Hello MoM Gulf deepens Ready to fly

Is Seattle close Emirates plays Saab on track

to launching a down its falling for Gripen E
797 to plug profits, as Clark debut, with
middle of the confirms Dubai fighter taking
market gap for carrier will be aim at further
customers? 7 reshaped 15 targets 17

21-27 March 2017  flightglobal.com

BIG TWINS

Stretch out and wait

Can A350-1000 snatch Boeing rivals long-haul crown?

ISSN 0 0 1 5 - 3 7 1 0
3.70
1 2

9 770015 371297
 CONTENTS
Volume 191 Number 5579
21-27 MARCH 2017

NEWS
THIS WEEK
Hello MoM Gulf deepens Ready to fly
Is Seattle close Emirates plays Saab on track
to launching a down its falling for Gripen E
797 to plug profits, as Clark debut, with
middle of the confirms Dubai fighter taking

6 Leonardo insistent on large turboprop

market gap for carrier will be aim at further
customers? 7 reshaped 15 targets 17

7 Boeing must sort middle from muddle

8 UTAS prepares to cut the ice with nanotube-
21-27 March 2017 flightglobal.com

based heater.
BIG TWINS

Stretch out and wait

Can A350-1000 snatch Boeing rivals long-haul crown?

MBDA fires ASRAAM into F-35 marketplace.

Lufthansa pilots set to agree on labour terms
9 Latest Zodiac seat crisis hits UK plant.
Testing such a drag for Airbus A350-1000
NEWS FOCUS
AirTeamImages

ISSN 0 0 1 5 - 3 7 1 0
3.70
11 Bombardier waiting on CSeries leases
16 Trappier seeks balance from Dassault
1 2

Anthony Pecchi/Dassault
9 770015 371297

FIN_210317_301.indd 1 16/03/2017 09:43

COVER IMAGE AIR TRANSPORT

Moises Mendoza took 12 MD-83 crew feared regulatory action
this shot of Airbuss third 13 Watchdog savages Air India for multiple
A350-1000 test aircraft, financial failings. Dassault results see Rafale soar above Falcon P16
MSN71, at the companys Service entry moves closer for Max.
Toulouse final assembly Airbus delivery delays hit Qatar Airways COVER STORY
site for the long-range growth
24 Great expectations Airbus believes the
twinjet on 2 March P24 14 Ilyushin was years beyond service life and
A350-1000 is set to control the big-twin
5t overweight
sector currently dominated by the 777-300ER.
15 Emirates reshapes as market moves But has Boeing better anticipated a trend for
DEFENCE larger aircraft?
17 Gripen E powers towards flight debut.
Canada advances request for interim Super FEATURES
Hornet deal 28 LAUNCHERS Precision delivery The
18 Leonardo believes T-100 bid will pass Buy European Space Agencys light launcher, Vega, is
America test. a proven performer in prime position to contest a
Indian Tu-142s head for retirement. growing market to orbit Earth observation and
Court decision brings Orbiter down to earth scientific payloads
19 FCAS can survive Brexit, Dassault says
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Earth is moving at Europes BUSINESS AVIATION REGULARS
French Guiana space 21 Dassault demands compensation for delayed 5 Comment
centre, for a launch pad to Silvercrest.
support Ariane 6 flights 33 Straight & Level
Friedrichshafen debut for Pipers M600
from 2020. Dan Thisdell 34 Letters
22 Embraer predicts a gradual rise in executive
got a hole new perspective 36 Classified
jet margins.
before watching flight 9 of 38 Jobs
XTI turns to hybrid engines for TriFan 600.
the smaller Vega (P28)
Second Traveller to join flight-test fleet 43 Working Week
Airbus

Israeli air force, AirTeamImages

NEXT WEEK INTERIORS

Ahead of the AIX show in
Hamburg, we examine the
latest trends in seating and
in-flight entertainment
Leonardo confident US-built T-100 will meet T-X needs P18. Emirates adapts to global environment P15

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flightglobal.com 21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 3

 CONTENTS

Image of
the week
Snapped on approach to
London Heathrow, this
colourful A320 is the fourth
of Brussels Airlines fleet to
bear a special livery as part
of its Belgian Icons series.
Named Amare, the Airbus
narrowbody was hand-
painted over a two-week
period and celebrates the
Tommorowland festival

View more great aviation

shots online and in our

James Mellon/FlightGlobal
weekly tablet edition:
flightglobal.com/
flight-international

The week in numbers Question of the week

5.4%
Last week, we asked: Are UK air shows safer post-Shoreham?
You said:

Flight Dashboard
Total votes: 544
European flights are getting more crowded; passenger loads
in February rose at twice the 2.7% increase in fleet capacity

$0
Health and safety
gone mad
41% 226 votes

Yes; real improvements

Flight Dashboard
34% made
183 votes

The price of a meal on American Airlines trans-USA economy

More needs to be done
services from 1 May; Delta resumed feeder flights on 1 March 135 votes
25%

12 Flight Dashboard

Number of A320s that Allegiant Air plans to pay for using

This week, we ask: Boeings potential 797?
Numbers add up Muddled in the middle
Born Toulouse
bank debt; it needs $300m to pay for 10 that arrive this year Vote at flightglobal.com

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flightglobal.com
Size matters
Boeings much-talked-about middle-of-the-market concept appears to be coalescing into a
real aircraft programme with a proper designation; it is time for Seattle to fill in the blanks
I t has an authority to offer from Boeing, public en-
dorsements from influential airlines and lessors and
finally, it seems, a name: the 797X.
Boeing strangely has not yet confirmed the projects
designation, but it is reasonable to assume the compa-
ny will not break with the numbering system that it es-
tablished in 1956.
So what is it? We know it is a family of two widebody
aircraft sized to capture an estimated 2,000-3,000-unit
slice of the commercial aircraft market over the next two
decades. Although often referred to as a 757 replacement,
the market opportunity encompasses both the legacy
single-aisle and widebodies like the 767. It will probably
be able to accommodate up to about 220 passengers and
fly between 4,500-6,000nm (8,330-11,100km).
The 797X could inherit a harvest of finally mature
technologies pioneered by the 787 a decade ago, includ-
ing a core computing system, as well as electric-powered
cabin pressurisation and wing de-icing systems.
With so much technology available
off the shelf, Boeings challenge
will be the marketing strategy
It will also likely benefit from a new composite wing
centre that Boeing has erected in Everett, Washington,
to support the 777X, with the target of producing more
efficient carbonfibre structures for the same price as
their metallic equivalents.
Perhaps breaking from a trend set by the exclusively
powered 737 Max and 777X, the 797X also stands to
benefit from a three-way competition to provide up to
two engine options to airlines.
Not a blip
A s IATA stresses a continuing falling accident rate in
its annual review of commercial airline safety, the
circumstances of the Dana Air crash in Lagos serve to
remind that global progress is far from a uniform affair.
Nigerian investigators newly disclosed narrative de-
tailing the loss of the MD-83 almost amounts to a roll-
call of the sort of practices that might tempt IATAs
safety teams to bang their collective heads despairingly
against the walls of its Geneva headquarters.
The culmination of sloppy internal processes, tech-
nical failure, clumsy decision-making and poor air-
manship, the Dana Air accidents most astonishing as-
pect is probably that it did not happen sooner.
With such crude failures still evident in African air
COMMENT
Jochen Tack/ImageBroker/REX/Shutterstock
Getting it spot on
Pitches are likely to include 40,000lb (180kN)-thrust
versions of CFM Internationals Leap core, Pratt &
Whitneys second-generation geared turbofan and the
Rolls-Royce Advance concept.
With so much technology available off the shelf,
Boeings biggest challenge with the 797X is crafting the
marketing strategy.
It is the Goldilocks conundrum: a widebody aircraft
sized too large is undercut by the Airbus A330-800neo,
but too small is no competition for the A321neoLR.
Boeing has to get the 797X just right an unusually
small target to hit.
Still, so much about the 797X is speculation or leaks
from informed customers. It is time now for Boeing to
lead the public discussion about the project.
The first half of the year will naturally belong to the
public roll-out of the 737 Max 10X, with an official
launch at the Paris air show.
But details about the 797X must soon follow start-
ing with the confirmation of the programmes name.
See This Week P7
transport, any apparent improvement in the continents
safety statistics carries a hefty disclaimer. If Nigeria, its
richest economy, can still fall desperately short in the
mainline jet transport sector, the prognosis for other na-
tions cannot be good. Only 22 African states reached at
least 60% compliance with ICAO standards last year.
IATA wants its safety auditing schemes required
for membership to become fundamental to Africa,
through being part of an airlines certification process.
Such a proposal can only be beneficial. Never mind
fine-tuning, much coarse-tuning is still necessary be-
fore spurious bright blips in Africas air safety record
settle into a real and encouraging long-term trend.
See Air Transport P12
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 5
THIS WEEK
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network and fleet information sign up at:
flightglobal.com/dashboard

BRIEFING
EASA LOOKS AT EN ROUTE WAKE-VORTEX ISSUES
SAFETY The European Aviation Safety Agency is drawing up a
bulletin for publication in April centred on mitigating risks of en
route wake-vortex encounters. The step is not directly related
to a serious upset event in January involving a German business
jet after a suspected but so-far unproven brush with wake
turbulence, possibly from an Airbus A380 in cruise. EASA
stresses that the scheme is not specific to the superjumbo.

UAC PICKS HEAD OF NEW TRANSPORT ARM

MANAGEMENT Russias United Aircraft has named Alexei

Leonardo
Rogozin as vice-president of its new transport aircraft arm. The
unit will deal with aircraft programmes including the Ilyushin Proposed multi-task aircraft would replace C-27J tactical airlifter
Il-76 heavy freighter and the Il-112 light- and medium-haul tur-
PROGRAMME DAN THISDELL MILAN
boprop. It will bring together specific operations at plants in-
cluding Voronezh-based VASO and Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar,
as well as the Myasishchev design bureau. Leonardo insistent
ALLIGATORS ON TARGET FOR EGYPT
ROTORCRAFT Egypt remains on schedule to receive the first
of its 46 Kamov Ka-52 attack helicopters later this year, accord-
ing to Russian Helicopters parent company Rostec. Dating from
on large turboprop
an order revealed in December 2015, the Alligators will operate Italian airframer determined to develop dual-use 100-seat
from a pair of French-built Mistral-class amphibious assault model, with or without its ATR joint-venture partner Airbus
ships acquired by the Egyptian navy.

AIRBUS FEELS BENEFIT FROM CUSTOMER KAIR

ORDER South Korean budget start-up KAIR Airlines has placed
A TR shareholder Leonardo in-
tends to break the impasse
on development of a 100-seat re-
an order for eight Airbus A320s in a deal worth $792 million at gional turboprop with a new pro-
list prices. It has yet to choose between the CFM International gramme to create a modular and
CFM56 or International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants of- multi-task aircraft that would
fered on the type, however. KAIR will be based at Cheongju, also replace the Italian manufac-
and aims to start operations in 2018. turers C-27J tactical airlifter.
Speaking in Milan on 15
CDB PLUMPS FOR 737 MAX 8 March, Leonardo chief executive
LEASING Dublin-based CDB Aviation Lease Finance has or- Mauro Moretti said he hoped Air-
dered 30 Boeing 737 Max 8s with a list price of $3.3 billion. bus the other 50% partner in the
Parent company China Development Bank Financial Leasing ATR joint venture would partici-
has previously committed to a similar number of 737NGs: three pate in development of a new air-
-700s and 27 -800s; of which 11 have been delivered. The 737 craft under the ATR banner.
Max deal had been attributed to an unidentified customer in Failing that, he says the com-
Boeings orders data. pany is prepared to buy Airbus
out of ATR. Or it will pursue the
SEOUL EXTENDS F-15K SUPPORT DEAL dual-use 100-seater under the
SUSTAINMENT Boeing has won a five-year contract extension Leonardo banner and possibly
to sustain South Koreas fleet of F-15K strike aircraft. Under the with new investors, with final as-
award, which continues an arrangement established in 2012, sembly to occur in southern Italy.
the company will use local suppliers to maintain the F-15K and ATRs home assembly centre
manufacture components. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows Seoul in Toulouse, Moretti notes, is
as operating 59 of the twin-engined type. full. And for a programme that
will cost 1.6-1.7 billion ($1.7-1.8
AUTOMATED DRILLING FOR BREMEN FACTORY billion) to develop, investors
MANUFACTURING Airbus is aiming to introduce a new fully- could be found, he believes; re-
automated rivet drilling system at its high-lift specialist plant in gional development funds may
Bremen. To be installed this year, the demonstrator is designed also be available for such a pro-
to halve processing time for specific materials, including thick ject in the south of Italy.
packages with titanium. The drill also generates lower tempera- Morettis stance represents a
tures and cleaner results, says Airbus. The technology will later potentially dramatic shift in
be rolled out to other production lines, it adds. ATRs industrial position and the
civil turboprop market generally.
For several years now, the former
Finmeccanica has been keen to
begin a 100-seat project, but Air-
bus has shown no interest.
The 70-plus-seat ATR 72 has
been selling well, and a 100-seat-
er would probably mean an all-
new airframe, leaving Airbus in-
clined to adopt a conservative
attitude, with its engineering re-
sources already busy elsewhere.
ATRs Canadian rival, Bombar-
dier, manufacturer of the Q400,
has shared Airbuss caution about
diving into an expensive new pro-
gramme for an untested market.
But Moretti appears convinced of
the potential for an aircraft with
two roles including replacement
of the not so young C-27J.
Airbus, however, would also be
unlikely to support development
of a new competitor to its CN235/
C295 medium transport, which
has significantly outsold its Italian
rival so far on the global stage.
In addition, the fuselage length
required for a 100-seat airliner
would suggest an aircraft bigger
than Leonardos current Spartan;
potentially approaching the
length of Lockheed Martins four-
engined C-130J: a model already
operated by the Italian air force,
or Embraers KC-390 twinjet.

