Getafe, Madrid, Spain, October 11, 2023 – Airbus Group SE (Paris: AIR) and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) worked together to successfully complete the automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) flight test campaign with the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) and F-15 fighter, ahead of its certification in the first half of 2024.
Over the course of three weeks in August, a RSAF A330 MRTT made more than 500 automated wet and dry contacts with the air force’s full fleet of receiver aircraft, including the F-15SG aircraft, a customised variant of the US-built F-15E Strike Eagle air-to-ground fighter jet.
The flight tests with F-15SG were conducted in Singapore, covering the whole operational AAR envelope in different weather conditions under the supervision of the Spanish certifying authority, called INTA (National Institute for Aerospace Technology).
Alstom (OTC: ALSMY) has signed a contract with Germany’s Baden-Wuerttemberg State Institute for Rail Vehicles (SFBW) to retrofit 118 regional trains with the European Train Control System (ETCS) Automatic Train Operation (ATO) digital signalling technology. Part of the Stuttgart Digital Node lighthouse project, the contract is valued at approximately 130 million euro1 and includes an innovation cooperation agreement software maintenance contract and a contract for further maintenance.
In addition to the recently announced S-Bahn project, the new retrofit project covers 118 trains that SFBW operates on the high-traffic Stuttgart network. The trains come from several different suppliers and will be upgraded with the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 and 3 as well as Automatic Train Operation (ATO) level 2 (GoA2) technology. The initial upgrade project will be completed by 2024 and the subsequent upgrade, according to the European Technical Specifications for Interoperability 2022, will be completed by 2027.
While ATO technology has already been implemented in metros and urban rail lines in cities like Paris, the highly automated operation (GoA 2) is now being used for the first time in Germany on the basis of ETCS Level 2 in the Stuttgart Digital Node. When completed in 2024, the new signalling technology will increase capacity and frequency on the Stuttgart network while also making the trains performance more sustainable.
As part of the agreed innovation cooperation, Alstom and SFBW will also define the requirements for Train Integrity Monitoring (TIM), Future Railway Mobile Communication System upgrade capability, Train Capability and for Open CCS On-board Reference Architecture (OCORA). The implementation of the developed requirements by Alstom is part of the contract, as is the software maintenance of the regional trains.
The project is being carried out by the Alstom signalling site in Berlin, Germany, in close cooperation with the ETCS competence center in Charleroi, Belgium. Other locations involved in the various project phases are Braunschweig, Salzgitter, Mannheim and Hennigsdorf in Germany as well as Bangalore, India, Bucharest, Romania and Lyon-Villeurbanne, France. The series installation will take place close to Stuttgart or in Hennigsdorf.
Colombo, Sri Lanka – Global research and consulting firm Great Place to Work® announced Hilton Worldwide Holdings (NYSE: HLT) placement on this year’s Best Workplaces in Sri Lanka list. This is the second time that Hilton has been named one of Sri Lanka’s Best Workplaces.
The accolade had been awarded to Hilton following a survey by Great Place to Work® of over 100 registrations representing 51,000 employees in Sri Lanka. The survey assesses employees’ perceptions of leadership, organizational culture and trust, and is critical to a company being selected to the list of Best Workplaces in Sri Lanka. To be eligible for this list, organizations must be certified by the firm in the past year. A total of 40 companies were named in the list this year.
Recognising the importance of mental wellness, Hilton has incorporated a series of family-focused benefits for team members, including flexible working environments and mental health campaigns. Hilton also provides a variety of resources and programs aimed at attracting, developing and supporting team members at various stages of their careers. Through the Thrive@Hilton Program, Hilton supports team members in their professional and personal growth. Globally, Hilton also provides further learning and development opportunities through Hilton University, its Executive Committee Networking Program, as well as team member benefits such as Go Hilton.
Further to creating opportunities for its team members, Hilton had also launched a specially-curated female development program in Sri Lanka in March 2021 through a partnership with the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management. Translating to “female courage,” Hilton Liya Diriya aims to provide training opportunities for local female students keen to build a career in hospitality, and in doing so, advance women’s economic empowerment and grow the country’s hospitality talent pool.
Predicting the weather even more accurately, analyzing climate changes even more precisely, researching even better how the world is developing. This is the goal of a globally unique cooperation between Lufthansa and several research institutes.
Converting an aircraft into a climate research plane poses major challenges. Lufthansa has chosen the most modern and economical long-haul jet in its fleet – an Airbus A350-900 named “Erfurt” (registration D-AIXJ). In three stages, the “Erfurt” will now become a flying research laboratory.
In Lufthansa Technik’s hangar in Malta, the first and most extensive conversion work was carried out. Preparations were made for a complex air intake system below the belly. This was followed by a series of test insertions, at the end of which came the certification of a climate research laboratory weighing around 1.6 tons, the so-called CARIBIC measurement laboratory. The acronym CARIBIC stands for “Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container” is part of a comprehensive European research consortium.
