Flight International 5-11 May 2015

A NICER RYANAIR
REGRETS, IVE HAD

A FEW, ADMITS
OLEARY FRANKLY
INTERVIEW P24
SWEDEN THE DEAL

Saab looks to boost the
capability of Gripen C/D
with upgrade to fighters
fire-control radar 19
COSMIC CRISIS
Budget cuts contribute

to recent series of blows
for Russias ambitious
space programme 22
FLIGHT
INTERNATIONAL
5-11 MAY 2015
US REGIONALS
SIZING UP THE
OPPORTUNITY
Are airlines ready for next-generation jets?
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VOLUME 187 NUMBER 5487
5-11 MAY 2015
NEWS
SWEDEN THE DEAL
Saab looks to boost the
capability of Gripen C/D
with upgrade to fighters
fire-control radar 19
COSMIC CRISIS
Budget cuts contribute

to recent series of blows
for Russias ambitious
space programme 22
FLIGHT
INTERNATIONAL
5-11 MAY 2015
US REGIONALS
SIZING UP THE
OPPORTUNITY
3.50
1 9
770015 371273
AirTeamImages
Are airlines ready for next-generation jets?
THIS WEEK
Rafale hits target as Qatar commits.
Malaysia set to sell off widebodies
9 US military fleet sets course for fleet reduction.
Airbus reports steady start for 2015 orderbook
10 Market needs put 90-seater plan at bottom of
ATR list.
European pilot group warns against growing
pay-to-fly trend
11 Generator bug prompts 787 directive.
Sweden to step up fighter readiness
8
COVER IMAGE
Mathieu Pouliot shot this
SkyWest/American Eagle
Bombardier CRJ200 (with
Boeing 737-800 behind) at
Montreals Trudeau airport
for AirTeamImages P30
AIR TRANSPORT
12 Spirit automates to meet ramp-up on programmes.
Southwest fits its 737s with Honeywell avionics
13 Cargolux grounds lithium-ion batteries.
Avianca explains why Boeing failed to win it
14 EASA warns of increase Baltic airprox incidents.
Revenue rises, but Sukhoi civil arm still in red
17 Turkish A320 engine damaged in landing attempt.
Wizz Air teams up to train 40 cadets a year
DEFENCE
18 P&W deflects fresh criticism of F135.
IAI set to ramp up tanker conversions.
Australia gets Super Hornet support boost
19 Saab touts Gripen C/D radar upgrade.
Cheetal helicopters delivered to Afghanistan
20 RAF to harness Lightnings ISR power.
Peru receives first locally-assembled KT-1 trainer
BEHIND THE HEADLINES

David Learmount (left) joined
chief pilot Capt Ray Conway
and head of training Capt
Andy OShea at the Ryanair
Stansted training centre. He
also talked strategy with chief
executive Michael OLeary at
the low-cost carriers Dublin
headquarters (P24)
NEWS FOCUS
21 Strength of Hercules lies in training
22 Budgets bring Russia down to earth
24 OLeary admits mistakes as Ryanair softens image
Russian spacecraft failures compounded by cuts P22
COVER STORY
30 Growing pains The current cap on the size of
regional aircraft in pilot contracts is already
beginning to pose problems for the introduction of
next-generation MRJ and E2 jets at the US majors
FEATURES
26 PROGRAMME Rising in the east Mitsubishi and

Comac are making progress with new jets, but
their impact on the market depends on
overcoming some tough challenges, not least
convincing airlines to shun the established players
7
34
36
39
43
REGULARS
Comment
Letters
Classied
Jobs
Working Week
Craig Hoyle, Hindustan Aeronautics
Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren
BUSINESS AVIATION
23 NetJets Europe prepares to receive first
Challenger 350.
Gama to strengthen Aberdeen base.
GKN wins wing skin work for Gulfstreams
NASA
A NICER RYANAIR
REGRETS, IVE HAD
A FEW, ADMITS
OLEARY FRANKLY
INTERVIEW P24
NEXT WEEK
BUSINESS AVIATION
We flight test the Citation
Latitude and look at the
programmes in development
Sweden targets increase in fully operational Gripen squadrons P11. Cheetal trio delivered to Afghanistan P19
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flightglobal.com
5-11 May 2015 | Flight International | 3
CONTENTS
IMAGE OF
THE WEEK
Commonwealth of Australia
The Royal Australian Air

Forces 36 Sqn prepares to
deploy a Boeing C-17A
Globemaster III transport
from Amberley AFB to assist
the Nepalese government
after the earthquake on
25 April. Two C-17s carried
some 15t of aid, and were
expected to begin evacuation
ights between Bangkok and
Kathmandu
View more great aviation shots
online and in our weekly tablet
edition:
ightglobal.com/
ight-international
THE WEEK IN NUMBERS
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
2%
Last week, we asked: Will Airbus launch an A380neo by 2020?

You said:
36%
HEGAN
The 2014 turnover rise for firms in the Bilbao-focused

HEGAN aerospace cluster, to 1.76bn; 65% was exported
63m
57%
No
TOTAL
VOTES:
3,194
Flightglobal dashboard
The first-quarter operating loss at Air France-KLMs cargo

unit made last years 34m deficit look relatively healthy
100
Flightglobal dashboard
The number of sales lost by Boeing; Avianca will stick

with A320s because Boeing didnt fight hard enough
Yes,
exclusively
Trentpowered
7%
Yes, with
engine
choice
This week, we ask: Ryanairs brand image makeover?
Cheap and cheerful
Cheap and tolerable Cheap and nasty
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profiles, schedules, and fleet, financial and traffic information ightglobal.com/dashboard
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4 | Flight International | 5-11 May 2015
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COMMENT
Thinking small
Budgetary requirements and rising operating costs are forcing the US military to cut the size
of its aircraft fleet. The next generation of platforms must be capable of doing more for less
nother 2,000 aircraft are projected to exit the US

militarys inventory over the next decade. For the
eets of many countries, this would be an existential crisis. But this is the American eet, so it is only a 15% cut.
If the world looked any safer now than a decade ago,
a planned cull would be welcomed. And as aircraft
grow in capability and longevity, it should be possible
to eld a smaller force packing a similar punch.
But these eet reductions outlined in the US
militarys annual 30-year aviation plan ow out of
broader considerations that have more to do with rising
operating costs and tightening budgets.
Thirty-year forecasts are not to be taken at face value,
but visibility over the next 10 years is reasonably clear.
And it looks like a dreary decade for aircraft power.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 is expected to begin its
long-delayed ramp up to full-rate production, although
not fast enough to replace the number of ghters reach-
Almost missing from the plan

is the introduction of a new
clean-sheet aircraft design
ing retirement age. The rst of a new generation of
long-range strategic bombers will arrive under LRS-B.
And the number of tankers and airlifters will actually
grow as the Boeing KC-46A enters the eet.
Those three programmes will replenish the US
militarys capability versus the most advanced threats
over the next 10 years, following a decade of intense
focus on low-threat conicts.
Survivability, appropriately, is the key to surviving
the cull. The Fairchild Republic A-10 may yet duck the
US Air Forces second attempt to usher it into retire-
Rex Features
Someones going to need a bigger boneyard
ment, but it faces a long-term struggle against the

services priorities. The army, meanwhile, has already
begun pensioning off its Bell Helicopter OH-58D
Kiowa Warriors with virtually no resistance.
Almost missing from the 10-year inventory plan is
the introduction of a clean-sheet aircraft. The only new
designs to arrive will be the navys carrier-based unmanned air vehicle, an advanced ghter trainer to replace the aged Northrop T-38 Talon, and the LRS-B.
It will be at least another decade before the next
wave of innovation sweeps in, with the potential arrival of sixth-generation ghters, high-speed rotorcraft
and perhaps even blended-wing body transports in the
2030s or shortly thereafter.
As each new system enters the eet, it seems inevitable that each advanced design will be more capable,
cost more to buy and operate and be procured in lower
quantities. The nifty trick of the consumer electronics
revolution more performance at less cost will continue to elude the aerospace industry.
See This Week P9
Saint or sinner?
I
To find more coverage about

the US militarys spending
challenge, go online at
ightglobal.com/defence
flightglobal.com
s Michael OLeary a sinner come to repentance? For

years, Ryanair seemed to delight in being vile to
customers. Cheap fares, an extensive network, modern
(if frill-free) aircraft and punctual service kept punters
rolling in. But few would have professed any kind of
warm feelings to Europes biggest short-haul airline.
Passengers were barred or ned for carry-on baggage
that was too big, or forgetting to print a boarding pass.
The media gleefully reported tales of disabled travellers charged for wheelchairs or harrassed holidaymakers in tears after being unable to y home.
Ryanair has been softening its hard edge and nudging towards the market that its rival EasyJet has tapped:
thrifty professional yers happy to pay for exibility
and access to large airports. These passengers do not

want to be treated like naughty children.
But the colourful chief executives Mr Nice Guy
conversion should be viewed with scepticism. OLeary
is, above all, a top businessman who turned Ryanair
from Irish minnow to European behemoth. He knows
Ryanairs new image is right for a new marketplace.
And OLeary says he has done aviation a favour. By
being uncompromising with customer service, the
airline has made passengers more resilient. Fewer turn
up late at airports these days, or overpack or fail to
complete check-in procedures. One of Ryanairs key
contributions to aviation has been to sharpen us up.
See News Focus P24
THIS WEEK
To get more defence sector coverage,

subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter:
ightglobal.com/defencenewsletter
BRIEFING
Doha will acquire the type

through a 4 May contract
SUPERJUMBO IAG does not see room for additional Airbus A380s
in the British Airways fleet, despite being impressed with the types
performance. BA has taken delivery of nine A380s from its firm order
for 12. Parent company IAGs chief executive, Willie Walsh, says the
aircraft has performed exceptionally well and exceeded expectations in the BA network. But Walsh believes the benefit of the aircraft
is unique to [BAs] network, given the Heathrow hub, and that there
are a limited number of cities to which it can apply the model.
JAPANESE AMPHIBIAN IN TRAINING MISHAP
ACCIDENT All 19 crew members aboard a Japan Maritime SelfDefence Force ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious aircraft were rescued
when the search and rescue asset crashed on 28 April. Bearing the
tail number 9905, the aircraft was left floating nose down in the sea
following the mishap, which occurred off the coast of the nations
Kochi province during a training exercise.
LIEBHERR WINS 777X FOLDING WING-TIP DEAL
CONTRACT Germanys Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg is to supply

crucial components for the Boeing 777Xs folding wing-tip mechanism. The 3.5m (11.4ft) folding tips will reduce the types wing span
to less than 65m, to stay within the size category of the current 777.
Liebherr-Aerospace states that it will provide the fold subsystem as
well as latch-pin and secondary-lock actuators. The subsystem will
employ a motor and rotating actuator to move the wing-tip.
AUTOMATIC TAKE-OFFS TO LIFT ISRAELI UAV FORCE
OPERATIONS Israels air force is in the process of incorporating an

automatic take-off and landing capability into its Israel Aerospace
Industries Heron 1 and Elbit Systems Hermes 900 unmanned air
vehicles. The service which already has such a capability available
for its larger Heron TPs says the advance will give its White Eagle
squadron increased operational capacity in poor weather conditions.
EMBRAER BOOSTS COMMERCIAL AVIATION REVENUE
RESULTS A sharp rise in deliveries helped lift Embraers commercial

aviation segment revenues in the first quarter compared with the
same period a year ago, but declining defence and executive jet
sales resulted in a $58.9 million net loss, the company announced
on 30 April. First quarter sales rose by 19% year-on-year to $662
million, as it delivered 20 Embraer 175s, compared to 14 E-Jets in
the same period last year.
TU-160 PRODUCTION GIVEN STRATEGIC REVIVAL
BOMBERS Russias defence ministry says it is to restart production

of the Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber, describing the supersonic
type as the best aircraft in its class. Moscow is already upgrading
its 13 Tu-160s to an M-model standard, and has 14 more on order.
AER LINGUS ATR CREW FACED LOSS OF VISIBILITY
INCIDENT Investigators have disclosed that an ATR 72 turboprop

crew faced a severe loss of visibility during a night landing after a
coating of salt covered the windscreen. The aircraft, operating for Aer
Lingus Regional, had already executed a go-around at Cork for unrelated reasons. Following the go-around it had rejoined the approach
to runway 25, via a coastal route at a height of 3,000ft. The Irish Air
Accident Investigation Unit says the crew carried out a second goaround after a thick residue of sea salt obscured visibility.
Dassault
BA HAPPY WITH A380 BUT DOES NOT WANT MORE
CAPABILITY DOMINC PERRY LONDON
Rafale hits target

as Qatar commits
Dassault announces Gulf states selection of its fighter for
24-unit deal, continuing the types recent export advances
atar has ended its longrunning search for new

strike aircraft, with a decision to
acquire 24 Dassault Rafales.
Announced by the manufacturer on 30 April, the deal is expected to be nalised with a contract signing in Doha on 4 May, in
the presence of the French president, Franois Hollande.
The Rafale acquisition will deliver replacements for the Qatar
Emiri Air Forces current Dassault
Mirage 2000-5EDAs. Flightglobals MiliCAS database records the
service as operating nine of the
type plus four DDA-model trainers, along with six Dassaultsourced Alpha Jets. It also previously used the Mirage F1 ghter.
Qatars selection is the latest in
a run of recent successes for the
Snecma M88-powered Rafale,
which already this year has se-
cured a 36-unit order from Egypt

and a declaration of intent from
India to acquire the same number
of aircraft for its air force.
If all three commitments are nalised, they would bring the
French type within three units of
matching the current export
order total of 99 aircraft achieved
by the Euroghter consortium,
whose Typhoon had also previously been on offer to Doha.
This success demonstrates
the Rafales operational qualities
and conrms the condence that
countries which are already users
of the Mirage 2000 have in our
company, says Dassault chief
executive Eric Trappier.
The new ghter capability will
be introduced before Qatar hosts
the football World Cup in 2022.
Additional reporting by
Craig Hoyle
FLEET ELLIS TAYLOR SINGAPORE
Malaysia set to sell off widebodies
alaysia Airlines appears to

be preparing to sell off a
number of its widebody aircraft,
as the carrier restructures its network and eet.
The airline has already started
marketing
some
Boeing
777-200ERs and Airbus A330-200
freighters to potential purchasers,
according to industry sources.
Separate reports that it is also
planning to sell or lease out its six
A380s have not been conrmed.
An airline ofcial says it intends to approach the market to

dispose of some assets, but declines to comment further.
In addition to its A380s, Flightglobals Ascend Fleets database
records Malaysia Airlines as having an active widebody eet of 13
777-200ERs following the loss
of MH370 and MH17 last year
and 13 A330-300s, plus a
freighter inventory of four A330s
and two 747-400s.
flightglobal.com
THIS WEEK
Generator bug
prompts 787
directive
THIS WEEK P11
BUDGET STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
RESULTS
US military sets course for

