New Caledonia’s Aircalin has taken delivery of its first A320neo. The aircraft joins two A330neo already delivered under the carrier’s fleet modernisation plan.
With its new fleet the airline benefits from the lowest operating costs in the respective size categories, as well as the unique commonality between variants of the Airbus Family.
Aircalin’s A320neo is powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1000 engines and configured in a single class layout with 168 seats.
With the A320neo, Aircalin will be able to increase capacity on its flights and open new routes across the Pacific region.
The A320neo Family offers the widest single-aisle cabin in the sky and incorporates the latest technologies, including new generation engines and Sharklets, delivering a 20 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, as well as 50 per cent less noise compared to previous generation aircraft.
At the end of November 2020, the A320neo Family had received 7,455 firm orders from over 120 customers worldwide.
Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Alaska Airlines [NYSE: ALK] announced that the carrier is buying 23 more 737-9 airplanes, building on its original order and an agreement last month to acquire new 737-9s through lease. The new deal brings Alaska Airlines’ total 737 MAX orders and options to 120 airplanes, which will give the fifth largest U.S. carrier the scale, efficiency and flexibility to expand as air travel recovers.
“We are extremely proud to be announcing this transformative agreement with Boeing,” said Brad Tilden, CEO of Alaska Air Group. “We believe in this airplane, we believe in our strong partnership with Boeing, and we believe in the future of Alaska Airlines and the incredible opportunities ahead as we climb our way out of this pandemic.”
Alaska Airlines, a longtime Boeing 737 operator, placed an order for 32 737-9 jets in 2012 as part of its fleet modernization program. The 737-9 is a member of the 737 MAX family that is designed to offer more fuel efficiency, reliability and flexibility in the single-aisle airplane market. Last month, Alaska Airlines announced it is expanding its commitment to the 737 MAX program by leasing 13 new 737-9s while selling some A320 jets it had taken on through its acquisition of Virgin America.
The new agreement announced today will add 23 firm orders for the 737-9 and more options for future purchases. In all, Alaska will have 52 options which, if fully exercised, would take the carrier to as many as 120 737 MAX airplanes. The airline said the deal moves it toward a more efficient, all-Boeing mainline fleet that will “enhance the guest experience, improve operational performance and support the company’s growth.”
“We could not ask for a better partner than Boeing and we are delighted to be standing side by side with them as we work together to get our economy back on its feet,” said Tilden.
Alaska Airlines and Boeing leaders announced the agreement during a signing ceremony at Boeing’s delivery facility in Seattle, flanked by a new 737-9 that will be among the first such jets to be operated by Alaska Airlines. In observance of COVID-19 restrictions, both companies limited attendance at the event and addressed the pandemic that has severely affected air travel, expressing confidence in the fundamental strength of the industry and long-term passenger demand.
“Alaska Airlines has done a tremendous job of weathering the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, and is well positioned to return to its growth trajectory and strengthen its standing as one of the top U.S. airlines. With Alaska’s industry-leading reputation for safety, sustainability and customer service, we are honored they have chosen to invest in their future with a significant purchase of additional Boeing 737 airplanes,” said Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We are grateful for Alaska’s trust and partnership. Our team is focused on delivering their first 737 MAX jets and helping ensure a safe and seamless entry into service.”
Alaska Airlines says the 737 – equipped with new, more fuel-efficient engines and improved aerodynamics – will use 20% less fuel and reduce emissions by 20% per seat compared to airplanes it replaces. The airline will configure the jet with 178 seats in a three-class configuration. The plane can fly 3,550 nautical miles, about 600 miles more than its predecessor. This additional capability will allow airlines to offer new and more direct routes to passengers. Every airplane will feature the new Boeing Sky Interior, highlighted by modern sculpted sidewalls and window reveals, LED lighting that enhances the sense of spaciousness and larger pivoting overhead storage bins.
Learn more about Alaska’s confidence in the safety and certification of the MAX at alaskaair.com/737MAX.
All six Super Tucano aircraft ordered by The Philippine Air Force (PAF) have been officially handed over to the Air Force today. The aircraft will be deployed for close air support, light attack, surveillance, air-to-air interception, counter-insurgency missions, advanced training and are part of PAF’s ongoing modernization plan.
“The Philippine Air Force takes pride in welcoming the six A-29B Super Tucano from Embraer Defense and Security into the blue fold of our skies as part of our fleet. The addition of these close air support aircraft is a great leap in our air power capability as we soar together in our flight to a more capable and credible Air Force for the nation and its people,” Lieutenant General Allen T. Paredes AFP, Commanding General of the Philippine Air Force.
