Aurora Flight Sciences marks international sale of Centaur Optionally Piloted Aircraft system – Aurora Flight Sciences
Embraer announces 19 new orders of Ipanema agricultural aircraft
press release
Botucatu - SP, March 3, 2021 – Embraer today announced that its agricultural aviation division has sold 19 EMB-203 Ipanema single-seat aircraft in February, totaling 27 aircraft sold this year. This sales volume in the first two months of 2021 is already 8% higher than what was negotiated throughout 2020. The second consecutive month of high sales reflects the favorable performance of the Brazilian agribusiness and the technological innovations incorporated in the new version of the Ipanema aircraft. Agricultural crop dusting services has been leading the market demand this year. Although the demand for Ipanema remains more intense in the Midwest, the main agricultural hub in Brazil, the pace of sales this year has also been increasing in other regions in the country. With almost 1,500 units delivered, Ipanema is the leader in the agricultural segment with a 60% share of the national market. Its role in precision agriculture combines high technology and continuously evolves to meet the requirements of high productivity and low operating cost. The Ipanema 203, the most updated model in the series, has incorporated multiple improvements such new wing parts with different geometry and more resistant stainless steel material. This solution postpones eventual wear and tear from the severe natural condition of field operations and maintenance expenses over the years. The advanced aerial sprayer also has a new design on the engine hood, with new air outlet grilles to ensure greater cooling. About Ipanema Ipanema's history begins in the late 1960s, when the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture signed a contract with Embraer for serial production in the country of an agricultural aircraft, with the aim of modernizing the sector by making new production techniques available. The aircraft initially appeared as a project for engineers from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), in São José dos Campos (SP) and was tested for the first time at Fazenda Ipanema, in the municipality of Sorocaba (SP). In July 1970, Ipanema made its first flight and in 1972, it was commercially produced. The most current version, the Ipanema 203, runs on renewable energy (ethanol) and was certified in 2015. This model guarantees more agility, efficiency and productivity, in addition to the lowest operating cost in the category. With its wingspan increased to 13.3 m and an improved wing profile, it allows a greater range of deposition of pesticides, reaching 24 meters of track with scientifically proven quality. Mainly used in the spraying of fertilizers and pesticides, Ipanema has avoided, throughout all these decades, losses due to crushing of the crop and its ability to operate in regions with irregular terrain, allowing for greater flexibility. The aircraft is also used in seeding activities, vector and larvae control, and river settlement.
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Airbus publishes agenda for 2021 Annual General Meeting
press release
Board mandates of four directors due for renewal, including Chairman René Obermann
Amsterdam, 3 March 2021 – Airbus SE (stock exchange symbol: AIR) has published the agenda for its 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on 14 April, with resolutions including the renewal of the Board mandates of Chairman René Obermann and three other non-executive directors.
In line with its policy of ‘staggered’ Board terms, shareholder approval will be sought for the re-appointment of René Obermann, Amparo Moraleda, Victor Chu and Jean-Pierre Clamadieu as non-executive members of the Board of Directors for a term of three years. Subject to the renewal of his Board mandate by the AGM, René Obermann will remain the non-executive Chairman of the Airbus Board of Directors.
Board mandates are renewed every year in blocks of four, for terms of three years, in order to ensure a smooth transition of the Board’s composition now and in the future. This also avoids any large block replacements of directors at any single shareholder meeting.
Other resolutions include an annual advisory vote on the implementation of the remuneration policy for the year 2020 as disclosed in the Report of the Board of Directors published on 26 February 2021.
The set-up of the AGM reflects the continuation of COVID-19 restrictions and the uncertain evolution of the pandemic. In the current context, to prioritise health and safety, Airbus strongly discourages physical attendance at the meeting and is recommending shareholders vote by proxy.
Any changes to the organisation of the event will be communicated via the AGM page of the Airbus website.
Documents for the AGM, including the Information Notice with a full agenda, are available online on:
the Airbus Annual General Meetings page Read more...
The Coalition for the Energy of the Future unveils its first seven concrete actions and welcomes three new members
Airbus' press release
- 7 projects already being developed with first milestones to be reached as early as 2021
- Airbus,Bureau Veritas and PSA International join the coalition
- 14 members committed to accelerating the energy transition in transport and logistics
Launched in late 2019, the Coalition for the Energy of the Future aims at accelerating the development of future energies and technologies to sustain new green mobility models and reduce the impact of transport and logistics on climate change. The Coalition is pleased to announce the first milestones to be reached in 2021.
