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Tag: c919

Some Exhibitors Drop Out of Singapore Airshow Due to Coronavirus

February 2, 2020 /
  • Textron, Gulfstream no longer attending
  • Organisers expect reduction in exhibitors, visitors
  • South Korea’s air force reviewing participation

By Jamie Freed and Allison Lampert

SYDNEY/MONTREAL, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Some aerospace companies including business jet manufacturers Textron Inc and General Dynamics Corp’s Gulfstream division said they no longer planned to attend the Singapore Airshow due to the new coronavirus epidemic.

The trade portion of Asia’s biggest airshow, held every two years, is set to begin on Feb. 11 under the shadow of the fast-spreading virus that has prompted Singapore to deny entry to any non-resident with a recent history of travel to China, where the virus originated.

The death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 361 in China, bringing the number of confirmed infections to 17,205 in the country. The flu-like virus, which can be transmitted from person to person, has spread to more than two dozen other nations and regions.

Experia Events, the organiser of the Singapore Airshow, said last week the show would continue as planned, but the government measures meant it would “undoubtedly see a reduction in terms of the number of expected exhibitors and visitors this year”.

The organiser said there would be doctors and medics on standby to attend to visitors who were feeling unwell.

In 2018, there were 54,000 trade attendees from 147 countries and 1,062 participating companies who come to network, examine products and sign deals covering commercial aviation, defence, maintenance and repair operations and business jets.

Typically, it is not a major show for commercial plane orders but talks during the show can set the stage for deals that are completed later in the year.

Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin Corp , among the biggest exhibitors, said they still planned to attend the show.

Textron and Gulfstream said their decision to not attend was a precautionary measure to protect the health of employees.

Russian aerospace group Rostec plans to send a reduced delegation to the show, Russian media reported. Rostec did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Air Force said on Monday it was reviewing whether to participate in the Singapore Airshow, but it had not made a final decision.

The deputy administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Li Jian, is no longer listed as a speaker at a pre-show leadership conference on Feb. 10.

Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), which is developing the C919 narrowbody jet, had been due to attend the show before the travel ban was announced.

COMAC did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney and Allison Lampert in Montreal; additional reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore, Joyce Lee in Seoul and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

China’s Bid to Challenge Boeing and Airbus Falters

January 9, 2020 /

BEIJING/PARIS (Reuters) – Development of China’s C919 single-aisle plane, already at least five years behind schedule, is going slower than expected, a dozen people familiar with the programme told Reuters, as the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation (COMAC) struggles with a range of technical issues that have severely restricted test flights.

Delays are common in complex aerospace programmes, but the especially slow progress is a potential embarrassment for China, which has invested heavily in its first serious attempt to break the hold of Boeing and Airbus on the global jet market.

The most recent problem came down to a mathematical error, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

COMAC engineers miscalculated the forces that would be placed on the plane’s twin engines in flight – known in the industry as loads – and sent inaccurate data to the engine manufacturer, CFM International, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. As a result, the engine and its housing may both have to be reinforced, the people said, most likely at COMAC’s expense – though another source denied any modification.That and other technical and structural glitches meant that by early December, after more than two and a half years of flight testing, COMAC had completed less than a fifth of the 4,200 hours in the air that it needs for final approval by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), two people close to the project told Reuters.

Click the link for the full story!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-bid-challenge-boeing-airbus-024459909.html

China’s Sixth Prototype C919 Jet Completes First Test Flight

December 27, 2019 /

BEIJING (Reuters) – The sixth prototype of China’s home-built C919 narrowbody passenger plane completed its first test flight on Friday, marking a milestone in the programme’s testing schedule as China races to compete with Airbus SE and Boeing Co.

The sixth prototype is the last test plane its manufacturer, the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (COMAC), has planned for the programme and was scheduled to fly before the year-end. Currently, there are five test planes that are conducting test flights elsewhere in the country.

The maiden flight on Friday from Shanghai lasted two hours and five minutes, COMAC said in a press release, adding that the jet will be conducting more test flights with a focus on cabin, lighting and external noises.

COMAC has already started production of aircraft parts which will be used for the first batch of aircraft deliveries, it said.

The state manufacturer is aiming to obtain Chinese certification for the C919 in 2021, but the date was subject to regulatory approval and the aircraft’s safety remains a top priority, according to COMAC officials.

He Dongfeng, the Communist Party boss of COMAC, wrote in a state-owned newspaper in December that aircraft safety is key to the survival of COMAC.

Designed to compete directly with the Airbus 320 and the Boeing 737 families in the market for jets with around 150 seats, the C919 is the speartip of China’s efforts to break a powerful decades-old Western duopoly.

The Boeing 737 MAX remains globally grounded following two fatal crashes that killed a total of 346 people.

