Bonn, Germany – DHL Global Forwarding has continued its commitment to supporting wildlife by assisting a conservation organization with the rescue five lions and one tiger from captivity. On behalf of Warriors of Wildlife, the wild cats, all born in Ukraine, were relocated safely to South Africa. Following this transport, the non-profit organization has rescued a total of 28 wild cats and other animals from Ukraine. In the past, DHL Global Forwarding has also helped relocate several brown bears, pandas, and most recently, “the world’s loneliest elephant,” Kaavan.
The wild cats were kept in a private zoo in Chernivtsi and a zoo in Nikolaev in the south of Ukraine. DHL brought them to a sanctuary run by the head of the wildlife organization Lionel de Lange. The Simbonga Game Farm & Sanctuary is located near Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape, South Africa. Throughout the whole journey the animals were monitored by veterinarian specialists. In Ukraine, the DHL team had the support of a Ukrainian vet until departure. Together with the director of Warriors for Wildlife and another veterinarian they boarded then their flight from Boryspil International Airport to O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. The last leg of their journey the cats travelled via road before they were finally welcomed to their new home.
Warriors of Wildlife is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, relocation and future care of abused and neglected wildlife in captivity. The organization was founded in 2016 by Lionel de Lange and his wife Anya Masyach and operates from Ukraine and South Africa.
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL) traded down 1.8% Tuesday shortly after its global affiliates announced a bid for an embattled airline.
In an early round of bidding against other international airlines, Air France-KLM proposed to buy a 49% stake in Malaysia Airlines. Its pitch outlined plans for a maintenance hub in the Southeast Asian nation.
The circumstances of the bid are not particularly positive. Malaysia Airlines has struggled to revive booking rates since two disasters in 2014 tanked its public trust. Flight MH370 mysteriously disappeared over the Indian Ocean, and flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. The Malaysian government has since sought a strategic partner to restore the airline’s image.
Why It’s Important
With a stake in Malaysian Airlines, Air France-KLM could improve the entity’s public trust issues — or it could be hampered by them. Either way, an affiliation may create risk for Delta.
– AWACS part of NATO investment in hi-tech surveillance
– Announcement comes days before NATO summit in London
BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (Reuters) – NATO on Wednesday awarded Boeing Co a $1 billion contract to upgrade its fleet of AWACS reconnaissance planes, a deal officials said showed the strength of transatlantic cooperation days before an alliance summit in London.
First flown in 1982 and repeatedly modernised, the Boeing-made planes, which can detect hostile aircraft, missiles, ships and other weaponry far beyond NATO borders, will be overhauled with more powerful computer processors, servers and equipment.
The 14 planes, based at an air base in Germany, can already exchange information via digital data links, with ground-based, sea-based and airborne commanders, but need a greater capacity to transmit data as technology develops.
The upgrade will keep one of the few military assets owned and operated by the Western alliance in service until 2035.
AWACS have been flown in support of the international coalition against Islamic State, gazing deep into Syria from Turkey, as well as along NATO’s eastern flank following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
“The modernisation will ensure that NATO remains at the leading edge of technology,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference alongside Boeing President Michael Arthur, standing in front of one of the planes.
“It will provide AWACS with sophisticated new communications and networking capabilities, so these aircraft can continue their vital missions,” he said.
One NATO official described AWACS, which have crews drawn from 18 different allies, as a symbol of NATO unity, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has questioned its value and French President Emmanuel Macron last month said NATO was dying.
The upgrade will be funded by 16 NATO allies, including the United States, Germany, Turkey, Italy and Spain, and some work will be subcontracted to European suppliers including Leonardo and Airbus.
The modernisation comes as NATO takes delivery of the first of five Global Hawk drones, which will be based in Italy.
After years of delays, the high-altitude drones made by Northrop Grumman give the alliance its own spy drones for the first time and will work with the AWACS to protect ground troops, as well as other tasks.
The drones will be able to fly for up to 30 hours at a time in all weather, providing near real-time surveillance data.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott Editing by Mark Heinrich)
NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART AIRCRAFT AND 3 NEW ROUTES LAND IN BUDAPEST
WizzAir,the largest airline in Central and Eastern Europe and Europe’s greenest* airline has today announced the arrival another state-of-the-art Airbus A321neo aircraft at its base in Budapest in June 2020 and the launch of three new routes to European cities from the Hungarian capital. Tickets for the new routes are already on sale and can be booked from only HUF 6,490, and 7,990**, respectively, on wizzair.com and the airline’s mobile app.