6 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017 flightglobal.com


DEVELOPMENT EDWARD RUSSELL SAN DIEGO
Boeing must sort middle from muddle
Although interest in airframers MoM concept seems to be building, analysts say too many questions are still unanswered
F light Ascend Consultancy be-
lieves there are still numerous
unanswered questions surround-
ing Boeings proposed middle of
the market (MoM) development,
despite growing airline enthusi-
asm for the project.
Rob Morris, global head of con-
sultancy, says the issue of wheth-
er the US manufacturer or anoth-
er airframer will launch a new
aircraft is a complex one with
many variables to consider.
What is the likely demand in
that segment of the market? In-
deed, what actually is that seg-
ment of the market? How would
a new aircraft compete with the
existing single-aisle and small
twin-aisle designs? he says.
Other considerations include
the technologies available to
drive improved performance and
economics, development costs
and pricing a vital issue consid-
ering the time required for Boeing
to recover its development
spending on the 787 and the
likely competitive response from
Airbus or other manufacturers.
All these questions carry un-
certainty, and while one or two
airlines may profess to require an
aircraft that fits this segment of
the market, the uncertainty seems
sufficient to suggest an imminent
launch would be extremely chal-
lenging, says Morris.
His comments come after the
recent ISTAT Americas confer-
ence in San Diego, where several
US airlines and lessors expressed
interest in the MoM proposal.
They see it as an ideal replace-
ment for large fleets of 757 and
767 aircraft in the 200-260-seat
segment. It has a lot of merit and,
if they decide to launch it, wed be
very interested in it, says An-
drew Levy, chief financial officer
of Chicago-based United Airlines.
Daniel Pietrzak, managing di-
rector of fleet management at
Delta Air Lines, echoes Levys
comments and adds: Look at it
as a 757-300 capacity mission to
something like a 767-200
flightglobal.com
Latest Zodiac seat
crisis hits UK plant
This Week P9
bviously new technology but
o with 225-260 seats and a range of
with the size and range, he says.
Both Delta and United, as well
as their peer American Airlines,
operate large fleets of 757s and
767s that they use for transatlan-
tic and longer domestic missions.
Together, the three carriers oper-
ate 258 757-200s and -300s, and
164 767-300ERs and -400ERs,
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows.
TWIN PEEKS
All three US carriers have largely
replaced their domestic 757s and
767s with Airbus A321s and
737-900ERs. Securing deals from
Delta and United, both of which
are already significant Boeing op-
erators, would be a major fillip
for the programme in its early
stages and provide Seattle with a
base of orders on which to build.
The specifications of the po-
tential Boeing MoM or in the
words of Air Lease Corp execu-
tive chairman Steven Udvar-Ha-
zy: just call it a 797 are begin-
ning to take shape, airlines and
lessors indicated at ISTAT.
The twin-aisle aircraft a con-
figuration Levy confirms for the
first time will have two variants
4,800-5,200nm (8,890-9,630km).
We continue to study what
that airplane would look like,
says Boeing. Were having very
productive conversations with
our customers and firming up op-
portunities there.
Aengus Kelly, chief executive
of AerCap, says Boeing needs to
ensure that the potential aircraft
meets the needs of the wider mar-
ket not just those of US carriers.
Thats the challenge; they
have to get it right how do you
fix that equation of meeting the
mission capability of a global
customer base, not just three air-
lines in North America? he says.
It has to have global capability.
Engine selection will be key.
Boeing appears ready to offer a
choice of powerplants on the
MoM development, likely in the
40,000-45,000lb-thrust (180-
200kN) range. Potential power-
plants include a scaled-up ver-
sion of the CFM International
Leap the most powerful current
variant is rated at 32,160lb-thrust
a second-generation Pratt &
Whitney geared turbofan and
Rolls-Royces Advance concept.
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 7
THIS WEEK
United sees potential
AirTeamImages
for proposed type to
replace its fleet of 757s
Further fuel and efficiency
gains would likely come from ex-
tensive use of composite material
in the wings and fuselage, with
Boeing able to leverage expertise
gained on the 787 programme.
MARKET FORECAST
In 2016, Boeing forecast a total
market of 4,000-5,000 aircraft for
a MoM-sized design, but noted
that the A321neo and A330neo
would take a portion of this, leav-
ing a demand for roughly 2,000-
3,000 units.
Airbus, while agreeing that
Boeing needs a clean-sheet air-
craft in the middle-of-the-market
segment, thinks a twin-aisle air-
craft is the wrong answer.
Light [twin-aisles] will never
compete with a good single-aisle
stretched airplane, says John
Leahy, Airbus chief operating of-
ficer for customers, noting the
relative failure of both the A310
and 767-200. Aerodynamically
and physically, the widebody
will just have more weight and
more drag for the loads that
youre carrying.
Additional reporting by
Dominic Perry in London
THIS WEEK
ORDNANCE CRAIG HOYLE LONDON
MBDA launches ASRAAM into F-35 marketplace
L ockheed Martin F-35s have for
the first time fired non-US-
produced missiles in testing,
with the activity providing a
boost to MBDAs sales efforts for
the short-range ASRAAM.
MBDA says flight trials and air-
launched firings have taken place
using test aircraft operating from
Edwards AFB, California and
NAS Patuxent River, Maryland,
with the infrared-guided AS-
RAAM being integrated with the
DISPUTE
MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON
Lufthansa pilots
near resolution
on labour terms
L ufthansa has reached a tenta-
tive agreement with the
Vereinigung Cockpit pilots union
in a long-running labour dispute.
After several rounds of indus-
trial action over the past two
years, the airline now says it has
agreed with the union non-bind-
ing terms for a comprehensive
solution of all open tariff issues.
In February, the two sides
accepted a mediators recommen-
dation for a wage deal. But the
dispute over arrangements for
around 5,400 pilots across
Lufthansas mainline, cargo and
Germanwings units also in-
volves other issues, such as pen-
sion terms, productivity improve-
ments and expansion of the
groups budget arm Eurowings.
Lufthansa says that if the new
terms are accepted as is likely
it will replace the mediators
deal and run until June 2022.
Cockpit unit costs will be low-
ered, on average, by 15% under
the new deal, Vereinigung
Cockpit says. Salaries will rise
11.4% over the deals 10-year
term, and pilots are in line for an
additional one-off payment. At
least 325 aircraft are to be oper-
ated under the new agreement
across the three business units by
2022, says Lufthansa.
8 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
short take-off and vertical landing
F-35B for the UK. The effort is
progressing to plan, it says.
The European company hopes
that other F-35 customers could
opt to acquire its weapon, in pref-
erence to Raytheons AIM-9X.
Dave Armstrong, MBDAs
executive group director for sales
and business development,
notes: A real firing allows the
other F-35A and B users to now
have a choice.
SAFETY STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
UTAS prepares to cut the ice
with nanotube-based heater
Electrothermal protection system can be integrated into composite or metallic structures
U TC Aerospace Systems
(UTAS) has licensed a carbon
nanotube (CNT)-based heater
technology that it believes could
be ready as an electrothermal ice
protection heat system for aircraft
within three or four years.
UTAS licensed the technology
from Metis Design Corp, which
developed the CNT-based heater
with the Massachusetts Institute
of Technologys department of
aeronautics and astronautics.
There are several existing tech-
nologies in this field, including
weeping wing freezing point
depressors and using hot gases or
compressed air extracted from
engines. However, CNT-based
Thinner wings optimised for laminar flow require different solutions
For up-to-the-minute air transport news,
network and fleet information sign up at:
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Lockheed Martin
Company hopes test firing will drive sales of its short-range missile
heaters have the potential to pre-
vent ice formation more efficient-
ly and cause ice to be shed across
With the licence in hand, UTAS
will now work with manufactur-
ers and regulators to develop CNT
a broad range of applications, in- technology into a commercial
cluding wing leading edges, stabi- product suitable for unmanned air
lisers, engine lips and vanes and vehicles, business jets, rotorcraft
nose cones, says Chris Wilson, and airliners, says Wilson.
senior engineering director safe- By design, CNTs can be inte-
ty systems at UTAS. grated into any material com-
The technology will be a stra- posite or metallic used to form
tegic enabler as aircraft transition structures, such as the wing lead-
to more electric designs, he says. ing edge or the rotor blades of a
Countering ice build-up on air- helicopter. Unlike current tech-
craft structures has grown in nologies, these vertically-embed-
complexity as aircraft designers ded CNT heater arrays can vary
pursue ever-thinner wings opti- temperatures as necessary over
mised for laminar flow, but with specific regions of the structure.
little space for traditional pneu- The CNT material has low
matic de-icing systems. thermal inertial and excellent heat
distribution allowing tailoring of
specific heating zones, Wilson
says. This flexibility allows us to
design the heating layers to deliv-
er heat where it is most needed
and to optimise for the energy ca-
pabilities of the aircraft.
UTAS plans to develop initial
versions of the ice protection
Dinendra Haria/REX/Shutterstock
systems with carbon nanotube
heater arrays for a series of dem-
onstrations over the next two
years; certification and introduc-
tion into service could follow one
or two years later.
flightglobal.com

