first airlines to take the brand new “folding wing” Boeing 777X. The airline firmed up its order for the type back in 2014 and now expects to welcome the first of its 150 777Xs in 2020. At least, it hopes to. Tim Clark, Emirates CEO, said in the podcast that the aircraft are “contracted to come to us in June 2020”.

Knowing Emirates’ disappointment with reliability of aircraft and engines manufacturers and Boeing’s troubles with 777X development, Clark’s given timeline of 777X service entry does not sound too confident.

In September 2019, the CEO told reporters that the airline would not take delivery of new Airbus and Boeing jets unless the plane makers and engine manufacturers – Rolls-Royce, General Electric – got their act together.

The engine manufacturer’s problems are indeed threatening the 777X entry into service. The wide-body is to be powered by GE9X engine, which is currently under development. In June 2019, GE Aviation revealed that an issue with its component was detected during testing. Consequently, that meant that engine certification was unlikely to take place until autumn 2019, meaning that the maiden flight of the 777X was delayed by “several months”.

Delayed or not, in ten years 777Xs will be part of Emirates fleet. “You’ll see the fleet of 777Xs” Clark said, also adding that the airline plans to operate both two types of the new triple seven: the -8 and -9.

The airline has been a faithful customer of the Boeing triple seven since 1992, Boeing order book indicates, when it placed its first, shy order for six 777-200ERs. Since then, Emirates’ 777 fleet has grown to be the biggest in the world, and planes in its orders are now counted in the hundreds.

What will step into A380 shoes?

While Boeing 777s are here to stay, the same cannot be said about Emirates’ beloved Airbus A380. With 110 superjumbos in its fleet, the carrier is still awaiting 13 more to be delivered before Airbus ceases its production in 2021. Which means that in the next ten years Emirates will no longer be receiving new A380s and will be retiring some instead.

“As far as Emirates is concerned, these aircraft will be flying until mid-30s, so there is a long time to go before the aircraft disappears from Emirates fleet,” Clark said. He, however, admitted that by the turn of the third decade (2030s) Emirates will be flying a “residual A380 fleet” of some 80-90 aircraft.

Since no other aircraft currently can compete with the superjumbo in capacity (in terms of passenger seats), this means that Emirates will turn to smaller aircraft. In February 2019, Emirates announced an order for 40 A330-900s (deliveries to start from 2021) and 30 A350-900s (deliveries to start from 2024). The order appears to be not finalized yet, as Airbus does not list in it is official order book.

Besides the A330neo and A350XWB, Emirates “continue to be looking” at the Boeing 787, Clark said. Of the three Dreamliner versions currently flying, the Gulf airline is considering two options: the -9 and -10.

Source: https://bit.ly/30JsO39

Image: Sorbis / Shutterstock.com

The United States is expected to be granted approval by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to impose tariffs on European Union (EU) goods, including aircraft and parts, worth up to $8 billion annually, media reports suggest. The decision would open the next chapter in what has been a 15-year-old aircraft subsidy dispute concerning rival plane makers Boeing and Airbus, in which both the U.S. and the EU have their own separate cases before the WTO.

Arbitrators from the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the global trade watchdog held a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 30, 2019, to consider measures affecting the dispute over trade of large civil aircraft. The WTO decision concerns the case filed by the United States against the EU and certain EU member States addressing the alleged EU subsidies on large civil aircraft. It is expected the WTO will back the U.S. complaint, granting it the right to impose tariffs on billions of dollars of European goods, as several media reports suggest.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) brought forward a proposal on July 1, 2019, specifying new tariffs on EU goods worth approximately $4 billion in commercial value. The wide-ranging list of 89 products could be added to the preliminary proposal that the USRT published on April 12, 2019, concerning EU exports to the U.S. – from food, drink and other items to European-built aircraft and aerospace parts – that would be subject to tariffs worth around $21 billion in annual trade value.

The Trump administration has, in fact, requested to impose tariffs of up to 100% on European exports to the U.S. with a trade value of around $11.2 billion a year, according to a recent report by CNBC. If the favorable ruling were to be confirmed, the WTO would set the amount of European products that the U.S. can target, once it selects the items from the published USTR list.

Most likely not reaching the desired tariff figure, according to sources cited by Reuters, the U.S. could be, however, awarded the right to slap tariffs worth around $7.5 billion annually, a record sum in the history of the WTO, as the news agency points out. Other news media, including Bloomberg, put that figure at $8 billion.