2021: A year of milestones with the development of the Coalition’s first 7 projects
2021 will be a structuring year for the Coalition and its cross-industry working groups with 7 projects to be developed:
- Green hydrogen: capitalize on Carrefour projects Cathyope and H2Haul to experiment for the first time in Europe hydrogen-powered fuel cell long distance zero-emission trucks and propose a consolidated order book for goods’ transportation on French and European roads by end of the first semester in order to accelerate hydrogen availability,
- Biofuel: propose and test the first bio-crude oil dedicated to maritime needs to increase the use of Biofuel along the supply chain and develop the use of 3rd generation biofuels,
- Carbon neutral liquefied natural gas (LNG): draw a pathway for bioLNG toward carbon neutrality, highlighting key issues to be addressed,
- Green electricity: identify & convert along the global supply chain the key elements (depots, terminals & warehouses…) into green self-sustained entities to accelerate the electric conversion in the transport chain,
- Zero emission vehicles for road, air and sea transportation: share by the end of the first quarter of 2021 a common vision and roadmap to develop nnovative R&D projects around new energies such as Hydrogen or Ammonia,
- Digital ecocalculator of the global transport chain: develop a digital eco-calculator certifying door-to-door CO2 impact on any given transportation routing as well as proposing low-emission alternatives,
- Intermodal green hubs: propose a business plan to sustain port conversion into new green multimodal hubs using lower-impact routing with greener energy by end of 2021.
The 14 companies will continue to work closely together over the coming months to develop new concrete projects going further in the fight against climate change.
Airbus, Bureau Veritas and PSA International join the Coalition for the Energy of the Future
2021 also marks the entry into the Coalition of three global companies recognized worldwide for their involvement into the emergence of technological innovations:
- Airbus, an international reference in the aerospace sector and a pioneer of sustainable aviation
- Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection and certification,
- PSA International, a leading global port group and trusted partner to cargo stakeholders.
They join AWS, Carrefour, CMA CGM Group, Cluster Maritime Français, Crédit Agricole CIB, ENGIE, Faurecia, Michelin, Schneider Electric, Total and Wärtsilä in the Coalition.
Together, they will bring the Coalition additional resources and talents to take up the challenge of tomorrow’s sustainable transport and logistics.
“Airbus has a leading role to play in the ambition for sustainable aviation, says Jean-Brice Dumont, Executive Vice President Engineering, Airbus. "We are convinced of the benefits that joint initiatives can bring in finding innovative solutions to reduce the C02 emissions of our industry -- because we know this challenge requires a collective effort. We believe this coalition will foster the development of creative projects with effective results that will pioneer new mobility models across the sector.”
According to Matthieu de Tugny, President of Bureau Veritas Marine and Offshore, “Innovative projects and joint development programs will be certainly vital to make sure we are ready for the future. The different stakeholders and experience of this Coalition certainly brings real power across the shipping sector & supply chains to develop the innovative solutions we need. It is a collective approach and all our efforts definitely need to be connected to sustain new green transportation models.”
Mr TAN Chong Meng CEO, PSA International, declares: “PSA is proud to be a part of the Coalition, which is in line with our mission to enable greener logistics choices for all by working with like-minded partners. We are excited to support the development of future energies and technologies, and to do our part to collectively create a more sustainable future for transport and trade.”
With these additional members, the Coalition continues to rally major industry leaders from different sectors and pursues its ambition to accelerate the development of energies and technologies sustaining new, lower-carbon models to reach carbon-neutral objectives in transport and logistics.
An international coalition with a clear pathway towards carbon neutrality
Launched in late 2019 during the French Maritime Economy Conference (Assises de l’Economie de la Mer), and supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, the Coalition for the Energy of the Future aims at accelerating the development of future energies and technologies to sustain new green mobility models to reduce the climate impact of transport and logistics.
To achieve genuine technological breakthroughs with tangible results by 2030, the Coalition’s three main goals are:
- To unlock a more extensive portfolio of clean energy sources;
- To decrease the energy consumption per kilometer-equivalent of goods mobility;
- To reduce the proportion of emissions linked to transport and logistics.
