ISSN 1718-7966 MAy 29, 2017/ VOL. 592 WEEKLY AVIATION HEADLINES Read by thousands of aviation professionals and technical decision-makers every week www.avitrader.com WORLD NEWS Qatar Airways scoops award for innovation Qatar Airways, the world’s fastest growing airline, has been honoured for its revolutionary new ‘First in Busi- ness Class’ product Qsuite at the 2017 Telegraph Ultratravel Awards. The airline was awarded the Best Airline Innovation of the year category of the ULTRAS (Ultimate Luxury Travel Related Awards) for the launch of Qsuite, which was first revealed by The Qatar Airways at ITB Berlin in March. HoloLens can Morena Bronzetti, Qatar Airways be used to Country Manager UK & Ireland, said: analyse and manage “Qatar Airways is delighted to accept airport this highly reputed award as recogni- operations in a mixed tion of our ongoing commitment to reality our passengers through a premium environment. product and service philosophy. Photo: SITA Ryanair to sell Air Europa long haul flights Ryanair announced a new flight part- Transforming air travel nership with Air Europa, which will SITA sets the standard for industry innovation allow its 130m customers to book Brussels, Belgium was the setting HoloLens is the world’s first self- from SITA’s Day of Operations tech- Air Europa long haul flights on the for the the2017 instalment of SITA’s contained holographic computer, nology, which is used by Helsinki Ryanair.com website. From now on, lively air transport summit. Once enabling users to engage with digi- Airport, and presented a new way travellers can browse and book Air to visualise and interact with the Europa flights on 20 long haul routes again, the event was an IT extrava- tal content and interact with holo- from Madrid to 16 countries in North, ganza highlighting the technologies grams in the world around them. It airport’s operational data includ- Central and South America, including that will shape the aviation indus- runs Windows 10, and enables the ing aircraft movement, passenger Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico and try, and how airlines and airports blending of the physical and digital movement and retail analytics. the United States. This new Air Eu- can respond to Wearing the Hol- ropa partnership is the latest initiative current and fu- oLens, the opera- delivered under year 4 of Ryanair’s ture challenges. HoloLens is the world’s first self-contained tors had a set of “Always Getting Better” customer- ex holographic computer, enabling users to en- screens meshed perience programme, and follows the A new world of into a 3D view launch of Ryanair’s connecting flight mixed reality is gage with digital content and interact with of the airport al- service via Rome Fiumicino last week. emerging and holograms in the world around them - SITA lowing them to GlobeAir enjoys strong growth SITA Lab, the re- correlate events GlobeAir, the air taxi operator in Eu- search arm of from the data rope, has acquired two new Citation air transport IT provider SITA, is ex- worlds in ways that were previ- dashboards with an immersive real- Mustang jets, taking the total it owns ploring its potential for airlines and ously impossible. SITA worked with time model of the airport. to 16, which confirms its prominence airports. At a press conference in Helsinki Airport to use HoloLens to in the Very Light Jet sector with the Brussels, SITA released early results reproduce the airport operational SITA also launched the first pay- largest fleet of Citation Mustangs of of research carried out with Helsinki control centre (AOCC) in this mixed ment solution which addresses the anywhere in the world. The increased Airport using Microsoft HoloLens to reality environment. need for airlines to be able to ac- size of its fleet is needed to support analyse and manage airport opera- cept payments securely at airports the company’s strong growth. tions in a mixed reality environment. For this project SITA Lab used a feed Continued on page 3 www.aeroset.co.uk Aeroset © Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved 3 WEEKLY AVIATION HEADLINES ...continued from page 1 when using a shared IT infrastructure. SITA AirportConnect Common Use Payment Service enables payment transactions by multiple airlines on a single payment terminal. Importantly, this is possible with any, and all, of the departure control systems the airlines choose to use. Airlines use common-use or shared IT infrastructure at airports around the world and this ground-breaking solution has been developed by SITA to support airlines that wish to accept payments at common-use check- in desks, kiosks and bag drop areas for baggage fees, upgrades and other ancillary charges. SITA’s new solution uniquely combines point-to-point encryption (P2PE) technology, with Europay, Mastercard, Visa (EMV) and Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant chip card payment