GE Tackling Environmental Challenges with Affinity
GE Aviation this week provided a glimpse into design challenges that the company is working through as it progresses on the twin-shaft, medium-bypass Affinity engine selected to power the Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet. Aerion Supersonic and GE announced plans in October 2018 to move forward with the Affinity for the AS2, saying it would be designed using a “proven engine core adapted from GE’s commercial airline portfolio” with the latest technology full authority digital engine control, an advanced twin-fan, durable combustor, and advanced acoustic technology that would meet or exceed regulatory requirements.
While GE has not specified beyond saying the engine pulls from its commercial engine core expertise, it is believed to borrow from the CFM56. But GE does say the Affinity adopts features from its new Passport business jet engine such as the front fan blisks and slimline composite core ducting.
Anticipated to be part of a family in the 16,000- to 20,000-pound-thrust range, the Affinity will be certified to operate at altitudes up to 60,000 feet and capable of providing efficient supersonic and subsonic transport.
Speaking during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aviation Forum on Wednesday, Joel Kirk, GE Aviation’s executive leader of advanced systems design and technology, said the engine maker is partnering “across the board” on technology development for the next wave of supersonic flight.
With just 109 days left until the scheduled opening of NBAA-BACE 2020 in Orlando, Florida, many dyed-in-the-wool attendees are likely staring at their wide-open travel calendars—courtesy of the Covid-19 pandemic—and asking themselves: am I ready to do this?
Long before that question is resolved, more fundamental issues face exhibitors at The Greatest Bizav Show on Earth, who are approaching a go/no-go decision on committing budget, staff, and other resources to the annual trek—this year to Orlando’s cavernous Orange County Convention Center. An event that has continuously attracted more than 25,000 devoted attendees and a sky-darkening fleet of new and preowned business aircraft, NBAA-BACE is the largest and most impactful gathering of industry leaders.
In years past, commitments to attend the show likely didn’t warrant the careful scrutiny they do in 2020. For some, the decision to attend will be made in a boardroom and communicated at the appropriate time.
For others, these will be intensely personal decisions that factor in the known risks on one hand and FOMO—the fear of missing out—on the other. Those who choose to stay home will stay as connected as possible through social media. Others who make the trek to Orlando will more likely be rewarded with the available new business, whether in spite of the face mask or perhaps because of it.
Analyst: Bizav Recovery Shifts from U-shape to V-shape
Citing several data points, Baird Equity Research senior research analyst Peter Arment is seeing a U-shaped recovery in business aviation shifting to a V-shaped one, according to his note to investors this week. “Business flight activity is making a comeback over the past few weeks as recent daily data points to a near V-shape recovery,” Arment said.
Noting that 7,383 business flights occurred globally on June 17, Arment said that represented a 1 percent decline year-over-year and a 100 percent increase month-over-month. “Flights are continuing on the path to recovery in June, now representing a 21 percent decline [month-to-date] versus 2019 after May activity was down 44 percent and April down 68 percent.”
According to Baird’s proprietary business jet operator dataset, 10-day average activity at fractional provider NetJets has increased 26 percent from its previous 10-day average and 32 percent compared with the one before that. Meanwhile, according to Baird’s dataset, Flexjet’s activity has increased 26 percent month-to-date.
Among turbine business aircraft airframers, Cessna models saw a 14.4 percent year-over-year increase in flights on June 17 and its June activity is down 13 percent compared with declines of 36 percent for Gulfstream, 33 percent for Dassault Falcon, 31 percent for Bombardier, and 26 percent for Embraer, Arment wrote.
Textron is eliminating 1,950 positions in three business segments, including Textron Aviation, largely because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Thursday afternoon.
A Textron Aviation spokeswoman referred questions about the contents of the filing to officials at parent Textron. She declined to specify how many jobs are affected at Textron Aviation’s Wichita headquarters and elsewhere. “We do not have any specific information to share at this time.”
Textron Aviation employs nearly 10,000 workers in Kansas—mostly between Wichita and Independence—and 12,500 companywide. “Textron Aviation continues to experience the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on our business and the lives of our employees, our customers, and our communities,” the airframer said in a statement to AIN. “The company continues to closely monitor how the economic uncertainty will impact our business.”
The layoffs come on the heels of furloughs of thousands of workers at the OEM beginning in March that were later extended, as were shortened work weeks. It also laid off primarily 875 engineers and business support workers in December.
According to Textron’s SEC filing, jobs will also be eliminated at Textron Specialized Vehicles, which manufactures aircraft ground support equipment, and Tru Simulation + Training, where production will be suspended in Montreal on the manufacture of commercial air transport simulators.