“It is an honour to deliver these six A-29 Super Tucanos to The Philippine Air Force,” said Jackson Schneider, President and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. “Delivering an aircraft amidst a global pandemic is challenging, but we were committed to go the extra mile every step of the way to have the aircraft in the hands of PAF to fulfil their security missions.”
These aircraft will be operated and maintained by the 15th Strike Wing, the PAF’s end-user. In November 2017, a firm order of six A-29 Super Tucano light attack and advanced training aircraft for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) was made after a comprehensive public bidding process.
The A-29 Super Tucano is a durable, versatile and powerful turboprop aircraft capable of carrying out a wide range of missions, even operating from unimproved runways. To date, the Super Tucano was selected by 15 air forces worldwide.
First delivery of 2020 batch accomplished, recent 777F touched down at its operational home base Cincinnati last Thursday
DHL continues strengthening its intercontinental network by renewal of its long-haul aircraft fleet
State-of-the-art aircraft also supports the Group’s goal of improving its carbon footprint
DHL Express, the world’s leading international express service provider, is receiving six new Boeing 777F-200 cargo aircraft this year. The first of these planes to come in 2020 landed last Thursday at its future base of operations, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). In 2018 DHL ordered 14 new Boeing 777F, with four delivered in 2019, six to come this year and the remaining four to be taken into service in 2021. The current freighter will be operated by DHL Express’ partner airline Kalitta. The renewal is part of the overall modernization of the long-haul intercontinental fleet of the courier company and replaces older planes. The Boeing 777F is equipped with top-of-the-line fuel-efficient technology and features the longest range at full payload of any widebody freighter aircraft. This allows DHL to operate with higher efficiency while meeting the increasing global demand for express logistics service.
“We’re excited to welcome more Boeing 777Fs to the DHL Express family this year,” says John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express. “With the modernization of our intercontinental fleet, we can simultaneously enhance our proven ability to meet growing demand, improve our environmental footprint and deliver best quality service to our customers. DHL has made its mark time and time again with innovative solutions and technologies. We are pleased to continue demonstrating to partners and customers alike how these advancements stand to elevate the entire express logistics industry while bringing us closer to achieving our Strategy 2025 goals.”
In the center of its Strategy 2025 DHL Express focusses particularly on ‘E-commerce’ as a growth driver and ‘efficiency’ for further increasing its profit. With a payload capacity of 102 tons and a range of 9,200 km, the B777F has the largest capacity and range of all twin-engine freighter aircraft. They are also more fuel-efficient, reliable than older planes and reducing CO2 emissions by 18 per cent. DHL Express operates over 260 dedicated aircraft with 17 partner airlines on over 3.000 daily flights across 220 countries and territories.
“We expect further growth in cross-border e-commerce trade and, as a result, increased demand for our express logistics services and expertise in intercontinental deliveries,” says Travis Cobb, EVP Global Network Operations and Aviation at DHL Express. “With the new Boeing 777Fs, we can increase our intercontinental connections while reducing carbon emissions and fuel consumption. This enables us to continue to provide customers with the excellent quality they’ve come to expect from us while we work to expand our global services.”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp <TM> said on Friday it will move production of its mid-size Tacoma pick-up truck from the United States to Mexico as it adjusts production around North America.
The largest Japanese automaker also said it will end production of the Toyota Sequoia in Indiana by 2022 as that facility focuses on mid-size SUV’s and minivans.
Toyota will shift production of the Sequoia in 2022 to Texas and that plant will end production of the Tacoma by late 2021.
Toyota has been building Tacoma trucks at its Baja California plant in Mexico since 2004. Last month, Toyota’s Guanajuato plant began assembly of the Tacoma.
Toyota said its production capacity for the Tacoma in Mexico will be about 266,000 per year. Last year, the automaker sold nearly 249,000 Tacoma pickup trucks in the United States, up 1.3%.
Toyota said the product moves were to “improve the operational speed, competitiveness and transformation at its North American vehicle assembly plants based on platforms and common architectures.”
The new North American trade agreement approved by the U.S. Senate on Thursday ensures that automakers will still be able to build pickup trucks in Mexico without facing new punitive tariffs.
In February, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV <FCAU> said it was reversing plans to shift production of heavy-duty trucks from Mexico to Michigan in 2020, freeing a Michigan facility to produce Jeeps.
Toyota said Friday it completed a $1.3 billion modernization investment in its Indiana operations to add 550 jobs. Toyota said there would be no reduction to direct jobs at any of Toyota’s facilities across North America as a result of the vehicle moves.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)
The Boeing logo is displayed on a screen, at the NYSE in New York
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Boeing Co <BA> has decided not to compete as a prime contractor to replace the Pentagon’s aging U.S.-based Minuteman III missile system, paving the way for Northrop Grumman Corp <NOC> to win a contract worth tens of billions of dollars.
