CDB Aviation Appoints Brendan O'Neill as Chief Financial Office

CDB Aviation announced a new executive addition to its Dublin-based leadership team with the appointment of Brendan O'Neill as Chief Financial Officer (pictured above), who will oversee all financial aspects of the company.

Brendan O'Neill has two decades of aircraft leasing and multinational experience, bringing a unique blend of cross-functional experience, combining financial, operational, and functional leadership.

“We are very fortunate to have found such a strong executive for our CFO role,” said CDB Aviation Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hannigan. “Brendan possesses deep strategic and financial acumen, and the breadth of knowledge and experience in aviation finance that will be a valuable asset to our company, particularly at a time when we are focused on navigating our path through the current challenging environment and positioning for the next phase.”

Saab Opens a Centre in the UK for Future Combat Air

Saab is to create a new FCAS centre in the United Kingdom as a hub for our participation in the FCAS (Future Combat Air Systems) programme. Saab is committed to build a long term relationship with the UK related to FCAS by investing initially 50 MGBP. The UK and Sweden signed a MoU on FCAS co-operation in July 2019. Saab is leading Sweden’s FCAS industrial participation in close co-operation with Sweden’s Ministry of Defence.

Saab continuously plans for future developments in every domain. Combat Air is an important part of our strategy for long-term growth and Saab is taking the necessary steps to remain at the forefront of System of Systems development and the advanced technologies within Combat Air.

AirAsia India kicks off #FlightsOfImagination to celebrate everybody’s dream vacation

AirAsia India will pick 10 winners to make their travel dreams come true 

AirAsia India, as part of its drive to make travel special for customers, announced a contest for people to live their dream vacation through an innovative campaign #FlightsOfImagination.

Providing a reason to smile and plan their dream vacation, the #FlightsofImagination contest invites participants to channel their dream vacation in a creative video.

The campaign requires participants to create  a video showing what flying means to them metaphorically. After filming the video, participants are invited to post it on either Twitter or Instagram with the #FlightsOfImagination and tag at least 3 friends and the AirAsia India social handles of twitter (@AirAsiaIndian) or Instagram(airasia_indian). The contest will be judged by renowned photographer & Director, Colston Julian. As part of the Flights of Imagination contest, nine winners will get return flights anywhere of their choice on the AirAsia India network and one lucky winner will take home a 3 nights 4 day round trip for two with a couple stay at the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa in Goa.

KLM amends its flight schedule to Gulf States and adds Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) as new destination

KLM Airbus A330-300 Photo KLM

KLM is slowly and carefully expanding its European and intercontinental network. In doing so, KLM aims to offer its customers as much choice of destinations as possible. Adding Riyadh as a new destination will strengthen KLM's network in the Middle East and help keep it robust. The opening of Riyadh means an increase in the number of destinations, but not in the number of flights to the Middle East, because Riyadh will be combined with an existing destination. The total number of flights KLM operates from Schiphol is far from the pre-corona crisis level.

Riyadh flight schedule

KLM will fly directly from Amsterdam to Riyadh 4 times a week. On the way back, this flight will make a short stopover in Dammam in Saudi Arabia, a destination that was already included in the KLM network before the corona crisis. The flights will be operated with the Airbus A330-200 with 18 seats in World Business Class and 246 seats in Economy Class.

Delta's face mask policy - It’s rigorous for everyone’s safety

Medical research tells us that wearing a mask is one of the most effective ways to reduce the COVID-19 infection rate. That's why the U.S. mega-carrier Delta remains committed to requiring customers and employees to wear a mask or face covering as a consistent layer of protection across all the carrier's touchpoints.

Starting July 20, customers who indicate they have an underlying condition that prevents them from wearing a mask are required to complete a "Clearance-To-Fly" process before being permitted to travel, for everyone's safety. The virtual consultation process facilitated by a Delta agent with a third-party medical professional could take up to an hour, so customers needing a rare exemption should plan to show up to the airport early. Delta is encouraging customers prevented from wearing a mask due to a health condition to reconsider travel, altogether. A "Clearance-To-Fly" process is required for each trip.

Garmin receives EASA approval of the G3X Touch flight display in single-engine piston aircraft

Garmin International has received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification of the G3X Touch™ flight display for hundreds of single-engine certificated aircraft. The G3X Touch offers a variety of scalable panel configurations and a superior feature set that includes wireless connectivity and synthetic vision as standard, as well as advanced features such as display redundancy, advanced autopilot compatibility, engine monitoring and more.