New daily service to Brussels, four destinations in Ukraine
Brussels Charleroi has been a part of Wizz Air’s network since 2004. From next summer, the airline will also operate a daily service to Brussels Airport, the Belgian’s capital main airport – the airline’s 151 destination –, creating a more direct link with the centre of the European Union for business travellers and diplomats. With its picturesque main square and delightful brasseries, Brussels is an attractive destination for tourists as well.
Hungary’s hometown airline is also expanding towards the East with two flights per week to Lviv, Western Ukraine’s central city, and Kharkiv, the second largest city in the country. As Kyiv has been accessible from Budapest since 2011 and flights to Odessa will launch this October, today’s announcement means that Budapest will be linked by direct flights to all four Wizz Air destinations within Ukraine.
Lviv is one of Ukraine’s most scenic historic towns, with its downtown featured in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The town was one of the multicultural centres of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy under the name Lemberg and has preserved its Central European atmosphere to this day. Today, Lviv is one of the centres of Ukrainian culture with lots of theatres, museums and festivals awaiting visitors. Kharkiv is an interesting destination for admirers of Ukrainian gastronomy and Soviet-style architecture with its magnificent metro stations and the country’s first skyscraper.
16 aircraft in Hungary
With the arrival of the newest A321neo, Wizz Air’s Hungarian fleet expands to 14 aircraft allocated in Budapest, with a further 2 aircraft based in Debrecen. This means the airline’s operations support over 4,000*** indirect local jobs in the country. Apart from the new destinations, Wizz Air will increase its frequency on four of its existing routes to Eindhoven, St. Petersburg, Tel-Aviv and Edinburgh (to be launched this December). With this expansion of capacity, Wizz Air will increase its Hungarian seat capacity to 6.7 million passengers in 2020.
Wizz Air is the “greenest” airline
The new routes will be served by the state-of-the-art Airbus A321neo aircraft of the Budapest base. The airline operates one of the youngest fleets in Europe, with the average age of 4.7 years. As a result, Wizz Air was the airline with the smallest environmental footprint in Europeonce again in August 2019, with only 57.7 grams CO emissions per passenger per kilometre. The company currently has a total of 271 Airbus A321neo, Airbus A321neo and Airbus A321XLR aircraft on order. With the new aircraft, the airline will continue to drive efficiency parallel to further decreasing its environmental footprint by 1/3 for over the next decade. The Airbus A321neo, six of which are already in operation at WIZZ’s Budapest base, incorporates the latest technologies in aviation. It offers a 50 percent reduction in noise footprint, a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption, while also reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 50 percent.
Stephen Jones, Wizz Air Hungary’s managing director said: “Hungary’s hometown airline, Wizz Air remains strongly committed to its country of origin. We are continuously expanding and modernizing our fleet and network in Budapest to provide affordable and high quality travel opportunities to more and more Hungarian passengers. Adding a new, state-of-the-art aircraft to our Budapest fleet and launching three new routes underpins our dedication to Budapest and Hungary and creates more local jobs with the airline and in associated industries, as well as stimulates the local tourism and hospitality industries. The WIZZ team looks forward to welcoming customers old and new on-board our ultra-efficient fleet of Airbus aircraft very soon. And for those looking to turn their passion for travel into a career, we’d be delighted to see you at one of our Wizz Air cabin crew recruitment days, where you can find out more about joining the WIZZ team.”
53rd International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport
PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. arms makers say European demand for fighter jets, missile defenses and other weapons is growing fast amid heightened concerns about Russia and Iran.
The U.S. government sent a group of unusually high-ranking officials including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to the Paris Airshow this year, where nearly 400 U.S. companies were showcasing equipment as the United States and Iran neared open confrontation in the Persian Gulf.
Lockheed Martin, Boeing and other top weapons makers said they had seen accelerating demand for U.S. weapons at the biennial air show despite escalating trade tensions between the United States and Europe.
“Two Paris air shows ago, there weren’t a lot of orders,” said Rick Edwards, who heads Lockheed’s international division. “Now … our fastest growth market for Lockheed Martin in the world is Europe.”
Many European nations have increased military spending since Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014, bolstering missile defenses and upgrading or replacing ageing fighter jet fleets. NATO members agreed in 2014 to move toward spending 2% of gross domestic product on defence.
Eric Fanning, chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association, said the NATO pledge and European concerns about Russia were fueling demand. “I do think it reflects the increasing provocations of Russia,” he said.
Industry executives and government officials say growing concern about Iran’s missile development program is another key factor. Tehran’s downing of a U.S. drone came late in the air show, but executives said it would support further demand.
“Iran is our best business development partner. Every time they do something like this, it heightens awareness of the threat,” said one senior defence industry executive, who asked not to be named.
Edwards said Lockheed’s F-35 stealth fighter, selected by Belgium, is poised to win another new order from Poland, while Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania are also working to replace Soviet-era equipment.