UK Bizav Steps Up Fight for Quarantine Exemption
The British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA) this week stepped up its efforts to secure an exemption for the industry from the UK’s 14-day quarantine requirement, which took effect June 8 for an initial three-week period. The association is trying to convince the government’s Home Office that an alternate plan provides sufficient protection against increasing the risk of Covid-19 infections from the low numbers of travelers arriving in the country on business aircraft.
In a June 4 letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, BBGA’s newly formed business aviation recovery group outlined plans for minimizing public health risks through a so-called as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) service. This consists of a detailed list of measures to be adopted by business aircraft operators and support companies.
In a June 18 statement, BBGA said that this plan received encouraging feedback from the Department for Transport (DfT), which is jointly responsible with the Home Office for enforcing the quarantine. Supporters reportedly included aviation minister Kelly Tolhurst, who had had to defend the policy in the face of strong criticism in Parliament, including from members of her own Conservative Party.
However, the Home Secretary ignored the request for an exemption and imposed the quarantine policy across all aviation sectors, as well as for other modes of transportation.
Under Continued Scrutiny, FAA Moves To Improve Cert
The FAA is realigning its budget plans to implement a multi-part plan to improve its certification activities, agency Administrator Stephen Dickson told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Dickson outlined a number of the efforts included in that plan, including the recent creation of an Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) office and the hiring of “specialized skilled” employees such as human factors experts and software engineers.
These efforts come in response to the intense scrutiny that the agency has come under in the wake of the Boeing 737 Max crashes and multiple reviews. Other efforts include the development of a new system that tracks employee training, qualifications, and certification to ensure the staff has the requisite knowledge for proper oversight.
Dickson said the FAA is looking for funding to properly staff the ODA office that was stood up over the past year. “While the ODA program has been in place since 2005, the creation of a single office supports standardized outcomes and improvements across the ODA program,” he explained in testimony to the committee. In addition, the agency is looking to improve voluntary information-sharing programs such as Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) and the Aviation Safety Reporting Program, he said.
The FAA is working through another extension on medical requirements, FAA Deputy Administrator Dan Elwell said, but cautioned that the agency also is now turning its attention to “unraveling” the myriad such special considerations as flying begins to pick up and restrictions lift. Speaking during an online General Aviation Town Hall yesterday that featured a cross-section of the industry, Elwell said he believes the agency is hoping to get the next temporary extension through “very soon,” saying it was “going through the proper channels.”
Leniency on medical deadlines was among about 80 different “regulatory enhancements” the FAA has made in recent months to help keep the National Airspace System operating to the extent possible, Elwell estimated. But going forward, the onus will be on both the regulator and the industry to restore the system, he said.
“It’s going to be on us the regulator to unfold…these various regulatory mitigations that we put in place in a thoughtful way. We don’t want to lift the extension on medicals so that everybody goes un-current the same day,” Elwell said. “We are going to unravel it in a way that makes sense.”
In addition, he said, “Operators, maintainers, and manufacturers also have to be very careful and thoughtful in how they get themselves ready and reengage in normal operations.”
Having been hit hard by Covid-19 restrictions, India’s largest low-cost carrier Indigo has converted 10 of its more than 250 aircraft to freighters and has now started offering aircraft charter under IndiGo Charter Services to boost revenue.
According to IndiGo chief commercial officer Willy Boulter, “Charter is a side business as our fleet is not fully utilized for the limited scheduled services at present.” Boulter added that charter is not a new business for IndiGo—the airline has in the past operated domestic charters and some international services on behalf of various governments and corporations.
“The aircraft are not modified in any way. We are offering both domestic and international charter to those companies and individuals who wish to have an aircraft dedicated to themselves,” said Boulter.
The move to start private jet charter is being seen as an astute step. “Any money is good money these days,” said an airline official. “IndiGo has fixed costs as far as its fleet of ATR and Airbus A320neos go. The only extra is fuel cost,” Vishok Mansingh, CEO of Vman Aero Services, told AIN. Private charters are increasingly being used by businesses transporting staff to remote industrial towns, by families, and by high-net-worth individuals, he said.
Indian regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation preponed an earlier order permitting commercial and charter flights to start operating on May 25 instead of May 31.
Doron Talmi, an AIN reader from Israel, took this photo of the first production Gulfstream G280 during sunset at Dallas Love Field eight years ago. You’ll find a few more of them around now, though—at last count, Gulfstream said there are some 200 G280s in service worldwide. Thanks for sharing, Doron!
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