INTERIORS DOMINIC PERRY LONDON
Latest Zodiac seat crisis hits UK plant
Factory in Cwmbran, Wales is latest facility to encounter production problems after previous issues at two sites in USA
A ircraft seat maker Zodiac
Aerospace promises that the
crisis currently hitting seat pro-
duction at its Cwmbran facility in
Wales will be fully resolved by
the end of September this year.
Antoine Doutriaux, the new
chief executive of Zodiacs seats
division, says the problems at
Cwmbran are generating signifi-
cant disruption and delays.
Speaking on a half-year results
call on 14 March, Doutriaux said
the production bottleneck was
being addressed by the addition
of extra volume at the facility, as
well as significant load transfer
to other Zodiac sites.
Cwmbran assembles seats for
long-haul Boeing types including
the 767 and 777, and will begin
TAKEOVER DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
Safran insists that acquisition of troubled peer is not ill-starred
French aerospace group Safran
has reiterated its confidence that
it can restore profitability at
Zodiac Aerospace after the latter
revealed a difficult first half.
Organic sales at Zodiacs air-
craft interiors businesses com-
prising its seats and cabin
divisions were down by about
4.5% to 1.4 billion ($1.5 billion).
PROGRAMME MAX KINGSLEY-JONES LONDON
Testing proves such a drag for Airbus A350-1000
MSN59, with its orange tail bumper installed, during take-off trials
flightglobal.com
Bombardier waiting
on CSeries leases
News Focus P11
Bottleneck could affect Polaris retrofit timetable for United Airlines
deliveries to Airbus later this
year, Doutriaux adds.
The problems at the UK opera-
tion began in late 2016, he says,
Zodiac attributes this to the
ramping-up of new aircraft pro-
grammes which are gradually re-
placing older types.
It notes that the Airbus A350
programme resulted in overrun
costs for the cabin division in the
first half, but expects an improve-
ment in this performance in the
second half. Its seat operation has
Airbus
United Airlines
and resulted in late deliveries
in the half-year ended 31 Decem-
ber. A return to normal opera-
tions is due by the end of the first
also encountered problems.
Safran appears undeterred by
the weak performance, stressing
that it still has a strategic interest
in Zodiacs acquisition.
It says it confirms its confi-
dence in its ability to restore the
operating profitability of those
parts of Zodiac which are cur-
rently in difficulty.
A irbus has been carrying out
low-speed take-off tests with
one of its A350-1000 develop-
ment aircraft as it heads towards
certification later this year.
The first of three A350-1000
test aircraft (MSN59) has a tail
bumper installed, enabling its
rear fuselage to be dragged along
the runway in trials to establish
VMU minimum unstick speeds.
The tests, which took place in
early March at Istres in southern
France, help to verify slat and flap
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 9
THIS WEEK
quarter of its next financial year,
in late September.
Group chief executive Olivier
Zarrouati says: We think we now
have in place the right action plan
with the objective to limit effects
on our customers operations.
Zodiac had been affected by
seat production issues in Gaines-
ville, Texas and Santa Maria, Cal-
ifornia, although it believes these
are now largely behind it.
However, the roll-out of its
Focus performance improve-
ment initiative to those facilities
meant Cwmbran slipped off the
radar, Zarrouati acknowledges.
I have to admit that the UK
had been a little bit out of our
eyes because it was presumably
going better there, he says.
United Airlines, a customer of
Cwmbran, has again expressed
its dissatisfaction with Zodiac,
which is responsible for the Pola-
ris business-class seats to be
retrofitted into the carriers 767s
and 777-200s.
Were not happy. Period,
said United chief executive Oscar
Munoz, speaking at a financial
conference on 15 March. United
aims to retrofit its first 777-200
with Polaris in early 2018.
Additional reporting by Edward
Russell in Washington DC
settings and performance criteria.
Airbus is working towards cer-
tification of the A350-1000 this
year, to clear the way for deliver-
ies of the stretched A350 deriva-
tive to begin in the second half of
2017, with Qatar Airways as the
first recipient.
The third test aircraft (MSN71)
recently returned from cold-
weather trials in Iqaluit, Canada,
where it was exposed to tempera-
tures as low as -37C (-34F).
See Cover Story P24
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PROGRAMME JON HEMMERDINGER BOSTON
Bombardier waiting on CSeries leases
Manufacturer plays down concerns over lack of early placements for new narrowbodies to focus on airline customers
B ombardier appears unper-
turbed by comments from one
of the industrys largest lessors
highlighting a lack of early air-
craft lease placements for the
CSeries programme.
Although three lessors have or-
dered a combined 80 examples of
the new narrowbodies, none of
them are among the sectors big-
gestplayers.
But the Canadian airframer in-
sists its early activity has centred
on building up a core of carriers
for the clean-sheet programme.
The initial focus has been on
establishing the credibility of the
CSeries on the market with lead-
ing airline operators, and this has
been achieved with the likes of
Swiss, Air Baltic, Korean Air,
Delta Air Lines and Air Canada,
says Colin Bole, Bombardiers
senior vice-president of commer-
cial aircraft.
Those airlines have initially
put emphasis on their own direct
order with the OEM in order to
establish a critical sub-fleet size
and establish a direct contractual
relationship with the OEM, he
adds. It could be possible that
they would want to expand their
CSeries fleet at a later stage
through an operating lessor or
by entering into sale and lease-
back agreements.
KEEPING WATCH
Boles defence of the programme
comes in the wake of comments
by executives at Los Angeles-
based Air Lease Corporation
(ALC), one of the worlds top les-
sors. Speaking on a late February
earnings call, ALC executive
chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy
known as the godfather of leasing
said he was watching very
carefully those lessors which
had already ordered both the
CSeries and Embraer E-Jet E2s.
In fact, I have got more fingers
than the number of those types of
aircraft that have been placed by
lessors that ordered the CSeries
or the E2, he says. Only a very
flightglobal.com
MD-83 crew feared
regulatory action
Air Transport P12
Launch airline for the CS100, Swiss, now has six examples of the PW1500G-powered twinjet in operation
small handful of those aircraft
have been placed so far.
Chief executive John Plueger
says ALC has seen little demand
for either type to date. Suffice to
say, if we were getting a lot of re-
quests for the E2, a lot of requests
for the CSeries we would be
acting upon them, hesays.
However, he concedes that
ALC is not known for aircraft in
the size category occupied by the
100-150-seat CSeries: between
2010 and 2014, the company
placed several orders for E-Jets
and ATR turboprops, but has
since shifted its portfolio almost
exclusively to large Airbus and
Boeing aircraft.
The fact that we are not get-
ting a lot of those requests
Were not known for being in that
space, Plueger says.
Bombardier has outstanding
orders for another 353 aircraft, of
which nearly 280 almost 79%
are from airlines and their affili-
ates, or VIP operators, according
to the companys order data.
The most notable airline or-
ders have included Air Baltics
deal for 20 CS300s, Air Canadas
for 45 CS300s, Delta Air Lines
for 75 CS100s and a mix of 30
CS100s and CS300s for Swiss.
Commitments from lessors,
with deliveries starting in 2018,
include 40 CS300s ordered by
I have got more
fingers than the
number of those
types of aircraft that
have been placed
Steven Udvar-Hazy
Executive chairman, Air Lease
Corporation
Australias Macquarie AirFinance,
20 CS100s/300s ordered by Dub-
lin-based Lease Corporation Inter-
national and another 20 CS300s
ordered by Moscow-based Ily-
ushin Finance Company (IFC).
Few of those aircraft, however,
have yet been placed, and IFC has
already reduced its CSeries count
from 32 in its original order.
RUSSIAN REVERSAL
That may be related to political
considerations, with relations be-
tween the West and Russia hav-
ing soured since the deal was
signed. In addition, United Air-
craft, a major shareholder in IFC,
has also changed its top leader-
ship, with current executives
much less Western-focused than
their predecessors.
Nonetheless, Bombardier re-
mains unworried. Bole says:
Given our industrial ramp-up,
all our early deliveries have been
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 11
NEWS FOCUS
AirTeamImages
allocated to airline customers
rather than to operating lessors,
which explains why there have
been limited operating lessor
placements at this early stage in
the programme.
We certainly feel good about
our current operating lease con-
tent, and while we have discus-
sions with most of the worlds
major operating lessors, our
near-term focus will remain on
diversification of our airline cus-
tomer base.
He adds that Bombardier will
look to expand leasing sales
when the time is right.
We are convinced that the
CSeries will prove to be a highly
attractive alternative investment
for lessors, Bole says.
Chris Seymour, head of market
analysis at Flight Ascend Consul-
tancy, believes the CSeries will
eventually prove popular in the
leasing market. Lessors are wait-
ing to see proven liquidity of the
aircraft, he says. It is still early
days in the in-service life for
CSeries and it has yet to be deliv-
ered to its two largest customers,
Delta and Air Canada.
Three lessors already have
over 20% of the backlog, with
others holding [tentative] com-
mitments, so we expect a leasing
market to develop as the operator
base builds.
AIR TRANSPORT
INQUIRY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
MD-83 crew feared regulatory action
Captain of Dana Air Boeing that crashed in Lagos killing 159 did not declare serious engine issues evident early in flight
N igerian investigators have
disclosed that the crew of a
Dana Air Boeing MD-83 failed to
take emergency action in re-
sponse to a serious engine prob-
lem, apparently in fear of attract-
ing attention from regulators,
before the jet experienced dual-
engine power loss and crashed
on approach to Lagos.
The crew had been discussing
a discrepancy in the thrust from
one of the aircrafts Pratt & Whit-
ney JT8D engines early into the
fatal flight from Abuja.
But the Nigerian Accident In-
vestigation Bureau (NAIB) inquiry
found that the MD-83 (5N-RAM)
did not return to Abuja, and over-
flew several alternate airports in-
cluding Akure and Ibadan
where an emergency landing
could have been made.
At one time the pilot asserted
that the aircraft could not quit on
them, says the inquiry into the 3
June 2012 crash. At another time,
the captain said declaring an
emergency would make [the Nige-
rian Civil Aviation Authority]
come after them. The delay to de-
clare an emergency due to unex-
plained fear of the regulatory body
compounded their problems.
Both JT8D engines failed to de-
liver commanded thrust during
final approach to Lagos and the
aircraft crashed with the loss of all
153 occupants, and six people on
the ground.
No flight-data recorder infor-
mation was available to the NAIB
and the inquiry had to rely heavi-
ly on the cockpit-voice recorder.
The final inquiry report con-
tains a confusing record of the ac-
cident sequence, particularly re-
garding the timing of events. But it
states that the cockpit-voice re-
corder captured some 30min of
the flight and, at the point the re-
cording started, some 16min after
the jet was airborne, the pilots
were already discussing an abnor-
mal condition regarding the cor-
relation between thrust setting
and the engine power indication.
12 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
Aircraft came down in a densely-populated area north of airport after failure of both JT8D powerplants
Audio spectrum analysis by US
investigators and P&W has proven
inconclusive, says the inquiry.
No definitive outcome was estab-
lished. It states that, while the
problem started with the left-hand
engine, no flame-out was estab-
lished.
INCREASING CONCERN
While the crew initially did not
express concern about the condi-
tion in the engine, they became
increasingly worried as the
flight progressed, says the in-
quiry. But the crew neither de-
clared an emergency nor called
for the abnormal checklist to di-
agnose the problem.
Before the approach, the crew
confirmed there was no throttle
response from the left engine, and
the captain took over the controls.
The crew opted for an approach to
Lagoss runway 18R but still did
not transmit any distress call.
With confirmation of throttle
response from the right engine,
the anti-ice, ignition and bleed air
were switched off. The crew re-
ceived vectors from the radar
controller and started configuring
the MD-83 for landing, by de-
ploying the flaps.
For up-to-the-minute air transport news,
network and fleet information sign up at:
flightglobal.com/dashboard
Subsequently the problem be-
came compounded as thrust was
required to continue the final ap-
proach, says the inquiry, point-
ing out that there was no evidence
of an attempt to follow an engine-
out descent profile. The landing-
gear, it adds, was deployed after
an audio alert from the ground-
proximity warning system.
The aircraft increased its rate
of descent as it passed 5,000ft
some 15nm (28km) from Lagos.
About 1min later the first officer
asked whether both engines had
come up, to which the captain
responded: Negative.
Both engines at this point were
failing to deliver the commanded
thrust, says the inquiry, and the
first officer asked the captain
whether he should declare an
emergency. The crew agreed to a
distress call, transmitting: Dual
engine failure, negative response
from throttles.
Though there was loss in en-
gine power, there was no evi-
dence of engine flame-out since
the crew were able to select flaps,
lower and retract the landing-
gear as evident on the [cockpit-
voice recorder] transcript, says
the inquiry.
KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/REX/Shutterstock
The radar controller instructed
the flight to contact Lagos tower,
but the crew was unable to select
the tower frequency.
Investigators state that the crew
discussed switching to runway
18L, offset further to the north,
and the captain instructed a re-
traction of flaps and landing-gear.
After expressing concern about a
possible stall, he reiterated that he
had lost everything and lost
both engines, and called for vari-
ous items including relight,
ignition override and just any-
thing which might help in the
final moments of the flight.
MANUAL CONTROL
Attempts to maintain altitude
with manual control were unsuc-
cessful, and automated warnings
continued until impact in a dense-
ly-populated area 4.3nm north of
the airport, on the approach cen-
treline for runway 18R.
Investigators state that, while
the engine power loss directly led
to the crash, the crews inappro-
priate omission of checklist use
and inability to appreciate the
severity of the problem contrib-
uted to the failure to divert to an
alternate airport.
flightglobal.com

MANAGEMENT AARON CHONG SINGAPORE
Watchdog savages Air India
for multiple financial failings
National audit body says carrier understated losses and sold widebodies too cheaply
Indias spending watchdog has
launched a scathing attack on
Air India, claiming that it under-
stated its financial losses for
years, lost money on aircraft sales
and was short-changed by Boeing
over compensation payments for
issues with its 787 fleet.
In a 199-page report examining
the airlines progress against its
10-year turnaround plan, the
Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) of India says it found that
between 2012 and 2015 the carri-
er significantly understated the
scale of its losses.
It calculates that the company
generated a loss of Rs14.5 billion
($218 million) in 2012-2013,
Rs29.6billion in 2013-2014 and
Rs19.9 billion in 2014-2015.
Under the plan, Air India was
expected to generate positive earn-
ings before interest, tax, deprecia-
tion and amortisation from 2012
onwards, and move to a cash sur-
plus from 2017.
DEVELOPMENT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Service entry moves closer for Max
G E Aviation has delivered the
flight management system
software required to support the
entry into service of the Boeing
737 Max 8.
The announced delivery of the
Update 13 software to the opera-
tional flight programme comes a
GE Aviation has delivered Update 13-standard software for twinjet
flightglobal.com
Ilyushin was years
beyond service life
and 5t overweight
Air Transport P14
Airline received less than anticipated from 787 delay compensation
The CAG also criticises the car-
rier for the sale of five Boeing
777-200LRs to Etihad Airways
between 2013 and 2015, at a sig-
nificantly lower price than the
indicative market price of $86-
$92 million per aircraft.
Late deliveries of the carriers
787-8s should have yielded com-
week after Boeing received an
amended type certificate that
clears the re-engined single-aisle
for commercial service.
Weve worked with Boeing to
include new state-of-the-art tech-
nologies on the 737 Max and look
forward to the entry into service,
Boeing
AirTeamImages
pensation of $710 million from
Boeing, but instead Air India set-
tled for $328million, says the re-
port. A further claim for $50 mil-
lion over the four-month-long
grounding of its Dreamliner fleet
in 2013 due to issues with the air-
crafts lithium-ion batteries, was
settled for $27.4 million.
says Alan Caslavka, president of
GE Aviations avionics division.
Update 13, the latest version of
the cockpit software, will be
standard fit on all 737 Max air-
craft, GE says. It incorporates
functionality that GE rolled out
last year in Update 12 for the
737NG series, which the 737
Maxreplaces.
Update 12 added upgrades for
situational awareness on run-
ways and on approach, and Up-
date 13 repackages that software
to integrate with the CFM Inter-
national Leap-1B engines and
large format cockpit displays on
the 737 Max. It also adds features
including take-off derate thrust
options, GE says.
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 13
AIR TRANSPORT
FLEET
MICHAEL GUBISCH BERLIN
Airbus delivery
delays hit Qatar
Airways growth
D elays to the Airbus A320neo
and A350 programmes have
held back Qatar Airways plans to
expand its network, complains
chief executive Akbar Al Baker.
Speaking at the ITB travel con-
vention in Berlin on 9 March, Al
Baker said the delays meant his air-
line was nearly 10 aircraft behind
its fleet-expansion target and had
consequently been unable to open
nearly eight planned new routes.
Qatar Airways is scheduled to
receive 10 A350s and four or five
Boeing 777s in 2017, Al Baker
says. Unfortunately, we will not
receive any narrowbodies due to
the still-ongoing issues.
The carrier has 15 A350s in
service and 66 on order, Flight
Fleets Analyzer shows, along
with 46 A320neo-family jets,
plus 30 options.
Deliveries of those A320neo-
family aircraft should begin in
2018, says Al Baker. We hope to
get our Neos A321neos from
next year, he says.
Qatar Airways had been due to
become the launch operator of
the A320neo but problems with
the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G
geared turbofan led the Gulf car-
rier to withdraw from that role
and cancel orders for four aircraft.
We will not receive
any narrowbodies [in
2017] due to the
ongoing issues
Akbar Al Baker
Chief executive, Qatar Airways
It now has orders for 30
A320neos and 16 A321neos, and
is negotiating with Airbus to con-
vert A320neo commitments to
the larger variant.
Al Baker says the airline is
talking seriously with engine
manufacturer CFM International
at the moment about the possi-
bility of switching to the Leap-1A
engine for its Neos.
 AIR TRANSPORT
For the full analysis of airline safety
and losses worldwide in 2016, go to:
flightglobal.com/safety2016

INQUIRY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Ilyushin was years

beyond service life
and 5t overweight

KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/REX/Shutterstock
Investigators say flightcrew could not have countered loss
of control after uncontained engine failure damaged flaps

I nvestigators probing the fatal

crash of a Sun Way Ilyushin
Il-76TD heavy freighter in Kara-
chi have determined that the air-
craft had been operating beyond
its approved service life when it
suffered an uncontained en-
ginefailure.
Analysis of the Georgian-regis-
tered aircrafts dynamics, using
flight-data recorder information,
indicates it had taken off with a
weight of 195t, in excess of the
190t recommended in the flight-
crew operations manual.
The outboard right-hand Solo-
viev D-30 engine sustained a sec-
ond-stage disk failure in its low-
pressure compressor after the jet
(4L-GNI) took off from runway
25L on 27 November 2010.
Pakistans Safety Investigation
Board states that the aircraft was
capable of maintaining flight
with a single engine failure, and a
wings-level attitude could have
been maintained with aileron
and rudder input.
But examination of the control
inputs suggest the aircraft must
have sustained extensive damage
during the engine explosion and
subsequent fuel fire.
The inquiry believes the Il-76
received damage to its flaps, and
lost lift on the outer half of the
starboard wing, causing the air-
craft to bank to the right.
Modelling of the accident se-
quence indicates that eliminating
20% of the starboard wings flaps
would have been sufficient to
generate the roll moment regis-
tered on the flight-data recorder.
Taking into consideration low
altitude and speed it was almost
impossible to counter this situa-
tion by input of the flight con-
trols, the inquiry says.
The aircraft was
operated beyond
its assigned life
without approval
of the designer
Pakistani Safety Investigation Board
The aircraft banked 71 to the
right, despite full deflection of ai-
lerons and strong rudder input,
and struck the ground about
1min after lifting off.
None of the eight occupants of
the freighter survived the crash,
and the fatalities also included
All eight on board and three people on the ground died in the crash
three people on the ground.
The inquiry noted that, on two
occasions earlier in the week of
the accident, the crew had expe-
rienced difficulty in starting the
outboard right-hand engine.
It was not possible to exactly
determine the reason [for] abnor-
mal starts of [the engine], the
Safety Investigation Board says,
but it suggests the most proba-
ble issue was reduction of com-
pressor efficiency arising from
worn blades.
Investigators say the likely
cause of the engine failure was
fatigue cracking in a low-pressure
compressor disk.
The condition of the 26-year-
old aircraft and its engines came
under considerable scrutiny dur-
ing the inquiry.
Investigators state that the car-
rier did not provide complete air-
craft or engine logbooks to the in-
quiry, nor did it provide relevant
records on service-life extensions
to the engines.
The lack of information has led
the inquiry to conclude that all
four engines were being operated
beyond the service life estab-
lished by the powerplant manu-
facturer, and that the manufac-
turer had not approved a
service life extension.
Investigators add that Ilyushin
assigned a calendar-based service
life of 20 years for the jet, which
expired in May 2004.
The aircraft was operated be-
yond its assigned life without ap-
proval of the designer, the in-
quiry concludes.
Although all four engines were
located in the main debris field,
some parts of the outer right-
hand engine including low-
pressure compressor blades and
disks were found beneath the
flight path about 1,900-2,400m
(6,230-7,870ft) from the end of
the runway, and 1,200-1,400m
before the crash site wreckage.
Analysis pointed to character-
istics suggestive of fatigue crack-
ing, due to fretting corrosion, in
the second-stage disk.