FAA Selects Five Host Airports to Test and Evaluate Unmanned Aircraft Detection and Mitigation Systems
FAA's press release
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today selected five host airports to evaluate technologies and systems that could detect and mitigate potential safety risks posed by unmanned aircraft. The effort is part of the agency’s Airport Unmanned Aircraft Systems Detection and Mitigation Research Program.
The FAA selected the following airports:
- Atlantic City International Airport in Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, New York
- Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio
- Huntsville International Airport in Huntsville, Alabama
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, Washington
These airports meet FAA requirements for diverse testing environments and represent airport operating conditions found across the United States.
The research will lead to the implementation of new technologies that will make airports safer for passengers and manned aircraft. Researchers plan to test and evaluate at least 10 technologies or systems at these airports. Testing will begin later this year and continue through 2023. It will create standards for future unmanned aircraft detection and mitigation technologies at airports around the country.
The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 requires the agency to ensure that technologies used to detect or mitigate potential risks posed by unmanned aircraft do not interfere with safe airport operations. The FAA does not support the use of counter-UAS systems by any entities other than federal departments with explicit statutory authority to use this technology, including requirements for extensive coordination with the FAA to ensure safety risks are mitigated. Read more...
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From Bad to Worse: January Passenger Demand Falls Further
IATA's press release
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that passenger traffic fell in January 2021, both compared to pre-COVID levels (January 2019) and compared to the immediate month prior (December 2020).
Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons are to January 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern.
- Total demand in January 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 72.0% compared to January 2019. That was worse than the 69.7% year-over-year decline recorded in December 2020.
- Total domestic demand was down 47.4% versus pre-crisis (January 2019) levels. In December it was down 42.9% on the previous year. This weakening is largely driven by stricter domestic travel controls in China over the Lunar New Year holiday period.
- International passenger demand in January was 85.6% below January 2019, a further drop compared to the 85.3% year-to-year decline recorded in December.
“2021 is starting off worse than 2020 ended and that is saying a lot. Even as vaccination programs gather pace, new COVID variants are leading governments to increase travel restrictions. The uncertainty around how long these restrictions will last also has an impact on future travel. Forward bookings in February this year for the Northern Hemisphere summer travel season were 78% below levels in February 2019,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
| january 2021 (%chg. vs 2019) | world share1 | rpk | ask | PLF (%-PT)2 | PLF (LEVEL)3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market |
100.0% |
-72.0% |
-58.7% |
-25.7% |
54.1% |
Africa |
1.9% |
-63.9% |
-53.0% |
-16.4% |
54.4% |
Asia Pacific |
38.6% |
-71.5% |
-59.0% |
-24.8% |
56.6% |
Europe |
23.7% |
-77.4% |
-68.7% |
-22.4% |
57.6% |
Latin America |
5.7% |
-58.0% |
-49.5% |
-13.9% |
68.5% |
Middle East |
7.4% |
-80.7% |
-65.8% |
-32.4% |
42.2% |
North America |
22.7% |
-67.5% |
-46.5% |
-31.2% |
48.4% |
1) % of industry RPKs in 2020 2) Change in load factor vs. the same month in 2019 3) Load Factor Level
International Passenger Markets
Asia-Pacific airlines’ January traffic plummeted 94.6% compared to the 2019 period, virtually unchanged from the 94.4% decline registered for December 2020 compared to a year ago. The region continued to suffer from the steepest traffic declines for a seventh consecutive month. Capacity dropped 86.5% and load factor sank 49.4 percentage points to 32.6%, by far the lowest among regions.
European carriers had an 83.2% decline in traffic in January versus January 2019, worsened from an 82.6% decline in December compared to the same month in 2019. Capacity sank 73.6% and load factor fell by 29.2 percentage points to 51.4%.
Middle Eastern airlines saw demand plunge 82.3% in January compared to January 2019, which was broadly unchanged from an 82.6% demand drop in December versus a year ago. Capacity fell 67.6%, and load factor declined 33.9 percentage points to 40.8%.
North American carriers’ January traffic fell 79.0% compared to the 2019 period, up slightly from a 79.5% decline in December year to year. Capacity sagged 60.5%, and load factor dropped 37.8 percentage points to 42.9%.
