FlightGlobal.

com June 2023

How Rafale
became export
champion

Ambitious Turkish fighter

emerges as ‘Kaan’ p20

Comfort at the premium:

single-aisle seats evolve p68

Wide appeal
A350 powers into its second decade p48
£5.99

Perfect 10 Denali wait

Ryanair will Engine issues
spend big on are Catalyst for
largest Max programme slip
p12 p26
SIAE Comment

Entente cordiale?

Retour de France
After a four-year absence, the Paris air show is back, albeit
celebrating an industry that has seen seismic changes since
the Le Bourget event was last staged: expect issues relating
to the supply chain, climate change, and defence to dominate

W
hat a difference four
years makes. Back at
the most recent edi-
tion of the Paris air
show in 2019, the Boeing 737 Max
was still grounded, the air taxi in-
dustry was more or less a twinkle
in someone’s eye, and Airbus had
yet to advance its decarbonisation
strategy much beyond the E-Fan X.
We all know what happened next.
And while the Covid-19 pandem-
ic has gone away – even if variants
of the virus are still in circulation –
its effects linger.
Thus it is, as the industry pre-
pares to gather with the return of
the Le Bourget show later in June,
that while the talk is of growth and
booming demand, achieving the
desired expansion is proving any-
thing but straightforward.
Rather than the slick, smooth-
running vehicle we saw pre-Covid,
the industry now seems to resem-
ble an engine in need of overhaul;
there is thrust – but not as much as
needed – and reliability is increas-
ingly suspect.
Unfortunately, the aerospace in-
dustry sits at the overlapping centre
of a Venn diagram of global issues.
These are conspiring to cause
persistent shortages of a variety
of commodities: people, parts, and
raw materials.
As far as can be ascertained,
these will linger until at least 2024
but it would be no surprise to see
the situation drag on for another
12 months beyond that. Expect de-
bate at Paris as to how the industry
moves forward.
If supply chain headaches are a
short-term issue that will be fixed
eventually, the sector’s longer-term
decarbonisation challenge appears
much more intractable.
Back in 2019 the issue was
present but not so pressing. Since
then, however, public perception
has shifted, and the industry has a
taxing target to hit by 2050.
How that will be achieved re-
mains unclear but as is increas-
ingly evident, in the first instance,
a ramp-up of sustainable aviation
fuel production will be required.
Further out, no-one is entirely
sure. There are many promising
technologies, some more promis-
ing than others, but none that are,
as yet, definitely going to make
the grade.
Either way, decarbonisation is
likely to dominate the conversa-
tion at Paris.
Elsewhere, the war in Ukraine
will ensure that defence spending
remains a hot topic; it may even en-
sure the tri-national Future Combat
Air System programme is marked
by less fractiousness between its
partners then previously.
Additionally, there is the question
of whether we will see the jumbo
airline orders of previous air shows.
Narrowbody backlogs stretching
into the far distance will temper
this somewhat, and much depends
on the willingness of the big two
airframers to play the game.
But this is Paris – Airbus’s home
turf – and a city more known for
celebrating joie de vivre than for
sober restraint. ◗
See p46

June 2023 Flight International 3

 In focus
Pratt & Whitney’s long game 6 TAI rolls out Kaan fighter 20 Sikorsky shifts sights to FARA
Boeing sees ‘gnarly’ fuselage Xwing to trial autonomous fight after losing appeal 30
defect as short-term issue 10 cargo flights for USAF 23 GKN warms to potential
SOCOM’s high-speed plans 14 Final moments of 737 tanker 24 of cryogenic powertrain 36
Air New Zealand targets New Catalyst woes put Denali Beijing ups Taiwan tension
York and Chicago for Skynest 19 further behind schedule 26 with supersonic UAV 38

36

Cool runnings Can liquid hydrogen

deliver zero emissions?

FlightGlobal.com June 2023

How Rafale
became export
champion

Ambitious Turkish fighter

emerges as ‘Kaan’ p20

Comfort at the premium:

single-aisle seats evolve p68

48
Wide appeal
AirTeamImages

A350 powers into its second decade p48

£5.99

Perfect 10 Denali wait

Ryanair will Engine issues
spend big on are Catalyst for
largest Max programme slip
p12 p26

Regulars Comment 3 Best of the rest 42 Straight & Level 76 Letters 78 Women in aviation 82

4 Flight International June 2023


In depth
Back on show 46
The Paris air show is taking
place after a four-year gap
Flying high 48
Airbus is regaining production
momentum for the A350 after
the pandemic ravaged demand
72
Rafale rising 54
Seven export customers
have signed up for Dassault’s
versatile fighter since 2015
Green shoots 62
Clean Aviation’s next plans
include a flight-test campaign
62
54
Contents
Different class 68
Seat manufacturers aim
to keep standards high
for premium travellers
Flying to free wi-fi 72
Today’s passengers expect
reliable wireless connectivity
June 2023 Flight International 5
 Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com
The long game
Although operators continue to face difficulties with Pratt &
Whitney geared turbofan engines, the issues may not impact
the manufacturer in the longer term, analysts suggest
Jon Hemmerdinger Tampa
David Kaminski-Morrow &
Dominic Perry London
A
s more carriers come for-
ward to detail the opera-
tional disruption – and in
the case of India’s Go First,
financial turmoil (see p8) – being
caused by problems with Pratt &
Whitney (P&W) geared turbofan
(GTF) engines, the long-term im-
pact on the propulsion specialist is
less clear-cut.
Airlines flying Airbus A220s and
A320s, particularly those operat-
ing in harsh environments, have
reported problems with the jets’
respective PW1500G and PW1100G
engines, or with P&W’s ability to
provide timely maintenance or
spare powerplants. More recently,
KLM Cityhopper indicated that it
was struggling with the perfor-
mance of the PW1900s equipping
its Embraer 195-E2 fleet.
But while P&W’s reputation is
taking a battering, analysts think
the firm will be able to weather the
storm once it addresses the cur-
rent problems – some of which are
not of its making – and engine im-
provements are rolled out.
Gearbox fears
Richard Aboulafia, managing
director at AeroDynamic Advisory,
does not think the GTF architec-
ture suffers from any fundamental
defects; it is, he says, a conven-
tional turbofan with the addition
of a gearbox to allow the low-pres-
sure spool and fan to spin at their
optimal speeds.
Despite initial fears about the
component’s long-term durability,
it has so far performed flawless-
ly, even as faults have been found
elsewhere in the engine.
Aboulafia attributes the trouble
to a “perfect storm” of factors –
notably, a supply chain and main-
tenance operation pressured to
ramp up output in the face of wide-
spread labour and parts shortages.
6 Flight International June 2023
P&W has suffered “a reputa-
tional black eye for now”, Abou-
lafia says, “but given the market
circumstances, it is not going to
cause that much damage”.
By which he means there is
precious little opportunity for a
customer, having selected P&W
engines for their A320neo-fami-
ly jets, to switch to the rival CFM
International Leap-1A.
“How much latitude is there [for
airlines] to switch to the Leap at
this point? Realistically, not a great
deal,” Aboulafia says.
Because of Airbus’s robust
backlog, airlines placing new
A320neo-family orders today will
probably have to wait at least
four years to receive those jets,
by which time P&W will likely have
fixed the problems, Aboulafia says.
Airlines could modify existing
A320neo orders – switching from
the PW1100G to Leap-1A – but they
would face a lengthy wait, too, ow-
ing to CFM’s backlog.
“By the time you get on the list
for a Leap-1A, [P&W] will probably
have solved the problem,” Aboula-
fia says. “This is likely fixed within
two or three years.”
Besides, Leap engines – both the
-1A and the -1B for the Boeing 737
Max – have not been trouble-free:
CFM and partner companies GE
Aerospace and Safran are working
on a series of durability improve-
ments to increase time on wing.
And for A220 or E190- or E195-E2
operators, there is no alternative
engine to select anyway.
Future customers for the A320neo
family, or those yet to make an en-
gine selection, may move towards
“How much latitude is there for
airlines to switch to the Leap
engine at this point? Realistically,
not a great deal”
Richard Aboulafia Managing director, AeroDynamic Advisory
the Leap, further increasing that
engine’s near-60% market share on
the Airbus narrowbody.
“We have seen further leaning
towards the Leap from customers,
and that is fundamentally sugges-
tive of recurring problems [with
the GTF],” says aerospace analyst
Michel Merluzeau from consultancy
AIR. “There is definitely some
direction toward the Leap.”
Narrow options
A longer-term question may be
whether the current travails are
enough to discourage Airbus or
Boeing from looking at a future
Airbus
P&W powerplant for whatever
replaces the A320neo or 737 Max.
The current narrowbody engine
duopoly weighs against that sce-
nario and it might require Rolls-
Royce to re-emerge as a com-
petitor in the segment for any
significant shake-up to happen.
Besides, the fundamental
architectural changes – and new
fuel sources – likely to be imple-
mented on the next generation
of narrowbody engines add even
more uncertainty to the mix.
But for those operators currently
dealing with GTF-related problems
there is little option to scrabble for
solutions while the manufacturer
rolls out fixes and waits for the eas-
ing of supply chain disruption, which
it expects to happen later this year.
That should “support increased
output of new and overhauled en-
gines”, P&W adds.
“In the interim, we are providing
direct logistical support to our sup-
pliers as well as developing solu-
tions to improve engine durability.”

But by its
own admission,
P&W is “only about
50%” through the durability
upgrade programme.
P&W has progressively inserted
updates into the PW1100G since it
entered service in 2016, with new
engines now built to the so-called
Block D standard. In-service power-
plants have received the upgrades
during shop visits, but that process
has not been as rapid as hoped.
Labour pains
Christopher Calio, chief operating
officer at P&W parent Raytheon
Technologies, says the firm is “run-
ning as fast as we can” to perform
the Block D modifications, but ad-
mits it still has a significant popula-
tion of engines to address.
“We are only about 50% of the way
through the fleet in terms of those
upgrades,” he told analysts during a
first-quarter results call on 25 April.
He blames the slow pace of the
upgrade process on “part con-
straints and shortages [of] labour
in our MRO network”.
Additional MRO capacity is being
brought on stream, Calio notes,
which will help “accelerate” the
roll-out of the Block D enhance-
ment, which is “really aimed at the
combustor hot section”.
Raytheon Technologies
chief executive Gregory Hayes says
“we probably didn’t spend enough
time” on operational testing in
harsh environments – “specifically
places like India”.
“That’s where we have seen the
lower life on the combustor. We
have seen some lower life on the
turbine blades just because of the
harsh conditions there,” he says.
But that is likely to offer little com-
fort to those affected – a list which
grew recently with the addition of
Iraqi Airways and KLM Cityhopper.
Iraq’s civil aviation regulator has
suspended operations for the car-
rier’s five A220-300s, citing engine
damage to two airframes.
The Iraq Civil Aviation Authority
says an initial technical inspection
of one aircraft on 30 April revealed
damage to the inner engine lining
and the fan blades after arrival at
Baghdad. A second A220 suffered
“the same damage to one of its
engines” during a flight to Tunisia
two days later, it adds.
The Civil Aviation Authority
points out that several A220 op-
erators have been “exposed to the
same technical problems”, referring
specifically to EgyptAir and Swiss.
Propulsion Durability
P&W is rolling out a series of
improvements to GTF powerplants
In fact, one-third of Swiss’s
A220 fleet is grounded because of
engine issues, according to Carsten
Spohr, chief executive of parent
Lufthansa Group.
Alongside the Swiss A220 woes,
powerplant problems have also
grounded three “brand-new air-
planes” at Lufthansa mainline,
Spohr says, referring to PW1100G-
equipped A320neo-family jets.
Amid the groundings, Swiss is
currently wet-leasing six A220-
300s from Air Baltic, according to
Cirium fleets data, to support its 30
examples of the type.
Embraer too
Elsewhere, regional carrier KLM
Cityhopper has gained the dubi-
ous distinction of becoming the
first operator to disclose problems
with the PW1900Gs that power its
second-generation E-Jets.
The carrier says that “due to
technical issues” KLM Cityhopper
is having “difficulty fully deploy-
ing” its E2 jets.
“KLM Cityhopper is consulting
with Embraer and engine manufac-
turer Pratt & Whitney to seek a solu-
tion for these issues, which have no
impact on flight safety,” it adds. ◗
Additional reporting by
Graham Dunn & Lewis Harper
June 2023 Flight International 7
 Propulsion Durability
Go on hold as court documents detail PW1100G woes
Jon Hemmerdinger Tampa
Of all the operators afflicted by
problems with Pratt & Whitney
(P&W) PW1100G engines, India’s
Go First has, on the face of it,
been hit the hardest.
On 10 May, the struggling
airline was granted bankruptcy
protection by India’s National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)
amidst a continuing flight
suspension, which, as Flight
International went to press, was
due to run until 23 May.
In its application to the
NCLT, Go First says 28 of its
54 PW1100G-powered Airbus
A320neo aircraft are grounded
because of engine issues.
Go First claims it is “facing
financial distress due to inherently
defective engines supplied by
Pratt & Whitney”.
Defaults on lease payments
began in 2022 and continued this
year; the NCLT application details
demand letters from nine lessors
totalling $91.6 million.
“Though [Go First] has made
various attempts to resolve
the issue amicably with P&W,
however, it refuses to honour
its contractual obligations… by
repairing/providing replacement
engines,” the court filing adds.
A letter disclosed as part of a
separate US court process reveals
more detail about the tight supply
of PW1100G spare engines and
related equipment.
Signed by P&W commercial
engines president Rick Deurloo,
the 3 April letter says P&W and
its leasing partners around the
world had a total pool of “295
spare leased engines”.
All those 295 powerplants,
however, are either spoken for by
airlines or unavailable because
they need maintenance.
AirTeamImages
8 Flight International June 2023
“As of this letter, 193 of these
spare leased engines are either
under lease to, or in possession
of customers,” Deurloo says.
“The remaining 102 spare
leased engines are currently
unserviceable, and are either
undergoing or in queue for
maintenance.”
More spare engines will become
available following completion
of maintenance, but those are
“Though
[Go First] has
made various
attempts to
resolve the issue
amicably with
P&W, however,
it refuses to
honour its
contractual
obligations”
Go First
Application for bankruptcy protection
“already committed to other
customers”, Deurloo says.
The letter also notes that P&W
does not have enough engine
maintenance stands to fulfil
a request from Go First.
“Due to demand, Pratt &
Whitney does not currently have
20 available engine stands… to
dispatch to Go First but will take
reasonable steps to locate engine
stands,” Deurloo says.
More than half of Go First’s PW1100G-powered A320neos are grounded
The airline included the letter,
addressed to Go First chief
executive Kaushik Khona, as part
of its 28 April lawsuit filed against
P&W in the US District Court for
the District of Delaware.
Go First is asking a US judge to
force P&W to comply with a March
arbitration decision, which called
for the engine supplier to repair
64 of the carrier’s PW1100Gs
and “take all reasonable steps”
to provide it with some 80 spare
engines this year.
It filed the arbitration claim
on grounds its PW1100Gs were
suffering widespread failures
and that P&W was not fulfilling
maintenance obligations.
Of Go First’s 64 PW1100Gs
needing repair, the airline said it
held 44 and P&W had 20.
In his letter, Deurloo says P&W
ended a maintenance “hold”
on Go First engines in P&W’s
possession. That hold had
resulted from Go First’s “default
for failure to pay”, the letter says.
Now, P&W must find available
maintenance slots. It “is
developing an induction schedule
for remaining Go First engines,
with inductions scheduled
beginning with the first such
available induction slots that have
not been previously committed to
other customers”, Deurloo writes.
P&W tells FlightGlobal it
“is complying with the March
2023 arbitration ruling”, adding
that Go First “has a lengthy
history of missing its financial
obligations to Pratt.”
P&W declines to comment
about the litigation in the US
court and says it is working on
PW1100G durability
improvements.
Additional
reporting by
Dominic Perry
 Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com
Boeing sees ‘gnarly’ fuselage
defect as short-term issue
Airframer believes recovery of 737 Max programme
from latest setback will only take months to achieve
David Kaminski-Morrow London
B
oeing is confident that it
will recover within months
from the recent 737 man-
ufacturing process snag
affecting aft fuselage sections,
having understood the situation
and the rework required.
Chief executive David Calhoun
stressed, during a first-quarter brief-
ing in late April, that the company
was “working in a very constructive
way” with fuselage supplier Spirit
AeroSystems and that, while near-
term deliveries and production will
be lower, the levels will recover over
the coming months.
“Our teams have been working
hard over the last week,” he says.
“We are progressing in early inspec-
tion of defective airplanes.”
He says the issue is “understood”
and isolated to two specific fittings.
“And we know what we have to
do,” he states.
“Unfortunately, the timing of these
delivery shortfalls will impact sum-
mer capacities for some customers.
And we feel terrible about that.”
He describes the manufacturing
issue as a “gnarly defect”, of the
type that is difficult to prevent.
“Without witnessing first-hand
the process in action, you are not
likely to find it from that point
forward,” he says.
Calhoun says an employee hap-
pened to notice the procedure at the
centre of the issue, and queried it.
“We are encouraging everyone to
raise their hands,” he adds.
Maintaining deliveries
Boeing delivered 113 737s over the
first quarter, including 53 in March.
Chief financial officer Brian West
says the manufacturer has started
repairs on several aircraft, and that
April deliveries – as well as those
for the overall second quarter – will
be lower.
But he expects Boeing to main-
tain a monthly delivery average of
10 Flight International June 2023
30 aircraft over the first half, rising
to 40 aircraft per month for the sec-
ond half, with a sequential quarterly
improvement, enabling the airfram-
er to maintain its forecast of 400-
450 737s this year.
“While the high end of the de-
livery range is pressured, the ulti-
mate performance will be dictated
by the pace of fuselage recovery,”
West says.
Boeing ended the quarter with
some 225 737 Max jets in its
inventory, including 138 built for
customers in China, which accu-
mulated during the type’s pro-
tracted grounding.
West says about 75% of these
225 aircraft will require fuselage
rework, and the number of airframes
in inventory is likely to increase in
the second quarter.
113
Number of 737 aircraft delivered by
Boeing in the first quarter of the year
But he says the company still ex-
pects most of these aircraft to be
delivered by the end of 2024.
Boeing is supporting Spirit’s re-
covery effort with manufacturing
and engineering resources, and a
cash advance, he adds. The compa-
ny expects to start receiving “clean”
fuselages from Spirit “imminently”.
Some 30 of the Max jets in the
inventory are Max 7s and 10s.
Boeing stresses that the certifi-
cation timelines on these variants
“have not changed”.
West says the repair timeframe
for affected aircraft is “days” if the
fuselage barrel has not progressed
too far through Boeing’s produc-
tion line but is longer if the vertical
fin has been fitted. But he insists
the work, which can be carried out
concurrently with other conform-
ance measures, will not “take us
off our path” to deal with the 225
inventoried Max aircraft.
Boeing views the rework issue
as a near-term hitch, and aims to
return to normal production levels
within months. The airframer is
looking to take monthly 737 output
to 38 aircraft this year.
Chinese return
While the airframer plans to in-
crease production rates steadily,
Calhoun says: “We will prioritise
stability and not push the system
AirTeamImages
too fast. We will pause when we
are notified of defects.”
With 138 Max jets still to be deliv-
ered to Chinese carriers, Boeing is
taking a conservative view of that
market but is encouraged by the
return to service of the re-engined
narrowbody in the country.
Calhoun says all Max operators in
China have brought at least part of
their fleet back into operation.
“[Our] focus has been, and is,
on supporting customers’ return to
service,” he says.
Forty-five of the 95 Max jets in
China are “back in the sky”, he adds,
highlighting the release of the Civil
Aviation Administration of China’s
(CAAC’s) 737 evaluation report.
“[That] is an important step in
delivery of aircraft currently in Boe-
ing’s possession,” he says. “We will
follow the lead of our customers.”
Boeing’s guidance and expecta-
tions on such matters as produc-
tion rates and deliveries remain
conservative, and not predicated
on the Chinese market.
Calhoun stresses: “We are work-
ing very hard to regain China… it
takes risk out of the delivery of the
finished good inventory, simply be-
cause there is less work to do in
getting the aircraft to their original-
ly intended customer.”
But he adds that production rates
would not be particularly affected,
because Boeing’s plans for 737 out-
put to rise to 50 aircraft per month
in 2025-2026 are “constrained by
supply – they are not demand rates”.