DELIVERY
A330 starts Irans widebody refleet
Iran Air has taken delivery of its first Airbus A330-200 (EP-IJA), a
three-year-old ex-Avianca Brazil airframe fitted with Rolls-Royce
Trent 700 engines. Although Airbus delivered the aircraft to
Avianca Brazil in 2014, it was then put into storage. Airbus con-
firms that the A330 has been transferred to Iran Air at the airfram-
ers Toulouse headquarters. Iran Air has directly ordered eight
A330-200s and 28 A330-900s. But it is also taking a pair of unused
A330s from third parties. These 38 A330s are part of a broader or-
der for 100 Airbus aircraft from the carrier.
Airbus

14 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017 flightglobal.com


STRATEGY MICHAEL GUBISCH BERLIN
Emirates reshapes as market moves
Airline chief insists carriers business model is fundamentally sound but will adjust operation in face of global instability
In the face of changing customer
demand, Emirates Airline is un-
dertaking what its president Tim
Clark terms a major exercise to
adjust its business.
But he insists the adjustment is
not a revolution and defends
its business model as funda-
mentally sound.
Between April and September
2016 the first half of its financial
year Emirates profit fell 75%,
although revenue was stable.
Speaking at an event in Berlin
in early March, Clark conceded
that its full-year profitability
would fall back below a level
seen two years ago.
He says adverse currency ef-
fects have been a significant fac-
tor. Appreciation of the US dollar
has itself created pressure for the
Dubai-based carrier, and also trig-
gered secondary effects as weak
currencies in other markets de-
clined versus the US currency.
Clark notes that markets in
Emirates home region such as
Iraq, Libya and Syria have dis-
appeared as a result of ongoing
conflicts. The Middle East is a
different place now to when we
started to fly in 1985, he says.
In addition, wider geopolitical,
industrial and socioeconomic de-
velopments have made the over-
all business environment less
certain. Following the UKs June
2016 decision to exit the EU,
FLEET
Fuel-efficient narrowbodies could have wider appeal, says Clark
A devotee of the widebody,
Emirates may in the future deploy
narrowbody types, the airlines
president Tim Clark indicates.
Clark says the fuel efficiency
gains realised by the re-engined
Airbus A320neo and Boeing
737Max families could spur their
deployment by the airline on
long-haul routes traditionally op-
erated withwidebodies.
He says Emirates long-haul-
based business model was estab-
flightglobal.com
Trappier seeks
balance from
Dassault
News Focus P16
Capacity growth will be slowed this year but available seat kilometres are to be increased by around 7-8%
Emirates took an 18% whack in
the summer in that country,
which Clark describes as a high-
production market.
When US President Donald
Trump signed an executive order
in January temporarily banning
citizens of seven majority-Mus-
lim countries from entering the
USA, Emirates rate of ticket sales
growth fell by more than a third
versus previous years, Clark adds.
He says efforts by European
airlines to establish low-cost,
long-haul subsidiaries are also
having an effect on Emirates.
lished during the late 1980s and
early 1990s at a time when ac-
cess to several markets within the
Middle East was denied and the
airline needed to build up a net-
work by looking further afield.
For the time being, I cant
see that [widebody-based
operation] changing, Clark says.
But he adds: Maybe others
coming behind me may take a
differentview.
He notes enormous changes
Airline communities are re-
acting to, basically, much lower
yield, is how Clark sums up the
overall development. We are try-
ing to understand better what
has been going on [and] why it
has been going on.
I honestly believe that the na-
ture of demand in regional, do-
mestic and long-haul is going to
change over time, and therefore
we have to adapt and adjust our
business model accordingly.
Clark does not rule out job cuts
as part of efficiency efforts. But he
says redundancies are not in our
in performance, aerodynamics
and propulsion that have made
narrowbody types far more prof-
itable than their predecessors.
Better access to nearby mar-
kets and new airline competitors
that operate with narrowbodies
could result in Emirates deploying
re-engined narrowbodies too,
heconcedes.
I would never say never, he
says. The dynamic is changing
even in the Middle East.
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 15
AIR TRANSPORT
AirTeamImages
nature and that he would rather
reshape the airline.
He declines to provide detail
on the restructuring efforts. But he
asserts that Emirates still has one
of the lowest unit costs among
long-haul operators, and that any
changes will be made in a clini-
cal and professionalmanner.
There has been speculation re-
cently about the health of the
Gulfs big three and the regions
market, and Clark acknowledges
that there is a degree of flatlining
by Middle Eastern airlines. But he
insists capacity is still being in-
creased and sees no danger of
overcapacity in the long term.
Where Emirates has in previ-
ous years boosted capacity by as
much as 20%, its available seat-
kilometres will be increased this
year by 7-8%.
Clark reflects that airlines in
the past had to respond to one or
two critical events per year, such
as economic slowdowns in indi-
vidual markets or flying bans due
to volcanic ash clouds, for exam-
ple. [Now] the pace of change is
accelerating and is quite destabi-
lising, he says. The world is in
a high degree of volatility for all
sorts ofreasons.
NEWS FOCUS
RESULTS DOMINIC PERRY PARIS
Trappier seeks balance from Dassault
French manufacturers chief executive streamlines operation to replicate Rafale fighters success in business jet division
D assaults 2016 is perfectly
summed up by its chief ex-
ecutive ric Trappier: I would
prefer that besides the Rafales
success that we also had more
Falcon orders.
But the French manufacturer,
it seems, cannot have both: either
the Rafale multirole fighter is
struggling and its Falcon busi-
ness jets are soaring, so to speak,
or the opposite is true.
Last year fell into the latter cat-
egory: the Rafale continued its re-
cent run of export sales success,
netting a 36-unit order from India
to add to previous commitments
from Egypt and Qatar, while Fal-
con orders and deliveries contin-
ued to struggle.
In fact, Dassault handed over
11 fewer business aircraft than
the 60 it forecast at the beginning
of 2016, a figure that was revised
down to 50 at the half-year point.
It took in 21 net orders, which in-
cluded 12 cancellations for its
over-running Falcon 5X pro-
gramme.
The delay to the 5X, driven en-
tirely by problems with its Safran
Silvercrest engines, is concerning
in its own right, but more worry-
ing is the continued weakness in
the business jet market, particu-
larly at the top end where Das-
saults range sits.
That can be seen in its forecast
for 2017: it expects to deliver 45
Falcons, down on both 2016s
total of 49 and the 55 handed
over in 2015.
DOWNWARD TREND
In addition, over the past two
years its business jet backlog has
shrunk from 91 at the end of 2015
to 63 as of 31 December 2016.
Turnover and net profit have
followed this downward trend
too: falling to 3.58 billion ($3.81
billion) and 384 million, respec-
tively, from figures of 4.17 billion
and 482 million a year earlier.
Trappier predicts an upturn in
the business jet market at some
point although he thinks it will
16 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
Slow order intake for Falcon family in recent years has overshadowed military sales achievements
be slow, with any improvement
arriving little by little; 2018 is
likely to be a better year, he says.
In the interim, the softer mar-
ket is causing all its participants
to cut prices to win orders. Trap-
pier points out that as its two big-
gest rivals Bombardier and
Gulfstream are based in North
America, the lower employment
and social costs in those coun-
tries compared with France offer
those companies greater flexibili-
ty to trim prices for new jets; ag-
gressive competition, he calls it.
To address that cost discrepan-
cy both in the short and long
term Dassault is streamlining its
manufacturing operation.
That does not mean, insists
Trappier, that it is closing sub-
assembly factories or dramati-
cally reducing headcount, sim-
ply that we wish to specialise
our plants, to dedicate them to
[specific] purposes.
They are historically impor-
tant sites, but we want to special-
ise them, he says.
For example, its facility in Sec-
lin, near Lille in the northeast of
France, will now focus on mak-
ing machined metal parts for
both civil and military jets, while
its factory in the northern Paris
suburb of Argenteuil will build
front fuselage sections and inte-
Keep up with the latest news and read
in-depth analysis from the business
aviation sector: flightglobal.com/bizav
grate Rafale fuselages, among
other roles.
Design and engineering func-
tions will remain at its St Cloud
headquarters to the west of Paris,
but Trappier wants its engineers
to spend more time at its Bor-
deaux-Mrignac final assembly
line or Istres flight-test facility.
Culturally I want to see our
teams coming closer to the air-
planes, he says. I want to have
people working together with
more co-operation in the places
where the planes come from.
EUROPE FIRST
In addition, Trappier is hopeful
that he can convince military
customers of the folly, in his
view, of joining the clamour for
the Lockheed Martin F-35. He
points out that the development
costs for the Joint Strike Fighter
are somewhere in excess of $80
billion, whereas in comparison
the Rafale cost just $9.5 billion.
It is particularly scandalous,
he says, that in Europe the pref-
erence is American when na-
tions come to acquire new fight-
ers. Countries make these
decisions despite the additional
expense and without considering
the economic and industrial ben-
efits of buying European-built air-
craft, he says.
Anthony Pecchi/Dassault
[They] should buy a Europe-
an aircraft because its good for
Europe. It is not just about opera-
tional capabilities but jobs and
technologies and many things
besides, he says. I am not con-
vinced that when a European
country buys a US aircraft it is
the right thing.
Nonetheless, Trappier is bull-
ish on the possibility of further
increasing the Rafales 110-strong
backlog. France alone needs at
least 45 additional fighters talks
are already under way covering
this tranche five acquisition but
the country may eventually re-
quire more like 100.
If export campaigns also come
off, then the programme could be
looking at hundreds of additional
orders, although he cautions it
may be zero or 400.
For me it is not a problem. My
concern is to have the right pro-
duction line adaptability to de-
liver when the order comes.
Production is forecast to con-
tinue until 2025 with the current
workload, and Trappier expects
the Rafale to continue in opera-
tion for at least another 35-45
years beyond that.
Or, as the 57-year-old chief ex-
ecutive assesses it: I cannot see
the end of Rafale service in my
horizon.
flightglobal.com
 Leonardo believes
T-100 bid will pass
DEFENCE
Buy America test
Defence P18

REQUIREMENT LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC

Canada advances request for Super Hornet deal

O ttawa has taken the next
step in its pursuit of an
interim batch of 18 Boeing
F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, with a
letter of request sent to the US
government on 13 March.
Canada has confirmed to the
US government its commitment
to applying its industrial and tech-
Also outlining its required ca-
pabilities and delivery schedule, it
seeks a response from Washington
later this year. The nations could
enter into a formal agreement on
the deal in early 2018.
Last November, Canadas
Trudeau administration con-
firmed a plan to compete the re-

Royal Canadian Air Force

nological benefits policy on this
potential acquisition, which re-
quires suppliers to make invest-
ments in Canada equal to 100% of
Ottawa launched process to replace its CF-18 fleet last November their contract value, it says.
placement of its CF-18 fleet and
to pursue an interim Super Hor-
net purchase. Ottawa had previ-
ously been committed to acquir-
ing Lockheed Martins F-35.

