Flight International 18-24 July 2017

Emir-mates A grade for C Hybrid vision
Will Dubais Why Swiss and How industrys

two carriers get Air Baltic are giants can drive
closer together singing CSeries innovation in
to bridge gulf praises, on first charge towards
between their anniversary of viable electric
operations? 15 service entry 22 airliners 26
18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com
PROCUREMENT
Smoke and
mirrors
Austria hits Eurofighter with
Typhoon replacement plan
ISSN 0 0 1 5 - 3 7 1 0
3.70
2 9
9 770015 371297
A warm velkommen.
Congratulations, Norwegian, on becoming the rst airline in
Europe to introduce the LEAP-1B-powered Boeing 737 MAX
to your eet. Were proud to be under your wing.
www.cfmaeroengines.com
CFM International is a 50/50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines
CONTENTS
Volume 192 Number 5596
18-24 JULY 2017
NEWS
THIS WEEK
Emir-mates A grade for C Hybrid vision
Will Dubais Why Swiss and How industrys
two carriers get Air Baltic are giants can drive
closer together singing CSeries innovation in
6 Australia, USA hail hypersonic flights

to bridge gulf praises, on first charge towards
between their anniversary of viable electric
operations? 15 service entry 22 airliners 26
7 Three-year low for first-half deliveries

18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com
as suppliers stutter
8 Norway, UK lift Super Puma flight ban.
PROCUREMENT
Smoke and
mirrors
Austria hits Eurofighter with
Typhoon replacement plan
AW189 proves to be less thirsty than thought
9 F-35 costs soar as acquisition cuts bite
Bell Helicopter
AIR TRANSPORT
Geoffrey Lee/Eurofighter
10 OLeary warns Brexit could halt EU-UK

operations for months.
ATC shutdown causes 230 flight cancellations. Bell 525 back in testing, a year after fatal crash P20
ISSN 0 0 1 5 - 3 7 1 0
3.70
E-Jet deliveries rise, but orders fail to keep up

2 9
COVER STORY
9 770015 371297
11 Engine fire sparks call for CF6 checks.

FIN_180717_301.indd 1 13/07/2017 09:58
COVER IMAGE 16 Vienna bids goodnight to Eurofighter

EASA approval paves way for ATR to receive
We chose this striking Commission report indicates fleet switch could
navigation system upgrades.
image taken at Zeltweg GKN ice sensor sheds light on critical surfaces save 2 billion by 2049, as legal wrangling
air base in Austria in 2011 over types acquisition mounts
12 Non-standard approach led to SpiceJet Q400
by Geoffrey Lee for our runway excursion.
cover article on Viennas LOT targets Hungarys appetite on US access. FEATURES
plans to retire its fleet of More Beluga XL sections moving toward 22 CSERIES Flying start Bombardiers clean-sheet
Eurofighter Typhoons P16 assembly for Airbus CSeries has been in service for a year with launch
13 SSJ100 shows short-runway capability. operator Swiss, plus Latvias Air Baltic; so far, its
FedEx to deliver 777 freighter for Boeing introduction is proving smoother than expected
green test effort. 26 ELECTRIC PROPULSION Volts from the blue
Strategy Award winners lauded Disciples of electric flight may be disappointed
that neither Airbus nor Boeing expect to plug in
NEWS FOCUS airliners any time soon, but the limits of battery
15 Emirates could bridge gulf to Flydubai power should come as no shock
DEFENCE 29 Power switch Solid financial backing and the
17 US Navy transmits plan for low-band frequency promise of a fuel-cell technology breakthrough
jammer. underpin an Israeli start-ups bid to build and
Air force highlights risk of UAVs near its bases. certificate an all-electric GA workhorse by 2020
BEHIND THE HEADLINES Thailand picks a further eight T-50TH trainers
Flight International deputy
editor Dominic Perry went
19 German industry sizes up CH-53K REGULARS
to Milan to catch up with 5 Comment
BUSINESS AVIATION
Leonardo Helicopters, a 33 Straight & Level
20 Airvan 10 gains Australian, US approval.
visit which included exten- Bell boosted as crash-hit 525 Relentless 35 Letters
sive briefings and a flight returns to the skies 37 Classified
on an AgustaWestland 39 Jobs
21 Production-ready E1000 set for debut.
AW189 (P8)
Embraer reports fall in its first-half shipments 43 Working Week
Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock
NEXT WEEK SAFETY

US Air Force, Boeing
We make a half-year check

on commercial aviation
safety. Plus, our report from
Moscows MAKS air show
Raptors encounter risks from UAVs P17. FedEx to provide 777 Freighter for ecoDemonstrator tests P13
Download the Military Simulator

Census online now.
www.flightglobal.com/milisim
CAE offers training centres, training services, and simulation products for maritime patrol aircraft.
flightglobal.com 18-24 July 2017 | Flight International | 3

CONTENTS
Image of
the week
Lockheed Martin F-16s
from the US Air Forces
Thunderbirds aerobatics
team are captured in early
July taking fuel from a
KC-135 Stratotanker. The
squadron was in the UK
ahead of a Bastille Day
display in France and a visit
to the Royal International
Air Tattoo
View more great aviation

shots online and in our
weekly tablet edition:
Crown Copyright
flightglobal.com/
flight-international
The week in numbers Question of the week
75%
Last week, we asked: Transatlantic flight on a single-aisle?
You said:
Flight Dashboard
Total votes: 1,044
Reduction in state subsidy Aerolineas Argentinas expects this
year from the record $670m it needed to survive 2015
$1.71
Seat pitch hell
678 votes
65%
Budget brilliance
Flight Dashboard 289 votes
The average Q2 fuel price per gallon paid by Allegiant Air; 28% Short-term fad
American Airlines paid just $1.60-1.65 on mainline services 77 votes
7%
1,100 Flight Dashboard
Hourly passenger capacity at Russias Anapa International

This week, we ask: How is UK industry prepared for Brexit?
Heading for cliff-edge Government direction needed
Bright future ahead
airport, which has almost doubled thanks to a new terminal Vote at flightglobal.com
FlightGlobals premium news and data service delivers breaking air transport stories with
profiles, schedules, and fleet, financial and traffic information flightglobal.com/dashboard
Download the new

theCommercial Engines Directory
Download The Engine Directory.
Download 2017 Commercial Engines Report
ow with enhanced
now dataenhanced
with updated and in-depth market
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in-depth market analysis
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CFM 2017 strip ad.indd 1 15/06/2017 08:52
4 | Flight International | 18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com
19/07/2012 17:51
COMMENT
Mid-life crisis
Until now, narrowbodies have had no part to play at Emirates, but that is set to change as
the 32-year-old Gulf carrier reappraises its strategy amid mounting commercial pressures
E mirates has been finding itself seemingly under at-

tack from all sides, amid geopolitical shocks, travel
restrictions and the rising threat of terrorism. Declining
demand in key markets has hurt its business, as the air-
line endures its first serious crisis since birth.
Amid the realisation that its no longer one of the
new boys, three decades after its creation, Emirates is
examining a bold change of course in its fleet and net-
work strategy.
You have to take what comes at you, says the air-
lines long-standing chief, Tim Clark. Weve had 31
very good years. Were going through a tough patch at
Emirates
the moment actually beyond our control.
So the Dubai carrier is scrutinising all previous busi- Bigger is better?
ness assumptions, including the logic of having a sister
airline competing head to-head on short- and medium- the two airlines could in fact see the two become one
haul routes. It is also facing up to the notion dare we he is not ruling anything out.
say it that it is a bit old-fashioned in its thinking. Such a move would make sense. Its how Emirates
two local rivals operate. And the competitive land-
Three decades on, Emirates is scape as well as the trading conditions have
changed dramatically since Flydubai was conceived a
examining a bold change in its decade ago. If the logic of Emirates having an all-wide-
body fleet is beginning to look fuzzy, then the idea of a
fleet and network strategy sister airline competing on a third of its routes is dis-
tinctly unpalatable now.
Clark admits that the Emirates widebody-only busi-
Thats a fact not lost on Clark: Compared to the new ness model happened more by accident than design. It
breed of business model, Im afraid we are slightly lega- was a quirk of the 1980s operating environment that
cy in our approach, he says. And that is the death the airline hatched into. Without access to regional
knell for people like me. So we have to adapt our busi- markets, it set off building its network with a fleet of
ness model to what is going on out there. Airbus widebodies, and later Boeings.
One certain change is its relationship with Dubais A merger if that is what it is with Flydubai would
low-cost airline, Flydubai. Both airlines are owned by create a mega-carrier in the region operating a fleet of
the government, and the increasing amount of head-to- 300-plus aircraft seating from 170 to over 600 passen-
head competition must stop, the carrier insists. gers. It is an opportunity it cannot ignore.
So what Clark describes as a closer-knit working of See News Focus P15
Answers on Brexit
B rexit means Brexit, UK prime minister Theresa
May infamously explained. What Brexit means for
aviation and aerospace is far from certain.
Aviation Safety Agency in the UK will similarly expire.
Airline bosses such as Ryanairs Michael OLeary have
warned of chaos if there is no settlement. The aero-
What we know is that, following the June 2016 refer- space trade body ADS has likewise said a hard Brexit
endum and the triggering of Article 50, in less than 90 that leaves suppliers unable to access the single market
weeks time the UK will no longer be a member of the would be a disaster for UK manufacturing.
EU. Without a deal between London and Brussels, that Ministers, meanwhile, are resorting to that trusted
could mean a departure from the open skies agreement wartime mantra: Keep calm and carry on. In other
that allows UK-based airlines and their passengers to words, we cannot tell you much, but fear not we have
fly anywhere within the bloc. your interests at heart and it will work out in the end.
For aerospace manufacturers, it will end the UKs For many, patience with platitudes is running out. In-
Stay up to date with the latest
news and analysis from the membership of the customs union and their ability to dustry needs visibility on what will happen after March
commercfial aviation sector: import and export their products without tarrifs, quo- 2019 now not days before the Brexit deadline.
flightglobal.com/dashboard tas or border formalities. The remit of the European See Air Transport P10

THIS WEEK
For up-to-the-minute air transport news,
network and fleet information sign up at:
flightglobal.com/dashboard
BRIEFING
TECHNOLOGY GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE
Australia, USA hail

hypersonic flights
AIR TRANSAT SELECTS LONG-RANGE A321S
LEASING Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat is to lease 10 long-
range Airbus A321LRs from AerCap. The single-aisle aircraft will
be taken on 12-year terms, says the carrier, and replace its twin-
aisle Airbus A310s. Air Transat has not indicated an engine selec- Canberra says HiFIRE programme trials at Woomera test
tion for the twinjets; deliveries will run from 2019 to 2020. Air range achieved major milestones on design and avionics
Transat will configure the aircraft with 200 seats in two classes.
MARINES INVESTIGATE KC-130T LOSS

ACCIDENT The US Marine Corps is investigating the factors
A ustralia and the USA have
concluded a series of hyper-
sonic test flights at the Woomera
the University of Queensland,
with the project led by Australias
Defence Science and Technology
behind a 10 July accident involving one of its Lockheed Martin test range in South Australia. Group (DST) and the US Air
KC-130T tanker/transports. Sixteen personnel were killed when The activity was conducted Force Research Laboratory.
the aircraft came down in Leflore County, Mississippi, during a under the auspices of the hyper- Previous HiFIRE launches have
flight between MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina and El sonic international flight research achieved speeds of Mach 7.5. The
Centro in California. Contact was lost with the aircraft while it experimentation (HiFIRE) pro- tests involve the ballistic launch
was flying at cruise altitude, the USMC says. gramme, says Australias Depart- of a vehicle that includes hyper-
ment of Defence. sonic inlet, a scramjet combustor
A350-1000 ACES HOT-WEATHER TESTING Defence minister Marise (through which air flows at super-
TRIAL Airbus has completed the hot-weather testing of its Payne says the tests achieved sonic speeds) and a nozzle. It car-
A350-1000 in the United Arab Emirates. The airframer says it significant milestones, includ- ries instruments to transmit test
wrapped up the testing on 7 July after three days in Al Ain. ing design assembly, pre-flight data to researchers on the ground.
Airbus sent cabin-equipped test aircraft MSN65 to the location testing of the hypersonic vehi- Boeing declines to comment
in order to undertake checks on system behaviour, with a focus cles and design of complex avi- on the launch, but BAE Systems
on the cabin, it states. This included cooling performance onics and control systems. Australia says: We were pleased
checks while the aircraft was stationed on the ground. Canberra and Washington DC to support the DST with the suc-
are drafting plans for future hy- cessful flight trial; the most com-
ARJ21 FINALLY GAINS PRODUCTION APPROVAL personic work, she adds. The de- plex of all HiFIRE flights con-
PROGRAMME Comac has gained production certification for fence department statement also ducted to date, to further the
its ARJ21 regional jet, more than two and a half years after the identifies the programmes part- fundamental scientific under-
aircraft received type approval. Awarded by the Civil Aviation ners as BAE Systems, Boeing and standing of hypersonic flight.
Administration of China, the milestone means that Comac can
now begin serial production of the twinjet.
Pilatus Aircraft
AIRASIA BOARD CLEARS A320 TOP-UP
ORDER AirAsia has received approval from its board to buy 14
Airbus A320 a deal announced at last months Paris air show.
The low-cost carrier says it signed the purchase agreement on 7
July. An initial 10 aircraft will be delivered in 2018, with the rest
to arrive the following year.
FIBRE-OPTIC DISRUPTOR RECEIVES SAFRAN CASH

FINANCE Safran is investing in a company which specialises in
fibre-optic communications, with a view to developing the tech-
nology for civil aviation purposes. It has acquired a stake in the
disruptive start-up company, Cailabs, through its corporate
ventures arm, which led a financing round of 5 million ($5.7 mil-
lion) in which it, and other shareholders, participated. Safran sees DEVELOPMENT
the technology as a weight-saving solution to increased de-
mands for data transmission. Pace picks up on PC-24 production
Pilatus is accelerating serial production of its PC-24 business
RAAF TO UPGRADE SUPER HORNET FLEET jet, with wing and fuselage mating on the first customer aircraft
SYSTEMS The US State Department has approved a potential serial number 101 completed on 12 July. Cabin installation
electronics upgrade for the Royal Australian Air Forces fleet of and testing of aircraft systems will now follow, it says. US frac-
24 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. Florida-based Harris is to tional ownership company PlaneSense is the launch customer
provide new tactical radios, plus countermeasures systems, for the PC-24 and is scheduled to receive its first aircraft in the
says the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency. It values the fourth quarter, immediately after European and US type certifi-
deal at $101 million, which will be concluded via the Foreign cation of the superlight twin. The Swiss airframer says its three
Military Sales process. Canberra says the modifications will en- prototypes have accumulated more than 1,700h of flight test-
hance the interoperability of its Super Hornets with US forces. ing across 1,080 sorties.

