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China’s rival aircraft to Boeing, AirbU.S. jets wins certification
China formally certified its homegrown aircraft to take on Boeing and Airbus in the highly lucrative market for narrowbody jets, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
The announcement of the certification of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd.’s C919 was made in Beijing Friday, with President Xi Jinping and other high ranking Chinese government officials attending the event, Xinhua said. The report came a day after photos emerged on social media of a ceremony that suggested the jet had been certified.
The milestone, which comes ahead of a crucial party meeting in Congress next month, typically marks the end of flight testing and paves the way for a planemaker to start deliveries.
China is angling to disrupt the dominance of Boeing and Airbus in commercial jetliner manufacturing. However, it’s not clear when, if ever, the C919 will be a competitive threat to the duopoly. Comac, as Commercial Aircraft Corp of China is more commonly known, hasn’t attracted much interest for its products overseas, and the nation’s airlines still favor Airbus and Boeing as the workhorses of their fleets.
It’s been 14 years since Comac started developing the C919, using foreign suppliers including General Electric, Honeywell International and, for the engines, CFM International – a venture between GE and France’s Safran. The project has been marred by delays and missed deadlines. China Eastern Airlines Corp. is the launch customer with an order for five of the narrowbody aircraft, which completed a first pre-delivery test flight in May.
Comac has said it already has 815 orders from 28 Chinese customers for the C919, though the majority aren’t confirmed and many are from aircraft lessors yet to place the jet with an airline. China’s so-called big three – China Eastern, Air China and China Southern Airlines – and Hainan Airlines have 2,241 Boeing and Airbus. narrowbody aircraft between them, and at least 546 on order.
For now, the plane will only be allowed to fly within China until it is certified by foreign regulators. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment earlier, directing questions to Chinese regulators. Normally, the FAA would review the design of another nation’s jet to certify it for use in the U.S., but it’s unclear how that will proceed in this case with the current tensions between the two countries and China’s lack of action on restoring the 737 Max to service.
A spokeswoman for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said that EASA has been working for several years with Comac and the Chinese regulator but “cannot comment on the date when this validation would be completed (or indeed on the date when the CAAC may issue its certification).”
The C919 has a range of 3,450 miles (5,552 kilometers), and can seat up to 168 passengers. This falls short on both capacity and range when compared to rival Airbus’s A320 and Boeing’s 737 Max. Comac already has an aircraft on the market, its ARJ21, a regional jet that can carry 90 passengers and fly 2,300 miles.
Xi told the C919 team that safety is the top priority for the aircraft, adding that China is seeking more breakthroughs in high-end equipment manufacturing, according to Xinhua.
Exclusive: Russia aiming to fly solo without Airbus and Boeing
MOSCOW, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Russia's aviation industry will aim to go it alone without the West, using locally built parts to produce 1,000 airliners by 2030 and end a reliance on Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA), state-owned engineer Rostec said.
The remarks from Rostec, a vast state corporation headed by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin that includes Russia's only manufacturer of civil aircraft, are the strongest indication yet that the country's aviation sector sees the confrontation with the West as a permanent schism.
The West's imposition of the most severe sanctions in modern history after Moscow sent thousands of troops into Ukraine has forced the biggest change on Russia's economy since the Soviet Union crumbled from 1989 to 1991.
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The post-Soviet assumptions of the aviation sector have been turned on their head: foreign aircraft, mainly from Boeing and Airbus, account for 95% of passenger traffic, but sanctions mean there are no spare parts - and no prospect of any.
Reuters reported in August that Russian airlines, including state controlled Aeroflot (AFLT.MM), were stripping jetliners to secure spare parts they can no longer buy abroad because of Western sanctions. read more
But Rostec, headed by Sergei Chemezov who worked with Putin in East Germany in the 1980s, sees the upheaval as an opportunity to build a strong, self-reliant aviation industry.
"Foreign aircraft will drop out of the fleet," Rostec said in a written response to Reuters questions about its plans and the situation in Russia's aviation industry.
"We believe that this process is irreversible and Boeing and Airbus planes will never be delivered to Russia," it said.
Rostec has run some of Russia's prime industrial, defence and engineering assets since Putin signed a decree creating the corporation in 2007.
Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, splurged on Boeing and Airbus aircraft as they sought to rebuild their fleets after the chaos of the 1990s. Forging a competitive domestic alternative will be difficult.
The target of building 1,000 airliners by 2030 is "basically impossible", according to aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia, managing director of U.S.-based AeroDynamic Advisory.
"Even when they could get semiconductors and other vital components from the West, they were having a very hard time producing more than a handful of jets," he said.
By comparison with the new seven-year goal, Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union had only ever built a combined total of around 2,000 large commercial jetliners, he added.
When it comes to modern jets, Russia's only civilian planemaker, Rostec's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) (UNAC.MM), is limited by a lack of models, manufacturing capacity and foreign components.
Half of components and technologies used in the Russian aircraft industry in 2021 originated from foreign countries, according to a document titled: "On the Strategic Directions of Activity in the New Conditions for the Period up to 2030" prepared by the government and seen by Reuters.
Rostec will have to find parts - or make them.
"Our next goal is, in the shortest time, to complete import substitution of those imported parts which were delivered from abroad, for promising aviation projects - SSJ-New and MS-21," Rostec said.
Russia plans to produce 20 fully import-substituted regional jets known as Superjet-New annually from 2024 and 72 new medium-haul MS-21 from 2029, beginning with six in 2024, according to the Russian aviation industry's development plan to 2030, published by the government in June.
Russia is testing its new MS-21 plane with a domestically made PD-14 engine instead of the American-made PW1400G, supplied by Pratt & Whitney (RRX.N).
The MS-21 has been Russia's attempt to break into the main part of the jet market dominated by Airbus and Boeing.
But it is struggling to replace the foreign components of its Superjet, including the SaM-146 engine which was designed by a joint venture with French engine firm Safran (SAF.PA) and could no longer be produced because of sanctions.
UAC continues to produce Superjets with SaM-146's from stock and is going to deliver about 20 more jets with this engine, Rostec said.