He says the Chinese market has
come back “as robustly as any-
one might have imagined”, with
domestic travel already matching
pre-pandemic levels.
“They need airplanes,” he states.
“Our customers, in my view, are
going to need more airplanes in the
relatively near- to medium-term –
this is a pretty easy way for them
to satisfy that need.
“No geopolitical discussion is ac-
tually required here. We have orders
on the books, we have airplanes on
the tarmac, so this [CAAC step] is
just a nod from the Chinese govern-
ment that they would like to take
delivery of their airplanes.”
Calhoun reiterates that the air-
framer’s guidance “assumes best
things don’t happen”, but adds: “If
they do, we will welcome that news.”
Meanwhile, Spirit has detailed the
costs of the 737 fuselage problem,
“While the high end of the delivery
range is pressured, the ultimate
performance will be dictated by
the pace of fuselage recovery”
Brian West Chief financial officer, Boeing
including a $17 million hit in the
first quarter.
Disclosing the figures on 3 May,
including a $281 million first-
quarter loss, Spirit said the deficit
also reflects $110 million in forward
charges against several aircraft
programmes, and $43.3 million in
“excess capacity costs”.
Spirit lost $52.8 million in the
same period last year, on revenues
that were 22% lower.
The carrier expects its 2023
profits will be at least $31 million
down because of the latest 737
problem, which involves “vertical
fin attach fittings”.
“After identifying the quality
issue, our top priority was to work
with Boeing and the [Federal
Aviation Administration] for their
confirmation that it was not an
immediate safety-of-flight issue,”
Spirit says.
Narrowbody Production
Almost 140 jets in inventory are
destined for Chinese carriers
“Once confirmed, we turned
our attention to ensuring that our
ongoing production meets manu-
facturing standards.”
Spirit has revised its assembly pro-
cesses to address the 737 problem
and has started repairing already
produced components at its Wich-
ita, Kansas site – work it expects to
complete by the end of July.
Rising costs
Spirit expects the total cost of the
issue will amount to more than the
$31 million budgeted for this year
but says it cannot yet “reasonably
estimate” the amount.
“Additional costs are expected,
including costs Boeing may assert to
repair certain models of previously
delivered units in their factory and
warranty costs related to affected
737 units in service,” Spirit says.
“The impact will be based on a
unit-by-unit analysis. The company
cannot reasonably estimate the re-
maining potential costs at this time.”
Spirit also reveals having struck
deals with customers to secure
$280 million in cash advances – in-
cluding $180 million from Boeing –
that it will repay in 2024 and 2025. ◗
Additional reporting by
Jon Hemmerdinger in Tampa
June 2023 Flight International 11
 Narrowbody Production
Ryanair settles for higher price to secure 737 Max 10 slots
Production slot scarcity has
helped push Ryanair into
reaching a deal with Boeing for
737 Max 10s but group chief
executive Michael O’Leary admits
the airline had to settle for
a higher price than it sought.
The airline is taking up to 300
Max 10s, with deliveries set to
begin in 2027, it announced
on 9 May. About half of these
aircraft will replace older 737s
in its fleet, while the rest will be
used for expansion.
Boeing has been “tight for
slots”, O’Leary notes, with the
deal having resulted from a
“meeting of minds”.
“[Its] orderbook is filling up
rapidly,” he says. “If we hadn’t
moved quickly, we might have
been looking at later deliveries,
2028-29.”
The airline had resumed talks
with Boeing on a Max 10 order,
having previously discontinued
negotiations in 2021, citing
differences over the price.
O’Leary admits Ryanair “paid
more per seat this time round
than last time”, but adds: “We
are still incredibly happy with
the deal we have done.”
He suggests that a delivery
gap of around 18 months
between the last of its 197-seat
Boeing
12 Flight International June 2023
737 Max 8-200s and the first of
its 228-seat Max 10s will benefit
the airline.
“It suits us to take a break
for a year,” O’Leary says,
arguing that the pause from a
“tumultuous” decade of growth
in summer 2026 will present
an opportunity to improve
operational reliability.
He adds that it will also
reduce capital expenditure and
enable the carrier to generate
“significant cashflow” which will
support the funding of the Max
10 deliveries.
European competition
O’Leary says the step up to
a 228-seat aircraft is a “big
challenge” – not least to
maintain 25min turnaround
times – but points out that the
airline is having to compete in
Europe with 230-seat Airbus
jets, such as those operated by
budget carrier Wizz Air.
O’Leary says that this would
have been “difficult” if the carrier
had stuck to the high-density
197-seat Max 8-200s, but the
Max 10 will enable it to “meet
and beat Airbus competition”.
He adds that the 15% higher
seat-count provides “huge
ancillary opportunities”.
Budget carrier could take up to
300 examples of largest Max
Ryanair has “no interest” in
using the Max 10s on transatlantic
routes, O’Leary says. He
insists the long-haul, low-cost
operational model “fundamentally
doesn’t work” and the carrier will
instead focus on longer-range
services beyond Europe, such as
flights to the Middle East.
But he states that the “biggest
prize” is to return to Ukraine,
claiming that Ryanair – which
has been hiring large numbers of
Ukrainian pilots and cabin crew
– intends to be the first airline to
restore services to the country
once the conflict is over.
“We will go back within two
weeks of it being declared safe
by European authorities,” says
O’Leary, adding that the airline
wants to set up operations in
three or four Ukrainian airports.
The Max deal – yet to be
finalised – comprises 150 firm
and 150 optioned jets, which will
be delivered over the course of
2027-2033.
Ryanair values the agreement
at more than $40 billion at
catalogue prices. Shareholders
will vote on the order at a
14 September meeting.
The airline had 523 aircraft
at the end of 2022, including 84
of the 737 Max 8-200.
 Defence Technology
SOCOM eyes high-speed evolution
Combining the performance of a rotorcraft and fixed-wing jet
is among projects of interest for US special forces community
Ryan Finnerty Tampa
T
he US Special Operations
Command (SOCOM) is look-
ing for a new aircraft fea-
turing the vertical take-off
and landing (VTOL) performance
of a helicopter and the high-speed
flight of a fixed-wing jet.
Speaking at the Special Op-
erations Forces (SOF) Week
conference in Tampa, Florida on 9
May, Jim Smith, SOCOM’s acquisi-
tions executive, said it is partnering
on the initiative with the US De-
fense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA).
“We think it fits very well into en-
suring we can move long distances
in operationally relevant times to
support our forces,” Smith says.
A key focus of the effort will be
producing a clean-sheet design
incorporating “fairly nascent tech-
nologies” that can operate without
significant ground infrastructure.
DARPA calls the effort “Sprint”, for
“speed and runway-independent
technologies”. The agency says
the programme aims to produce a
flight-capable demonstrator.
“The goal of the programme
is to provide these aircraft with
the ability to cruise at speeds of
400-450kt [740-830km/h] at rele-
vant altitudes and hover in austere
environments from unprepared
surfaces,” DARPA says.
Smith says SOCOM’s interest is
particularly tailored towards oper-
ations in the Indo-Pacific region,
with its vast expanse of ocean and
many small islands, with minimal or
no developed infrastructure.
“We are definitely interested in
the range and the speed, so that
Bell
14 Flight International June 2023
we can close those distances at a
much more operationally relevant
timeline,” he says.
Smith notes that a Sprint plat-
form will have “drastically” better
speed performance than even the
US Army’s new breed of Future
Vertical Lift (FVL) aircraft.
The Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor
– selected by the service last
December for its Future Long
Range Assault Aircraft need – can
achieve a cruise speed of more
than 280kt. The airframer and
Sikorsky are contesting a further
requirement for a Future Attack
Reconnaissance Aircraft.
Industry focus
Bell also has spent several years ex-
ploring a similar concept to Sprint.
After reaching sufficient speed, its
high-speed vertical take-off and
landing (HSVTOL) design’s rotor
blades would fold back into a more
aerodynamic profile, as it flies like
a fixed-wing jet. Its goal is for an
HSVTOL aircraft to fly 100kt faster
than current tiltrotors.
While Smith says DARPA and
SOCOM have seen several ideas
that could fit the Sprint concept, he
notes that the Department of De-
fense will develop its own require-
ments-based design.
“There are several technologies
that can compete in this domain,”
he says. “We are interested in look-
ing at all of them. Let’s prototype
and get something to show, at
scale, that the technology is ma-
ture enough to pursue further.”
Smith also discloses that discus-
sions about a potential SOCOM
procurement of FVL platforms
are ongoing, but says no decision
timeline has been established.
Bell is pitching its HSVTOL design as
capable of beating titltrotor performance
“There are requirements that are
peculiar to SOF,” he notes, such as
the need for extended-range rotor-
craft to undergo in-flight refuelling.
Meanwhile, in another effort
linked to addressing the challenge
of operating in the Indo-Pacific,
Smith says SOCOM is seeking
Japan’s assistance with a project
to develop a seaplane variant of
Lockheed Martin’s C-130J.
“Japan is a very important part-
ner,” he says. “We are looking at
partnering to see what we can
learn from their experiences with
the [ShinMaywa] US-2.”
SOCOM intends to learn about
Japan’s operational experience
with the type, he says, while
adding: “I won’t say that it is going
to necessarily lead to an adoption
of the US-2.”
Employed since 2009, the Japan
Maritime Self-Defense Force’s six
amphibious-capable turboprops
are used for tasks including search
and rescue operations.
SOCOM in 2021 announced inter-
est in modifying an MC-130J spe-
cial operations transport for mari-
time take-off and landing.
“In two to three years we will look
to do a demonstration of the full
capability,” US Air Force Colonel
Kenneth Kuebler, SOCOM’s fixed-
wing programme executive officer,
said at the SOF Week event. It is
currently engaged in engineering
tests and feasibility studies.
DARPA also is exploring the
possibility of developing a new
amphibious cargo asset with its
Liberty Lifter programme, with
Boeing-owned Aurora Flight
Sciences and General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems selected to
design demonstrators. ◗
 Programme Manufacturing

Sky Warden enters production

Work begins on first Armed Overwatch aircraft, as operator
updates training requirements related to ‘tail-dragger’ type
Ryan Finnerty Tampa L3Harris has previously said the months owing to new training and
Armed Overwatch programme’s equipment requirements.
LRIP contract covers six new “This will be the first tail-dragger

L
3Harris and Air Tractor
have entered low-rate initial
production (LRIP) on their
AT-802U Sky Warden light-
attack turboprop for the US Special
Operations Command (SOCOM).
“We are very pleased with the
progress,” acquisitions executive
Jim Smith said on 9 May, during the
Special Operations Forces Week
conference in Tampa, Florida.
L3Harris
aircraft under Lot 1.
The Sky Warden was selected
in 2022, with the heavily adapt-
ed armed crop-duster to replace
Pilatus PC-12 U-28A Dracos used
for aerial reconnaissance. The pro-
gramme of record includes up to 75
aircraft, at a value of $3 billion.
Meanwhile, SOCOM says the
launch of full-rate production
will be delayed by about three
aircraft in the air force inventory in
many years,” Smith says. “We want
to make sure we have added time in
the schedule for our operators, our
pilots, to work with the technology.”
Smith says SOCOM also has asked
L3Harris to incorporate its Falcon
PRC-167 wideband tactical radio.
“That did cause a change from
what they had demonstrated, so we
had to add a bit of time,” he says. ◗