Norway, UK lift
Super Puma flight
THIS WEEK
ban
This Week P8
OUTPUT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

First-half orders and deliveries
Three-year low for Deliveries

Airbus
2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
first-half deliveries
A320 180 236 238 237 233
A320neo 59 8 0 0 0
A330 31 28 49 53 54
as suppliers stutter
A350 30 12 4 0 0
A380 6 14 13 13 8
Total 306 298 304 303 295
Boeing
Total of 662 aircraft handed over by airframers shows fall of 737NG 230 248 249 239 228
3.4% against 2015 peak, but Airbus narrows gap on Boeing
737 Max 6 0 0 0 0
D
747 4 3 9 6 12
eliveries of large aircraft fell early May to investigate a batch
to a three-year low in the of flawed disks in the CFM Inter- 767 5 5 9 1 12
first half of 2017, as the supply national Leap-1A engines. 777 42 51 50 48 47
chains for Airbus, Boeing and Ultimately, Boeings com- 787 65 68 64 48 17
Bombardier struggled to keep up bined deliveries of 737NGs and Total 352 375 381 342 316
with production rate targets on the 737 Max 8 totalled 236 Bombardier
key programmes even as aircraft in the six months ended CS300 4 0 0 0 0
demand for some older models 30 June. That represents the Total deliveries
began to recede. lowest number of 737 deliveries Single-aisle 479 492 487 476 461
Including deliveries of four in five years, despite the airfram- Twin-aisle 183 181 198 169 150
Bombardier CS300s in the peri- ers ongoing attempts to raise
Overall 662 673 685 645 611
od to 30 June, the three manufac- production rates beyond the cur-
turers in the single- and twin- rent level of 42 per month.
Orders
aisle segments combined to P&Ws struggles with the
Airbus 203 183 348 290 722
hand over 662 aircraft. With the geared turbofan engine pro-
Canadian manufacturer handing gramme also hindered Bombar- Boeing 381 288 281 499 690
over a modest total over the diers plans for CS300 deliveries, Total orders 584 471 629 789 1412
course of the six months, it was which amounted to only four in Source: Manufacturers/Flight Fleets Analyzer
not enough to alter the down- the first half.

ward trend: overall deliveries
are down 3.4% since the indus- WIDEBODY SEGMENT ANALYSIS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
try recorded a modern peak of The widebody segment presents CFM powers past P&W as Leap spools up
685 in the first half of 2015. a different narrative for the
Fewer deliveries of 737s and period, however, in which
Airbus handed over only a single 20 A320neos, revealing the com-
777s allowed Airbus to narrow Boeing was dominant. Pratt & Whitney-powered pany as a customer for the aircraft,
the gap with Boeing. The The 65 787 deliveries it made A320neo during June, out of a originally ordered in December
European manufacturer deliv-
in the first half alone came very total of 11 of the re-engined 2013, the data shows.
ered a total of 306 aircraft, close to matching Airbuss total aircraft family. Airbus has not listed any other
compared with 352 for Boeing. output of 67 twin-aisle aircraft. Ten of the 11 aircraft delivered orders against Timaero and has
The 46-aircraft difference repre- Boeing also handed over 42 seven A320neos and three not given further details about
sents the slimmest margin 777s, five 767s and four 747s A321neos were fitted with CFM the A320neo order.
between the two companies
compared with 31 A330s, 30 International Leap-1A power- But Timaero is also a customer
since 2014, when the robust A350s and six A380s. plants. The single Pratt & of Boeing, with orders for 22 737
demand for A330s closed the
Despite the supply chain is- Whitney PW1100G-powered Max jets and six 737-800s.
split to 39 aircraft. sues, Airbuss 306 total aircraft A320neo was delivered to lessor In addition, analysis of Airbuss
Airbus delivered 239 single- deliveries sets a new first-half AerCap for delivery to China backlog data shows that Qatar
aisles, including 180 A320- and record for the manufacturer. Southern Airlines. Airways has cancelled four of the
59 re-engined A320neo-family Boeing is doing better in the Airbuss latest backlog data, A350-900s it had on order.
jets, in the first half, or five fewer rivalry with Airbus on the order covering the first six months of It has not specified the reason
jets combined than the same pe- front, although in recent years this year, show that it delivered for the decision but Qatar
riod a year ago. Pratt & Whitney the European airframer has often 59 A320neo-family aircraft of Airways has previously opted to
has accelerated deliveries of won the full-year result. which five were A321neos. lease four -900s from Latin
PW1100G geared turbofan en- In the period to 30 June, It was aiming to hand over American carrier group LATAM.
gines one of the A320neo fami- Boeing collected 381 net orders, some 200 this year, but deliveries Its cancellation nevertheless
lys two engine options in the opening a wide margin over Air- have been hampered by continu- leaves it with 39 ordered A350-
first half, but still remains behind buss total of 203. Indeed, the vast ing efforts to resolve technical 900s of which 15 have been
the pace required to support bulk of the latter figure was gen- snags with the PW1100G engine. delivered and outstanding or-
Airbuss planned ramp-up. erated by a single 100-unit com- The manufacturer has also ders for 37 A350-1000s, the first
Boeing was forced to halt 737 mitment from lessor GECAS for identified Timaero Ireland as the of which is due to be handed
Max flight tests for a week in A320neo-family jets. customer for a previous order of over to Qatar this year.

THIS WEEK
For more in-depth coverage of the
global rotorcraft sector, go online to:
flightglobal.com/helicopters
SAFETY DOMINIC PERRY LONDON
Norway, UK lift Super Puma flight ban

Regulators believe that manufacturers modifications will allow safe operation of helicopters, but caution on service return
C ivil aviation regulators in

Norway and the UK are to lift
their flight ban on the Airbus Heli-
force will have to be convinced
that the H225 and AS332 L2 are
safe to fly in; suspicion of the
copters H225 and AS332 L2, end- type had emerged prior to the
ing a grounding in the North Sea 2016 crash following a pair of
region that has lasted over a year. ditchings in 2012, and another
All Super Pumas were pulled fatal accident in 2013.
from service following a fatal ac- Already several oil companies
cident on Norways west coast on have spoken up to rule out a re-
29 April 2016 in which 13 people turn for H225s to service their op-
were killed. erations, including Norways Sta-
Lorette Fabre/Airbus Helicopters

European regulators banned toil, on whose behalf the ill-fated
the type in early June last year helicopter was operating.
based on safety concerns raised by Changes made to the Super
Norwegian crash investigators. Puma by Airbus Helicopters in-
Although that restriction was clude: the removal from service
relaxed in October 2016, ground- Offshore workforce will need convincing of types airworthiness of one of the two versions of the
ing orders remained in place in second-stage planet gear that
Norway and the UK, effectively sive investigation, testing and tors and their customers to decide failed in the Norwegian crash;
discounting Super Pumas from changes to the helicopter and its whether they wish to reintroduce earlier replacement of gearbox
one of the offshore industrys maintenance that have resulted the helicopters to service. parts; shorter inspection inter-
key regions. in enhanced safety measures. With the oil and gas sector vals; and a lowering of replace-
Norwegian investigators have However, it notes that flights mired in a continuing downturn, ment thresholds.
also yet to identify the root cause will not resume immediately it is doubtful if the Super Puma John McColl, head of airworthi-
of the 2016 crash, but have linked and each operator will be re- fleet will be immediately re- ness at the UK CAA, says: We
the failure of a gearbox component quired to submit a safety case quired, with the Sikorsky S-92 would not have made this decision
to another fatal accident in 2009. proving they have all the neces- and super-medium types such as unless we were convinced that the
But the UK Civil Aviation Au- sary processes, training and the AgustaWestland AW189 hav- changes to the helicopters and
thority (CAA) says its decision to equipment in place. ing proved capable replacements. their maintenance restore the re-
rescind the ban follows exten- It adds: It will also be for opera- In addition, the offshore work- quired airworthiness standards.
OPERATIONS DOMINIC PERRY LONDON
AW189 proves to be less thirsty than first thought

L eonardo Helicopters will
shortly revise downwards the
official fuel consumption figure
Based on operational feedback
and information sourced from
flight-recorder and helicopter
ment of between 4-7%, depend-
ing on the mission profile, it says.
The manufacturer has conduct-
why we published such penalis-
ing figures when they have seen
fuel consumption which has
of its AgustaWestland AW189 usage monitoring system data, the ed a series of test flights to validate been better than expected.
super-medium-twin. new figure will show an improve- the figure in conjunction with GE Leonardo Helicopters will up-
Aviation, which supplies the heli- date the AW189s flight manual
copters CT7 engines. in the coming weeks, allowing
Fabio Nannoni, senior vice- operators to make more accurate
president of engineering, says performance calculations.
the fuel-burn figure falls from In addition, the airframer is to
near 480kg/h to around 440kg/h, deliver further improvements as
based on a typical oil and gas part of its phase 5 software up-
mission with engines at 80% date at the beginning of 2018.
torque. This, he says, is an im- This will include both localis-
provement that is closer to er performance with vertical
6-7% than 4%. guidance and oil rig approach ca-
Leonardo Helicopters
Daniele Romiti, managing di- pabilities the latter derived

rector of the division, says it ini- from the mission system on the
tially undersold the AW189: search and rescue AW101s being
Operators report 4-7% improvement versus official fuel-burn figures Operators have been asking developed for Norway.

OLeary warns Brexit
could halt EU-UK
THIS WEEK
operations for months
Air Transport P10
ANALYSIS LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC
F-35 costs soar as acquisition cuts bite

Official report notes that lower procurement quantities will raise development and purchase charges by 7% through 2044
L ower procurement rates for the

Lockheed Martin F-35 have
reversed the programmes posi-
tive gains since 2015, raising
overall development and acquisi-
tion costs by almost 7% through
fiscal year 2044.
After years of stabilising and
reducing total programme costs
under Joint Programme Office
(JPO) executive officer Lt Gen
Christopher Bogdan, lower
planned acquisition rates over the
next 27 years have driven up
overall, inflation-adjusted costs
from $379 billion to just over
$406 billion, according to a Se-
lected Acquisition Report (SAR)
Lockheed Martin
summary released on 11 July.
The US Air Force has cut its
maximum annual aircraft
procurement rate from 80 F-35As US forces will buy a combined total of 2,443 Joint Strike Fighters, a sizeable reduction on initial quantity
per year to 60. The change
extends planned purchases of
programme costs, but also an in- that research, development, test SAR estimated total acquisition
F-35s by the Department of crease in unit recurring flyaway and evaluation costs have re- costs at just over $226 billion, or
Defense by six more years, from estimates over the programmes mained steady, and that negotiat- $312 billion in current dollars.
FY2038 to FY2044. lifetime, and an increase in aver- ed near-term unit recurring fly- The USAF, US Marine Corps
The decreased production age procurement unit cost and away costs continue to decline. and US Navy had also planned to
quantities and procurement phase programme acquisition unit costs, At the start of the Joint Strike order a combined 2,866 of the air-
extension not only lead to higher according to the JPO. It maintains Fighter programme, the June 2002 craft, but the navy later lowered
its purchase, reducing the DoDs
expected total F-35 acquisition to
INVESTIGATION a current 2,443.
Tailwinds and over-reliance on automation fuelled F135 blaze CONTRACT VALUE
US Air Force investigators have an increasing rate, which spurred could cause an IPP failure, but The overall cost estimate was
blamed a September 2016 en- an engine fire that burst from the gave no tailwind limit. released a day after the DoD

gine fire aboard a Lockheed exhaust. The tailwind spread the The heavily automated F-35A awarded Lockheed a $4.49
Martin F-35A at Mountain Home fire across the fuselage and engine start process also led pi- billion undefinitised contract

AFB, Idaho, on strong tailwinds. caused significant damage to a lots to abdicate responsibility for adjustment for 91 aircraft, with a
Winds as high as 30kt (56km/h) portion of aircrafts aft section. the process, says the report $5.57 billion ceiling, to allow
blew as the Pratt & Whitney F135 The fire surrounded the engines Preponderance of evidence production of the fighters to
engine began a start sequence, exhaust nozzle, damaging sev- shows if there had been an ex- continue while a contract for the
forcing hot air into the Honeywell- eral nozzle segments as well. pectation of engine start-up 11th lot of low-rate initial pro-
supplied integrated power pack- The pilot escaped but sus- problems with a tailwind, the duction (LRIP) is hammered out.
ages (IPP) inlet, an service tained minor injuries, including [pilot] may have relied less on Unit prices for LRIP 11 will be
accident report states burns on his head, neck, face, and aircraft automation, and may settled when the deal is complet-
As air temperatures rose inside ears, the report says. The USAF have identified an abnormal ed, but the overall contract value
the IPP which performs a similar has not yet determined the total engine start earlier, writes USAF to Lockheed and its suppliers
role to an auxiliary power unit a cost, but estimates aircraft dam- Col Dale Hetke, who conducted should hover at around $13
series of malfunctions occurred. ages will rise above $17 million. the investigation. billion for 141 airframes and Pratt
The lower density of the air pro- The report also lays blame on a This vague awareness led to & Whitney F135 engines.
duced insufficient torque needed lack of pilot awareness and train- inadequate training for engine The negotiations are expected
to start the engine, slowing the ing for tailwind conditions during starts with a tailwind, he writes. to be completed by the end of
rotation of the turbine section. an engine start. A pilot checklist Training also resulted in com- 2017; deliveries under the LRIP
At the same time, fuel contin- included a warning that strong placency and an over-reliance on 11 deal are scheduled between
ued to be supplied the engine at tailwinds during the procedure aircraft automation. 2019 and 2020.