Latin American airlines experienced a 78.5% demand drop in January, compared to the same month in 2019, worsened from a 76.2% decline in December year-to-year. January capacity was 67.9% down compared to January 2019 and load factor dropped 27.2 percentage points to 55.3%, highest among the regions for a fourth consecutive month.
African airlines’ traffic dropped 66.1% in January, which was a modest improvement compared to a 68.8% decline recorded in December versus a year ago. January capacity contracted 54.2% versus January 2019, and load factor fell 18.4 percentage points to 52.3%.
Domestic Passenger Markets
| january 2021 (%chg. vs 2019) | world share1 | rpk | ask | PLF (%-PT)2 | PLF (LEVEL)3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Domestic |
54.3% |
-47.4% |
-30.5% |
-19.3% |
60.1% |
Dom. Australia |
0.7% |
-81.6% |
-77.8% |
-13.3% |
64.8% |
Dom. Brazil |
1.6% |
-31.4% |
-29.4% |
-2.4% |
81.6% |
Dom. China P.R. |
19.9% |
-33.9% |
-15.1% |
-18.2% |
64.0% |
Dom India |
2.1% |
-37.6% |
-22.5% |
-16.8% |
69.3% |
Dom. Japan |
1.5% |
-71.3% |
-39.9% |
-35.0% |
31.9% |
Dom. Russian Fed. |
3.4% |
5.5% |
-0.7% |
4.7% |
80.1% |
Dom. US |
16.6% |
-60.3% |
-37.8% |
-28.7% |
50.5% |
1) % of industry RPKs in 2020 2) Change in load factor vs. the same month in 2019 3) Load Factor Level
China’s domestic traffic was down 33.9% in January compared to January 2019, dramatically worsened compared to the 8.5% year-over-year decline in December. The fall was owing to stricter traffic controls ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday period amid several localized COVID-19 outbreaks.
Russia’s domestic traffic, by contrast, rose 5.5% compared to January 2019, a turnaround from the 12.0% year-to-year decline in December versus the same month in 2019. It was driven by a fall in COVID-19 cases since a peak late in December and by national holidays in the first week of the month.
The Bottom Line
“To say that 2021 has not gotten off to a good start is an understatement. Financial prospects for the year are worsening as governments tighten travel restrictions. We now expect the industry to burn through $75-$95 billion in cash this year, rather than turning cash positive in the fourth quarter, as previously thought. This is not something that the industry will be able to endure without additional relief measures from governments.
Increased testing capability and vaccine distribution are the keys for governments to unlock economic activity, including travel. It is critical that governments build and share their restart plans along with the benchmarks that will guide them. This will enable the industry to be prepared to energize the recovery without any unnecessary delay,” said de Juniac.
Global standards to securely record test and vaccination data in formats that will be internationally recognized are urgently needed. “These will be critical to restarting international travel if governments continue to require verified testing or vaccination data. IATA will soon launch the IATA Travel Pass to help travelers and governments manage digital health credentials. But the full benefit of IATA Travel Pass cannot be realized until governments agree the standards for the information they want,” said de Juniac.
- View the full January Air Passenger Market Analysis, (including 2021 vs. 2020 comparisons)
- Read remarks of Alexandre de Juniac, Director General & CEO, IATA
- Access COVID-19 Passenger business setback in January, though cargo positive (pdf) presentation from Brian Pearce, Chief Economist, IATA
- Access Critical Criteria for Health Apps (pdf) presentation from Nick Careen, Senior Vice President Airport, Passenger, Cargo & Security, IATA
- Listen to the teleconference (mp4)
RUAG International completes sale of RUAG Aerospace Services GmbH to General Atomics Europe
RUAG press release
RUAG International has transferred all shares in RUAG Aerospace Services GmbH to General Atomics Europe (GA-Europe). GA-Europe will take over the maintenance activities for private aircraft and military aircraft as well...
With the transfer of ownership (contractual closing) from RUAG Aerospace Services GmbH to General Atomics Europe (GA-Europe), all company shares have been transferred to the new owner. The sale process has thus been contractually completed. GA-Europe is taking over all business activities as well as all of the approximately 420 employees. At the Oberpfaffenhofen site, RUAG International continues to employ 800 people in aerostructures construction (RUAG Aerostructures) – this business segment is not affected by the sale.