2,000-unit eet reduction
Airbus reports
steady start for
2015 orderbook
Retirements to accelerate in coming decade, after brief funding respite from Congress
Congressional
committee
voted on 28 April to add
money for the Pentagon to buy 18
more ghters and four more unmanned air systems in the next
scal year. But the release of the
US militarys long-term aviation
plan the day before shows that
eet retirements will be accelerating over the next decade.
Marking the rst step in a
months-long authorisation and
appropriations process, the markup by the House Armed Services
Committee (HASC) authorised a
proposal to give the Pentagon
$604 billion in the scal year that
begins on 1 October slightly
less than the $612 billion requested by the Obama administration.
Aviation programmes fared
well in the HASC version of the
bill, which must still be approved by the House of Representatives. Committee members
authorised the navy to spend
$1.15 billion more than requested, to buy 12 more Boeing
EA-18G Growler electronic attack
aircraft which the manufacturer
needs to extend production
through scal year 2017.
A long-term aviation
plan shows that the
military aircraft eet
is expected to decline
by nearly 2,000 units
Lockheed Martin
The planned purchase of six additional F-35Bs will cost $1 billion

They also approved $1 billion
for six more F-35Bs, which
would raise the overall number
of the Lockheed Martin type for
the US services to 63 in the
FY2016 budget.
The air forces latest attempt
to retire the Fairchild Republic
A-10 close-air-support aircraft
continues to face resistance from
Congress, with the committee
adding $240 million to continue
funding for a wing replacement
programme for the type.
The HASC members also
revealed a potential new delay
for the services plan to award a
contract for a long-range strike
bomber around mid-year. Citing
delays to the schedule for the
award, the committee removed
$400 million in funding.
While the committee recommends an overall addition to the

aviation accounts next year, the
long-term trend is tilted in the
opposite direction.
A long-term aviation plan
submitted to Congress by the
Pentagon shows that the military
aircraft eet is expected to decline by nearly 2,000 units over
the next 10 years from 14,900
today to about 12,900 in FY2025.
This will include the scheduled retirement of about 600
army-operated Bell Helicopter
OH-58Ds by the end of this year.
Numbers will fall in every
category except airlift and tankers, which are projected to grow
by about 140 aircraft, to reach
about 4,620.
See Defence P18
perating prot at Airbuss

commercial aircraft division
increased by 8% to 569 million
($637 million) in the rst quarter
as revenue reached 8.6 billion a
performance it attributes to
favourable foreign exchange mitigating lower delivery volume.
The company delivered 134
commercial jets and took 101 net
orders in the three months ending 31 March, compared with
141 and 103 respectively in the
same period of 2014.
The rst-quarter order haul included 34 A330-family aircraft,
while one A350 and four A380s
were among the aircraft handed
over. The A380 programme remains on track to reach breakeven this year, Airbus says,
while the A350s production
ramp-up is ongoing, with the
second aircraft delivered to Qatar
Airways as planned. Development of the A320neo remains
on schedule.
Group revenue narrowed by
4% to 12.1 billion, mainly reecting the phasing of deliveries
at Commercial Aircraft, which
are expected to be back-loaded in
2015, the company says. Operating prot at the group level narrowed by 7.5%, to 651 million.
We are on track to achieve our
full-year targets, says group chief
executive Tom Enders.
Airbus foresees full-year deliveries being slightly higher than
2014s total of 629, and says the
commercial aircraft order book is
again expected to grow.
PROGRAMME
PC-24 taxis towards rst ight in May
Stephan Widmer
Pilatus has begun taxi runs of its PC-24, and says the light business jet
remains on target to make its first flight during May. The seven-seat twin
was pictured on the taxiway at the airframers Stans, Switzerland headquarters on 29 April. Launched in 2012, the PC-24 is the first business
jet programme for Pilatus builder of the PC-series of propeller-driven
civilian aircraft and military trainers. Certification and service entry are
scheduled for 2017, with the company touting the types short-runway
performance and its ability to land on rough strips.
flightglobal.com
THIS WEEK
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CONTRACTS DAVID LEARMOUNT LONDON
Europe pilot group warns

against pay-to-fly offers
espite years of protest from the
pilot community, pay-to-y
(P2F) schemes are becoming more
common, according to the European Cockpit Association (ECA).
The term refers to a practice where
inexperienced but licensed pilots
pay to act as crew on commercial
or business aviation ights, in
order to become more employable.
Airlines are constantly reinventing models to get cheaper labour, like hiring self-employed or
fake-self-employed pilots, pilots on
temporary work agency contracts,
or on zero-hours contracts, says
ECA president Dirk Polloczek.
P2F takes such unacceptable
practices to a wholly different
level: the employment of young pilots is no longer an investment by
the airline in its staff but a simple
revenue generator. It is a blunt
abuse and exploitation of young,
low-hours pilots who are desperate
to nd a job.
The issue is also becoming

more common in the USA, where
Congress has previously ruled
that pilots must have 1,500h of
airborne experience before ying
for US commercial carriers.
Miami, Florida-based EagleJet
International, for example, is offering low-hour pilots the opportunity to gain 1,000h ying Airbus A320s for an Asian airline
or others. The company is now
offering European pilots this opportunity for 87,500 ($97,400).
The ECA is worried that the
idea is gaining ground with operators in Europe. Secretary general Philip von Schppenthau
cautions: P2F provides a perverse incentive for a pilot to y at
any cost. Few will admit it, but
when you have paid up to
50,000 to y this plane, you
will think twice before deciding
not to y today because you feel
sick or fatigued. Q
ATR
Last years overhaul in Toulouse could lift annual capacity to 120

DEVELOPMENT
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON MURDO MORRISON TOULOUSE
Market needs put

90-seater plan at
bottom of ATR list
Resistance from Airbus Group contributes to retreat from
larger model as production capacity continues to increase
PROPULSION DAN THISDELL LONDON
Airbus powers ahead with E-Fan
irbuss vision of an electric

ight future is starting to
shape up, with plans to build a
nal assembly line for its E-Fan
light aircraft range in Pau, southeastern France.
The ambitious project will see
an all-electric two-seater entering
service around the end of 2017 or
in early 2018, with ight schools
the likely customers.
A four-seat E-Fan 4.0 will follow, featuring a kerosene engine
range extender to keep its
battery topped up.
Both aircraft are based on the
twin-engined E-Fan prototype,
which Airbus ew publicly for

the rst time at Bordeaux Merignac airport in April 2014. Chief
technology ofcer Jean Botti sees
the project as key early experience in design and industrialisation of an E-Thrust hybrid electric regional aircraft that, he
insists, will eventually be offered
by Airbus although probably in
a 2050s timescale.
Airbus says Pau was chosen for
the assembly location due to its
proximity to design partner
Daher. E-Fan is managed, designed and will ultimately be sold
by Airbus subsidiary Voltair. Q
Airbus
The all-electric light

aircraft should enter
service by 2018
he prospects of a 90-seat aircraft

from ATR appear to be receding, as the Airbus/Alenia Aermacchi joint venture focuses efforts on
a 78- to 80-seat higher-density version of the ATR 72 turboprop.
Quoted in the manufacturers
in-house publication, chief executive Patrick de Castelbajac says
operators are looking for more efcient aircraft that can carry additional passengers and generate
extra revenue. This is why we are
considering bringing the number
of seats in the aircraft up to 78, he
says, adding that a 90-seat aircraft
is not necessarily what the market wants right now.
ATR has long been studying
the possibility of a 90-seat aircraft
but, despite enthusiasm from
Finmeccanica-owned Alenia, the
project has met resistance from
Airbus Group.
Meanwhile, ATR says a major
overhaul of its Toulouse nal assembly plant last year to create
two parallel production lines
could take capacity to 120 aircraft

a year. Steadily increasing demand has led ATR to raise its output every year since a single-gure nadir in 2004, and this year
the airframer will produce 90 aircraft, around 10% of which will
be the smaller ATR 42 variant.
Although ATR believes production will plateau at 100 aircraft in 2016, it wants the ability
to add another 20% in terms of
capacity should the turboprops
popularity continue to grow.
We changed our approach
about ve years ago and told suppliers they needed to invest,
says Raphael Dubus, head of
manufacturing. All our tier ones
now get a three-year visibility, including a six-month rm order,
which was three months before.
It is also insisting that contractors deliver components on the
due date. Three years ago, our ontime deliveries were 60%. It is now
90%, and we are targeting 95% for
the end of the year, Dubus says. Q
flightglobal.com
THIS WEEK
Spirit automates to
meet ramp-up on
programmes
AIR TRANSPORT P12
SOFTWARE STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Generator bug prompts 787 directive

FAA mandates periodical deactivation of electrical system after Boeing test results highlight potential total loss of power
ll Boeing 787 operators will be
required to periodically deactivate the electrical system to
avoid a problem with a newly-discovered software bug that could
cause the aircraft to lose alternating current power, the US Federal
Aviation Administration says in a
new airworthiness directive.
The agency adopted the nal
rule after Boeing reported the results of a laboratory test showing
that a total loss of power is possible if the generator control units
run continuously for eight
months, the FAA says in a 30
April notice. Its binding airworthiness directive was published less
than two weeks after Boeing privately alerted operators about the
problem, the company conrms.
So far, no 787 operator has experienced the software problem
that causes four onboard generators to stop working at the same
time, Boeing says. The company
Boeing
Boeing had already warned operators about the potential problem

is working on a software update
to x the problem, which should
be ready in the fourth quarter.
In addition to powering onboard avionics, the 787s electrical
generators also are used to pressurise the aircraft cabin and de-ice
the leading edge of the wing.
Two 250kVA generators are installed on each of the 787s turbo-
fan engines. Another two back-up

generators each rated at 225kVA
are connected to the auxiliary
power unit. If all six generators
fail at the same time, a lithium-ion
main battery keeps power running
to the ightdeck systems for about
6s, until a ram air turbine (RAT)
can deploy and begin generating
enough power to help the pilots
navigate while attempting to restart the engines or glide to an unpowered landing.