AIR TRANSPORT
DISRUPTION EDWARD RUSSELL WASHINGTON DC
ATC shutdown causes

230 flight cancellations
T he shutdown of an air traffic
control centre after fumes were
Ground stops at Baltimore/
Washington, Ronald Reagan
DDP USA/REX/Shutterstock
reported caused the cancellation of Washington National and Wash-
more than 230 American Airlines, ington Dulles three of the busiest
Southwest Airlines and United airports in the USA halted
Airlines flights on 10 and 11 July. flights for the duration of the shut-
Apparent fumes caused by con- down and into the following day. United axed 79 services and delayed 120 more at Washington Dulles
struction work in the control room American, which operates a
of Washington Center, which han- hub at Washington National, can- layed another 120 to and from its Operations at the airports began
dles high-altitude flights over the celled 60 flights. Southwest, Washington Dulles hub. returning to normal on 11 July.
five-state mid-Atlantic region that which operates one of its largest Cancellations were felt by car- An air traffic control centre fire
includes Washington DC, shut the bases at Baltimore/Washington riers without hubs in the DC area near Chicago in September 2014
facility for nearly 2h until 21:30 airport, cancelled 95 flights. as well. Delta Air Lines cancelled disrupted over 600 flights and
local time on 10 July. United axed 79 flights and de- five flights due to the shutdown. cost airlines $350 million.
BACKLOG REGULATIONS OLIVER CLARK LONDON
OLeary warns Brexit could halt

STEPHEN TRIMBLE
WASHINGTON DC
E-Jet deliveries
rise, but orders
fail to keep up
EU-UK operations for months
Airline chief outlines consequences if country leaves bloc without open skies agreement
E mbraer delivered 35 commer-
cial jets in the second quarter,
a 35% improvement over the R yanair chief executive Mi-
chael OLeary sees a real
same period a year ago. prospect that there will be no
The E175 regional jet accounted flights between the UK and the
for all but four of Embraers com- EU for a period following Brexit.
Eric Lalmand/Belga/Zuma Press/REX/Shutterstock

mercial deliveries in the quarter, Addressing the European Par-
totaling 31, with the remainder liaments transport and tourism
two each of the E190 and E195. committee on 11 July, OLeary
The rate of deliveries outpaced warned that flights could cease
incoming firm orders during the for weeks or months once the
second quarter. Embraers firm UK exits the bloc in March 2019.
order backlog declined to 417, or If the UK sticks to its posi-
15 fewer than it held at the end of tion of having red lines on the
the first quarter. jurisdiction of the European Ryanair boss says that services could be axed without legal clarity
Despite the orderbook erosion, Court of Justice and on freedom
Embraer scored multiple new or- of movement, he says, they are Brexit should not be underesti-
billion ($241 billion) in lost GDP
ders and commitments that, if going to leave the EU and they mated. His own airline intends to for Europe and the UK.
firmed up, could add a total of 51 are going to leave open skies. cancel flights from the UK unless Acknowledging this to be an
aircraft to its backlog. Gaining readmission to the Eu- legal certainty over operating rules extreme scenario, Pastleitner
With 53 E-Jets delivered so far ropean open skies regime or agree- is established by September 2018. says the forecast assumes EU-UK
this year, Embraer is keeping pace ing a separate bilateral access deal Aircraft would be reallocated to air traffic will come to a stop, with
with 2016s delivery total of 108. with the 27 remaining EU mem- European regional airports from only a certain portion substituted
bers is an impossibility, he be- April 2019, says OLeary. by other modes of transport.
lieves, because theres no good- TUI Groups director of interna- He says there will be a reduc-
will in Europe towards Britain tional public policy, group corpo- tion in round-trips, for sure fol-
and [towards] allowing them back rate and external affairs Ralf lowing Brexit, and possibly less
in on preferential terms to open Pastleitner spoke at the same com- competition on remaining routes.
skies or its equivalent. mittee hearing, and quoted a re- Bilateral agreements signed before
OLeary says that the desire of port produced for the leisure the liberalisation of European avi-
Embraer
Air France and Lufthansa to gain a group that estimated the cost of a ation in 1992 are an insufficient
E175 proved popular in quarter competitive advantage from hard Brexit at a combined 210 basis for the future, he argues.

LOT targets
Hungarys appetite
AIR TRANSPORT
on US access
Air Transport P12
INCIDENT JON HEMMERDINGER BOSTON
Engine fire sparks call for CF6 checks

Manufacturer recommends regular inspections of HPT disks after 2016 uncontained engine failure wrote off 767 at Chicago
G E Aviation has issued a ser-

vice bulletin calling on air-
lines to perform regular inspec-
has not yet issued a determination
of probable cause, however.
GEs service bulletin, published
tions of first- and second-stage in late June, recommends that air-
high-pressure turbine (HPT) lines perform ultrasonic inspec-
disks on some CF6 turbofans in tions at regular shop visits on all
the wake of a 2016 uncontained CF6-80C2 first- and second-stage
engine failure. HPT disks made before 2000.
DDP USA/REX/Shutterstock
In addition, the US Federal Avi- Some 4,000 of those disks
ation Administration may also were produced between 1984
issue a related airworthiness di- and 2000, by which time manu-
rective, according to documents facturing processes for the In-
released by the National Transpor- conel 718 material had im- Debris penetrated wing and punctured fuel line, triggering blaze
tation Safety Board (NTSB). proved, says GE. As many as half
The details are contained in the of those disks have been retired, board engine ruptured as the air- blade and vane fragments
NTSBs latest investigation update but approximately 1,000 CF6s craft, bound for Miami, through the wing which triggered
into the uncontained failure of a produced during that period re- accelerated to near 100kt a fire after puncturing a fuel line.
CF6-80C2 engine on an American main in operation. (185km/h) along runway 28R at The blaze left the aircraft a
Airlines Boeing 767-300 at Chica- We dont believe the inspec- Chicago OHare. write-off, destroying the right
go on 28 October 2016. tion programme will impact the The captain aborted the take- wing and damaging much of the
The accident and subsequent operation of [the] CF6-80C2 fleet off and all 161 passengers and fuselage. The twin-aisle had ac-
fire badly damaged the aircraft in service, GE says. nine crew members evacuated cumulated 50,632h and 8,120 cy-
(N345AN), and caused serious in- The NTSB says that the sec- using emergency slides. cles at the time of the accident,
juries to one passenger. The NTSB ond-stage disk in the 767s star- However, the failure sent disk, says the NTSB.
OPERATIONS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON TECHNOLOGY
EASA approval paves way for ATR to

DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW
LONDON
GKN ice sensor

receive navigation system upgrades sheds light on
critical surfaces
A TR has secured European
regulatory clearance for a
new version of the avionics suite
for its -600 series turboprop.
The new Standard 3 suite
U K aerostructures specialist
GKN Aerospace has test-
flown an optical ice probe in-
developed jointly with Thales tended to use laser light to detect
will be fitted to the turboprop accretion on critical surfaces.
family from the end of this year. It The probe was flown by the
will also be available as a retrofit Facility for Airborne Atmospher-
through a software change. ic Measurements, which uses a
It enables navigation perfor- British Aerospace 146-300 re-
mance to RNP-AR 0.3, following search jet operating from Cran-
AirTeamImages
provision of a Thales inertial nav- field airfield in the UK.

igation system, improving the GKN says the sensor is carried
missed approach and departure Enhancement will allow carriers to operate the -600 in high terrain in a housing produced through
accuracy to 0.3nm (0.5km) rather additive manufacturing.
than 1nm. stallation features synthetic-vi- friendly interface for the crew. The detector picked up nu-
Air New Zealand operates sion capability, additional high- ATR says the navigation merous ice-accretion events, it
ATRs through its Mount Cook and low-speed protection plus enhancement, which has been
adds, confirming the presence of
Airline regional subsidiary and customisable checklists. certificated by the European Avi- ice and measuring its thickness
had disclosed last year that it was It says the equipment is in- ation Safety Agency, will allow and accretion rate.
aiming to upgrade the navigation tended to improve situational carriers to operate the -600 in GKN says the optical detector
capability on the type. awareness and approach capabil- stringent conditions, includ- uses fibres to transmit laser light,
ATR adds that the avionics in- ities and provide a more user- ing regions of high terrain. and analyse reflections.

AIR TRANSPORT
SCHEDULES DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
LOT targets Hungarys

appetite on US access
P olish flag-carrier LOT is to
open long-haul services from
the Hungarian capital Budapest,
Wizz Air, its flag carrier Malev
collapsed five years ago.
No transatlantic services to the
operating to two US cities. USA from Hungary have existed
It will station a Boeing 787 at since 2011, states LOT.
Budapest from May next year, the Our strategy assumes taking
Star Alliance carrier states, and up every business opportunity
will operate to both New York and we cannot waste such poten-
AirTeamImages
and Chicago. LOT says it is open- tial, says LOT chief Rafal Milc-
ing the routes in response to zarski. Transatlantic connections
enormous demand for services. from Budapest will supplement Gap in transatlantic market follows flag carrier Malevs demise
Hungary has no scheduled the offer of flights from Warsaw
flights to the USA, according to however, they will not be in di- times weekly, while Chicago will saw hub with Los Angeles and
FlightGlobals routes database. rect competition. be served twice-weekly. New York JFK, and Chicago
While the country has a well-es- LOT says it will operate the It already operates several ser- OHare served by flights from the
tablished short-haul operator in Budapest-New York route four vices to the USA, linking its War- Polish capital and Krakow.
INQUIRY FIRDAUS HASHIM SINGAPORE
Non-standard approach led

to SpiceJet Q400 excursion
Airbus
Challenging weather conditions exacerbated by crew errors, Indian investigation finds

Stelia has already shipped nose
PRODUCTION
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW
LONDON
T he loss of visual cues and
pilot errors contributed to a
runway excursion at Hubli air-
warping of all frames and to
both its left and right wings.
The AAIB says several flight-
20min because of deteriorating
weather conditions. However, on
resuming their approach, the
More Beluga XL port in which a SpiceJet Bombar-

dier Q400 was written off, Indian
crew lapses contributed to the
event, including inappropriate
crew failed to ascertain the run-
way conditions, and ATC did not
sections moving investigators have determined.
Registration VT-SUA was oper-
handling by the commander in
order to maintain directional con-
offer an update.
In addition, the captain opted
toward assembly ating a Bengaluru-Hubli flight on
8 March 2015. It was attempting to
trol after landing, allied to a non-
standard call-out by the first offic-
to perform a VOR/DME trial
approach, a procedure that In-

A irbuss A330-based Beluga

XL transport is set to receive
its initial upper fuselage section
land at Hubli at 19:15 local time in
rainy conditions and darkness,
says Indias Aircraft Accident In-
er as he attempted to correct the
aircrafts trajectory.
dias Directorate General of Civil
Aviation only permits in visual
meteorological conditions during
following completion of the vestigation Bureau (AAIB) in its The AAIB says daylight hours, and only by an
structure by Stelia Aerospace. final report into the incident. examiner or instructor. SpiceJets
The components transit to Tou- The aircraft veered to the left several lapses by the internal policies did not ade-
louse involves its being transport- after touchdown and hit protrud- flightcrew contributed quately reflect this instruction,
ed, by road, from the Stelia facility ing concrete-encased runway says the AAIB.
to the nearby Rochefort port. edge lights, causing the main
to the event On landing slightly to the left of
It is being taken by barge to Lan- landing and nose gear to collapse. the centreline, reverse thrust was
gon before being transferred to Its left propeller blades subse- not evenly applied, analysis of the
road vehicles for transport over the quently struck the runway sur- As the aircraft left Bengaluru for flight-data recorder revealed. In
remaining 124 miles (200km) to face and were sheared off at the Hubli at 18:45, visibility at the addition, only inputs to the ailer-
the Toulouse final assembly line. root. The aircraft exited the left destination was reported as 4.3nm ons rather than the rudder
The upper fuselage is 8m (26ft) side of the runway, halting 52m (10km). This fell to 1.6nm after were detected, which was inef-
long and 8m high and weighs 2.1t. (170ft) from the centreline. contact was made with Mangalu- fective to control the aircraft at
Stelia, which has handed over Investigators also noted exten- ru air traffic control, which in- that speed, the report states.
the Beluga XLs nose section, says sive damage to the aircrafts fuse- formed the crew of heavy rain. No injuries were reported
it will deliver the 140m (1,500ft) lage including a rupture of the An initial descent was made, among the four crew and 78 pas-
cargo door in September. forward pressure bulkhead and but the turboprop was held for sengers onboard the aircraft.

Emirates could
bridge gulf to
AIR TRANSPORT
Flydubai
News Focus P15
OPERATIONS MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON
SSJ100 shows short-runway capability

Russian regional jet cleared for operations at Stockholms Bromma airport after upgrades to engines and control systems
O perations of Sukhoi Super-

jets to Stockholm Bromma
airport have begun after the air-
sion of the aircraft.
The upgrade includes adjust-
ments to the types PowerJet
the only Superjet operator serv-
ing Bromma airport.
CityJet received its first Superjet
shown off the first Superjet 100 to
carry the new operators livery. It
states that the aircraft arrived at
craft were upgraded to connect SaM146 engines, avionics soft- last year and remains the types Rostov-on-Don airport in the new
with the Swedish capitals down- ware optimisation, and improve- only western European customer, colour scheme, developed by St
town gateway. ments to the lift-devices control with six of an eventual 15 aircraft Petersburg-based branding spe-
The Russian manufacturer system in order to increase take- in service. Under a wet-least con- cialist Asgard.
says modified Superjets have off performance, says Sukhoi. tract, the Dublin-based airline op- The aircraft is being leased
been flying to the airport which It adds that the aircraft requires erates three Superjets for Brussels from Russian state transport les-
has a 1,660m (5,450ft) runway a landing distance of 1,425m at Airlines, as well a similar deal for sor GTLK for a 12-year period.
since earlier in July. maximum landing weight, and four aircraft for Air France; the Azimuth will put it into opera-
In May, the airframer disclosed that the twinjet fully meets noise Irish carrier hopes both agree- tion on domestic routes, as part of
that it had completed European requirements at Bromma airport. ments can be renewed. a fleet of the twinjets.
Aviation Safety Agency certifica- FlightGlobal schedules data in- Meanwhile, Russian start-up Additional reporting by David
tion work for a higher-thrust ver- dicates that Irish carrier CityJet is carrier Azimuth Airlines has Kaminski-Morrow in London
ENVIRONMENT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
FedEx to deliver 777 for

Boeing green test effort
A 777 Freighter owned by
FedEx Express will be pro-
vided to Boeing for three months
largest aircraft assigned to the ec-
oDemonstrator effort.
The 2018 programme includes
next year as the fifth in a series of tests of a compact thrust reverser,
ecoDemonstrator testbed aircraft new avionics and software to
used to evaluate new technolo- streamline airport approaches,
BillyPix
gies in flight. and new components made using
Were proud to work with Boe- additive manufacturing tech- Kingsley-Jones (centre left), Joyce (centre) and Pinto (middle right)
ing and use our 777 Freighter to niques, says Boeing.
play a key role in bringing future Such technologies could be ap- LEADERSHIP
benefits to the entire aviation in-
dustry, says FedEx Express chief
plied to Boeings proposed New
Midsize Aircraft, a concept for a Strategy Award winners lauded
executive David Cunningham. 200-270-seater with 5,000nm
After previously operating an
Embraer 170, 737-800, 757-200
and 787-8, the 777F will be the
(9,260km) range that could enter
service around 2025 if launched
within the next year.
T he top honours at 2017s Air-
line Strategy Awards went to
Qantas chief executive Alan
record results in only a few short
years, culminating in a A$1.53 bil-
lion ($1.16 billion) profit for 2016.
Joyce and TAP Portugal counter- Alan is among a small group
part Fernando Pinto. of airline chiefs who have
Joyce was recognised for exec- overseen an airlines transition
utive leadership, while Pinto was from the worst financial results
presented with the Flight Airline in its history to record profits,
Business award. says Max Kingsley-Jones, execu-
The 9 July ceremony in Lon- tive director content at Flight-
don was the 16th edition of the Global and host of the Airline
awards, organised by Flight Inter- Strategy Awards.
nationals sister magazine Flight In winning the Flight Airline
Airline Business, in partnership Business award, long-serving
with the civil aviation practice of TAP chief Pinto was acknowl-
human-capital solutions provider edged for his leadership of a me-
Korn Ferry. dium-sized flag carrier in a Euro-
Joyce earned his victory by pean market that has proven
Boeing
overseeing Qantass transition relentlessly challenging for such

Freighter will be the largest aircraft used for ecoDemonstrator trials from a dire financial position to a business model.

