Flight International Magazine

21/06/2013

PARIS: A350 makes low pass over Le Bourget

Airbus's A350-900 prototype, MSN1, has overflown the Paris air show, during an attendance by French president Francois Hollande.

The aircraft made a single pass at about 13:25 along Le Bourget's runway 21 at a height of 600ft before executing a climbing right turn and heading south-west.

It had departed Toulouse at 10:50 to conduct a test flight in the southeast of France, flying over the Mediterranean coast and in the vicinity of Montpellier and Lyon.

The aircraft then turned north before descending towards Le Bourget, flying in from the east and turning to perform the pass.

04/07/2012

Flightglobal brings you the latest news, expert commentary, videos and interviews as it happens from the 2012 Farnborough air show

04/07/2012

MAS ponders longer-range A330 proposal as 777 replacement

Malaysia Airlines is evaluating whether to standardise on the Airbus A330 for its widebody operations, and could order a longer-range version if Airbus decides to develop one.

"We want to rationalise the fleet - I hate running an airline with too many aircraft types," says Malaysia Airlines group chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.

Speaking in London at an event to mark the introduction of the carrier's A380 on Kuala Lumpur-Heathrow services, Yahya said that this will see the airline focus on ATR turboprops and Boeing 737-800s for its regional and narrowbody operations, but the plan for the widebodies was still being evaluated.

"We are looking at the widebodies. We have 15 A330s on order, but the question right now is how will we replace our Boeing 777-200ERs, which are pretty long in the tooth," says Yahya.

Although some of the airline's 777 routes could "easily be flown by the A330", Yahya says that he is waiting to see what Airbus decides to do about developing the twinjet to operate longer-haul flights. "The A330 is a good 11h aircraft, and the question we are asking Airbus is whether it can be used on longer missions. We'd like hear what Airbus is going to say at Farnborough about this."

MAS currently operates 21 A330-200/300s and 17 777-200ERs. Yahya says that if Airbus says "something positive" about the creation of a longer-range A330 "there's no reason why we couldn't order more aircraft to replace the 777s".

17/06/2012

Join the FG Club today to access exclusive Farnborough 2012 air show content

Login | Register for the FG Club

17/06/2012

Norway orders F-35As after securing JSM integration support

Norway has finally committed to the Lockheed Martin F-35A after securing guarantees from the USA over opportunities for Norwegian industry.

Key to the deal for as many as 52 aircraft - at an estimated NKr60 billion ($10 billion), the largest public procurement project in the country's history - was confirmation from the US authorities of their support for the integration of the Kongsberg-developed Joint Strike Missile (JSM) on to the F-35. The air-launched missile will be suitable for carriage in the F-35's internal weapons bays.

This guarantee was delivered to the Norwegian minister of defence Espen Barth Eide in a letter from his US counterpart Leon Panetta earlier this week.

Eide says: "Securing such support has been an important pre-condition for many of our partner nations before they themselves commit to supporting the JSM.

"With such support finally in place, there is now a significant potential for the missile among future operators of the F-35."

Norway estimates the total market potential for the JSM to be NKr20-25 billion.

Two aircraft have been ordered under today's agreement, with a second pair "expected" to arrive in 2016, says the Norwegian ministry of defence. These will be based in the USA "as part of a joint training centre", it adds.

Up to 48 additional aircraft could follow, with the majority stationed at the Norwegian air force's Ørland base in central Norway. A small forward operating base will be established at Evenes in the north of the country to provide quick-reaction cover.

On 14 June, Norway's parliament approved a "significant increase in defence spending" of about 7% to 2016 to finance the purchase. Money saved through its withdrawal from Afghanistan will also be redistributed to pay for the F-35As.

The F-35A was initially selected by Norway in 2008.

By: DOMINIC PERRY Source: Flight International

17/06/2012

SPECIAL: The new space race

A special look at the future of space travel

07/06/2012

Stretched potential for the Boeing 777

At the heart of Boeing's 777X concept are three options for a new massive carbonfibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) wing.
The potential baseline wing has a 71.1m (233ft 5in) span and raked wingtip, and while the other two are 65m and 68.6m wings with blended winglets.
The 71.1m-long, 787-inspired CFRP wing would be the largest in Boeing's history and would grow the 777-300ER and 777-200LR's wing area by approximately 10%, allowing slower and quieter approaches.
Development of a carbonfibre wing requires a significantly different supply chain than the one Boeing has in place for today's 777s. Aluminium wing skins and spars are manufactured at the company's Auburn, Washington fabrication division and sent by truck to the Everett final assembly line for build-up.
Scott Fancher, former 787 chief and newly appointed 777 vice-president and general manager, is tasked with aligning "the 777 production system with the next generation 777".
After the painful supply chain woes of the 787, Commercial Airplanes chief executive Jim Albaugh has suggested that Boeing should "never outsource" wing design and manufacturing to protect its intellectual property.
Such an investment by Boeing would require significant autoclave and facility investment to match the 100 777s per year that the airframer will build in 2013. The wing's span would likely make it too large to be flown to final assembly by the modified 747-400 Dreamlifter large cargo freighter designed for the 787 programme.
The 71.1m wing would also push the 777 from ICAO Code E airport classification to Code F standards, the same category occupied by the 747-8 and A380. Under study is a revival of the original 777-200 wing-fold concept, which would have tilted upward a 6.9m (22ft 6in) portion of the wing that included the outer two leading edge slats and outboard aileron to accommodate McDonnell Douglas DC-10-sized gates.
Boeing's current concept scales back the weight and complexity of the design by folding only the raked wingtip, which is understood to be a 3.4m (11ft) portion of the wing, and does not house any wing control surfaces.
In short, Boeing would maintain Code E standards on the ramp and taxiway, up to 65m (213ft 4in), in line with today's 777-300ER, and shift to a Code F classification upon entering the runway.

07/06/2012

Five 'Grizzlies' go wild in Toulouse

Airbus Military has for the first time flown all five of its A400M development aircraft together, just days after launching a vital period of function and reliability testing of the type with production-standard MSN6.

07/06/2012

A dispute between Air India and Boeing over the delivery of the airline's 787 and compensation over the delays appears close to resolution.India's civil...

07/06/2012

Boeing has not ruled out a further stretch of the 747 but any "-9" development will have to wait its turn in the product development cycle behind higher...

07/06/2012

Dana Air suspended flights today and reportedly closed an office in Abuja as Nigerian officials begin to investigate the cause of a McDonnell Douglas...

30/05/2012

The US Navy is upgrading its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F fighters with new capabilities, but analysts question the Super Hornet's utility against emerging...