"They will be the last ones where our partner solutions with Safran are used. Then we will install PD-8 engines on this type of aircraft," Rostec said. PD-8 engines are also made in Russia.
"From this year, we don't rely on international cooperation with Western countries," Rostec said. "We can say with confidence that the MS-21 with American-made engines will not be delivered to the Russian market."
From 2022 to 2030 Russia plans to deliver 1,036 passenger planes. That includes 142 Superjet-New and 270 MS-21, as well as 70 turboprop Il-114, 70 medium-haul Tu-214, and 12 wide-body Il-96, designed locally, according to government documents.
"We don't expect sanctions to be eased and we are building our plans based on the existing tough scenario," Rostec said.
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Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Matt Scuffham and Mark Potter
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Boeing: 3,000+ New Deliveries Needed By 2040 For Middle East's Booming Aviation Industry
© Provided by SimpleFlyingStock Code: BA
Date Founded: 1916-07-15
CEO: Dave Calhoun
Headquarters Location: Chicago, USA
Key Product Lines: Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Boeing 787
Business Type: Planemaker
US aerospace giant Boeing gave its forecast for the Middle East market for the next 20 years, expecting thousands of aircraft to join the industry to meet passenger demand. The planemaker also believes that Middle East carriers are better placed than many others to expand over the next two decades.
3,400 jets neededThe Middle East region will see enormous expansion over the next 20 years, requiring around 3,400 jets to serve fast-growing passenger traffic as well as cargo demand, according to Boeing.
The aircraft manufacturer announced its estimate in the 2022 Boeing Commercial Market Outlook (CMO), a forecast of 20-year demand, and said that the region’s passenger traffic and commercial fleet are projected to more than double over the next two decades.
Boeing thinks the Middle East region will need more than 3,000 airplanes over the next 20 years. Photo: Boeing
Randy Heisey, Boeing managing director of Commercial Marketing for the Middle East and Africa, and Russia and Central Asia Regions, commented,
“The Middle East region, a popular connection point for international travelers and trade, is also growing as a starting point and destination for business and leisure passengers. The region will continue to require a versatile fleet that meets the demands of airline and air-cargo business models.”
Most jets will fuel growthBoeing said the region’s carriers would require 2,980 new airplanes valued at $765 billion to serve passengers and trade. More than two-thirds of these deliveries will enable growth, while one-third will replace older planes with more fuel-efficient models such as the Boeing 737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner, and 777X.
It also highlighted that air cargo traffic flown by Middle East carriers has continued its substantial growth in recent years, with two of the world’s top five cargo carriers by tonnage based in the region.
The planemaker says that most new aircraft in the Middle East will be added for business expansion. Photo: Boeing
Based on these, Boeing thinks the Middle East cargo fleet is projected to reach 170 by 2041, more than doubling the pre-pandemic fleet.
The US planemaker’s predictions aren’t very different from its European rival, Airbus, which last year had said that aircraft deliveries to Middle East Carriers will touch 3,020 by 2040, according to the 2021 Airbus Global Market Forecast (GMF) launched at the Dubai Airshow 2021.
Middle East airlines well-placed for futureHeisey said that traffic for Middle East carriers will multiply 2.4 times over the next 20 years, with airlines rapidly growing their origin and destination passengers and serving as key hubs for inter-region connecting passengers.
Boeing also said that over the next 20 years, airline traffic growth in the Middle East is projected to increase by an average of 4% per year, compared to the global growth of 3.8% per year and the demand for aftermarket commercial services, including maintenance and repair in the region is valued at $275 billion.
Boeing is confident that Middle East carriers are well-placed for the future. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Looking at these projections, the plane manufacturer says that the region will require 202,000 new aviation personnel, including 53,000 pilots, 50,000 technicians, and 99,000 cabin crew members, in the next 20 years.
What do you make of Boeing’s projections for the Middle East? Please leave your comments below
Decades After the Concorde, a Startup Wants to Bring Back Commercial Supersonic Flight. Aviation Experts Have Many Questions.
An artist’s rendering of Boom Supersonic’s Overture jet. Boom SupersonicOn July 25, 2000, a Concorde supersonic jet operated by Air France flying from New York to Paris crashed shortly after takeoff. The accident, caused by a piece of debris on the runway, killed all 109 people on board and four on the ground. It dented the reputation of supersonic air travel and accelerated the retirement of the Concorde, which was already facing infeasibly high operating costs and repeated complaints about its noise. Three years later, in October 2003, the Concorde completed its final flight from New York to London in 3.5 hours and then disappeared from public sight, ending 27 years of commercial operation.
Nearly two decades have passed, and a startup and a handful of airlines are suddenly interested in bringing supersonic air travel back. In June 2021, United Airline ordered 15 supersonic jets from Boom Supersonic, a Denver, Colorado-based company developing an aircraft called Overture aimed to fly at Mach 1.7, or 1.7 times the speed of sound (Concorde’s top speed was just above Mach 2). A year later, American Airlines followed suit and placed an order for 20 Overture jets. Both U.S. airlines, along with the U.K.’s Virgin Atlantic Airways and Japan’s Japan Airlines, have placed conditional orders of a total of more than 100 supersonic jets from Boom.
None of those planes has been built yet, however. Boom’s goal is to deliver the first Overture in 2025 and fly the first paying passenger before the end of this decade. That’s not an unreasonable timeline, per aviation standards. Yet, industry experts have mixed opinions about whether Boom actually has the financial and technological resources to deliver its lofty promise.
The differences between Overture and the ConcordeThe Concorde was co-manufactured by France’s Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. Between 1976 and 2003, it was primarily operated by British Airways and Air France for transatlantic flights. The development cost of the Concorde overran initial estimates by more than 20 times, and operation of the aircraft relied heavily on government subsidies and high ticket price. (In 1997, a round-trip ticket from New York to London cost 30 times more than an economy class ticket on a subsonic plane.) The Concorde also faced constant complaints about its noise, which led the U.S. government to ban its landing in New York from 1976 to 1977 and British Airways to cancel a route from London to Singapore in 1977.