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Vienna bids
goodnight to
NEWS FOCUS
Eurofighter
Defence P16
STRATEGY MAX KINGSLEY-JONES LONDON
Emirates could bridge gulf to Flydubai

Regions changing dynamics may drive sister carriers closer together, but questions on route overlap and fleets persist
N ews that Emirates and Fly-

dubai are working on closer
collaboration with nothing off
the table raises the distinct
possibility that the two business-
es could merge to create an even
more powerful mega-carrier in
the Gulf region.
Emirates Airline boss Tim
Clark outlined the groups cur-
rent thinking at the recent Paris
air show, pointing out that Emir-
ates flying head-to-head with so
much of Flydubais network
doesnt add to the whole equa-
AirTeamImages
tion and that work is under way
to accelerate a greater joining at
the hip. Single-aisle operator has ordered 75 examples of re-engined 737 Max 8; first delivery is due in 2017
He added: Nothing is off the
table, but with Flydubai we have Compared with the new breed Such a move is not that radical sures that [Emirates group chair-
a short-haul fleet and we can do a of business model, Im afraid we an idea. Both of Emirates rival man] Sheikh Ahmed [bin Saeed
better job of making the two work are slightly legacy in our approach. Gulf carriers Etihad Airways Al-Maktoum] was facing with re-
together, and thats what we are And that is the death knell for and Qatar Airways have always gards to carriers [such as] Jazeera,
going to try. We are owned by the people like me, he adds. So we operated a mix of single- and which wanted to establish a huge
same people. have to adapt our business model twin-aisle aircraft across their hub in Dubai. Emirates did the
to what is going on out there. networks. original business case and we
LONG-HAUL LEGACY Both Emirates and Flydubai are FlightGlobal schedules data identified that there was a very
Not long after its launch, in owned by the Dubai government, shows that just over a third of good case, he says.
1985, Emirates began to concen- and the idea of combining the two Flydubais 88 routes from Dubai
trate on a widebody-only fleet. operations could make good overlap with the Emirates net- FINANCIAL CRISIS
Currently its lowest-capacity sense. Data from Flight Fleets An- work. It is a curious situation for Unfortunately then there was
aircraft other than a solitary alyzer shows that if Flydubais all- two airlines owned by the same the financial crisis. Demand
Airbus ACJ319 are its Boeing 737 fleet were integrated into parent to find themselves in, but tanked and so Flydubai then put
777-200LRs, which have 266 Emirates all-widebody operation Clark says the reasoning that led itself on top of us in markets that
seats. The rest of the fleet seat it would create a carrier with to the current state of affairs made were fairly well established, and
upwards of 354 passengers, with about 300 aircraft in service and a sense at the time. that we had built up over many
some A380s configured with a similar number on order. Fly- Flydubai was a response to years. At the same time, they
two-class, 615-seat layout; Fly- dubai operates 54 737-800s and the growth of the likes of Jazeera opened multiple new points that
dubais 737-800s accommodate has 75 Max 8s on order. and Air Arabia [and] the pres- we would never go to in the
174 passengers. Stan states, the Russian Federa-
Clark says that the widebody Emirates/Flydubai passenger fleet tion and parts of Africa.
focus at Emirates harks back to its Clark also points out that Fly-
In service On order Seats
original business plan.If you roll dubai has a huge operation in
back to when Emirates first start- Narrowbody Saudi Arabia, where it flies to a
ed, we were not given access to Boeing 737-800 54 0 174 number of airports that Emirates
any regional markets whatsoever, Boeing 737 Max 8 0 75 174 * cannot serve with its widebody
so it shaped our business model, Sub-total 54 75 fleet because the runway pave-
he says. We went all-widebody Widebody ment strength is insufficient.
long-haul, more by accident than Airbus A380 95 47 489-615 Clark says the exercise to move
design. But it proved to be a very Boeing 777-200LR 10 0 266 closer to Flydubai is designed to
good business case. Boeing 777-300 6 0 364 extract greater value for the
However, Clark says that with Boeing 777-300ER 133 18 354-428
shareholder where we have an
the dynamics in the Gulf chang- element of competitive forces at
Boeing 777-8/9 0 150 N/A
ing dramatically, now there is a play. The move could also un-
Sub-total 244 215
lot of competition and capacity in lock important opportunities for
Total 298 290
the single-aisle area... it would be the groups network development
Source: Flight Fleets Analyzer *estimated
foolish of us to ignore it. strategy across the region. n

COVER STORY
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PROCUREMENT DOMINIC PERRY LONDON
Vienna bids goodnight to Eurofighter

Commission report indicates fleet switch could save 2 billion by 2049, as legal wrangling over types acquisition mounts
A ustria plans to replace its

fleet of 15 Tranche 1 Eu-
rofighter Typhoons from 2020,
amid a deepening row with the
four-nation consortium over the
cost and capability of its aircraft.
Vienna in February began legal
proceedings against Airbus De-
fence & Space and Eurofighter
over alleged fraud and deception
related to its near 2 billion
($2.28 billion) acquisition of the
Typhoons in 2003. Airbus and
the industrial consortium deny
the accusations, but the nations
proposed exit from Eurofighter
Markus Zinner/Eurofighter
operations from the end of the
decade reveals the depth of its
dissatisfaction with the Typhoon.
Vienna selected the Tranche
1-standard Typhoon in 2001 to re- Austrian government says Tranche 1 jets have limited equipment and significant cost uncertainty
place its Saab Draken interceptors.
The Austrian defence ministry de- of the Eurofighter under control the German air force, including
scribes the fighters which it re- and minimise the enormous cost
Those who say yes to six which were transferred after
ceived between 2005 and 2008 as risks associated with it in the in- Austrian sovereignty their delivery to the Luftwaffe.
possessing limited equipment terests of the taxpayer, and also in must also say yes to Its Tranche 1 examples are limit-
and significant cost uncertainty. It relation to the other branches of ed to carrying only Diehl
says retaining the 15-strong fleet the armed forces. high-performance Defence IRIS-T short-range air-
for the next 30 years would see it Austria has based its decision supersonic aircraft to-air missiles and a Mauser
incur costs of between 4.4 billion on a report generated by the spe- Hans Peter Doskozil 27mm cannon.
and 5.1 billion. cial commission it set up in Defence minister, Austria
Figures produced by a special March, headed by air force chief TRAINER FOCUS
commission appointed to examine Brig Karl Gruber. As the Saab 105s are also used for
the issue suggest the fleet switch The report concludes that the Continued operations with training missions, the report sig-
would generate potential savings air force requires a new fleet of the existing Austrian Eurofighter nals Austrias possible intention
of between 100 million and 2 supersonic fighters, able to oper- fleet would involve cost risks of replacing its fleet of Pilatus
billion in the period to 2049. ate around the clock, and that are difficult to quantify at PC-7 turboprop trainers at the
equipped with guided missiles present, says Gruber, noting the same time. If the PC-7s are
SINGLE-TYPE AMBITION and an advanced self-protection gradual replacement of Tranche phased out it will look to buy
At present, Austria conducts air- system. It says the new aircraft 1 examples by the consortiums training hours from a European
space policing missions with its should be acquired via a govern- partner nations Germany, Italy, partner in the short term, while
Typhoons, as well as an aged fleet ment-to-government deal and Spain and the UK. Consequent- in the longer term Vienna would
of 17 Saab 105s, which will re- could either be purchased or ly, it appears likely that there upgrade its simulator training
quire replacement from 2020. By leased. A separate commission will be no uniform Eurofighter and purchase a high-efficiency
aligning the out-of-service dates, has now been established to ex- Typhoon Tranche 1 system in trainer aircraft. It does not speci-
Vienna says it expects to move to amine candidate aircraft and ac- the future. fy if this would be jet- or turbo-
a one-type fleet, with 15 single- quisition methods, says the de- Eurofighter declines to com- prop-powered.
seat fighters and three twin-seat fence ministry. ment on the detail of the Austrian Austria has previously shown
trainers. Among the 19 options ana- report, although it says: This is interest in Leonardos Aermacchi
Those who say yes to Austrian lysed by the commission was up- an Austrian defence procurement M-346, including sending trainee
neutrality and sovereignty must grading the nations current Ty- discussion and it is not for us to pilots to the Italian air forces
also say yes to modern, high-per- phoon fleet and acquiring three comment. However, the Eu- Lecce air base to fly the type,
formance supersonic aircraft caused two-seaters. Austria had ini- rofighter works very well for all while the company is also now
pable of round-the-clock opera- tially planned to acquire a trio of other customers. seeking potential buyers for its
tions, says defence minister Hans trainers, but abandoned this in Flight Fleets Analyzer shows M-345 basic trainer.
Peter Doskozil. At the same time, favour of instead installing a sim- that nine of Austrias Eurofight- Additional reporting by Craig
we need to get the escalating costs ulator at Zeltweg air base. ers were originally ordered for Hoyle in London

German industry
DEFENCE
sizes up CH-53K
Defence P19
TECHNOLOGY LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC
US Navy transmits
EA-18G Growler will
get new equipment
plans for low-band

frequency jammer
Service releases draft statement outlining its objectives in
US Navy
second phase of development for electronic attack system
T he US Navy is moving ahead

with a Next Generation Jam-
mer (NGJ) increment 2 activity, to
low-band transmitter, which will
generally be used to jam early
warning radars and voice com-
onstration as to explore frequen-
cy coverage, effective isotropic
radiated power, spatial coverage
The US governments FY2018
budget, if approved, would
allocate $66.6 million for incre-
develop a low-band jamming pod munication frequencies. and spectral purity. ment 2 research and develop-
for use with its Boeing EA-18G However, the contract will The navy had scheduled increment. The technology demon-
Growler electronic-attack aircraft only be used to demonstrate ment 2 studies to begin in FY2014 stration contract was added to the
and complement ongoing work rather than mature technology and FY2015, but funding short- schedule for the fiscal cycle,
on a mid-band frequency jammer. for increment 2, according to an falls postponed the start date to budget documents state.
A draft statement of objectives earlier notice on the US Federal FY2016, the US Government Ac- In 2013, Raytheon won a four-
was released by the US Naval Air Business Opportunities website. countability Office disclosed in way competition to launch
Systems Command (NAVAIR) on The USN plans to release a March. That funding schedule development of the NGJ pro-

29 June to potential bidders for a request for proposals by early fis- pushed the start of development grammes increment 1 phase, de-
preliminary demonstration con- cal year 2018. activities from FY2018 to feating rival bids by BAE Sys-
tract. This asks industry to show In its notice, NAVAIR did not FY2020, although programme of- tems, ITT Exelis which has
that existing technologies can release the draft objectives ficials indicate the date could since been a cquired by Harris
meet its requirements for a new publicly, but described the dem- change as studies move ahead. and Northrop Grumman.
SAFETY LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC ACQUISITION
Air force highlights dangers of small

GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE
Thailand picks
unmanned air systems near its bases a further eight
T-50TH trainers
A ir Combat Command (ACC)
chief Gen Mike Holmes has
detailed the threat posed to
told an audience in Washington
DC. In one incident, a Lockheed
Martin F-22 almost collided with
with that, Holmes says. Imagine
a world where somebody flies a
couple hundred of those and flies B angkok has approved a plan
to buy another eight Korea
advanced fighters by small un- a small UAS during final ap- one down the intake of my F-22s Aerospace Industries T-50TH
manned air systems operated proach; in another, a gate guard with just a small weapon on it. advanced jet trainers for Thai-

near US Air Force bases. watched a drone fly over the top While the ACC has no authority lands air force.
In one day in early July, the of a gate and tracked the vehicle to disable or track small UAVs Local media reports suggest
USAF counted two reports of as it flew over the flight line. near its bases, the air forces nu- the deal is valued at around Bt8.8
small UAS interfering with oper- I have no authority given to clear sites are working towards billion ($259 million), with a
ations at an ACC base, Holmes me by the government to deal government approval to deal with contract signing expected later
such a threat. Earlier this year, the this month.
head of the USAFs Global Strike Bangkok ordered an initial
Command, Gen Robin Rand, la- four T-50TH jets in September
mented the complex web of gov- 2015, for $110 million. Flight
ernment agencies that must ap- Fleets Analyzer shows the first
prove a drone defence strategy. pair of aircraft as scheduled for
Its not a military authority: its delivery in December 2017, fol-
a civil authority that can be exe- lowed by two more in June 2018.
cuted by military forces, Holmes Powered by a GE Aviation
says. The rules are basically the F404 engine, the T-50TH is being
same as if it were a civil aircraft. If acquired as a replacement for the
it was a civil aircraft, I could track Royal Thai Air Forces 35 Aero
US Air Force
it back to where it started from Vodochody L-39s, which Fleets

and I could admonish that pilot or Analyzer records as having an av-
Two recent incidents involving F-22 Raptors have alarmed service take their licence. erage age of almost 24 years.