PROGRAMME CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Gripen E powers towards flight debut

Next generation of multirole fighter readied for maiden sortie, as Saab also eyes export opportunities for earlier variant

S aabs Gripen E remains on

course to make its flight debut
during the second quarter of this
year, as the Swedish manufactur-
er steps up its sales efforts for the
new-generation fighter and its
earlier C/D-standard variant.
Confirming that lead prototype
aircraft 39-8 will get airborne be-
dating its software in preparation
for the first flight. The second of
its eventual three prototypes has
also entered final assembly.
Ahlqvist says Saabs decision
to use an app-type software archi-
tecture on the Gripen E is already
proving successful. Corrections
to the software go very quickly.

fore the end of the second quarter,
head of Gripen Jerker Ahlqvist
says: So far, everything is going
according to plan. Deliveries of
the GE Aviation F414-powered jet
will start in 2019 for the Swedish
air force, followed by aircraft for
export customer Brazil.
Low-speed taxi tests with the
Gripen E commenced at Saabs
Linkping production site late last
year, and Ahlqvist says it is vali-
PROPOSAL ALEXANDER MLADENOV SOFIA
Bulgarias defence ministry weighs bids to modernise air force
Bulgarias defence ministry said on
13 March that it had opened three
proposals to equip the nations air
force with modern fighters.
Sofia made a request for pro-
posals in December 2016, seeking
an initial eight aircraft via a govern-
ment-to-government agreement.
Responses came from Sweden
for n
ew-build Saab Gripen C/Ds;
Per Kustvik/Saab
We can make a change within
days something that previously
could take weeks or months. This
gives us confidence that the pro- Latest iteration of type commenced taxi tests at Linkping last year
gramme will meet its schedule
and milestones. tential acquisitions, and it earlier eyeing a navy requirement with
Richard Smith, head of Gripen this month responded to a its proposed Gripen Maritime.
marketing and sales, says the Bulgarian request for proposals. Smith says it is also exploring
company is increasing its efforts Saab has also provided early opportunities in Belgium, Cana-
to sell both the C/D and E/F mod- information to India linked to a da, Colombia, Finland, Indone-
els. Discussions continue with potential requirement for 150 sia, Malaysia and Switzerland.
Botswana and Slovakia over po- single-engined fighters, and is The market looks optimistic,
he says, adding: our target is a
contract every year. The compa-
ny has previously said it could
deliver Gripen C/Ds within 18
months of receiving an order.
the USA and Portugal, jointly offer- of air-to-air and air-to-surface Meanwhile, Saab has started
ing ex-US Air Force Lockheed weapons, logistics support and updating the Czech Republics
Martin F-16A/Bs with a mid-life personnel training. Deliveries are Gripen C/Ds with the latest MS20-
update by Ogma; and an Italian required before 2020. standard software, which entered
bid using second-hand Tranche A second phase, to run be- operational use in S weden last
1-standard Eurofighter Typhoons. tween 2022 and 2023, is expected year. Hungary has contracted it to
The defence ministry plans to to lead to the acquisition of make the same modification to its
invest 767 million ($823 million) another eight aircraft of the same fleet, and Ahlqvist says it is also in
in the aircraft and ground support type to replace the air forces cur- early dialogue with South Africa
equipment, plus a small package rent 15 RAC MiG-29 fighters. and Thailand.

flightglobal.com 21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 17

DEFENCE
CONTEST LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC
Leonardo believes
T-100 bid will pass
Buy America test
DRS subsidiary will announce proposed US final assembly
site soon for M-346-derived trainer as T-X battle heats up
A fter parting ways with Ray-
theon, Leonardo is flying
solo in the US Air Forces T-X
trainer competition, and plans to
establish final assembly for the
Aermacchi M-346 derivative in
the USA.
The Italian company will an-
nounce the intended location of
the plant soon, DRS chief execu-
tive Bill Lynn tells FlightGlobal.
The T-100 will retain the M-346s
two Honeywell F124 engines,
which are manufactured in Ari-
zona, and its CAE simulators will
be built inFlorida.
Before exiting its partnership
earlier this year, Raytheon had se-
lected Meridian, Mississippi, as
its final assembly location for the
REQUIREMENT
ARIE EGOZI TEL AVIV
Court decision
brings Orbiter
down to earth
R omania has axed its selection
of Aeronautics Defense Sys-
tems Orbiter 4 unmanned air
system, after a court accepted the
findings of a special committee
which investigated the deal.
The selection had faced scruti-
ny following appeals mounted by
two other Israeli companies.
BlueBird Aero Systems and Is-
rael Aerospace Industries chal-
lenged the Orbiter 4 deal, claim-
ing their respective ThunderB
and BirdEye 650D systems were
better suited to meet the armys
requirements as outlined in an of-
ficial tender.
Israeli sources expect Bucha-
rest to launch a new competition
in the near future.
18 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
T-100. Lynn declines to say if this
site remains in contention, or to
provide a shortlist of other possi-
ble sites.
In 2010, FlightGlobal reported
that final assembly of the T-100
could be assigned to Elizabeth
City, North Carolina. But DRS
sold the maintenance, repair and
overhaul facility for Lockheed
Martin C-130s to the US Coast
Guard in 2015.
Lynn dismisses any suggestion
that the T-100s status as a foreign
offering could affect its chances
in the USAF competition, and
notes that the M-346 is a differ-
ent design and different pro-
gramme to an original partner-
ship between Aermacchi and
RECONNAISSANCE MIKE RAJKUMAR BENGALURU
Indian Tu-142s head for retirement
T he Indian navy will retire its
iconic Tupolev Tu-142ME
Albatross long-range maritime
patrol aircraft at the end of March.
New Delhi was the only export
customer for the type, which it
has used primarily in the anti-
submarine warfare and maritime
Navy has operated its dozen-strong fleet of Albatross since 1988
To get more defence sector coverage,
subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter:
flightglobal.com/defencenewsletter
Company has already exported the type to nations including Israel
Yakovlev to develop the trainer
from the Yak-130.
This is going to be an Ameri-
can-built airplane with American
jobs, so I dont think we run into
any of these buy American is-
sues, he says. The foreign
sourcing of the technology is sim-
ilar for all three [competitors].
Boeing has teamed with Swe-
dens Saab for the T-X opportuni-
ty, while Lockheed is partnered
with Korea Aerospace Industries
on the T-50A.
patrol roles, in addition to per-
forming photographic and radio
reconnaissance missions.
Increasing maintenance costs,
obsolescence-related issues and
the induction of Indias new Boe-
ing P-8I maritime patrol and anti-
submarine warfare aircraft have
Beriev
Israeli air force
Leonardo is touting its cost-
saving capabilities via defence
electronics subsidiary DRS,
which it acquired in 2008. Aer-
macchi has a production line for
the M-346 in Venegono, Italy, and
has exported the type to Israel,
Poland and Singapore.
While Leonardo has made
some changes in its programme
management office, Lynn says its
technology and T-100 airframe
remains the same as its original
offering with Raytheon.
been cited as reasons for the deci-
sion to phase out the aged type.
Only three of the eight Tagan-
rog-built Tu-142MEs, which were
introduced in 1988, remain oper-
ational, according to navy sourc-
es. These are operated by the ser-
vices 312 Sqn from INS Rajali in
Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu.
Indias navy currently operates
eight P-8Is, and has placed orders
for four more. Boeing will begin
the additional deliveries in 2020,
and complete them within a year.
The service will, meanwhile,
retain its inventory of Ilyushin
Il-38SD Sea Dragons, which re-
ceived a comprehensive mid-life
upgrade in 2009 and have recent-
ly gained the ability to fire the
Zvezda Kh-35 anti-ship missile
a combination first demonstrated
last month.
flightglobal.com

UNMANNED SYSTEMS DOMINIC PERRY PARIS
FCAS can survive Brexit, Dassault says
Changes in political landscape represent risk to bilateral project, but French company insists industry remains committed
C oncerns over the future of an
Anglo-French project to de-
velop an unmanned combat air
vehicle (UCAV) in the wake of
the UKs decision to leave the EU
are real but not insurmountable,
one of the two companies spear-
heading the programme believes.
Frances Dassault is partnered
with UK-based BAE Systems
under the future combat air sys-
tem (FCAS) initiative agreed by
the nations governments in 2014
and reaffirmed in March 2016 at a
summit in Amiens.
During that meeting, between
then UK Prime Minister David
Cameron and French President
Franois Hollande, 1.54 billion
($1.87 billion) was committed to
the second stage of the project.
MOVING APART
However, with Cameron gone
and London poised to trigger the
process to exit the EU, relations
between the countries have wors-
ened, leading to fears over the fu-
ture of the venture.
Speaking in Paris on 8 March
Test flights of the Neuron this year will focus on its stealth efficiency
Download the 2017
Wo r l d A i r Fo r c e s R e p o r t
w w w. f l i g h t g l o b a l . c o m / w a f
flightglobal.com
Dassault demands
compensation for
delayed Silvercrest
Business Aviation P21
First prototype will fly around 2023 if UK furthers its involvement
as the company delivered its re-
sults for 2016, Dassault chief ex-
ecutive ric Trappier said the
risk of the project foundering
due to a lack of political will is
higher than before, but he notes
that it also presents an opportu-
nity for both sides.
The UK can show it does not
want to be too isolated from the
rest of Europe while, for France,
Dassault
BAE Systems
it offers the chance of a partner-
ship with one of its military
equals in the region.
In addition, Trappier points to
the determination of the partner
companies to make FCAS a suc-
cess. BAE and Dassault really
want this to go ahead, he says.
There is a wish and a will for
this to happen. If industry pushes
and politicians agree that it is a
matter outside of Brexit concerns
then it may continue.
Trappier says the simple and
bad alternative is that the UK
abandons its co-operation with
Europe and instead they will go
100% with the US.
France could pursue the pro-
ject on its own, but this would be
more difficult due to budgetary
pressures, he says.
Under the Amiens agreement,
the current study phase was due
to conclude in late 2016, but
Trappier says this has been ex-
tended in order to have a result
for the end of [this] year.
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 19
DEFENCE
BAE and Dassault
really want this to
go ahead. There is
a wish and a will for
this to happen
ric Trappier
Chief executive, Dassault
If the two governments agree,
the next stage will be to launch
development of full-scale proto-
types, which would give the pro-
ject partners the opportunity to
show what we could do togeth-
er; a first flight would take place
in about 2023, he says.
Engine manufacturers Safran
and Rolls-Royce and electronics
suppliers Thales and Leonardo
are also involved in the effort.
NEURON RETURNS
Meanwhile, test flights of the
Neuron UCAV demonstrator air-
craft will continue in 2017. De-
veloped as part of a six-nation
consortium of European nations
and their respective industrial
champions, led by Dassault, the
single flying prototype performed
trials last year alongside the
French navys aircraft carrier
Charles de Gaulle.
Evaluations this year, contracted
by Frances DGA defence procure-
ment agency, will focus on the
Neurons stealth efficiency after a
few years of flight time and how it
performs against modern air de-
fence systems, Trappier says.
The test effort will stop only
when future programmes arrive,
he says, adding: All these Neuron
flights fit into this process.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
 Join European business leaders, government
officials, manufacturers, flight department
personnel and all those involved in business
aviation for the European Business Aviation
Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2017). Visit the
website to learn more and register today.