Felix Ammann, former Managing Director of RUAG Aerospace Services GmbH, says: "We are very pleased with the successful conclusion and wish General Atomics Europe every success for the future. We are convinced that they bring excellent prerequisites with them to successfully continue the business activities and sustainably secure the jobs for the future."
Harald Robl, Managing Director of General Atomics Europe, adds: "With this acquisition, GA-Europe is sustainably strengthening its market positioning in the aviation business. We have developed a strategic concept for the future that will open up new growth and value creation prospects for the Oberpfaffenhofen site, far beyond the existing business areas, despite the current economic crisis.”
A corresponding agreement (signing) for the acquisition of the business activities of RUAG Aerospace Services GmbH has already been signed by both companies on 30 September 2020 (see announcement dated 15 October 2020). The sale is in line with the concept for the unbundling and realignment of RUAG International approved by the Swiss Federal Council on 15 March 2019. The parties have agreed not to disclose the contractual terms.
Further developed and expanded
RUAG International took over the two divisions Services and Components of the former German aircraft manufacturer Fairchild Dornier in 2002. After the takeover, RUAG Aerospace Structures GmbH (RUAG Aerostructures) and RUAG Aerospace Services GmbH were created.
With the transfer of the services division, the then RUAG supplemented the product and service portfolio with the production of the Dornier 228 and its customer support, as well as maintenance on business jets and military helicopters. In 2007, RUAG began further development of the Do228 into the Do228 Next Generation, and in 2009 RUAG resumed production of the aircraft. The successful maiden flight of the new series aircraft took place on 30 July 2010. To this day, the Do228 NG is manufactured in Oberpfaffenhofen and Customer Support looks after customers worldwide.
In the field of military helicopter maintenance, new orders were secured for the NH90 of the German Armed Forces. The site is thus well positioned for the future. In business jets, the company focused on creating added value for customers through its "one-stop shop" approach. This also strengthened its position in the market thanks to the improved customer experience.
January Air Cargo Demand Recovers to pre-COVID Levels
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released January 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that air cargo demand returned to pre-COVID levels (January 2019) for the first time since the onset of the crisis. January demand also showed strong month-to-month growth over December 2020 levels.
Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons to follow are to January 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern.
- Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 1.1.% compared to January 2019 and +3% compared to December 2020. All regions saw month-on-month improvement in air cargo demand, and North America and Africa were the strongest performers.
- The recovery in global capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), was reversed owing to new capacity cuts on the passenger side. Capacity shrank 19.5% compared to January 2019 and fell 5% compared to December 2020, the first monthly decline since April 2020.
- The operating backdrop remains supportive for air cargo volumes:
- Conditions in the manufacturing sector remain robust despite new COVID-19 outbreaks that dragged down passenger demand. The global manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was at 53.5 in January. Results above 50 indicate manufacturing growth versus the prior month.
- The new export orders component of the manufacturing PMI – a leading indicator of air cargo demand– continued to point to further CTK improvement. However, the performance of the metric was less robust compared with Q42020 as COVID-19 resurgence negatively impacted export business in emerging markets. Should this continue or expand to other markers, it could weigh on future air cargo growth.
- The level of inventories remains relatively low compared to sales volumes. Historically, this has meant that businesses had to quickly refill their stocks, for which they also used air cargo services.
“Air cargo traffic is back to pre-crisis levels and that is some much-needed good news for the global economy. But while there is a strong demand to ship goods, our ability is capped by the shortage of belly capacity normally provided by passenger aircraft. That should be a sign to governments that they need to share their plans for restart so that the industry has clarity in terms of how soon more capacity can be brought online. In normal times, a third of world trade by value moves by air. This high value commerce is vital to helping restore COVID damaged economies—not to mention the critical role air cargo is playing in distributing lifesaving vaccines that must continue for the foreseeable future,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's Director General and CEO.
