Flight International - 10 April 2018

THIS WEEK

6 | Flight International | 10-16 April 2018 flightglobal.com

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CFM POWERS UP LION AIR LEAP CONTRACT

ENGINES Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air has finalised a

bumper $5.5 billion order for 380 CFM International Leap-1A

engines to power its Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft. The

deal, which finalises an agreement announced at the Singapore

air show in February 2016, adds to the 544 Leap-1B engines

purchased by Lion Air to power its Boeing 737 Max fleet. CFM

says the new transaction takes the combined value of orders to

$13.4 billion at list prices.

BLUE ANGELS TO REPLACE ‘FAT ALBERT’

PURCHASE The US Navy plans to acquire an ex-UK Royal Air

Force Lockheed Martin C-130J to “avoid a gap in logistical sup-

port of the Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron”. A

C-130T nicknamed “Fat Albert” currently supports the team

and conducts its own demonstration, typically involving a high-

performance take-off and short-field landing. A fatal KC-130T

crash last year prompted the US Marine Corps to ground all its

remaining examples of the type.

A321LR STRETCHES LEGS FROM SEYCHELLES

TESTING Airbus’s A321LR test aircraft arrived in Toulouse on

30 March after conducting the longest-distance flight so far in

its certification campaign, from the Seychelles. The twinjet land-

ed after an almost 11h flight from the island of Mahe in the

Indian Ocean territory. The company’s flight-test engineers

have calculated that when factors including headwinds on the

route are taken into account, the aircraft effectively flew

4,700nm (8,700km).

AER CAP DEAL BOOSTS FREE SPIRIT

ACQUISITIONS Spirit Airlines has agreed to purchase by June

all 14 Airbus A319s that it currently leases from AerCap. The

Miramar, Florida-based carrier will acquire the narrowbodies –

which were built between 2005 and 2007 – for an aggregate

price of $258 million, according to a securities filing. The airline

currently owns 59 A320-family aircraft and leases 58, including

examples sourced via Air Lease, Avolon, Castlelake, DAE

Capital and GECAS, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows.

HOP ATR SUFFERS WING DAMAGE

INCIDENT French investigation authority BEA has confirmed

that an undercarriage hatch was discovered to be missing on a

Hop ATR 42-500 that was badly damaged during a domestic

flight. The crew of the aircraft (F-GPYF) felt an impact during its

descent to Aurillac, following a service from Paris Orly on 25

March. Investigators say the root of the wing was damaged dur-

ing the incident, and that a hatch from the left main-gear was

found to to be missing after the aircraft parked.

AFRICAN SHIFT FOR WEST ATLANTIC ATP

DISPOSAL Swedish freight operator West Atlantic has sold a

pair of British Aerospace ATP freighters to Kenyan company

Encomm, with the transaction also including the provision of

spare parts and training support. “This transaction marks the

first step in reallocating our ATP aircraft portfolio into markets

and geographies that can capitalise in full on the benefits of this

efficient turboprop,” says West Atlantic aircraft management

vice-president Robert Drews.

BRIEFING

I

t was not a typical delivery cer-

emony. With orchestration by

Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva,

Embraer’s chief executive, the

manufacturer’s employees first

began a synchronised dance,

complete with waving flags.

Then they were summoned for-

ward to get nearer to the first

E190-E2. And come forward they

did: spilling from behind their

barriers to get close to the aircraft,

mobile phones held aloft to grab

selfies in front of the green and

white twinjet.

All the while, a visibly animat-

ed Souza e Silva stood on a central

stage, waving his arms, exhorting

the crowd to cheer more loudly.

That is not something you can im-

agine from either Tom Enders or

Dennis Muilenburg, the respec-

tive heads of Airbus and Boeing.

Quite what the executives from

Norwegian carrier Widerøe made

of this display of Brazilian exuber-

ance is anyone’s guess; perhaps

this is what chief executive Stein

Nilsen was alluding to when he

mentioned “cultural differences”

between the two businesses.

But in a day of aviation firsts –

the inaugural E2-family delivery,

coupled with it being the first jet-

powered aircraft for the operator

• such an extravagant display of
  emotion can be forgiven.
  For Embraer, the delivery was
  an important milestone: Souza e
  Silva describes it as a “new chap-
  ter in the history of the company
  and for commercial aviation”.

RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

Embraer launched the E-Jet E

family at the 2013 Paris air show,

promising to hand over the first

aircraft in the “first semester of

2018”. Five years later, the manu-

facturer did exactly as promised,

with the first aircraft due to de-

part for Norway on 9 April and to

enter revenue service between

Bergen and Tromsø on 24 April.

Although the E2 series is fre-

quently labelled as a “re-en-

gined” version of the original

E-Jet line, Souza e Silva is at

pains to point out that it is “al-

most a clean-sheet design”. The

DELIVERY DOMINIC PERRY SÃO JOSÉ DOS CAMPOS

Embraer throws a

party to kick-start

the E2 generation

Double milestone for “almost clean-sheet” narrowbody,

as launch operator Widerøe welcomes its first jet aircraft

Stein Nilsen (left) and Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva at the ceremony

Dominic Perry/FlightGlobal