The “Erfurt” is expected to take off from Munich at the end of 2021 for its first flight in the service of climate research, measuring around 100 different trace gases, aerosol and cloud parameters in the tropopause region (at an altitude of nine to twelve kilometers). Lufthansa is thus making a valuable contribution to climate research, which can use these unique data to assess the performance of current atmospheric and climate models and thus their predictive power for the Earth’s future climate. The special feature: Climate-relevant parameters can be recorded at this altitude with much greater accuracy and temporal resolution on board the aircraft than with satellite-based or ground-based systems.
The A350 conversion, which has now been launched, was preceded by an ex-tremely elaborate planning and development phase of about four years involving more than ten companies (in particular Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik, Airbus, Saf-ran, enviscope, and Dynatec) as well as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) as representative of a larger scientific consortium.
The Lufthansa Group has been a reliable partner of climate research since 1994 and has since equipped several aircraft with special instruments. This is now the first time worldwide on an Airbus A350-900 aircraft.
Last week, an Icelandair (Iceland: ICEAIR.IC) Boeing 767 (TF-ISN), landed at Troll airfield (QAT) at the Troll research station operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The flight was operated by Loftleiðir (Icelandair’s charter-flight subsidiary) to offload provisions for the research station’s staff who will remain at Troll this winter, and to pick up scientists returning to Norway after their summer service. Some of the scientists had been at Troll for 16 months and were happy to be heading home.
The flight
The journey involved a lot of planning due to the unique conditions, and involved 6 pilots, 13 crew and 1 flight engineer.
From Keflavík airport in Iceland, the plane flew nonstop to Cape Town, South Africa, where it paused for a rest and refueling stop. Some of the team stayed in Cape Town and the remainder flew 4,332km south to Troll in 5 hours and 43 minutes.
After a 2-hour layover at Troll, the aircraft returned with the Norwegian passengers to Cape Town, picked up the fresh crew, and continued on to Oslo, then home to Iceland.
According to flight commander August Hakansson, landing conditions at Troll were far better than forecast. And the worst weather of the entire trip was upon the return to Keflavík!
The flight route was so unusual that it attracted worldwide attention from aviation fans and media, including over 30,000 followers on Flightradar. And although it might seem crazy, this isn’t Icelandair’s first time in the Deep South – back in 2015, Icelandair became the first commercial airline to land a plane on a blue-ice runway in Antarctica.
FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) today announced the election of Adriane M. Brown, 62, to its board of directors. Brown will also serve on the company’s Audit and Corporate Governance and Public Responsibility committees.
Brown currently serves as managing partner at Seattle-based venture capital firm Flying Fish Partners. She also sits on the boards of Axon Enterprise, Inc., eBay Inc. and the Washington Research Foundation/WRF Capital.
Brown has held a number of senior leadership positions during her career, including president and chief operating officer at Intellectual Ventures Management, LLC, president and CEO of Transportation Systems and vice president and GM of two aerospace divisions at Honeywell International Inc. Brown launched her career at Corning Incorporated and rose to hold several senior roles. She previously served on the boards of The Raytheon Company, Allergan plc and Harman International Industries, Incorporated.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in environmental health from Old Dominion University and a Master of Science in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are conducting experiments with an antimicrobial surface coating designed to fight the spread of bacteria and viruses, including the Earth-bound SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic. Developed by Boeing [NYSE: BA] and The University of Queensland (UQ), the joint research project was tested aboard Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator last year as part of the company’s Confident Travel Initiative.
The ISS experiment tests two identical sets of objects, including an airplane seat buckle, fabric from airplane seats and seat belts, and parts of an armrest and a tray table. One set received the antimicrobial surface coating, the other did not. ISS crew members are touching both sets of objects every few days to transfer microbes naturally occurring on human skin; no microbe samples were sent to the station for this experiment. Later this year, the test objects will be returned to Earth for analysis at Boeing’s labs to measure the effectiveness of the surface coating in a space environment.
An antimicrobial surface coating in a spacecraft could help ensure the health of the crew and protect the spacecraft’s systems from bacteria – and ultimately may help prevent interplanetary contamination from Earth-borne or another planet’s microbes.
Boeing was selected by NASA as the prime contractor for the ISS in 1993. Since then, Boeing has provided round-the-clock engineering support – maintaining the station at peak performance levels through dynamic missions and ensuring that the full value of the unique research laboratory is available to NASA, its international partners and private companies for years to come.
Since 2003, Boeing and The University of Queensland have collaborated on a broad portfolio of joint research and development projects. In 2017, the Brisbane-based Boeing Research & Technology engineers relocated to the university in a first-of-its-kind partnership for the company’s Asia-Pacific region.
The Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at UQ has been a driver for multidisciplinary research to tackle global problems. The AIBN houses over 400 researchers across a wide range of scientific disciplines.
Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading provider of commercial airplanes, defense, space and security systems, and global services. As a top U.S. exporter, the company supports commercial and government customers in more than 150 countries. Building on a legacy of aerospace leadership, Boeing continues to lead in technology and innovation, deliver for its customers and invest in its people and future growth.