(Reporting by Stella Qiu and Brenda Goh; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

China Grounds All Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft

March 11, 2019 /

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s aviation regulator said on Monday it had ordered Chinese airlines to suspend their Boeing Co 737 MAX aircraft operations by 6 p.m. (5.00 a.m. ET) following a deadly crash of one of the planes in Ethiopia.

An Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board.

It was the second crash of the 737 MAX, the latest version of Boeing’s workhorse narrowbody jet that first entered service in 2017.

In October, a 737 MAX 8 operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air crashed 13 minutes after take-off from Jakarta on a domestic flight, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a statement it would notify airlines as to when they could resume flying the jets after contacting Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ensure flight safety.

“Given that two accidents both involved newly delivered Boeing 737-8 planes and happened during take-off phase, they have some degree of similarity,” the CAAC said, adding that the order was in line with its principle of zero-tolerance on safety harzards. The 737 MAX 8 is sometimes referred to as the 737-8.

The cause of the Indonesian crash is still being investigated. A preliminary report issued in November, before the cockpit voice recorder was recovered, focused on airline maintenance and training and the response of a Boeing anti-stall system to a recently replaced sensor but did not give a reason for the crash.

Chinese airlines have 96 737 MAX jets in service, the state company regulator said on Weibo.

Caijing, a Chinese state-run news outlet that covers finance and economics, said many flights scheduled to use 737 MAX planes would instead use the 737-800 models.

A Boeing spokesman declined to comment.

A U.S. official told Reuters the United States was unsure of what information China was acting on.

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said there were no plans to follow suit given the 737 MAX had a stellar safety record in the United States and there was a lack of information about the cause of the Ethiopian crash.

Western industry sources say China has been at pains in recent years to assert its independence as a safety regulator as it negotiates mutual safety standard recognition with regulators in the United States and Europe.

In 2017, it signed a mutual recognition deal with the FAA, but industry sources say it has struggled to gain approval from the FAA that would allow it to sell its C919 airliner to Western airlines.

SAFETY STANDARDS

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24 there were no Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes flying over China as of 0043 GMT on Monday.

Most of Air China Ltd’s 737 MAX fleet of 15 jets landed on Sunday evening, with the exception of two that landed on Monday morning from international destinations, according to data on FlightRadar24.

It did not list any upcoming scheduled flights for the planes, nor did China Southern Airlines Co, which also has its fleet on the ground.

China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd four 737 MAX jets landed on Sunday evening and no further flights were scheduled until Tuesday, FlightRadar24 data showed.

Cayman Airways has grounded both of its new 737 MAX 8 jets until more information was received, the Cayman Islands airline said in a statement on its website.

Fiji Airways said it had followed a comprehensive induction process for its new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft and it had full confidence in the airworthiness of its fleet.

“We continue to ensure that our maintenance and training program for pilots and engineers meets the highest safety standards,” the airline said.

Singapore Airlines Ltd, whose regional arm SilkAir operates the 737 MAX, said it was monitoring the situation closely, but its planes continued to operate as scheduled.

Indonesia said it would continue to monitor its airlines operating the 737 MAX, which include Lion Air and Garuda Indonesia but it did not mention any plan to ground the planes.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz and John Ruwitch; additional reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai, Stella Qiu in Beijing, David Shepardson in Washington, Tom Westbrook in Sydney, Jamie Freed in Singapore; Edward Davies in Jakarta and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Richard Pullin, Robert Birsel)

Sichuan Airlines signs purchase agreement for 10 Airbus A350-900’s

February 25, 2018 /

Sichuan Airlines of China has signed a purchase agreement for 10 Airbus A350-900’s. The deal is subject to government approval, and valued at 200 billion yuan ($31.56 billion) at list price. This represents the largest aircraft order ever by the Chengdu-based airline, although major customers usually negiotiate large discounts.

The airline announced the order following the leasing of 4 A350-900’s through AerCap (3) and Air Lease Corporation (1). Those aircraft had been slated for Sri Lankan Airlines, but that airline canceled the order last year amid high debt levels. The first of the leased A350-900’s was spotted in September of last year sporting a panda livery. The airline expects the A350’s to serve the international market, and has applied for nonstop service from Chengdu to Los Angeles.

Sichuan Airlines is partially owned by the provincial government, as well as stakes held by China Southern, China Eastern, and Shandong Airlines. Sichuan is currently the largest Airbus operator in China, operating over 130 of the European aircraft. These operations including the A320-neo, A321, and both A330 200 and 300 series aircraft. It’s current long-haul flights operate to Moscow, Vancouver, and Auckland. The carrier has also placed a firm order for 20 of the Chinese built Comac C919 narrow body aircraft.

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