Aeronautical technology has come a long way since the days of Concorde, from material science to aerodynamics to propulsion, said Boom CEO Blake Scholl.
Take aerodynamic as an example. “We’ve gone from developing airplanes in a wind tunnel, where every test takes months and costs millions, to being able to optimize with software simulation, where we can do hundreds of wind tunnel tests in a matter of hours,” Scholl said.
Scholl brings lots of experience in technology and startups, but none in aviation. A former product manager at Amazon, he is a co-founder of Kima Labs, a mobile payment company acquired by Groupon in 2012 for an undisclosed amount. Scholl moved to work for Groupon for two years following the merger and left in early 2014 to found Boom.
Boom isn’t looking to build a larger or faster plane than the Concorde, but, first and foremost, a more financially viable one. Overture will be constructed with carbon fiber composite, which is about 40 percent lighter than aluminum, the primary material making up the body of the Concorde. A lighter aircraft means less fuel consumption and lower operating costs. To further increase fuel efficiency and optimize airflow during flight, Overture will also feature a complicated fuselage shape that’s thicker in the front and narrows down toward the back. The design is the result of about 26 million hours of software simulation, Scholl said.
To minimize noise—a major complaint about the Concorde—Overture will be powered with modern turbofan engines without afterburners, a component used in Concorde and many combat supersonic jet engines to achieve high speeds.
Boom is pre-selling Overture at $200 million each to airlines. The price is comparable to what a similar subsonic aircraft would cost. United said the operating cost of Overture will be 75 percent less than that of Concorde and passengers can expect to pay fares similar to business-class tickets on most commercial airlines.
“Concorde was a political project built for the glory of France and England,” said Mike Boyd, president of Boyd Group International, an aviation consulting and research firm. “It was not built based on solid market economics. Boom is a private project made for a market in need. That’s the fundamental difference.” Boyd consulted Boom’s early concepts in 2015 shortly after the company was founded and helped introduce the startup to the aviation industry. He said his firm has no financial interest in Boom.
A high-tech jet missing an engineDespite the substantial commercial interest Overture has generated, the plane is missing its most important component: the engine.
In August 2020, Boom announced a partnership with Rolls-Royce, which built the engine for Concorde, to develop an engine for Overture. That deal abruptly fell apart in early September. It’s unclear who backed out first. In a statement, Boom said Rolls-Royce’ “proposed engine design and legacy business model is not the best option” for Overture.
Following the news, several major airplane engine makers, including GE Aviation, Honeywell and Safran Aircraft Engines, said they had no interest in making a supersonic engine for Boom. Still, Boom said it plans to announce a new engine partner later this year.
“What Blake (Scholl) said is only half true. Yes, the aircraft side has advanced a lot since Concorde. But the engine side, not so much,” said Bjorn Fehrm, a former fighter pilot for the Swedish Air force who now runs an aeronautical consulting firm based in France.
The unique challenge of supersonic jet engine is a tradeoff between speed and external noise. Today’s commercial aircraft manage to keep engine noise at an acceptable level because they are only flying at 80 percent the speed of sound, Fehrm said. “Boom wants to fly 70 percent faster than sound. This is impossible to do with a quiet, environmentally friendly engine.”
Concorde was powered by four engines converted from those used in the British Royal Air Force’s combat jets. Those engines were powerful enough to achieve a top speed of just over Mach 2, but created a loud sonic boom. Although Boom claims Overture will not be louder than today’s subsonic airplanes during takeoff and landing, it’s not seeking to rewrite existing regulations. Overture will fly at a maximum speed of Mach 1.7 over water and just below sonic speed over land. Scholl said this configuration will shorten the time of most transoceanic flights by half and over-land flights by 20 percent.
Fehrm, who specializes in aircraft cost evaluation, estimates it would cost Boom between $3 billion to $5 billion to develop an engine from scratch. Boom has so far raised less than $300 million from venture capital firms, including Celesta Capital and Y Combinator. To meet the 2025 delivery timeline, it would need to raise funds at an accelerated pace.
Scholl said United’s pre-order in 2020 was a “breakthrough” that “opened up many aisles around the world.” But Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant at AeroDynamic Advisory, said United and American’s orders are more of creative advertising than an actual vote of confidence in Boom’s technology. “If there is anybody at these airlines who has put down serious money on an airplane that has no engine, that person should be fired instantly,” he said.
Boyd, who has witnessed Boom’s journey from the beginning, is more bullish. “It’s the only private supersonic company that has advanced this far. That track record clearly shows they have something,” he said. “American Airlines did not fall off the turnip truck. They know what they are doing.”
China’s rival aircraft to Boeing, AirbU.S. jets wins certification
China formally certified its homegrown aircraft to take on Boeing and Airbus in the highly lucrative market for narrowbody jets, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
The announcement of the certification of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd.’s C919 was made in Beijing Friday, with President Xi Jinping and other high ranking Chinese government officials attending the event, Xinhua said. The report came a day after photos emerged on social media of a ceremony that suggested the jet had been certified.
The milestone, which comes ahead of a crucial party meeting in Congress next month, typically marks the end of flight testing and paves the way for a planemaker to start deliveries.
China is angling to disrupt the dominance of Boeing and Airbus in commercial jetliner manufacturing. However, it’s not clear when, if ever, the C919 will be a competitive threat to the duopoly. Comac, as Commercial Aircraft Corp of China is more commonly known, hasn’t attracted much interest for its products overseas, and the nation’s airlines still favor Airbus and Boeing as the workhorses of their fleets.
It’s been 14 years since Comac started developing the C919, using foreign suppliers including General Electric, Honeywell International and, for the engines, CFM International – a venture between GE and France’s Safran. The project has been marred by delays and missed deadlines. China Eastern Airlines Corp. is the launch customer with an order for five of the narrowbody aircraft, which completed a first pre-delivery test flight in May.