| january 2021 (%chg. vs 2019) | worldshare1 | ctk | actk | CLF(%-PT)2 | CLF(LEVEL)3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market |
100.0% |
1.1% |
-19.5% |
12.0% |
58.9% |
Africa |
2.1% |
21.1% |
-10.9% |
12.7% |
48.0% |
Asia Pacific |
32.8% |
-6.8% |
-29.4% |
16.1% |
66.5% |
Europe |
22.2% |
-0.4% |
-19.9% |
12.2 |
62.7% |
Latin America |
2.4% |
-14.2% |
-30.7% |
7.5% |
39.0% |
Middle East |
13.1% |
6.0% |
-17.3% |
12.5% |
56.9% |
North America |
27.4% |
11.7% |
-6.8% |
8.8% |
53.2% |
1) % of industry RPKs in 2020 2) Change in load factor vs. the same month in 2019 3) Load Factor Level
January Regional Performance
Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for international air cargo fall 3.2% in January 2021 compared to the same month in 2019. This was an improvement from the 4.0% fall in December 2020. International capacity remained constrained in the region, down 27.0% versus January 2019, which was a deterioration compared to the 26.2% year-over-year decline recorded in December. The region’s airlines reported the highest international load factor at 74.0%.
North American carriers posted an 8.5% increase in international demand in January compared to January 2019, far surpassing the 4.4% gain in December 2020 compared to December 2019. Economic activity in the US continues to recover and its January manufacturing PMIs reached a record-high, pointing to a supportive business environment for air cargo. International capacity fell by 8.5% compared to January 2019. In December 2020, capacity was down 12.8% versus the same month in 2019.
European carriers’ international cargo demand slipped 0.6% in January compared to same month in 2019. This was an improvement from the 5.6% fall in December 2020 over the year-ago period. International capacity decreased 19.5%, a deterioration from the 18.4% year-to-year decline recorded for December.
Middle Eastern carriers posted a 6.0% rise in international cargo volumes in January versus January 2019, which was an acceleration over the 2.4% year over year gain recorded in December compared to December 2019. Of the region’s key international routes, Middle East-Asia and Middle East-North America have provided the most significant support. January capacity was down 17.3% compared to the same month in 2019. This was a slight reduction compared to the18.2% decline recorded in December 2020 compared to the year-ago period.
Latin American carriers reported a decline of 16.1% in international cargo volumes in January compared to the 2019 period, which was an improvement from the 19.0% fall in December 2020 versus a year ago. Drivers of air cargo demand in Latin America remain relatively less supportive than in the other regions. International capacity decreased 37.0% compared January 2019, largely unchanged from the 36.7% year-over- year decline recorded in December 2020.
African airlines’ cargo demand soared 22.4% compared to the same month in 2019, eclipsing the 6.3% year-over-year increase for December 2020. Robust expansion on the Asia-Africa trade lanes contributed to the strong growth. January international capacity decreased by 9.1% compared to January 2019, reduced compared to the 17.8% capacity decline recorded in December 2020 versus December 2019.
- Download complete Air Cargo Market Analysis for January 202
- Read remarks of Alexandre de Juniac, Director General & CEO, IATA
- Access COVID-19 Passenger business setback in January, though cargo positive (pdf) presentation from Brian Pearce, Chief Economist, IATA
- Access Critical Criteria for Health Apps (pdf) presentation from Nick Careen, Senior Vice President Airport, Passenger, Cargo & Security, IATA
- Listen to the teleconference (mp4)
NetJets Obtains Purchase Options For 20 Aerion AS2 Supersonic Private Jets
NetJets is joining rival Flexjet in betting on the future of private supersonic jets. The unit of Berkshire Hathaway said it had obtained purchase options for 20 high-speed Aerion A2 jets that will fly passengers at over 1,000 miles per hour.
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Related:
AERION, NETJETS AND FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL TO EXPLORE FUTURE GLOBAL MOBILITY SOLUTIONS
- Aerion® signs expansive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NetJets and FlightSafety International® (FSI) to shape the future of global mobility
- NetJets and Aerion to explore exclusive partnership for the global mobility platform, Aerion ConnectTM
- FSI to support Aerion in establishing a new global Supersonic Training Academy
- NetJets has obtained purchase rights for 20 AS2® supersonic business jets, extending Aerion’s global order backlog to USD $10 billion+ ahead of 2023 production start
continue reading: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/03/2186412/0/en/AERION-NETJETS-AND-FLIGHTSAFETY-INTERNATIONAL-TO-EXPLORE-FUTURE-GLOBAL-MOBILITY-SOLUTIONS.html
Read more...
Collision Resilient Insect-Scale Soft-Actuated Aerial Robots With High Agility
Video: https://youtu.be/50_kK9phHy8
The technology could boost aerial robots’ repertoire, allowing them to operate in cramped spaces and withstand collisions.