Boeings laboratory testing discovered that an internal software
counter in a generator control
unit (GCU) overows after running continuously for 248 days,
the FAA says. This causes all four
GCUs on the engine-mounted
generators to enter failsafe mode
at the same time.
Last June, the FAA approved an
exemption to allow the 787-9 to
enter service on schedule, despite
a substandard reliability record on
the GCU for the RAT. The agency
approved the exemption because it
was deemed extremely improbable that all six power generators on
board could fail at the same time.
A redesigned RAT was cut into
the 787-9 production line on
schedule in February and Boeing
says it is continuing to retrot
previously delivered aircraft. Q
OPERATIONS CRAIG HOYLE GOTLAND
Sweden to step up fighter readiness

T
squadrons attain full operational

status. Two are now focused mainly on delivering pilot training services with the F7 wing at Satenas.
Speaking at the F17 wings forward operating base on Gotland
on 28 April, Swedish air force
chief of staff Marcus Bjrkgren
said the service has begun assessing the implications of the deci-
Craig Hoyle/Flightglobal
he Swedish government has

outlined its defence priorities
until 2020, with new measures to
include increasing the number of
fully operational Saab Gripen
squadrons and potentially ordering a further 10 E-model examples.
Published on 24 April, the
framework document sets a target
to have all six current Gripen
All six Gripen C/D squadrons would attain full operational status
flightglobal.com
sion for its eet of almost 100

Gripen C/Ds. We will have to
focus a little extra to get those
[training] squadrons to a real operational level, he says.
The initiative is being pursued
following an escalation in quick
reaction alert activities in Swedish airspace, due to the increase
in Russian air force ights over
the Baltic Sea since 2013.
The defence bill for 2016 to
2020 would increase spending by
SKr10.2 billion ($1.2 billion).
The government says it could
also potentially boost the air
forces Gripen E order by a further
10 aircraft, to 70, although its veyear plan does not include funding for this. Deliveries under its
existing order will commence
during 2019, with the type expected to achieve initial operating capability in 2023 and become fully
operational three years later. Q
See Defence P19
EDITORIAL CHANGES
After 14 years leading Flight
International, Murdo
Morrison is moving to a new
role within Flightglobal. As
head of strategic content, he
will manage our Flight Daily
News publications, strategic
content programme and
thought leadership initiative,
which seeks to deliver enhanced analysis and content
to the aerospace market.
Craig Hoyle who has
been with Flightglobal since
2003 becomes editor of
Flight International, with
Dominic Perry appointed as
deputy editor and Dan
Thisdell as features editor.
Meanwhile, the global
editorial team has been
strengthened with the appointment of James Drew,
who joins Flightglobals US
bureau in Washington DC as
Americas aerospace reporter.
AIR TRANSPORT
Find out what our advisory service

Ascend can offer your business:
ightglobal.com/ascend
UPGRADES JON HEMMERDINGER WASHINGTON DC
Southwest fits its 737s

with Honeywell avionics
Southwest also has 118 older
737-300s and 12 737-500s, Ascend shows, although the carrier
does not say whether those types
will receive the upgrades.
The aircraft will also have installed Honeywells Integrated
Multi-Mode Receiver, which can
process data from a range of navigation systems, as well as its Aspire satellite communications
system, which provides voice
and data communication via satellite networks, the US-based
company says.
Other equipment covered in
the deal includes Honeywells IntuVue RDR-4000 3-D weather
radar, which can help predict turbulence at distances up to 60nm,
and its Quantum Line communications and navigation radios,
Honeywell adds.
Production of Airbuss A350 will increase to 10 per month by 2017

MANUFACTURING STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Spirit automates
to meet ramp-up
on programmes
Aerostructures provider to spend $100 million in technology
as output increases sharply on A320, A350, 737 and 787
Eastern Air Lines
ow-cost carrier Southwest

Airlines will equip most of its
eet with updated avionics provided by Honeywell, including a
collision avoidance system that
can be coupled with an automatic dependent surveillancebroadcast (ADS-B) In receiver.
Honeywell says Southwests
Boeing 737NGs and its incoming
737 Max will get the SmartTrafc
collision avoidance system.
Although the system has the
ability to interface with ADS-B
In data, Honeywell tells Flight
International that the deal does
not include installation of those
receivers.
The carriers eet includes 436
737-700s and 93 737-800s, and it
has orders for 170 737 Max 8s and
30 737 Max 7s, says Flightglobals
Ascend Fleets database.
Airbus
The carriers first aircraft is a Boeing 737-800 from FLY Leasing

APPROVAL
New Eastern cleared for take-off
iami-based start-up carrier

Eastern Air Lines has received nal approval from the US
Department of Transportation to
launch charter operations.
The certicate was nalised
after the DOT received no objections to a tentative 20 April ruling.
The airline intends initially to
offer charter ights from Miami
to the Caribbean and Latin America until it receives a certicate
for scheduled operations.
The carrier currently has one

Boeing 737-800 leased from FLY
Leasing and orders for 10 more
of the type, Flightglobals Ascend Fleets database shows.
It also has a rm order for 20
Mitsubishi Aircraft MRJ90s as
well as a letter of intent for 10
737 Max 8s.
Eastern uses the same name
and brand of the previous Miamibased US trunk carrier that shut
down in 1991.
pirit AeroSystems has announced a plan to invest more

than $100 million in automation
projects to support production
rate increases across four Airbus
and Boeing aircraft programmes.
We continue to drive the enterprise to nd the most efcient
and productive approaches for the
rate increases on the 737, A320,
787 and A350, says Spirit AeroSystems chief executive Larry
Lawson. In addition to investments to support the rate, we are
investing in automation projects
of over $100 million. These automation projects will return our investment in three to four years
and continue to differentiate our
manufacturing capability.
The monthly rate for the 737 is
expected to rise from 42 today to
52 in 2018, while Airbus is increasing the A320 rate from 42 to
50 in 2017. The 787 rate is rising

from 10 per month to 12 in 2016
and the A350 is ramping up to 10
per month by 2017.
Spirit AeroSystems supplies
major fuselage structures for the
737, 787 and A350 and wing structures for all these and the A320.
The rate of production is increasing even as Airbus and Boeing introduce eight new versions
of those four aircraft combined
over the next ve years, raising
pressure on major suppliers such
as Spirit AeroSystems to keep up
with demand.
Youre going to see us spend
a lot of energy focused on internal investments, Lawson told
analysts on a rst quarter earnings call on 29 April. We really
have some opportunities to invest in ourselves to connive to
improve operations.
TRAINING
Airbus digs in for Singapore centre
irbuss pilot training joint venture with Singapore Airlines

is set to start operations at a new
facility in the rst quarter of 2016.
Building work has commenced on the Airbus Asia Training Centre (AATC) at Singapores
Seletar Aerospace Park.
It will be Airbuss fourth ight

training centre in its global network, joining facilities in Toulouse,
Miami and Beijing. When fully operational, the Singapore centre will
have eight full-ight simulators
four A350 XWBs, one A380, one
A330 and two A320s.
flightglobal.com
AIR TRANSPORT
EASA warns of
increase in airprox
incidents over Baltic
AIR TRANSPORT P14
SAFETY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
Cargolux grounds lithium-ion batteries

Analysis of fire-extinguishing system capabilities and potential temperatures leads freight operator to ban transport of cells
reight operator Cargolux is
preparing to suspend transport of lithium-ion battery consignments in light of recent re-assessment of the potential hazards
they pose.
Cargolux has reviewed data
from ICAO, the US FAA and Boeing centred on the effectiveness
of onboard extinguishing systems
against lithium battery res.
Last August the FAA presented the results of a full-scale re
test, using a Boeing 727 freighter,
to an air safety forum.
The test showed that containment of a lithium-ion re on the
main deck was marginal while
a blaze involving lithium metal
cells was not contained.
Cargolux had already banned
the carriage of lithium metal cells.
But it says that analysis of re-ex-
Boeing
Lithium batteries may have caused fatal fires on cargo 747s, of which Cargolux operates 23 models
tinguishing system capabilities
and the temperature that lithiumion batteries can reach have
spurred the airline to impose a
temporary suspension on transport of such batteries from 1 May.
To lift the ban as soon as possible, Cargolux will assess differ-
ent options to identify if technology exists or if new technology

can be developed in order to
make the transportation of bulk
shipments of lithium batteries
safe, says the carrier.
Cargolux operates a eet of 23
747-8 and 747-400 freighters.
WIDEBODIES FIRDAUS HASHIM SINGAPORE
Lithium batteries are suspected to have been involved in two

fatal cargo 747 res in the past
ve years.
Lithium-ion batteries contained in other equipment will be
exempt from the suspension,
says the carrier.
ORDERS GHIM-LAY YEO WASHINGTON DC
ANA introduces 787-9

to world beyond Japan
Avianca explains why

Boeing failed to win it
atin American airline group

Aviancas decision to stay
with the Airbus A320 family for
its narrowbody needs ultimately
boiled down to cost efciencies
in a campaign that the airline believes Boeing did not ght hard
enough for, says Avianca cofounder Roberto Kriete.
We are already an Airbus operator. For Boeing to compensate
Avianca for the expense of
switching to a mixed eet, it
would have required a much
stronger effort from Boeing than
they were willing to make, Kriete tells Flightglobal.
The Star Alliance carrier announced in February its intention
787-8s now used internationally,

it says.
ANA also has 787-9s deployed
on domestic services, which are
equipped with 18 business and
377 economy class seats, for 395
seats in total.
Flightglobals Ascend Fleets database shows that ANA operates
32 787-8s and three -9s. It has orders for 48 more 787s.
AirTeamImages
ll Nippon Airways (ANA)

was due to deploy its Boeing
787-9 aircraft on international services on 5 May, beginning with
the Tokyo Haneda-Munich route.
The carriers internationally
congured 787-9s will have 215
seats in three classes: 48 business, 21 premium economy and
146 economy. The aircraft will
carry 46 more seats than ANAs
The widebody type has already been deployed on domestic routes

flightglobal.com
The incumbent
[Airbus] has home
court advantage
ROBERTO KRIETE
Co-founder, Avianca
to order 100 A320neos its second such order for the re-engined
Airbus narrowbody. Aviancas decision follows a campaign that
saw Boeing express condence
that it could unseat Airbus at the
Latin American airline for its future narrowbody eet needs.
Upon Aviancas decision to
stay with the A320, Boeing said it
was disappointed, even as the
carrier remains an important customer for the airframer.
The incumbent [Airbus] has
home court advantage, Kriete acknowledges, saying that Boeing
needed to be more aggressive.
Avianca has no plans for additional aircraft orders following
the commitment for 100 A320neos. The carrier is focused on renewing its eet, an effort which
involves incorporating more Boeing 787s and operating them on
routes now operated with the
A330.
AIR TRANSPORT
For the latest expert news and views

from the air transport sector, visit
ightglobal.com/airtransport
SAFETY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
RESULTS
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW
LONDON
EASA warns of increase in

airprox incidents over Baltic
Revenue rises,
but Sukhoi civil
arm still in red
Unco-operative military flights hazardous to civil aircraft in restricted skies, report says
EASA refers to reported interceptions of Russian aircraft

The structure of Baltic Sea airspace is relatively complex, the
analysis says, with four different
functional blocks and major trafc ows.
Narrow airspace sections make
the presence of non-co-operative
military ights hazardous to
civil aircraft, it adds, because trafc information cannot be provided in a timely manner if civil controllers are unaware of them.
Since this airspace conguration is not new, the number of airspace infringements and occurrences should be comparable
over the years, or at least proportionate to trafc increase, says
EASA in the analysis.
However, the gures stemming from the data provided to
[EASA] show a denitive increase
in the number of occurrences and

also in the number of infringements over the past three years.
Information supplied to EASA
indicates four airprox events involving civil and military aircraft
in 2012. But this increased to 13
last year, plus three airspace infringements. Thirteen of these 16
occurrences last year involved
unco-operative military trafc.
EASA says that the aircraft involved were probably surveillance or reconnaissance types. It
is concerned that instances in
which transponders have been
inactive renders normal anticollision processes ineffective,
adding that the closest proximity
between a civil and military aircraft was 0.5nm horizontally and
300ft vertically.
ukhois civil aircraft division,

which builds the Superjet
100, increased revenues last year
by 45% to just over Rb29 billion
($566 million).
It is claiming a gross prot of
nearly Rb2.8 billion for the period.
But it admits that, despite broad
improvements to its performance,
it made a net loss of Rb4.6 billion.
The airframer increased deliveries to 29 aircraft, up from the
gure of 25 it gave for 2013, generating a hike in sales revenues.
Sukhoi says that it showed a
prot from sales, Rb1.4 billion,
for the rst time since the start of
serial production.
[The rate of
revenue increase] is
outstripping the
growth in costs
SUKHOI
Post-sales customer support

revenues amounted to Rb157 million, says Sukhoi. Expenditure by
the company rose by 21% to
Rb26.3 billion primarily as a result of greater aircraft production.
Sukhoi points out that the rate of
revenue increase is outstripping
the growth in costs, following optimisation of production expense
and a reduction in the number of
deliveries to early customers.
AirTeamImages
Crown Copyright
uropean safety authorities are

highlighting a high risk to
civil aviation from increasing instances of encounters with nonco-operative military aircraft,
particularly over the Baltic Sea.
Non-co-operative ights are
those which le no ightplan,
operate without an active transponder, and do not communicate or co-ordinate with civil air
trafc control.
Newly-published
analysis
from EASA requested by the
European Commission last November shows the number of
safety occurrences involving civil
aircraft and non-co-operative
military ights signicantly increased last year.
The Baltic states were the most
affected by such occurrences in
2014, the analysis states, although similar events were reported by several EU countries.
Risk assessment has concluded
that the threat to civil aviation is
high, it adds, and that mitigation
measures need to be taken to reduce this to an acceptable level.
EASAs technical analysis does
not identify specic military organisations but it does refer to
NATO documentation highlighting interceptions of Russian ghter and bomber formations and
detailing large-scale air activity
by Russian forces.
REQUIREMENT
Cityjet on hunt for Avro replacement

Cityjet is seeking to acquire new aircraft to replace its fleet of BAE
Systems Avro RJ85s.
The Irish airline says it is jointly evaluating new acquisitions with
UK lessor Falko Regional Aircraft and expects deliveries to begin in the
fourth quarter of this year and continue over 30 months.
After 21 years of successful operations with the BAe 146 and its
successor the Avro RJ85, we believe the time is now to firm up on the
aircraft type that represents the best option for us to form the backbone
of our fleet renewal programme, says Pat Byrne, Cityjets founder and
executive chairman.
flightglobal.com
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AIR TRANSPORT
P&W deflects fresh

criticism of F135
DEFENCE P18
RECRUITMENT
MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON
Wizz Air teams

up to train 40
cadets a year
AirTeamImages
The airline says all the passengers on board evacuated safely after the incident at Istanbul Ataturk
INVESTIGATION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
Turkish A320s right engine

damaged in landing attempt
Istanbul-bound crew executed go-around with flames seen coming from one of its V2500s
nvestigators are trying to ascertain the extent of damage sustained by a Turkish Airlines Airbus A320, apparently during an
initial landing attempt before the
aircraft executed a go-around at
Istanbul Ataturk.
While the aircraft subsequently landed safely albeit with a
runway excursion and apparent
gear collapse there is evidence
that it had been ying with substantial damage to its starboard
wing and International Aero Engines V2500 powerplant.
The airline says all 97 passengers on ight TK1878 evacuated
safely after the aircraft, arriving
from Milan on 25 April, came to

rest. Necessary investigation has
been started to clarify the causes
of the incident, says the carrier.
Publicly-available automatic
dependent surveillance data indicates that the aircraft initially
made an approach to runway 05.
Meteorological data at the time
indicates a slight crosswind but
good weather conditions.
But the crew aborted the landing and turned south over the Sea
of Marmara before attempting a
second approach to the longer
runway 35L some 20min later.
Images of the aircraft in ight
show ames appearing to ema-
nate from the starboard engine.