Comac has said it already has 815 orders from 28 Chinese customers for the C919, though the majority aren’t confirmed and many are from aircraft lessors yet to place the jet with an airline. China’s so-called big three – China Eastern, Air China and China Southern Airlines – and Hainan Airlines have 2,241 Boeing and Airbus. narrowbody aircraft between them, and at least 546 on order.
For now, the plane will only be allowed to fly within China until it is certified by foreign regulators. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment earlier, directing questions to Chinese regulators. Normally, the FAA would review the design of another nation’s jet to certify it for use in the U.S., but it’s unclear how that will proceed in this case with the current tensions between the two countries and China’s lack of action on restoring the 737 Max to service.
A spokeswoman for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said that EASA has been working for several years with Comac and the Chinese regulator but “cannot comment on the date when this validation would be completed (or indeed on the date when the CAAC may issue its certification).”
The C919 has a range of 3,450 miles (5,552 kilometers), and can seat up to 168 passengers. This falls short on both capacity and range when compared to rival Airbus’s A320 and Boeing’s 737 Max. Comac already has an aircraft on the market, its ARJ21, a regional jet that can carry 90 passengers and fly 2,300 miles.
Xi told the C919 team that safety is the top priority for the aircraft, adding that China is seeking more breakthroughs in high-end equipment manufacturing, according to Xinhua.
Airbus partners with Hiratagakuen to test future eVTOL flight routes
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Here's how to get your hands on a piece of an Airbus A380
There’s nothing quite like keeping a memento of the one you loved, and if the one in question is the Airbus A380, you’re in luck.
The aircraft manufacturer has announced a sale of more than 500 items from one of its dearly departed big birds. The MSN13 was first flown by Emirates in 2008, was retired during the pandemic and scrapped in October 2021.
The pieces – mostly from the cabin – have been divided into 380 lots, and will be sold over three days, from 13-15 October. The auction will take place in Toulouse, though online bids are also allowed.
All proceeds will go to the Airbus Foundation and the AIRitage association, who have pledged the auction proceeds to humanitarian and heritage missions by the former and latter respectively.
Looking for something to remember her by? Lots include all the usuals, from seatbelts to lamps, plus windows, rows of seats, a staircase, and even a bar. There are Emirates-specific details too, like the illuminated emergency exit signs in English and Arabic.
For full-on avgeeks there are items such as baby bassinets, flashlights and latches to hold galley trolleys in place.
And if regular airplane fittings are not quite chic enough for you, there’s an arty option too. Some of the items, such as engine blades, have been painted by contemporary artists to make them works of art in themselves; others, such as surfboards and skateboards, have no visible link to the plane, but have been created from the A380’s raw materials.
Many of the items, like these airframe door stops, include nuggets of behind-the-scenes information.
Estimated prices start at around $80 for an emergency exit sign. Looking for the way? Drop on over to the auction website to see the listings for days one, two and three.
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Exclusive: Russia aiming to fly solo without Airbus and Boeing
MOSCOW, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Russia's aviation industry will aim to go it alone without the West, using locally built parts to produce 1,000 airliners by 2030 and end a reliance on Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA), state-owned engineer Rostec said.
The remarks from Rostec, a vast state corporation headed by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin that includes Russia's only manufacturer of civil aircraft, are the strongest indication yet that the country's aviation sector sees the confrontation with the West as a permanent schism.
The West's imposition of the most severe sanctions in modern history after Moscow sent thousands of troops into Ukraine has forced the biggest change on Russia's economy since the Soviet Union crumbled from 1989 to 1991.
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The post-Soviet assumptions of the aviation sector have been turned on their head: foreign aircraft, mainly from Boeing and Airbus, account for 95% of passenger traffic, but sanctions mean there are no spare parts - and no prospect of any.
Reuters reported in August that Russian airlines, including state controlled Aeroflot (AFLT.MM), were stripping jetliners to secure spare parts they can no longer buy abroad because of Western sanctions. read more
But Rostec, headed by Sergei Chemezov who worked with Putin in East Germany in the 1980s, sees the upheaval as an opportunity to build a strong, self-reliant aviation industry.
"Foreign aircraft will drop out of the fleet," Rostec said in a written response to Reuters questions about its plans and the situation in Russia's aviation industry.
"We believe that this process is irreversible and Boeing and Airbus planes will never be delivered to Russia," it said.
Rostec has run some of Russia's prime industrial, defence and engineering assets since Putin signed a decree creating the corporation in 2007.
Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, splurged on Boeing and Airbus aircraft as they sought to rebuild their fleets after the chaos of the 1990s. Forging a competitive domestic alternative will be difficult.
The target of building 1,000 airliners by 2030 is "basically impossible", according to aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia, managing director of U.S.-based AeroDynamic Advisory.
"Even when they could get semiconductors and other vital components from the West, they were having a very hard time producing more than a handful of jets," he said.
By comparison with the new seven-year goal, Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union had only ever built a combined total of around 2,000 large commercial jetliners, he added.
When it comes to modern jets, Russia's only civilian planemaker, Rostec's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) (UNAC.MM), is limited by a lack of models, manufacturing capacity and foreign components.
Half of components and technologies used in the Russian aircraft industry in 2021 originated from foreign countries, according to a document titled: "On the Strategic Directions of Activity in the New Conditions for the Period up to 2030" prepared by the government and seen by Reuters.
Rostec will have to find parts - or make them.
"Our next goal is, in the shortest time, to complete import substitution of those imported parts which were delivered from abroad, for promising aviation projects - SSJ-New and MS-21," Rostec said.
Russia plans to produce 20 fully import-substituted regional jets known as Superjet-New annually from 2024 and 72 new medium-haul MS-21 from 2029, beginning with six in 2024, according to the Russian aviation industry's development plan to 2030, published by the government in June.
Russia is testing its new MS-21 plane with a domestically made PD-14 engine instead of the American-made PW1400G, supplied by Pratt & Whitney (RRX.N).
The MS-21 has been Russia's attempt to break into the main part of the jet market dominated by Airbus and Boeing.
But it is struggling to replace the foreign components of its Superjet, including the SaM-146 engine which was designed by a joint venture with French engine firm Safran (SAF.PA) and could no longer be produced because of sanctions.