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Airvan 10 gains
Australian, US
DEFENCE
approval
Business Aviation P20
ROTORCRAFT LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC
German industry sizes up CH-53K

Sikorsky welcomes potential support partners to production site as Berlin readies for future heavy-lift helicopter contest
S ikorsky hosted German aero-

space companies during a re-
cent two-day event at its West
USMC, but faces competition
from Boeings CH-47F Chinook.
At the Paris air show last
Palm Beach site in Florida, dis- month, Sikorsky officials em-
cussing the US Marine Corps phasised their budding relation-
CH-53K and the German air ship with German manufactur-
forces Schwerer Transporthub- ers, but would not elaborate on
schrauber (STH) heavy-lift heli- specific partnerships.
copter programme. It is Sikorskys intent to be
Berlin is looking to replace a heavily involved as the original
fleet of 81 CH-53GA/GS helicop- equipment manufacturer, but to
ters originally delivered in the have German suppliers
Lockheed Martin
1970s. A request for proposals is accomplish the majority of the
scheduled for release in mid- work when it comes to platform
2018, with a contract award due sustainment, says Nathalie The King Stallion faces competition from Boeings CH-47F Chinook
the following year. Deliveries Previte,
vice-president of
would begin in 2023, as the Luft- Sikorskys strategy and business and who will form the founda- vides maintenance support for
waffe begins to retire its aged fleet. development. We have several tion for the Sikorsky STH team the Luftwaffes current CH-53
Sikorsky is pitching the King suppliers with whom we are fi- in Germany. fleet, identifies seven other Ger-
Stallion, in development for the nalising exclusive relationships, Boeing is promoting its man companies which it is work-
Chinook as a proven model for ing with in support of the STH
the German requirement, but requirement, including Diehl
Sikorsky president Dan Schultz Aerospace, Liebherr Aerospace
Stephan Widmer
used the Paris air show to counter Lindenberg, MTU Aero Engines
suggestions that the King Stallion and Rohde & Schwarz.
will lack readiness. Due to the procurement vol-
The idea that this is a proto- ume and the expected lifecycle of
type, and people saying were the aircraft, this will be the forma-
still developing the 53K is really tive industrial project for the mili-
wrong, he said, adding: Were tary helicopter sector in Germany
in full production. over the next few decades, Air-
A first of four engineering de- bus Helicopters says.
velopment model-standard ro- This strong team is able to
torcraft was flown from West offer competent support to the
Palm Beach to NAS Patuxent Bundeswehr across all lifecyle
TRAINER River in Maryland on 5 July, phases of the chosen model, the
First French PC-21 makes its debut where the type will undergo
flight testing. The 6h transfer in-
manufacturer adds, identfying
activities such as procurement,
Pilatus has performed a low-key first flight of a PC-21 cluded refuelling stops at NAS certification, maintenance, modi-
turboprop trainer for the French air force, with the services Mayport, Florida, and MCAS fications and upgrades.
lead example taking off from its Stans site in Switzerland on 10 New River, New Carolina, Sikor- Pointing to the collective expe-
July. The aircraft, test registration HB-HVA and serial number sky says. rience of the German rotorcraft
293, is the first of 17 PC-21s for the French air forces The USMC plans to field 200 industry, the Airbus Group com-
FOMEDEC programme, ordered via Babcock Mission Critical CH-53Ks, with the service ex- pany cautions: If it isnt sup-
Services France on 30 December 2016. Deliveries will start next pecting to achieve initial opera- plied with new contracts, then it
year, with the company to also provide ground-based training. tional capability by 2019. will decline significantly in just a
Airbus Helicopters, which pro- few years.
Download the 2017

Wo r l d A i r Fo r c e s R e p o r t IN ASSOCIATION WITH
w w w. f l i g h t g l o b a l . c o m / w a f
BUSINESS AVIATION
Keep up to date with business
aviation news and analysis at:
flightglobal.com/bizav
DEVELOPMENT GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE
Airvan 10 gains Australian, US approval

GippsAero targets Rolls-Royce M250-powered type at remote rural community service operators and paramilitary users
M ahindra Aerospaces Aus-

tralian GippsAero unit has
received certification for its Air-
pitched for paramilitary applica-
tions such as littoral surveillance
and border patrol, and police
van 10 single-engined turboprop work. Weapons, however, are
from both Australian and US reg- not envisaged.
ulators. As soon as you weaponise
The approvals from Australias something, it is subject to stricter
Civil Aviation Safety Authority export controls, he says. The
and the US Federal Aviation Ad- Airvan 10 has a lot of US equip-
ministration came within the last ment. We cant just go around
month, says David Wheatland, putting guns on it.
Mahindra Aerospace
chief test pilot for the pro- The Airvan 10 will not make it
gramme. to this Julys AirVenture general
European certification is not aviation showcase in Oshkosh,
immediately envisaged, but is Mechanical flaps allow pilots to easily land 10-seater on rough terrain Wisconsin, Wheatland says, but
likely to come after the 10-seat could make an appearance at the
aircraft, previously named the eral segments with the Airvan 10. market for the type will be Alas- Singapore air show in February
GA10, has been in the market for Wheatland declines to name cus- ka. Apart from passenger and 2018. The type appeared in both
a few years. tomers, but says there has been cargo transport the Airvan 10s the static and flying displays of
Wheatland, who also handles significant interest in the aircraft. cargo door is large enough to ac- Marchs Avalon event near Mel-
product support and other duties I cant say who is squabbling commodate a pallet other civil- bourne.
for GippsAero, is confident of the over the first aircraft - we take ian applications include sightsee- As for production, Wheatland
types prospects. He says the Air- things deliberately and careful- ing and skydiving. says this will start off slowly and
van 10, which is powered by a ly, he says. Customers include A key feature, Wheatland gradually ramp up.
Rolls-Royce M250-B17/F2 en- rural and remote community op- stresses, is the Airvan 10s me- We started with a low produc-
gine, fills a niche between Gipp- erations and services in Australia chanical flaps, operated by a tion rate, working with lead cus-
sAeros Airvan 8 piston-single, and the USA and not necessari- cable in the floor. He says pilots tomers to incorporate benefits
and the larger Quest Kodiak, ly in contiguous 48 states. This is flying in and out of rough fields and enhancements, he says.
powered by the Pratt & Whitney an area where weve had good like the ability to move the flaps Carefully identifying lead cus-
Canada PT6A turboprop. success with the Airvan 8. up or down in a second. tomers is important, as we pro-
The company is targeting sev- He hints that an important The Airvan 10 will also be gress into deliveries.
RESUMPTION STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Bell boosted as crash-hit 525 returns to the skies

F light testing of the Bell Heli-
copter 525 Relentless super-
medium-class rotorcraft on 7 July
cation in 2018 and we are com-
mitted to bringing this innovative
and high-performing helicopter to
a year and a day after a fatal market, says Bell chief executive
crash grounded the test fleet. Mitch Snyder. Service entry is due
The US Federal Aviation Ad- in 2019.
ministration agreed to renew the According to flight-tracking
525s experimental certificate to website Flightradar24, the second
allow Bell to resume flight tests. flight-test prototype (N525BK)
The crash on 6 July 2016 near was the first of the two remaining
Italy, Texas, killed two test pilots. flight-test articles to return to the
The first of Bells three 525 proto- air, performing a 32min low-level
types (N525TA) broke up in sortie from Bells Arlington, Texas
flight, according to the US Na- facility on 7 July.
tional Transportation Safety The GE Aviation CT7-powered
Board. The accident, in visual fly- 525 is racing Leonardo Helicop-
Bell Helicopter
ing conditions, remains under ters AW609 tiltrotor to become the

investigation. first civilian rotorcraft to enter ser-
The team is focused on certifi- vice with fly-by-wire controls. Test flights restarted one year after fatal crash grounded the type

BUSINESS AVIATION
Flying start
Anniversary P22
DELIVERIES KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
Didier Wolff/Happy Design Studio

Embraer reports fall in
its first-half shipments
C ontinued weakness in the
market for executive aircraft
resulted in a 20% decline in Em-
shipping 24 business jets be-
tween April and June, compared
with 26 units during the same pe-
braers business jet output for the riod in 2016.
first half of 2017. This was largely due to the ab-
For the six months ended 30 sence of the Legacy 450 from last LIVERY
June, the Brazilian airframer
shipped 39 aircraft. These
years tally. The superlight busi-
ness jet underwent a minor up-
Global 6000 gets Happy Design
consisted of 27 light jets seven grade in the first half of 2016 to Happy Design Studio has teamed with engineering company
Phenom 100EVs and 20 Phenom boost its range by 325nm RUAG and paint specialist ASAP Aviation to create a bespoke
300s and 12 large jets: five Leg- (600km), to 2,900nm. Deliveries livery for the owner of a Bombardier Global 6000 which it de-
acy 450s, four Legacy 500s, a resumed last July, and 12 exam- scribes as the most powerful design seen on a jet aircraft. The
pair of Legacy 650s and a Line- ples were handed over during the project, called Carboneum, is the brainchild of Happy Design
age 1000E. rest of the year. owner Didier Wolff, and took 2,500h to create. The company,
This performance compares The second quarter of 2017 headquartered in Strasbourg, France, says the honeycomb pat-
with 35 light jets 26 Phenom marked the handover of terns and the Ferrari grey colour create a sense of speed and
300s and nine Phenom 100s Embraers 1,100th business jet, a power. The concept of Carboneum is that the white colour of
and 14 large jets eight Legacy Phenom 300, 15 years after it in- the aircraft is not a paint option, but the painters canvas on
500s and six Legacy 650s deliv- formally entered the business which a design can evolve, says Happy Design. Making other
ered during the first half of 2016. aviation market with the ship- jets look naked was not the goal of the creation, it adds, but it
Second-quarter output was ment of a VIP-configured ERJ- sets the bar to a new level for private aircraft livery design.
more promising, with Embraer 135 airliner.
PROGRAMME KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
Production-ready E1000 set for debut

Airframer prepares conforming prototype of single-engined turboprop to get airborne, as it pushes for 2018 certification
E pic Aircraft is planning to fly

the first production-conform-
ing E1000 test aircraft later this
the wing, horizontal stabiliser and
control surfaces is almost com-
plete, with only a handful of tests
flight envelope. It has flown
around 400h to date. Everything
has gone to plan, says Schrader.
for in 2013, after selling 54 units.
Some LT customers have upgrad-
ed to the E1000, for which Epic
year, as structural testing on the on the fuselage remaining. We When FT2 joins the campaign has secured 76 orders to date,
single-engined turboprop nears hope to have this wrapped up this later this year, it will be used to as- mainly from US-based buyers.
completion at the airframers quarter, then we will complete the sess interior and cabin functional- E1000 position holders are
Bend, Oregon base. production-conforming test air- ity, as well as the fuel, hydraulic, also upgrading from piston sin-
We are making steady progress craft, Schrader says. avionics, navigation and environ- gles from the Beechcraft, Cessna,
with the aircraft, but development The first prototype, FT1, made mental systems, he adds. Cirrus and Piper stables, says
is taking longer than we anticipat- its maiden flight in late 2015, and The E1000 will be a certificat- Schrader. Some owners are trans-
ed, says Epics director of sales, has been used to evaluate the ed version of the LT kit plane, ferring from business jets and tur-
Mike Schrader, in reference to a E1000s handling qualities and which Epic stopped taking orders boprops such as the Embraer
two-year delay to the E1000s cer- Phenom 100 and Pilatus PC-12,
tification timetable. respectively. Epic will begin de-
Epic had originally pegged vali- liveries of the six-seat aircraft
dation for 2016, but a series of un- shortly after certification.
foreseen hurdles and stringent US The Pratt & Whitney Canada
Federal Aviation Administration PT6A-67A-powered E1000 has a
certification requirements have maximum range of 1,650nm
pushed this approval to 2018, says (3,060km) and a maximum cruise
Schrader. It is a very lengthy and speed of 325kt (600km/h).
costly process bringing a certifi- Equipped with a Garmin
cated aircraft to market, but it will G1000NXi flightdeck, the all-
Epic Aircraft
be worth it in the end, he adds. composite aircraft is priced at

Structural testing of the produc- $3.25 million: about $1.3 million
tion-conforming parts including Lead test aircraft has flown around 400h since maiden sortie in 2015 more than the LT.

ANNIVERSARY
Flying start
Bombardiers clean-sheet CSeries has been in service for a year with launch operator
Swiss, plus Latvias Air Baltic; so far, its introduction is proving smoother than expected
MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON CS300. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows Swiss March from the BAE Systems Avro RJ100 re-
now has eight CS100s and one CS300, config- gional jet tells FlightGlobal the airline was
A
year after Bombardiers CSeries ured with 125 and 145 seats respectively. prepared for the aircrafts introduction to bring
entered service, the aircrafts two Air Baltic began regular passenger flights up technical issues. As launch operator, you
operators Swiss and Air Baltic with its first CS300 in December 2016. The expect this, you have to plan for it, he says.
report that the clean-sheet twin- Latvian carrier now has five in use, and an- But he adds: It went better than expected.
jets introduction has gone more smoothly other 15 on order for delivery through 2019 There are no topics that restrict us in any way.
than they expected. and chief executive Martin Gauss has repeat- Air Baltic operations chief Martin Sedlacky
Swiss became the CSeries programmes edly said the airline is evaluating further uses similar terms to describe the aircrafts in-
launch operator when it started revenue flights orders for the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G troduction: To be honest, it went surprising-
with the CS100 in July 2016. The Lufthansa geared turbofan-powered aircraft. ly well. With dispatch reliability between
Group carrier initially ordered 30 CS100 jets, Swisss deputy CSeries fleet chief, Sven 99.3% and 99.4%, the airlines first four
but later converted 20 orders to the larger Thaler a pilot who converted to the type in CS300s performed at a similar level to its