Japan Airlines (JAL, OTC: JAPSY), a recognized Eco-First company by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, reiterated its commitment to further preserve the environment by operating a commercial flight from Tokyo Haneda to Fukuoka airport using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The product was a blend of traditional jet kerosene and SAF produced in Japan.
In October 2018, JAL launched a project to convert cotton clothing into SAF, produced within the country of Japan. During the project, 50 local companies helped collect approximately 250,000 pieces of clothing and with the technical support from Green Earth Institute Co., Ltd. and using a bioprocess technology developed by the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), a domestically produced SAF was successfully created in March 2020.
Details Date: February 4, 2021 Flight Number: JL319 Route: Tokyo Haneda to Fukuoka (Departure 13:00) Aircraft Type: Boeing 787-8 (JA849J)
JAL fully recognizes that the airline industry plays an integral role to protect the planet and regards environmental conservation as a vital issue in its Medium Term Management Plan. The carrier will continue striving to achieve key environmental goals and contribute to a greener environment for future generations.
On February 1, 2021, Lufthansa will be departing on the longest passenger flight in the history of its company, marking one of the most unique flights the airline has ever carried out. On behalf of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, the Lufthansa Group’s most sustainable aircraft, an Airbus A350-900, will be flying 13,700 kilometers nonstop from Hamburg to Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands. The flight time is calculated at around 15:00 hours. There are 92 passengers booked for this charter flight LH2574, half of which are scientists and the other half, being the ship crew for the upcoming expedition with the Polarstern research vessel.
“We are pleased to be able to support a polar research expedition during these difficult times. Commitment to climate research is very important to us. We have been active in this field for more than 25 years and have equipped selected aircraft with measuring instruments. Since then, scientists all around the world have been using the data collected during the voyage to make climate models more precise and improve weather forecasts,” says Thomas Jahn, fleet captain and project manager Falkland. Since the hygiene requirements for this flight are extremely high, Captain Rolf Uzat and his 17-member crew entered a 14-day quarantine last Saturday, the same time that the passengers did. “Despite the crew restrictions for this particular flight, 600 flight attendants applied for this trip,” says Rolf Uzat.
The preparations for this special flight are immense. They include additional training for the pilots via special electronic maps for flight and landing as well as managing the kerosene available at the Mount Pleasant military base for the return flight. The Airbus A350-900 is currently stationed in Munich, where it is being prepared for the flight. In Hamburg, the aircraft is loaded with additional cargo and baggage, which has been extensively disinfected and will remain sealed until departure. Besides the catering, there are additional containers for the residual waste on board, since this can only be disposed after the aircraft arrives back in Germany. The Lufthansa crew includes technicians and ground staff for on-site handling and maintenance who will quarantine after landing in the Falkland Islands due to government requirements. The return flight LH2575, is scheduled to depart for Munich on 03 February and will be carrying the Polarstern crew, which had set out from Bremerhaven on December 20 to resupply the Neumayer Station III in Antarctica, and must now be relieved.
In order to make research as climate-friendly as possible, the Alfred Wegener Institute will offset CO2 emissions from business flights via the non-profit climate protection organization atmosfair – which is also the case for this particular flight. The institute donates funds for biogas plants in Nepal for every mile flown, thereby reducing the same amount of CO2 emissions. This helps maintain the overall CO2 balance regardless of where in the world the CO2 emissions can be reduced. In addition to pure CO2 emissions, other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and soot particles are also taken into account.
Preparations for the special flight began together with the Alfred Wegener Institute in the summer of 2020. The usual route via Cape Town was not feasible due to the infection situation in South Africa, leaving only the route via the Falkland Islands. After landing on the Falkland Islands, scientific staff and crew members will continue their journey to Antarctica on the research vessel Polarstern.
To commemorate 20 years of Acela service throughout the Northeast Corridor (NEC),Amtrak is Acela-celebrating by offering customers the opportunity to travel on its premium product one way in Business class for only $20 from anywhere between Boston and Washington, D.C. The sale is available for purchase from Tuesday, Nov. 10, to Thursday, Nov. 12 and is valid for travel between Nov. 16 through Dec. 17 with blackout dates during Thanksgiving week (Nov. 24, 25, and 28 through 30) and on Fridays and Sundays. Other restrictions may apply and the fare may not be available on all departures.
As part of its partnership with experts from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, Amtrak’s new, enhanced safety initiatives and amenities, including the recently introduced Reserved Seating offering, will continue to be in effect for customers and employees on our trains and at our stations.
“Celebrating 20 years of Acela service is an incredible milestone that we are proud to celebrate. We would like to thank our customers and give them a chance to see the changes we’ve made to the experience by offering an exceptionally low fare of only $20,” said Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer Roger Harris. “For anyone who has been curious about the premium travel experience on our flagship product, this is your chance to ride Acela for a special, low fare that is only available for two days.”