UAC continues to produce Superjets with SaM-146's from stock and is going to deliver about 20 more jets with this engine, Rostec said.
"They will be the last ones where our partner solutions with Safran are used. Then we will install PD-8 engines on this type of aircraft," Rostec said. PD-8 engines are also made in Russia.
"From this year, we don't rely on international cooperation with Western countries," Rostec said. "We can say with confidence that the MS-21 with American-made engines will not be delivered to the Russian market."
From 2022 to 2030 Russia plans to deliver 1,036 passenger planes. That includes 142 Superjet-New and 270 MS-21, as well as 70 turboprop Il-114, 70 medium-haul Tu-214, and 12 wide-body Il-96, designed locally, according to government documents.
"We don't expect sanctions to be eased and we are building our plans based on the existing tough scenario," Rostec said.
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Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Matt Scuffham and Mark Potter
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Jet Airways Expected To Take Airbus A320neos Not Delivered To S7
© Provided by SimpleFlyingAn Airbus A320neo aircraft is creating a significant buzz on social media and aviation websites for its paint job. While most Indians are familiar with its livery, nobody can claim to have seen it on an A320. The aircraft in question is an Airbus narrowbody sporting colors of soon-to-be-launched Jet Airways, further fueling long-standing speculation that the airline could look towards Airbus narrowbodies for its aircraft needs this time around.
A320 in Jet Airways' liveryImages of an A320 airplane in Jet Airways livery are actively being circulated on social media. The aircraft is said to have rolled out after a fresh paint job, keeping all speculation alive that the airline will have Airbus narrowbodies in its fleet.
Planespotters.net lists the aircraft as previously being assigned to Russian carrier S7 Airlines, but it was ferried a few days back from Toulouse to Maastricht in the Netherlands for a fresh coat of paint.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Jet Airways is in talks with plane manufacturers and lessors to add up to 8 planes before 2023. Usually, there's always a long waiting line for popular narrowbody aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, but Jet was said to be eying the planes which were to be delivered to Russian carriers before the Ukraine war.
A source familiar with the matter had told the Press Trust of India back then,
“Aircraft availability is always an issue but now due to the Russia-Ukraine war, aircraft which were to be delivered to Russia are also available in the market along with those leased planes which were flying in Russia.”
Jet is eyeing several narrowbody airplanes undelivered to Russian airlines. Photo: Airbus
A new sightAt its peak, Jet Airways operated a mixed fleet of Boeing 737, ATR turboprop, Airbus A330, and Boeing 777 airplanes. But it was the 737, which shouldered the bulk of its operations and defined the airline's brand for the millions of passengers who flew the carrier over the years.
And now, to see the same colors (with minor differences) on an A320 is a sight many Indians, particularly av-geeks, will take some time to get used to.
Pilot hiring for the typeOne of the first clues about Jet considering the A320 was when it posted a message on Twitter in July, inviting applications for current and type-rated pilots on the Airbus A320, Boeing 737NG, or the 737 MAX aircraft.
It was interesting to note that Jet had invited applications for pilots trained on both the 737 and the A320 family of airplanes, suggesting that it could begin its second stint with a mixed fleet.
The carrier is yet to announce any official order for aircraft, but rumor has it that it is close to finalizing a deal to buy 50 A220 jets from Airbus. But until an order is finalized, Jet will likely get a handful of leased airplanes for its immediate needs until it settles for a more uniform fleet later.
What was your first reaction after seeing an A320 in Jet's livery? Please let us know in the comment section
Should Boeing Put Down the Landing Gear for a Bottom Pattern or New Lows?
Airplane manufacturer Boeing (BA) has turned lower in the past four weeks and is now taking aim at its May/June lows. Will the shares make a double-bottom pattern or will they continue to sink to new lows? Let's review the condition of the charts and indicators for an answer.
In the daily bar chart of BA, below, we can see that the shares rallied for two months from the middle of June to the middle of August but have turned lower again and have nearly made a round trip in half the time. The shares are trading below the bearish 50-day moving average line and below the bearish 200-day line.
The On-Balance-Volume (OBV) line shows only slight improvement from July and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD0 oscillator is bearish.
In the weekly Japanese candlestick chart of BA, below, we see a pattern that does not instill confidence. The shares have declined by 50% since early 2021. BA trades below the declining 40-week moving average line.
The weekly OBV is not promising and the MACD oscillator is crossing to the downside for a new sell signal.
In this daily Point and Figure chart of BA, below, we can see that the shares have reached and exceeded a downside price target in the $129 area.
In this weekly Point and Figure chart of BA, below, we used close-only price data. Here the software projects the $92 area as a price target.
Bottom-line strategy: I don't have a lot of confidence that BA will hold its May/June lows. The risk is that we see further declines, in my opinion. Avoid the long side.
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Boeing’s Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force Funding
© Joseph Trevithick Boeing's Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force FundingBoeing has received a new contract from the U.S. Air Force for work related to the development of both compact and very long-range air-to-air missile designs derived from a modular missile concept the company unveiled last year, which The War Zone was first to report on. This speaks to the service's continued interest in these categories of weapons, as well as missile programs like the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, which are more direct replacements for existing types.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) awarded Boeing a contract valued at $9.8 million to "investigate advanced missile sub-system components to support the Compact Air-to-Air Missile and Extended Range Air-to-Air Missile Systems" yesterday, according to the Pentagon's daily contracting notice. The deal covers work through September 28, 2027 and "this award is the result of a white paper from Broad Agency Announcement," or BAA, the announcement also noted.
© Provided by The Drive Boeing's Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force FundingThe notice does not include any specific details about the Compact Air-to-Air Missile (CAAM) or the Extended Range Air-to-Air Missile (ERAAM) designs, or proposed designs, as they might exist now. However, Boeing has confirmed to The War Zone that "the CAAM / ERAAM is related to the LRAAM [Long-Range Air-to-Air Missile] concept we first displayed last year," which "we developed that concept as part of our response to the BAA noted in the award announcement."
