Aircraft News - Europe.

For more aircraft news, data, fleets and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Jul 17, 2006

Airbus

Airbus will expand its offering of two new mid-sized planes to three in order to catch up with rival Boeing, industry sources said on Friday. Worried that its pair of proposed A350 models aimed at competing with the Boeing 787 due in 2008 will do little to slow sales of Boeing's larger 777, Airbus will add a third, larger model. "They are definitely looking at doing three," one industry source said, adding that the new planes were likely to be named the A350-800, A350-900 and A350-1,000. There was a chance Airbus could go with the name A370, he added. A second source confirmed the story, saying: "It is designed to take on both the 787 and 777." Boeing says the market for the 787, 777 and A350 will be the industry's most lucrative over the next two decades. Jul 14, 2006

Airbus

Analysts say development of the A350 will cost USD$10 billion, a figure likely to escalate a clash between the European Union and Washington, which have filed complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO) about government support for Boeing and Airbus, respectively. Airbus initially estimated the new model would cost no more than EUR4 billion (USD$5.06 billion), and made clear that it would again ask Britain, France, Germany and Spain for loans to fund a third of the development. Jul 14, 2006

Airbus

Airbus has wrestled for more than a year with the design of a model named the A350 which is now likely to be shelved, some analysts believe, as the planemaker responds to calls from would-be buyers for a wider fuselage and other advances. The year's biggest air show opens near London next week, with all eyes on planemaker Airbus and its secretive plans for a new, mid-sized plane to challenge resurgent rival Boeing. The two planemakers waged a feisty battle at the biennial event last time as the biggest winners in USD$21 billion worth of business deals announced. This year, Airbus faces mounting pressure to reveal its mystery plane, which analysts say could cost USD$10 billion to build. Industry sources and analysts say Airbus's top salesman, John Leahy, will be working hard to sell the concept and could have deals to announce at the Farnborough air show, which opens on Monday. Jul 12, 2006

Airbus

Airbus's mid-sized A350 model, which is being redesigned to compete with Boeing's bigger-selling 787, had to be a superior aircraft, Tom Enders told a briefing restricted to Stuttgart-based journalists late on Tuesday. The co-head of European aerospace firm EADS admitted its Airbus unit had underestimated Boeing and said its priority was to fix problems at Airbus, which is trailing its US competitor in aircraft sales. He added that Airbus was not under time pressure and said the timing of a decision on the design of the A350 was not bound by next week's Farnborough Air Show in Britain, a showcase for the industry. Former joint EADS Chief Executive Noel Forgeard had said at the Berlin Air Show in May that decisions would be made on the slow-selling A350 by Farnborough. Jul 12, 2006

Airbus

Airbus new aircraft sales picked up a bit last month as the embattled plane-maker reported orders for 12 aircraft in June, up from six in May and nine in April. All were for A320 family jets comprising four A319s, six A320s and two A318s. The new commitments brought total first-half sales to 117, comprising 96 narrowbodies and 21 widebodies. Airbus sold just one widebody in the second quarter and that was to a nonairline. Jul 11, 2006

Airbus

Airbus confirms new CEO Streiff. Airbus's shareholder committee officially confirmed Christian Streiff as president and CEO Friday as the aircraft manufacturer began to move forward following last month's A380 program setback and its politically contentious fallout, which led to the resignation of former CEO Gustav Humbert. Jul 10, 2006

Airbus

Airbus has been lagging behind rival Boeing for some months as airlines wait for a re-launch of the long-range twinjet A350, which has been heavily outsold by the Boeing 787. Airbus received orders for just 21 of these twin-aisle models during the first half, including 13 for the A350 which is being re-designed, meaning the planemaker may be forced to renegotiate these deals. Airbus hopes to launch a new version of the A350 that also addresses slow sales of the four-engine A340 before next week's Farnborough Air Show. It has not sold any of its wide-body aircraft -- the A330/340/350 family nor the twice-delayed A380 superjumbo -- since March, according to Airbus figures. Jul 10, 2006

Airbus

Airbus orders dropped by more than half in the first six months of the year as confusion over its product range robbed the company of wide-body sales throughout the second quarter, new figures showed on Monday. The European planemaker, which is reeling from production difficulties and a recent management shake-up, said it had sold 117 aircraft between January and June, down from 276 in the same period last year. Deliveries, however, rose to 219 planes from 189. Jul 10, 2006

