AVIATION

InterGlobe adds Dornier  Seaplane to its portfolio

InterGlobe General Aviation Pvt. Limited, a subsidiary of InterGlobe Enterprises, has added Dornier Seaplane Company to its growing aviation portfolio. InterGlobe General Aviation, currently the exclusive representative for Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Atlanta Jet, Aircraft services Group and most recently Sikorsky Helicopter Corporation, will now also be responsible for the sales of the world’s most advanced sea plane, the Dornier Seastar CD2.

Dornier Seaplane Company has introduced a brand new product, the Seastar CD2 amphibious flying boat.

The new fully certified all composite, twin engine seaplane from Dornier will be represented exclusively by InterGlobe General Aviation covering an expansive territory including India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. InterGlobe General Aviation CEO Nigel Harwood said, “We are pleased to enter into this long term association with Dornier Seaplane Company which has a heritage of 100 years in seaplane design, development and engineering. InterGlobe General Aviation believes in representing the highest quality of products. “This further enhances our portfolio and compliments the fixed and rotary wing representations already in place”.

Dornier Seaplane Company Chief Executive Officer Joe Walker said, “This new market for amphibious aircraft is a very important part of our future plans and we are confident that this partnership with InterGlobe General Aviation will add value and strengthen our base in the region considerably.

The Seastar provides the fastest cruise speeds, the most comfortable cabin and the greatest reliability of any amphibious aircraft available making it apt for these vast coastlines”.

The agreement between the two companies not only recognizes the requirement for such aircraft in the region for interconnectivity, Medevac, Tourism and VIP travel, but also cements InterGlobe General Aviation as the long-term partner of choice. Furthermore, through this association, InterGlobe General Aviation demonstrates its dedication in setting a benchmark for General Aviation in India.

“Potential for seaplane sales in our region is very large and we see a fantastic opportunity with this product” Harwood said.

Asia is world’s biggest air travel market

The Asia-Pacific region has overtaken North America as the world’s largest air travel market with 647 million passengers in 2009, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.

By contrast, 638 million people flew on commercial flights in North America last year, IATA announced at an aviation business conference on the eve of the Singapore Airshow featuring the world’s leading aviation industry players.

Within Asia, China has eclipsed Japan over the past decade as the region’s largest domestic market, with 1,400 aircraft compared with Japan’s 540 and 5.7 million weekly seats against 2.6 million in Japan.

The Singapore Airshow is taking place after a harrowing year in the global aviation industry, which lost an estimated 11 billion dollars in 2009 as a result of the financial meltdown that began in the United States.

IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani told the conference that the Asia-Pacific market would continue to grow rapidly with an estimated 217 million additional air passengers a year in the region by 2013.

“While we see dynamism and diversity within the region, the aspect of Asia-Pacific that excites me most is its potential,” said Bisignani.

“More than a quarter of the 2.2 billion people who flew last year, or 647 million people, flew within Asia-Pacific markets.

“It has eclipsed travel within North America as the traditional leader in traffic numbers.”

IATA represents some 230 carriers that account for more than 90 percent of scheduled air traffic, but does not include many of the budget airlines credited with a boom in short and medium-haul travel in recent years. Its members in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and North America recorded year-on-year declines in passenger demand of 5.0 to 5.6 percent in 2009, according to an IATA report released Friday. But Asian airlines staged a strong recovery in December, when demand grew 8.0 percent from a year ago, nearly twice the global average, the IATA report said.

Bisignani told the conference that Asian airlines were projected to narrow their losses collectively to 700 million US dollars this year from 3.4 billion dollars in 2009, about a third of the industry’s global losses last year.

“It is tough in all regions but Asia-Pacific’s prospects are improving faster than other regions,” he said.

Despite the upbeat outlook for Asia, Bisignani warned the region to press on with liberalisation or miss its growth potential.

He cited efforts by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc to liberalise the air sector by 2015 as an example.

“Industry is preparing and it is important that the target date is met... Asian aviation will not reach its potential if the airlines are constrained to old ways of doing business,” he said.

AFP

Asia plane orders seen topping trillion dollars

Asia-Pacific airlines are expected to purchase some 8,000 new passenger and cargo planes worth 1.2 trillion dollars from 2009 to 2028, Airbus officials said.

The demand represents one third of predicted global deliveries during the period, and much of it will be for larger aircraft such as the A380 super jumbo, the European manufacturer said at the Singapore Airshow.

“To meet this demand, larger aircraft will be needed to ease congestion and do more with less,” John Leahy, Airbus’ chief operating officer for customers, said in a press statement.