© Provided by The Drive Boeing's Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force FundingA mockup of the Boeing Long-Range Air-to-Air Missile (LRAAM) concept. Joseph Trevithick
Boeing directed further questions about CAAM and ERAAM to AFRL, which The War Zone has also reached out to.
Boeing's LRAAM missile concept, as it has been shown publicly, consists of two core components, a "kill vehicle" and a booster section, both of which share a highly common physical architecture. With this configuration, the booster would provide initial acceleration and propulsion through some portion of the weapon's flight, before falling off. Another rocket motor in the kill vehicle would then ignite and carry the missile through the rest of its flight. It's a essentially a 'two stage' air-to-air missile.
"The concept is being designed with a modular and open architecture approach. This modular and open architecture allows us to create the interfaces to be able to insert technology and capabilities desired by any customer, depending on the requirements they develop for any future program of record the Long Range Air to Air Missile might be used for," Zac Wood, then Manager, Advanced Weapons-Global Sales and Marketing at Boeing's Phantom Works, told The War Zone in September 2021. "At this time, Boeing has not settled on the specifics for the other capabilities beyond this being a 2-stage propulsion design."
© Provided by The Drive Boeing's Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force FundingA close-up of the mock-up of the LRAAM's booster section. Joseph Trevithick
"As with the previous capabilities, we have not settled on the final design for what this concept could do," he added. "Depending on what the government would want on a future weapon, we will determine the best path forward, whether it be hit-to-kill or a traditional warhead."
"With our modular design, if the requirements pointed to a need, or the technology supported an advantage in capabilities, we believe it is in the realm of possibilities to be able to add additional propulsion sections to the current design," Wood continued. "We could scale the other way and attach more than one booster section to the single kill vehicle (conceivably)."
© Provided by The Drive Boeing's Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force FundingOn the other end of this modularity/scalability spectrum would, of course, be a variant or derivative of the kill vehicle that could be employed by itself as a compact air-to-air weapon.
A close-up of the LRAAM kill vehicle. Joseph Trevithick
This is of course, not the first time the Air Force has expressed an interest in acquiring new air-to-air missiles that could provide additional capability in areas not fully covered by existing weapons, such as the shorter-range AIM-9X Sidewinder or the longer-range AIM-120D Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM), or their expected successors.
© Provided by The Drive Boeing's Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force FundingCompact missile types have been eyed in the past as a way to increase magazine capacity, which could be critical in future high-end conflicts featuring large numbers of aerial adversaries. Interest in smaller air-to-air weapons is also now growing further as a byproduct of various advanced uncrewed aircraft projects, many of which include plans for armed drones that could work cooperatively with crewed combat jets in air combat scenarios.
© Provided by The Drive Boeing's Modular Air-To-Air Missile Concept Gets Air Force FundingAn artist's conception of a flight of networked, uncrewed High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing (HSVTOL) aircraft armed with compact air-to-air missiles, highlighting the interest in these weapons as armament options for future drones. Bell
The Air Force has stressed in the past that AIM-260 project, which is a joint effort with the U.S. Navy, is unrelated to a very long-range air-to-air missile project called the Long Range Engagement Weapon (LREW). In terms of more advanced compact air-to-air missiles, Lockheed Martin had actively promoted its Cuda design in the 2010s, before it largely disappeared from public discussions. More recently, Raytheon – which manufactures the AIM-9X and the AIM-120-series – revealed a similarly sized missile called Peregrine.
Lockheed Martin's Cuda design. Lockheed Martin Raytheon's Peregrine. Raytheon
Being able to meet these very different requirements with a single common core missile design, or at least a family of weapons with a high degree of commonality between them, could offer significant advantages when it comes to production, operational use, logistics, and sustainment. Just to begin with, if Boeing could produce various 'scales' of air-to-air missiles simply by combining a number of LRAAM-like booster sections to a main kill vehicle section, it would simplify the process of actually building the weapons. This could still be true even if multiple kill vehicle types were developed with different sensor and/or warhead configurations (or a lack of warhead entirely). All of this, in turn, could help drive down unit costs, especially as production ramp ups.
On an operational level, a highly modular design could enable units in the field to assemble different tiers of missiles with different capabilities as necessary depending on mission requirements. Perhaps a warhead-less hit-to-kill missile designed to destroy a target by smashing into it or an imaging infrared seeker is better suited to the task at hand. More range or less range just by swapping in or out booster sections. By the same logic, this approach might allow a single launch platform to readily carry a more diverse set of air-to-air weapons all at once. In addition, different configurations could be created from a standardized set of components that are specifically optimized for one aircraft or another, especially stealthy types with space-constrained internal weapon bays, which could help maximize capacity and flexibility.
All of this translates to possible benefits on the logistics and sustainment side. Units would not necessarily have to keep as many different missiles on hand and the commonality between the types could help simplify the logistics and supply chains required to sustain them, which would further reduce costs.
Regardless of the exact work Boeing will now conduct under this new contract with AFRL or its relationship to the company's LRAAM concept, the Air Force certainly has an active interest in future modular missiles. The service's 2023 Fiscal Year budget proposal, released earlier this year, included a request for money to support research and development into a Modular Advanced Missile, details about which are still limited. You can read more about what we do know about that project here.
It will certainly be interesting to see what might emerge from the work that Boeing is now set to do on the CAAM and ERAMM designs.
Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com
Boeing’s 737 Max 7 is at risk of missing key deadline, U.S. warns
U.S. aviation regulators warned Boeing that its 737 Max 7 model is at risk of missing a key deadline later this year, potentially forcing the planemaker to carry out an expensive and complex redesign of the aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s chief of aircraft certification told Boeing in a Sept. 19 letter that the agency had approved less than 10% of the required safety assessments submitted by the company for the Max 7. Another 70% of the documents are in “various stages of review and revision,” according to the letter, which was viewed by Bloomberg.
Boeing is facing a congressionally imposed deadline at the end of this year on its Max 7 and Max 10 variations of the 737 family. If it doesn’t get both planes certified by then, it must redesign their emergency warning systems, which lawmakers required as a result of two crashes of the Max 8.
