editorial/ cover story - Air World
editorial/ cover story - Air World
editorial/ cover story - Air World
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AVIATION NEWS<br />
every technical discipline<br />
required to complete a VIP<br />
aircraft directly, without reliance<br />
on external business partners, to<br />
enable optimum project<br />
execution strategies and quality.<br />
The facility is also equipped with<br />
very comfortable Customer<br />
offices, including a prayer room<br />
for Middle Eastern clients, and a<br />
dedicated employee clinic for any<br />
medical the employees may<br />
require on site.<br />
David Edinger, CEO and<br />
President of Comlux America<br />
stated “We are very pleased to<br />
celebrate together with our<br />
clients and business partners this<br />
major milestone in Comlux<br />
America hi<strong>story</strong>. This state-ofthe-art<br />
hangar is a unique<br />
building in its category and it has<br />
impressed all our guests from<br />
around the world. Our new<br />
facility will allow us to continue<br />
to deliver the best quality VIP<br />
cabins and strengthen our<br />
reputation worldwide as a leader<br />
in single-aisle VIP cabin<br />
completions.”<br />
Comlux The Aviation Group is<br />
one of the leaders in VIP charter<br />
services operating the largest VIP<br />
fleet worldwide with the highest<br />
standards of safety and quality.<br />
Beyond charter operations,<br />
Comlux offers a comprehensive<br />
set of services to VIP customers<br />
who wish to have their own<br />
aircraft managed personally and<br />
professionally. This includes<br />
exclusive aircraft management,<br />
sales and acquisitions, cabin<br />
design and completion as well as<br />
maintenance services.<br />
<strong>Air</strong>bus Military<br />
A400M to continue<br />
long tradition of<br />
humanitarian air<br />
transport in<br />
Germany<br />
Earthquakes, floods, hunger<br />
crisis – more than 100 times a<br />
year, humanitarian air transport<br />
plays a key role in quick response<br />
and help worldwide. Multi-role<br />
transport aircraft play a key role<br />
in supporting relief operations,<br />
for example deployment of food<br />
and water or transport of rescue<br />
teams and mobile hospitals.<br />
<strong>Air</strong>bus and its subsidiary <strong>Air</strong>bus<br />
Military, the <strong>Air</strong>bus Corporate<br />
Foundation and some of it’s<br />
partners showcase on this year’s<br />
ILA air show in Berlin how the<br />
A400M could support<br />
humanitarian air transport in the<br />
future.<br />
“The intensity and frequency of<br />
humanitarian disasters have<br />
clearly increased – so have the<br />
requirements for humanitarian<br />
aid agencies. The aerospace<br />
industry can provide unique<br />
resources and skills. They can<br />
make it easier for humanitarian<br />
aid agencies to meet the<br />
increasing demands. For the first<br />
time at ILA, we showcase some<br />
of our products”, said Lutz<br />
Bertling, President elect of the<br />
BDLI. “Especially transport<br />
aircraft, which are not<br />
constrained to operate from<br />
conventional runways, are<br />
resources these agencies really<br />
need. Here, the A400M will<br />
certainly play a central role.<br />
Many flights for humanitarian air<br />
transport are different from<br />
normal cargo operations. One<br />
challenge for example is the<br />
transport of Emergency Response<br />
Units and material in areas<br />
without – or with damaged –<br />
infrastructure. Takeoffs and<br />
landings must be performed on<br />
grass strips or damaged airports.<br />
Normal cargo planes also need<br />
special equipment for loading<br />
and unloading. The A400M is<br />
able to transport more, over<br />
longer distances and operate right<br />
into the disaster area.<br />
Compared with the C-160<br />
Transall, the A400M will offer<br />
more range and an increased<br />
capacity for humanitarian<br />
missions: typical payload is about<br />
25 tons of cargo where the<br />
Transall offered 6 – 8. Another<br />
advantage is the flexibility. You<br />
can mix cargo and equipment<br />
with troops over long distances<br />
and get the aircraft to arrive close<br />
to the operational bases as it is<br />
able to land on unpaved runways<br />
such as grass strips.<br />
In total, there are 174 A400Ms<br />
ordered by eight customers. Of<br />
these, Germany has ordered 53<br />
A400Ms with the first delivery<br />
targeted for 2014.<br />
MTU Aero<br />
Engines<br />
expects<br />
revenues<br />
MTU Aero Engines already<br />
expects its revenues to effectively<br />
double by 2020, but it is counting<br />
on more programs to emerge that<br />
would ensure further growth.<br />
CEO Egon Behle says the engine<br />
manufacturer is in talks to<br />
participate in several additional<br />
programs, including with General<br />
Electric (GE) and its possible<br />
new offering for the Boeing 777<br />
and a re-engined Embraer<br />
170/190 family.<br />
“There is a strong likelihood that<br />
we will be together with GE (on<br />
the 777 replacement),” Behle<br />
said on the sidelines of the ILA<br />
Berlin <strong>Air</strong> Show. “There are<br />
intense discussions ongoing, but<br />
no papers have been signed yet.”<br />
Boeing is currently considering<br />
its options for a replacement of<br />
the current generation 777 and<br />
has said it plans to make a<br />
decision on the basic direction by<br />
the end of this year. It is expected<br />
that whatever the new aircraft<br />
looks like, it will be equipped<br />
with new engines, too.<br />
Behle also says that there are<br />
discussions ongoing with<br />
AIR WORLD October 2012-24
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