Airbus

Airbus plans to relaunch its A320 passenger jet, with the new versions becoming deliverable from 2009 according to a German magazine. Airbus said operating costs of the new jets with the working title A320 Enhanced would be five percent below those of the current A320s, the Wirtschaftswoche magazine said in an advance copy of its July 10 edition. This would be achieved through lower air resistance, reduced weight and more efficient engines. Airbus, which is majority owned by European aircraft and defense group EADS, was also planning innovations to the A320s due to be delivered from next year, the report said. The company last month shocked the aerospace industry by disclosing additional six month delays in the delivery of superjumbo A380 aircraft. Airbus is locked in a fierce battle for airline customers with US rival Boeing. Jul 10, 2006

Airbus, Boeing

Boeing leads in orders for first half of 2006, Airbus woes mounting. Boeing booked more than four times as many orders as Airbus in the first half of 2006, although Airbus delivered more planes. The poor sales figures add to Airbus's concerns over delivery delays, a class-action lawsuit and reports that a deadly accident at a Russian airport could be linked to faulty brakes made by the company. Jul 11, 2006

Aviareto

Aviareto announced that the International Registry of Mobile Assets, which it manages on behalf of ICAO, has surpassed expectations in its first three months of operation with more than 3,500 users registered, four times the number forecast for the first year. The number of aircraft and engines recorded by Dublin-based IRMA has exceeded forecasts by more than 25%. Jul 12, 2006

Boeing, Lufthansa Cargo

Lufthansa Cargo looks to modernize as competition heats up. Lufthansa Cargo is evaluating replacement of its 19 MD-11 freighters, which have an average age of eight years, as it looks to brace itself for tough competition in the years ahead. Lufthansa 's Koepfle didn't specify a possible replacement type but admitted, "there is not much choice anyway." The 747-400ERF, 747-8 or 777F are LHC's most realistic options. Koepfle also said the 747 must have a nose door to be considered and that LHC no longer wants a mixed freighter fleet and is not interested in passenger-to-freighter conversions like several of the MD-11Fs it currently operates. He is not interested in the A380F: "So far, only integrators like FedEx have ordered the A380F. Jul 14, 2006

CFM International

CFM International enjoys strong sales year as LEAP 56 progresses. CFM International President and CEO Eric Bachelet told media in London at the Farnborough show that the GE-Snecma joint venture engine company logged 1,270 engine orders worth $7.6 billion through the first half of this year. In its latest market forecast, CFM sees a demand for 15,000 narrowbody aircraft over the next 20 years, of which 12,500 will be in the CFM target range of 121-199 seats. Last week, Boeing projected sales of 16,540 single-aisle aircraft seating between 100 and 240 passengers through 2025. CFM Executive VP Bill Clapper also said the CFM56-7B Tech Insertion package for the 737NG family was certified jointly by US FAA and EASA in June, paving the way for flight tests in August and aircraft certification in September. Certification of the CFM56-5B model for the A320 family is expected in the third quarter, followed by flight tests on an A320 with certification scheduled for mid-2007. Jul 16, 2006

Cityjet, Air France-KLM

Cityjet, the Air France subsidiary, based in Dublin, has confirmed the acquisition of 23 pre-owned Avro RJ85. The 'planes will in the main replace the airline's 17 BAe 146 aircraft, of which the Avro is a development. The phased introduction of the new aircraft from November 2006 represents significant investment not only in fleet replacement, but also in the company's future and comes after months of speculation of just where CityJet was going in terms of replacement aircraft. CityJet will take first delivery in November. It now operates 19 BAe 146s. "The close relationship of the new aircraft type to the BAe 146 currently operated allows the airline to dovetail its introduction into the existing fleet," CityJet said. Last year it carried 1.5 million passengers to Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, London City, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Gothenburg, Zurich and Florence and saw turnover rise 18% to [euro]254 million ($323.6 million). A major player at London City Airport the announcement probably rules out Air France in terms of Airbus A318 operations at LCY. http://www.cityjet.com Jul 14, 2006