“Through a well-established relationship with EASA and a combined commitment to improve safety in general aviation, we are thrilled to bring the G3X Touch glass display suite to hundreds of certified piston aircraft in Europe,” said Carl Wolf, vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “As a trusted leader in avionics, we’re excited to offer this game-changing system to aircraft owners who are ambitious to pursue a flight display upgrade, giving them an opportunity to take advantage of the safety and redundancy benefits of a Garmin glass display system.”

Royal Flight Airlines repatriation flight land at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport from Africa

Photo Sheremetyevo International Airport

 A special Royal Flight Airlines flight landed at Sheremetyevo International Airport from Africa on Monday, July 20, at 02:14 Moscow time with 197 Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh citizens on board. The passengers returned on flight RL9912 from several African countries in a special mission to bring Russian citizens back home from seven countries - Tanzania, Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya and Jordan.

The operation was possible thanks to the initiative and assistance of the Russian Foreign Ministry, financial support from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) and cooperation between Royal Flight and Sheremetyevo Airport.

WestJet concludes repatriation flight program with Global Affairs Canada

WestJet flew 28 missions across 122,000 miles to reunite more than 4,000 Canadians with home

WestJet today is signifying the conclusion of its repatriation flight program in collaboration with the Government of Canada, following the airline's final flight from Port of Spain (POS), Trinidad and Tobago to Toronto (YYZ), Canada on Friday, July 17. Listen to Cabin Crew Manager Colleen Schindler's message to 171 guests on flight 3903 upon their arrival into Canadian airspace here.

-

American Airlines upgrades its clean commitment

Alison Taylor, Chief Customer Officer for American Airlines, provides an update on how American Airlines is upgrading its Clean Commitment. In this video, Alison explains the airline’s efforts to seek accreditation for cleaning and disinfecting protocols. She also shares upcoming efforts to care for customer and team member safety and well-being through additional enhancements such as an evolving boarding process.

Recommended for you...

High-altitude-long-endurance UAS from Swift completes first flight

Photo: Business Wire

In partnership with NASA's Ames Research Center, Swift Engineering's high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial system, completed its maiden flight. The only US-made platform in its class, Swift's flight team, performed a full-system check, validating the vehicle's configuration for high-altitude continuous surveillance missions.

Through the collaboration with NASA, the successful flight trials took place at New Mexico's Spaceport America. Designed to operate unmanned at 70,000 feet, The Swift HALE UAS offers 24-hour persistent and stable upper atmosphere operations for commercial and military surveillance, monitoring, communications, and security applications. An affordable alternative to satellites, the 72-foot solar-powered air vehicle weighs less than 180 pounds and can safely carry up to 15-pound payloads for missions.

Electric Aviation Group shows off the world's 1st hybrid electric aircraft for 70+ seats

British design will create UK jobs and a blueprint for sustainable mass air transportation

 A pioneering design for a Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft which will deliver a technical and commercial entry point for sustainable mass air transport is being unveiled today. The disruptive design has been developed by the Electric Aviation Group (EAG), the UK-based engineering and development firm, which expects its first aircraft to be in service by 2028.

EAG has optimised the latest technology, economics and operational parameters to create the design for the Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft (HERA), to ensure it can solve the challenges of decarbonisation and mass transportation.

Key information about the 70+seater HERA:

Whisper-quiet operation reduces noise pollution
Innovative airborne battery regeneration to minimise turn-around time
Efficient battery integration
Thermal management of motors and power electronics
Gear Assisted Take-Off Run (GATOR) gives rapid acceleration for a quick lift-off reducing energy requirements
Short take-off-and-landing (STOL) performance enables new route opportunities affording greater profitability to operators
Cabin-flex design enables passenger operation during the day and cargo operation at night
Suitability for operating from regional airports brings convenience to travellers and gives increased proximity to warehouses, enabling private sector cargo to optimise last-mile terrestrial logistics and delivery systems and reduce carbon emissions
Future-proof design to accommodate alternative energy sources if available before 2030
Flexibility to transform into an all-electric or carbon-neutral as the battery density improves or alternative fuels and associated powertrain technologies mature and become affordable.

The design, which is being unveiled to coincide with the opening of FIA Connect, the virtual Farnborough Airshow today, has received unequivocal support from EAG's JetZero consortium, which includes some of the UK's leading engineering and manufacturing organisations and senior academic advisors.

