Airshow Ends with $14 Billion in Deals

Dubai: The Dubai Airshow ended on a subdued but hopeful note, with a few last orders pushing the show’s final tally of contracts and purchase commitments incrementally higher to more than $14 billion.
Among these contracts announced on Friday were the sale of three helicopters worth $600,000 by the UAE’s Perla Aviation and a $40 million order from a unit of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise for aircraft wheels and brakes.
The show hatched no blockbuster deals, in contrast to its predecessor two years ago. Yet, the outcome of $14 billion in new business was a notable achievement, given the harsh economic conditions that have damped demand in most corners of the aviation industry.
As the event’s organisers and participants began closing down their booths and display stands, they were looking forward to bigger sales at the next show in 2011 – by which time many anticipate that the economy will be in full swing again.
“We anticipate sales pushing ahead more quickly for 2011, with industry sentiment genuinely predicting an upturn for international aviation…,” said Alison Weller, director for aerospace at F&E Aerospace, the show’s organiser.
Boeing and its European rival Airbus SAS outsource a significant amount of parts production for their jetliners. China, for example, doesn’t just assemble Airbus A320 jetliners at a plant in the city of Tianjin but also produces key parts and sections for several models of aircraft for both Airbus and Boeing.
Perla Aviation, which owns the DBAerocopter company of Ukraine, announced three separate sales of its AK1-3 two-seater helicopter. Perla executive Tanya Rashenko confirmed the sales to customers in Pakistan, India and the UK.
“It has been an excellent show for us, with strong interest from throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the USA,” Rashenko said in the end-of-show statement. “We are also negotiating on an additional three sales leads gained at the show which hopefully we can conclude in the coming weeks.”
DAE Capital, a unit of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, ordered $40 million in wheels and carbon brakes for its planned fleet of 70 Boeing 737 jetliners. Boeing is to begin delivering single-aisle planes next year.
The final order tally grew by $1 billion from Wednesday’s total of $13 billion.
20/11/09 Bruce Stanley/Khaleej Times, UAE

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Dubai 09: Falcon 7X approved for India

Dassault Falcon (stand W310) is expecting a surge of orders from India following today's announcement at the show that the French manufacturer has received a type certificate for the Falcon 7X from India's civil aviation authority.
Falcon 2000 and 900 models are already certificated in India and around 16 large-cabin Falcons are in service in the country.
The first Falcon 7X in India will be delivered in January 2010 to Religare Voyages, a charter company based in New Delhi and part of a multi-billion dollar integrated transnational promoter group straddling financial services, diagnostics, health and wellness, and IT services, globally.
Religare Voyages operates a Falcon 2000, together with smaller jets and turboprops.
A dozen of other large-cabin Falcons including several 7X aircraft are on order for customers in India. The performance of the Falcons are especially valued in India, where short airfields, elevated runways and high temperatures are common.
Dassault has also established in the last few years a spares centre in Mumbai, along with a customer service team based in Mumbai, a liaison office in Delhi, and service centres approved by the Indian civil aviation authority.
16/11/09 Alan Peaford/Flight Global

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Paramount may buy 8 turboprop planes for up to $250 million

Mumbai: Chennai-based full business class airline Paramount Airways Ltd could be the only Indian carrier to place orders for planes at the five-day Dubai Air Show that ends on 19 November. The airline plans to sign an agreement to buy at least eight turboprop planes at an estimated cost of $230-250 million (around Rs1,070-1,163 crore).
Turboprop planes are manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier Inc. and Airbus SAS subsidiary ATR.
These small planes, with seat capacity ranging from 40 to 70, will be deployed to connect smaller cities such as Cooch Behar (West Bengal), Agatti (Lakshadweep Islands), Salem and Tuticorin (both in Tamil Nadu). Bigger planes in Paramount’s fleet, including five Embraer aircraft made by Brazil’s Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica SA, cannot land on the airport runways in these cities.
“The carrier is evaluating options between Bombardier’s Q400 and ATR’s 600 series of turbo planes. Initially we would be leasing eight turbo planes and (they) would be later replaced with new ones. The new planes would join the airline’s fleet between January and May,” said a senior Paramount Airways executive, who didn’t want to be named.
“These planes will be having all business class configuration like the existing Embraer planes. The funding for these planes would be done with the help of European credit agencies,” the executive added.
If bought, Paramount Airways will have two types of aircraft in its fleet. “We have no plans to phase out Embraers. The reason behind opting (for) turboprops is because certain smaller markets demand smaller planes and there are operational restrictions at these smaller airports,” said the second airline executive cited earlier.
With five planes, Paramount Airways, which was launched in October 2005, flies to 16 destinations across India and operates 72 flights daily, carrying 3,600 passengers. According to DGCA, the carrier had a 1.5% market share in October.
15/11/09 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