“This will see airlines from the region account for over 40 percent of twin-aisle deliveries and more than 50 percent of the demand for very large aircraft, such as the A380,” the Airbus official said.

US rival Boeing earlier issued an equally positive forecast, estimating Asian demand at 8,900 planes worth 1.1 trillion dollars in the next 20 years.

“We think that the Asia-Pacific region will definitely lead in the recovery we see in aviation,” Boeing’s vice president for marketing Randy Tinseth told journalists on Tuesday.

“Long term, this is the biggest potential market in terms of demand of any region in the world31 percent of all units, 35 percent of value.” A “majority” of the orders would be for large airplanes, he said.

The Singapore Airshow is taking place after a harrowing year in the global aviation industry, which lost an estimated 11 billion dollars in 2009 as a result of the financial meltdown that began in the United States.

Asian economies led by China are expected to power the recovery in the global aerospace industry.

Within Asia, China has eclipsed Japan over the past decade as the region’s largest domestic market, with 1,400 aircraft compared with Japan’s 540 and 5.7 million weekly seats against 2.6 million in Japan, IATA said.

Leahy said Asia’s increasingly popular budget carriers will boost demand for smaller aircraft.

“There’s another phenomenon that you are seeing out here in the Asia-Pacific region which we’ve already had in the US and Western Europe and that’s the growth of the low-cost carrier,” Leahy told journalists at the show.

Last year, Asian budget carriers flew an average 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) per flight to 576 airports, a strong upswing from 2001 when they only averaged 700 kilometres to 48 airports, said Leahy.

“If you put that together, you can see a growth rate compounding of almost 40 percent a year,” he said.

The growth of budget carriers is also being driven by the opening of new routes between secondary destinations especially in China, India and Southeast Asia, the Airbus statement said.

AFP

Air China needs 400 planes in next six years

Air China expects to expand its fleet by 400 planes in the next five to six years to meet soaring travel demand at home, a company official said.

Senior Vice President He Li, speaking on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow, said China’s airline traffic was expected to exceed 700 million passengers within 10 years and double to 1.5 billion in 20 years’ time.

“For five or six years, I think our company should need about 400 aircraft,” he was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires.

He said the airline was not expecting to sign any deals to buy new planes during the show.

Beijing-based Air China’s company website said the carrier has more than 220 planes in its fleet.

European aircraft maker Airbus said that airlines in the Asia-Pacific region would purchase some 8,000 new passenger and cargo planes worth 1.2 trillion US dollars from 2009 to 2028.

China in particular is expected to fuel much of the region’s demand.

AFP

Britain seeks to allay fears over body scanners

Britain sought to reassure air passengers over privacy concerns after full body scanners were introduced at two major airports in the wake of the Detroit bombing scare.

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said images taken by the scanners introduced at London’s Heathrow and Manchester airport on Monday were deleted immediately after passengers were cleared by security.

He said only a small proportion of passengers will be asked to go through the full body scanners which produce detailed images of the person’s body shape but anyone who refuses will not be able to board their flight.

“At the moment, people accept that they are subject to a pat-down search when they have gone through the metal detector,” he said adding that such a search was “a pretty intrusive procedure”.

“A body scanner is in the same category it is very important to stress that the images which are captured by body scanners are immediately deleted after the passenger has gone through the body scanner,” he added.

The United States has accelerated the installation of body scanners at airports since the attempted Christmas Day attack on a jet bound for Detroit from Amsterdam.

Britain is among several European countries, including The Netherlands, installing the scanners after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was charged with trying to down the passenger plane.

In a written parliamentary statement, Adonis confirmed that anyone who refused to undergo a full body scan would not be allowed to travel.

“In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline passengers will be selected for scanning.

If a passenger is selected for scanning and declines, they will not be permitted to fly,” he said.

AFP

Open skies, budget travel:

Asian airlines soar

The boom in low-cost travel and a growing web of open-skies agreements are expected to power long-term growth for Asian airlines after the global recession, industry bosses and analysts said.

Participants in the Singapore Airshow which ended Sunday expressed optimism that the region, particularly China, will lead the rest of the world to recovery after the most harrowing year in global travel. The world aviation industry lost an estimated 11 billion dollars in 2009 after a financial crisis that began in the United States grounded travellers and forced airlines to cancel or defer plane orders.

Organisers of the Singapore Airshow said 10 billion dollars’ worth of contracts were done during the event, down from 13 billion dollars in 2008.

AFP