REGISTER TODAY
www.ebace.aero

PROPULSION DOMINIC PERRY PARIS
Dassault demands
compensation for
delayed Silvercrest
French airframer begins negotiations with Safran following
three-year service-entry postponement for 5X programme
D assault has begun talks with
Safran over compensation
payments for delays to its Falcon
5X caused by the late-running
Silvercrest engine programme.
In early 2016 the French air-
framer announced a near three-
year delay to entry-into-service
for the ultra-wide 5X, pushing
back first delivery from 2017 to
2020, which it blamed on prob-
lems with the Safran powerplant.
That slippage has already hit
Dassaults backlog figures, with
12 cancellations for the 5X
STRATEGY
Trappier promises broader appeal from clean-sheet future Falcon
Dassault continues to evaluate
the market as it plots its next
clean-sheet aircraft programme.
Although the airframer is re-
vealing few details about which
segment it will target with what it
calls the future Falcon, chief
executive ric Trappier has again
indicated that it will have a wider
fuselage than the aircraft in its
currentrange.
INTRODUCTION KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
Friedrichshafen debut for Pipers flagship M600
German show will also mark the start of types European demo tour
flightglobal.com
Embraer predicts a
gradual rise in
executive jet margins
Business Aviation P22
which was rolled out in June
2015 recorded in its 2016 order
and delivery totals.
ric Trappier, Dassaults chief
executive, says it has started ne-
gotiations with Safran about re-
questing a certain level of com-
pensation for the cancellations
and the additional development
and engineering costs incurred.
He declines to specify a figure
but concedes it is a big amount.
Obviously there is a contract
and they are in a gap in this con-
tract, and we have got some talks
Speaking at a Paris press brief-
ing, Trappier said cabin com-
fort had become an increasingly
important trend, led by the big-
ger aircraft offered by its US rivals.
Dassault is attempting to ad-
dress this with the 2.58m (8.46ft)-
wide cabin of its developmental
Falcon 5X, its largest ever, which
Trappier says will be the bench-
mark for its future business jets.
Piper Aircraft
BUSINESS AVIATION
Net orders were hit by 12 cancellations for ultra-wide twinjet in 2016
about this contract performance,
Trappier said at a Paris results
briefing on 8 March.
Under Safrans revised sched-
ule it will deliver fully tested Sil-
vercrest engines to Dassault in
2018 for integration on to the 5X.
Trappier says it is vital that Sa-
fran keeps to the new timetable as
Dassault cannot afford any fur-
ther delays to the programme, not
least with rival Gulfstream on
All our future aircraft will have
to be with a cabin size [similar to]
the 5X, he says. What is for sure
is that they will have a wider fuse-
lage than the Falcons flying to-
day: the 5X fuselage looks to be
right one.
Trappier declines to offer a
timeline for the next Falcon de-
velopment, noting the delays to
the 5X programme.
P iper Aircrafts flagship model,
the M600, will make its Euro-
pean debut from 5-8 April at the
Aero Friedrichshafen show
inGermany.
The event the largest dedicat-
ed business and general aviation
exhibition outside the USA will
also mark the start of a regional
demonstration tour for the single-
engined turboprop, for which
Piper hopes to secure European
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 21
Dassault
track to begin deliveries of its
competing G500 this year.
The first strong request we
made [to Safran] was to get the
engine working. The second
strong demand was that they
should stick to the new schedule
because the old timetable was
well behind us.
Dassault forecasts 45 deliveries
across its Falcon family of busi-
ness jets in 2017, down from the
49 it handed over last year.
Trappier says the market con-
tinues to be soft, amid global eco-
nomic and political uncertainty.
Today I do not believe the mar-
ket is going to recover very fast in
2017, he says.
Any upturn will come little
by little, with the sector begin-
ning to turn by 2018.
Faced with downward pres-
sure on prices, he says Frances
high social and employment
costs put Dassault at a disadvan-
tage compared with airframers in
Canada and the USA.
Aviation Safety Agency approval
by the end of the third quarter.
We have several M600 orders
from European customers, says
Piper chief executive Simon Cal-
decott. And we have a number
of sales in process that are pend-
ing EASA certification.
The $2.9 million M600, a de-
velopment of Pipers M500 entry-
level turboprop, entered US ser-
vice in June 2016.
BUSINESS AVIATION
FLEET
EDWARD RUSSELL SAN DIEGO
Second Tecnam
Traveller to join
flight-test fleet
T ecnam has begun production
of the second P2012 Traveller,
aiming for certification in 2018,
says launch customer Cape Air.
The first 11-seat Traveller
made its maiden flight in July
2016, with formal order negotia-
tions with the Hyannis, Massa-
chusetts-based regional carrier
beginning last November.
Cape Air will start price nego-
tiations with the Italian airframer
this year, said James Goddard,
vice-president of fleet planning at
the airline on 6 March, speaking
at the ISTAT Americas confer-
ence in San Diego.
The operator plans to replace
its fleet of more than 80 nine-seat
Cessna 402s and Britten-Norman
Islanders with the Traveller, but
Goddard says the final number of
aircraft is not fixed due to pilot
shortages in the USA.
Launched in 2015, the Traveller
is the largest model in Tecnams
23-strong line-up of light piston-
engined aircraft. The high-wing
type is projected to have a payload
of 690kg (1,520lb), and a range of
over 600nm (1,110km).
DEVELOPMENT KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
XTI turns to hybrid system for TriFan 600 engines
U S start-up XTI Aircraft has
switched to hybrid-electric
power for its planned TriFan 600
ducted-fan-equipped, vertical take-
off and landing business aircraft.
XTI has teamed with fellow
Denver, Colorado-based company
Bye Aerospace to develop the new
system, which replaces the TriFan
600s Honeywell HTS900 twin-
turboshaft engines, gearboxes and
driveshafts with a turbine-driven
generator, batteries and motor.
XTI chief executive Robert
LaBelle says the new propulsion
system will significantly re-
duce the weight and cost of pro-
ducing the aircraft.
22 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
RESULTS KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
Embraer predicts a gradual
rise in executive jet margins
Airframer says US economy will drive recovery, but used aircraft inventory slows growth
E mbraer predicts a gradual
improvement in the perfor-
mance of its executive jets divi-
sion from 2017, on the back of
growing economic confidence
and increased profit margins, but
says the sectors recovery is being
hampered by a stubbornly large
inventory of used aircraft.
The airframers business jet unit
posted flat revenues of about
$1.73 billion in 2016, reflecting a
delivery output of 117 aircraft 73
light jets and 44 large jets. This
compares with 2015 revenues of
$1.72 billion from 120 shipments
82 light jets and 38 large jets.
Speaking on a 9 March full-
year earnings call, Embraer chief
financial officer Jose Filippo pre-
dicted better results going for-
ward, but cautioned that any
improvements would be small.
Filippo cites the robust US
economy and the countrys new
administration as key drivers for
market recovery. The USA is the
largest market in the world for
business jets, he says, pointing to
Our first prototype will be a
full-size TriFan 600, instead of the
65% sub-scale version [that was
originally planned], adds La-
Belle, who was appointed in Feb-
ruary. He replaces former chief
Ducted wing-fan design gives vertical take-off and landing capability
Keep up to date with business
aviation news and analysis at:
flightglobal.com/bizav
Brazilian manufacturer plans to deliver around 105-125 units in 2017
its installed base of around 60% of
the global fleet. Stock markets are
going up, and business jet [acqui-
sitions] are linked to both GDP
and stock market [performance].
Filippo says recovery is being
hampered by the very large in-
ventory of used business jets for
sale which he puts at 12% of
the global in-service fleet. Thats
too many, he says. We need
this inventory to drop to around
7% in order to have a neutral
market. Its going to take a while.
Embraer says it is now focus-
ing on profitability rather than on
executive Jeff Pino, who was
killed in 2016 when his North
American P-51D Mustang crashed
in Pinal County, Arizona.
LaBelle joins from Agus-
taWestland North America and
XTI Aircraft
Embraer
growing its share of the business
aircraft market, as the latter ap-
proach has led to industry-wide
pricing pressure and cost cutting.
In fact, Filippo says the compa-
nys decision in August to cut its
2016 delivery guidance from 150
to 119 aircraft prompted an in-
crease in sales and profit margins.
We believe we can keep deliver-
ies the same, and still have a mar-
gin improvement, he says.
Embraer ended 2016 with a
business jet backlog worth $1.3
billion, and forecasts deliveries of
105-125 units in 2017.
had previous involvement with
the AW609 tiltrotor programme.
The TriFan 600 is being fi-
nanced by XTI founder and man-
aging director David Brody,
crowdfunding stakeholders and
private equity investors.
Described as having the speed,
range and comfort of a business jet
with the ability to take-off and
land vertically, the TriFan 600 is
a six-seat aircraft with fly-by-wire
controls. Its two ducted wing-fans
are designed to tilt to achieve for-
ward flight, with a projected
cruise speed of 330kt (650km/h)
and range of more than 1,500nm
(2,780km), says XTI.
flightglobal.com
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COVER STORY
The A350-1000 is the biggest
twinjet yet produced by Airbus
Great expectations
Airbus believes the A350-1000 is set to control the big-twin sector dominated
by the 777-300ER. But has Boeing better anticipated a trend for larger aircraft?
MAX KINGSLEY-JONES LONDON
T
he audience at Airbuss annual press
conference this year may have been a
little surprised to hear the companys
senior executives singing the praises
of the best-selling widebody produced by
their arch-rival, the Boeing 777-300ER.
Airbus chief salesman John Leahy described
Boeings big twin, which has secured over 800
orders, as a fantastic airplane. For regular
attendees, this sort of plaudit for the -300ER
was nothing new. Airbus commercial aircraft
president Fabrice Brgier has previously
24 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
described the 777-300ERs market positioning
as being in the sweet spot.
The fact is that the -300ER has been making
life very difficult for Airbus salesmen for more
than a decade in the 300-350-seat segment,
effectively banishing Toulouses challenger
the four-engined A340-600 to early obsoles-
cence. But with Boeing now upsizing its big-
twin offering around the larger 777X family
and the -300ER in its sunset years, Leahy and
his team are positively salivating at the oppor-
tunity this presents for Airbuss new big twin,
the A350-1000.
The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered twinjet
is 7m (23ft) longer than the baseline A350-900,
offering around 40 more seats in a typical
arrangement accommodating 366 passengers.
Flight testing began in November last year and
the first aircraft is due to enter service with Qatar
Airways in the second half of this year. Sales
have been less than spectacular so far, with
-1000 orders accounting for just a quarter of the
A350s 821 total orderbook and net sales averag-
ing just 20 aircraft a year since launch in 2006.
But Airbus is convinced the A350-1000s
time is about to come.
The 777-300ER was a fantastic airplane,
Leahy said at the January press conference. It
flightglobal.com
 WIDEBODIES

A350-1000/777-300ER cumulative annual orders since launch*

1000

800

600

400

200

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Years since launch*
*Year of first firm order Source: Flight Fleets Analyzer

A350-1000 777-300ER

Cumulative annual net orders since A350-1000 launch

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Source: Flight Fleets Analyzer

A350-1000 777X 777-300ER

Airbus

fit a beautiful niche in the market and we have against the A350-1000.
the same range, we have the same seat count There is no doubting that Boeing has
and we burn about 25% less fuel doing it. already enjoyed success with the 777X fam-
We can see why they wanted to move ily, having secured almost 320 orders from
out of that market, but the market is still eight customers. This includes a recent com-
there. Were going to sell a lot of A350-1000s mitment for 20 from Singapore Airlines (SIA),
going forward. after a battle with the -1000. Since its launch
The -300ERs spiritual successor in the Boe-
ing product line-up is the 400-seat -9, which
is due to come on stream in 2020 as produc- A350-1000 order book
tion of its predecessor winds up. With that Air Caraibes* 3 The A350-1000 has killed the 777-300ER.
move, Boeing will have effectively vacated Air Lease* 5 Thats why Boeing needed to respond with
the 300-350-seat sector (the smaller 777X vari- Asiana Airlines* 10
ant, the -8, is similar in size to the -300ER but British Airways 18
is scoped for ultra-long-range missions). Cathay Pacific* 26
Like the -300ER, the 777X family is offered Etihad Airways* 22
exclusively with GE engines, while all fla- Iran Air 16
vours of A350 come with R-R power. So the Japan Airlines* 13
battle of the big twins is playing out both at LATAM Airlines* 14
the airframe and powerplant level. Qatar Airways* 37
Airbus attributes the decision to add a United Airlines 35
stretch to the GE9X-powered 777-9X to the Virgin Atlantic 12
need for competitive economics, with Total 211
Brgier saying the Boeing twin had to be Source: Flight Fleets Analyzer (March 2017) Notes: *Also
A350-900 customer
slightly bigger because it could not compete
at the Dubai air show in 2013, the 777X has
got off to a great start with sales having leapt
ahead of the A350-1000, although a single
customer Emirates accounts for 150 of
those orders.
So Airbus is clear in its intent to own the
space previously dominated by the -300ER.
But can it really achieve its ambition?
BOEING RESPONSE
the 777X, says Richard Evans, senior con-
sultant at Flight Ascend Consultancy.
He believes the A350-1000 can own that
space but points out that with more than 800
-300ERs ordered to date, he expects many
will remain with their current operators for a
long time to come.
Richard Aboulafia, vice-president of analy-
sis at Teal Group, describes the long-range
twin-aisle market as somewhat fungible.
That is, customers are seldom wedded to a
specific size; seat-mile costs and range are
every bit as important.

flightglobal.com 21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 25

COVER STORY
That said, the 300-350-seat segment is unhappy with both the changes that Airbus
still the centre of gravity. The market shows
no signs of migrating upward [in terms of
average seat count]. And right now, the A350-
1000 has indeed vanquished the 777-300ER.
Evans says there remains a significant mar-
ket for 300-400-seaters, especially with more
dense economy layouts. The 777-9, in
10-abreast economy, will be too large for
many airlines, he says. I expect several
A350-900 customers to order the -1000 too, or
to upgauge some of their backlog.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that eight of
the 42 A350-900 customers/operators have
already ordered the -1000. Airbus has secured
12 customers and 211 orders for the A350-
1000 in total. Although about a third of A350
customers are also 777-300ER operators, Fleets
Analyzer shows that 20 airlines/lessors that
have chosen the A350-900 are not existing 777-
300ER operators or have not ordered the 777X.
I still expect many A350-900 customers
to also take the -1000, as it has almost the
same range and better economics, but it
needs some new customers, says Evans. I
think we are in that phase of waiting to see
the aircraft in service.
Airbus decided in 2011 to effectively
relaunch the A350-1000 with more range and
higher weights around a more powerful Trent
XWB-97 variant to widen its appeal. But the
move cost it Emirates as a customer for the
entire A350 family. The Dubai carrier was
26 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
introduced, and the way it went about the
revamp, and terminated its contract for 70 air-
craft, including 50 A350-900s and 20 A350-
1000s. Until that point, it had been evaluating
whether to convert its entire A350 order to the
larger variant.
While Emirates could eventually come
back to the programme it has long been eval-
uating the A350 and the 787-10 with a view to
placing an order the redesign was aimed at
boosting the -1000s appeal to the likes of
A350 order share by variant
8 1000 to replace its 747-400s, and turned to
211
Source: Flight Fleets Analyzer
Notes:*Asiana still holds eight A350-800 orders
A350-800* A350-900
Flight trials of the A350-1000 began
last November, and deliveries are
due to start later this year
Airbus
Cathay Pacific, SIA and United Airlines for
transpacific operations.
This has had moderate success so far, with
Cathay and United ordering the -1000, but
Singapore recently opting to go down the Boe-
ing route its commitment for 20 777-9s. Cathay
has ordered both aircraft and will use the
A350-1000s as replacements for its 777-
200/300s and the 777-9 for long-haul opera-
tions, and it is not entirely impossible that SIA
could do the same.
SIA does have a huge backlog of A350-
900s, some of which could be swapped to
-1000s, Evans says.
Some doubt recently emerged over the
United order, with the airline indicating it
had reversed its decision to use the A350-
last-off-the-line 777-300ERs instead.
777-200 REPLACEMENT
I still think the A350-1000 makes a good 777-
200 replacement for United, but perhaps the
priority is the smaller 767 replacement,
602
Evans says.
Meanwhile, what are Boeings options for
the market it once dominated, if the A350-
1000 does indeed turn out to be the success
Airbus is forecasting?
Evans sees the largest of the Boeing Dream-
liner variants, the 330-seat 787-10, providing
A350-1000 strong competition for Airbus in the A350-
1000s sector on medium-haul routes where
flightglobal.com
 WIDEBODIES

range is less critical.