Subsequent photographs also indicate substantial structural damage to the inboard trailing edge, a
missing starboard exhaust nozzle, a displaced winglet, and the
starboard main landing-gear out
of its normal position.
Video images of the touchdown
indicate that this main gear assembly was unable to prevent the
right-hand engine from contacting
the runway. The aircraft registered TC-JPE and bearing the colour scheme of Star Alliance, of
which Turkish Airlines is a member left the runway as it slowed,
and ground-looped.
entral European budget

carrier Wizz Air is the latest
operator to introduce a cadet
pilot programme as the industry
struggles to nd sufcient qualied ightdeck crew to meet ambitious growth plans.
The Budapest-headquartered
airline has signed ve-year cooperation agreements with UK
pilot school CTC Aviation and
with Central European Flight
Academy, a partnership between Hungarian pilot training
specialist Trener, KLM subsidiary Martinair Flight Academy,
and Flight Simulation (FSC) in
the Netherlands.
Courses
will
start
in
September this year, and the carrier has set an initial target of recruiting 40 cadets a year. The
programme will comprise training for an integrated air transport
pilot licence (ATPL) with a type
rating on the airlines Airbus
A320-family eet.
Participants who complete the
training with the required prociency will have a guaranteed
job, says Wizz.
The airline is launching the
scheme to support signicant
growth of its business, it says.
CTC Aviation has also recently partnered with low cost carriers including Flybe and Ryanair
to train cadet pilots.
Connectivity in the Cockpit

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flightglobal.com
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Servers
DEFENCE
Australia gets
Super Hornet
support boost
he US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has approved a $1.5 billion sustainment
package for Australias current 24
Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets
and future eet of 12 EA-18G
Growler electronic warfare aircraft.
Boeing will be prime contractor
for the work, which also is to cover
software and hardware upgrades,
engineering change proposals,
spare parts and other equipment
and services, the DSCA says.
The proposed sale of followon sustainment support and services will enable the Royal Australian Air Force to ensure the
reliability and performance of its
F/A-18 eet, the agency says.
The follow-on support will allow
Australia to maintain aircraft
availability/operational rates, and
enhance interoperability with the
US and other nations. Q
MODIFICATIONS ARIE EGOZI TEL AVIV
IAI set to ramp up tanker conversions

I
srael Aerospace Industries

Bedek group will operate a dedicated conversion line for Boeing
767s to be adapted to the companys multi-mission tanker transport (MMTT) conguration.
Yosi Melamed, Bedek Aviation
Group executive vice-president
and general manager, says the line
will receive used 767-300ERs and
make the necessary modications
to the airframe and systems to enable the new role. This work will
include incorporating a new glass
cockpit and the installation of replacement GE Aviation CF6-80C2
engines, plus the installation of
auxiliary fuel tanks, under-wing
hose-and drogue refuelling pods
and a boom, if the latter is required by the customer.
The conguration will allow
in addition to the main mission
of aerial refuelling to transport
200 soldiers and 60t of cargo,
Melamed says. The aircraft will
be able to perform all-cargo or all-
Brazilian air force
UPGRADES
Access reports on all the latest military

aviation news from across the globe at
ightglobal.com/defence
Bedek has delivered a converted 767-200ER to Colombias air force

passenger transport duties, or be
own in a Combi conguration,
according to the company.
IAI is currently offering the 767
MMTT in a competition in South
Korea, which wants to acquire
four tankers for its air force. A selection in South Korea is expected
in the coming months, according to Israeli defence ministry
sources, who claim that the price
of the 767 MMTT will be 15-20%
lower than any other alternative.

Seoul also is considering the Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport and Boeing KC-46.
Bedek has previously delivered
one 767-200ER converted as a
tanker/transport for the Colombian air force. After long delays, the
Brazilian government also has allocated the required budget for the
purchase of three 767-300s to be
converted for the role by IAI. Q
POWERPLANTS STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
P&W deects fresh criticism of F135

US government reports citing reliability and quality management system problems are rebuffed by engine manufacturer
ratt & Whitneys F135 engine
for the Lockheed Martin F-35
is the target of two new US government reports criticising the
propulsion systems very poor
reliability and 61 nonconformities with P&Ws own and the Department of Defenses quality
management procedures.
The ndings by the US Government Accountability Ofce
(GAO) and the DoD Inspector
General (IG) have appeared less
than two months before the US
Marine Corps prepares to declare
initial operational capability with
its rst frontline squadron of
short take-off and vertical landing
(STOVL) F-35Bs.
P&W argues that the GAO is
mischaracterising the F135s reliability data, and that the IG reports ndings about its management system do not reect the
quality of the end-product.
US Air Force
The F-35As engine faces a component failure roughly every 25h

The engine is reliable, and
well continue trying to make it
more reliable, says Bennett
Croswell, president of P&Ws
military engines business.
In a 14 April report, however,
the GAO says that a key reliability metric for the F135 the mean
ight hours between component
failures is tracking well behind
a planned growth curve.
At this point in development,
that curve suggests the conventional take-off and landing version of the engine should operate
for more than 100 ight hours
between failures, the GAO says,
but eet data shows the eet averages a failure roughly every
25h. The STOVL version of the
engine should be averaging
about 90h between failures, but
is actually achieving closer to 45,
the GAO says.
Croswell acknowledges the accuracy of the GAOs numbers, but

says that its report does not reect the overall picture of the
F135s reliability record.
Although mean ight hours
between component failures are
below expectations, two other
key reliability metrics mean
ight hours between removals
and full mission capability rate
are running above expected levels, he notes.
P&Ws ground-based testing of
the production conguration
F135 also shows that version
should meet current reliability targets once it enters ight operations later this year, Croswell says.
Although the IG was sharply
critical of P&Ws quality management system, he says the company stands by a commercially derived programme that it has
adapted for the programme. Q
flightglobal.com
DEFENCE
RAF to harness
Lightnings ISR
power
DEFENCE P20
MODIFICATION CRAIG HOYLE LINKPING
Saab touts Gripen C/D radar upgrade

Company reveals flight-testing campaigns already performed for extended-range Mk4 version of fighters PS-05/A sensor
aab has held recent early discussions with the Swedish
air force and export operators of
the Gripen C/D about a dramatic
upgrade in capability for the
types PS-05/A re-control radar.
Disclosed by company ofcials
on 27 April, the Mk4 modication involves the replacement of
two line-replaceable units in the
back section of the mechanicallyscanned radar. This provides a
new exciter/receiver module
with digital waveform generation
and a new radar processing unit,
along with updated software.
As a result of these changes, the
PS-05/A Mk4 gains a claimed increase in detection range of at least
100%, and this is expected to rise
to 150% for a high-altitude air-toair engagement scenario by 2017,
Saab says. Such a boost will enable the Gripen to capitalise on the
full ring envelope for the Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM and
MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles.
The enhancement also offers an
increased capability to detect helicopters and targets with a low
radar cross section, and improved
air-to-ground performance.
Saab says the self-funded development has already been
ight-tested, during campaigns
conducted in December 2014 and
last month. The adaptation
which retains the PS-05/As existing front-end hardware makes
use of commercial off-the-shelf

equipment, as well as systems developed in support of some of its
other radar programmes.
The modications needed
have been kept to the absolute
minimum, and you can switch
between Mk3 and 4 hardware
congurations easily within the
aircraft, says Jan Qvillberg, head
of the companys ghter radar
and datalinks product area.
Speaking at its Linkping site,
Qvillberg says the company
could deliver an operational system within two years of a contract being placed. The Mk4 design is also suitable for use with
other aircraft types.
We will offer this to new export customers, and have briefed
existing C/D customers, says
Jerker Ahlqvist, Saabs head of
Gripen. In addition to Sweden, the
models are own by the air forces
of the Czech Republic, Hungary,
South Africa and Thailand.
The C/D-version ghter cannot
currently be equipped with an active electronically scanned array
(AESA) radar without major structural modications to provide increased power and cooling capacity. However, the in-development
Gripen E, on order for the Swedish air force and also Brazil, will
be supplied from 2019 with the
Selex ES-produced ES-05 Raven
AESA sensor.
Changes will boost

air-to-air detection
range for AMRAAM
by at least 100%
Saab
ORDER
Brazil in $245m deal for NG weapons

Brazil has further advanced its acquisition programme for the Saab
Gripen NG by signing a roughly $245
million contract for the types weapons. Announced on 24 April, the
deal is between the company and
the Brazilian defence ministrys aeronautics command.
Saab declines to detail the individual weapon systems included in
the package, but says all export authorisations should be received during the second half of this year.
The acquisition contract includes weapon deliveries by Saab
and suppliers which have been selected by the customer, it adds.
Brazil last October confirmed its
programme to acquire 36 Gripen
NGs, and a final agreement covering
the financial aspects of the procure-
ment should be concluded soon,

according to Saab.
We expect that the agreement
with the Brazilian government
comes into effect during the second
quarter, and the total order value will
amount to SKr39.3 billion [$4.6 billion], chief executive Hkan Buskhe
said in a first quarter earnings statement also released on 24 April.
The Brazilian air force will receive
28 single-seat aircraft and eight twoseat examples from 2019 under the
acquisition, but could eventually increase its fleet to more than 100
Gripens. Saab in mid-April finalised
a programme management and local production arrangement with
Embraer for the type.
See our 19 May issue for a full
Gripen programme update
ACCEPTANCE ATUL CHANDRA BENGALURU
Trio of Cheetal helicopters delivered to Afghanistan
Hindustan Aeronautics
Hindustan Aeronautics has trained four pilots to fly the rotorcraft

flightglobal.com
fghanistans air force has

received a trio of Hindustan
Aeronautics (HAL) Cheetal light
helicopters, with the Turbomeca
TM333-2M2-powered aircraft
delivered in mid-April.
These
helicopters
were
handed over with associated
spares and equipment. HAL has
also trained four Afghan pilots in
Bengaluru, says company
chairman and managing director
T Suvarna Raju.
Capable of being operated at

altitudes of up to 23,000ft and
with a ight endurance of 3.5h,
the helicopter has a range of
345nm (640km).
Kabul also recently took delivery of its rst batch of six armed
MD Helicopters MD530Fs.
The US company expects to
hand over the remaining
examples from a 12-unit deal
signed last October by the end
of August 2015.
DEFENCE
To get more defence sector coverage,

subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter:
ightglobal.com/defencenewsletter
SURVEILLANCE BETH STEVENSON LONDON
RAF to harness Lightnings ISR power

Service official emphasises need to employ full capability of F-35s electronically-scanned array radar during future conflicts
he UK Royal Air Force could
in the future use its ghter
aircraft as surveillance assets,
moving away from current
stovepipe operations and allowing more data to be collected
and exploited during conicts.
Under its current operational
command structure, the RAFs
combat aircraft and intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance
(ISR) assets are split into two
separate areas.
We need to nd a way of jolting the system to bring us back to
a single operation, an RAF ofcer told SMis ISR conference in
London in mid-April.
The fast jets now have as
much capability to collect ISR
data as the big traditional [ISR]
planes, but they dont have the
capability to process and
disseminate it.
The UKs introduction of the
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning
II will test this theory, as the
types active electronically
scanned array radar will provide
Crown Copyright
The Lockheed Martin type can collect a huge amount of data

phenomenal capability, the
ofcer says, adding: We need to
be able to exploit this and use all
of that data being collected from
the Lightning.
We need to be able
to exploit and use
all of the data being
collected from
the Lightning
ROYAL AIR FORCE
Future operating environments also are likely to be more

difcult than the RAF recently
experienced in Afghanistan.
Islamic State militants active in
nations including Iraq and Syria
have greater nancial support,
enabling the organisation to
purchase technology such as
night-vision
goggles
and
handheld identication friendor-foe scanners.
They are the military acting in
a non-military guise this enemy
has a brain, the RAF ofcer notes.