"Significant investments have been raised to develop sub-19 seat hybrid and all-electric aircraft which we believe is the wrong strategy. These small planes cannot meet the demands of mass air transportation or the requirements of decarbonisation," commented Kamran Iqbal, founder, and CEO at EAG. "Our design is for an aircraft that will initially offer 800 nautical miles range at launch in 2028, and which will be able to carry over 70 people. We will be a first mover in what is a $4.4 trillion market."

EAG will draw on the rich heritage and strong aviation industry in Bristol when it begins production of the new aircraft for which it has already developed and filed a total of 25 patents covering a wide range of technologies. The organisation expects to initially create more than 25,000 jobs and unlock $5 billion of investments in the UK aerospace industry.

"We expect this to be a great example of British design, engineering and build," said Kamran Iqbal. "Not only will the development of the HERA help the Department of Transport accelerate its 'Jet Zero' carbon reduction goals, it will also help to create much-needed job opportunities in the aerospace, manufacturing, engineering and services industries post-Brexit. This represents the future of both passenger and cargo flights internationally and as an opportunity for investment, it could not be better timed."

Recommended for you...

Seven new companies will collaborate with Team Tempest - UK Government announces

Seven new companies will collaborate with Team Tempest, the pioneering alliance delivering cutting edge technology for a new generation of combat air power for the UK

Concept imagery of the Tempest aircraft. Crown copyright.

Launched in 2018, Team Tempest is a group of ambitious industry partners - representing the deep breadth of innovation and expertise across the nation - working in collaboration with the MoD on the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project.

The UK’s Future Combat Air System is the £1.9bn project working to develop the next generation combat aircraft, known as Tempest, which will replace the Typhoon.

These pioneering companies will bring new innovations and designs, enabling Team Tempest to carry on developing ground-breaking concepts and technologies that will guarantee combat dominance in the air.

The alliance is quickly gaining recognition for its work and notched up a world first within two years of launching by designing a generator that delivers unprecedented levels of electrical power.

interCaribbean Announces New Flights Between Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean

                       

interCaribbean Airways has confirmed it will offer new connecting services in the Eastern Caribbean between Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines.   

With flights already available to St. Lucia, interCaribbean announces effective August 1, connecting services will commence from Barbados' Grantley Adams International Airport to Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica.  The scheduled expansion in the Eastern Caribbean will give connective travel to the existing 22 cities served by interCaribbean across its Pan-Caribbean network as services are restored. 

For more than two decades, interCaribbean' operations have been focused to the western area of the Caribbean, with services in some of the region's major cities in Antigua, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos.

Ontario International Airport freight shipments up nearly 30% in June, 20% YTD; passenger levels improve

Air freight shipments increased by nearly 30% in June and 20% in the first half of the year at Ontario International Airport (ONT), the result of increased reliance on e-commerce as Californians continue to observe safer-at-home orders and turn to online shopping for many household supplies.

Freight shipments totaled more than 79,000 tons in June, the fourth straight month that ONT experienced freight tonnage gains of 22% or more. From January through June, ONT processed 422,000 tons, one-fifth more than the 351,000 tons handled in the first six months of last year.

"Ontario continues to be a focal point in the global supply chain that runs through Southern California, and a main reason why our region's economy continues to weather the current recession comparatively well," said Mark Thorpe, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority. "Month after month, Ontario Airport and our airline partners have demonstrated that our people and facilities are up to the task of shouldering an increasingly heavier workload, especially during this time of uncertainty."

United Airlines to maximize ventilation system during Boarding and deplaning

The new procedure will maximize airflow volume and recirculation of cabin air for passengers

United's HEPA filtration system recycles air every 2-3 minutes and removes 99.97% of particles making an aircraft a cleaner environment than restaurants, grocery stores, schools or some hospitals

                          United Airlines this week announced that the carrier will now maximize air flow volume for all mainline aircraft high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration systems during the entire boarding and deplaning process, helping further reduce the spread of COVID-19. In combination with the HEPA filters, the air conditioning and pressurization system onboard United's mainline aircraft recirculates the air every 2-3 minutes and removes 99.97% of particles – including viruses and bacteria during both ground and air operations – making the air onboard a plane significantly cleaner than what people typically experience in restaurants, grocery stores, schools or even some hospitals. United pilots and ground staff are working to implement this new procedure for mainline aircraft beginning July 27.