If you’ve ever swatted a mosquito away from your face, only to have it return again (and again and again), you know that insects can be remarkably acrobatic and resilient in flight. Those traits help them navigate the aerial world, with all of its wind gusts, obstacles, and general uncertainty. Such traits are also hard to build into flying robots, but MIT Assistant Professor Kevin Yufeng Chen has built a system that approaches insects’ agility.
Chen, a member of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Laboratory of Electronics, has developed insect-sized drones with unprecedented dexterity and resilience. The aerial robots are powered by a new class of soft actuator, which allows them to withstand the physical travails of real-world flight. Chen hopes the robots could one day aid humans by pollinating crops or performing machinery inspections in cramped spaces.
Chen’s work appears this month in the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics. His co-authors include MIT PhD student Zhijian Ren, Harvard University PhD student Siyi Xu, and City University of Hong Kong roboticist Pakpong Chirarattananon.
Typically, drones require wide open spaces because they’re neither nimble enough to navigate confined spaces nor robust enough to withstand collisions in a crowd. “If we look at most drones today, they’re usually quite big,” says Chen. “Most of their applications involve flying outdoors. The question is: Can you create insect-scale robots that can move around in very complex, cluttered spaces?”
According to Chen, “The challenge of building small aerial robots is immense.” Pint-sized drones require a fundamentally different construction from larger ones. Large drones are usually powered by motors, but motors lose efficiency as you shrink them. So, Chen says, for insect-like robots “you need to look for alternatives.”
The principal alternative until now has been employing a small, rigid actuator built from piezoelectric ceramic materials. While piezoelectric ceramics allowed the first generation of tiny robots to take flight, they’re quite fragile. And that’s a problem when you’re building a robot to mimic an insect — foraging bumblebees endure a collision about once every second.
Chen designed a more resilient tiny drone using soft actuators instead of hard, fragile ones. The soft actuators are made of thin rubber cylinders coated in carbon nanotubes. When voltage is applied to the carbon nanotubes, they produce an electrostatic force that squeezes and elongates the rubber cylinder. Repeated elongation and contraction causes the drone’s wings to beat — fast.
Chen’s actuators can flap nearly 500 times per second, giving the drone insect-like resilience. “You can hit it when it’s flying, and it can recover,” says Chen. “It can also do aggressive maneuvers like somersaults in the air.” And it weighs in at just 0.6 grams, approximately the mass of a large bumble bee. The drone looks a bit like a tiny cassette tape with wings, though Chen is working on a new prototype shaped like a dragonfly.
“Achieving flight with a centimeter-scale robot is always an impressive feat,” says Farrell Helbling, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University, who was not involved in the research. “Because of the soft actuators’ inherent compliance, the robot can safely run into obstacles without greatly inhibiting flight. This feature is well-suited for flight in cluttered, dynamic environments and could be very useful for any number of real-world applications.”
Helbling adds that a key step toward those applications will be untethering the robots from a wired power source, which is currently required by the actuators’ high operating voltage. “I’m excited to see how the authors will reduce operating voltage so that they may one day be able to achieve untethered flight in real-world environments.”
Building insect-like robots can provide a window into the biology and physics of insect flight, a longstanding avenue of inquiry for researchers. Chen’s work addresses these questions through a kind of reverse engineering. “If you want to learn how insects fly, it is very instructive to build a scale robot model,” he says. “You can perturb a few things and see how it affects the kinematics or how the fluid forces change. That will help you understand how those things fly.” But Chen aims to do more than add to entomology textbooks. His drones can also be useful in industry and agriculture.
Chen says his mini-aerialists could navigate complex machinery to ensure safety and functionality. “Think about the inspection of a turbine engine. You’d want a drone to move around [an enclosed space] with a small camera to check for cracks on the turbine plates.”
Other potential applications include artificial pollination of crops or completing search-and-rescue missions following a disaster. “All those things can be very challenging for existing large-scale robots,” says Chen. Sometimes, bigger isn’t better.