The threat of state-backed
cyber attacks could disrupt
datalinks, while GPS jamming
could jeopardise missions.
Its not just a case of what we
are technologically capable of
now, its more a case of what the
enemy can do and how they can
inuence where we position our
assets, he notes.
The volume of data acquired by
ISR assets over the battleeld is
also of concern to the UK. Due to
the large amount of information
collected in Afghanistan, most of
it could not be analysed, and only
a small percentage was turned
into actionable intelligence that
could support operations.
We probably need to be a bit
more savvy about what data we
move around the battlespace and
what we keep on the host platform, the ofcer says, while
multiple data streams also must
be fused to enable decision making. We need to be able to act on
information even quicker.
DELIVERY CRAIG HOYLE LONDON
eruvian company Seman has

delivered its rst locallyassembled example of the Korea
Aerospace Industries (KAI) KT-1
trainer to the Latin American
nations air force.
Marked during a 21 April ceremony attended by both countries
presidents at Las Palmas air base,
the advance follows the delivery
by KAI last November of the rst
two KT-1Ps from a 20-unit deal
worth around $200 million.
Sixteen of Perus KT-1Ps will

be delivered from an assembly
line at the site, with work to be
supervised by KAI. The company
also has trained service pilots and
technicians under the deal.
The South Korean-designed
trainer will enable Perus air force
to progressively retire its eets of
Alenia Aermacchi MB-339s and
Embraer EMB-312s. The service
expects the new type to become
fully operational during 2016.
Rex Features
Peru receives first locally-assembled KT-1 trainer
A total of 16 trainers will be put together at Las Palmas air base
Download the 2015

Wo r l d A i r F o r c e s R e p o r t
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
w w w. f l i g h t g l o b a l . c o m / w a f
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NEWS FOCUS
Budgets bring
Russia down
to earth
NEWS FOCUS P22

FLEET BETH STEVENSON RAF BRIZE NORTON
Strength of Hercules lies in training

UK Royal Air Force is less than a decade away from retiring its C-130J transports, but demand for airlifter remains high
he Royal Air Forces
Lockheed Martin C-130J
Hercules transports have continued to be heavily utilised following years in Afghanistan, and
have been used in a range of humanitarian roles most recently
in delivering supplies in support
of the crisis following the earthquake in Nepal on 25 April.
A Hercules deployed to India
via RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on
the evening of 28 April from RAF
Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, and
the transport will provide
logistics support for Kathmandu
once it arrives.
The commitment follows a
range of other humanitarian disaster relief operations that the UK
aircraft have recently carried out,
including the delivery of supplies
to people on Mount Sinjar displaced as a result of Islamic State
attacks in Iraq, and in support of a
UN relief effort in South Sudan.
We thought we would be less
busy when we left Afghanistan,
but we are actually busier, Sqn
Ldr S P Wright, executive ofcer
for the air mobility operational
conversion units 24 Sqn, says.
Throughout
[Operation]
Herrick we were operating from
one base and we knew what the
task was. We are now spread
wider and we are sending guys
to other locations.
BALANCE
The key to balancing this exibility is training, Wright says. This
is provided through the squadron
via a contract with aircraft prime
Lockheed and CAE. The latter
provides synthetic and computeraided instruction to pilots and
rear cabin and maintenance
crews of the Hercules.
Some
90%
of
initial
conversion to ight is done on
the two dynamic mission C-130J
simulators that CAE provides at
Brize Norton, along with all currency training.
There are currently ve tiers of
training for the C-130J, but this is
being streamlined so that the
flightglobal.com
Crown Copyright
The type has continued to see heavy use on relief missions since ceasing operations in Afghanistan
baseline level that pilots will
graduate at will be at a tactical
ying level in line with the
types of operation the crews have
to carry out as standard.
The RAFs 24-strong eet of
C-130Js is due to retire from
service in 2022, but general
consensus is that the Hercules
will transition past this out of
service date in some way.
However, the squadron is not
counting on it.
The C-130J has been touted
for a special operations role
post-2022, as the Airbus A400M
that is replacing the UKs Hercules will not be ready for such
missions at that point. However,
an upgrade would have to be
made to the C-130J eet if this
were to happen at a price the
RAF will not necessarily be able
to afford.
Wright admits that the A400M
Atlas is increasingly where our
focus is going, but says the
C-130J is proving to be an effective asset in a variety of tasks.
We know where we are with
it, he says. In years to come air
mobility will be a very capable
eet of aircraft.
However, the British Armys
move towards larger vehicles that
need to be transported by the
RAFs logistics aircraft has driven
the need for a wide-bodied aircraft like the A400M.
We cant get the majority of

army equipment in the Hercules
anymore, Wright says.
The synthetic and computerbased training set-up that the
C-130J follows is being mirrored
for the new type. Were trying to
mirror A400M with this, because
its worked so well, Wright says.
We need to go back
to where ying in and
out of Nepal is as
routine as ying into
conict zones
WG CDR DARRYN RAWLINS
Commanding ofcer, 24 Sqn, RAF
There are challenges ahead

building up A400M and changing the way we do C-130J training
as we shrink the eet.
C-130J operations will scale
down in the coming years as
A400M use ramps up, so the air
transport capability of the RAF
will remain the same throughout,
he says.
What will happen to the two
C-130J simulators as this happens
remains to be seen, but Wright
hopes to keep both so that formation training can still be carried
out. The nancial impact of keeping the two simulators is negligible, he says, because they could
also be used for foreign training
something that has been carried

out before, but restricted by capacity issues.
I think it is arrogant to think
we get it right every time we can
learn a lot from others, Wg Cdr
Darryn Rawlins, commanding ofcer of 24 Sqn adds, regarding the
importance of sharing training
with foreign C-130J crews.
The air mobility blend is pretty good in my opinion, he says.
As a force we need to go back to
where ying in and out of Nepal
or the Asia-Pacic is as routine as
ying into conict zones.
CONTRACT
The current contract that CAE has
with Lockheed for the training expires on 31 December this year,
and CAE says it is currently
negotiating another ve-year deal.
The simulators have been
upgraded to bring them to CAEs
Medallion 6000 image generator
and visual system standard in the
past 12 months, and CAE also delivered a suite of databases built
to a common standard, which allows for rapid updates and distributed mission training.
The training system is delivering a 98% availability at the
moment. Eight members of CAE
staff are dedicated to the training
at Brize Norton, which has now
been provided for the C-130J for
15 years.
NEWS FOCUS
Bring all the latest news on spaceflight

programmes into your orbit by visiting
ightglobal.com/spaceight
SPACEFLIGHT DAN THISDELL LONDON
Budgets bring Russia down to earth

Likely spending slash at Roscosmos deepens gloom after failures of experimental military launcher and ISS resupply ship
as building blocks for a Russian

station of the 2020s, rather than attaching them to the ISS.
Confusing the issue, Russia announced in March that it has
agreed to work with the USA on a
new station after the current one
reaches the end of its life as far off
as 2028, from a pure engineering
perspective but the USA made
no corresponding declaration.
NASA
ussias space programme has

had a bad recent run, with an
unmanned International Space
Station (ISS) resupply ship left
spinning out of control, the failure of an experimental military
launcher and the apparent cancellation of a super-heavy-lift
rocket programme owing to
swingeing budget cuts.
Federal space agency Roscosmos looks set to lose 35% of its
budget over the next 10 years,
with spending cut over the decade to about Rb2 trillion ($37.7
billion), according to a Reuters
report carried by The Moscow
Times. Lost in those cuts will be a
super-heavy-lift rocket programme and Russian plans to
orbit its own space station from
2023 may also be in doubt.
Russias government is facing a
nancial squeeze and looming
recession, with low crude prices
hitting oil revenues and Western
sanctions laid down over the crisis in Ukraine starting to bite.
A Progress mission to resupply
the ISS went irretrievably wrong
soon after launch on 28 April,
when navigational antenna failed
to deploy leaving Russian
ground controllers unable to command the ship. Meanwhile, the
US Air Force Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB
reported that its radar had observed 44 pieces of debris in the
vicinity of the resupply vehicle
and its upper stage rocket body.
A launch failure on 22 April
saw a 9.6t experimental solidfuel rocket carrying metrical
equipment clear the pad at
Plesetsk spaceport, inside the
Arctic Circle. It then strayed off
trajectory and crashed to the
ground with no injuries, according to state news agency Tass.
But while occasional failures
are to be expected, the budget cuts
pose a real crisis for Russias space
programme. Roscosmos could not
be reached to elaborate, but the
launcher in question would appear to be the heaviest version of a
modular system called Angara,
Previous Progress missions to the ISS have had greater success

which is intended to replace the
failure-prone Proton. In December
2014, the Angara A5 capable of
lifting 25t to low-Earth orbit
made a successful maiden ight
from Plesetsk. The smallest variant in the family, Angara 1.2PP,
ew ve months earlier. A 35t
variant was also planned.
AMBITIONS
Very heavy launch capability has
become a key element in Russias
space policy. The nation has
been building a new launch complex in the east of the country, at
Vostochny, with the intention of
hosting operations that currently
y from Baikonur in Kazakhstan
the launch site for Sputnik,
Yuri Gagarin and, currently, all
astronauts travelling to the ISS.
As the most southerly site in the
old USSR and surrounded by
sparsely-inhabited terrain, Baikonur was an obvious choice for
rocket launches, which are ideally carried out as near as possible
to the equator to gain energy from
the Earths rotation.
Vostochny is not so well situated, but offers the security advantages of being inside Russia.
The 25t Angara 5 may be sufcient to push satellites to the highest geostationary orbits. However,
plans to y Angara from Vostochny later this year with manned
Soyuz ights expected from 2018

look to be in doubt. Construction has been dogged by stoppages, with some workers reportedly
on hunger strike, unpaid for
months by a contractor in nancial difculty. Tass also cites reports that claim Rb50 million has
been embezzled from the project.
The budget situation also casts
uncertainty over Russias longterm participation in the ISS. The
USA has declared its intention to
extend its nancial support for
the station to 2024, and partners
Europe, Russia, Canada and
Japan are considering following
suit; the current agreement runs
out in 2020.
The budget situation

casts uncertainty
over Russias longterm participation
in the ISS
But NASA is understood to be
making contingency plans for Russias outright withdrawal from the
ISS which at an extreme could
mean that it detaches its modules
and uses them to start its own station. It has talked of launching
new modules later this decade,
and possibly holding them in orbit
MARS
In any case, US interest in a space
station beyond 2024 must be
called into doubt. NASA is basing its budget planning for a mid2030s manned mission to Mars
on the assumption that money
freed by a winding-down of the
ISS in the early to mid-2020s
would assist preparatory work.
NASA is relentlessly publicising its development of a deepspace-capable manned launch
system, as well as an asteroid
capture mission planned for the
2020s and research into space
medicine and astronaut physiology, as steps on a journey to
Mars. But quite apart from the
daunting technological challenges of keeping a crew alive and
supplied on a minimum 18month round trip, money is a
major obstacle. The agency is less
publicly insisting that any Mars
mission depends on the participation of many international
partners, a challenge underscored by the difculties of reaching agreement even to fund the
ISS through 2024. Russian space
austerity would only exacerbate
that challenge.
NASAs annual budget has
stood at a little more than $17 billion for years now, from which it
funds a wide range of space missions as well as aeronautics research. The agency is making no
estimates of the cost of a Mars
programme, assumed to launch
in 2035, but for comparison the
ISS is estimated to have consumed some $150 billion from all
partners in the 30 years since
conceptual work began. Q
flightglobal.com
BUSINESS AVIATION
OLeary admits
mistakes
NEWS FOCUS P24

EXPANSION KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
DEAL KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
GKN wins wing

skin work for
Gulfstreams
Gama to strengthen Aberdeen base

B
Gama Aviation
usiness aviation services provider Gama Aviation is planning to build an operations and
maintenance facility at Aberdeen
International airport, as part of a
strategic investment in its thriving Scotland-based business.
The Farnborough-headquartered company has been active in
Scotland for more than two decades, from where it has been supporting its business jet customers
and the countrys health service,
out of two bases in Glasgow and
one in Aberdeen.
According to Marwan Khalek,
founder and chief executive of
33-year-old Gama, the new
1,700m2 (18,300ft2) facility represents a logical yet important
step in further strengthening our
presence in Scotland to serve
Gamas fleet based in Scotland includes Beechcraft King Airs

Aberdeen and the east coast.
If permission for the facility is
granted, the base is expected to
open in 2016.
Gamas Scotland-based eet
consists of two Beechcraft King

Air B200s, one King Air 350C
and two Airbus Helicopters
EC135s, which are subcontracted
to Bond Aviation.
DELIVERY KATE SARSFIELD LONDON
NetJets Europe prepares to

receive rst Challenger 350
Super-midsize jet kicks off an extensive fleet overhaul for fractional ownership provider
Switzerland from 19-21 May.

