Air International — September 2017

19

SCENE

INNUMBERS INBRIEF

Customer Aircraft Number Date

Mandarin Airlines ATR 72-600 6 July 19

Silver Airways ATR 72-600 20 plus 30

options LoI

August 2

ATR

Customer Aircraft Number Date

Air Lease Corp A321neo 12 Booked June 30,

announced July 5

China Aviation

Supplies Holding

Company

A320 Family 100 GTA July 5

A350 XWB 40 GTA July 24

Undisclosed A350-1000 1 July 27

Vueling A320ceo 3 Booked June 30,

announced July 5

Airbus

Customer Aircraft Number Date

BOC Aviation 737

MAX 10

10, fi rms

June 19,

2017 MoU

August 2

Business jet/VIP

customer

737 BBJ 1 July 25

FlyDubai 737 1 (previously

Unidentifi ed)

July 25

Unidentifi ed 747 2 July 18

Unidentifi ed 777 4 July 18

Unidentifi ed 787 1 July 25

Boeing

Customer Aircraft Number Date

Angara Airlines MC-21-300 3 LoI July 19

Irkut Corporation

Customer Aircraft Number Date

VEB Leasing (for Aerofl ot) SSJ-100 20 July 19

Azimuth SSJ-100 4 LoI July 20

Government of Zambia SSJ-100 5 July 22

Sukhoi Civil

Aircraft Company

Customer Aircraft Number Date

GTLK Il-114-300 50 LoI July 21

United Aircraft

Corporation

Data covers orders announced July 5-August 7. Key: GTA – General Terms Agreement; LoI – Letter of Intent; MoU – Memorandum of Understanding.

Compiled by Mark Broadbent

Joon Launched

A new Air France subsidiary airline

called Joon will start medium-haul

 ights from Paris CDG in the autumn,

with long-haul  ights to follow in

summer 2018. Joon is apparently

designed to meet the aspirations of

18–35-year-olds, but the carrier says

it is, “not be a low-cost airline”. Joon

will operate Airbus A340S, A350-900s

and A320s. Mark Broadbent

EMS Black Hawks

Ten UH-60 Black Hawks are to

be repurposed for seasonal aerial

 re ghting operations and year-

round emergency services and

disaster relief work in Australia and

New Zealand. The  rst of ten ex-US

military machines will be imported into

Australia in 2018 for refurbishment in

Brisbane by Sikorsky. The helicopters

will be operated by Kaan Air Australia

and StarFlight Australia. Mark

Broadbent

By E-Jet to St Helena

South African Airlink has been

awarded an of cial contract by

the government of St Helena to

provide scheduled and unscheduled

air services to the island for an

initial three-year period. It will start

scheduled  ights from October on a

route that will include Johannesburg,

Ascension Island and Windhoek,

Namibia, using Embraer 190s in a

two-class con guration. Comair,

which runs the British Airways

franchise in South Africa, landed a

Boeing 737-800 on St Helena in April

2016, but experienced problems with

wind shear. Although Airlink has been

awarded a contract, Comair is looking

at using the northern approach to the

runway for future operations; Airlink

will use the southerly approach, which

involves a tailwind. Guy Martin

5

E190-E2s FOR AIR ASTANA

Kazakhstan national carrier Air

Astana is to lease fi ve Embraer

E190-E2s from Q4 2018,

becoming an early user of the

new regional jet. Wideroe will be

the launch operator early next

year. Mark Broadbent

32,

FEET IN A GLIDER

The Airbus Group’s Perlan II recently reached

32,500ft ( 9,906m) in altitude during a second series

of test fl ights in El Calafate, Argentina. The plan is to

fl y this aircraft to the edge of space to collect data

on the climate and high-altitude fl ight, and in doing

so break the current world gliding altitude record of

50,727ft (15,461m). Mark Broadbent

3

AW169S FOR NORWEGIAN POLICE

The Norwegian Police Directorate has ordered

three Leonardo Helicopters AW189s, plus options

on a further three and a ten-year maintenance

package. The helicopters will be used for

observation, surveillance, special operations

transport and airborne sniping. Mark Broadbent

10

A321LRS FOR AIR TRANSAT

Air Transat has been revealed as another operator

of the Airbus A321LR, the forthcoming longer-

range A321neo variant. The Canadian carrier will

lease ten examples from Air Lease Corp from

2019. TAP Portugal and Aer Lingus are other
      confi rmed future operators of the variant, which
      will be able to carry 206 passengers over 4,000nm
      (7,778km). Mark Broadbent

29.

MILLION FOR PROP RESEARCH

Dowty has launched a technology

development project called

Digital Propulsion to research

new capabilities for propellers

and other propulsion systems.

The company will invest £

million in the venture and the UK

Aerospace Technology Institute

will provide a further £9.5 million.

Mark Broadbent

Airbus

Azur Air Germany 767