CSERIES
two years to be better than Boeing. I think that tion to be rolled out in 2018 that will raise
Swiss commenced
is unachievable but if I get to 99.5% dis- the limit to 20,000h in benign environments.
revenue service with
patch reliability, I would be happy. Sedlacky says that Bombardier and P&W
the CS100 last July
The PW1500G engine has not been affected have swiftly provided support for the engine
by the start-up and bearing problems of the issues. But he says Air Baltic will not invest in
PW1100G variant that powers the Airbus its own spare engines until the problems
A320neo, because the CSeries powerplant has
a different wing-mounting fixture that results You need to think wisely.
in less strain on the rotor assembly. But as
with the A320neo premature combustor deg- Are technicians flying on
radation has been an issue. board the aircraft or not?
Martin Sedlacky
BORESCOPE INSPECTIONS Chief operations officer, Air Baltic
One result is that Air Baltic and Swiss each re-
placed two engines on their CSeries fleets be-
fore June. The airlines conducted borescope which he describes as design issues have
inspections, as recommended, before each en- been resolved. He says improvements are
gine reached 2,000 flight hours: an activity scheduled to be rolled out in mid-2018, but
which must be repeated at 200h intervals after adds: I would be less optimistic. I would say it
that point. takes two years to get the engine to where I say:
Bombardiers vice-president for the CSeries OK, thats the asset that I would order.
programme, Rob Dewar, tells FlightGlobal
that with its initial CS100 Swiss was able to FUEL BURN
operate the engines to around 2,400h, but P&W insists that the initial entry into service
then replaced them in May. Swiss says its of the PW1500G engine has been very good.
next engine changes have been scheduled for The 14 in-service CSeries jets have accumu-
the coming months. Air Baltic, meanwhile, lated a total of more than 28,000 engine hours,
replaced two engines on its fleet before June. and the manufacturer says the powerplant
P&W acknowledges that engine mainte- has reached a dispatch reliability of 99.9%.
nance has been in line with expectations, Swiss and Air Baltic both say they were sur-
which anticipated that some issues would be prised to find that CSeries fuel consumption
uncovered. It notes: In order to ensure that was lower than had been forecast. I didnt ex-
the dispatch reliability of the engine remains pect fuel burn would not only be better than
high, Pratt & Whitney has added a combustor the agreement [with Bombardier], but also than
panel inspection to its scheduled mainte- the [aircrafts] marketing material, says Sed-
nance programme. We do expect that the lacky. I am a pretty sceptical guy; I was an ex-
maintenance requirements of the engine will consultant But the fuel burn is lower than
Swiss
both reduce and simplify as the fleet matures the marketing material by about 1%.
and we fully deploy our EngineWise prognos- Dewar says the performance boost is more
Bombardier Q400 turboprops, he says, add- tic health monitoring capabilities. significant than 1%, with the aircraft beating
ing: Thats not bad, because the Q400 is an Dewar says an updated combustor liner has targets throughout the operating range, rather
established programme. been developed, which has a limit of 6,000- than on individual routes or at certain speeds.
The carriers Boeing 737 Classics which 8,000h, and P&W is working on a third genera- He declines to provide further detail, with
will be replaced by CS300s operate at 99.8%
dispatch reliability, Sedlacky says. But he ar-
gues that this higher level of performance is
partly a result of the 737s long-established
presence. If you fly to Paris and something
happens with a 737, you have tonnes of techni-
cians who can fix it. If you fly state-of-the-art
[equipment] and something happens with the
avionics on this aircraft, there are not so many
people in every corner of Europe.
Availability of trained staff and ground
equipment has been a key factor in selecting
suitable routes for the CSeries, he acknowledg-
es. You need to think wisely, especially in the
beginning. Whats your support network? Are
technicians flying on board the aircraft or not?
Sedlacky expects dispatch reliability to fur-
ther improve as more aircraft join the fleet. Air
Baltic is scheduled to have eight CS300s by
Air Baltic
year-end, and it expects to receive another

eight in 2018. I am not targeting in the first Air Baltic has received five CS300s from a fleet which is likely to grow beyond 20 examples

ANNIVERSARY
Bombardier intending to update its per- 1,970nm (3,650km) for the CS100 makes the
Average utilisation
formance specifications later this year. type an all-rounder that can operate the
across the CSeries fleet
Swiss admits it had issues with the cabin routes of both the retiring RJ100 and of the air-
is around 14h a day
management system specifically the safety lines A320-family fleet.
video demonstration and public address sys- In Geneva, Swiss decided to entirely re-
tem and problems with starting up onboard place a locally-based A320-family fleet with
systems. Thaler says crew members had to the CSeries, in a bid to raise the profitability of
switch off and reboot equipment, and Dewar operations in Switzerlands second city. The
acknowledges that Bombardier delivered soft- airlines market share there has been reduced
ware updates to rectify problems. In Thalers to around 20%, largely as a result of competi-
view, however, the cabin issues represent tion from EasyJet, Swiss chief executive
comfort items, rather than significant issues. Thomas Kluhr told FlightGlobal in 2016.
Initially, Swiss deployed its CS100s for Kluhr said the carrier had considered
about six sectors a day, with the aircraft re- withdrawing from Geneva and serving the
turning to its Zurich base overnight. But now city with Lufthansa Groups budget unit Eu-
the aircraft are used for up to nine flights a rowings, but he favoured a solution with
day. Average daily utilisation across the Swiss in order to avoid the flag carrier becom-
CSeries fleet for both Swiss and Air Baltic ing Zurich Air Lines.
is around 14h, says Dewar. He points out that
Air Baltics flight time averages around 3h be- Fault notifications are very
cause of Latvias location, while Swisss accurate and support our
flights tend to average around 1h 15min.
Swiss says it has no intention of adding maintenance operations well
new destinations to its network with the Stephan Regli
CSeries. But Thaler says the aircrafts range Head of maintenance, Swiss
Thaler says Swiss will station seven

CS300s in Geneva and, for a route to London considering a follow-up order for a mix of
City airport, a CS100. The baseline model was CS100s and CS300s to replace its Q400 twin-
certificated in April for the steep approach to turboprops. For Air Baltic, the CSeries range
the UK capitals downtown gateway, and represents an opportunity to expand its net-
Swiss intends to start serving the destination work to destinations that could not be served
during the third quarter of this year. In addi- with the 737. The Riga-based carrier will start
tion to installing a software package required flights to Abu Dhabi in October. The airline
for the UK airport, Thaler says Swisss CSeries previously unveiled a service to the Gulf state
jets will receive a software update to increase in 2013, which was to be operated with
landing capability in low visibility from CAT A319s, but the economics did not meet its ex-
Bombardier
II to CAT IIIA in the autumn. pectations.

Air Baltic, for its part, ordered the CS300 as Gauss has said that leisure routes to Spains
Pratt & Whitney claims its PW1500G engine a 737 replacement. But Gauss revealed during Canary Islands would become feasible, and Air
has produced a dispatch reliability of 99.9% the Paris air show in June that the airline was Baltic might expand its network to more dis-
tant destinations in Russia with the CS300.
MAINTENANCE
By the end of June, the in-service fleet had un-
dergone a total of 11 A-checks, Dewar says.
The maintenance event, scheduled after 850
flight hours, is designed to be accomplished
within an 8h shift. Dewar says the initial
A-check took 5h, but this has since been

reduced to less than 3h. There have been no
findings to date on any of the A-checks, out-
side of damage on one cargo panel due to im-
pact from baggage [handling], he notes.
Swisss head of maintenance Stephan Regli
thinks it is too early to judge how mainte-
nance of the CSeries compares with other air-
craft, because A-checks represent no great
challenge. Nevertheless, he says technicians
have predominantly voiced positive feedback
Bombardier
and say that the aircraft is easy to maintain.

Owing to automated transfer of data from
Bombardier has gained approval for CS100 to make steep approaches to London City airport aircraft systems, Swiss has much more techni-

CSERIES
Swiss
cal information on the CSeries than on earlier or Q400 to the CSeries: We were expecting to In Thalers view, the CSeries is easy to fly,
types in its fleet. Regli adds: This is not being have difficulties going from a less-automated and the aircrafts systems and handling are in-
optimally analysed yet. We are still on a learn- to a highly-automated aircraft. tuitive and straightforward. He says the pilots
ing curve and need more empirical data. But However, Calitis says the move turned out receive a range of automated information
the fault notifications are very accurate and not to be as challenging as expected, and that through the cockpit systems: You have the
support our maintenance operations well. the aircraft has become very popular among best support that you can expect from the air-
C-checks are scheduled after 8,500h typi- the airlines pilot corps. Weve really not had craft. The aircraft will tell when something is
cally three-and-a-half years of operation. any issues in terms of transitioning people. going in a different way [than] you like it to be.
However, based on in-service experience, And actually the success rate is higher than on It is not like that we are operating a ma-
Bombardier intends to increase the intervals training that we have done previously. chine or that a computer is flying us. Its like
for A-checks to 1,000h, and for C-checks to an interaction, rather like a third crew mem-
10,000h. Dewar says: It looks like we can do Weve not had any issues in ber. The aircraft posts to us certain messag-
it sometime toward the end of 2019. es and expects a reply.
In terms of pilot training, Air Baltic senior
terms of transitioning people Thaler says the cockpit interface is designed
vice-president flight operations Pauls Calitis the success rate is higher in a way that leaves the pilots in charge and
says there was initially apprehension among Pauls Calitis does not demand the crew to work through
flightcrew as regards transitioning from the 737 Vice-president flight operations, Air Baltic checklists or instructions in a particular, prede-
fined sequence. Pilots can opt to disregard
checklists that are being suggested by the sys-
tem, and instead decide on an alternative ac-
tion if they consider it more appropriate.
Thats really a bit different to checklists on
other aircraft the pilot is always at the cen-
tre of the decision-making process, says
Thaler. [The pilot] must receive from the sys-
tem the information that he needs, he must be
ideally supported. But the decision is ulti-
mately taken by the pilot. However, the air-
craft warns me if I exceed a limit.
Calitis sums up his experience with Bom-
bardiers first fly-by-wire aircraft without a tra-
ditional control column by saying: Having
come from conventional controls and going to
the sidestick, the sidestick flying on this air-
Air Baltic
craft is easy and intuitive it flies like an aero-

Riga-based Air Baltic is expanding its route network as a result of CS300s range performance plane, it is not a computer you are flying.

GENERAL AVIATION
Volts from
the blue
Disciples of electric flight may be disappointed that neither
Airbus nor Boeing expect to plug in airliners any time soon,
but the limits of battery power should come as no shock
STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC in a half-century, and that is the third golden

age Im willing to sign up for.
E
lon Musk co-founded Tesla Motors in A week earlier in Seattle, Boeing vice-pres-
2003 to make electric cars, a technolo- ident of product development Mike Sinnett
gy at that time largely ignored by the offered a similar briefing. On 5 April, Boeings
worlds biggest automakers. Fourteen HorizonX venture capital arm and JetBlue
years later, Teslas market capitalisation has Technology Ventures partnered to finance
surpassed Fords and General Motors. On 9 Zunum Aero, a Seattle-based start-up aiming
June 2017 its market cap zoomed past BMW to develop an electric aircraft for general avia-
to make Tesla, for several weeks, the third- tion and, possibly, a hybrid-electric-powered
most-valuable company in the automotive 50-seat regional jet.
industry despite producing fewer than As Zunums projects move forward, Boeing
70,000 electric cars last year, compared with Commercial Airplanes plans to introduce
10 million each by Toyota and Volkswagen. electric propulsion technology in the units
On the same day, coincidentally, Airbus ecoDemonstrator flying testbed programme.
hosted a news briefing in Toulouse by chief
technology officer Paul Eremenko, who re- OPPORTUNITIES
vealed more details about the companys en- In 2021, we are looking at the potential for The unspoken subject of both presenta-
thusiastic pursuit of electric-powered flight. doing additional work with small electric tions was clear: Airbus and Boeing are not
He compared the coming decade to previous aeroplanes, with hybrid electric aeroplanes, going to sit back and allow an aerospace ver-
golden eras in aerospace innovation, when with small autonomous aeroplanes, all meant sion of Tesla to capture the stock markets af-
the industry made leaps in the range and to increase our knowledge about autonomy fection in 14 years. However, despite rising
speed of powered flight in the 1920s and but also to increase our knowledge about all- enthusiasm for electric-powered aircraft rang-
1950s: I think they will be some of the most electric aircraft and hybrid-electric aircraft, ing from intra-urban flying taxis all the way
exciting years in aerospace engineering work Sinnett says. up to 150-seat airliners, it is not clear that the
worlds largest aerospace manufacturers
should be worried.
Alan Epstein, Pratt & Whitneys vice-presi-
dent for technology and environment, has
emerged as perhaps the most outspoken critic
of proposals to develop hybrid-electric pro-
pulsion systems to replace gas turbines in air-
craft the size of an Airbus A320 or Boeing
737. My personal view, since I used to be in
the battery business somewhat, is that it will
take a chemistry discovery worthy of a Nobel
prize to give you the energy density you need
for a battery-powered commercial aircraft,
Epstein said at a May presentation at the
Washington DC chapter of the Royal Aero-
nautical Society.
To Epstein, an all-electric single-aisle is an
absurd notion within a decade, even with gen-
Zunum Aero
erous assumptions of improvements in battery

technology. The issue comes down to a basic
Boeing is backing Seattle-based Zunum Aero and its bid to develop all-electric GA aircraft mismatch in the energy density properties of

ELECTRIC PROPULSION
Invicta Kent Media/REX/Shutterstock

All-electric E-Fan got Airbus off the ground; now it will
pursue vertical take-off and landing, and hybrids
hydrocarbon fuels and lithium ion batteries. electric vehicle, using gas turbines as an elec- then you need a 42% improvement in fuel
Epstein analysed a 737-sized aircraft and tric generator, or for thrust in cruise. Batteries burn to break even, Epstein says. If the fuel
removed the weight of the fuel. He replaced or a fuel cell would be used as an emergency goes up to $4 a gallon certainly something
that weight with batteries offering 50% higher back-up or to augment thrust in take-off and that might happen then youve got to be
energy density than commercially available climb. But the hybrid-electric design requires 20% better in fuel burn to break even.
today. A traditionally-fuelled 737 can fly an aircraft to carry redundant propulsion sys-
nearly 3,000nm (5,560km), but the battery- tems, making that part of the aircraft twice as COST ISSUE
powered version lacked enough energy even expensive. Both Eremenko and Sinnett have heard Ep-
to take off. You cant really taxi out to the steins objections to electric propulsion technol-
end of the runway and youre certainly not al- [Hybrids are] interesting ogy and for the most part do not disagree.
lowed to lift the nose wheel, Epstein says. Despite Boeings interests in Zunum, Sin-
Battery technology is rapidly improving,
enough for me to think there nett agrees a hybrid-electric aircraft faces a
however, so Epstein revised his analysis. In- could be something there difficult cost challenge. A hybrid requires
stead of only a 50% improvement in energy Mike Sinnett you to double up on equipment, Sinnett
density, Epstein assumed the 737 would Vice-president of product development, Boeing says. Im not convinced that thats the best
carry a battery load 10 times more powerful way to go. However, I understand that there
than those that exist today. Despite the more are certain missions where the electric aids
generous assumption, this hypothetical 737 This will double the cost of the propulsion you in a period of time where you need it, and
would still have limited appeal to airlines ex- system, which is really good news for United then you go into longer-mode operation on a
pecting transcontinental range. Technologies, Epstein jokes. Im going to as- traditional fuel. So I would say the jury is still
sume the aerospace primes arent going to about and we have got a lot of work to do but
UPHILL STRUGGLE sorb this, but pass it on to their customers. its interesting enough for me to think there
If I had 600% improvement in the electrical Epstein further analysed the costs to an- could be something there.
equipment and factor of 10 in the batteries, I swer a fundamental question: To offset acqui- Asked about Epsteins argument, Eremen-
can just get to the point where the aeroplane sition and operating costs of a redundant pro- ko also concedes that the P&W executive has
can take off, circle the field and then land, Ep- pulsion system, how much more efficient a point. But, Eremenko adds, Airbus is still
stein says. So it looks like a hard thing to do. must a hybrid-electric 737 be to lower the air- pursuing electric propulsion as a research
All-electric aircraft are not the only option. lines net costs? and technology (R&T) effort not a long-term
Aircraft manufacturers can design a hybrid- The price of fuel is about $1.56 [in April], product strategy: Our conclusion is, its in-