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 Development Programme
Aura touts beginning of a new ERA
French start-up unveils final design for hybrid-electric
Aura Aero
19-seater – but pushes back service-entry target to 2028
Dominic Perry London
F
rench start-up Aura Aero
has frozen the design of
its 19-seat hybrid Electric
Regional Aircraft (ERA) but
has pushed back service entry by
at least a year.
Changes over previous iterations
include the use of eight rather than
six electric motors, and a shift from
a U- to a T-tail configuration.
Unveiling the “final shape” of the
ERA at an event in Toulouse on 12
May, Aura co-founder and chief en-
gineer Jeremy Caussade said it was
the company’s strategy to have a
product on the market by 2030.
However, the service-entry target
has slipped to 2028 from a previ-
ous goal of 2027, and the first flight
is now not anticipated before 2026
rather than late-2024.
Explaining the delay, Caussade
says, “We have now arrived at a
point where we have a clear view
of what we have to do” regarding
the aircraft’s development.
A “precise” timeline is also
needed to inform the cost struc-
ture that will be required, he adds.
“The goal for us is to come [to
market] as soon as possible with a
solid value proposition.”
Chief technology officer Mattia
Padulo says the switch to eight mo-
tors was to enable “a solution more
integrated with the aerodynamics
of the aircraft”.
Smaller motors can also use
air-cooling, he adds, helping to re-
duce the maintenance cost and op-
erating complexity of the aircraft.
Aura is keeping the ERA as a com-
muter-class aircraft – in line with
16 Flight International June 2023
Europe’s CS-23 category – with a
maximum take-off weight of 8.6t.
Others in the segment, notably
Heart Aerospace, have increased
the size of their designs as de-
velopment progressed, pushing
into the CS-25 category for large
transport aircraft.
But moving beyond CS-23
“means playing in a much more
complicated regulatory frame-
work”, says Padulo. “It is a sign of
realism to keep it in CS-23.”
Based on current technology, bat-
teries would also become a “bigger
burden” on a larger type, he notes.
However, he declines to specify the
weight of its proposed battery pack.
Today’s technology
The energy density of batteries is
likely to increase before the ERA
arrives in 2028, but Caussade says
the programme has been launched
based on today’s technology. “We
cannot afford to launch an indus-
trial project with something that is
maybe arriving some day,” he says.
Disclosed partners on the pro-
gramme include Safran, which will
provide its Engenius XL electric
motors and power distribution sys-
tem, and Thales, which is to supply
a version of its FlytX avionics suite,
including integration of the energy
and flight management systems.
Aura will develop the aircraft’s
fly-by-wire controls in-house.
Those advances will make the ERA
“single-pilot ready”, says Thales
vice-president of flight avionics
Jean-Paul Ebanga, and offer the
potential of fully-autonomous cargo
flights once regulations permit.
The prospect of dramatical-
ly cutting crew costs is one of
Revised configuration features
eight electric motors and T-tail
several advantages touted by an-
chor customer Amedeo, with the
lessor having a letter of intent (LoI)
in place for up to 200 units.
“I’m extremely confident that
there will be an approval to operate
this plane commercially with only
one pilot, or in the case of cargo
without a pilot,” says Amedeo chief
executive Mark Lapidus.
He contends that the ERA
will out-perform conventionally
powered 19-seaters on all operat-
ing metrics, spurring a revival of the
sub-regional segment.
Aura has accumulated 330 LoIs
for the ERA – a figure unchanged
since late last year, although chief
commercial officer Gwenola Robert
promises additional customers will
be unveiled at the Paris air show.
She also discloses that Aura
is now working with US region-
al carrier Republic Airways, via
a memorandum of understand-
ing (MoU), to fine-tune the ERA’s
definition. Although Republic has
an all-jet fleet, it holds a minority
stake in sub-regional turboprop op-
erator Cape Air via its Lift Academy
training business.
But Aura has yet to turn its LoIs
into firm orders as it is still too
early in the aircraft’s development,
Robert adds.
Production will take place at a
new factory at Toulouse Francazal
airport, which will be capable of
building up to 100 aircraft per year.
Aura claims range at maximum
take-off weight will be 900nm
(1,660km), and the ERA will have
a maximum cruise speed of 300kt
(555km/h) and a 25,000ft operat-
ing ceiling. All-electric range will
be just 85nm, however. ◗
 Safety Campaign
Unions
hit out at
reduced
crew push
Olena Yakobchuk/Shutterstock
Pilot representatives criticise
manufacturers’ efforts to ‘put profits first’
by relaxing cockpit staffing requirements
Jon Hemmerdinger Tampa
F
lightcrew unions have come
out swinging against what
they call a campaign by Air-
bus and other manufacturers
to promote regulatory changes al-
lowing a single pilot to be alone in a
commercial aircraft cockpit during
certain flight phases.
“There is at least one aircraft
manufacturer that is pressuring in-
ternational aviation [authorities] to
put profits first and introduce un-
acceptable levels of safety risk to
commercial aviation,” said Captain
Jack Netskar, president of the Inter-
national Federation of Air Line Pi-
lots’ Associations (IFALPA) during
a 4 May press briefing in Montreal.
Representatives from the Europe-
an Cockpit Association (ECA) and
the USA’s Air Line Pilots Association
(ALPA) also spoke at the event.
ALPA president Captain Jason
Ambrosi says Airbus and the Euro-
pean Union Aviation Safety Agen-
cy (EASA) are leading the “re-
duced-crew” push, which Netskar
calls a “special-interest attempt to
roll back… industry safety”.
The union chiefs also mention
involvement by the US Federal
Aviation Administration and civ-
il aviation body ICAO but are not
specific as to their involvement.
EASA confirms it “is considering”
two types of reduced-pilot oper-
ations: “extended minimum-crew
operations” and “single-pilot op-
erations”. Airbus and business jet
manufacturer Dassault Aviation
are “active in this area, and we are
18 Flight International June 2023
working with them”, it adds, and it
is also consulting with European
states, pilot unions and ICAO.
Extended minimum-crew flights
would involve “the possibility of
having only one pilot at the controls
during less-challenging phases of a
flight – so, typically in cruise rather
than at take-off and landing, while
the other pilot(s) on board are rest-
ing”, EASA says.
Such an allowance would not
change the requirement for two
pilots to be in the cockpit during
take-off, landing and other “de-
manding operations”, it adds.
Solitary pursuit
By contrast, single-pilot operations
– as the name suggests – involve a
solitary crewmember for the entire
duration of a flight.
“Of these two, the concept that is
being investigated more intensely”
is extended minimum-crew opera-
tions, EASA says; single-pilot oper-
ations are not under consideration
for passenger flights but may be
investigated for cargo services.
“There is no firm timeline for the
introduction of either type of oper-
ations,” EASA says. “The overriding
concern is that any of these opera-
tions must be at least as safe as the
current two-pilot operations. The
manufacturers will need to demon-
strate this to gain certification.”
Airbus says it has been studying
the potential for minimum-crew
operations during the cruise phase
as a safety and efficiency boost.
However, the airframer stresses it is
not evaluating reducing the number
of pilots required to be on board.
“For flights currently operated by
two pilots, the crew would be able to
take turns to rest during the cruise,
with one pilot in the cockpit at all
times. For longer flights operated
by three or four pilots, extended
minimum-crew operations will also
be beneficial without eliminating
the need for the number of required
flightcrew,” Airbus says. “Pilots will
remain at the heart of operations.”
Dassault has floated the concept
of allowing one of the two flight-
crew to sleep in the cockpit of its
developmental Falcon 10X, going
so far as to design a fully reclining
pilot seat for the twinjet.
ICAO says two “working papers”
related to the topic were submitted
at its last general assembly but that
member states “didn’t agree on any
related resolutions at that time”.
Boeing defers comment to avia-
tion regulators but says “the reason
the aviation system is as safe as it is
today is because of what pilots do”.
The unions pledge to oppose any
relaxation in crewing requirements,
even amid automation advances.
They view the campaign as leading
to changes allowing flights operat-
ed by three pilots to carry only two.
“There is no compromise,” Net-
skar says. “That third pilot is what
allows them to rotate through, to
get the proper rest.”
“Having one pilot in the flight-
deck is unacceptable at any time,”
adds Ambrosi.
ECA president Captain Otjan de
Bruijn says aircraft manufacturers
are framing the effort “as a solu-
tion to” a shortage of crew and as a
means of combating pilot fatigue. ◗

Air New Zealand targets New York
and Chicago for launch of Skynest
Passengers will be limited to single 4h use of economy-class
sleep-pod on Boeing 787-9s while aboard long-haul services
Alfred Chua Singapore
A
ir New Zealand (Air NZ)
is to launch its Skynest
economy-class sleep-
pod concept on flights
between Auckland and New York
and Chicago from September 2024.
Unveiled in 2020 prior to the
decimation of long-haul trav-
el by the Covid-19 pandemic, the
Skynest will be installed on Boeing
787-9 widebodies.
Featuring six pods, each com-
plete with pillows, sheets, blankets,
ear plugs, lighting and ventilation
outlets, the Skynest – designed and
manufactured in New Zealand – will
be located between the economy
and premium-economy cabins.
Air NZ says the facility will
be available in 4h blocks, with
passengers limited to one session
per flight.
“We’re still working through the
exact details of how the booking
process will work, and we have
yet to determine the price. At this
stage we are looking at around
NZ$400 [$253] to NZ$600 for
Air New Zealand
the four-hour period,” says airline
chief customer and sales officer
Leanne Geraghty.
She adds that the North Amer-
ican market is “perfect” for the
Skynest concept, “as it has a pre-
mium segment that values comfort
and sleep during long-haul travel”.
The Skynest concept was con-
firmed in June 2022, as part of a
raft of cabin upgrades set to roll
Product is part of a raft of cabin upgrades
out from 2024. The airline also an-
nounced a new suite-like product,
known as Business Premier Luxe,
which has “all the features” of its
existing Business Premier product,
“but with a fully closing door and
space for two to dine”.
Air NZ in June last year also con-
firmed that the Business Premier,
Interiors Innovation
premium-economy and economy
products are to get a refresh, with
the airline introducing new seats
across the three cabins.
Meanwhile, the carrier has re-
turned to service the last of sev-
en stored 777-300ER widebodies,
amid indications that “customer
demand is higher than ever”.
The aircraft (ZK-OKM) was fer-
ried from Victorville, California
– where it had been stored since
2020 – in early May, returning
to Auckland via Singapore, and
re-entered service shortly after.
Air NZ mothballed its fleet
of 777-300ERs in 2020 amid a
collapse of travel demand that had
been brought about by border
closures during the pandemic.
Three examples were stored in
Auckland, while the remaining four
jets were parked in Victorville.
The latest aircraft reactivation
took seven weeks, says the carrier,
with more than 100 staff involved.
Chief operating officer Alex
Marren says: “Having all of our
777-300s back will help build more
resilience and more seats into our
international operation, mean-
ing we can fly more customers to
where they need to go.” ◗
See p68
Berlin ExpoCenter
Airport
June 5 – 9, 2024
www.ila-berlin.com
Get on board!
June 2023 Flight International 19
Turkish Aerospace Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com

TAI rolls out Ankara’s Kaan fighter

Turkish industrial ambitions take form as TF-X design gains
product name, while developer also flies new advanced jet
trainer and enhanced attack helicopter for the first time
Ryan Finnerty Tampa “His name is Kaan, let his sword “Today, we stand before our na-
be sharp,” TAI tweeted on 1 May, tion with a new phase of our pro-
alongside a picture of the new TF-X jects,” Erdogan said at the unveiling

I
n a major show of force for
Turkey’s domestic aerospace
industry, the country’s largest
aircraft manufacturer publicly un-
veiled a new fifth-generation stealth
fighter in Ankara on 1 May.
The reveal of the Turkish Aero-
space (TAI) National Combat Air-
craft, commonly known as TF-X,
came just weeks after TAI had also
revealed a new Anka-3 unmanned
combat air vehicle (UCAV). The
same week also saw the compa-
ny flight-test two developmental
aircraft: the Hurjet supersonic jet
trainer and T929 ATAK II
attack helicopter.
Turkish Aerospace
fighter. Kaan is the Turkish language
rendering of “khan” – the English
equivalent being king of kings.
Notably, the twin-engined air-
craft was developed and produced
almost entirely at home, with
the Turkish government claiming
it is roughly 80% domestically
sourced. The prototype version
is powered by two GE Aerospace
F110 engines, which are already
assembled under license in Turkey
to support the country’s fleet of
Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds.
Development of the TF-X has
been a plank of Turkey’s recent
push to dramatically expand
ceremony at TAI’s headquarters.
“One by one, we are realising the
dreams that our nation has been
pursuing for centuries and that
we have been pursuing since the
foundation of our republic.”
Photo opportunity
Alongside his remarks, Erdogan
tweeted a photo of himself sitting
in the cockpit of the new jet.
Also during the event, the
prototype Kaan performed a taxi
run along a runway in front of the
assembled crowd.
The TF-X was conceived as an
air superiority platform modelled

domestic produc- after the US Air Force’s (USAF’s)

tion of high-end
defence equip-
ment – a signa-
ture policy objective
of President Recep
Lockheed F-22 Raptor. The type
was supposed to be paired with the
100 Lockheed F-35 fifth-generation
strike fighters that Ankara planned
to procure.
Turkish Aerospace

Tayyip Erdogan. However, that plan changed

when the USA removed Turkey
Hurjet trainer made debut on 25 April, from the multinational F-35
achieving 250kt during 26min sortie development programme in

20 Flight International June 2023


Fifth-generation combat aircraft was
formally unveiled in Ankara on 1 May
2019, after Ankara purchased a
Russian-made Almaz-Antey S-400
long-range air defence system
against Washington’s wishes.
Strategically located NATO mem-
ber Turkey now plans to make the
National Combat Aircraft the back-
bone of its future air force fleet.
The country is also moving to
dramatically expand its capaci-
ty for naval airpower. Less than a
month before it revealed the Kaan,
Ankara commissioned its first light
aircraft carrier – the TCG Anadolu
– on 10 April.
Originally meant to carry the
short take-off and vertical landing
F-35B variant, the ship will instead
be centred on an air wing of do-
mestically produced helicopters
and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).
“The future is in the skies because
the nations that cannot protect
their skies can never be sure of
tomorrow”
Recep Tayyip Erdogan President of Turkey
Speaking at the vessel’s com-
missioning ceremony, Erdogan
described it as “the world’s first
warship in its field, where the
largest and heaviest helicopters
and unmanned aerial vehicles can
land and take off”.
That air wing will include a num-
ber of aircraft from TAI’s competi-
tor Baykar, including the Bayraktar
TB2 UAV – currently used by the
Ukrainian military during Kyiv’s
defence against invading Russian
forces – and its still-under-devel-
opment Kizilelma UCAV.
First flown last December,
Baykar’s “fighter UAV” will have
a 5h flight endurance, 500nm
(926km) operating radius, fly at
up to 30,000ft and carry a 1,360kg
(3,000lb) payload.
For the commissioning, Anad-
olu also had Bell AH-1W Super
Cobra attack and Sikorsky S-70B
Seahawk utility helicopters on its
flight deck.
TAI in March revealed its Anka-
3 UCAV, which is intended to
compete against the jet-powered
Kizilelma. First flight could be
achieved before the end of May,
the company suggests.
Both types represent what the
USAF calls collaborative combat
aircraft (CCA) – uncrewed vehicles
Twin-engined design is claimed
to be 80% domestically-sourced
Industry Developments
which are designed to pair with
and augment its piloted fighters.
The USAF and Kratos are devel-
oping a CCA platform known as
the XQ-58 Valkyrie, which the US
Navy has also purchased as a test
article. Boeing and the Royal Aus-
tralian Air Force are also partnering
to develop a CCA the pair call the
MQ-28 Ghost Bat.
Meanwhile, TAI conducted a
first flight of its Hurjet on 25 April,
followed three days later by the
debut for its T929 ATAK II helicop-
ter – both in development for the
Turkish military.
“Hurjet completed its inaugural
test flight, achieving an altitude
of 14,000ft and a speed of 250kt
[463km/h] during the test, while
remaining airborne for 26 minutes,”
TAI said following the sortie.
The single-engined Hurjet also
has been designed to perform light
attack duties.
Fast pace
While the Kaan fighter’s first flight
schedule was not disclosed at the
roll-out, TAI has previously given
2025 as a target. However, chief
executive Temel Kotil suggested
the prototype could lift off before
the end of 2023 during a 9 Janu-
ary interview with the Turkish lan-
guage affiliate of broadcaster CNN.
Following the 1 May ceremony,
Kotil retweeted a statement from
Erdogan saying, “The future is
in the skies because the nations
that cannot protect their skies can
never be sure of tomorrow”.
Erdogan has staked out 2023 as
a critical year for his strategy of
increasing Turkey’s domestic de-
fence capability, describing the
country as being on “the brink of
a new era” after previously “being
deprived” of industrial power.
“Today, we have airplanes, UAVs
and helicopters making their first
flight and starting their engines,”
Erdogan says.
“We must not leave any work we
have started unfinished.” ◗
June 2023 Flight International 21
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Xwing lands US Air Force contract
to trial autonomous cargo flights
Xwing
Pilotless flight-control system will be assessed by Department
of Defense under AFWERX Prime remote operations initiative
Howard Hardee Sacramento
A
utonomous flight-technol-
ogy developer Xwing has
won a 21-month contract
to trial pilotless cargo mis-
sions for the US Air Force (USAF),
becoming the latest aviation start-
up to partner with the US military.
The California-based start-up
said on 11 May that it had secured a
Phase II Small Business Innovation
Research contract with the USAF’s
AFWERX Prime programme, which
would “advance the development
of remote operations and optimise
the technology for future missions”.
“Phase II can lead to Phase III
and then to commercial con-
tracts,” says Marc Piette, founder
and chief executive of Xwing. “We
have seen very strong engagement
from AFWERX, [and] the Air Force
Research Laboratory, and we are
pretty excited about it.”
The scope of the deal is already
expanding, Piette says, with the
US Department of Defense (DoD)
expressing interest in data from
the test-flight campaigns to “see
the potential across the various
branches of the military”.
“Leveraging Xwing’s autonomous
technology, Superpilot, the USAF
will have the ability to remotely
operate aircraft without exposing
pilots to high-risk scenarios,” the
company says.
“The advantage of autonomous
cargo aircraft is that you can fly in
places where that might be danger-
ous to humans,” Piette says. “Being
able to move supplies around with-
out putting pilots in harm’s way is
definitely of interest [to the DoD].”
Piette says the partnership with
the USAF will help to “validate the
use cases” for the technology and
“instil confidence in the invest-
ment community”.
Xwing’s autonomous cargo trials
with the USAF recently kicked off
in Northern California, and are be-
ing operated with a Cessna Grand
Caravan turboprop – the same
type the firm used to demonstrate
the first autonomously operated
gate-to-gate flight in 2021.
The programme boosts Xwing’s
development of technology that it
says will allow autonomous aircraft
– including larger types – to safe-
ly integrate into the national air-
space system.
Data gathering
Xwing has continued logging flight
hours with the pilotless system
since its maiden sortie. “We have
been doing hundreds of flights
here in Northern California, gather-
ing data and gathering the require-
ments for a certified variant of that
aircraft,” Piette says.
AFWERX Prime was launched
in 2020 to accelerate emerging
commercial markets and advance
military capabilities. The pro-
gramme partners with companies
“whose dual-use technology has
potential for compelling military
uses”, says Tom Meagher, lead for
AFWERX Prime.
As a “commercial-first technolo-
gy company”, Xwing views its new
Technology Deployment
Superpilot kit is being tested
aboard Cessna Grand Caravan
partnership with the DoD as an
opportunity to apply its Superpilot
system in more operating environ-
ments and for different missions,
Piette says.
“There are a number of key pri-
orities for DoD for which we are
aligned very well,” he says. “There
is a big push for autonomy and
[artificial intelligence] in general.
There is also a push for dual-use
technologies, which are basically
technologies developed for com-
mercial markets, but they also have
defence applications.”
The start-up will assist the USAF
in a variety of missions by “leverag-
ing its existing autonomous tech-
nologies, including a fusion of flight-
control systems, collision-avoidance
systems, auto-braking, auto-taxi
and remote operations software
to enable autonomous flight”, the
company says.
USAF pilots and operation-
al commanders will also provide
Xwing with feedback on usability
and human factors related to its
autonomous technology.
In March, Xwing began a certi-
fication programme with the US
Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) that would allow it to launch
pilotless cargo operations. It is the
first unmanned aerial system to
be assigned FAA resources for a
standard-category airworthiness
certificate, the company says.
Xwing plans to achieve FAA
certification for the system by the
end of 2025 and for it to enter
service soon afterwards. ◗
See p40
June 2023 Flight International 23
 Accident Report
ATSB details
final moments of
Coulson 737 tanker
Modified narrowbody was destroyed by
post-impact fire after striking a ridgeline
following low-level retardant drop
in Western Australia
AirTeamImages
Greg Waldron Singapore
A
preliminary report into
the crash of a Coulson
Aviation Boeing 737-300
firefighting aircraft in
Western Australia has detailed the
flightcrew’s last-minute attempt to
pull up before their tanker impact-
ed a ridgeline.
Operating as Bomber 139, the
modified 737 (N619SW) had de-
parted from its base at Bussleton
airport at 15:32 local time to help
tackle a wildfire 24km (15 miles)
west-northwest of Hopetoun in
Fitzgerald National Park on 6
February 2023.
An initial retardant drop was
carried out at around 16:09, during
which the aircraft deployed around
three-quarters of its load at an alti-
tude of 400ft, lengthening an ex-
isting retardant line on a heading
of 155°. Flaps were fully extended
and the drop speed set at 135kt
(250km/h) – 1.25 of the 737’s stall
speed (Vs) – with the engines at
70% of N1, says the Australian
Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).
A second circuit was then
commenced to deploy the
remaining retardant. According
to the co-pilot’s calculations, this
drop would be conducted at a
speed of 118kt, using the same flap
setting as previously.
During the second drop, the
narrowbody descended through
400ft altitude – 80ft radio height
– at about 110kt, with its engines at
24 Flight International June 2023
high idle as the retardant line was
extended downslope. Around 2s
before the aircraft’s rate of descent
peaked at 1,800ft/min, the captain
started to advance the throttle
levers and began to pitch the nose
up, says the report.
“The nose-up pitch preceded
the acceleration of the engines,
resulting in a reversal of the rate of
descent, but also a decay of the air-
speed,” the ATSB notes.
“The captain then announced ‘fly
airplane’ followed immediately, at
about 16:14 by the activation of the
stick-shaker and an abrupt vertical
acceleration associated with the air-
craft impacting a ridgeline at an ele-
vation of about 222ft”. At that point,
the aircraft was travelling at 104kt
with its engines at 85-89% of N1.
Shedding debris
The jet then became airborne for
about 69m (226ft), clearing a line
of foliage and “shedding engine,
wing, and fuselage debris”, before
impacting the ground a second
time “in a slight nose-down atti-
tude on a heading of about 140°”
and sliding to a halt.
It came to rest 176m from the
ridgeline, yawed to the left on a
heading of about 80°. “The fuselage
had a main fracture near the tail
and the left engine had separated
from the left pylon and was resting
adjacent to the forward fuselage,”
the ATSB says.
Underlining the aircraft’s low alti-
tude immediately before the initial
impact, the report notes there were
two “jet blast corridors” – of 74m
and 62m – produced by its CFM In-
ternational CFM56 engines.
The crew, who suffered only
minor injuries, were able to
escape through the left cockpit
window. They moved clear of the
post-impact fire, which largely
destroyed the aircraft, and were
rescued by a helicopter.
“Despite extensive fire dam-
age, ATSB recorders specialists in
our Canberra technical facilities
were able to download files from
both the flight-data recorder and
cockpit-voice recorder,” says ATSB
commissioner Angus Mitchell.
“As well as information from
those recorders, interviews with
flightcrews, a 3D map of the
accident site created using a
drone, and other recorded flight
information will be instrumental to
the ongoing investigation.”
Since the accident, Coulson has
increased the minimum retardant
drop heights and airspeeds of its
large air tanker fleet, from 150ft
above ground level (AGL) and 1.25
Vs to 200ft AGL and 1.35 Vs, the
report adds.
Cirium fleets data indicates that
the aircraft’s career as a tanker was
short. Delivered new to Southwest
Airlines in 1995, it carried passengers
until 2017, when it was purchased by
Coulson, which converted it to the
new role in 2021, returning it to ser-
vice in July 2022. ◗
Additional reporting by
Dominic Perry in London
 Safety Investigation