The Impact on Airbus

The proposed list threatens the sustainability of Airbus’ U.S.-based operations, such as the A320 manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama, which depends on imported components to build the aircraft. Airbus is also constructing a second assembly line at its Mobile plant, where the first few A220s are already being produced.

The European plane maker states it has purchased $48 billion of components and materials from U.S. suppliers in the last three years since 2019 and sources about 40% of parts from the U.S. across its model range. However, aircraft produced at Mobile are also constructed from sub-assemblies shipped from Europe, particularly, France, Germany, Spain and the UK, the four EU member States being cited in the WTO case.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury states the escalating dispute is threatening to damage both parties. “A trade war on aviation would be a lose-lose game because the supply chains are very integrated,” he was quoted as saying in a report by Bloomberg. “We buy a lot in the U.S., we sell in the U.S. and we are a U.S. player as well.”

The rift that keeps on giving

While there are suggestions that the U.S. is poised to win its case before the WTO, likely imposing the duties on EU goods as soon as October 2019, the EU is certainly expected to retaliate, as it pursues its own similar case at the WTO over illegal subsidies allegedly provided to Boeing by the U.S. On April 17, 2019, the European Commission published a preliminary list of U.S. goods (including aircraft, chemicals and food products) it would seek to hit with tariffs. The list would amount to $20 billion of U.S. exports to the EU. A decision by WTO arbitrators on the appropriate level of countermeasures tariffs in that case is expected in 2020.

The WTO has ruled that both Airbus and Boeing received illegal subsidies: the EU was found to have unfairly supported the development of two Airbus programs, the late A380 and the A350, while Boeing is said to have received unjustified tax breaks from the U.S. authorities. Both manufacturers estimate that the subsidies harmed their business by more than $10 billion per year.

Source: https://bit.ly/2oa2fXh

Image: Martin Good / Shutterstock.com

Air New Zealand and Boeing have inked a $2.7 billion (at list prices) worth contract for eight 787-10s. The Dreamliners are to replace the airline’s aging 777-200ERs. The airline, which already operates several Trent 1000-powered Dreamliners, appears to be tired with the never-ending Rolls-Royce engines issues, as it opted for Genx for its new purchase.

On September 25, 2019, Air New Zealand has confirmed the order for eight GEnx engine-powered 787-10s with option to increase the order by 12 more aircraft. The airline, Boeing and GE Aviation have initially made the deal in May 2019 by signing a letter of intent.

New Dreamliners, seating up to 330 passengers in a standard two-class configuration, are replacing the aging 777-200ERs in Air New Zealand’s fleet. Air NZ Chief Pilot, Captain David Morgan told NewsHub that the company has looked at Boeing 777X and Airbus A350 as potential replacement aircraft for its Boeing 777-200s, but decided to settle on Boeing 787-10 as it “is the right airplane for us”.

The deliveries are due to begin in September 2022 and last until 2027 (financial years of 2023-2028), unless the carrier decided to take the additional 12 787-10s, in which case deliveries would stretch until 2030 (financial year of 2031).

At that time, the carrier’s long haul fleet will consist of seven 777-300ERs, 14 787-9s and, of course, the eight 787-10s. However, the airline has also assured its shareholders that it has the right to switch from 787-10s to smaller 787-9s if it sees the need. The delivery schedule can also be delayed or accelerated by the airline.

“As many of you will know, in May, we announced our intention to replace our current fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft with the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner powered by GE engines,” the airline’s CEO told shareholders before the voting on September 25, 2019. “Subject to shareholder approval later today, this multi-billion-dollar investment will be a game changer for our airline, offering a 25 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and opening up new opportunities for profitable network growth in the future”.

Air New Zealand currently operates 13 Dreamliners of the smaller -9 version (and is awaiting delivery of one more), which are powered by Trent 1000 engines. However, it appears that it had enough with problems plaguing Rolls-Royce engines. Of the two engine types available for Dreamliners (the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and the GE GEnx), the airline has settled for the latter.

“The issues we faced with the global Rolls-Royce engines which impacted not only the Boeing 787 fleet, but our entire network, as uncertainty around aircraft availability had numerous knock-on effects across the business,” the airline’s chairman told shareholders on September 25, 2019.

Source: https://bit.ly/2mUr7Sq

Image: Stanislav Fosenbauer / Shutterstock.com

The Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has revealed a new livery that will be present on their aircraft, starting with newest jets ‒ the Airbus A350 and the A320neo. The new paint job is a contemporary “take on classic Scandinavian design”, highlighting the next chapter in the airline’s book, as SAS is undergoing a fleet renewal program.