Friday marked the deadline to submit proposals to continue work on the replacement of the nearly half-century-old intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system as the military embarks on a costly modernization of its aging atomic weapons.
Boeing said in a statement that it was disappointed it was unable to submit a bid. Northrop said it had submitted its proposal. No other bidders were expected.
Boeing’s decision not to enter a bid as a prime contractor had been foreshadowed this summer in a letter from the chief executive of Boeing Defense Space and Security, Leanne Caret, to Air Force leadership, saying Northrop’s 2018 purchase of solid rocket motor maker Orbital ATK might make it difficult for Boeing to compete on cost.
Orbital is the top producer of the solid fuel rocket motors generally used in Minuteman III and similar missiles.
Upgrading the U.S. nuclear force was expected to cost more than $350 billion over the next decade as the United States works to replace its bombs, nuclear bombers, missiles and submarines. Some analysts estimated the cost of modernization at $1 trillion over 30 years.
The Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office has said the total cost to replace Minuteman III could top U.S. $85 billion.
Alstom will provide new cars for service to the enlarged Line E of Buenos Aires City metro, which represent a notable improvement for the metro cars of this line and an increase in passengers comfort.
The modernized cars of the series 100 produced by Alstom are incorporated into this line in which around more than 100,000 passengers travel per day, from the Plaza de los Virreyes station to Retiro in the centre of Buenos Aires. This modernization is in addition to the installation and validation of the signalling system in the three new stations of the E Line, completed successfully at the beginning of June.
Those metro cars are subject to a general review after 15 years to ensure their safety and efficiency. This “half-life” maintenance includes the disassembly, polishing, cleaning, profiling and painting or absolute replacement of all cars pieces and parts that are sent to Los Hornos workshop, in Las Plata. In that, full repair and maintenance’s are done by fifty professionals and workers, mostly from the same city, who works daily in the renovation of the cars that are part of the Buenos Aires metro network.
“The modernization of these series 100 cars for Line E is another proof of the enormous efforts that Alstom makes daily in its factory of Los Hornos to improve the travel´s quality of the thousands of users of the Buenos Aires city metro. To this we must add the activities that we have carried out recently in the expansion of Line E, with the incorporation of our state-of-the-art signalling system. We are proud of our customer’s trust in our experience, and we continue to bet on transforming the Argentine transport system” says Ernesto Garberoglio, General Director of Alstom Argentina.
Alstom has been present in Argentina since 1993, maintaining its presence over the years, which demonstrates a strong commitment to the country and its inhabitants. Dedicated to the transport sector on rails, it provides products and services to the metro operator of the City of Buenos Aires (Metrovías) and to the owner of the metro infrastructure (SBASE). It also has projects with Argentine Railways Infrastructure (formerly ADIFSE) and with the Railway Operator State’s Society (SOFSE) in the implementation of technological solutions for passenger and commercial transport.
São José dos Campos, November 21, 2019 – Binter of Spain celebrates the incorporation of the first E195-E2 jet into its fleet at a ceremony held today at Embraer’s main facility in São José dos Campos. The airline is the first European customer to receive the biggest of the three members of the E-Jets E2 family of commercial aircraft. Binter has placed firm orders for five E195-E2s.
“We’re extremely proud to deliver the first E195-E2 in Europe to such an accomplished regional airline. Binter will showcase the very best of the airplane as it expands its network to more cities,” said John Slattery, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation.
“Today´s event is very special for all of us, who are part of Binter. This Embraer E195-E2 aircraft is an important step in the history of our company that will become as well a jet operator. This new milestone, which coincides with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Binter, adds more advances to the ones that we have made in recent years, and that help to pursue our main objective: the improvement of the connecting of the Canary Islands, both inter-island and with external destinations,” said Binter’s President, Pedro Agustín del Castillo.
The acquisition of the E195-E2s is part of Binter’s overall fleet modernization initiative. Each aircraft is configured with 132 seats in single class. The new aircraft will be deployed across a route network that includes eight cities in the Canary Islands, nine cities in Africa and two in Portugal. Last year, Binter carried 3.6 million passengers.
In April, the E195-E2 received its Type Certificate from three regulatory authorities: ANAC, the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil); the FAA (U.S. Federal Aviation Administration) and EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency).
Flight tests confirmed that the aircraft is better than its original specification. Fuel consumption is 1.4% lower than expected – that’s 25.4% less fuel per seat compared to the current-generation E195. Maintenance costs are 20% lower. The E195-E2 is the most environmentally-friendly aircraft in its class, having the lowest levels of external noise and emissions. The cumulative margin to ICAO Stage IV noise limit ranges from 19 to 20 EPNdB, 4.0 EPNdB better than its direct competitor.