The letter from Lirio Liu, FAA’s executive director of aircraft certification, is the most significant indication that the Max 7 is in danger of not meeting that deadline. The agency had earlier warned about the schedule of the Max 10
Flights resume to Florida as airports reopen following Hurricane Ian
Several airports in Florida are reopening today after being closed for two days because of Hurricane Ian. The category four storm ravaged the coast of Southwest Florida, and now some are anxious to get back to start cleaning up.
Two of the biggest airports that closed, Tampa International Airport and Orlando International opened back up to travelers on Friday.
Tampa’s airport had been closed since Tuesday evening---as the storm took aim at Florida’s Gulf Coast. Orlando’s airport closed Wednesday morning---where heavy rain and winds made it too dangerous to fly. Both airports did not sustain any major damage from Hurricane Ian. The airports tweeted that, after talking with the national weather service and aviation officials, they made the decision to reopen Friday to commercial passengers.
Boston 25 News spoke with a man at Logan Airport who was originally from Boston but now lives in St. Pete and he said he first evacuated to Tennessee and then came up to Boston for 24 hours for work. He headed back home Friday morning where he said his house lost power and had some storm debris.
“It’s good to see how seriously people in the state take it and how many people evacuated,” said Tash Elwyn of St. Petersburg. “We can rebuild. Houses are replaceable and my heart really aches for those of us who are further south of us who took the brunt of this.”
As of Friday morning, the airport in Fort Myers remained closed, except for emergency personnel and humanitarian flights. That airport says as soon as it has power and water restored, it will reopen for commercial flights.
Thousands of flights have been canceled over the last few days and it could be tough trying to find a flight back to some of the hardest hit areas. Some airlines are setting deadlines for making changes to trips, but all travelers whose flights were canceled are eligible for refunds, according to the US Department of Transportation. A woman from Sarasota who had been in Boston for the past week told Boston 25 News she was glued to the tv and got on a flight early to head back home to see her kids who live in Port Charlotte.
“It’s emotional, it’s emotional,” said Judy Kozlowski of Sarasota. “I feel very blessed that my home is ok and my heart hurts for the people who aren’t as fortunate. It’s life and as long as people don’t take it for granted and think everything is going to be ok I’m glad that a lot of people did what they needed to do.”
Kozlowski said she tried to fly into Sarasota, but that airport is still closed. While the airports are reopening, some airlines still might have some changes. So your best bet is to check your flight status online first before heading to the airport.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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United to halt JFK service as airline battles FAA to add more flights
United Airlines said on Friday it will suspend service in late October to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.
Earlier this month, United had threatened to take the action if the Federal Aviation Administration did not grant the air carrier additional flights.
United has been flying just twice daily to San Francisco and Los Angeles from JFK, the busiest New York-area airport, after resuming service in 2021.
“Given our current, too-small-to-be-competitive schedule out of JFK — coupled with the start of the winter season where more airlines will operate their slots as they resume JFK flying — United has made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend service at JFK,” United said, in a memo seen by Reuters.
The airline did not specify when it might resume service.
United said its “discussions with FAA have been constructive” but added “it’s also clear that process to add additional capacity at JFK will take some time. “
United said the decision would impact 100 employees who work at JFK but emphasized that “no one is losing their job” and employees will transition to other nearby airports.
United has been working to pursue additional slots – which are takeoff and landing authorizations – through the FAA and by seeking commercial agreements to acquire slots from other airlines.
United said without permanent slots it cannot serve JFK “effectively compared to the larger schedules and more attractive flight times flown by our competitors” like JetBlue Airways and American Airlines.
United in 2015 struck a long-term deal to lease 24 year-round slots at JFK to Delta Air Lines as it ended JFK service to concentrate at its nearby Newark hub in northern New Jersey. It also flies out of LaGuardia.
United argues there is room to grow at JFK, the 13th-busiest U.S. airport, because the FAA and the Port Authority since 2008 have made significant infrastructure investments including “the widening of runways, construction of multi-entrance taxiways, and the creation of aligned high-speed turnoffs.”
Flight Status: TPA, MCO to resume service today; RSW, SRQ remain closed
Airports in storm-affected areas slight take back to the skies after Hurricane Ian.
Airports in Tampa and Orlando will reopen today, but many along Southwest Florida’s coast remain open only to emergency personnel. Travel plans for residents and visitors should begin to resume in the wake of Hurricane Ian’s devastation in the state.
Tampa International Airport (TPA) plans to resume operations beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday. But airport officials encourage all travelers to double-check flight times and schedules with airlines. The airport has been closed since Tuesday at 5 p.m. Officials say reopening at 10 a.m. should give adequate time for steps like bringing large aircraft back to the facility.
“We feel very lucky to have come out on the other side of this largely unscathed and are eager to restart operations after such a fraught and anxious week,” Tampa International Airport CEO Joe Lopano said. “We can now continue serving as an important resource for our travelers and community, and begin helping our fellow Floridians in their time of need.”
Meanwhile, Orlando International Airport (MCO) will reopen at noon. One of America’s busiest airports, all commercial operations ceased at 10:30 on Wednesday as the hurricane tracked toward Central Florida. Officials stressed any information on individual flights should be confirmed with airlines.
But at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers, the facilities remain in use only for emergency purposes.
“The airport is closed except to emergency personnel and humanitarian flights,” reads a tweet on RSW’s official Twitter feed. “As soon as power and water is restored, we will open for commercial flights.”
The website for RSW remains down, and consumers should seek information on social media channels.
Those trapped in the region because their vehicles were in short- or long-term lots, though, can pick up their vehicles as of Friday morning.
“For people with cars in the long- and short-term lots, you will be able to get your vehicles out today between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Although the entry to the lots is marked with a ‘closed sign,’ tell the official stationed at the entrance you are picking up your car,” reads an operational update from the airport.
Further South, the Naples Airport reopened at 8 a.m. But due to damage to runway lighting and signage caused by the storm, the airport will only operate from dawn until dusk for the time being. Access to hangars remains limited.