The new and rather bland livery is a “symbol of our future, a more sustainable and competitive future for SAS, but one that also embraces our heritage”, said the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Scandinavian airline, Rickard Gustafson. “Travelers from Scandinavia will recognize their home” and foreign passengers will come across “the renowned feeling of the Nordics”, he added.

The changes from the previous colors are a “fresher shade of gray”, which features an advanced coating material, reducing the number of layers that need to be applied on the fuselage, which in turn reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Furthermore, a “proud and confident” SAS logo will appear at the front of an aircraft, while the blue tail at the back of the plane will also extend to the underbelly. New addition will be the word “Scandinavian” on the belly of the aircraft, with the same word is changing color on the aircraft’s engines. In addition, the flags of Denmark, Norway and Sweden “have been updated in a modern, elegant way”.

The new livery will be present on all aircraft by 2024, according to the airlines’ plans. Currently operated aircraft will be repainted during planned maintenance, while newly delivered jets will feature the fresh coat of paint as soon as they roll out of the paint shop. SAS plans to have 96 new Airbus aircraft by 2023. The airline currently flies 159 aircraft, with an average age of 10.2 years, according to planespotters.net data. SAS aims to reduce its emissions by 25% by 2030, and one of those ways will be to replace the inefficient Airbus A340 quad jets with the new A350, while the A320neo will allow the aging Boeing 737s to retire from the airline’s operations.

Take a look at the new livery:

Introducing our new look! A visual symbol of SAS modernizing our fleet and bringing the most fuel efficient planes, the @Airbus A320neo and A350 to our travelers. Painting out a more sustainable aviation future. Experience the new livery: https://t.co/RaAweEuVre #flysas #aviation pic.twitter.com/KmmjpAD8PN

— SAS – Scandinavian Airlines (@SAS) 19 de setembro de 2019

All pictures are courtesy of SAS.

Source: https://bit.ly/2kWSXfX

Image: SAS

In the coming weeks, several world aviation authorities should submit a report on the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX. The conclusions will reportedly be critical of the way the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) handled the approval of the aircraft.

The Joint Authorities Technical Review (JATR), a committee set up by the FAA in April 2019, regroups the EASA, aviation authorities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Japan, and Singapore, as well as NASA. It was tasked with reviewing the approval procedures of the Boeing 737 MAX, after suspicions of collusion between the manufacturer and the U.S. regulator emerged.

The report, which the JATR should submit in the coming weeks, is apparently critical of the FAA’s methods, particularly of the way it delegated some of the approval processes to Boeing’s engineers.

According to a source close to the matter quoted by the Wall Street Journal, the report recommends an earlier involvement of the FAA in the design of new systems, particularly when they can influence pilot response times during emergency situations.

Shortly after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the Seattle Times revealed that the authority delegated some of the 737 MAX certification process to Boeing engineers, and specifically the review of the MCAS system which was blamed for two fatal 737 MAX crashes.

Discrepancies were found in the MACS report: the system is known for correcting the angle of the stabilizers by 2.5°, yet FAA documents state the maximum is only 0.6°. “The FAA believed the airplane was designed to the 0.6 limit, and that’s what the foreign regulatory authorities thought, too,” said an FAA engineer quoted by the media.

The MCAS relies on the reading of a single sensor while its potential failure was evaluated as one level below “catastrophic”, which goes against the usual FAA regulations. Preliminary inspection of the FDR data from the Flight 302 showed that “the two sensors differed by some 20 degrees not only throughout the flight but also while the airplane taxied on the ground before takeoff”.

The safety review also forgets to mention that the system can reset itself after each pilot input, ignoring the fact that it is able to repeatedly push the plane’s nose down.

The JATR report should be critical of the fact that these discrepancies did not alert the FAA, and will include new certification guideline suggestions to make sure it does not happen again.

“We will review all the recommendations and incorporate any proposal that would improve our certification activities,” an FAA spokesman told AFP. “We look forward to the publication of the JATR report when it is complete,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the company continues to work with global regulators to safely return the 737 MAX to service.

On March 19, 2019, the EASA and Transport Canada had declared that they would not validate the decision of the FAA as it is custom but instead would run an independent investigation. The decision was confirmed by Patrick Ky, head of the EASA, in an audience with the European Parliament on September 3, 2019. More recently, it was reported that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India (DGCA) was also looking into testing and certifying the grounded 737 itself, rather than relying on the FAA‘s judgment.

Source: https://bit.ly/2lTICBI

Image: Chrisdorney