Another four of the twin-engined
type are bound for NetJets Europe
this year. The companys 2015 aircraft delivery schedule also includes six Embraer Phenom 300s
and two Bombardier Global 6000s.
NetJets parent company
placed an order for up to 75 Challenger 350s in 2012, as part of a
$7.3 billion contract for up to 275
Challenger-series aircraft.
The Berkshire Hathawayowned rm also has multi-billion
Iain Mackenzie
etJets Europe is poised to take

delivery of its rst Bombardier Challenger 350.
The super-midsize business jet
registration CS-CHA was pictured
in Glasgow on 25 April during its
ferry ight from Bombardiers Montreal completion facility to the fractional ownership companys headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal.
The aircraft will make its public debut with NetJets at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva,
NetJets Europes first Challenger 350 will debut at EBACE in May

flightglobal.com
dollar orders for Phenom 300s

its entry-level product and the
Global 5000/6000, which sit at
the top of its product offering.
The new aircraft are part of a
top-to-tail overhaul of NetJets
500-plus aircraft eet, and should
all be incorporated into the operators global inventory over the
next 10 years. NetJets older types
are being phased out.
Meanwhile, NetJets US operation took delivery of its 10th
Challenger 350 on 26 April,
bringing its total eet of Signature
Series business jets to 68 including 40 Phenom 300s and 18
Global 5000/6000s.
NetJets is also launch customer
for the Challenger 650 a revamped Challenger 605 featuring
an avionics, propulsion and interior upgrade and is gearing up
to take the rst of the large-cabin
business jets in the fourth quarter
of this year.
ulfstream has selected GKN

Aerospace to supply the
upper and lower wing skins for
the airframers new large-cabin,
long-range business jet duo, the
G500 and G600.
The award marks another
major step in the UK-headquartered companys strategy to increase its presence in the business jet market.
GKN already supplies skins for
the G550s wings, and says it
aims to foster and grow its relationship with Gulfstream for the
long term.
The G500 and G600 upper
wing skins are constructed in a
single piece, eliminating fasteners and joints and lowering
weight and reducing maintenance demands, says GKN.
The lower wing skins are
composed of several panels and
incorporate a number of complex design features, the company adds.
All the skins will be manufactured at GKNs advanced machined structures facility in Wellington, Kansas.
The G500 and G600 were unveiled last October and are positioned at the top end of Gulfstreams eight-strong product
line, between the G450, G550 and
ultra-long-range G650.
The 5,000nm (9,260km)-range
G500 will be the rst to market,
with the aircrafts certication
and service entry planned for
2017 and 2018 respectively.
Gulfstream says the rst test
aircraft, T1, has completed
ground vibration testing and
structural mode interaction testing in preparation for its rst
ight this year. The other G500
ight test aircraft, T2, T3 and T4,
are in various stages of production, it adds.
The G600 ight test programme will commence about
12 to 18 months after the G500,
with entry-into-service for the
6,200nm-range aircraft scheduled for 2019.
NEWS FOCUS
To access connected aviation news and

data on our dashboard, sign up at
ightglobal.com/dashboard
INTERVIEW DAVID LEARMOUNT DUBLIN
OLeary admits mistakes

as Ryanair softens image
Controversial chief executive says low-cost airlines new approach is break with past
have done it years ago, admits

OLeary. He argues that crews and
passengers are happier and notes
a 5% boost to the load factor.
Bursting with business plans as
always, OLeary is looking for the
airline to expand its present eet
of 309 Boeing 737-800NGs to 550
aircraft carrying 160 million passengers by 2024. It still has 170
new -800s on order, and 100 of the
new 737 Max on rm order for
delivery from 2019 with the
same number again on option.
When an airline already has 73
bases in Europe, where is there
left to go? There is plenty of opportunity, insists OLeary, having
just opened its newest and most

remote base in Ponta Delgada in
the Portuguese Azores islands. At
present, Ponta Delgada is a oneaircraft base serving Lisbon, Porto
and London Stansted.
But the major part of the new
plan is to set up Ryanair operations at Europes major bases,
undercutting EasyJet and the legacy carriers in their home territory.
This he sees as a natural extension
of the new passenger-friendly Ryanair, now bidding unashamedly
for the cost-conscious business
market that EasyJet attracts. In fact,
it is essential to attract the more
business-oriented passengers that
use the hubs because that is where
expansion and improved yield
will come from, says OLeary.
Rex Features
yanair expects to carry 100

million passengers in its current nancial year, and the
30-year-old Irish budget carrier
appears to be infused with a newfound respect for its passengers.
Weve moved from being
cheap and nasty to cheap and
cheerful, says chief executive
Michael OLeary. If that statement sounds glib to the sceptical
traveller, OLeary points out he
has backed up his new strategy
with a passenger charter.
This manifesto alongside the
new Ryanair website is certainly
a break with the past. If Id
known it would work so well, Id
OLeary believes there are still plenty of opportunities for growth

UPSELLING
Ryanairs average fare is 46
($51), he notes, but passengers
pay an average of 40 on top of
that for the carriers new Business Plus service.
The only out-of-bounds airports for Ryanair in Europe, he
says, are London Heathow, Paris
Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt
Main, because they are too expensive and inefcient. Ryanair
is now or will soon be at Brussels Zaventem, Cologne, Copenhagen and Lisbon, and OLeary
says the carrier will be at all the
others within ve years.
OLeary recalls that Ryanairs
bid for Aer Lingus disallowed
by the European competition authorities was a part of the plan
to serve the national hubs, which
Aer Lingus already does. Ryanair
would have acquired a readymade, mid-market low-cost carrier at the main European bases.
But if it couldnt have Aer Lingus, it had to take on the job itself.
OLeary can even see low-cost
carriers feeding the legacy longhaul carriers at their hubs, because he says the cost of global
distribution systems such as Am-
adeus, Galileo and Sabre has

come down so much they could
be viable for low-cost operations.
He adds, however, that Ryanair
does less than 1% of its business
through the GDSs at present.
So if OLeary really has adopted
a new philosophy, and it certainly
looks as if he has, it could be
summed up as: Never say never.
The word never used to be one
of his favourites. Now he voices
the never say never mantra frequently, as if to remind himself of
the fact that the old Ryanair like
the old OLeary is history.
Weve moved from

being cheap and
nasty to cheap and
cheerful
MICHAEL OLEARY
Chief executive, Ryanair
This raises a point that involves

senior Ryanair executives, such as
group director of operations Michael Hickey and chief pilot Ray
Conway. One of the factors that
makes the Ryanair operation
work like clockwork every day is
its single-type, single-variant eet.
All training, all type ratings, and
all spare parts are common.
Yet the mould will be broken
with the advent of the 737 Max,
however hard Boeing has worked
to ensure commonality for those
purposes. Conway says he hopes
conversion to the Max, for
flightglobal.com
NEWS FOCUS
Rising in the East
FEATURE P26
Rex Features
ERRORS
Despite Ryanairs undeniable
success story, OLeary admits he
got some things wrong. The rigid
one-bag-per-passenger policy, as
well as strict adherence to precise
bag size, was actually disruptive
to the boarding process, he now
accepts. But it had a benecial
side-effect that Ryanair and other
flightglobal.com
carriers still enjoy: it radically

changed passenger behaviour.
Now, only 20% of passengers
want to check a bag in. They have
discovered from experience that
for most journeys it just is not
necessary. And now, if a ight is
full and there is not room for all
the carry-on bags in the cabin, the
extras are put in the hold for free
at boarding and handed back at
the base of the steps on arrival.
Likewise abandoned is the extortionate penalty charge for failing to check in in advance, or for
losing a boarding card. But that
again has had the benecial secondary effect of disciplining passengers into self-processing mode.
OLeary does not back down
on everything, however. The
trademark integral front and rear
self-deploying airstairs in its 737
eet Ryanairs declaration of independence from ground han-
The rigid one-bag policy delayed

boarding, but changed habits
DEVOLUTION
With further rapid expansion
seemingly guaranteed comes the
challenge of managing a truly
massive, dispersed airline with
100 or more bases. The bases operate benecially under the
control of smaller, more human
teams, but Hickey insists: We
dont have independent republics. As OLeary puts it: We devolve but oversee. Dublin ensures it oversees everything.
Conway does not rely only on
the crew recurrent training system to ensure standardisation
and quality control, but operates
a continuous programme of safety and standardisation roadshows, updated regularly, that
visit all the bases. Each location
has a base captain who is rostered
to be on the ground at base every
Rex Features
737NG pilots, will entail computer-based training only, but

EASA may not agree.
This raises the question of why
Ryanair failed to grasp the opportunity to shake free of Boeings
grip on the airline and go for the
Airbus A320neo. OLeary observes that as soon as Airbus got
approval for a 189-passenger
cabin for the A320, it was suddenly in the running for the rst
time. Hickey concedes that, despite the simplicity of the singletype eet model, Ryanair could
split the eet because it always
buys big numbers, and some
bases could become Airbus bases.
OLeary muses that the Airbuses could operate from the major
hub airports, providing some visible product differentiation to attract the business market. But he
opines that Airbus never really believed Ryanair would break with
Boeing so did not try hard enough.
So what does Airbus need to
do to get on board? Why dont
you undercut Boeing by 25%?
suggests OLeary. Youd only
have to do it once.
dling contractors and its assurance of fast turnarounds is the

most snagged technical component on the aircraft eet because
of its mechanical complexity, but
OLeary insists on keeping it, despite its rather rickety feel.
There is still something of the
puritan about the Ryanair chief.
Conway says if you were to ask
OLeary for something to write
with, he would snap his pencil in
two and give you half. Now, having just moved from Ryanairs
original scruffy Dublin airport
headquarters into a modern,
shiny building nearby, OLeary
confesses to being embarrassed
by it, and makes the excuse that it
was built speculatively at the
time of the economic crash, and
Ryanair has acquired it for half
the price it cost to build.
Rex Features
The low-cost carrier is yet

to be convinced by Airbus to
shift from an all-Boeing fleet
Ryanair continues to use its own integral self-deploying airstairs
Wednesday so his or her crews

can talk about issues.
One of the most impressive illustrations of Ryanairs system for
keeping the bases in touch with
headquarters is the daily engineering forum. Every day, immediately after the rst wave of departures
has been despatched across the
Ryanair network, a team of management engineers, each with specialist responsibilities, sits around
a table at the Dublin HQ with a
conference telephone.
In front of them a spreadsheet
of the entire eet, grouped by
bases, is projected on a screen.
One by one, every base chief is
called to report. Each aircraft is
ticked off, every snag described,
and if it cannot be xed with
local spares the responsible HQ
engineer states how the solution
will be provided, and adds it to
his to-do list. Deferrable defects
are not allowed to build up.
The process takes about an
hour, and at its end the health of
all 309 aircraft is known in real
time, and xes have been sorted.
And at both the Dublin and Bergamo bases Ryanair keeps a Learjet 35 ready to jet spares and if
necessary engineers anywhere
in the network.
The airline will need lots of pilots for the future, and OLeary is
aware of this, but he says Ryanair
has never had a problem attracting
them. He plans to go down the
multi-crew pilot licence cadet
training route, and hire more pilots at bases network-wide, so the
base really is their home.
Signicantly, he says the carrier
will employ more pilots on direct
contracts, rather than via the controversial self-employed system,
but that this will be an evolutionary process. When an airline gets
big, he says, it needs stability. Q
PROGRAMMES
RISING IN
THE EAST
Mitsubishi and Comac are making progress with
new jets, but their impact on the market depends
on overcoming some tough challenges, not least
convincing airlines to shun the established players
MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE
sias commercial aircraft manufacturing scene has seen a urry of activity

in recent years. For the rst time in
history, three commercial aircraft
types are being built there. One is on the brink
of entering service, while the other two are
gearing towards a rst-ight milestone.
The programme showing the most promise
is Mitsubishi Aircrafts MRJ regional jet,
which, despite a recent fourth schedule delay,
has made steady progress in the past 12
months and is due to y by October this year.
The Japanese manufacturer rolled out a
sleek rst ight-test prototype (MSN10001) last
October, and has performed a rst engine run
on the Pratt & Whitney PW1200G-powered jet.
Its static strength test aircraft (MSN90001) has
undergone a wing up-bending test.
Mitsubishi is determined to keep the condence level in its programme high, releasing
pictures of its ight-test eet in various stages
of nal assembly. Wing to body join of the
second and third aircraft has been completed,
2014 REGIONAL AIRCRAFT DELIVERIES
Total deliveries: 276
Turboprop
106
while the fuselage sections of the fourth have

also been joined. Sub-assembly of the fth
ight-test aircraft is ongoing.
Mitsubishi Aircraft says tests so far have
veried the operations of the aircrafts various
systems, producing anticipated results, and
that the programme is progressing steadily
towards rst ight. MSN10001 has also moved
forward with functional and engineering tests.
Comac, meanwhile, surprised many when
in early March it released to Flightglobal a
series of pictures showing a rst prototype
C919 airframe in an almost complete state.
The pictures show an airframe joined from
nose through to the tail. Wing to body join has
also been completed, with the vertical and
horizontal stabilisers already attached.
The Chinese aircraft manufacturer is condent of rolling out its rst test prototype in the
second half of the year, but acknowledges that
the bigger challenge is in helping the jet take
to the skies. The aircrafts avionics, ight control and hydraulics systems have yet to be
installed, and the systems also have to be inte
grated and tested.
REGIONAL AIRCRAFT BACKLOG
Total backlog: 1,534
ATR 19%
Mitsubishi
12%
Comac**
8%
Jet
170
NOTES: Data for ATR, Bombardier, Embraer and Sukhoi. Excludes
corporate and military operators.
SOURCE: Flightglobal Insight analysis using Ascend Fleets database
Bombardier*
24%
*
Sukhoi 7%
Embraer 30%
**
NOTES: Bombardier's backlog includes CSeries. Comac ARJ21.