International Aero Engines 

International Aero Engines - IAE says V2500 Select is on target. A year after unveiling the V2500 Select combination of technology upgrades and aftermarket total support services, International Aero Engines President Mark King says at the Farnborough show that the program is on target toward achieving up to a 1% reduction in fuel burn and a 20% lowering of maintenance costs. Jul 16, 2006

Lufthansa, SAS Ground Services 

Lufthansa chose SAS Ground Services Finland Oy for its ground handling services at Helsinki Vantaa. The three-year agreement goes into effect Aug. 15. LH operates eight flights per day from the airport. Jul 10, 2006

PrivatAir, Boeing

PrivatAir signed a contract on July 6 to add a 56-seat 767-300ER to its VIP fleet by the second half of 2007, replacing a BBJ 1. "We want to have a long-haul aircraft available which is able to operate nonstop sectors Geneva-Los Angeles or to Hong Kong," Thomas said. Nevertheless, he is talking with airlines about wet-leasing a 767 in an all-business layout with up to 90 seats, and "we are also speaking with Boeing to evaluate the 787 for our fleet in several years to come." Jul 10, 2006

Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce began construction on its new outdoor jet engine testing facility at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Rolls will test the Trent 900 and Trent 1000 at the facility, where work is expected to begin in the second half of 2007. It will spend $42 million on construction and upgrades. Jul 13, 2006

S7 Airlines, Airbus

Reports from Russia are suggesting that the braking system failed on the S7 Airlines A310-300 that skidded on a wet runway after landing at Irkutsk International Airport at approximately 7:50 a.m. local time Sunday morning. At least 119 passengers and five crew were killed when the aircraft broke through a 6-ft. concrete barrier and crashed into a series of one-story garages, with some reports raising the death toll to 131. At least 20 passengers are in serious condition. There were 195 passengers and eight crew aboard the aircraft, which was arriving from Moscow Domodedovo. S7 said, "The aircraft landed normally, touching down precisely in the part of the runway allocated for landing on the runway. Once the aircraft had touched down, the crew reported the landing to an air traffic controller. The aircraft, however, then overran the runway and crashed into obstacles (garages) right beside the runway." Jul 11, 2006

S7 Airlines, Airbus

The airline will make a one-off payment of RUB50,000 ($1,863) to each victim's next of kin to cover funeral expenses, with other compensation issues to be determined later or on a case-by-case basis. S7 is the new name of Sibir Airlines, Russia's second-largest, which rebranded in the spring. The A310 still wore Sibir's blue-and-white livery. S7 operates 65 aircraft, including 16 Airbuses, according to Reuters. Sunday's accident was the third major catastrophe to hit the carrier. In October 2001, a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile accidentally struck a Tu-154 on its way to Tel Aviv, killing 78 people. In August 2004, another Tu-154 was destroyed by a suicide bomber en route to Sochi from Moscow, killing 46. Jul 11, 2006

S7 Airlines, Airbus

The S7 Airlines A310-300 Pratt & Whitney PW4152-powered plane that recently crashed was delivered to Pan Am off the production line in June 1987 and had accumulated 59,860 flight hr. on more than 10,000 trips. It underwent a C check in July 2005 at Lufthansa Technik's Frankfurt facility. The flight recorders are being analyzed, according to press reports. Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network reported that the weather at IKT was "poor" with rain and overcast clouds at 600 ft. The aircraft landed on runway 30, which is 3,165 m. long. S7 said the two pilots each had accumulated more than 9,600 hr. of flying time without incident. Jul 11, 2006

SAS Component

SAS Component will close its operations in Stavangar following the decision of SAS Technical Services to shutter its own operation there and rationalize Norwegian MRO capacity at Oslo. The action will affect 98 staff based in Stavangar and SASC will transfer workload to its other three locations, according to Singapore Technologies Aerospace, which purchased 67% of SAS Component last year. SASC also operates facilities at Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen. Jul 12, 2006

Volga-Dnepr, Antonov

Volga-Dnepr, Antonov to manage An-124 fleets jointly. Outsize-freight specialist carriers Volga-Dnepr Airlines and Antonov Airlines, which operate a combined 17 of the 23 massive An-124s in commercial service worldwide, are teaming to launch a joint-venture marketing company aimed at streamlining management of their respective fleets. Jul 13, 2006