A330 departed JFK after crew did

not notice taxi collision with 777
Both widebodies sustained damage in June 2022 incident
during darkness when pilots misjudged space between jets
David Kaminski-Morrow London tractor], but were unaware of an did not notice anything anomalous,”
airplane passing behind,” says the the crew told the inquiry.
inquiry. The pilots and the purser in The crew said they received a

A
n ITA Airways Air-
bus A330-200’s crew
misjudged the available
space while taxiing past
an Air France Boeing 777-200ER,
colliding with the parked aircraft
and then proceeding to take off de-
spite both jets sustaining damage,
US investigators have determined.
The accident occurred in dark-
ness at New York JFK on 17 June
last year, while the arriving Air
France 777 (F-GSPQ) was parked
awaiting a tractor tow to the gate
at Terminal 1.
According to the National Trans-
portation Safety Board, the ITA
A330 (EI-EJL) passed behind the
777 at around the same time as the
tractor arrived.
“The [777] crew said they felt
the airplane move due to a
‘hard connection’ [with the
AirTeamImages
the aft cabin all noticed the shift.
After the 777 was moved to
the gate, and the passengers had
disembarked, ground personnel dis-
covered that its right-hand elevator
had been substantially damaged by
the left-hand winglet on the A330.
“I tried to call the ground control-
ler to stop [the ITA aircraft] but the
discussion was very lengthy,” the
777 captain told the inquiry.
As a result the controller could
not prevent the A330 from taking
off before its crew was notified of
the collision.
The three-person ITA cockpit
crew – among them a captain, a
pilot undertaking supervised line
training, and a safety pilot – stated
that ground control had cleared the
A330 to taxi to runway 31L.
“Passing close to the [777 the] pi-
lots and all other persons on board
message during initial climb that an
Air France aircraft had reported be-
ing hit on the ground.
Negative report
When the controller asked the ITA
crew whether they had experienced
any damage, the pilots replied in
the negative. The cabin crew had
not noticed any evidence – such as
noise or vibration – during taxiing.
But as a precaution the pilots
carried out aircraft flight checks,
without discovering any abnormali-
ty, and transmitted a message to the
airline control centre to determine if
any malfunctions had emerged.
No sign of difficulty was detect-
ed and the pilots opted to continue
the flight to Rome Fiumicino, where
the A330 landed without inci-
dent. External inspection revealed
a longitudinal abrasion on top of
the left-hand winglet. The inquiry
says this was “consistent with the
winglet contacting an object”.
It states that the A330 crew’s
“misperception” of separation

distance behind the 777 caused the

accident. No-one on either aircraft
Pilots were initially unware of the impact was injured. ◗

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June 2023 Flight International 25

 Aircraft Development
Cold weather trials were
performed in northern Canada
Catalyst woes put Denali
further behind schedule
Late-running engine programme forces Textron Aviation
Textron Aviation
to again delay arrival of new Beechcraft turboprop
Jon Hemmerdinger Tampa
T
extron Aviation has again
delayed certification of
its clean-sheet Beechcraft
Denali turboprop single,
saying slower than planned certi-
fication of the aircraft’s GE Aero-
space Catalyst engine has forced
the latest slippage.
“Because we are aligning cer-
tification with GE’s certification
timeline, we are now expecting the
Denali to be certified in 2025,” said
Textron Aviation senior vice-presi-
dent of global sales and flight oper-
ations Lannie O’Bannion, disclosing
the revised timeline on 8 May.
“The Denali continues to exceed
expectations, and our flight-test
team continues to surpass many
milestones,” he adds.
Textron Aviation revealed the
type’s development in 2015, hop-
ing to complete first flight in 2019.
But delays ensued, attributed by
executives partly to heightened
Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) engine certification require-
ments, including those related
to icing. It finally got airborne in
November 2021, with certification
targeted for 2023.
GE Aerospace’s Italian sub-
sidiary Avio Aero produces the
1,300shp (969kW) Catalyst, which
is equipped with both FADEC and
an auto-throttle system. The Denali
has a composite 105in (2.7m)-
diameter five-bladed propeller,
supplied by McCauley.
Executives now expect the
Catalyst engine will be certificated
26 Flight International June 2023
in 2024, putting approval for the
Denali in 2025.
GE Aerospace general manager
of turboprops Paul Corkery says
the latest delay also results partly
from more stringent FAA certifi-
cation standards, citing icing and
engine ingestion requirements.
“This is the first clean-sheet
design in about 50 years, in this
class. A lot has changed,” he says.
“We are incorporating all of that
into our certification programme.”
But Corkery also flags supply
chain readiness as a factor: GE is
“standing up a new supply chain
for a new product” and must be
ready to “support production
ramp”, he says.
1,300
Hours logged by programme’s three
prototypes over 540 flights
Corkery expresses confidence
the team will meet the revised
timeline, saying certification is
progressing and that GE has been
hiring new employees and secur-
ing adequate raw materials for
Catalyst production.
The programme’s three Denali
prototypes have completed 540
flights and logged 1,300 flight
hours, says Corkery.
They have completed 16 of 22
planned engine certification tests
and 26 of 37 component certifi-
cation tests, and have performed
hot-weather tests out of Yuma,
Arizona and cold-temperature
trials in northern Canada.
GE says the Catalyst will burn
20% less fuel than older-generation
turboprops and provide up to 10%
more cruise power. The engine has
a 16:1 pressure ratio.
But while the certification has
again been pushed back, Textron
Aviation continues to add features
to the Denali, announcing that
Garmin’s Emergency Autoland Sys-
tem will come as standard equip-
ment; Garmin already supplies the
G3000 avionics suite for the type.
“The new feature is being imple-
mented into the aircraft’s develop-
ment and flight-test programme,
and will be available as a stand-
ard feature at time of entry into
service,” says the airframer.
If a pilot becomes incapacitat-
ed, passengers can activate the
autoland system by pressing a
button in the cockpit.
“The system immediately takes
control of the aircraft and informs
[air traffic control] of the emer-
gency,” Textron Aviation says. “It
then calculates a flightpath to the
most-suitable airport or runway,
while avoiding terrain and ad-
verse weather, initiates a stabilised
approach and automatically lands
the aircraft, bringing it to a stop
before shutting down the engine.”
The Denali will be capable of
carrying six passengers in a stand-
ard configuration, and nine in a
high-density layout. It will cruise at
285kt (528km/h) and have a range
of 1,600nm (2,960km) with four
passengers, Textron Aviation says. ◗
 Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com
USAF fuels call for rapid
NGAS development
Service official indicates accelerated work on new-generation
tanker could see survivable platform get airborne early next
decade, with KC-Y ‘bridge’ contest likely to be scrapped
Ryan Finnerty Tampa
T
he US Air Force (USAF) aims
to fly a stealthy refuelling
aircraft by the early 2030s,
with the objective seeming-
ly putting the project’s develop-
ment ahead of previous plans.
USAF secretary Frank Kendall dis-
closed the 2030s goal to lawmak-
ers on 2 May, saying the approach
aligns with a broader shake up of
the service’s procurement plans.
In January, the USAF unveiled a
project to develop its Next Gener-
ation Air-refuelling System (NGAS)
– a clean-sheet tanker with low-
observability features. A related
request for information (RFI) put
the new tanker’s initial operational
capability milestone at 2040.
“It won’t be 2040 – it’s going to
be much sooner than that,” Kendall
said during a congressional budget
hearing. “We want to get to that
design as quickly as we can.”
Kendall hopes production will
start soon enough that the USAF
can begin fielding the new tanker by
the early 2030s. However, he adds
that such a timeline remains aspira-
tional while the service defines the
aircraft and its capabilities.
“We’ve fundamentally changed
our tanker acquisition strategy,”
Kendall says. “We need to move to
a next-generation tanking capabili-
ty that is resilient enough to survive
against a pacing challenge.”
US defence officials and lawmak-
ers primarily see such a threat as
posed by China. While Beijing cur-
rently has only a handful of Cheng-
du J-20 stealth fighters in use,
its People’s Liberation Army Air
Force also operates hundreds of
earlier-generation combat aircraft
US Air National Guard
and has deep reserves of preci-
US Air Force
sion-guided missiles – a significant
challenge to Washington and its al-
lies in the Indo-Pacific region.
28 Flight International June 2023
With forward operating bases
located hundreds or even thou-
sands of kilometres away from rein-
forcements – and potential targets
– in-flight refuelling is an essential
capability for the USA and its allies.
“Our tankers are very important
to be able to generate our com-
bat power,” USAF chief of staff
General Charles Brown said during
the 2 May budget hearing.
The service’s NGAS RFI asked
defence companies to address
“employment in contested scenar-
ios” and incorporate threat avoid-
ance features to “reduce risks
for both refueller and receiver
[aircraft] in combat scenarios”.
Integrated platform
Bidders are being asked to propose
designs that are more capable than
the USAF’s current aged Boeing
KC-135 and newer KC-46A tank-
ers. Such a platform also should
be integrated into airspace man-
agement for “information-sharing,
networking and shared-situational
awareness”, the request states.
While not specifying design or
performance requirements, the RFI
is a USAF tool to help it assess po-
tential capabilities as it develops
the NGAS concept.
Kendall’s comment about
fundamentally altering the USAF’s
tanker strategy refers to a push
Ageing KC-135 fleet is
heading for retirement
by the service to speed up the
development and acquisition of
military equipment.
The service is now purchas-
ing and fielding the 767-based
KC-46A, with the growing Pegasus
fleet allowing it to retire KC-135s
and McDonnell Douglas KC-10s pri-
or to fielding its future NGAS jets.
Despite numerous engineering
challenges and billions of dollars
in penalties charged to Boeing, the
USAF in 2022 cleared the KC-46A
for full operational duty worldwide.
Service leaders had previously
planned to develop a so-called
“bridge tanker”, or KC-Y platform,
intended to fill the gap between
the end of KC-46A procurement
and NGAS deliveries.
Lockheed Martin’s LMXT – based
on the Airbus Defence & Space
A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport –
was widely seen as the frontrunner
for the programme. The US prime
contractor has pledged to perform
conversion work on the LMXT at
its Marietta, Georgia site, following
assembly of the widebody plat-
form by Airbus in Mobile, Alabama.
However, fiscal year 2024 budget
documents and official state-
ments indicate the USAF will likely
drop the KC-Y development plan,
choosing instead to purchase more
KC-46As and accelerate develop-
ment of the NGAS capability.

“The infor-
mation that
industry has pre-
viously provid-
ed… may lead us
towards KC-46 [as]
the answer,” Andrew
Hunter, chief of acqui-
sitions for the USAF,
said at an Air and Space
Forces Association con-
ference in Colorado in
March 2023.
Such a decision could ulti-
mately result in an additional
75 KC-46A orders, beyond a
currently planned total of 179.
Boeing in late January received its
latest contract to supply 15 of the
twinjets to the USAF by 2026, with
the deal worth $2.25 billion.
Alternative options
The USAF’s FY2024 budget
request asks for funding to be-
gin the NGAS procurement, in-
cluding to perform an analysis of
alternative options and to define
design requirements.
Kendall says that even with an
accelerated timeline, the service
will face a gap between when
its KC-46A acquisition contract
options expire and the start of
NGAS production.
“We’d like to make that gap as
small as possible,” he says.
Although the NGAS concept
remains in its early stages, indica-
tions suggest the aircraft will not
be a modified or re-purposed com-
mercial aircraft like the KC-46A.
“Traditionally, we could take a
commercial grade of aircraft and
turn it into a tanker or transport,”
Kendall said during congressional
testimony in January.
“They’re not designed with a
high set of requirements for sur-
vivability or resilience, and the
threats are taking that freedom
away from us.” ◗
Requirement Refuellers
Require
KC-46A was cleared for full
operational duty in 2022
KC-46A follow-on need a boost for Boeing
Craig Hoyle London
Boeing is eyeing the US Air Force’s evolving tanker aircraft need,
even as it continues to battle difficulties with delivering the
767-based KC-46A.
The airframer’s Defense, Space & Security unit incurred a fresh $245
million pre-tax charge against the programme in the first quarter of
this year, due to manufacturing issues which disrupted deliveries.
Detailing the penalty charge on 26 April, Boeing says it was
“largely driven by the previously shared supplier quality issue
resulting in factory disruption and rework”.
The company in late March resumed 767 deliveries following
the interruption, after identifying an issue with undisclosed
components used on both the KC-46A and commercial freighter-
variant -300ER model.
Boeing’s delivery information shows it handed over just one KC-46A
and a single commercial freighter in the first three months of the year,
down from four and five, respectively, during the same period in 2022.
“The good news is we understand it, and we are progressing
through that rework,” Boeing chief executive David Calhoun said
during a first-quarter results call on 26 April.
“On the operational side the tanker is continuing to perform its
mission well,” Calhoun notes. “The customer’s decision on the KC-Y is
a great opportunity for us, and it reflects the capabilities the tanker
is delivering for the United States Air Force.”
Boeing’s defence unit reported first-quarter revenue of $6.5 billion:
up 19% from just over $5.48 billion for the same period a year earlier.
It delivered a total of 39 military aircraft in the first quarter, also
including 20 AH-64 Apaches (13 remanufactured and seven new),
seven F/A-18 fighters, six CH-47 Chinooks (including one “renewed”
example), three P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and two F-15s.
June 2023 Flight International 29
 Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com

Sikorsky shifts its sights to FARA

fight after losing utility appeal
Airframer is moving on from FLRAA contest defeat, as its
president aims for victory in the US Army’s OH-58 successor
duel with promise to deliver ‘transformational’ capability
Ryan Finnerty Tampa the air assault missions,” he says. “unacceptable” due to containing
“The feedback we received from insufficient details about the plat-
the army let us know that the agili- form’s system architecture.