Data at 31 December 2014, exludes corporate and military operators
flightglobal.com
Comacs first C919 test

prototype is slated to be
rolled out later this year
flightglobal.com
Comac
The Mitsubishi MRJ is

being prepared for its
first flight, which is due
by October
Mitsubishi Aircraft
ASIAN MANUFACTURERS
PROGRAMMES
Publicly, the rst ight target for the CFM

International Leap-1C-powered narrowbody
remains unchanged as end-2015, but this
seems highly unlikely, with programme engineers expecting system integration to be a
challenge.
Meanwhile, Comacs long-running ARJ21
programme nally received type certication
from the Civil Aviation Administration of
China in December, although the types journey appears to be some distance from the nish line. The aircraft has begun route-proving
trials but needs a production licence before
deliveries can start to launch customer
Chengdu Airlines.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has
at least approved the scheduled maintenance
requirements for the ARJ21, afrming that
Comac has set in place comprehensive procedures for the types maintenance needs
according to international standards.
Comac maintains that it will continue to
pursue certication from the US Federal Aviation Administration for the regional jet, but it
appears that Western certication for the
dated aircraft is no longer a priority. It does
not technically require Western afrmation,
since the overwhelming majority of the ARJ21
orders are from local airlines and leasing companies. The ambitious manufacturer understands, however, that Western certication is
necessary for it to be a recognised player on
the international stage, and as it attempts to
win sales from the lucrative Western markets.
PROMISING SUPPORT
Analysts say Comacs and Mitsubishis overseas
sales are largely dependent on their establishing
credible global support networks. The Japanese
airframer perhaps understands this better than
its Chinese peer, since it does not have a large
domestic home base to fall back on.
Early on in 2011, it signed a 10-year collaboration with long-time partner Boeing for
round-the-clock customer support for MRJ
operators, covering spare parts provision, service operations and eld services.
Comac, meanwhile, has remained cool
towards Bombardier, despite the Canadian
manufacturers attempts to cosy up. The two
signed an agreement in 2012 to nd commonality between the C919 and CSeries in areas of
supply chain services, electrical systems,
human interface and cockpit, but little
appears to have been achieved. The second
phase of collaboration moved on to areas such
as supply chain services, ight training, ighttest support and sales and marketing.
An engineer on the C919 programme went
as far as to say that basically in the development of the C919, Bombardier is not involved.
Forecast Internationals senior aerospace
analyst Ray Jaworowski says airlines and,
even more so, leasing companies, tend to be
2014 REGIONAL AIRCRAFT DELIVERIES BY CATEGORY

120
112
Turboprop total: 170

Regional jet total: 106
100
80
67
60
41
40
39
16
20
North America
Asia-Pacic
Europe
Latin America
Africa
Middle East
NOTES: Data for for ATR, Bombardier, Embraer and Sukhoi. Excludes corporate and military operators.
2014 REGIONAL AIRCRAFT DELIVERIES BY MANUFACTURER

120
112
ATR total: 81
Bombardier total: 78
Embraer total: 91
Sukhoi total: 26
100
80
67
60
41
40
39
16
20
North America
Asia-Pacic
Europe
Latin America
Africa
Middle East
NOTES: Data for ATR, Bombardier, Embraer and Sukhoi. Excludes corporate and military operators.
TOP FIVE REGIONAL CUSTOMERS 2014

Rank
Operator
1
2
3
4
5
Endeavor Air
Republic Airlines
SkyWest Airlines
Mesa Airlines
PSA Airlines
Deliveries
26
22
20
19
16
Total number of 2014 deliveries: 276

Data for ATR, Bombardier, Embraer and Sukhoi. Excludes
corporate and military operators.
SOURCE: Flightglobal Insight analysis using Flightglobals
Ascend Fleets database
conservative when it comes to choosing

which aircraft to buy.
The airlines like to stick with the established manufacturers whose products have
reliable track records, predictable performance, and predictable operating costs. Plus,
the airlines know that they can get these aircraft serviced once they have entered their
eets, he says, stressing that product support
is often a key consideration.
But before an airline even evaluates a manufacturers after sale support, those wanting to
enter the market must rst bring something
new to the table, offering a worthy competitive alternative.
New entrants must innovate to succeed,

says Rob Morris, head of Flightglobals Ascend
consultancy. And then the entrant must also
execute awlessly on the innovative promise/
programme offered to the market.
He says that while the MRJ appears to bring
economic improvements to the market which
could leverage sales, the ARJ21 offers little in
the way of innovation, and Comac has clearly
failed to deliver on the programme schedule.
The ARJ21 programme was launched in 2002,
made its rst ight in 2008, and was nally
certicated by China in 2014.
The ARJ21s performance to date could
reect on how the market sees the C919. It is
critical that Comac ensures no similar delays
on its agship narrowbody programme, as it
must demonstrate to potential customers its
ability to deliver. Already, the C919 appears
to bring limited technical innovation, with
performance similar to current in-service variants of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.
Morris suggests that Comac innovate commercially, perhaps through residual value
guarantees, manufacturer leases and global
support packages, to encourage customers to
buy the aircraft.
As Comac and Mitsubishi move from conflightglobal.com
Rex Features
ASIAN MANUFACTURERS
Comacs ARJ21 is awaiting a

production licence ahead of
delivery to Chengdu Airlines
It took Airbus 40 years

to reach the position it
shares with Boeing today
ROB MORRIS
Head of consultancy, Ascend
cept, design and assembly to the ight-testing

phase, it is also crucial that they demonstrate
that the aircraft can achieve, or at least come
close to achieving, the payload-range and economic performance that have been promised.
The two also need to guard against further
schedule delays to ensure competitiveness in
a market where even the established manufacturers are launching upgraded products.
While a certain amount of delay is the norm
for new aircraft development programmes, and
indeed is anticipated by the market to some
extent, nevertheless the advent of new products
from the established OEMs makes the avoidance of additional schedule delay that much
flightglobal.com
more critical, says Jaworowski.

On this aspect, Mitsubishi, well aware of its
inexperience in the complicated business of
certication, has again opted to work with a
partner. It will co-operate in ight-test work
with a Seattle-based company that provides
ight testing, data analysis and FAA certication services for manufacturers. Test modules
such as envelope expansion, system tests,
performance tests and icing tests will be conducted at Grant County International airport
in the US state of Washington.
SALUTARY LESSON
Comac will likely lean more on Bombardier in
this area, having already sent teams to Quebec
to learn from Bombardier in its certication for
the CSeries. Its long certication journey for
the ARJ21 will also serve as a reminder of its
inexperience and how costly delays can be.
The Flightglobal Fleet Forecast predicts
deliveries of around 4,100 regional jets
between 2014 and 2033. Embraer is expected
to remain the market leader, capturing 61% of

the market share with its current E-Jet (12%)
and the re-engined E-Jet E2 family (49%),
which is due to enter service in 2018. The MRJ
is predicted to gain around 22% of the market,
with the remaining market being shared by the
Sukhoi Superjet (9%), the ARJ21 (5%) and the
Bombardier CRJ700/900/1000 (4%).
The forecast predicts delivery of over 900
MRJs in the 20-year period, including 678 of
the baseline MRJ90, 137 of the MRJ100X and
98 MRJ70s. Although Mitsubishi has not committed to a stretch, the forecast says a 105-seat
version is necessary to provide the Japanese
manufacturer with a true regional jet family
since the 92-seat MRJ90 is signicantly
smaller than the E190 and E195.
For the ARJ21, Flightglobal forecasts deliveries of 174 with more than 95% in the Chinese market, since the aircrafts performance
and economics are expected to match those of
similar sized jets in the market today.
Comac, however, tells Flightglobal that it
intends to introduce an improved variant of
the jet. The project will seek to reduce the aircrafts structural weight, enhance the manufacturing of the jets surfaces to reduce drag,
and improve its avionics and power systems.
It has no near-term plans to re-engine the General Electric CF34-10A-powered jet, partly
because of limitations imposed by an agreement with GE to be the sole powerplant supplier for the ARJ21.
The Flightglobal Fleet Forecast meanwhile
predicts 923 deliveries of the C919 over the
next 20 years, accounting for just 4% of total
narrowbody deliveries. Some 580 of these
will be for the baseline variant, and 343 for a
stretched 190-seater. The majority (80%) of
deliveries will be in China, while Africa and
Asia-Pacic will take in the rest. Flightglobal
says there is also potential for Airbus and Boeing to develop all-new single-aisle products
towards the end of the forecast period, which
would force Comac to develop the C919 further, or launch its own all-new product.
Much interest will be on Asia as its aircraft
manufacturing scene continues to develop,
especially in 2015 when the MRJ and the
C919 could both mark milestones with rst
ights. The odds are, however, that the road
ahead for Comac and Mitsubishi will continue to be turbulent, rather than smooth sailing, as they battle with the countless challenges involved in building a modern jet not
to mention erce market resistance from
entrenched rivals.
We must bear in mind that it took Airbus
more than 40 years to move from innovative
upstart to the market-leading position it
shares with Boeing today, says Morris.
Commercial aircraft manufacturing is a long
game and both Comac and Mitsubishi are just
beginning to play the game.
REGIONALS
United Airlines is replacing its 50-seat aircraft with Embraer 175s for its regional Express operation
GROWING PAINS
The current cap on the size of regional aircraft in pilot contracts is already beginning to
pose problems for the introduction of next-generation MRJ and E2 jets at the US majors
EDWARD RUSSELL WASHINGTON DC
ecent-vintage Bombardier CRJ900s

and Embraer 175s dot the ramp at
Ronald Reagan Washington National
airport, the result of the last wave of
pilot contract changes to have taken place at
US mainline carriers. But the limits of those
contracts are already posing a problem for the
potential introduction of the next generation

of large regional jets.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and
United Airlines are driving the shift. All three
are reducing the number of 50-seat regional
jets in their feeder eets and replacing them
with the 76-seat models that are becoming
ubiquitous at airports such as Washington National across the USA.
The shift is almost entirely economic. Executives from all three carriers cite efciency
improvements, additional ancillary revenue
opportunities and passenger preference for
the move to larger aircraft.
Our continued progression to more modern, consistent, fuel-efcient and larger-gauge
regional aircraft will improve the operational
and revenue performance of our Express opflightglobal.com
eration while substantially improving our

product offering, James Compton, chief revenue ofcer at United, has declared.
For each 50-seat aircraft an E175 is replacing, we expect to generate over $1 million of annual improved protability.
American, Delta and United, in conjunction with their regional partners, have either
added or ordered 340 CRJ900s and E175s
since December 2012, with deliveries through
to 2017. They will have removed 447 aircraft
with up to 50 seats by the end of this year.
While executives from both Bombardier
and Embraer anticipate up to 200 more orders
for the current generation of 76-seat jets from
US carriers over the next few years, the stage
is set for the introduction of the next generation of regional jets in 2017.
St Louis-based Trans States Airlines is
flightglobal.com
OVERSIZED
The MRJ90 will carry 81 to 84 seats in the dual-class conguration popular with US carriers, with a MTOW of 39,600kg, while the
E175-E2 can have 80 seats in a dual-class conguration with a MTOW of 44,650kg.
The driver of that additional weight, at
least on the E175-E2, is the geared turbofan
engines. Embraer anticipates fuel burn savings of roughly 16% over the current E175
from the Pratt & Whitney PW1700G engines,
as well as a new wing.
No product with those new engines can
bring those benets without the higher
weight, said an Embraer executive during a
visit to the airframers factory in So Jos dos
Campos, Brazil, in February.
The clean-sheet MRJ uses the PW1200G
geared turbofan engine.
We believe the MTOW limitations could
be relieved to some extent, or the airlines
and the passengers cannot enjoy the nextgeneration aircraft, says Masao Yamagami,
chairman and chief executive of Mitsubishi
Aircraft America. He adds that he is optimistic about the prospects of the MRJ90 in
the USA.
Embraer Commercial Aviation president
Paulo Cesar Silva said in February that the air-
United is retiring its Express CRJ700 fleet

framer is hedging on the needed contract
changes in regards to its E175-E2, but added
that he is condent about its prospects.
Deltas pilot contract is the rst to come up
for renewal. Negotiations between the carrier
and its chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) are already under way ahead of a
31 December expiration date.
Embraer, Mitsubishi, SkyWest and Trans
States are all watching the negotiations at
Delta closely, their executives say. The mainline carrier set the 76-seat standard for the
current round of regional eet changes in its
last pilot contract in June 2012 and could do
the same with its next contract.
The Allied Pilots Association

[APA] will not agree to any
scope concessions
LEADERSHIP TEAM
APA, October 2014
Uniteds pilot contract becomes amendable

on 31 January 2017 and Americans contract
is due for discussion on 1 January 2020.
Both Delta and the carriers chapter of ALPA
decline to comment on the scope restrictions
and the potential for the next generation of regional jets in the Delta Connection eet.
Labour or an airlines relationship with it
will ultimately be the deciding factor for the
The weight increase on Embraers E175-E2

is driven by new geared turbofan engines
Embraer
AirTeamImages
scheduled to take delivery of its rst Mitsubishi Aircraft MRJ90 in the second half of 2017
and Utah-based SkyWest Airlines its rst of
the type less than a year later in 2018 under
the current delivery schedule. SkyWest will
then take the rst E175-E2 in 2020.
There is just one hitch: none of the pilot
contracts at American, Delta or United will
allow for either aircraft. The issue is size and
weight. Contracts at all three carriers cap the
size of regional aircraft at 76 seats with a few
exceptions grandfathered in from prior contracts and a maximum take-off weight
(MTOW) of 39,010kg (86,000lb).
AirTeamImages
SCOPE CLAUSES
AirTeamImages
REGIONALS
Delta Air Lines is in the process of boosting

its regional eet with Bombardier CRJ900s
All the majors are aware of

the weight of the MRJ and the
E2 and the limits
RICHARD LEACH
President, Trans States Holdings
A union spokesperson says its position is

unchanged. Referring to the E175-E2, it adds:
I have great expectations that Embraer will
sell a lot of those airplanes; theyre just going
to be own by mainline pilots.
Referring to the MRJ and the E2 in February, Americans vice-president of eet planning Peter Warlick said: If and when we go
down that path, given if theres a change in
scope, well consider it at that point.
ALPAs national leadership joins the Delta
chapter in declining to comment on the issue.
There is an air of inevitability around the
induction of the MRJ and E175-E2 into US regional eets. Manufacturer and regional airline executives agree that the scope changes
are necessary for the sector to make further
efciency and performance gains.
I believe that the marketplace sees value
in the technology and efciency of this asset
but theyre painfully aware that theyll need
scope relief, especially on the weight side, to
make this a reality, says Richard Leach, pres32 | Flight International | 5-11 May 2015
ident of Trans States Airlines parent Trans