Boeing can respond with the current
combination of the 787-10 and 777-8,
priced keenly, he says. Longer term, it
could increase range of the 787-10 with a
more powerful engine, perhaps.
Aboulafia thinks it could be a challenge for
Boeing to use the 777-8 to recapture the -300ER
segment. While it will have many appealing
features best-in-class engines, belly cargo,
etcetera the 777X is scaled for the larger -9
class, and the smaller -8 version might be disad-
vantaged by extra structural weight compared
with the A350-1000, he says. Of course, well
only know when the two types are in service
and fuel burn data will be available. Until then,

Boeing
its an interesting horse race to watch.
Despite its stated confidence in the A350- Singapore Airlines chose the 777-9 early this year after a competition with the A350-1000
1000, Airbus has been openly hinting that it
could take the fight to the 777-9 with a new
derivative. Leahy has talked of a 400-seat
A350-2000 but remains convinced that the
bulk of demand will sit with todays variant,
which is clearly the sweet spot in the market.
Even if we were to do the -2000, the majority
of the sales are going to be for the -1000.
But just how easy would it be for Airbus to

Boeing

Airbus
develop a double-stretch if it needs to take the
fight to the 777-9? Evans thinks Airbus will Cathay is one of several taking all three models Eight A350-900 customers hold -1000 orders
find it difficult to respond, not least because a
stretched A350 would need a new engine. Longer term, is there a need for a [new] migrated up towards the 777-9. Their deci-
There is also the question of the ultimate des- two-member family larger than the A350, sion on a stretch or a clean-sheet response
tiny of the A380 programme, which is cur- when the A380 ceases production? he asks. will depend in part on Rolls-Royce, and what
rently next in line to the A350-1000 in the Aboulafia says Airbus would undoubtedly they can or will do, he says.
product line but sitting some 200 seats above it. need to react if the 350-seat market indeed Although the sun is starting to set on the
successful 777-300ER, the aircraft will clearly
remain a key part of airlines long-range fleets
A350-1000
A350-1000 changes
CHANGES COMPARED
compared WITH A350-900
with A350-900
for some years to come. Boeing has delivered
just over 700 -300ERs, and has a further 100 or
Typical seating increased by Reinforced structure so on backlog. By the time the -300ER pro-
41, to 366 passengers (where required)
gramme winds up in three or four years time,
Flight Ascend Consultancy estimates that
Six-frame plug total production should run to about 860 air-
craft since the first in 2004.
Boeing secured 19 net orders for the -300ER
Five-frame plug in 2016 compared with 30 for the A350-1000.
Extended wing
Aboulafia expects sales to continue to slow as
trailing edge last-off-the-line -300ER slots are allocated.
Im not expecting more than a handful of
additional 777-300ER orders, and delivery
Rolls-Royce
Higher thrust Rolls Royce Trent Six-wheel
Six wheel main landing gear rates will continue to plummet, he says.
XWB-97 (97,000lb thrust) (gear bay extended by one frame) Market dynamics will also see availability
Tim Bicheno-Brown/Artscreatif of used 777-300ERs increasing but not
directly as a result of initial A350-1000 cus-
Big twin comparison
tomers, Evans says. It is happening anyway,
A350-1000 777-300ER 777-8 777-9 as the three Gulf network carriers will replace
MTOW (t) 308 352 352 352 their older aircraft with the 777-8/9.
Passengers 366 365 350 400 In 1974, when Airbus debuted the A300, it
Range (nm) 7,950 7,400 MAX 8,700 7,600 introduced to the world the concept of the
Engines R-R Trent XWB GE GE90 GE GE9X GE GE9X big twin. With the A350-1000 poised to
AB Feature
Thrust (lb) 97,000 115,000 105,000 105,000 make its service debut this year, we should
Firm orders 211 AB 807
A350CHANGESa Xa53 253* not have to wait much longer to find out
List price ($m) 359 340 371 400 whether Airbus finally has another machine
Source: Manufacturers/Flight Fleets Analyzer (March 2017) x 62 *Includes 10 777X variant to be decided
114Notes: that can own the big-twin market.

flightglobal.com 21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 27

LAUNCHERS
Precision
delivery
The European Space Agencys light launcher, Vega, is a
proven performer in prime position to contest a growing
market to orbit Earth observation and scientific payloads
Point of no return: with ignition,
VV09 was on its way for a perfect
58min flight from French Guiana
28 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
DAN THISDELL KOUROU
W
hen launching rockets, there
may be grades of failure ex-
plosion and debris being total,
payload damaged or in wrong
orbit being partial but anywhere along that
scale is a financial and mission disaster. Suc-
cess, on the other hand, is absolute and ab-
solutely, totally delightful.
For sure, the champagne flowed late on the
night of 6 March after the European Space
Agencys (ESA) light launcher, Vega, lifted a
European Earth observation satellite to orbit.
The 58min flight from Europes space centre
at Kourou, French Guiana, was a perfect suc-
ESA/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock
flightglobal.com

cess, from its to-the-planned-second lift-off to
delivery of the Airbus Defence & Space-built
Sentinel-2B to its intended 786km (488mile)
altitude polar orbit.
ESA and European launch operator Ariane-
space, and industrial partners including Vega
prime contractor ELV (owned by Italian pro-
pulsion specialist Avio and the Italian space
agency, ASI) and Sentinel contractor Airbus
Defence & Space, could be excused for taking
perfection as a given. Heavy launcher Ariane 5
has flown a string of 77 successes, and the Ari-
ane family has orbited more than half of the
worlds geostationary telecommunications
satellites; the most lucrative payloads. Soyuz,
the venerable Russian mid-weight vehicle,
opened the Arianespace 2017 ledger in Janu-
ary with its 16th flight from French Guiana; its
record is not unblemished flight 9, in 2014,
left two Galileo navigation satellites in bad or-
bits but mission controllers managed to re-
cover them to useful orbits. The Sentinel-2B
flight, VV09 in Arianespace parlance, marked
nine Vega successes in nine outings.
NO TIME TO RELAX
But all of these players know better than to
assume anything. After the cheers and con-
gratulatory speeches for VV09 at mission con-
trol in Kourou, a visibly relieved and visibly
exhausted Stefano Bianchi, who served as
ESAs Vega programme head during develop-
ment and early flights, and who now heads
the agencys Ariane 6 programme, observed to
FlightGlobal: No surprises. Number nine
starts to be really serious.
Serious, indeed. Not only are Bianchi and
his colleagues too experienced to relax
much, anyway but this particular string of
flights has defined Vegas place in a fierce
commercial market. VV09 was, perhaps, the
typical Vega mission and out at the limit of its
performance: an Earth observation satellite,
payload mass, including fuel, of 1,130kg
(2,490lb), to a category of circular low-Earth
polar orbit called a Sun-synchronous orbit,
meaning that the satellite always passes over
any given point on the ground at the same
time of day, for consistent shadows in images.
Later this year, Vega will orbit for ESA anoth-
er scientific/observation spacecraft, ADM-
Aeolus a slightly heavier payload at
1,400kg, but to a lower orbit at 400km.
Vegas next flight, in July, will orbit two
smaller satellites, again to polar, Sun-syn-
chronous orbits: Israel Aerospace Industries
OPTSAT 3000 (400kg) and VENS (300kg).
Such multiple-payload missions are a Vega
calling card; the main, second and third stag-
es are solid fuel rockets, but its liquid fuel
Avum upper stage is restartable, allowing
great flexibility in mission profile. Such mul-
tiple launches are a way of sharing, to bring
down the cost of launch.
flightglobal.com
Europes Sentinel-2B satellite in its fairing, en route to be joined with Vega for flight VV09
Customers, obviously, care about price.
The other things they care about are reliability
no failures and precision; the spacecraft
needs to be in a specific orbit to carry out its
mission. Precision, it seems, is also a Vega
long suit. According to Paolo Bellomi, vice-
president for engineering and product devel-
opment at Avio, early data from VV09 put the
eccentricity of Sentinel-2Bs orbit at about
18m: really close to perfectly circular.
Multiple-payload missions are
a Vega calling card; its Avum
upper stage is restartable,
allowing great flexibility
All of that costs 35 million ($37.1 million),
the bill quoted by the European Commission
for Sentinel-2Bs launch and the target price
set by ESA and Arianespace five years ago
when Vega first flew. A bigger Vega C is being
readied for flight from the second half of 2019
and while Arianespace has not set the price
yet, it has long been pegged as matching Vega.
That 35 million is very close to the cost of
launching Vegas principle competitor, Indias
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). That
programme has a long record of reliability,
and India has ambitions to be a major player
in space. Regardless, Vega C promises to shake
up an already dynamic market for small satel-
lite launches. A bigger solid fuel main stage
the 120cm diameter P120 engine will double
as boosters for Ariane 6 and a new second
VEGA
Manuel Pedoussaut/ESA
stage and a modified Avum upper stage will
take maximum payload to 2,200kg to low-
Earth orbit. As Bellomi puts it, that is 50%
more performance for the same price.
It is difficult to assess the prospective size
of the market for small satellite launches, be-
cause launch cost is such a critical factor in
mission feasibility. The Teal Group consul-
tancy recently forecast launch demand for
nearly 6,500 satellites to low-Earth orbit up to
2036, but how many of those are so-called
cubesats tiny units, often built by university
researchers and flown as secondary or piggy-
back payloads is not clear. According to sen-
ior vice-president for missions Luce Fab-
reguettes, Arianespace gets lots of enquiries
about launches for cubesats and satellites in
the 100-200kg class, but for few prospective
customers is the finance secure.
SATELLITE DISPENSER
Vega C, Fabreguettes says, will be attractive
because its greater performance will increase
its ability to handle secondary payloads. The
increase in size promises to cut the launch
cost per kilogram as long as a flight is full,
and a dispenser will place small satellites,
even cubesats, in precise orbits. There, the
competition is on its game; last month, PSLV
orbited a record one Earth imaging unit and
103 secondary cubesats from a single launch.
Meanwhile, she notes, there is prospective
competition from so-called microlaunchers
such as the vertical-launch Electron from
Rocketlabs in the USA and Virgin Galactics
air-launched LauncherOne, both of which are
intended to put a few hundred kilograms into
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 29
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low-Earth orbit. But while Arianespace
keeps an eye on the market and may one day
want to add to its stable of vehicles, for now it
is not so sure about the business case for
these launchers, as fixed costs by their nature
remain fixed.
Philip Hylands of satellite and launcher
market analysts Seradata adds that while
Electron and LauncherOne have high profiles
and great promises, neither has flown yet.
And, he adds, building a business around
launching cubesats and other very small units
poses risks beyond merely managing launcher
technology and operations. Modern technolo-
gy is making small satellites, even cubesats,
increasingly capable, and some of their mak-
ers are becoming very professional. But many
are neither able nor willing to pay much for a
launch, nor can they always be relied on to de-
liver a flyable satellite on schedule.
Fabreguettes says reusability may be a way
to make microlaunchers work, cost-wise. But
Hylands urges caution; post-flight refurbish-
ment of the Space Shuttle was so costly that
disposable launchers would have been far
cheaper, and while SpaceX is widely expect-
ed to demonstrate, imminently, its ability to
re-use a main stage, promises of actual cost-
savings are, for now, just that: promises.
For the types of missions flown by Vega
and PSLV there is little competition. The USA
including SpaceX and Russia do not pay
much attention to this market, as they get so
much business from bigger, government
payloads, notes Hylands. China, he adds, is
out of the picture because any satellite is like-
ly to have some US content and fall under re-
strictive international traffic in arms regula-
tions. Russias Rockot gets some business;
indeed, the European Commission, which
Ready to rock(et): Vega, carrying Sentinel-2B, in its mobile gantry awaiting launch on 6 March
flightglobal.com
owns Sentinel-2B and its sister orbiters in the
Copernicus Earth observation programme,
has flown some payloads on this modified
inter-continental ballistic missile. The Senti-
nel-2B was originally slated for a Rockot
flight, but reliability and scheduling dictated
a switch.
ROBUST RULES
In the minutes after VV09s launch, Renato
Lafranconi, ESAs Vega exploitation pro-
gramme manager, glowed with excitement at
what had happened through a two-month
launch campaign and 58min flight: All the
work weve done [in development and over
the past five years], were getting back now.
VV09, he says, looked to be a perfect flight
but a perfect outcome does not necessarily re-
quire a perfect flight. There were, he recalls,
some anomalies with the Avum stage on
Vegas previous flight, but these did not com-
promise the mission. After the flight, it was
possible to go back through the huge tranche
of qualification data and work out why.
All the work weve done [in
development], were getting
back now
Renato Lafranconi
Vega exploitation programme manager,
European Space Agency
Yes, he says, there was political pressure to
fly soon, but a lot of qualification work built a
really big database of performance. And, criti-
cally, some good decisions were taken early
and these have made Vega a robust launcher.
Issues that arise in flight can be managed be-
cause there is lots of margin.
Stephane Corvaja/ESA
VEGA
Stephane Corvaja/ESA
VV09 soared from Kourou at 22:49 local time
That robustness is a theme echoed by Bel-
lomi. Post-flight there is a three-month analy-
sis of telemetry data on some 500 parameters.
From nine flights, a huge amount has been
learned about all aspects of the manufacture
and flight campaign of the launcher. As a re-
sult, he says, manufacture is improving; VV01
flagged up a large amount of anomalies
parts that needed changing during produc-
tion, for example but now we are flying to-
ward anomaly zero.
Vega C, he adds, is also enjoying significant
technological advances. Avionics and even
vehicle structure are to be dramatically im-
proved with some genuine breakthrough
technologies and improvements on shortcom-
ings discovered in analysis of Vegas perfor-
mance. Manufacturing, too, is getting a boost
Vega Cs part count is much lower, making
for a simpler machine. It will, he says, mark a
step ahead in performance and operability.
Between now and first flight in the second
half of 2019 come many critical milestones. In
the fourth quarter of this year, the new second
stage will be static-fired, and tests will begin
on a new carbon composite interstage struc-
ture that Bellomi describes as very lightweight
and completely innovative. Test firing of the
P120 main stage will follow. Of new avionics
which will help increase the validated in-
orbit life of the Avum restartable stage to sev-
eral days from just over two orbits now, prom-
ising a huge expansion of mission flexibility
he is confident that the development style
of Avio and its partners will deliver. So Bello-
mi sees Vega Cs first flight not so much as a
maiden flight but as the next flight in a series.
Before that flight, naturally, Bellomi and all
his partners at ASI, ESA and Arianespace will
be wished good luck by friends, family and
well-wishers. But while everybody in the
rocket launching business is of course happy
for a bit of good luck, they know all too well
that nothing can be taken for granted. Success
is absolute and absolutely unforgiving.
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 31
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 STRAIGHT&LEVEL

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

Beat the jams

like the Jetsons
Ever since The Jetsons the
1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon
featuring a futuristic family the
flying car has been imagined as a
solution to trafficjams.
The latest concept comes
from none other than Airbus,
which along with design
consultancy Italdesign,
premiered the Pop.Up multi-
modal transportation system at
the recent Geneva Motor Show.
It takes the form of a
passenger capsule that can be
coupled with a battery-powered
chassis for ground transport or,
alternatively, an air module
propelled by four pairs of
counter-rotating fans to take
advantage of the third
Italdesign
Revolution!
Germany has done her best
to bring about a revolution in
[Russia], and at
last she has
succeeded. But
her very success
has carried bitter defeat with
it, for the revolution that has
come about is the exact
antithesis of the one
designed by Germany.
Giant glider
You think this is far-fetched? Airbus still believes the A new German transport
A380 is going to be a massive commercial success. glider, The Giant, is
reported to have
been completed.
Baker, Charlotte Carr and Nuria www.news.at
Der Ball der Blle
Alles zum Wirtschaftswunder Opernball
The glider is said
Belda Marco made up the team. to have a wing-
The flight was operated on an span of 120ft. and is towed
Airbus A320 named after Amy by three machines. It can
Nr. 7 18. 2. 2017 2,90

dimension to get from A to B
efficiently whilst avoiding traffic
Teilzeit
Johnson. Eighty-seven years Warum die sterreicher
immer weniger arbeiten carry 150 fully armed men
after the aviators pioneering Drogen
Wenn Mama
or heavy cargo!
P.b.b. GZ 02Z032108 W Verlagsgruppe News Gesellschaft m.b.H., Taborstrae 1-3, 1020 Wien Retouren an Postfach 100, 1350 Wien

congestion on the ground. solo flight to Australia, still too

ein Junkie ist

The ability to soar above the
clogged urban arteries makes
sense, of course, if yours is the
only vehicle with the means to
do so; less so if your fellow road-
few women choose a career in CIA infiltration?
the cockpit. So congratulations Sir, Watching Panorama
to EasyJet, and others, for trying the other evening I
STERREICH GEGEN AIRBUS
to close the gender gap. suddenly began
DIE AKTE to wonder
Deutschland 3,50 / Italien 3,50

users all have the same ability to whether this

evade urban gridlock. Rafaled feathers EUROFIGHTER programme has
07

This Austrian weekly news been infiltrated by the CIA.