GENERAL AVIATION
teresting enough that we should look at it

at the level of R&T projects and the level of
flight demonstrators.
In his presentation, Eremenko outlined an
R&T objective to produce a 20MW-class sin-
gle-aisle-sized demonstrator with a hybrid-
electric propulsion system, with several ad-
vanced features, such as boundary layer
ingestion, blown wings and yaw control
using differential thrust.
Lets be clear: the hybrid power chain
today is less efficient than a conventional gas
turbine engine because it includes the addi-
tional steps of converting to and from electrical
energy, Eremenko says. For it to make a de-
sirable product we must eke out efficiencies in
other areas. For the first time since the jet age
we are really thinking of opening up the design
trade space beyond the tube and wing.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
Epsteins presentation came almost a month
earlier, but he seemed to anticipate this possi-
bility. Noting his 20% fuel burn improvement
Airbus
requirement with fuel at $4 a gallon, a hybrid-
electric propulsion system with blended-wing CityAirbus electric-powered concept for urban mobility could enter flight testing next year
configuration and other exotic features could
compete well against a gas turbine-powered companys investment in Zunum. As the in- a two-track effort for electric-powered aircraft:
aircraft relying on a conventional tube-and- vestment came from HorizonX, Boeing Com- vertical take-off and landing for urban mobili-
wing configuration. However, Epstein sug- mercial Airplanes (BCA) is not directly in- ty, and fixed-wing for the transport mission. It
gests that the potential efficiency benefits of volved, according to the corporation plans to perform the first hover flight of the Va-
alternatives to a conventional configuration organisation chart. HorizonX reports directly hana demonstrator, an all-electric, autono-
should not be reliant on electric propulsion. to Boeing chief financial officer and executive mous, vertical take-off and landing air taxi
That is, the same benefits would apply to a gas vice-president Greg Smith. But, as Sinnett ex- with eight motors and a tilt-wing. It will be fol-
turbine-powered aircraft where the acquisi- plains, BCA is heavily involved in the project: lowed into flight testing next year by a series
tion cost would be cheaper without the redun- I work very closely with HorizonX and production design called the CityAirbus.
dancy of a hybrid-electric system. Zunum. We are providing the technical talent
to help and then we are involved in the dis- HYBRID APPROACH
We believe we could demo a cussions on the strategy. On a separate track, Airbus will continue pur-
BCAs focus is on developing and manufac- suing the ultimate goal of a hybrid-electric,
2MW hybrid-electric power turing products, not exploring potentially dis- single-aisle-sized aircraft. The next step came
system in about three years ruptive ideas that fall outside the large trans- with the launch of the E-FanX flight demon-
Paul Eremenko port aircraft market segment. Using HorizonX strator, sized as a small commuter jet. We
Chief technology officer, Airbus to manage the programme gives them an believe with a strong push we could demo a
ability to explore a market space thats very 2MW flight-weight hybrid-electric power sys-
different from the core BCA mission right tem in about three years, Eremenko says.
In contrast to his scepticism about hybrid- now, Sinnett says. We see this as the upper limit of what is at-
electric large aircraft, Epstein is open to the Airbuss interests in electric propulsion tainable with more-or-less conventional
potential benefits of electric-powered small have been well known for years. The compa- power distribution technology without hav-
aircraft, and even flying cars. One of the key nys journey started humbly in 2010 with a ing to master superconductivity or other ex-
drawbacks of flying car designs has been the French home-built aircraft called the Cri-Cri. otic approaches.
lack of an engine with aviation-grade reliabil- Airbus replaced two piston engines with four By using a twin-engined commuter jet, Air-
ity, and electric power can help mitigate that small electric motors and launched a series of bus will be able to replace one or both of the
problem. It strikes me that the electric pro- flight tests. That was followed with an elec- wing-mounted engines with electric motors
pulsion means you could take a not-so relia- tric-powered version of the Diamond Aircraft driven by an integrated turbine generator em-
ble engine like an auto engine, have some bat- DA36 E-Star motor glider. By 2013, the com- bedded in the fuselage.
teries on there and if the prime engine fails pany was ready to start experimenting with Of course, the ultimate prize for us is to
you have enough batteries to let it automati- the E-Fan series. enable hybrid electric propulsion architecture
cally land safely someplace, he says. Airbus exhibited three versions of the for a single-aisle aircraft at the scale of the
Interestingly, Airbus and Boeing are also E-Fan 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2. But the E-Fan project A320 family, Eremenko says. Im reluctant
investigating developing small, electric-pow- was abandoned earlier this year, which ended to put a date on such a demonstrator much
ered aircraft. a proposal to launch a pilot training service less a product. But its becoming increasingly
For Boeing, the interest became public only using a follow-on, electric-powered aircraft. clear to us that such an aircraft is not only fea-
on 5 April, with the announcement of the Instead, Airbus has replaced the E-Fan with sible, but very likely desirable.

ELECTRIC PROPULSION
Nine-seat Alice will be offered as

an all-electric alternative for
mainstream GA missions
Power switch
Solid financial backing and the promise of a fuel cell technology breakthrough underpin an
Israeli start-ups fast-dash bid to build and certificate an all-electric GA workhorse by 2020
STEPHEN TRIMBLE PARIS a ll-electric unmanned air vehicle designed to zidon, a well-financed Israeli inventor of a
T
function as a proof-of-concept vehicle. potential breakthrough in electric propulsion
I
n a corner of the sun-drenched Paris air Im the one selling a Prius in a Ferrari technology. Eviation has a long-term plan to
show static display, Israeli start-up Eviation shop, Bar Yohay jokes, as the whoosh of an integrate the air-metal fuel cell invented by
Aircraft co-founder and chief executive Airbus A400M on final approach passes over Tzidon in the Alice, but intends to go to market
Omer Bar Yohay could look to his right and his sun tent. within four years with a nine-seat aircraft pow-
see the French air forces corral, featuring Das- The comparison works, but is not quite ac- ered by conventional lithium-ion batteries.
sault R afale and Mirage fighters. If he looked curate. The Toyota Prius is, after all, a hybrid- We aimed at this point because we believe
far enough to his left, he could see all the stars electric. And the Eviation stand did not exist this is probably the most cost-effective entry
of the modern aviation industry lined up on to promote a small, electric UAV. Eviation point to this market that can be certificated
display, including a Lockheed Martin F-35A made its debut at the Paris air show to under todays regulatory environment, Bar
fighter, Embraer KC-390 tanker/transport, an publicly unveil a new aircraft concept called Yohay says.
Airbus A350-1000 and a Boeing 787-10. Alice; a nine-seat, all-electric alternative to
By comparison, Bar Yohays offering such general and business aviation stalwarts NEXT STOP OSHKOSH
seemed a bit less glamorous, with just a few as the Beechcraft King Air 350, Cessna 402 Eviations next stop on the air show circuit is
couches perched under a sun tent that and Pilatus PC-12. the Experimental Aircraft Associations
provided little relief from a rare Paris heat The Israeli business may be a start-up, but it annual AirVenture fly-in in Oshkosh, Wis-
Eviation Aircraft
wave. Outside the canopy sat the streamlined has solid financial support. In addition to Bar consin, later this month. There, the Orca
shape of the Eviation Orca, a tri-motor, Yohay, Eviation was co-founded by Aviv proof-of-concept drone and the Alice con-

GENERAL AVIATION
cept will join fields of conventionally question mark surrounds the certification of ture technology, the initial Alice aircraft in-
powered Cessna 402s, King Airs and PC-12s the propulsion system. In the USA, kerosene- tends to rely on batteries and motors devel-
along with a growing list of proposals and and avgas-fuelled aircraft require an engine oped and proven in the automotive industry.
concepts for electric and hybrid-electric air- that has been independently certificated under Indeed, the Alice propulsion system resem-
craft. FAR Part 33 rules. It is not clear whether or bles the electric configuration of a Tesla
By announcing in Paris a schedule to com- even how a hybrid- or electric-powered aircraft sedan, but with about 10 times the electric
plete US Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23 would comply with Part 33 standards. Bar power, Bar Yohay says. Eviation currently
airworthiness certification by 2020 and start Yohay is optimistic that the FAA will apply plans to use motors developed by UK-based
commercial flights in 2021, Bar Yohay ad- the most lenient approach, allowing Eviation Yasa motors, but is also interested in technol-
vanced the Alice to near the front of the queue. to certificate the aircraft and electric propul- ogy developed by Siemens. Both are primari-
As such, the Alice could become as much a sion system together under Part 23, avoiding ly automotive suppliers with little experience
regulatory test case as a leap in propulsion the need to qualify the engine under Part 33. of the aviation industrys regulations.
technology. If allowed to proceed, the Alice Technically, [the Part 23 rewrite] allows
and the new class of hybrid- and all-electric us to certificate the motors as part of the type AVIATION REGULATION
aircraft must clarify a host of still-murky regu- certification of the aircraft and not specifically Im not sure the companies will go through
latory issues for airworthiness certification. [the propulsion system], so in theory we the process of certificating their own motors,
Bar Yohay is well aware of the regulatory could do it just certificate the whole thing, Bar Yohay says. So its either I take some of
questions that face any company hoping to and not have the specific certification of the the load from them or I just go through with
introduce electric-powered aircraft in non- motors, Bar Yohay says. my type certification and have this approved
experimental categories. Since the companys for my specific motor inside. So it will be in-
foundation in 2015, Eviation has participated We get a lot of speed for the teresting to see how this plays out.
in all of the major forums, including the Gen- Indeed, accommodating electric propul-
eral Aviation Manufacturing Associations thrust we are using. Not many sion in small aircraft means aviation regula-
electric propulsion and innovation commit- 300hp aircraft can do 240kt tors will likely encounter a supply chain and
tee, ASTMs F39 committee developing con- Omer Bar Yohay a technology dominated by a rapidly growing
sensus standards for electric wiring on small Co-founder and chief executive, Eviation Aircraft list of applications in the automotive indus-
aircraft and the F44 committee working on try. Compared with gasoline engines, electric
basic standards for all aircraft weighing less motors are far less complex, making them
than 8,620kg (19,000lb) and carrying fewer Bar Yohays assumptions are perhaps too easier to maintain.
than 12 passengers. optimistic for the regulatory community, Theres one moving part. Its very simple,
That experience has persuaded Bar Yohay though. The FAA has allowed only light-sport Bar Yohay says. So will the [aviation] indus-
that the US and European regulators are open aircraft to enter service without engines that try make us go through the process of certifi-
to approving the airworthiness of small elec- were certificated independently under Part cating motors separately? I seriously doubt it.
tric aircraft. Last December, the US Federal 33, but such aircraft face severe weight and I think it would be a mistake for electrics, be-
Aviation Administration approved a rewrit- operating restrictions, including a prohibition cause youre going to have a lot of different
ten Part 23 rule. The new regulation replaces on instrument flight rules flight. motors. Its not going to be [like the general
original language prescribing the use of only Without such an approval, the Eviation aviation industry, where] everybody uses a
petrol engines with a standard open to any Alice faces an uncertain path to regulatory ap- Rotax or whatever.
propulsion technology. proval by 2021. There may be another path forward to
But some details about how the rewritten The Alice design features three electric mo- certificating electric motors for the aviation
rule will be interpreted by the FAAs regulatory tors powered by a bank of 30,000 Panasonic industry, according to Bar Yohay. Instead of
officials are not yet clear. Perhaps the biggest lithium-ion battery cells. To use the most ma- relying on automotive technology, the Alice
and other electric-powered aircraft could use
technology that has already qualified for use
in aviation.
The industrys engine suppliers already
produce electric motors used to power on-
board systems. In the case of the A350 and
787, the industry has adopted highly ad-
vanced electric power and distribution sys-
tems, replacing pneumatic and hydraulic
power to activate landing gear, de-icing and
cabin pressurisation. Leveraging that technol-
ogy as propulsion systems for smaller aircraft
may help regulators as electric motors make
the transition.
One of the approaches that could be
looked at is that companies like Honeywell
and GE and Rolls-Royce can take their
existing generators and say this is aviation
standard anyway and use them moving for-
Eviation Aircraft
ward, he says.
Although the path to certification could
Alice has two motors on its wing and a third mounted aft, promising impressive speed still be tricky, the Alice was designed to mini-

ELECTRIC PROPULSION
we achieve at roughly 250, maybe 260kW.

Think about it: Not many 300hp aircraft can
do 240kt.
Ultimately, Eviation hopes to move be-
yond lithium-ion as a fuel source and it has
the inside track on a coveted new break-
through in battery power. In 2008, Eviation
co-founder Tzidon received a patent for a
new aluminium-air fuel cell, which offers al-
most double the energy density of
lithium-ion batteries. Tzidon launched an Is-
raeli-based start-up called Phinergy, which
last year closed a $50 million round of fi-
nancing led by aluminium giant Arconic.
Phinergys aluminium-air fuel cell con-
sists of the lightweight metal as the anode,
which reacts with an oxidiser cathode to
produce energy. Tzidons patent suggests he
has overcome two drawbacks of metal-air
Eviation Aircraft
fuel cells. Phinergy solves the problem of
supplying the oxidiser by harvesting the gas
Originally built to mature the Alice configuration, Orca has found a niche in the UAV market from the ambient air, making the fuel cell
inhale oxygen like a fish in water, instead of
mise questions from sceptical regulators. A chain management that can go to market a scuba diver. It is also designed to prevent
future version of the aircraft powered by co- within the next two to three years, not the carbon dioxide from entering the cathode,
founder Tzidons metal-air batteries would next five to 10, Bar Yohay says. Its extreme- which has led to metal-air battery failures in
offer significantly better performance, but ly difficult to do anyway, so we dont want the past.
Eviation is focused on taking a practical route any uncertainties in the battery. When powered by the Phinergy fuel cell,
to certification within five years. the Alice-Extended Range (ER) will be pres-
The Orca proof-of-concept drone offers a BATTERY POWER surised and fly at 270kt at 30,000ft for 850nm,
case in point. The scaled-down copy of the The lithium-ion version of the Alice aircraft plus a reserve, Bar Yohay says.
Alice was designed simply to mature the aer- still boasts solid performance. Flying below I believe that in the seven- to 10-year time-
odynamic and electric power configuration of 10,000ft, the unpressurised aircraft should be frame we will see it integrated into our air-
the Alice, but Eviation has found a market capable of a range of 520nm (963km) plus a frames after the certification basis becomes
niche for the speedy little aircraft as a com- standard power reserve. With two wingtip more clear, Bar Yohay says. At the moment
mercial-rated UAV. thrusters and an aft-mounted thruster, the it doesnt make sense to sort of link the two
After we built it and started flying it a lot streamlined, all-composite aircraft should risks until they plan on doing a new battery
of the drone operators of the world especial- offer impressive speed. system. But we are the owners of the [intel-
ly seeing us as an Israeli company said: We get a lot of speed for the thrust we are lectual property] for that and we work very
Hey, can you sell us a drone? So it got a using, Bar Yohay says. 240kt [445km/h] hard to do this integration.
name. We saw it as a model. The world saw it
as a UAV, so why not? Bar Yohay says.
Equipped with a synthetic aperture radar,
the Orca now flies missions for Israeli nation-
al water company Mekorot.
Meanwhile, the design of the first full-scale
Alice test aircraft is nearing completion of a
critical design review. Two suppliers, includ-
ing Israel-based FBM Composite Materials,
are fabricating the aircrafts structure.
Eviation is concentrating on integrating the
propulsion system. A still-undisclosed
risk-sharing partner in Italy is expected to join
the certification campaign, which will be
conducted in Italy and Israel. First flight of
the Alice version with lithium-ion batteries is
scheduled in mid- to late-2018, followed by
certification two years later and entry into
service in 2021.
The batteries under consideration are
Panasonic 18650s, the standard lithium-ion
cells used by the automotive industry, includ-
Tesla
ing Tesla. We want to get [a battery] that can

be built repeatedly with the kind of supply Eviation may build Alice with automotive-standard Panasonic batteries, as used by Tesla