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) remains open only for emergency relief efforts. On Thursday evening, the airport opened its airfield for general aviation and for air carriers. But officials are continuing to assess damage to the airport facilities at this time.
At Punta Gorda Airport, all flights today remain listed as canceled, with Allegiant grounding all flights.
Allegiant also has canceled most flights scheduled today at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International, but there is a proposed 11:17 a.m. Sun Country flight to Gulfport, Mississippi. PIE officials say there has been no significant damage and, pending FAA approval, the airport should reopen at 11 a.m. Friday.
More powerful than Tejas! Next fighter jet development project to cost another Rs 6,500 crore
After the success of Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), the government has given its nod to develop a much more powerful version of the indigenous fighter jet, Times of India reported quoting sources. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the project to Tejas Mark-2 with prototypes, the report added.
Flight testing and certification of the Tejas Mark-2 project would cost Rs 6,500 crore, in addition to the Rs 2,500 crore earlier sanctioned for it, the report mentioned.
Once the Tejas Mark-2 is completed, it could be followed by another mega project for an ambitious fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, it also said.
The CCS clearance for the over Rs 15,000 crore project to build the fifth-gen advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) "will follow within the next few months", the report further stated.
The Tejas Mark-1 was designed to replace obsolete MiG-21s, while Tejas Mark-2 would succeed Mirage-2000s, Jaguars and MiGs-29s in Indian Air Force's (IAF's) combat fleet.
Tejas Mark-2 would have a longer combat range and greater capacity to carry weapons.
So far, IAF has inducted about 30 of the 123 Tejas jets ordered previously from Hindustan Aeronautics.
Currently, Tejas jets are desperately required by IAF to push the number of its fighter squadrons, which stands at 32. Earlier, IAF had assessed it would need 42 squadrons to protect the western and northern borders with Pakistan and China.
(With inputs from PTI)
Alibaba and the 40 spies? Belgium frets over Chinese mega project
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Belgian politicians are beginning to worry a massive Chinese project at Liège airport in the south of the country is more about spycraft than aircraft.
Members of the country's parliament are debating whether China is looking to give its spies a firmer foothold in Europe through a landmark logistics hub being built by the e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Alibaba's €100 million investment has long been welcomed in Belgium as a way to help revive the struggling economy of the French-speaking region of Wallonia. The freight and parcels hub, on 220,000 square meters leased at the airport, is expected to become operational this year.
The mood on China is souring in the EU, however, amid tit-for-tat sanctions and boycotts against European products by Chinese consumers.
"We should realize that Alibaba is not just a simple private operator, but an agent of the Chinese Communist Party, under the orders of the regime, for instance in the repression of the Uyghur minority through its facial recognition software," said Samuel Cogolati, a member of the Green Ecolo party in the Belgian parliament, who is leading the charge on the file.
"We must reappropriate ... control over these digital giants and screen these Chinese investments, without naivety. We must open our eyes, guarantee our security, basic freedoms and protect the personal data of Belgian citizens," he told POLITICO.
At a meeting of the parliamentary justice committee last week, Cogolati pressed Belgium's Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne on the issue. And the minister sounded pretty worried too.
“Chinese intelligence officers could have access to sensitive and secure areas of the airport … The future economic importance of Liège airport to China can't be underestimated,” the Flemish liberal said, according to Belgian press reports of the meeting. “Alibaba will also have to obey the Chinese security apparatus in the event that it wishes to have access to the potentially sensitive commercial and personal data held by Alibaba in connection with its activities in Liège.”
Neither Van Quickenborne nor Alibaba responded to requests for comment from POLITICO.
The Chinese embassy in Belgium firmly rejected the accusations.
“Some Belgian parliamentarians, institutions and the media … baselessly suspected that Alibaba’s Liège Airport logistics project cooperates with the Chinese government’s espionage activities and poses a threat to citizens’ privacy and national security,” it said in a statement. Requirements under China’s national intelligence law, it added, “respect and protect human rights.”
Beijing and Brussels now seem to be trying to smooth over relations at the ministerial level. Earlier this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi talked to his Belgian counterpart, Sophie Wilmès, and called on Belgium to “play a constructive role in the EU” and “promote the long-term and steady development of China-EU relations.”
“Belgium is the heart of Europe, and has long been a bridge for China-Europe exchanges,” Wang added, according to the Chinese readout.
And Wallonia knows full well the value of that bridge because Liège has already benefited enormously from Alibaba’s presence. According to a spokesman for the city’s airport, freight soared from 9 million parcels in 2018 to 362 million parcels in 2019, and 548 million last year mainly thanks to Alibaba and its subsidiary Cainiao Smart Logistics Network.
Laurens Cerulus contributed reporting.
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Special unit to monitor 260 mega development projects
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By Damith Wickramasekara
A special supervisory unit under a Deputy Treasury Secretary is to be appointed to review the progress of 260 mega-scale development projects with a combined investment of Rs. 5.8 trillion, Treasury sources said. The special unit, which will be supported by government agencies, including the Auditor General’s Department, will conduct weekly progress reviews of the projects, many of which have been impacted by the country’s economic crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
About 125 if these projects are financed through foreign sources. The earliest of the projects date from 2012 and should be completed before 2030. Ten of the projects have been initiated this year.
The decision to set up a special unit comes after a survey conducted by government agencies including the Ministry of Finance revealed that though 61 of the 260 projects were to be completed during the first half of this year, 46 of them had failed to generate results as expected.
Moreover, only 15 of the projects have been completed while 15 others are being implemented successfully. From a total of 134 projects 59 have been identified as those which “need special attention” and 75 “at critical status”. Implementation of 14 projects have so far been temporarily suspended.
While a procedure had been adopted this year for allocating funds on a quarterly basis to ensure the optimum utilisation of funds for the projects, the progress was impeded due to a number of issues including restrictions on imports, scarcity of raw material, the fuel crisis, power cuts and difficulties in contract management due to inflation and the shortage of foreign exchange, the Treasury sources noted.
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Orlando-Sanford International Airport is referring all inquiries on when flights resume to Allegiant.
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