S
ikorsky remains confident ty, stability and scalability of our X2 “We are disappointed with the
that its X2-inspired coaxi- can be extremely useful in contest- decision and remain convinced that
al compound rotorcraft of- ed areas, particularly the surviva- our Defiant X offering represented
fers the right fit for the US bility of [the aircraft].” both the best value for the taxpay-

Lockheed Martin
Army’s needs, having reviewed er and the transformational tech-
feedback from the service into its Ruling accepted nology that our war fighters need
failed bid to provide a new long- Sikorsky on 18 April confirmed that to execute their complex missions,”
range utility helicopter. it would not pursue further legal Sikorsky said on accepting the end
“We remain confident and action following the GAO’s ruling. of its FLRAA journey.
excited about the technology,” This had determined that the army Lemmo says the company is
Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo had acted appropriately within the further reviewing the army’s feed-
said in late April, adding that the context of US government procure- back on its proposal, with an
manufacturer is still committed to ment rules, upholding the V-280’s eye toward strengthening future
delivering “transformational” air- selection and blocking it from offerings. In particular, it is con-
craft to the US Army. further challenge. centrating its efforts on the army’s
The company’s X2 architecture is The GAO agreed with the ar- next development programme:
characterised by a compound coax- my’s initial assessment that the the Future Attack Reconnaissance
ial main rotor system to generate lift final Defiant X offer had been Aircraft (FARA).
and forward momentum, augment-
ed by a rear-mounted propulsor to
provide additional horizontal thrust. Shortcomings with final bid
Sikorsky teamed with Boeing to downed ambitious Defiant X
pitch the Defiant X design for the
US Army’s Future Long Range
Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) require-
ment to replace its UH-60 Black
Hawk, ultimately losing out to Bell’s
V-280 Valor tiltrotor.
While a US Government Account-
ability Office (GAO) audit of the
December 2022 decision revealed
critical flaws with Sikorsky’s bid
submission, Lemmo says the ar-
my’s feedback on the Defiant X’s
expected flight performance has
Lockheed Martin

reinforced the company’s belief in

its X2 design.
“We have many strengths associ-
ated with the X2, particularly with

Download the 2023

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Wo r l d A i r Fo r c e s R e p o r t
FlightGlobal.com/waf

30 Flight International June 2023


Some 10 years after it retired the
Bell OH-58 Kiowa scout, the army
is finally developing a replacement
in FARA – which it intends to be a
substantial improvement in terms
of range, speed and armament.
“We are committed to the [FARA]
programme,” the service’s chief of
staff, General James McConville,
said in late April. “We need it.”
Bell and Sikorsky are again pitted
against one another as finalists in
the design competition.
The Bell 360 Invictus represents a
more conventional approach, using
a single main and tail rotor design
the company says will focus on re-
liability and durability. By contrast,
Sikorsky is competing another X2
design: its Raider X.
Sikorsky has been flying X2-series
aircraft for over 15 years, with the
first example of the coaxial-style
line having lifted off in 2008. The
fourth iteration of its design – the
S-97 Raider – has a high degree
of commonality with the Raider X
prototype, and is being flown as a
testbed at its flight development
centre in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“We know that our FARA offer-
ing is going to provide transforma-
tional capabilities, at an affordable
cost,” Lemmo says.
The GAO’s review of the FLRAA
decision confirmed that Sikorsky’s
bid offered a substantially low-
er price than Bell’s for the V-280.
However, both the government’s
auditor and the army deemed that
“The feedback we received from
the army let us know that the
agility, stability and scalability of
our X2 can be extremely useful”
assessment to be unreliable due to
a lack of detail in the Defiant X’s
design architecture.
Lemmo argues that the low-
er price was the result of a
company-wide digital design and
manufacturing initiative by Sikorsky
parent company Lockheed Martin,
known as One LMX. Such invest-
ments allow for faster and cheap-
er completion of development and
flight testing, he says, ultimately
lowering the total cost.
“All those applications of digital
technologies do save money. Our
pricing was reflective of that,”
Lemmo says, adding that Sikorsky
will apply such digital processes to
future programmes.
Prototype assembly
Assembly of the Raider X proto-
type in West Palm Beach was 96%
complete by late April, with Bell
reporting similar figures for its rival
360 Invictus.
Both bidders are awaiting the
delayed availability of the GE
Aerospace T901-900 Improved
Turbine Engine (ITE) to power
their experimental aircraft. Lemmo
says Sikorsky currently expects
first flight of its FARA candidate to
occur “sometime in the summer”
of 2024.
Meanwhile, Sikorsky says it is
focused on modernisation efforts
for the US Army’s current fleet of
around 2,300 UH-60s, along with
expanding sales of the type to
Defence Rotorcraft
Raider X design will compete against
Bell for reconnaissance requirement
Paul Lemmo President, Sikorsky
more overseas buyers, in a bid to
safeguard extended production.
While Black Hawk procurement
by the US Army had been ex-
pected to conclude in the coming
years, the service has indicated
that it may extend purchases out
as far as 2033. It will continue op-
erating Black Hawks for decades
to come, also re-engining the fleet
via the ITE effort.
The company’s next internation-
al success with its current model
appears set to be a deal to equip
Norway’s coastguard with six MH-
60R Seahawk maritime helicop-
ters, also suitable for vertical re-
plenishment and communications
relay tasks.
On 26 April, the US Defense
Security Cooperation Agency an-
nounced that the Department of
State had approved a Foreign Mili-
tary Sales package with Oslo worth
a potential $1 billion. Deliveries
could begin in 2025, pending the
receipt of final Norwegian and US
approvals by mid-year.
Norway had in March outlined its
intention to purchase the MH-60Rs
to replace withdrawn NH Indus-
tries NH90s. The nation previously
ordered 14 NH90s – eight for coast-
guard-support operations and six
for anti-submarine warfare duties –
but in June 2022 halted operations
with its 13 delivered examples. ◗
Additional reporting by
Dominic Perry in London
June 2023 Flight International 31
 Safety Probe
Longtail Aviation had been using jet
for three months before incident
Parts shed from 747-400
freighter’s unmodified engine
caused damage and injuries
Dutch Safety Board recommends government assess risks to
AirTeamImages
villages located under Maastricht airport departure routes
David Kaminski-Morrow London
I
nvestigators have determined that
a Longtail Aviation Boeing 747-
400 converted freighter which
shed turbine parts after departing
Maastricht had not been modified
with cooling features that might
have prevented the incident.
The aircraft’s left outboard Pratt
& Whitney (P&W) PW4000 en-
gine suffered a contained failure
but several pieces of engine debris
exited the powerplant’s exhaust as
the jet climbed away from runway
21 on 20 February 2021.
Two people were injured by
the falling parts, which also dam-
aged houses and cars in the town
of Meerssen. The crew shut down
the engine and diverted to Liege,
landing safely.
The Dutch Safety Board found
that the turbine’s second-stage
blade outer air seal – as well as the
turbine – had deteriorated.
This exposed the outer transition
ducts behind the high-pressure
turbine to elevated gas temper-
atures which “existed for an ex-
tended period of time”, the inquiry
states, contributing to the ducts’
slow deformation and distortion.
As a result, duct panel sections
broke away from the case and
damaged a number of turbine
blades, with fragments being eject-
ed from the engine.
Investigators state that several
service bulletins had been issued
by P&W, over the course of nearly
three decades, to prevent failure
32 Flight International June 2023
of the outer transition ducts and
turbine section and ensure safe
functioning of the powerplant.
These improvements included
additional cooling features for the
high-pressure turbine and installa-
tion of new transition duct panels.
But while the engine on the
747 had been fitted with the new
panels, the additional cooling
features had not been incorporat-
ed. Although recommended, their
installation was not mandatory.
Service bulletin
The inquiry says the carrier had
only been using the jet (VQ-BWT)
for three months, and was “not re-
sponsible” for the decision not to
implement the service bulletin –
which was issued in 1993 – during
shop visits by the aircraft in 1999
and 2009.
However, “the operator was not
able to present documented reason-
ing regarding the non-incorporation
of this bulletin”, it says.
“Having an adequate record
keeping of maintenance documen-
tation enables the operator and its
maintenance organisation to make
sound risk management decisions
about the continuing airworthiness
of their aircraft.
“This is crucial for the safe oper-
ation throughout the operating life
of, in this case, the engine.”
In the wake of the incident,
the Dutch Safety Board has also
recommended that the govern-
ment assess the risk of parts falling
onto residential areas from aircraft
departing Maastricht.
The Dutch Safety Board says it has
received letters for “several years”
from residents in the vicinity of the
airport concerned about safety.
These have remarked on such
issues as wake turbulence dislodg-
ing roof tiles, the vulnerability of a
chemical industrial park – known
as Chemelot – located north of the
airport, and the potential risk to
villages from overflight of heavy
freighters at low altitude.
The board is recommending that
the infrastructure ministry perform
and publish a risk assessment.
The board acknowledges that the
incident might be viewed as having
presented relatively little risk, as the
747, with four engines, remained
flyable and diverted to Liege.
But it says the incident demon-
strated the potential hazard to
people on the ground. “With the
convergence of air traffic over
areas surrounding airports, there is
an increased risk of occurrences in
these areas,” the board adds.
“Within aviation, the magnitude
of the risk of departing engine
debris for people on the ground
has not been determined and
translated into regulations.”
It says the risk of a serious acci-
dent in the vicinity of a runway is
managed by location-specific risk
contours, but these are not appli-
cable to the loss of engine parts. It
adds that the engine risk should be
explored, and highlights an August
2019 incident in which ejected de-
bris from a Norwegian Boeing 787-
8’s engine damaged property and
cars after take-off from Rome. ◗
 Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com

Merger adds thrust to fuel cell plan

UK firms Britten-Norman and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions
believe joint effort will help accelerate development of
zero-emission aircraft and boost manufacturing
Dominic Perry London Those new aircraft will also be
manufactured in the UK, with
Britten-Norman “repatriating” Is-

B
ritten-Norman and Cran-
field Aerospace Solutions
(CAeS) see their upcom-
ing merger as simplifying
the route to market for a hydro-
gen-electric aircraft and offering a
boost to British manufacturing by
relocating Islander assembly back
to the UK.
Announced on 21 April, the pro-
posed tie-up will see the two UK
firms unite as a single business
in a bid to accelerate the arrival
of zero-emission aircraft – a plan
that also sees CAeS now eyeing an
eventual clean-sheet 100-seater.
CAeS is already developing a
hydrogen fuel cell powertrain con-
version for BN2 Islanders through
UK government-backed Project
Fresson, but chief executive Paul
Hutton thinks the planned tie-up
with Britten-Norman could allow it
to partly skip the retrofit step.
Trade route
While a modification programme
is still likely to be offered, Brit-
ten-Norman chief executive Wil-
liam Hynett says a trade-in scheme
would be its preferred route to
market, particularly given the age
Cranfield Aerospace Solutions/Britten-Norman
lander production from its facility
at Romaero in Bucharest, Romania
to a plant at Bembridge on the Isle
of Wight – an island off England’s
south coast.
But with Bembridge airfield
no longer licensed, part-fin-
ished aircraft will continue to be
trucked, rather than flown, to the
airframer’s mainland UK facility in
Lee-on-the-Solent for completion
and delivery.
CAeS has plans to eventual-
ly develop a clean-sheet air-
craft capable of carrying 100
passengers. However, Hynett
says these are unlikely to be built
on the Isle of Wight as “logistics
become trickier” when moving
larger structures.
“The strength of Bembridge is
incumbency,” he says. “But as we
expand we will look at our options.”
Hutton says the company is al-
ready in conversation with “one or
two” local or regional government
bodies “who are keen to bring
manufacturing into their areas”
through incentives to relocate.
But before it considers expan-
sion, the merged company will
need to see the fuel cell-powered
Hutton maintains the effort is on
track to achieve the milestone by
2026, although first flight of the
demonstrator being developed via
Project Fresson is unlikely to take
place before early 2024.
Although cautioning of a possi-
ble “slight delay” to the demon-
strator caused by integration of
the firms, Hutton says the process
will pay dividends in the long run.
He argues that without an OEM
on board, obtaining supplemental
type certification for powertrain
conversions of multiple different
aircraft types – particularly where
these modifications involve “more
invasive” changes – will be signifi-
cantly slower.
“For the next 10-15 years [that

of some of the in-service fleet. Islander through to service entry. process] is not going to work,”
“A big investment in a really old
airplane doesn’t make financial
sense,” he says. Instead, operators The combined company can
would be encouraged to trade in
older Islanders in exchange for think bigger – it is now eyeing
new-build hydrogen-powered
examples. In turn, the older aircraft development of a fuel cell-powered
would be refurbished and returned
to market. aircraft with 50-100 seats

Download the 2022 Commercial Engines Report

now with updated enhanced data and in-depth market analysis

FlightGlobal.com/commengines

34 Flight International June 2023


Hutton says, due to the fact that
regulators will only approve a
powertrain for a specific type.
Plans previously disclosed by
CAeS called for a three-phase de-
velopment process, working up
from conversion of the nine-seat
Islander to a larger in-service
19-seater, and culminating in a
similarly-sized clean-sheet design
in 2029. Both of these follow-on
projects would use liquid rather
than gaseous hydrogen as their
energy source.
But Hutton says that, with
Britten-Norman, the combined
company can think bigger – it is
now eyeing development of a fuel
cell-powered aircraft with 50-100
seats in the 2035 timeframe.
Preceding that would come
conversion of an existing 10-19-
seat type for service entry in
2028, followed by a clean-sheet
20-50-seater in 2032.
Hutton says CAeS had identi-
fied two candidate airframes for
conversion under phase 2: the
Beechcraft King Air and an un-
disclosed aircraft type. However,
he confirms the latter is not the
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin
Otter, citing the relatively mod-
est number available for conver-
sion and the manufacturer’s pre-
existing relationships with rival
powertrain developers.
An additional “phase 1A” could
also emerge that involves a fu-
el-cell powertrain integrated
into an existing or modified Brit-
ten-Norman product such as the
larger Defender or Trislander –
albeit the latter’s case would be
unlikely to retain its distinctive
three-engined configuration, says
Hynett.
Meanwhile, with the merger –
and both parties insist it is a com-
ing together of equals rather than
£10m
Investment from Cranfield Aerospace
Solutions’ backers in new company
following merger with Britten-Norman
a takeover – due to conclude by
mid-2023, the pair are working on
an integration plan that is likely to
run for about six months.
Hynett says the exact corporate
structure is yet to be determined
but will be facilitated by a share-
swap arrangement. Equally, he
says, no decision has been taken
on whether to rebrand the two
businesses, adding: “We will have
to be pragmatic and decide what’s
best for all of us.”
Existing CAeS backers Hydrog-
enOne Capital Growth, Safran Cor-
porate Ventures, and United Arab
Emirates-based finance firm Stra-
tegic Development Fund will invest
up to £10 million ($12.3 million) in
Industry Strategy
Hydrogen-powered Islander is
scheduled to enter service in 2026
the new company, including up
to £5 million from HydrogenOne
once the merger is finalised.
Additional financing is current-
ly being raised to support future
growth, the company adds.
Britten-Norman’s current Omani
owner Alawi Zawawi will also
join the merged company. He is
the majority shareholder of BN
Group – holding at least 75% of
its shares – which in turn owns six
Britten-Norman-related subsidiar-
ies, UK Companies House docu-
ments reveal.
Its most recent accounts, for the
year ended 31 March 2021, show BN
Group made a profit of £188,000
on turnover of £12.5 million.
To date, CAeS has attracted
orders for modified Islanders from
Air New Zealand, German start-up
airline Evia Aero and lessor Monte
Aircraft Leasing.
Motor supply
Separately, CAeS has selected
Evolito – the YASA Motors spin-
out – to supply the electric motors
and inverters for Project Fresson.
Evolito will provide a pair of
D1500 motors, each designed
to produce up to 270kW of
continuous power. CAeS says
the hydrogen fuel cell powertrain
is rated at 240kW. It cites the
motors’ light weight and compact
size as key to their selection, ena-
bling integration into the Islander’s
engine nacelles. ◗
June 2023 Flight International 35
 Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com
GKN warms to potential
of cryogenic powertrain
UK tier one supplier advances design for fuel cell system that
uses cooling potential of liquid hydrogen to boost efficiency
Dominic Perry London
G
KN Aerospace has re-
vealed more details of the
liquid hydrogen fuel cell
propulsion system it is de-
veloping, which it says could even-
tually power a future zero-emission
airliner with at least 96 seats.
Work on a 1MW-class demonstra-
tor is being conducted under the
UK Aerospace Technology Insti-
tute-funded H2GEAR programme,
which will culminate in 2025 with a
ground test of the full system.
But ahead of that milestone GKN
this year will perform a series of
tests to bring certain sub-systems,
notably the cryogenic motor and
electrical distribution network, to
technology readiness level 4.
“Our technology, which is unique
in the industry, is that we are actu-
ally using the cryogenic tempera-
ture of the fuel as a heat sink; we
are using it, via an alternative safer
medium, to cool down our electri-
cal network,” said chief technology
officer Russ Dunn, briefing journal-
ists on 24 April.
Additive capability builds as customer interest reaches ‘tipping point’
Later this year, GKN Aerospace
will produce what it describes as
the first load-bearing component
to be made through additive
manufacturing, as the UK-based
company eyes a rapid expansion
of its capabilities in the space.
Developed at its campus in
Trollhattan, Sweden, the part in
question is a fan case mount ring
(FCMR) for the Pratt & Whitney
PW1500G engine which powers
the Airbus A220.
Certification of the additive-
GKN Aerospace
manufactured component
has been achieved and serial
36 Flight International June 2023
Cooling the electrical network to
cryogenic levels lowers the resist-
ance of the wiring, allowing higher
power levels to be distributed at
lower voltages and enabling the
thickness – and therefore weight – of
the wiring to be reduced; efficiency
of the motor and its power density
are also improved.
-253°C
Temperature of liquid hydrogen; the
fuel will act as heat sink to cool electri-
cal distribution network and motors
At the heart of the design is liq-
uid hydrogen, which needs to be
stored at -253°C (-423°F). GKN
makes use of that source of incred-
ible cold to lower the temperature
of an “intermediary substance” – in
this case helium gas – which is in
turn used to cool the motors and
electrical wiring.
The use of cryogenic cooling is a
“fundamental differentiating step”
production of the part will start in
the fourth quarter of this year.
“It’s a pretty big moment for us
when that goes into production,”
says chief executive David Paja.
The FCMR is currently made via
a traditional subtractive process
during which GKN machines
away more than 90% of a 440kg
(970lb) titanium forging to
produce the final sub-40kg part.
However, the additive process
starts with a slim forged ring, and
then adds the requisite flanges
to the component through
laser metal deposition by wire
over the design of other fuel cell
powertrains, says Dunn, and pro-
vides confidence that the system
can be scaled up to an aircraft of
at least 100 seats, or even beyond.
Although Airbus is also pursuing
research into cryogenic cooling for
electrical distribution as part of its
ZEROe programme, Dunn declines
to say whether GKN is participating
in that effort.
“Airbus is very interested in what
we are doing – I’ll leave it at that,”
he says. “All I can say is that we have
shared that concept with Airbus,
and we are happy to continue to
support them.”
In addition, Dunn says GKN has
solved the issue of thermal man-
agement for the fuel cells. As a
rule of thumb, fuel cells generate
around 1MW of heat for every 1MW
of power produced and integrating
systems to deal with that waste heat
runs the risk of adding substantial
weight and drag to the aircraft.
“We have a solution that we be-
lieve works in terms of thermal
management,” says Dunn, al-
though he declines to offer more
detail, citing a current lack of
– a means of building up the
structure layer by layer.
GKN says the amount of
material required to manufacture
the part is reduced by 72%
through the additive technology,
which also cuts the overall CO2
emissions per component by 6.5t.
While production costs will be
slightly lower, GKN sees “massive
benefits in terms of quality,
supply chain management and
GKN Aerospace
sustainability”, says Paja.
Lead times will be drastically
shortened, he says, as it eliminates
several processes in the chain:

patent protection for the internally
developed design.
Tests of the full powertrain – in-
cluding an electric motor but with-
out a propeller – will take place at
the University of Bath’s IAAPS pow-
ertrain test facility in Bristol in late
2025. GKN forsees potential service
entry for the system in around 2035.
GKN’s technology would be
suitable for routes of around
2,160nm (4,000km) and its wide-
spread uptake could help tackle
more than 60% of aviation’s CO2
emissions, it argues.
Although GKN’s development
focus has been on the powertrain,
to fully understand the require-
ments for such a system it has also
designed aircraft onto which it
could be installed.
To date, these comprise a 48-
seat propeller-driven aircraft and a
96-seater which is configured with
ducted fans.
Dunn insists the designs are more
than simply digital renderings and
have been accompanied by exten-
sive studies into their power re-
quirements, aerodynamics, stability,
and other considerations.
Fan case mount ring
is for PW1500G engine
In common with other simi-
lar concepts, the hydrogen fuel
tank, fuel cell and balance of plant
would be stored in the rear of the
fuselage, separated from the cabin
by a bulkhead. The only things
leaving that area, he says, would be
the electricity produced by the fuel
cells and the helium for the cryo-
genic cooling system.
Not for retrofit
Fuel cell powertrains are being
developed as retrofit solutions by
several other technology compa-
nies – notably Universal Hydrogen
and ZeroAvia – but Dunn says GKN
will not step into the aircraft modi-
fication market.
“I know people have looked at
retrofitting onto existing plat-
forms, but from our point of view
it’s very inefficient to retrofit this
sort of solution.
“It’s feasible to do it but if you
really want to get the best out of
the aircraft you are really talking
about clean-sheet.”
A brand-new regional aircraft
design would incorporate sub-
stantial efficiency improvements,
“You are talking months to
produce one of these parts, end
to end. By bringing everything in
house you are talking weeks.”
GKN’s success in producing and
validating the FCMR via additive
manufacturing has “created a
tipping point for us with our
customers”, says chief technology
officer Russ Dunn.
“This is probably as simple
as it gets in terms of what we
are looking to do in the future
because this is one process being
deposited around a relatively
simple piece of structure.
“But the depth of the process
knowledge that’s gone to get to
Technology Development
H2GEAR effort includes designs for
clean-sheet regional aircraft
helping to offset the additional
cost of hydrogen fuel compared
with kerosene, and the reduced
passenger accommodation: GKN’s
calculations suggest an aircraft
currently sized to carry around 80
passengers would be needed for a
fuel cell-powered 48-seater.
“You are going to need all of
that efficiency to make this sort of
concept feasible,” he adds.
“We are not saying [other devel-
opers] are barking up the wrong
tree, because we think they are do-
ing some really exciting things, but
they are working at the lower end
of that zone; I think they are going
to be constrained to retrofitting
into a relatively niche market.
“Our aspirations are really to get
zero-emissions for the masses,”
says Dunn.
GKN also continues to analyse
the likely requirements for hydro-
gen combustion engines, believ-
ing they will be needed for larger
aircraft. Its work on H2Jet, a two-
year Swedish government-backed
study, has recently concluded, and
the company is now incorporating
the findings from the project. ◗
that point can also be applied to a
lot of other more complex things.”
Next in line is an engine case
for an undisclosed customer, with
additional mounts, cases, ducts
and other structures also planned.
“Over the course of the next
three to four years we have a
whole series of products that we
have already agreed with our
customers are on our roadmap,”
says Dunn.
GKN’s growth in the sector
has been aided by the
October 2022 acquisition of
Gothenburg, Sweden-based
additive manufacturing partner
Permanova Lasersystem.
June 2023 Flight International 37
 Defence Operations
pe
errations
Xinhua/Shutterstock
Leaked US intelligence report indicates that China has begun
high-altitude surveillance flights using Mach 3-capable WZ-8
Greg Waldron Singapore
C
hina has established a super-
sonic unmanned air vehicle
(UAV) squadron equipped
with the delta-shaped WZ-8
surveillance asset, according to a
leaked US government document.
The classified report indicates
that the WZ-8 is carried aloft by a
Xian H-6M bomber, which releases
it outside the region to be surveyed.
Flying at an estimated Mach 3 and
an altitude of up to 100,000ft, the
WZ-8 passes over a target region
before landing at a nearby airfield.
The document suggests that the
UAV’s sensor suite comprises an
electro-optical sensor and synthet-
ic aperture radar payload.
The authenticity of the report –
ostensibly from the US National
Geospatial Intelligence Agency – is
unclear, but it appears to be part
of a recent major leak of classified
US material. On 14 April, the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation arrest-
ed Airman First Class Jack Teixeira,
who allegedly shared the docu-
ments on social media.
First covered by the Washington
Post, the WZ-8 report appears to
stem from a photograph of an orig-
inal document dated January 2023.
The WZ-8 made its debut appear-
ance on the back of a truck during
a 2019 military parade in Beijing.
An example – likely to have been a
mock-up – subsequently appeared
in the static display at the Airshow
China event in Zhuhai in late 2021.
In the US document, hypothetical
missions involving two countries
38 Flight International June 2023
Beijing
ups Taiwan
tension with
supersonic UAV
– South Korea and Taiwan – are
outlined, in both cases involving an
H-6M taking off from Luan airfield.
For the first scenario, an H-6M
is launched off the west coast of
North Korea, before flying along
South Korea’s western seaboard
and landing at Dashuipo airfield. A
similar profile is depicted for an op-
eration near Taiwan, with the WZ-8
deployed from the north of the is-
land nation, and then crossing from
the island’s northeast to west coast,
and landing at Zhangzhou airfield.
The document also features
satellite imagery of the WZ-8 at
Luan airfield.
Launch platform
It is of note that the report speci-
fies the launch platform as the
H-6M, which first appeared at Air-
show China in 2014 surrounded by
a range of land-attack munitions.
Previous speculation had suggested
the WZ-8 would be deployed using
the more advanced H-6N.
In October 2020, footage
emerged of an H-6N – the only
variant of the bomber capable of
undergoing air-to-air refuelling
– carrying a ballistic missile in a
concavity beneath its fuselage.
The potential availability of a
high-altitude, high-speed UAV ap-
pears to strengthen Beijing’s ability
to conduct surveillance of Taiwan in
particular. Its military also already
uses the WZ-7, which the US De-
partment of Defense estimates can
operate at M0.8 and up to 60,000ft.
From 8-10 April, Chinese air, na-
val and ground forces took part in
exercise “Joint Sword” near Taiwan,
operating “under real combat con-
ditions”. This included aerial intru-
sions by a range of assets, including
aircraft carrier-based fighters.
In a 24h period concluding early
on 11 April, Taipei’s Ministry of Na-
tional Defense detected a record
91 Chinese aircraft, of which 54
crossed the median line in the Tai-
wan Strait that divides the two
countries, or entered its Air Defense
Identification Zones (ADIZs).
The surge in activity was in re-
sponse to Taiwanese President
Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in
California on 5 April.
Of the 54 ADIZ incursions, most
involved fighters approaching from
the Chinese mainland: 10 Chengdu
J-10s, 10 Shenyang J-16s, eight Suk-
hoi Su-30s and two Shenyang J-11s.
But for the first time, Taiwan also
tracked 15 Shenyang J-15s off its
east coast, operating from the Chi-
nese aircraft carrier CNS Shandong.
Japan’s defence ministry, which
also monitored the Shandong’s
movements, reported that over
the three-day exercise period the
vessel launched about 80 fixed-
wing and 40 helicopter sorties.
Taiwan says that by 11 April China
had mounted 518 ADIZ/median line
incursions in 2023, and that a total
of 1,349 Chinese aircraft had been
detected near its airspace.
“The troops of the PLA [People’s
Liberation Army] Eastern Theatre
Command are well prepared and will
resolutely crush separatist attempts
for ‘Taiwan independence’ and
foreign interference in any form,”
says China’s defence ministry. ◗

NATO pair discuss
Gripen lease
extensions
Current users the Czech
VanderWolf Images/Shutterstock
Republic and Hungary are
considering continued use of Swedish fighters beyond their
current arrangement terms, in potential boost for Saab
Craig Hoyle London
S
aab is pursuing potential
opportunities to extend
Sweden’s Gripen C/D lease
agreements with the Czech
Republic and Hungary, chief execu-
tive Micael Johansson says.
“We are discussing extensions on
the Gripen programme in Hunga-
ry, including a few more aircraft,”
Johansson revealed during the
company’s first-quarter results call
on 26 April. “We [also] are discuss-
ing an extension with the Czech
Republic,” he adds.
The European NATO nations each
currently operate 12 Gripen Cs and
two Gripen Ds, via long-term lease
agreements with Sweden’s FMV De-
fence Materiel Administration.
Sweden in January 2022 an-
nounced that Hungary’s in-service
aircraft would be upgraded to the
C/D model’s latest MS20 Block 2
operating standard. To conclude by
2026, the work will boost the type’s
sensor and communications capa-
bilities, and expand the suite of
weapons available for integration.
Notably, Hungary and Turkey were
as of early May the only NATO mem-
ber states yet to ratify Sweden’s
planned accession to the Western
military alliance. Stockholm’s mem-
bership will follow that of its Nordic
neighbour Finland, which was for-
mally welcomed into the now 31-na-
tion organisation on 4 April.
Confirmation of the ongoing dis-
cussions with the Czech Repub-
lic follow comments made by Jo-
hansson last July regarding Saab’s
eagerness to continue its use of
the Gripen. The nation’s current
arrangement covers operations
until 2027, with an option to ex-
tend by a further year. Prague last
year expressed interest in acquir-
ing Lockheed Martin’s F-35A as a
replacement for the Swedish type,
and in October requested pricing
information from the USA for a
potential 24-unit purchase.
Johansson also identifies two fur-
ther current Gripen sales targets,
respectively in Latin America and
the Asia-Pacific region. “We have
28
Combined number of Gripen C/Ds
currently in operational use with the
Czech and Hungarian air forces
a campaign discussion going with
Colombia, and also with the Philip-
pines on the C/D version,” he says.
Meanwhile, the first Gripen F has
entered the final stage of subas-
sembly at Saab’s Linkoping site in
Sweden. The two-seat version is
being developed for the Brazilian
air force, which will take eight ex-
amples as part of a 36-aircraft ac-
quisition. The service last Decem-
ber launched frontline operations
with the single-seat version of its
locally designated F-39E/F.
The lead Gripen F will be de-
livered to the Brazilian custom-
er in early 2025, Johansson says.
Development work has been
Operations Fighters
Stockholm provides multi-role
type via long-term agreements
performed in co-operation with
local production partner Embraer,
which also is supporting Latin
American sales efforts.
Saab also is stepping up its
campaign to offer the Bombar-
dier Global 6000-based GlobalEye
surveillance aircraft to NATO, and
is awaiting the release of a formal
request for information.
“We could be in full operation
earlier than what they have re-
quested” for a project to replace
the Boeing E-3 Airborne Warning
and Control System fleet, he says,
adding: “We have a great offer.”
Saab will face stiff competition for
the requirement from incumbent
supplier Boeing, which is promoting
its 737NG-based E-7A Wedgetail.
Separately, Saab’s Aeronautics
business unit has been financial-
ly impacted by a one-year slip to
the schedule for the Boeing T-7A
Red Hawk advanced jet trainer in
development for the US Air Force.
Deliveries are now expected to
begin in 2025.
“We are still manufacturing the
aft [fuselage] part of these aircraft,
but the ramp-up is a bit slower,”
Johansson says. “That will affect
profitability until the real produc-
tion kicks off with the right pace.”
He notes: “That will be a profita-
ble programme going forward, but
that is hampering Aeronautics a bit
as we speak.”
Saab is currently producing
structures for the T-7A under a
low-rate initial production-phase
deal, with work performed in
Linkoping and at its West Lafeyette
site in Indiana. ◗
June 2023 Flight International 39
 Innovation Finance
Joby bolsters
balance sheet
with Baillie
Gifford backing
US firm takes cash infusion to deepen DoD
relationship, while Vertical pushes back VX4
schedule and Lilium secures vital funding
Howard Hardee Sacramento
Dominic Perry London
E
lectric air taxi start-up Joby
Aviation has agreed to is-
sue $180 million of common
stock to long-term investor
Baillie Gifford, providing a cash in-
fusion as the company pushes to
certify its aircraft.
“This offering, which is expected
to close on May 5, will further bol-
ster our balance sheet and support
our operations, including future in-
vestments in capacity to accelerate
production,” the California-based
start-up said during its quarterly
earnings call on 3 May.
Joby lost $113.4 million in the first
quarter of 2023, versus a $62.3 mil-
lion loss through the same period
last year. It ended the quarter with
$978 million in cash, cash equiva-
lents and short-term investments.
Investment management firm
Baillie Gifford, which has also
backed German electric vertical
take-off and landing (eVTOL) firm
Lilium, was an early investor in Joby
when still a private company, in ad-
dition to supporting its operations
since going public in August 2021.
Paul Sciarra, Joby’s executive
chairman, says the $180 million infu-
sion from Baillie Gifford is related to
the company’s partnership with the
US Department of Defense (DoD)
under the Agility Prime initiative be-
ing run by the US Air Force (USAF).
“Prior to this investment, we felt
really good about our cash position
and our ability to forward invest to
Joby Aviation
get ourselves to and through certi-
fication,” he says.
40 Flight International June 2023
“In light of what we think is a
growing opportunity to deliver air-
craft and potentially generate reve-
nue with the DoD, we felt it prudent
to add to our already strong balance
sheet through this investment,”
Sciarra adds. “This gives us an
opportunity to scale pilot produc-
tion sooner, build more aircraft and
deliver those to our first customers,
and do that without sacrificing the
revenue we need” to get through
type certification with the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA).
Validation process
Joby is close to entering the fourth
stage of FAA certification, “where
we design, develop and dry-run the
testing described in stage three,”
says Didier Papadopoulos, head
of aircraft OEM. ”This preparation
work is absolutely critical to achiev-
ing a smooth certification process.”
On 25 April, Joby disclosed a
$55 million extension – taking it to
$131 million in total – to its Agility
Prime contract with the USAF to
deliver and operate up to nine
eVTOL aircraft.
Like California competitor Archer
Aviation, Joby is aiming to launch
operations in 2025.
But UK-based eVTOL develop-
er Vertical Aerospace has pushed
back the expected certification date
of its VX4 aircraft by around one
year to the end of 2026 following an
internal review of the process.
Detailing the delay in a letter to
shareholders accompanying the
release of its first-quarter results
on 3 May, the UK-based firm said
its previous guidance for achieving
certification in 2025 was “based on
our best estimates at the time”.
Start-up is close to fourth
stage of FAA certification
Following talks with regulators
globally to better understand the
required means of compliance,
and work with its supply chain,
the developer has concluded the
schedule will slip.
“We believe the industry as a
whole will experience some time-
line corrections and we are already
seeing signs of peers acknowledg-
ing this,” it says.
“In light of our learnings and
after completing our review, we
are now targeting certification by
the end of 2026.”
To “accelerate the flight-test
programme”, the company has be-
gun construction of a second VX4
prototype “which will integrate
most of our certification partners”.
Vertical offers no timeline for com-
pletion of the next prototype or its
maiden sortie, however.
Elsewhere, Lilium has secured a
funding lifeline of up to $250 mil-
lion. This will see it receive an ini-
tial $100 million from Aceville Pte
Ltd, an affiliate of existing Chinese
investor Tencent Holdings which
participated in funding rounds in
2020 and 2022.
Singapore-based Aceville will
put forward a further $75 million
provided Lilium can match this
with funds raised from “equity,
debt or grants”.
Lilium says the capital injection
will “cover most of the estimated
capital required to achieve” the first
flight of its type-conforming Lilium
Jet in the second half of 2024.
Reaching that milestone will then
trigger the release of pre-delivery
payments “which will help fund its
subsequent capital requirements”,
the company says. ◗