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From yuckspeak to tales of yore, send your offcuts to murdo.morrison@flightglobal.com

Swiss bids sad
Swiss
adieu to Avros Better than US
The machines we and the
Swiss arguably the highest- French are using are far
profile operator of the BAE more suitable for
Systems Avro RJ100 has their purposes
been withdrawing the last of than anything
its 20-strong fleet of the stocky that has been
quadjets, which have been in evolved in America.
service since the mid-1990s. America must be content to
In its blog https://blog. build to our designs and
swiss.com the airline details take full advantage of our
the emotional phase-out of the experience in the war.
Jumbolino with the description
of a ferry flight from Zurich to Blown to pieces
Cranfield in early May to return American heavy bombers
HB-IYQ to its lessor. If I eat my greens, maybe Ill grow up to be an A380. have joined our Wellingtons
Much as we love Hatfields [One of India Yankee Quebecs last sorties in Swiss colours] in attacks on the
high-winged Whisperjet ports of Tobruk
which, lest we forget, is the UKs and Benghazi.
most successful airliner it is Eagle-eyed One crew scored
the perfect chance to revisit the Boeing posted a most apt image a hit on a supply ship in the
best BAe 146/RJ jokes such as: on Twitter on 4 July (right), harbour. Explosion followed
Why does it have four engines? noting: This bald eagle stopped explosion, and large pieces
Because they couldnt fit six/ by for a freedom inspection on a of the ship were seen to be
Two to get you there; two to get US Navy P-8 at Boeing Seattle. flying through the air.
you home. Or: the 146: the only Passed with flying colours.
aircraft with five APUs. Prepared to pay
Mr James Scarlett, route
Lack of luxury
Boeing
licensing manager of BEA,
Pratt-fall On its website, Bering Air has Im on your tail, Boeing told the Board
One corner of Pratt & Whitneys a fascinating account of how it that when BEA
website may need an overhaul. pioneered public flights, three has proved popular with both began 20 years
The top item on the Looking decades ago, between Alaska tourists and locals visiting ago, fares were
ahead section is the PW1200G- and the then-Soviet Unions far- extended family. beneath the economic level
powered Mitsubishi Regional east Chukotka region. However, the website to encourage people to fly.
Jet, which a caption proclaims Although just a short hop cautions that trips to the port We have now reached the
enters service in 2017. across the Bering Straits, ofProvidniya can still be a stage where air travel is a
In January, Mitsubishi transporting US citizens into challenge for those used to a bit part of everyday life.
confirmed a two-year delay to what was then and still is of comfort in their lives. Passengers, in our view, are
the programme, the fifth since aclosed part of Russia Warning: This is not a prepared to pay the
its 2008 launch. The first MRJ90 involved stifling levels of luxury trip, is the tell-it-like- economic level.
will now be delivered to All bureaucracy. it-is advice. There are limited
Nippon Airways in mid-2020, Despite that, since launching shopping opportunities, public Virgin territory
from a former goal of mid-2018. in May 1988, Berings service restaurants and services or Virgin Atlantic could buy up
entertainments in the forms that to eight new Boeing 777s,
you may be used to. There are says the airlines
no facilities for the physically chairman,
challenged. Every building has Richard Branson.
long flights of cement stairs. I wish to fly to
the 12 major cities in the
world and not get any
Chem off it! bigger get any bigger
God save Her Majestys Press. and you lose the magic of
After someone posted a video being small, he says.
of dramatic contrails from an
aircraft over Russia, one of the 100-YEAR ARCHIVE
UKs biggest tabloids ran this Every issue of Flight
headline on its web site. Perfect from 1909 onwards
for the tin-foil-hat theorists who can be viewed online at
suspect vapour trails are in fact flightglobal.com/archive
Its a contrail-spiracy mind-control chemicals.

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LETTERS
PROTEST
Modification
Cost complaint fell on deaf ears miscalculation
In your article Weight-neutral
After you pub- improvements will avoid range
We welcome your letters on any
aspect of the aerospace industry.
lished my letter penalty (Flight International,
Please write to: Boeing has 27 June-3 July), the author states
The Editor, Flight International, questions to that the wing will undergo a
Quadrant House, The Quadrant, answer (Flight camber modification, increasing
Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5AS, UK International,14-20 the height by 3cm (11.8in)
Or email: February) concern- There seems to be an error with
flight.international@flightglobal.com ing the overrun of your conversion.
US Air Force
The opinions on this page do not development Rod Holdridge
necessarily represent those of the editor.
Letters without a full postal address sup-
costs by Boeing on Haywards Heath, Sussex, UK
plied may not be published. Letters may the KC-46A tanker, Pegasus tanker faces delays and overruns
also be published on flightglobal.com you received two Editors reply: Well spotted; the
and must be no longer than 250 words. letters from Americans supporting the USAF and Boeing, latter figure should be 1.18in.
which was to be expected.
Since then, the delays and the cost overruns have continued.
No surprise that I appear to be the only person to think that these substantial Nothing new
sums of money are an illegal subsidy. I have therefore raised a I happened on the image of a
they subsidise formal complaint to the World Trade Organisation. suggested future aircraft offering
Regarding your article Trade Guess what? They havent replied. It appears a person does from Boeing, called the Sugar
row over CSeries threatens not have any clout with them. Any suggestions? (subsonic ultra green aircraft re-
Super Hornet buy (Flight Inter- J McDermott search) Volt. It immediately
national, 30 May-5 June): given Almeley, Hereford, UK brought back recollections of an
its size, why is Boeing getting so aircraft I used to encounter regu-
worked up because Bombardier larly in the skies over France,
is getting some help from the Time to look at criticism of the FAAs use of the more years ago that I like to count.
Canadian government? word oversight in his letter, and The Boeing offering bears a re-
I expect it is because its turnarounds your editor owes him no apology. semblance to the Hurel-Dubois
monopoly has been rocked by a In his letter A turn for the The word can have both HD.34, which was at the time op-
smaller company, and it is better? (Flight International, meanings as they have been erated by the French geographical
losing face. Considering how 27 June-3 July), John Davies defined in the Oxford English service because of its unique (for
many commercial aircraft build- suggests a turnaround time of Dictionary for at least the last 25 an aircraft that size) low-speed
ers there are in our very turbu- 75min for the 737 Max 8. years. An oversight on Alan handling. Sometimes there really
lent world, it is interesting to see Hmmm. At EasyJet we used to Currys part, perhaps ? is nothing new under the sun.
that there is still enough pie to do 30min turnarounds for the Malcolm Bowden Richard Chandless
go around particularly given 737-700, reducing to 20min on via email Crches-sur-Sane, France
Airbus and Boeings dominance the shorter routes. That is possi-
of this market. ble, if a few corners are cut.
What is clear is this. They all But it would have been nice to
need to get their act together, stop have a little more input and push-
bickering amongst themselves back by the UK CAA, on the sub-
and stop running off to their ject of minimum turnarounds.
respective governments for a tax- Rod Elliot
payer-funded hand-out when via email
they run into difficulties.
Likewise, governments should
think very carefully before using Unfair criticism
public money to support these With reference to Alan Currys
aircraft programmes. letter A proofreading
Boeings Sugar Volt concept is
Stephen Ryder oversight? (Flight International,
reminiscent of past designs
Boeing
Cambridge, UK 20-26 June): he is mistaken in his
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WORKING WEEK
WORK EXPERIENCE CHRISTI TANNAHILL
The consummate Wichita insider

Born and raised in the air capital of the world, Christi Tannahill has spent her career in the aerospace
industry. Today she works for Textron Aviation as senior vice-president interior design and engineering
Have you always been interested same for me, but the majority of
in aviation? my days are centred around our
Growing up in Wichita, Kansas customers that is, whether I am
the air capital of the world I sitting in a design session and
guess you could say I have al- helping them to spec their air-
ways had aviation in my blood. craft, collaborating with our cus-
My first job out of college was in tomer advisory boards, or work-
aviation and every job thereafter. ing with my talented team to
It is just such an exciting industry bring the next-generation of cabin
connecting the world through technology and features to our
flight. customers.
Tell us about your career to date What do you enjoy most about
The majority of my career has your job?
been centred on customer service I really enjoy building strong rela-
and support. I started out manag- tionships with our customers and
ing Delta Air Lines customer incorporating their feedback in
support division, based in Wichi- our class-leading aircraft. It is
ta, and then moved to Koch In- amazing when I see how excited
dustries, also in Wichita, to lead our customers get when taking
the quality department for its avi- delivery of an aircraft that they
ation division. In 1999, I joined helped design.
Textron Aviation
Raytheon Aircraft which was What are the challenges?
the owner of the Hawker and The challenge is really just trying
Beechcraft business aircraft fami- to make sure we are keeping up
lies as director of the global Tannahill says future cabins must be able to accept new technology to date with the latest technolo-
parts organisation. During my ca- gies that are ever-evolving, while
reer at the company, I took on ad- in customer support lets me see How is the business and general working with the regulatory au-
ditional roles and responsibilities things from a customer point of aviation sector faring today? thorities to ensure we can bring
in the service organisation and view. I dont have an engineering We are seeing excellent results these new features to our custom-
eventually became the senior background, so I really challenge with our new Citation Latitude, ers in a timely manner. As we are
vice-president of global customer my team to think outside of the which has become one of the designing the cabins of our future
service and support. Before mov- box and find ways we can incor- worlds best-selling business jets aircraft, we have to ensure they
ing into my current role at Tex- porate customer input in every- since entering the market in Au- have the flexibility to accommo-
tron Aviation, I served as senior thing we do. Thats how we are gust 2015. It is now the leader in date a variety of technologies to
vice-president of turboprop air- developing our new large-cabin the midsize segment, with more stay state-of-the-art. n
craft and interior design, where I [Cessna] Citation Hemisphere jet. deliveries in 2016 than any other Looking for a job in aerospace?
was responsible for the develop- We continue to engage regularly aircraft in its category. This is en- Check out our listings online at
ment of our popular turboprop with our customer advisory couraging and reflects the growth flightglobal.com/jobs
platforms and led the interior de- board, which is comprised of in- that were seeing across many of
sign team. dustry executives operating vari- our product segments. We remain If you would like to feature in
What are your current duties? ous products in this class, to af- focused on investing in our prod- Working Week, or you know
Im responsible for the interior firm what customers need in this ucts to help invigorate the busi- someone who does, email
design and engineering for all of segment. This input is a key in- ness aviation sector. your pitch to kate.sarsfield@
Textron Aviations broad product fluence as we continue to devel- Describe your typical day flightglobal.com
line-up. My previous experience op this world-class aircraft. No two days are ever really the
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market disruptor
Bombardier, C Series are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. 2017 Bombardier Inc. All rights reserved.
C Series
Radical innovation rules. Own the journey
with the worlds most advanced and efficient
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new route opportunities. Elevating experiences
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Emir-mates A grade for C Hybrid vision

Will Dubais Why Swiss and How industrys

18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com

6 Australia, USA hail hypersonic flights

7 Three-year low for first-half deliveries

10 OLeary warns Brexit could halt EU-UK

E-Jet deliveries rise, but orders fail to keep up

11 Engine fire sparks call for CF6 checks.

COVER IMAGE 16 Vienna bids goodnight to Eurofighter

NEXT WEEK SAFETY

We make a half-year check

Download the Military Simulator

flightglobal.com 18-24 July 2017 | Flight International | 3

View more great aviation

The week in numbers Question of the week

1,100 Flight Dashboard

Hourly passenger capacity at Russias Anapa International

Download the new

E mirates has been finding itself seemingly under at-

flightglobal.com 18-24 July 2017 | Flight International | 5

Australia, USA hail

MARINES INVESTIGATE KC-130T LOSS

FIBRE-OPTIC DISRUPTOR RECEIVES SAFRAN CASH

6 | Flight International | 18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com

OUTPUT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Three-year low for Deliveries

not enough to alter the down- the first half.

flightglobal.com 18-24 July 2017 | Flight International | 7

SAFETY DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

Norway, UK lift Super Puma flight ban

C ivil aviation regulators in

Lorette Fabre/Airbus Helicopters

OPERATIONS DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

AW189 proves to be less thirsty than first thought

Daniele Romiti, managing di- pabilities the latter derived

8 | Flight International | 18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com

ANALYSIS LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC

F-35 costs soar as acquisition cuts bite

L ower procurement rates for the

flightglobal.com 18-24 July 2017 | Flight International | 9

DISRUPTION EDWARD RUSSELL WASHINGTON DC

ATC shutdown causes

BACKLOG REGULATIONS OLIVER CLARK LONDON

OLeary warns Brexit could halt

Eric Lalmand/Belga/Zuma Press/REX/Shutterstock

10 | Flight International | 18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com

INCIDENT JON HEMMERDINGER BOSTON

Engine fire sparks call for CF6 checks

G E Aviation has issued a ser-

OPERATIONS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON TECHNOLOGY

EASA approval paves way for ATR to

GKN ice sensor

provision of a Thales inertial nav- field airfield in the UK.

flightglobal.com 18-24 July 2017 | Flight International | 11

SCHEDULES DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

LOT targets Hungarys

INQUIRY FIRDAUS HASHIM SINGAPORE

Non-standard approach led

Challenging weather conditions exacerbated by crew errors, Indian investigation finds

More Beluga XL port in which a SpiceJet Bombar-

18-24 July 2017 flightglobal.com