Like the E190-E2, the E195-E2 has the longest maintenance intervals in the single-aisle jet category with 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit for typical E-Jet operations. This means an additional 15 days of aircraft utilization over a period of ten years compared to current generation E-Jets.
The E195-E2 features new ultra-high bypass ratio engines, a completely new wing, full fly-by-wire controls and new landing gear. Compared to the first-generation E195, 75% of aircraft systems are new. The E195-E2 has 3 additional seat rows. The cabin can be configured with 120 seats in two classes, or up to 146-seats in a single class layout.
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft up to 150 seats with more than 100 customers from all over the world. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,500 aircraft have been delivered. Today, E-Jets are flying in the fleets of 75 customers from 50 countries. The versatile 70 to 150-seat family is flying with low-cost airlines as well as with regional and mainline carriers.
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp. has won the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud computing contract, the Defense Department said on Friday, beating out favorite Amazon.com Inc.
The contracting process had long been mired in conflict of interest allegations, even drawing the attention of President Donald Trump, who has publicly taken swipes at Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos. Trump in August said his administration was reviewing Amazon’s bid after complaints from other companies.
The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract is part of a broader digital modernization of the Pentagon meant to make it more technologically agile. Specifically, a goal of JEDI is to give the military better access to data and the cloud from battlefields and other remote locations.
Oracle Corp had expressed concerns about the award process for the contract, including the role of a former Amazon employee who worked on the project at the Defense Department but recused himself, then later left the Defense Department and returned to Amazon Web Services.
In a statement, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) spokesman said the company was “surprised about this conclusion.”
The company said that a “detailed assessment purely on the comparative offerings” would “clearly lead to a different conclusion,” according to the statement.
AWS is considering options for protesting the award, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Although the Pentagon boasts the world’s most potent fighting force, its information technology remains woefully inadequate, according to many officials.
Officials have complained of having outdated computer systems and being unable to access files or share information as quickly as they might be able to in the private sector.
“If I am a warfighter, I want as much data as you could possibly give me,” Lieutenant General Jack Shanahan, the director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, told reporters in August describing the importance of the contract.
Some companies were concerned that a single award would give the winner an unfair advantage in follow-on work. The Pentagon has said it planned to award future cloud deals to multiple contractors.
This week, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper removed himself from reviewing the deal due to his adult son’s employment with one of the original contract applicants, IBM Corp. IBM had previously bid for the contract but had already been eliminated from the competition.
Microsoft said it was working on a comment. IBM and Oracle did not immediately return requests for comment.
In a book slated for publication Oct. 29, retired Navy commander Guy Snodgrass, who served as a speech writer to former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, said Trump called Mattis and directed him to “screw Amazon” by preventing it from bidding on the JEDI contract, according to an excerpt of the book seen by Reuters ahead of its release.
“We’re not going to do that,” Mattis later told other Pentagon officials, according to the excerpt. “This will be done by the book, both legally and ethically.”
Snodgrass declined to comment pending the release of his book.
In a statement announcing Microsoft as the winner, the Pentagon underscored its view that the competition was conducted fairly and legally.
“All (offers) were treated fairly and evaluated consistently with the solicitation’s stated evaluation criteria. Prior to the award, the department conferred with the DOD Inspector General, which informed the decision to proceed,” it said.
Microsoft shares were up 3% to $144.98 in after-hours trading after the news. Amazon shares were down 0.92% to $1,745.12.
The Pentagon said it had awarded more than $11 billion across 10 separate cloud contracts over the past two years.
“As we continue to execute the DOD Cloud Strategy, additional contracts are planned for both cloud services and complementary migration and integration solutions necessary to achieve effective cloud adoption,” the Pentagon said.
(Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis and Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco Reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Sonya Hepinstall and Lincoln Feast)
LOS ANGELES, September 20, 2019 – Today Air Lease Corporation (“ALC”) (NYSE: AL) announced the delivery of one new Airbus A321-200neo LR aircraft on long-term lease to Air Astana. Featuring Pratt & Whitney PW1133G engines, this aircraft is the first of seven A321-200neo aircraft scheduled to deliver to the airline from ALC’s order book with Airbus.
“We are delighted to announce this first of seven ALC A321-200neo LR aircraft delivery to Air Astana today,” said Alex Khatibi, Executive Vice President of Air Lease Corporation. “The A321-200neo LR is instrumental to Air Astana’s fleet modernization program to support the airline’s extended range operations and expanding route network.”