004378 001738

News zeigt auf, wie Veeidigungsminister Hans Peter Doskozil mehr als eine
Milliarde Euro zurckholen will. Exklusive Dokumente oenbaren neue
Zusammenhnge beim grten Rstungsdeal der Nachkriegsgeschichte
magazine promises an insight Everyone knocks the
Women up front
9

EasyJet marked International
Womens Day with a flight from
London Gatwick to Madrid with
an all-female crew.
EZY8275 was commanded by
Kate McWilliams, who the low-
cost carrier notes is the worlds
youngest woman commercial
captain at 27, and co-piloted by
first officer Sue Barrett. Cabin
crew Laura Marks, Natasha
into the multi-billion euro
dispute between Vienna and the
consortium behind the Typhoon
a real Euro fight, notes Kees
de Lezenne Coulander, who
spotted it.
While arguing, he adds,
perhaps they didnt notice they
received a slightly modified
aeroplane.
The cover shows its arch-
competitor, the Dassault Rafale.
EasyJet
Some sort of cover up? Concorde. If its systems are
in trouble let us get them
right, but stop praising all
Blue goes red things American and
Blue Air is taking no chances running ourselves down.
with its first aircraft based at G. H. F. Plinston,
Liverpools John Lennon airport Sqn Ldr (Retd)
which is emblazoned with the
message Cool city warm Debt crisis
welcome. Brazils airlines are asking
In a city where allegiances are the Government for
famously split between rival $2.2billion in
football teams, the Romanian low-interest
carrier has sensibly decided to loans to help bail
paint at least half the slogan on the industry out
the Boeing 737-800 in red. of its mounting debt crisis.
The four national and five
regional Brazilian airlines
May the force face a combined debt of
We suspect that whoever in the around $2 billion.
US Department for the Air Force
is behind this solicitation for an 100-year archive
avionics system for the F-16 has Every issue of Flight
a Star Wars fetish. from 1909 onwards
Its a request for a Cockpit can be viewed online at

Communication Control Panel flightglobal.com/archive

Making a difference: Barrett and McWilliams Organizer or C3PO.

flightglobal.com 21-27 Marxh 2017 | Flight International | 33

LETTERS
We welcome your letters on any
aspect of the aerospace industry.
Please write to:
The Editor, Flight International,
Quadrant House, The Quadrant,
Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5AS, UK
Or email:
flight.international@flightglobal.com
The opinions on this page do not
necessarily represent those of the editor.
Letters without a full postal address sup-
plied may not be published. Letters may
also be published on flightglobal.com
and must be no longer than 250 words.
Betrayal on an
industrial scale
In response to Peter Bishops
letter: Engineers must learn the
basics (Flight International,
17-23 January): I would like to
offer a graduate aeronautical en-
gineers perspective on this.
The writer may have started
out on a positive note, but the
classic backstabbing of engi-
neers started in earnest in para-
graph three when he says the
new generation of engineers,
though with higher IT skills,
come with lower engineering
ability and judgement.
This is biased reality. Gradu-
ate/post-graduate engineers in
the first five years of their careers
do enter into the industry with a
higher rate of emphasis on soft-
ware however, they do this be-
cause that is what the companies
they are applying to require.
You have to invest a lot of time
to stay up-to-date with software,
because the vast majority of uni-
versities and industries have no
synchronised link with each
other. Universities, although they
increase their fees, do not always
invest those funds directly into
student development. Industries,
PlaneCutaway.indd 1
34 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
flight.international@flightglobal.com
ee engineers at universities. We
THEORY also need universities to actively
Hypothesis matches the facts invest crippling student fees into
actual resources for students, and
Regarding Malcolm for those universities to have
Bowdens letter Futile theo- open access to aeronautical
rising (Flight International, engineering companies. We need
7-13 February): I would these companies to take an active
REX/Shutterstock
agree that a theory can only interest in mentoring and devel-
be as good as the evidence. oping engineers.
But in the case of MH370, is We need to go back to the
there an alternative to taking Search was called off in January culture of talking to each other
the published data at face where senior engineers do not
value? If a hypothesis matches the facts, it can be used for pre- just say you are wrong, but ex-
dictions where we have no data. plain, teach and nurture. We
Altitude, speed, and heading data were recorded by military need to remove the culture of
radar that seems to have been active for an air defence continuously blaming engineers
exercise. The military and civil radar tracks corroborated this. and give them the opportunity to
On the other hand, its speculation to say the communication fill gaps. Lets do this instead of
loss was sudden and complete, or that the flight was continually putting them down.
controlled for hours afterwards. In fact, the radar plots, Name and address withheld
displayed 12 days later, suggest the opposite.
While a serious fire seems to match the circumstances, we
find it difficult to countenance the wrecked aircraft flying on Fair competition
after it reached its peak. But is there a scenario that makes a With regard to J McDermotts let-
better fit? The distribution of recovered debris has identified ter about the USAF tanker compe-
areas of high and low probability of origin, but the analysis tition, Boeing has questions to
doesnt extend to the 750 mile segment of the seventh arc answer (Flight International,
south of Jakarta that went unsearched in the immediate after- 14-20 February): I assume his
math. This area would be reachable by an erratic flight path. tongue was firmly in his cheek
Richard Lloyd when he asked the rhetorical
Coventry, UK questions Did Boeing deliberate-
ly under-quote, just to stop Airbus
getting the contract they had in
although they constantly do have, major gaps in my hands- fact already won? Does Airbus
complain of a lack of engineers, on practical knowledge, we must have a case for compensation?
do not grant access to their up- address why this is. Airbus had not already won.
dated software or their labs for Many students do not have In 2008, the US Government
learning and practical imple- access to resources to gain Accountability Office an inde-
mentation of skills. practical experience. It is all very pendent agency sustained Boe-
Take a look at any graduate en- well for people in office to moan ings protest against the Airbus
gineering job application, and about the situation, but what are bid in the first competition, and
you will see just how precise the they doing to change it? recommended that the contract
recruiters are in requesting spe- Mr Bishop also stabs engineers be re-bid. Boeing won the second
cific software knowledge as a in the back by saying they are competition in 2011 by submit-
minimum entrance requirement. unable to concentrate for more ting the lower responsive bid.
If you do not have that, then than 10min. Perhaps the indus- If that bid proves unprofitable,
you do not get the job. It is as cut- try should speak to candidates Boeing may have to answer to its
throat and as simple as that. and actively engage them, in- shareholders, but not Airbus.
Mr Bishop also criticises the stead of continuously demand- I salute Flight Internationals
lack of practical experience logged ing high output with zero input. aviation reporting, which I have
by engineers. Although I agree What we really need is for appreciated since 1958.
with this point and admit that as a retiring engineers to actively Alan Hoffman
graduate engineer, I had, and still work, develop and mentor train- St Louis, Missouri, USA
Check out Flight Internationals Image Store
Browse or customise a gift or memento from our CUTAWAY ARCHIVE
of more than 1000 aircraft drawings
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09/02/2017 12:28
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flightglobal.com 21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 37

RECRUITMENT
Getting careers off the ground

TEL +44 (0) 20 8652 4900 EMAIL recruitment.services@rbi.co.uk

flightglobal.com/jobs

TIME FOR Start your job search today

YOUR CAREER flightglobal.com/jobs
TO TAKE FLIGHT
AVIATION | AIRLINES | AEROSPACE

38 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017 flightglobal.com

 RECRUITMENT
flightglobal.com/jobs

flightglobal.com 21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 39

 RECRUITMENT
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flightglobal.com 21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 41

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDEX
Flight crew
M M
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flightglobal.com/jobs
42 | Flight International | 21-27 March 2017
TEL +44 (0) 20 8652 4900 EMAIL recruitment.services@rbi.co.uk
Flight crew
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&RPSOLDQFH )OLJKW2SV6XSSRUW
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Maintenance Engineering
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10:57
flightglobal.com

WORK EXPERIENCE GLENN STAPLES
A prescription for a fulfilling career
Dr Glenn Staples started out working at Johannesburg Hospital before moving into the air ambulance
arena. He is now the medical director with provider Awesome Air Evac, treating ill people across Africa
How did you get started?
I knew early on that I wanted to
be part of the emergency medi-
cal services and air ambulance
fields. This dream came true in
1997 when, as a medical officer
in the trauma unit at Johannes-
burg Hospital, I joined the Flight
for Life HEMS operation on
Echo 1. Later that same year I
began flying fixed-wing air am-
bulance missions with Interna-
tional SOS out of Lanseria air-
port nearJohannesburg.
Where were you trained?
I did my undergraduate medical
training through the University
of the Witwatersrand in Johan-
nesburg, finishing in 1995. I also
did three years of registrar time
specialising in anaesthetics
through Wits University. I have
subsequently completed an
MBA through the Gordon Insti-
tute of Business Science.
What path has your career taken?
My first seven years post-qualifi-
cation were spent at Johannes-
burg Hospital (with some rota-
tions to the other Johannesburg
teaching hospitals). This time in-
cluded internship, surgical sen-
ior house officer, trauma unit
medical officer, and anaesthetics
registrar positions. Thereafter I
took up the position of medical
director of Netcare 911, a private
national emergency medical ser-
vice in South Africa. During this
time I developed and managed
the aeromedical division, which
included four fixed-wing and
three HEMS air ambulances, and
five surf rescue helicopters. I was
with Netcare for five years. After
flightglobal.com
On the ground, Staples also handles marketing and client relations
leaving that firm in 2008, I set up
my own company with a partner,
and since then have become a
health entrepreneur with a pan-
African focus.
But you are still involved with
medical evacuation operations?
Awesome Air Evac is a fixed-
wing air ambulance service. My
role as medical director includes
responsibility for all clinical and
quality aspects of the service, but
also extends to marketing, client
relationship management, and
general business development. I
also fly on the service as one of
the flight doctors.
Any interesting stories to share?
I will never forget a fixed-wing
evacuation flight to Port Harcourt
in Nigeria in my early flying
days. We were flying in a small
Bombardier Learjet 25 and our
love most about this job. The
Awesome Air Evac
weather radar malfunctioned on
the second leg from Luanda to
Port Harcourt. This left us having
to approach Port Harcourt into a
massive Friday evening thunder-
storm largely blind. We then
headed for our alternate airport,
only to be informed that they
were experiencing a power fail-
ure, and had no runway lights.
Fortunately a local Boeing 727
pilot had been monitoring our
radio communications and radi-
oed our pilots to suggest a small
local airport in Enugu. We soon
discovered that we were stuck in
a small town in Nigeria with no
immigration and no Jet A1 fuel
on a Friday evening. The earliest
we could get a fuel truck was
going to be Tuesday the follow-
ing week. The next morning our
technical team in Johannesburg
Dont miss the leading
global event for travel
catering, onboard retail
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worldtravelcateringexpo.com
21-27 March 2017 | Flight International | 43
WORKING WEEK
cleared us to use paraffin. We
borrowed a 44-gallon drum from
the airport, bought all the paraf-
fin we could find in Enugu, and
spent a couple of hours siphon-
ing into each of the wing-tip
tanks. We then flew low-level
back to Port Harcourt, picked up
our patient and had a relatively
uneventful flight back to Johan-
nesburg.
Whats the best part of your job?
There are three things which I
teamwork you experience as the
two pilots and two medical
crew taking on a host of un-
knowns to achieve the mission
objective. The ability to see the
most remote parts of Africa, a
continent with which I am in
love. The pure appreciation and
relief on the faces of the patients
and family when you rescue
them from a disastrous situation
and deliver them safely to a top-
class hospital.
Whats the most challenging
aspect?
Dealing with a host of unknowns
or incorrect information on each
mission whether its flight
clearances, local airports, local
hospitals or completely incorrect
patient information. n
Looking for a job in aerospace?
Check out our listings online at
flightglobal.com/jobs
If you would like to feature in
Working Week, or you know
someone who does, email
your pitch to kate.sarsfield@
flightglobal.com
Register
to attend
Announcing the Schools
Aerospace Challenge 2017
Schools Aerospace Challenge is a competition
for 16-18 year olds, challenged to submit
design solutions to a fictitious, but realistic,
RAF Operational Requirement.
Each year, teams from schools, Air Training So, what are you waiting for?
Corps or other youth organisations, answer a Have you got what it takes? Get started on
realistic aerospace design challenge set together the Schools Aerospace Challenge 2017.
with the Royal Air Force. Shortlisted teams get
For registration and competition details
to experience lots of what the aerospace world
go to
has to offer in a five-day Summer School at
www.schools-aerospace-challenge.com
Cranfield University.
or email
Winners are announced at a prestigious info@schools-aerospace-challenge.com
reception in London, with a prize of 3,000
for first place, and 1,000 to two runners up.