States Holdings.
He sees the push for scope relief gaining
momentum once the MRJ90 and later the E2
takes to the skies, something that is rst expected this September or October.
Weve got to get it to market and be able to
y it, says Leach.
RELIEF
Embraers Cesar Silva echoes this position,
saying he believes there will be some scope
relief just not now; maybe in two years or
three years time.
The mainline carriers are interested in both
next-generation regional jets, even if they are
vague, like Americans Warlick, on the matter.
Weve talked to all of our partners about
the assets they have varying degrees of interest, and thats good, says Leach.
Trans States, which also owns Compass
Airlines and GoJet Airlines, operates regional
services for American, Delta and United. It
has 50 rm orders and 50 options for the
MRJ90 and a letter of intent for 50 E175-E2s,
the Ascend Fleets database shows.
SkyWest president Chip Childs said in October that it is actively engaged with its four
partners Alaska Airlines, American, Delta
and United on the topic of eet replacement. Scope continues to be the largest piece
of that conversation, he added.
Replacing 50-seaters is likely to remain the
focus of US mainlines for the next few years.
American, Delta and United will have roughly 636 such aircraft in their regional eets at
the end of this year, their respective eet
plans show. It is reasonable to estimate that
roughly half if not more of these could be
removed and replaced with either 76-seaters
or next-generation regional jets during the
next ve years.
The replacement of ageing 70-seaters is another possible opportunity for the new models. The US eet of both Bombardier CRJ700s
and Embraer 170s will have an average age of
12 years when the MRJ90 enters service in
2017, Ascend shows.
United has already begun removing
CRJ700s from its feeder eet in favour of
76-seaters. It plans to remove 15 of the Canadian regional jet for a remaining eet of 100
by the end of this year.
All the majors are aware of the weight of
the MRJ and the E2 and the limits that exist
because of that, says Leach. I think theyll
choose when the timing is right for that to be
an item of negotiation.
AirTeamImages
necessary scope changes. Delta is seen as

having a good relationship with its pilots but
other carriers may not be in the same position.
APA will not agree to any scope concessions, said the leadership team of the Allied
Pilots Association (APA), which represents
pilots at American, in a joint letter to members during their last round of contract negotiations in October 2014. The comment followed a proposal by the Fort Worth,
Texas-based carrier to change the denition of
large regional jet to those with 71 to 76 seats
which would have allowed for roughly 81
more aircraft than under a previous memorandum of understanding during already
contentious contract talks last fall.
American is among the US majors bringing in Embraer E175s for its regional operations
flightglobal.com
LETTERS
flight.international@flightglobal.com
FLIGHT
MANAGEMENT
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 ight.international@
ightglobal.com
Although composed with an

element of tongue-in-cheek,
your article in Straight & Level
about EasyJet chief executive
Carolyn McCall helping the
cabin crew with the rubbish
collection at the end of a flight
(Flight International, 28 April-4
May) does raise a point that is
unfortunately lacking in much McCall: walking the walk
of senior management philosophy in far too much of British industry and business.
Also known as management-by-walking-about, this is the vital
component of any good manager and that includes senior executives of getting out onto/into the shop floor on a regular (and unpredictable, as far as those lower in the organisation are
concerned) basis.
This applies equally to public sector organisations too in fact any
substantial organisation in which management can too easily retreat into a separate world of meetings, briefings, policy groups, etc.
If you want to avoid nasty surprises, make sure you are familiar
with your whole organisation, at all levels.
Greg Herdman
Clarborough, Retford, UK
The opinions on this page do not

necessarily represent those of the editor.
Flight International
cannot
letters
Letters
without a full
postalpublish
address
supwithout
name
andpublished.
address. Letters must
plied
may
not be
may
be nobemore
than 250
words in length.and
also
published
on flightglobal.com
must be no longer than 250 words.
Compliance only
for transponders
Regarding the article on the US
Federal Aviation Administration automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B
Out) mandate by Stephen Trimble (Flight International, 31
March-6 April), I believe there is
a fundamental misunderstanding about the details of the FAA
2020 ADS-B mandate.
The article states that all aircraft
in controlled airspace will have to
comply by 31 December 2019.
I believe this is not correct, as
visual ight rules aircraft below
10,000ft in Class E or the very
limited (in USA) Class G will not
be required to have an ADS-B
Out compliant system. The FAA
rule of thumb is: if you require a
transponder now, you will need
an ADS-B Out compliant transponder by the cut-off date.
As in many other countries,
the large proportion of general
aviation aircraft operate below
10,000ft and do not operate on
instrument ight rules, greatly
reducing the numbers of aircraft
that will have to be retrotted.
WJR Hamilton
Gordon, NSW, Australia
Not a trashy business strategy
Door of trust
In response to Charles Aufranc
(Flight International, 14-20
April), FAR(JAR/CS) 25.772(c)
refers to incapacitation, a situation where the person inside the
ightdeck is unable to operate
the door mechanism to allow
entry of other personnel.
Its dened emergency
means does not cater for a situation where the person on the
inside consciously denies access to the person outside the
ightdeck. Providing this type
of access would nullify the effect of the secured ightdeck
door in the rst place.
Pilots are entrusted with the
lives of hundreds of people and
with cargo valued in millions.
They must thus be trusted by the
public, company and authorities
to do all that is required to look
Rex Features
INTERNATIONAL
after the wellbeing of all on

board. When one member of this
small establishment breaks this
trust, does it mean that we cannot trust any pilots anymore?
Surely not.
Fabian Renzow
By email
Pitch for seats
John Wallinger (Flight International, 21-27 April) is quite correct in his complaint about the
new seats in British Airways
A320 aircraft.
Passengers in Club Europe
now have to suffer Euro Traveller
seat pitches and the associated
discomfort. Many passengers
who are 6ft (1.8m) tall or more
pay for extra comfort and amenities in Club Europe. They need
this legroom. Any well-built passenger cannot lower the tray
table to the horizontal position.

This appears to be a cheap
way for BA to congure the aircraft in an all-economy layout
and squeeze in another seat row.
Let us hope BA will soon see
the error of their ways and restore a comfortable seat pitch in
all areas of the A320 series.
BJ Mulady
Managing director, Multronics
Marlow, UK
Its wheely simple

We are all aware of the little puffs
of blue smoke released from an
aircrafts tyres when landing.
These leave at spots on very expensive tyres and considerably
reduce their life.
The simple way to stop these
puffs would be to have the
wheels already turning before
they touch the runway. The
way to do this would be to t
small ns to the rims of the
tyres, causing them to start rotating the minute they are exposed to airow.
Design the ns right and they
could be rotating at the correct
speed for touchdown.
Another advantage would be
that they could easily be clipped
onto existing rims, solving the
problem all round.
The simplest solutions are
often the best.
Kevan Leslie
Biggleswade, UK
A spades a spade
When Akbar Al Baker defends
Qatar Airways by saying that US
airlines should understand the
difference between a subsidy and
equity investment, he must be
kidding. If the government is the
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WORKING WEEK
WORK EXPERIENCE TONY WEBBER
Reputation is the key to success
Initially brought in to oversee the contract-pilot selection process, former airline captain and lifelong aviation
fanatic Tony Webber now manages Ryan Aviations ferry flight department amid a period of rapid expansion
When I was 25
years of age I sold
all I had and invested
in ying training.
I have not regretted
a single day
Ryan Aviation
Why did you decide to become

an airline pilot?
I wanted to be a pilot from my
early years. Aviation has always
fascinated me. To be honest, I
didnt realise that becoming an
airline pilot was a viable option. I
do not remember my school career guidance adviser discussing
it with me. When I was 25 years
of age I sold all I had and invested in ying training. I have not
regretted a single day.
Tell us about your role
Initially I was brought on board
to oversee contract-pilot selection. This is the main service offering. Ryan Aviation wanted to
offer the best candidates to their
clients, and my background was
a t to help them succeed. I now
oversee the Ferry Flight Department, where we deliver commercial aircraft for our clients 24/7,
365 days a year.
You are qualied to y 11
aircraft types. Which is your
favourite and why?
Without a shadow of doubt, my
favourite aircraft is the Boeing
747-400 series. It is a magnicent
aircraft in all respects. I would
challenge any pilot who has
own it not to fall in love with it.
Ten out of 10.
What advice would you give a
young person wanting to pursue
a career as an airline pilot?
Sadly the job market for pilots is
not what it was. It is a considerable challenge for any newly qualied person to nd gainful employment in the aviation
industry. However, if people are
passionate about aviation and are
Without a shadow of doubt, my favourite aircraft is the Boeing 747-400

prepared to commit a great deal
of time and effort into achieving
their goals, I can think of no better way to spend a life. Do not do
it for money, do it for passion.
How is the ying training
business doing? How is the
aviation recruitment industry
at present?
Currently, Ryan Aviation is experiencing unprecedented growth.
I believe this is testament to the
work ethic within the organisation. We are working with many
established carriers around the
globe, providing top-quality candidates both in and out of the

ightdeck. The level of service
and product delivery soon
spreads through an industry reliant on positive word of mouth.
Reputation is key. Through our
organisations simple strategy of
providing cost-effective, quality
personnel and rst-class service,
we have seamlessly established
our place in the market in a short
space of time. Revenues have
grown by 165% from 2011 to
2013, and further expected
growth is achievable in 2014 as

we expand our services and cooperation agreements within the
Asia-Pacic and Europe.
What are the most challenging
aspects of your job?
Working in an ever-changing environment such as aviation. As
we offer a comprehensive range
of services such as pilot recruitment, executive recruitment, aviation training, and our new service aircraft ferry and delivery
ights every day is different
and has its associated challenges.
What do you enjoy most about
your job?
The satisfaction of taking a
concept such as the Ryan Aviation Ferry Flight Department
and being given sole responsibility to develop the service
with the support of experienced
management. Q
Looking for a job in aerospace?
Check out our listings online at
ightglobal.com/jobs
If you would like to feature in

Working Week, or you know
someone who does, email your
pitch to kate.sarseld@
ightglobal.com
Build your career

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A NICER RYANAIR

REGRETS, IVE HAD

SWEDEN THE DEAL

Budget cuts contribute

5-11 MAY 2015

PERFORMANCE | EXECUTION | TECHNOLOGY

VOLUME 187 NUMBER 5487

5-11 MAY 2015

Budget cuts contribute

5-11 MAY 2015

Are airlines ready for next-generation jets?

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

Russian spacecraft failures compounded by cuts P22

26 PROGRAMME Rising in the east Mitsubishi and

Craig Hoyle, Hindustan Aeronautics

5-11 May 2015 | Flight International | 3

The Royal Australian Air

THE WEEK IN NUMBERS

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Last week, we asked: Will Airbus launch an A380neo by 2020?

The 2014 turnover rise for firms in the Bilbao-focused

The first-quarter operating loss at Air France-KLMs cargo

The number of sales lost by Boeing; Avianca will stick

4 | Flight International | 5-11 May 2015

PRO PEL L I N G TO M O R ROW S WO R L D

SAVE THE DATE

THE ONLY DEDICATED

For more information

nother 2,000 aircraft are projected to exit the US

Almost missing from the plan

Someones going to need a bigger boneyard

ment, but it faces a long-term struggle against the

To find more coverage about

s Michael OLeary a sinner come to repentance? For

and access to large airports. These passengers do not

To get more defence sector coverage,

Doha will acquire the type

JAPANESE AMPHIBIAN IN TRAINING MISHAP

LIEBHERR WINS 777X FOLDING WING-TIP DEAL

CONTRACT Germanys Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg is to supply

AUTOMATIC TAKE-OFFS TO LIFT ISRAELI UAV FORCE

OPERATIONS Israels air force is in the process of incorporating an

EMBRAER BOOSTS COMMERCIAL AVIATION REVENUE

RESULTS A sharp rise in deliveries helped lift Embraers commercial

TU-160 PRODUCTION GIVEN STRATEGIC REVIVAL

BOMBERS Russias defence ministry says it is to restart production

AER LINGUS ATR CREW FACED LOSS OF VISIBILITY

INCIDENT Investigators have disclosed that an ATR 72 turboprop

8 | Flight International | 5-11 May 2015

BA HAPPY WITH A380 BUT DOES NOT WANT MORE

CAPABILITY DOMINC PERRY LONDON

Rafale hits target

atar has ended its longrunning search for new

cured a 36-unit order from Egypt

FLEET ELLIS TAYLOR SINGAPORE

Malaysia set to sell off widebodies

alaysia Airlines appears to

An airline ofcial says it intends to approach the market to

US military sets course for

The planned purchase of six additional F-35Bs will cost $1 billion

While the committee recommends an overall addition to the

perating prot at Airbuss

PC-24 taxis towards rst ight in May

5-11 May 2015 | Flight International | 9