editorial/ cover story - Air World

AVIATION NEWS
Zaman Ahmad, AirAsia Group Head Customer Experience and
Technology, and John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer,
Customers, celebrating AirAsia to become the first Sharklet operator,
in front of the first A320 Family aircraft to flight test the fuel-saving
wing tip devices.
Chris Emerson, SVP Future
Programmes and Market
Strategy.
Germany’s air travel has
achieved 45% growth from 2000
to 2011 despite the three worst
downturns in aviation history.
Intra-European traffic (including
domestic) grew by more than
30% and traffic to regions outside
of Europe by more than 50%.
Today, long-haul traffic to the
dynamic emerging regions
accounts for more than 40% of
Germany’s total long-haul traffic,
and is expected to rise up to
almost 50% by 2031.
The Airbus GMF predicts that
over the next 20 years Europe
will show an average annual
traffic growth rate of 4.1%.
Routes to the Middle East
(+5.4%), the CIS (+5.3%) and
Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin
America with a combined growth
rate of 4.6%, will be significant
levers for growth. Germany’s
strong and growing demand for
air travel is based on its
continued economic
development, the strong
international orientation of its
economy, growing tourism, the
continuing growth of low-costcarriers
and the country’s
position as a major air
transportation gateway.
Seven German civil aircraft
operators (Air Berlin, Condor,
Germanwings, European Air
Transport, Germania, Hamburg
Airways and Lufthansa),
currently rely on the excellence
of Airbus’ modern product range,
operating a combined total of
more than 350 modern, fuel
efficient aircraft (245 A320
Family aircraft, 18 A300/A310s,
83 A330/A340s, and 10 A380s).
Overall, Airbus aircraft make up
55% of today’s fleet in Germany.
In addition, over 80 aircraft are
still in the Airbus backlog for
delivery (80 A320 Family
aircraft, 1 A330 and 7 A380s).
Lufthansa is Europe’s largest
Airbus operator and the second
largest in the world.
AirAsia to become first Airbus
A320 ‘Sharklets’ operator
Airbus and the world’s largest
A320 customer AirAsia
announced that the airline will
become the first operator of the
A320 with ‘Sharklets’ when they
take delivery of the first A320
equipped with these fuel-saving
wing-tip devices at the end of this
year. The aircraft exhibited on
static and flying display at the
ILA Berlin Air Show is the flight
test aircraft for CFM engines and
will also be delivered to AirAsia
in 2013.
"The A320 has played a key role
in our success, enabling us to
offer our passengers the lowest
fares possible and completely
redefine short haul travel in
Asia.” said Tony Fernandes,
AirAsia Group CEO. “Now we
are looking forward to become
the first airline in the world to
start operating this most fuelefficient
aircraft.”
“AirAsia is one of the fastest
growing, most innovative and
well-respected brands in the
airline industry” said John Leahy,
Airbus Chief Operating Officer,
Customers. “It is a great
endorsement that they have
chosen our latest, fuel-saving
aircraft of our successful A320
Family”.
Phenom 300
Added to
Melbourne
Assembly Line
Melbourne, FL, – With the arrival
of the first wing and fuselage in
late August, Embraer Executive
Jets’ assembly facility in
Melbourne, FL, has added
production of the Phenom 300
light aircraft to the two-shift
assembly operation. Full
development of the assembly
line, including the addition of the
Phenom 300, will be completed
in the first quarter 2013.
“We have added the Phenom 300
to bring production closer to our
customers,” said Phil Krull,
managing director of the facility.
“Customers have been benefiting
from the delivery of the entrylevel
Phenom 100 produced in
Melbourne since last year and we
are now ready to expand these
operations.”
Since its recent arrival, the
fuselage and wing of the Phenom
300 have been readied for the
commencement of assembly.
Workers have been preparing all
work instructions and tooling and
have completed training at
Embraer Executive Jets’
production facility in Gavião
Peixoto, Brazil. The Melbourne
assembly facility has also
completed hiring the necessary
personnel to accommodate the
addition of the Phenom 300. The
current complement of assembly
personnel now stands at 160. The
employee complement for both
the assembly and customer
centers is now 233.
The addition of the Phenom 300
to the assembly line comes as
Embraer is developing the
Embraer Engineering and
Technology Center USA at its
growing aeronautical complex in
Melbourne. Scheduled for
completion in 2013, the
engineering center will add
another 200 jobs over the next
AIR WORLD October 2012-30