termi- nals, applications and processes, to allow multiple merchants to use the same terminal while meeting PCI security standards. SITA launching a new payment solution in Brussels. Photo: Keith Mwanalushi AIRCRAFT & ENGINE NEWS Ameco delivers converted Boeing 757 to China Postal Airlines Sky Gates Cargo Airlines to increase its fleet After having successfully launched the opera- tion between Russia, Europe and The Far East at the end of last year, Sky Gates is going to increase its freighter fleet with another Boe- ing 747-400F full-freighter. The next aircraft will be delivered by mid-June. The Boeing 747- 400F is an ex-Cathay Pacific aircraft, currently operated by Silk Way West Airlines, which is the partner airline of Sky Gates. Bombardier Challenger 350 joins TAG Aviation charter fleet Bombardier Business Aircraft has reported the addition of a new Challenger 350 aircraft to TAG Aviation Europe’s growing charter China Postal Airlines takes delivery of converted Boeing 757 from Ameco Photo: Ameco fleet. With its outstanding performance and continental range, the Challenger 350 is ide- In the first half of May, Ameco has delivered a converted Boeing 757 aircraft to China Postal ally suited for executive charters and premium Airlines that is a new customer for Ameco’s conversion business. The aircraft was converted business travel in the European market. Based by Ameco’s Chengdu Branch. This is the sixth Boeing 757 aircraft delivered by Ameco Chengdu in Geneva, the Challenger 350 is the first to be Branch since 2014 while another three 757s are in the progress in its facility. Ameco Chengdu delivered in Switzerland and began commer- Branch completed its first conversion in May of 2014. cial charter flight operations in early May. PLEASED TO MEET YOU With billions of dollars in transactions under our belt, GA Telesis has become world renowned for its creative and flexible lease and transaction structures. Whether you are seeking an operating lease of one of our aircraft or engines, or perhaps you are seeking a sale/leaseback of one of your aircraft, engines or rotable inventory; contact one of our industry experts and ask them about our custom tailored financial solutions. We would be pleased to meet you. 5 WEEKLY AVIATION HEADLINES AIRCRAFT & ENGINE NEWS BOC Aviation takes delivery of first Airbus A320neo aircraft Air Hamburg becomes launch customer for Embraer Legacy 650E Germany-based charter operator Air Hamburg is the launch customer for the new Legacy 650E. Air Hamburg will expand its Embraer business jet fleet with an additional order for three new Legacy 650Es. The contract has a value of US$77.7m based on current list pric- es, and will be included in the Company’s 2017 second-quarter backlog. The aircraft fleet de- livery is scheduled for the third quarter of this year. The agreement was announced on the opening day of the 17th European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland. AerFin acquires Saudi Arabian Airlines’ fleet of 15 Embraer E170-LR aircraft Vistara takes delivery of first A320neo aircraft, on lease from BOC Aviation Photo: Airbus AerFin will take delivery of Saudi Arabian Air- lines’ (Saudia) fleet of 15 Embraer E170-LR aircraft, including all the spare parts, engines, BOC Aviation has added its first Airbus A320neo aircraft to its fleet. The aircraft was delivered tooling and equipment necessary to support on lease to Vistara. This aircraft delivery is part of an Airbus A320 family lease placement the entire fleet. The E170s, which have com- transaction signed with the airline in 2014, including seven A320neo variants, all of which will monality with the E175 and E190, entered into be powered by the CFM LEAP engine. Saudia operation in December 2005, and they have accumulated more than 350,000 flight hours over an average of 10 years with the air- line. The final aircraft completed its last flight on December 19, 2016. Deliveries to AerFin are Jinping and President Putin, COMAC and UAC al needs. Furthermore, all Airbus A330 aircraft expected to commence in Summer 2017. The signed a joint venture contract. At present, the will be equipped with an entirely reviewed transaction, remarketed by Airstream Interna- two companies have completed the industrial new cabin providing the highest comfort in all tional Group Limited, is a planned element of and commercial registration process with a three travel classes (Business Class, Economy Saudia’s fleet growth and renewal plan, one of business license. The joint venture is based in Privilege and Economy Class). In the course of many initiatives in its transformation program Shanghai. 2018 and 2019 Brussels Airlines will welcome and strategic plan SV2020. Saudia will intro- seven Airbus A330-300 ‘ceo’ aircraft, to re- duce a record 30 new aircraft in 2017. place seven older A330-200 and A330-300 air- craft that are close to the end of their leasing Avolon delivers one Boeing B787-9 to period.