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AI, Aerostar MRO alliance to target Mideast airlines

Dubai: Indian national air carrier Air India announced on Sunday at the Dubai Airshow an alliance with Sharjah-based Aerostar Asset Management to provide aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul, or MRO, solutions to airline operators across the Middle East .
The alliance for engine MRO will work under the brand ‘The A Team.”
Targeting initially the Middle East market, the alliance seeks to offer MRO solutions to all airline operators of the region, said V.P Nagarajan, Executive Director ETA-Star Group, the parent company of Aerostar.
Aerostar has been involved in jet engine management for various customers since 2005.
A Team will utilise the existing engine overhaul facilities of Air India at Mumbai and marketing set up of Aerostar in the Middle-East. In the first year, the alliance aims to repair and overhaul 25 aircraft engines from operators from the Mddle East, said Ajay Chaukulkar, General Manager Star Aviation Group, a subsidiary of ETA-Star Group. The alliance would sell repair services for jet engines such as GE CF6-50 and 80 series, P&W 4000 series, GE-90 series and CFM56-7 series and would also cover CFM56-5 series engine in the near future, the release said, K. M. Unni, Director of Air India Board.
Unni said Air India’s Engine Overhaul facility in Mumbai could offer cost efficiency and quicker turnaround time compared with other MRO services providers in the world.
15/11/09 Issac John/Khaleej Times, UAE

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Airshow Orders Worth Billions

The Dubai Airshow opened on a reassuring note on Sunday, with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and other aviation companies trumpeting combined orders worth several billion dollars.
The announcements set an uplifting tone for a show that takes place amid a severe downturn in demand for the airlines and for the firms that supply them with aircraft and equipment.
As stunt planes dived and thundered in an ear-punishing aerial display above the Dubai Airport Expo, the hard business of selling during a recession unfolded in the exhibition halls and corporate chalets below.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-president and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, watches aircraft on display at the Dubai Airshow.—Wam
Some industry executives fretted that business at the show, which runs for four more days, won’t be nearly as good as it was the last time around in 2007. Middle Eastern airlines went on a buying spree that year, propelling the event to new prominence compared to similar shows held in Paris and at Farnborough in the UK.
But other participants at the event were refreshingly optimistic, stressing that the Middle East is the only region, aside from East Asia, that continues to grow with vigor in an otherwise stagnant industry.
“This is, for us, a very important market,” said Tomas Samuelsson, President of Saab Technologies. “We didn’t exhibit at (the) Paris air show, but we decided to exhibit here.”
Samuelsson, speaking at Saab’s display stand, described the show as “amazing” after the first day, especially considering the international financial crisis.
In one of the day’s biggest announcements, Britain’s Rolls-Royce said it had reached $2 billion worth of deals to sell jet engines that would power new Airbus aircraft for Air China and Ethiopian Airlines.
Rolls-Royce valued the Air China order for Trent 700 engines at $1.5 billion at list prices, while it said Ethiopian’s purchase of Trent XWB engines was worth $480 million.
Not all the business was this big. Fly Comlux, a charter airline for VIPs, signed an order for a single Challenger 605 business jet from Bombardier Aerospace. Air India and Aerostar Asset Management, a firm based in Sharjah, agreed to team up to provide aircraft repair services in this region.
16/11/09 Bruce Stanley and Zoe Sinclair/Khaleej Times, UAE

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Russia, India agree to sign new deal on aircraft carrier overhaul

Dubai: Russia will soon sign a new deal with India on additional funds to finish a refit of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Sunday.
"The negotiations were uneasy but the Indian side treated with understanding the existing problems. They recognized the need to additionally finance the contract and in the near future this will be formalized," Mikhail Zavaliy, Rosoboronexport director for special missions said at a major air show in the Middle East.
The Dubai Air Show is running on November 15-19 in the United Arab Emirates. Over 900 companies from about 50 countries, including 24 Russian firms, take part in the event.
Under the original $1.5 billion 2004 contract between Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport and the Indian Navy, which includes delivery of MiG-29K Fulcrum carrier-based fighters, the work on the aircraft carrier was to have been completed in 2008.
However, Russia later claimed it had underestimated the scale and the cost of the modernization, and asked for an additional $1.2 billion, which New Delhi said was "exorbitant."
After long-running delays and disputes, India offered in February 2008 to raise the refit costs for the aircraft carrier, docked at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia for the past 12 years, by up to $600 million.
16/11/09 RIA Novosti

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