Replacing jets with propeller-driven aircraft
could help cut greenhouse gas emissions
Markus Mainka/Shutterstock
SAF, turboprops offer fast route to
decarbonisation, white paper says
No impact will be seen from ‘moonshot’ technologies such
as hydrogen propulsion for at least 20 years, report claims
Dominic Perry London
O
nly increased production
of sustainable aviation fuel
(SAF) and reintroduction
of turboprops in place of
jets, plus incentives to speed re-
tirement of older gas guzzlers, will
help commercial aviation reach its
decarbonisation goals in the short
term, a new white paper argues.
Published by Germany-based
Sustainable Aero Lab, the report
- Bridging the Gap to 2050: How
to Decarbonize Aviation Faster
With Today’s Technologies – says
the industry cannot wait until the
arrival of hybrid- or hydrogen-
powered aircraft at some point in
the future to start addressing its
climate impact.
With passenger numbers set to
rise, at least doubling by 2040 ac-
cording to IATA forecasts, and oth-
er industries reducing their green-
house gas outputs more quickly,
aviation will see its share of global
emissions increase from the current
2-3% mark, the report notes.
“As the world’s societies – espe-
cially Generation Z entering adult-
hood – become increasingly aware
of climate change, emissions will
become less socially acceptable,” it
says. “Unless we significantly decar-
bonise aviation and do this quick-
ly, its current operating model will
eventually become a dead end.”
Although electrification and hy-
drogen – which the report describes
as “moonshot” projects – may offer
longer-term benefits, it suggests
they “will not bring any significant
leverage in the next 20 years”.
Those new technologies – which
will either enter service on small-
er regional aircraft or not arrive on
larger types until at least 2035 – will
not address the 96% share of avia-
tion’s emissions that are produced
by aircraft with 100-plus seats.
With the aviation industry’s goal
to reach net-zero by 2050, and
factoring in the typical 25-year
lifespan of commercial aircraft, the
report points out that “it is easy to
see that the aircraft models already
operating today will also make up
the dominant part of the global
fleet by 2050”.
Fuel efficiency
While those newer aircraft will offer
some benefits through fuel-burn im-
provements over those they are re-
placing, the white paper notes that
any gains will be quickly consumed
by the predicted rises in global fleet
size and passenger numbers.
It has identified three pathways
to drive down aviation emissions
over the next 20 years: accelerate
introduction of SAF; reintroduce
more turboprops; and create a
clear regulatory framework to spur
fleet renewal.
Scaling SAF production, it says,
is “the most critical lever to lower
commercial aviation emissions until
2050”. Initially this should concen-
trate on the production of HEFA
– fuel made from oils and fats –
“and work to mature the others as
quickly as possible”.
But the production increase
needs to be incentivised, including
by raising SAF quotas, to help drive
down its price relative to conven-
tional jet fuel.
Environment Strategy
Envi
Boosting SAF output has fea-
tured in many decarbonisation
strategies, but the suggestion that
aviation can tackle its carbon emis-
sions through reintroducing turbo-
props is sure to raise eyebrows.
Nonetheless, the paper insists this
would be a viable pathway. “With
the comfort levels that modern
turboprops can offer and poten-
tial faster travel times for distanc-
es up to 600km [324nm] due to
more optimal flight routes, there is
an obvious benefit in building new
turboprop designs with the most
modern conventional engines and
larger seat capacity, drastically re-
ducing emissions compared to the
smallest jets,” it argues.
Replacing uneconomical jets on
regional and short-haul routes “is
a target achievable by mid-of-this
decade”, it adds.
Additionally, to persuade oper-
ators to switch to newer aircraft,
governments should limit fuel
consumption per seat mile “forcing
older planes out of the skies”. A
similar carbon limit per tonne could
be applied to freighters.
Other incentives could be used to
“nudge” airlines towards refleeting,
the white paper suggests.
Despite the white paper’s largely
common-sense approach, its find-
ings may generate accusations of
a conflict of interest for one its au-
thors, Nico Buchholz.
A veteran of Bombardier,
Lufthansa and others, Buchholz is
currently chief commercial officer
at Deutsche Aircraft, a German
manufacturer attempting to bring
to market the D328eco – a SAF-
powered turboprop. ◗
June 2023 Flight International 41
Airbus Visit FlightGlobal Premium for all the latest aviation news and insight FlightGlobal.com

The Perlan Project announced plans to fly its Perlan 2 glider

to a record 90,000ft this year, and then end the programme

Best of the rest

Grob Aircraft

Sweden’s air force received its first

of 10 G120TP basic trainers from
Grob Aircraft, with instructional
duties to start next year

We showcase some of the other

notable events covered by the
FlightGlobal team between issues
Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters delivered the lead H135 from

an 11-unit training deal with the Spanish air force

42 Flight International June 2023

 Highlights

NetJets took options on up to 250

Embraer Praetor 500 super-midsize
business jets, for use from 2025

China Airlines revealed its

intention to take another eight
Boeing 787-9s. It ordered
16 Dreamliners last August

Embraer
Aero Vodochody

China Airlines
Aero Vodochody’s initial production L-39NG made a debut
flight for an undisclosed customer – believed to be Vietnam

Archer Aviation

Archer Aviation unveiled a prototype of its Midnight electric air

taxi (foreground), aiming to begin flight-tests ‘this summer’

June 2023 Flight International 43

 July’s issue

Next month Paris:

our team
at Le Bourget
will cover
all the big
On sale
stories 29 June

Broken dreams Fly smart

What happens How more
as composite efficient
Peter Krocka/Shutterstock

787s head routing can

to retirement help with
at salvage emissions
Airbus

specialist? reduction
BillyPix

44 Flight International June 2023

Four eventful years have passed since
the industry last gathered at Le Bourget

46 Flight International June 2023

 Paris Introduction

Batard Patrick/ABACA/Shutterstock
VanderWolf Images/Shutterstock
Airbus

Back on
show With its previous planned event having been axed due to pandemic-related
travel restrictions, the Paris air show will be taking place for the first time since
2019 from 19-25 June. The world of aerospace has evolved markedly since the
last Le Bourget gathering, with environmental considerations growing ever-
more important and the war in Ukraine increasing NATO members’ focus on
defence spending – and keeping past Russian participants away from the show.
Ten years after its first flight, we assess the impact of Airbus’s A350 big twin, as
the airframer slowly recovers widebody production capacity as the downturn’s
effects continue easing. After what was a bumper 2022 for international sales,
Dassault Aviation now counts seven export customers for its Rafale combat
aircraft – we analyse its success, and whether it could be repeated with Europe’s
in-development New Generation Fighter. And we take a look at how air travel
might change in the coming years, with a review of the technologies being
pursued via the EU’s Clean Aviation initiative, which could make a valuable
SIAE

contribution in the sector’s push to achieve net-zero status by 2050.

June 2023 Flight International 47

Flying high
With a decade having passed since the first
flight of its A350 twinjet, Airbus is regaining
production momentum after the pandemic
ravaged demand for widebody capacity
David Kaminski-Morrow London
A
irbus will be promoting its family of
commercial airliner products in traditional
style at the Paris air show, with the event to
begin almost 10 years to the day since its
current best-selling widebody product – the A350 –
performed its debut flight.
On 14 June 2013 – three days before that year’s Le
Bourget gathering started – the first prototype of the
new-generation twinjet took to the air from Toulouse.
The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered A350-900
completed a roughly 4h test flight.
“If you think it looks beautiful on the ground you
should see it flying,” commented Airbus’s then
flight-test division president Fernando Alonso,
who was one of six crew members aboard for the
milestone sortie.
First impressions
“After the first few minutes it didn’t feel like we were
doing a first flight,” said Airbus chief test pilot Peter
Chandler. “It felt like we were flying an aeroplane at
the end of a test programme, it was so relaxed and
so predictable.”
Airbus’s original concept for the A350 had
emerged in 2004, after its belated realisation that
Boeing’s then-7E7 proposal – which would later
become the 787 – was attracting substantial interest
from customers in the 250-seat middle-market
sector occupied by its A330.
48 Flight International June 2023
The European airframer believed it would simply
be able to refresh the A330-200 and -300 with the
A350-800 and -900 – straight derivatives using
lightweight materials and a version of the 7E7’s
engine – and press the aircraft into service in 2010,
just behind its rival.
Airbus offered the original A350 with a
non-bleedless GE Aerospace GEnx-72A1 powerplant
as the launch engine. R-R would only confirm its own
candidate – the Trent 1700, adapted from the Trent
1000 – nearly a year later.
With Airbus playing catch-up to Boeing, Qatar
Airways lifted the A350’s prospects significantly in
2005 with an agreement for 60 aircraft. This saw it
become the largest customer for the new jet when
it was formally launched later the same year with a
total of 140 commitments.
Air Europa, TAM, US Airways and several leasing
firms were among the other initial takers. Finnair,
which signed for the A350 a couple of months after
its launch, became the first operator to select Trent
engines for the type.
“If you think it looks
beautiful on the ground
you should see it flying”
Fernando Alonso
Former flight-test division president, Airbus

Family planning: why Airbus shrank away from -800 variant
Airbus originally envisioned the A350 XWB as a
three-member family, centred on the -900 variant,
with a stretched -1000 as well as a smaller -800.
Simple shrinks generally tend to involve a weight
penalty as a result of excess structure, but the
airframer decided instead to optimise the -800 in
order to reduce its weight, structurally modifying
the twinjet and implementing
changes to its landing-gear, Smallest version was shelved resulted not only in a delay to
wheels and brakes. due to poor customer demand
The aircraft would use
derated Rolls-Royce Trent XWB
engines and have a range of
around 8,300nm (15,300km).
However, when Airbus
started to concentrate on
the -800’s development, the
rationale for the optimisation
became less clear.
Airbus
While the lighter structure
offered reduced fuel burn,
potential customers expressed concerns that the
divergence in commonality would not be beneficial
to them if they operated the -800 alongside other
A350 variants.
Airbus chose not to pursue the improved
economics of a reduced take-off weight in favour
of simplifying the -800 as a straightforward shrink
of the -900, allowing it to avoid the industrial
complexity of optimisation.
Cover story A350
AirTeamImages
Singapore Airlines is currently the largest
operator of the type, with 61 examples in use
The decision meant the airframer could instead
accept the higher fuel burn and use the -800’s
structure to offer some 250nm of enhanced range,
or a corresponding increase in payload.
But Airbus’s decision to redesign the A350-1000
to compete more effectively with the Boeing 777-
300ER, combined with the success of its A320-family
Neo re-engining programme,
the A350-800’s development
but also raised the possibility
that the A330 could also be re-
engined to help protect Airbus’s
position in the 250-seat sector.
Orders for the A350-800
peaked at about 180 aircraft
in 2008 but subsequently
declined as customers,
including launch airline Qatar
Airways, migrated to the -900.
The -800’s failure to attract
sufficient interest and Airbus’s re-engining of the
A330 for its -800 and -900 models – ironically, the
foundation of the original pre-XWB A350 concept –
ultimately led the airframer to abandon the smallest
member of the A350 family.
When Airbus formally launched the A330neo
programme, with Trent 7000 engines, on Bastille
Day in 2014, it essentially consigned the A350-800
to the guillotine.
June 2023 Flight International 49
 The original 250-seat A350-800 and 300-
seat -900 were pitched with respective ranges of
8,800nm (16,300km) and 7,500nm.
But high-profile customers had started indicating
disquiet over the A350 proposal, sensing that the
aircraft was little more than a warmed-over A330.
Boeing was mercilessly mocking its rival’s offering
as such, with advertising pointing out that the 7E7
was all-new.

Batard Patrick/ABACA/Shutterstock
Acknowledging operators’ and lessors’ concerns
that it needed a more impressive competitor to the
7E7, Airbus extensively reviewed the A350’s design.
It opted for a more ambitious programme,
comprising a completely new aircraft family that
would feature a wider cabin. This would not only
compete against the 787, but also take on the
A350-900 made its first flight just
777-300ER which, until then, had been unchallenged
before the Paris air show in 2013
in the large twinjet sector.

Thinking big
Airbus retained the A350 designation, but Although GE had been the lead engine supplier
underscored the increased cabin size of its new on the previous A350 design, it was also the
design by adding the ‘XWB’ branding, signifying exclusive powerplant supplier for the 777-300ER, so
the ‘extra-wide body’. It planned to produce three Airbus eventually entered into its own sole-source
versions: a baseline -900, along with the stretched agreement with R-R. The propulsion provider ditched
-1000 and a -800 shrink. the Trent 1700 in favour of a higher-thrust design, the
Trent XWB.
Deliveries of the A350-900 began in December
2014, with a first customer example handed over
A350 annual deliveries to Qatar Airways. The carrier launched revenue
services with the type the following month on the
120 Doha-Frankfurt route, employing it in a 283-seat,
100 two-class configuration.
The baseline model’s stretched-fuselage sibling,
80
the A350-1000, made a 4h 18min first flight on 24
60 November 2016, powered by Trent XWB-97 engines.
40 Deliveries of this variant commenced in February
20 2018, again with Qatar Airways leading the way in
introducing the type, with a 327-seat layout.
0
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023*
According to its orders and deliveries data, Airbus
had sold 967 A350s, and delivered 530 of these,
Source: Airbus Note: *to end of April
by the end of April 2023. Its orders split includes

How Rolls-Royce secured its XWB position of power

David Kaminski-Morrow London This redesign aimed to increase the aircraft’s
competitiveness with the Boeing 777-300ER, for
which GE Aerospace’s GE90 was the sole engine.
With the A350 XWB programme Airbus, for the first As part of the modification, and the need for a
time, entered an exclusivity arrangement with an higher-thrust engine, R-R was handed its own
engine supplier – Rolls-Royce is the sole powerplant exclusivity on the -1000.
manufacturer for the type with its Trent XWB. But this Airbus had intended an engine choice for the A350
exclusivity was only formalised relatively recently. XWB, having offered a GE GEnx powerplant as well
The Trent XWB is a three-shaft engine featuring a as the Trent 1700 for the A350’s original iteration as
22-blade fan of 3m (118in) diameter, an eight-stage a straight rival to the 787.
intermediate compressor and a six-stage high- GE had been the lead engine on the earlier A350
pressure compressor, with a 9.6:1 bypass ratio. concept, and customers who had ordered this
R-R’s basic model, the Trent XWB-84 for the aircraft with the GEnx powerplant were interested in
A350-900, has a thrust of 84,200lb (374kN), while a GE option on the A350 XWB.
derated versions are available down to 74,200lb But GE was reluctant to provide an engine for the
for the XWB-75. The most powerful model, for the A350-1000, owing to the possibility of cannibalising
A350-1000, was originally a 93,000lb-thrust engine its 777 position, and Airbus could not conclude an
but was bumped to 97,000lb as the XWB-97 when agreement for the smaller A350 XWB variants –
Airbus

Airbus undertook a redesign of the -1000 in 2011. which, at the time, included both the -900 and -800.

50 Flight International June 2023

 Cover story A350

A350 active commercial fleet

Operator In sevice

Aeroflot 5
Air Caraibes 6
Air China 24
Air France 20
Air Mauritius 4
Asiana Airlines 13
Azul 2
British Airways 13
Cathay Pacific 46
China Airlines 14
China Eastern Airlines 17
China Southern Airlines 16
Delta Air Lines 25
Ethiopian Airlines 20
Etihad Airways 5

967
Fiji Airways 2
Finnair 17
French Bee 6
Iberia 16
Iberojet 2
ITA Airways 6
Japan Airlines 16
Total sales of all A350 variants as of April 2023, according Lufthansa 21
to Airbus – the airframer has delivered 530 examples Malaysia Airlines 6
Philippine Airlines 1
Qatar Airways 36
755 -900s (78%), 173 -1000s (18%) and 39 of the SAS 4
in-development A350F dedicated freighter (4%). Sichuan Airlines 5
Cirium fleets data shows there were 480 of the type Singapore Airlines 61
in commercial airline service as of 9 May, with the Starlux Airlines 3
top five-ranked operators being Singapore Airlines Thai Airways International 12
(SIA/61), Cathay Pacific (46), Qatar Airways (36), Turkish Airlines 12
Delta Air Lines (25) and Air China (24). That total Vietnam Airlines 13
excludes a trio of -900s employed by the German air Virgin Atlantic 9
force in the head of state and VIP transport role. World2Fly 2
Notably, OAG data shows that SIA used the A350- Total 480
900 Ultra Long-Range model to perform the world’s Source: Cirium fleets data (as of 9 May 2023)
Note: excludes 3 VIP examples flown by the German air force
longest-range commercial flight last year, between

Absence of a GE option gave R-R de facto

exclusivity on the A350 family, although blade-
durability issues on certain Trent models plus
emergence of GE’s new GE9X engine for the 777X
briefly raised the possibility of a rethink.
But Airbus and R-R quashed the idea in 2021,
revealing a full Trent XWB exclusivity pact on all
A350s to 2030, by which point R-R aims to have its
new UltraFan engine available for consideration.
Meanwhile, service entry for an Enhanced
Performance (EP) variant of the Trent XWB-84
selected by Singapore Airlines (SIA) in 2016 has
slipped until the middle of the decade.
SIA had initially expected to field the update from
late-2019, but now says it expects to “take delivery of
the Trent XWB-84 EP engines from the first quarter
of 2025”. They will “be used mainly” on its fleet
of A350-900 Ultra Long-Range aircraft, offering a
projected 1% improvement in fuel consumption.