Edwards and other executives say they see no impact from the ongoing trade disputes between U.S. President Donald Trump and the European Union.
U.S. Army Lieutenant General Charles Hooper, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), said Europe accounted for nearly a quarter of the $55.7 billion in foreign arms sales his agency handled in fiscal 2018.
Hooper said the U.S. government was making concerted efforts to speed arms sales approvals and boost sales to help arm allies with U.S. weapons.
Ralph Acaba, president of Raytheon Co’s’s Integrated Defense Systems business, said the company was boosting automation and working to deliver the Patriot missile system and other weapons in half the five-year period previously typical.
“Europe is really big for us now, and that’s a big change in just the last few years and even the last 18 months,” he said.
In addition to wooing new Patriot customers, Raytheon is upgrading existing systems for customers like Germany, which is likely to finalize a contract worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to the company in coming months.
Thomas Breckenridge, head of international sales for Boeing’s strike, surveillance and mobility programs, is eyeing contracts wins for Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets in Germany, Switzerland and Finland.
“There’s a huge appetite in Europe for defence as a whole,” he said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Jan Harvey)
21 May 2019, EBACE – Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, is showcasing its corporate Bell 429 outfitted with Mecaer Aviation’s MAGnificent interior at EBACE. The aircraft is building momentum in the region with 7 recent sales to corporate customers in Germany, Greece, the Ukraine and Russia.
“The Bell 429 continues to increase its footprint in Europe with about a quarter of the global fleet being operated right here on this continent,” said Duncan Van de Velde, Bell Managing Director for Europe. “The aircraft strikes the right balance of comfort, power and operational efficiency which is why it continues to be desirable in the corporate segment. Our customers appreciate the smoothness of the ride paired with the bespoke finishes which takes the experience of flight to the highest level of comfort.”
The MAGnificent luxury interior available for the Bell 429 was created by Italy-based Mecaer Aviation Group (MAG), and was configured with four passenger seats and two center consoles. In addition, MAG’s signature sound canceling system (SILENS), In-Flight Entertainment (IFEEL) and electro-chromic passenger windows are available as part of this interior package. Passengers control the audio/video and moving map functions along with the electro-chromic windows through their own smart devices, which connect to the internal Wi-Fi in the aircraft.
The Bell 429 continues to be a global success with 330 aircraft currently in operation in 44 countries. As an advanced single pilot IFR aircraft with the ability to adapt to diverse demands without compromising safety and unrivaled service support, the Bell 429 is truly unsurpassed in its class.
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian plane maker Antonov, known for producing the world’s biggest aircraft, plans to restart serial production by the end of next year thanks to a deal with Boeing that will end Antonov’s dependence on Russia.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Antonov, which imported more than 60 percent of its plane parts from Russia, halted serial production two years later.
It now plans to build eight planes a year thanks to a deal with Aviall, Boeing’s parts, equipment and services unit, with the first two or three planes ready by the end of 2019, Antonov chief Oleksandr Donets told Reuters in an interview.
He gave no details on future customers. Antonov’s main sales markets have been Russia, the former Soviet republics and Africa.
The companies will jointly set up storage facilities in Ukraine by November, he said.
“(The agreement with) Aviall has given us two gains. We are setting up a joint warehouse, located on Ukrainian territory in (the city of) Gostomel,” Donets said.
“This warehouse will deal with products, materials, metals, non-metals – with all the components which we are not able to get from our former partner, the Russian Federation.” The warehouse could cost tens of millions of dollars, Donets added, to be funded by Aviall.
Antonov was founded in 1946 and has manufactured some 30 different types of airplane including the two biggest air cargo planes – the An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya.
Mriya, built in 1988 for the Soviet space shuttle programme is still the world’s largest and heaviest plane which is able to carry a cargo of up to 250 tonnes.
Ukraine’s leaders are pushing the country on a pro-Western course, aspiring to join the European Union and NATO while cutting trade and diplomatic ties with Russia and weaning itself off dependence on Moscow in sectors like defence and energy.
Ukraine no longer imports any gas directly from Russia and in July completed another milestone as, for the first time, a unit at one of its nuclear power plants was fully loaded with fuel from U.S. firm Westinghouse rather than from Russia.
Aviall will support Antonov’s new manufacturing programme to build the AN-1X8 planes and will have exclusive rights to help service the planes, Donets said, envisaging that Aviall will source parts from the United States, Canada, Israel and Europe.
Antonov also wants Aviall to procure equipment for Antonov to produce more parts domestically, he said.
Boeing rival Airbus also made a recent foray into Ukraine, announcing an agreement in July to sell 55 helicopters to the interior ministry for search and rescue, public services and emergency medical service missions.
By Pavel Politick; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Alexandra Hudson