Paper:
Abstract:
Flying insects are remarkably agile and robust. As they fly through cluttered natural environments, they can demonstrate aggressive acrobatic maneuvers such as backflip, rapid escape, and in-flight collision recovery. Current state-of-the-art subgram microaerial-vehicles (MAVs) are predominately powered by rigid actuators such as piezoelectric ceramics, but they have low fracture strength (120 MPa) and failure strain (0.3%). Although these existing systems can achieve a high lift-to-weight ratio, they have not demonstrated insect-like maneuvers such as somersault or rapid collision recovery. In this article, we present a 665 mg aerial robot that is powered by novel dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA). The new DEA achieves high power density (1.2 kW/kg) and relatively high transduction efficiency (37%). We further incorporate this soft actuator into an aerial robot to demonstrate novel flight capabilities. This insect-scale aerial robot has a large lift-to-weight ratio (>2.2:1) and it achieves an ascending speed of 70 cm/s. In addition to demonstrating controlled hovering flight, it can recover from an in-flight collision and perform a somersault within 0.16 s. This work demonstrates that soft aerial robots can achieve insect-like flight capabilities absent in rigid-powered MAVs, thus showing the potential of a new class of hybrid soft-rigid robots.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9357346
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NP_ Las compañías aéreas mueven ficha y se preparan contratando nuevos pilotos
Las compañías aéreas mueven ficha y se preparan contratando nuevos pilotos.
Madrid, 24 de Febrero de 2021. La aparición de la COVID-19 el año pasado paralizó el planeta y provocó una crisis en todos los sectores económicos, sobretodo en el turismo y la aviación, dejando a miles de pilotos sin volar. Las compañías aéreas se preparan para la vuelta a los cielos contratando a nuevos tripulantes. Airlines Pilots Preparation nace con la intención de preparar a nuevos pilotos para su incorporación en línea aérea.
La industria de la aviación se ha visto particularmente afectada por las restricciones a la movilidad debido a la pandemia Covid-19, obligando a las aerolíneas a cesar gran parte de sus operaciones. Miles de pilotos se han quedado sin empleo, y en España, casi el 90 por ciento permanecen en ERTE. Las nuevas vacunas y el control de pasajeros vislumbran la apertura del mercado, que se espera suceda a lo largo de este año y 2022, donde según estudios del sector, se estima que se necesitarán 27 mil pilotos en todo el mundo, y 268 mil para los próximos diez años. Compañías como Ryanair, Easyjet o Wizzair se están preparando para la incorporación de tripulantes técnicos, y ya han abierto convocatorias para la incorporación de cadetes en sus filas. Concretamente, la compañía irlandesa Ryanair, espera la incorporación de más de 500 nuevos cadetes entre este año y el que viene.
De la mano del reconocido centro de formación Cinetic Plus, surge la nueva Joint Venture, Airline Pilots Preparation (APP), formada por pilotos de línea aérea, así como instructores y examinadores de compañía. La nueva línea de formación surge para ayudar a pilotos profesionales a enfrentarse a los requisitos que demandan las compañías aéreas actualmente, por lo que los cursos no se centran solamente en la fase de entrevista y selección, sino para adaptar al alumno a la formación tanto de habilitación como del operador, por lo que se han creado cursos específicos para cada una de las compañías aéreas. Según Miguel Pineda, CEO de Cinetic Plus y Comandante Instructor de línea aérea, "las aerolíneas necesitan pilotos que se adapten rápidamente a su filosofía, así como a sus procedimientos, por lo que desde nuestro centro saldrán con ese refuerzo para que la adaptación no sea tan dura".
Los nuevos cursos darán comienzo en el mes de marzo en las instalaciones de Cuatro vientos, con todas las medidas de seguridad garantizadas ante la pandemia actual, y aforos limitados, para que los alumnos puedan asistir tanto a la parte teórica como la parte práctica en simulador, de manera segura.
Sobre Airline Pilots Preparation
Joint Venture formada por pilotos de línea aérea, instructores y examinadores que bajo el paraguas del reconocido centro de formación Cinetic Plus, tiene como objetivo la formación de pilotos de líneas aéreas y su adaptación a compañía. A través de sus instalaciones en Cuatro vientos, donde alberga diferentes simuladores como B737NG, A320, PA31, y UPRT, entre otros, para dar cabida a diferentes cursos profesionales como JOC (Jet Orientation Course), PTR (Preliminary Type Rating Course, o preparación de entrevistas y assesments.
http://www.airlinepilotspreparation.com
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