AviTrader Weekly News 2018-01-22

WEEKLY AVIATION HEADLINES
9
OTHER NEWS
year in 2016 – with a significant 38.5% traffic gain
to 26.3 million passengers. In northern Germany,
Hanover Airport (HAJ) also registered a rise of
8.5% to 5.9 million passengers. Pulkovo Airport
(LED) in St. Petersburg, Russia, reported significant
double-digit growth of 21.6% to 16.1 million passengers,
following a slight drop in 2016. China’s
Xi’an Airport (XIY) served 41.9 million passengers,
up 13.1% year-on-year.
Munich Airport’s dynamic growth continued in
2017 with new traffic records in several categories:
Passenger traffic increased 2.3 million to a new
all-time high of 44.6 million. This was a 5.5% gain
over the 2016 figure. The airport also saw a strong
surge in take-offs and landings, with an increase of
more than 10,000 to approximately 405,000 – a
gain of 2.6%. Without the reduction in services by
Air Berlin in the summer period, followed by that
airline’s bankruptcy, the increase would have been
even bigger. Another record is reported by the airfreight
segment, which achieved a total turnover
of around 379,000 tons in 2017 – a 7% gain over
the previous year. As in previous years, passenger
growth in Munich benefited in particular from
above-average gains in international traffic: The
strongest growth was seen in the intercontinental
segment, where traffic increased by 7% to 7.3 million
passengers. Demand was especially strong for
connections from Munich to destinations in the
USA. Continental services remained the largest
traffic segment with a total of 27.4 million passengers
– 6.5% more than in 2016. Within Europe, the
strongest growth was seen on routes to and from
Greece and Spain. On domestic routes within Germany,
traffic increased by more than 2% to over
9.8 million passengers. The percentage of seats occupied
was up again in 2017, increasing to 76.5%.
Munich also expanded its global route network yet
again: With 266 destinations – nine more than in
the previous year – passengers at Bavaria’s international
hub had more routes to choose from than
ever before. The number of airlines offering scheduled
services in Munich increased by two to 102.
Air Astana has completed the installation of Rockwell
Collins’ cabin system, which supports Inmarsat’s
GX Aviation in-flight connectivity (IFC) service,
across its fleet of three Boeing 767 aircraft. The IFC
service is available to both Business and Economy
class passengers, who can now connect to the Internet,
use various applications for instant messaging
and social networks, listen to audio and check
their mail using personal computers, tablets or
smartphones. Air Astana’s passengers can choose
from three connectivity packages. The airline’s
Light option covers 15 MB; the Regular option covers
50 MB; and the Super option offers 100 MB.
All services are estimated to operate at an average
speed of 2 to 5 Mbps. In September 2017, Air Astana
became the first airline in the world to offer Inmarsat’s
GX Aviation onboard a wide-body aircraft
when the installation on its first Boeing 767 was
completed. It’s Boeing 767 aircraft are operated on
domestic trunk routes and high-density, long-haul
routes out of Almaty and Astana.
AAR, a leading integrator of aviation supply chain
solutions, will provide in-flight connectivity logistics,
repair and aftermarket management services
to Viasat, a global communications company.
Through this partnership, AAR’s OEM Aftermarket
Solutions group will manage the aftermarket
inventory pool of Viasat components including
modems, antennas, radomes, wireless access
points (WAPs) and power supply units (PSUs).
These components will be deployed on a forwardexchange
basis to support Viasat’s current and future
airline customers.
According to preliminary figures released by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),
2017 saw a 7.1% increase to a record figure of 4.1
billion for the number of passengers carried by the
aviation industry. While the number of departures,
globally, rose to circa 37 million, world passenger
traffic measured in revenue passenger-kilometers
(RPKs) was up 7.6% at 7.7 trillion RPKs.
According to ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa
Benard Aliu: “The sustainability of the
tremendous growth in international civil air traffic
is demonstrated by the continuous improvements
to its safety, security, efficiency and environmental
footprint. This sustainability is the
result of concerted efforts and cooperation at
the national, regional, and global levels, particularly
in terms of ICAO compliancy, which is key to
accessing the global network.”
ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu added that:
“Air traffic growth is making key contributions
towards the achievement of United Nations
Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,
offering an opportunity to lift a generation out of
poverty, figuratively and literally. As a UN agency,
ICAO is deeply committed to ensuring that all
countries have an opportunity to benefit from
the doubling in flight and passenger volumes
forecast for the next 15 years.”
Other than the Middle East, regions recorded
stronger growth than in the previous year for
international scheduled passenger traffic expressed
in terms of RPKs, at 8.0% in 2017, up
from the 7.8% recorded in 2016.
As far as low-cost carrier (LCC) activity was concerned,
its market share continued to increase,
particularly in emerging economies. In 2017, LCCs
carried an estimated 1.2 billion passengers and accounted
for approximately 30% of the world total
of scheduled passengers. LCCs consistently grew at
a faster pace compared to the world average.
Load factors improved to a record high, and in
2017, expressed in available seat-kilometers
(ASKs), they increased globally by around 6.4%. As
a result, the overall passenger load factor improved
by 0.9 percentage points, reaching 81.2%.
Underpinned by improving global economic conditions,
and world trade with increasing import and
export orders, air cargo demonstrated a strong performance
in 2017. World scheduled freight traffic,
measured in freight ton-kilometers (FTK) increased
by 9.5% in 2017, as opposed to 3.8% in 2016.
Though jet fuel prices increased, the airline industry
anticipates ending 2017 with another
record operating profit of approximately US$60
billion, with an operating margin of 8.0%. The
net profits for the industry are expected to be
around US$36 billion.
INDUSTRY PEOPLE
• With the arrival of
Anup Mysoor at the
beginning of 2018,
Doric continues to
expand its successful
aviation business.
Mysoor is a longstanding
aviation professional.
He headed
Anup Mysoor
the Citigroup aviation
business in Asia-Pacific as a managing director
for many years. He holds an MBA
from Manchester Business School, an MSc
in Investment Analysis from the University
of Stirling, and a BCom from the University
of Mysore. Mysoor joins as a managing
partner based in London. He will focus on
setting out the Doric aviation strategy and
enlarging the aviation platform.
• Declan Kelly has
been named Chief
Commercial Officer for
GECAS. In this newly
created role, Kelly will
lead all originations
activities for GECAS’
fixed-wing aircraft and
is responsible for the
Declan Kelly
commercial strategy,
building synergy and share practices between
GECAS’ regions. Kelly brings 30 years’
experience in the aviation industry, along
with deep domain expertise and proven
leadership skills to the role. He will report
to Alec Burger, President of GE Capital and
President and CEO of GECAS. GECAS’ Chief
Commercial Officer will be based in Shannon
Ireland. Until a replacement is named
for his prior role, Kelly will also continue to
serve as Executive Vice President, US, Latin
America, Caribbean.
• GA Telesis has announced the addition of
its newest support team, the Government
Solutions Group (GSG), to begin supporting