THIS WEEK
10 | Flight International | 17-23 February 2015 flightglobal.com
For up-to-the-minute air transport news,
network and fleet information sign up at:
flightglobal.com/dashboardENGINE SALES DRIVE PROFITS AT MTU
PROPULSION Munich-based engine sub-assembly maker MTU has
reported a 6.2% rise to €253 million ($289 million) in net profit for
2014, as revenue jumped by 9.5% to €3.91 billion. Engine sales
drove the increase, outpacing the company’s more profitable spare-
parts business. Civil sales climbed by nearly 12% to €2.12 billion,
defence grew by 6% to €531 million and maintenance, repair and
overhaul revenue increased by 7% to €1.3 billion.AIRBUS GRANTS WING RIB DESIGN RIGHTS TO KAI
MANUFACTURING Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has obtained
from Airbus broad design approval authority over the wing ribs for the
A350-900. KAI says the rights will reduce the time needed to design
and certificate changes to the carbonfibre ribs, adding that this is
the first time an Asian company has obtained such a status.INDIA UPS DO-228 BUY FOR AIR FORCE
PURCHASE Hindustan Aeronautics has secured a contract worth
Rs10.9 billion ($176 million) to provide the Indian air force with a
further 14 Do-228 transports. HAL, which says the deal also covers
additional equipment and a flight simulator, has so far produced 125
Do-228s under licence at its Kanpur factory. India’s air force already
has 40 examples in operational use.HYBRID AIR VEHICLES LIFTED BY UK FUNDING
AIRSHIPS Hybrid Air Vehicles has received additional funding from
the UK government to further develop its Airlander hybrid airship, as
it moves towards an anticipated return to flight. Under the govern-
ment’s Regional Growth Fund, some £297 million ($455 million) was
awarded to 63 projects, including the Airlander development.NASA P-3C TO GET PROPULSION UPGRADE
AWARD UTC Aerospace Systems is to deliver NP2000 eight-bladed
propellers and control system equipment for integration with a NASA-
owned Lockheed P-3C scientific support aircraft by the end of 2017.
The combination is already fitted on Northrop Grumman E-2C/Ds
and C-2As for the US Navy, as well as Lockheed Martin C-130Hs
flown by the US Air National Guard and the Royal Saudi Air Force.OSCE MISSION LOSES CAMCOPTER IN UKRAINE
CONFLICT The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) lost contact with a Schiebel S-100 Camcopter unmanned air
vehicle that was carrying out surveillance duties for its Special
Monitoring Mission to Ukraine near Mariupol on 3 February. Another
of its four aircraft had returned from a mission the previous day with
a hole in its rotorblade, believed to be the result of small arms fire.TRANSAVIA COMMITS TO 737-800S
AIRLINES Air France-KLM low-cost operator Transavia is ordering up
to 20 Boeing 737-800s, comprising 17 firm and three optioned air-
craft. They will be delivered between 2016 and 2018.WALSH SAYS IAG WILL KEEP AER LINGUS LINKS
BID IAG has stressed the company’s interest in maintaining Aer
Lingus’s connectivity, including its franchise arrangements, as it
seeks to convince the Irish government to part with its shareholding.
IAG chief executive Willie Walsh emphasised to a joint transport
committee in the Irish parliament that the aim of the proposed take-
over was to capitalise on growth opportunities at Aer Lingus.BRIEFING
A
irlines looking for a direct
replacement for the Boeing
757 appear to be in for a long wait
now that the airframer has closed
the door on any revival of the
mid-range, large-capacity single
aisle that has been out of produc-
tion for a decade.
Capable of carrying 240
passengers on routes of up to
3,700nm (6,850km), the 757 sits
between the largest and longest-
range single aisles and the small-
est widebodies. American
Airlines and Delta Air Lines use
757s on routes between the USA
and western Europe – just
outside the reach of the next-gen-
eration Airbus A321neo and
Boeing 737 Max 9 – and have
been pushing for a replacement.
But earlier this year Boeing
scotched hopes of any short-term
move to develop a new aircraft,
and last week declared that it will
not be re-engining the existing
757 either.
Asked to respond to a Wall
Street Journal report which cited
a source within Boeing as saying
that a re-engined 757 was one
option being considered as the
company’s answer to a recently
launched long-range Airbus
A321neo, vice-president Randy
Tinseth was unequivocal, say-
ing: “No, no.”
Re-engining, he told the Pacific
Northwest Aerospace Allianceconference in Seattle on 11
February, had been looked at a
couple of times, but the econom-
ics did not make sense. “It just
doesn’t work,” he says.
Boeing has concluded that the
757 market is too small to justify
investment. Tinseth says there
are 550 passenger-carrying exam-
ples still in operation, but that
only about 50 to 80 of these fly
transatlantic routes. And, he
adds, the 757’s production sys-
tem was very expensive, also
ruling it out for being revived via
a re-engining.
Airbus in January launched
the long-range version of its
A321neo, which will be capable
of carrying 206 passengers over
4,000nm – surpassing the in-
development 737 Max 9’s 180
seats and 3,600nm range.
But Boeing, says Tinseth,
wants eventually to fill the space
between the 737 Max 9 and the
787-8 widebody with a new
aircraft. This would be bigger
than the 757, and have about
20% more range. However, with
the 737 Max, 787-10, 777X and
767-based KC-46 tanker all now
in development, the company’s
research and development re-
sources will be occupied until at
least 2022.
“So we’ve got some time to do
it, and we’ll take a real hard
look,” Tinseth says. ■STRATEGY STEPHEN TRIMBLE SEATTLEBoeing kills talk
of re-engined 757
Executive emphatically denies that a revival of mid-range
single-aisle is under consideration, citing market economicsDelta Air Lines uses the type to fly between the USA and EuropeRyan Douglas