Aerospace Diary

Dunlop’s offers better regional radials SINGAPORE AIR SHOW  »  2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS February 12, 2014, 11:00 PM Dunlop Aircraft Tyres (Booth M93) is exhibiting new radial tires for regional aircraft including the Embraer E-Jets and ATR  42/72. “This product innovation, combined with our new tire distribution and retreading facility in China, gives aircraft operators increased choice…in this expanding market,” said Ian Edmonson, the company’s chairman. Dunlop’s Asia Pacific customers include China Eastern Airways, Lion Air, SpiceJet and Qantas link. Last year, Flybe, Europe’s largest regional carrier, awarded Dunlop an exclusive five-year contract to supply new and retreaded nose and main wheel tyres for its fleet of Embraer 175 aircraft. Dunlop had previously supported the airline with tyres for its fleet of Bombardier Q400 turboprops.

SINGAPORE AIR SHOW  »  2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS ATR’s EASA-approved training center in Singapore located at Seletar Airpark offers programs that include flight-crew type rating through recurrent training in an ATR 600 full-flight simulator that enables training for both ATR 44-600s and ATR 72-600s. February 12, 2014, 11:50 PM As demand for aviation in Asia Pacific continues to grow, so does the requirement for training. In addition, infrastructure in the region’s growing economies has not kept pace with expansion, creating colossal challenges for airlines–as confirmed by  Boeing’s Pilot  &  Technician Outlook  on Asia Pacific, which states that demand for pilots in the region will increase by 7 percent in the next two decades. The accelerating growth of  Asian budget carriers , with large fleet orders depleting the pool of trained pilots and maintenance engineers, is making many companies look ...

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  SEPTEMBER 23, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS At Asia's current rate of growth, training capacity in the region, particularly in China, won’t keep pace with demand, according to Boeing. (Photo: CAE) September 23, 2013, 11:05 AM Ailing infrastructure in rapidly growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region has not kept in step with demand, creating huge challenges for airlines running out of pilots as fleets expand. Led by China and India, the region’s economies will grow 4.5 percent per year over the next 20 years, while Chinese airlines triple the size of their fleets, according to the 2013 Boeing Pilot  & Technician Outlook on Asia-Pacific. China alone will require 77,400 pilots and 93,900 technicians of the 192,300 new airline pilots and 215,300 new technicians needed in the region through 2032, said the Boeing report. “There is a very real, urgent demand…and the industry will n...

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  AUGUST 12, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Lion Air recently ordered 20 Cessna 172s and a third 737 simulator for pilot training. (Photo: Wings Flying School) August 12, 2013, 9:50 AM Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest domestic carrier, is expanding its routes and training facilities, having ordered 20 Cessna 172s and one Boeing 737- 900ER  simulator, its third, to shore up an impending need for pilots.  The budget carrier has placed orders for more than 500 narrowbodies with Boeing and Airbus ; it currently has a fleet of 96 aircraft. Indonesia’s growing middle class and poorly served air corridors have provided the region’s airlines with opportunities for expansion. In the next 20 years, the Indonesian middle class will grow from 130 million to 240 million people, the World Bank estimates. Malindo Air of Malaysia, which is 49 percent owned by Lion Air, is launching a daily nonstop 7...

Neelam Mathews in Kuala Lumpur Nov 8, 2012 AAPAs 56th Assembly of Presidents concentrates on its members primarily in the Asean region, But talk aviation with very senior people here, and the state of Indian aviation crops up as the primary subject of interest. It is embarrassing to hear tales of woe from lessors, insurance agents, OEMs and anybody who is a vendor about payments not being made primarily by Kingfisher and airports setting a bad example by not letting the claimed planes go. In case we didn't realize people didn't care, lets think again. The aviation community is so big, yet so small, somebody told me here. And how true that is! Everybody's fortune, seems to be intrinsically linked with each other. "People are scared of fuel prices, airport charges that go up and down and are waiting for the regulatory environment to pan out," said an official here on condition of anonymity. He did add that nothing much was expected to move till India's e...

Singapore Air Show » February 15, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews Dinesh Keskar (left), v-p Asia Pacific and India sales, Boeing Commercial Airplane shakes on a deal for 201 737 Max-9s with Rusdi Kirana, Lion Air president. Photo by Mark Wagner. February 14, 2012, 8:30 PM   Indonesia’s Lion Air underlined its clear love for Boeing aircraft here on St. Valentine’s Day when it signed a “ceremonial certificate of purchase” to firm up the massive aircraft order it first revealed at the Dubai Airshow last November. Jakarta-based Lion Air’s founder and president director, Rusdi Kirana, and Dinesh Keskar, vice president of Asia Pacific and India Sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, were on hand to seal the deal whereby the airline becomes launch customer for 201 Leap-1B-powered Boeing 737-9 MAX airplanes and 29 CFM-7B-powered Next Generation 737-900ER air...

Neelam Mathews Nov 18, 2011 Boeing is in the pink. Barely was the Emirates Airlines order for 50 Boeing 777-300 ER worth about $18 billion at list prices announced, that Boeing was awarded its biggest commercial order for 230 aircraft worth $21.7billion by Indonesian airline Lion Air. The provisional order is made up of 201 next-generation Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and 29 extended range 737s. General Electric has entered an agreement with Indonesia's Garuda Airlines to supply 50 engines for $1.3billion.  Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest privately owned carrier, is on EU’s infamous blacklist of unsafe airlines banned from entering Europe. However, there seems to be no stopping this fast growth airline from expanding.