Additional reporting by Dominic Perry

June 2023 Flight International 51

 New York JFK and Singapore – a recorded distance
of 8,279km, with the aircraft in a reduced 161-seat
layout. Qantas, meanwhile, plans to introduce the
-1000 on nonstop ultra-long-haul routes between
Australia’s east coast and New York and the UK from
2025 via its Project Sunrise.
Some 411 -900s were in active use in early May,
along with 69 -1000s, representing an 85% share for
the baseline version.
Another 46 A350s were listed by Cirium as being
in storage as of 9 May, including six previously flown
by China’s Hainan Airlines, and 17 Qatar Airways
examples – all -900s – which are progressively being
returned to use. Airbus and Qatar Airways announced
on 1 February 2023 that they had “reached an
amicable and mutually agreeable settlement in
relation to their legal dispute over A350 surface
degradation and the grounding of A350 aircraft”.
Strong commitment
Cirium data shows that another 442 A350s are on
order, although this total includes commitments from
Aeroflot (11 -900s) and Iran Air (16 -1000s), which
cannot receive the aircraft due to international sanc-
tions imposed on Moscow and Tehran. Excluding those
deals, Airbus’s backlog stands at some 415 units.
By comparison, Boeing delivered 1,054 of its rival
787 by 30 April, when it cited a firm order backlog of
another 533. Available in the -8, -9 and -10 models, the
Dreamliner entered service with Japan Airlines in 2011.
This year has already delivered several boosts for
the A350 programme. The first came as Air India
in February announced plans for a massive fleet
renewal activity, to include both Airbus and Boeing
products, among them 34 A350-100s and six -900s.
These have yet to be contracted, however.
Lufthansa in March ordered another five -900s,
along with 10 -1000s, to further boost its fleet.
Currently using only the smaller model, the German
carrier will begin operations with the larger variant
9
Target monthly output – ‘rate 9’ – Airbus aims to achieve by
Airbus
the end of 2025; it currently produces six A350s per month
in 2026. Airbus also sold four A350F freighters to an
undisclosed customer, and on 9 May announced that
Philippine Airlines intends to take nine A350-1000s.
Following the start of A350 shipments in late
2014, when a single -900 was handed over, annu-
al deliveries were on a steady upward curve until
the Covid-19 pandemic hit air travel and widebody
demand especially from March 2020 (see table, p48).
From 112 A350s shipped in 2019, the number
slumped to 59 in 2020 and then 53 in 2021, before
recovering slightly to total 62 last year.
Just nine A350s – all -900s – were shipped in the
first four months of this year: three to China Eastern
Airlines, two for Starlux Airlines, and lone examples to
Air China, Ethiopian Airlines, SIA and Turkish Airlines.
52 Flight International June 2023
Developmental A350F set to lift
airframer’s cargo prospects
Having secured a launch order for its A350F
freighter from Air Lease in November 2021, Airbus
is now progressing with development of the model,
which will offer a 109t payload capacity.
To date, the company has announced
commitments for a combined 39 A350Fs; one
more than its delivered total of the lower-capacity
A330-200F. Launched in 2007, the cargo variant of
the previous-generation widebody twin is able to
transport a load totalling only 64t.
Along with Air Lease (7), other takers for the
A350F are: Air France-KLM Group (8, for operation
by Air France Cargo and Martinair Cargo); CMA
CGM (4); Etihad Airways (7); Silk Way West Airlines
(2); and Singapore Airlines (7); along with an
undisclosed customer (4).
The airframer on 3 May announced that it has
“slightly adjusted” its industrial planning for the
freighter, after achieving initial milestones.
Chief executive Guillaume Faury confirmed
during a first-quarter results call that the A350F’s
entry into service has shifted into 2026, describing
this as a matter of a “few months” from the
previous end-2025 timeframe.
Faury insists the slip does not amount to a
“re-baselining” of the schedule, with the shift
instead related to overall programme execution.
The first components for the freighter were
recently produced at its Airbus Atlantic plant
in Nantes. This work involved machining metal
components for its reinforced centre wing-box.
Freighter variant, due to enter service
in 2026, offers a 109t payload capacity
Speaking during a first-quarter results briefing on
3 May, Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said
the A350 delivery situation will remain “weak” in the
second quarter.
Deliveries of the twinjets will be backloaded to the
latter half of the year “more than average”, he says,
due to supply chain factors including the late delivery
of “high-end seats”, rather than to a lack of demand.
Airbus, which currently produces six A350s per
month, is planning a gradual ramp-up of capacity to
return to triple-figure annual output. Its current goal
is to achieve “rate 9” – nine deliveries per month – at
the end of 2025. ◗
● Additional reporting by Craig Hoyle

BA has 13 A350-1000s, with 250
pilots assigned to the type
Ceri Breeze/Shutterstock
PILOT PERSPECTIVE
Cockpit delight
A sophisticated flightdeck with
comprehensive automation gives
crew a wealth of information and
improves safety and efficiency –
but still retains ‘the joy of flying’
David Kaminski-Morrow London
I
f there were any cynical concerns that the advanced
automation on the Airbus A350 would reduce the
pilot’s job to little more than computer monitoring,
British Airways director of flying Captain James
Basnett does not share them.
“The joy of flying hasn’t been lost,” he told a Roy-
al Aeronautical Society audience on 23 March, as he
spoke about his impressions of the twinjet, stating that
the aircraft’s sophistication enables efficient perfor-
mance while retaining the satisfaction of manual flight.
While entry-into-service with BA has been “very
smooth”, Basnett says the aircraft’s electronic set-up
for flight noticeably takes “twice as long” as that
for the A320. The airline’s reliance on paper in the
cockpit has markedly declined in the last three or
four years, he says, noting: “We’re not quite there, but
we’re pretty well there.”
The aircraft carries out detailed performance
calculations, taking into account effects from individ-
ual system status and crosschecking figures with its
expectations. Basnett says take-off weight limitations
on the A350 are “very rare”, even at hot-and-high
airports such as Johannesburg, South Africa.
Cover story A350
“It’s probably true to say that, once you’re away from
the ground there’s a sense of relief, because the set-up
of the aircraft is time-consuming and critical,” he says.
“Once you’re in the air, [the A350 is] a delight.”
The primary flight displays contain “so much infor-
mation”, he says, with such features as vertical profile,
terrain, and balance data, and are a “step up” from the
A320. This requires a different approach to the tradi-
tional instrument ‘T-scan’ in earlier aircraft, he adds.
Once established in the cruise, the aircraft burns
about 6t of fuel per hour.
Basnett says the A350 provides flightcrew with
information on contingency scenarios, with a ‘what if’
function – giving detailed data on single-engine de-
scents, for example – enabling the pilots to engage in
more interactive preparation. “The A350 has all these
tools at your behest,” he notes.
The crew can go into “minute detail” for approach
planning, he says, and the A350 is a “really stable air-
craft” in both cruise and descent. Load alleviation and
flap controls are “constantly doing things which are
completely outside the pilot”, he adds – but although a
lot of information is “need to know”, the crew can call
up systems pages to understand the jet’s behaviour.
Basnett stresses the benefits of the A350’s
brake-to-vacate function, which constantly updates
the automatic braking requirement according to the
aircraft status and runway condition.
This gives the pilots “surety” in the runway exit after
touchdown – sufficient to assist air traffic control with
approach stream spacing – although he admits that it
can be “unnerving” because, while autobraking usually
begins immediately, brake-to-vacate optimises the
deceleration timing, which means the brakes might
not activate for a few seconds after landing.
BA has 13 A350-1000s, with 250 pilots assigned
to the type. Basnett says the aircraft is one he “feels
at home in”, and argues that it is “completely future-
proof”, already prepared for the implementation of
new independent approach patterns at airports.
He says Airbus has “nailed it in many ways” with the
A350, adding that it “stands up well” compared with
the Boeing 777. “It’s a fantastic [aircraft],” he says.
“Pilots love flying it.”
June 2023 Flight International 53
 Rafale
rising

Dassault is enjoying huge success with

its ever-versatile fighter, with seven
export customers having signed up for
the type since 2015 and an additional
domestic order on the near-horizon
Dassault Aviation

The United Arab Emirates’ 80-aircraft deal marks biggest international win for the French-built type

54 Flight International June 2023

 Paris Rafale

Craig Hoyle London

A
fter more than 20 years of operational duty,
Dassault Aviation’s Rafale has matured into
a highly capable combat asset, and one
which – after a decidedly slow start – is now
enjoying strong international sales success.
Cirium fleets data shows that there were 243 Rafales
in active use as of 25 April, with these operated by five
nations: Egypt, France, Greece, India and Qatar.
During a bumper 12 months that the French
manufacturer referred to as “a historic year”, it in
2022 announced that contracts had come into effect
with a trio of buyers for a combined 92 Rafales. This
total includes 80 for the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
the first six of a planned 42 for Indonesia, and a fur-
ther batch of six new-build examples for Greece.

Multiple customers
The company also delivered a combined 13 export
aircraft to Greece, India and Qatar last year, along
with the first French air force example since Novem-
ber 2018. A twin-seat variant, B359 is drawn from
Paris’s 60-aircraft fourth tranche production order,
deliveries under which are due to conclude in 2025.
At the end of 2022, the Rafale’s order backlog
stood at 164 aircraft, of which 125 are for export
customers and 39 for domestic use.
Production output for 2023 is expected to total 13
units, all for the French air force, but Dassault is plan-
ning to boost this to a record rate of three per month
by the middle of this decade, in order to keep pace
with soaring demand.

164
US Air Force

Qatar operates 36 examples,

Order backlog at the end of 2022, representing 125 aircraft
with options to double fleet
for export customers and 39 for the French military

Developed to meet French requirements, the
twin-Snecma M88-engined Rafale is produced in three
variants: the single-seat C and twin-seat B for air force
use, and the aircraft carrier-compatible single-seat M.
It was first flown as a technology demonstrator in July
1986, and in production guise from May 1991.
The French navy took its first M-model jets in
December 2000, and placed the type into squad-
ron use the following year. It today has 41 in active
service, with two more on contract and another 10
the subject of potential future acquisition.
Some 93 of the type are in French air force service
currently, according to Cirium: 53 Bs and 40 Cs, with
another 37 (6 Bs and 31 Cs) on order. Another two
C-model fighters are recorded as stored.
To support the nation’s frontline fleet, the DGA de-
fence procurement agency’s Essais en vol flight-test
unit also operates a further five Rafales: three Bs, and
single examples of the C and M.
And in a pending further boost for its already
healthy backlog, Dassault expects to later this year
sign a fifth tranche production order with France. To
cover a total of 42 aircraft, these will help to keep the
nation’s industry busy until Paris begins purchasing
the New Generation Fighter (NGF) being designed
for France, Germany and Spain, with Dassault as the
platform development lead. Operations with the new
model are expected to commence from 2040.
Meanwhile, the Rafale’s new F4.1 operating stand-
ard achieved qualification by the DGA in mid-March.
System updates
Capability updates include the ability to carry
three Safran Electronics & Defense AASM 1,000kg
(2,200lb) laser/GPS-guided bombs, sensor enhance-
ments, and updated communications and cyber-
protection. It also Thales’s Scorpion helmet-mounted
sight, plus fire control system enhancements which
enable another Rafale to manage MBDA Meteor
beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles after launch.
“Operational experimentation by the [French] Air
and Space Force and the French Navy began on 3

June 2023 Flight International 55

 March,” the DGA says, ahead of trials “during the
spring” aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
France’s entire in-service Rafale fleet will be retrofit-
ted to the new standard, which also will be used on
new-build examples.
For many years following its introduction to
domestic service – including participating in successful
combat operations over Afghanistan, Libya and Mali
– Dassault was unsuccessful in its efforts to sell the Ra-
fale to overseas customers. But that situation changed
dramatically during the first few months of 2015.
In February of that year, Egypt announced a
24-aircraft purchase, with this first international
success followed only two months later by a commit-
ment from Qatar for the same number of jets.
Rapid delivery
Cairo’s initial acquisition was split between 16
Bs and eight Cs. Deliveries rapidly commenced
to the north African nation from July 2015, with
Dassault diverting aircraft that had already been in
production for France. Another 30 examples were
ordered in 2021 for the Egyptian air force, in a mix
between the two variants.
In March 2023, Dassault announced that Rafales
had completed their first 10,000h in Egyptian air
force service – the most accumulated so far by an
export customer for the type.
“This important milestone confirms the Rafale’s
technological and operational excellence, and attests
to the quality of the training Egyptian crews received
out the transformation of its pilots and mechanics to
the Rafale with ease and fluidity”.
Dassault’s second export buyer, Qatar, has now
fielded 36 Rafales, having increased the scope of its
original order via a 2017 deal for 12 more.
Deliveries to the Qatar Emiri Air Force began in
February 2019, with the service now having 27 local-
ly-designated EQ single-seaters and nine two-seat
DQs. Doha – which has pursued an ambitious fight-
er expansion programme by also acquiring Boeing
F-15QAs and Eurofighter Typhoons – has an option to
eventually double the size of its French-supplied fleet.
Following the collapse of its keenly contest-
ed Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA)
programme, through which it had selected the
Rafale for a planned 126-aircraft acquisition, India
in 2016 opted to buy 36 in a so-called “flyaway”
condition. The original plan for MMRCA had been
“The great skill of the
Egyptian air force [has
allowed it] to carry
out the transformation of
its pilots and mechanics
to the Rafale with ease

Dassault Aviation
in France,” Dassault says.
Also citing the importance of its provision of and fluidity”
in-service support, the manufacturer points to “the
great skill of the Egyptian air force, which has carried Dassault Aviation

NGF project gaining momentum after faltering start
Four years ago, France, Germany
and Spain used the opening day
of the Paris air show to formally
launch their joint Future Combat
Air System (FCAS) programme,
with Dassault Aviation also
unveiling a conceptual full-size
model of a New Generation
Fighter (NGF).
The “sixth-generation” combat
asset is planned to enter frontline
use from 2040, replacing the
partner nations’ oldest Dassault
Rafales and Eurofighter Typhoons.
With the aerospace industry
set to return to Le Bourget from
19-25 June – for the first time
since the 2019 event, due to
the pandemic’s disruption – the
it doesn’t mean anything. At
the end, it is not about how
Defence & Space over Dassault’s many jobs can be created in one
status as development lead for country, but the ability to deliver
the NGF. This contributed to a on time, and on budget.”
significant delay of almost one However, with such discussions
year, until a Phase 1B agreement to be required in the future
was finally reached last December. around issues such as workshare
Working in collaboration with during series production,
Airbus’s defence unit, Dassault Trappier on 9 March cautioned:
will build the project’s lone NGF “The question of who is in charge
prototype as part of the latest
€3.2 billion ($3.5 billion) phase of New Generation Fighter
work. The aircraft is expected to design was unveiled at
make its first flight towards the 2019’s Paris air show
end of this decade.
Lead role
Speaking to FlightGlobal earlier
this year, Dassault chief executive
Eric Trappier outlined the critical
VanderWolf Images/Shutterstock

collaborative effort will again importance of his company

be a high-profile talking point,
after what has been a somewhat
faltering start.
An initial 18-month Phase
1A study activity kicked off in
February 2020, but wrangling
swiftly began with partner Airbus
securing the lead role on the
manned fighter’s development.
“The key question when you are
developing a new product like this
is that you need an architect, an
organiser,” he says. “If you have
some kind of co-development,

56 Flight International June 2023


has been resolved – but the
question of whether it will work
is still not resolved.”
A contract for the programme’s
next, Phase 2 stage should be
finalised during 2025.
The European FCAS endeavour
also involves Indra as Spain’s
national industry lead, and EUMET
propulsion system partners ITP
Aero, MTU, and Safran.
Egypt became first export customer with an initial order for 24 Rafales in February 2015
Welcoming the official launch
of Phase 1B, the partners said
the project will deliver “a
powerful, innovative and fully
European weapon system to
meet the operational needs of the
countries’ armed forces”.
The NGF activity is just one of
a swathe of new fighter projects
under way around the globe.
A joint programme between
Italy, Japan and the UK, the
Global Combat Air Programme
(GCAP) aims to deliver a manned
Tempest fighter to enter frontline
use in 2035.
Both GCAP and NGF will be
accompanied by a range of
complementary capabilities,
including accompanying
unmanned remote carrier or ‘loyal
wingman’ vehicles, sophisticated
precision-strike weapons and
underpinning communication
networks dubbed combat clouds.
Across the Atlantic, meanwhile,
the US Air Force’s secretive Next-
Generation Air Dominance effort
will deliver a sixth-generation
Paris Rafale
successor for its Lockheed Martin
F-22 air superiority fighter –
and the US Navy also is looking
beyond the Boeing F/A-18E/F
Super Hornet – production of
which will end for the service in
late 2025 – as it works to define
its future F/A-XX requirement.
Other high-profile national
fighter development projects are
currently under way in both South
Korea and Turkey.
Korea Aerospace Industries
has made rapid progress with its
KF-21 since a first flight in July
2022. Five of an eventual six
prototypes are now involved in a
test campaign which has already
achieved supersonic flight and the
release of inert air-to-air missiles.
Turkish Aerospace, meanwhile,
has been working for several
years on its TF-X project, and
formally unveiled the result of its
efforts on 1 May, also naming the
fighter Kaan.
Additional reporting by
Murdo Morrison
June 2023 Flight International 57

for Dassault to produce the first 18 in France, with
a local partner to be responsible for assembling the
remaining 108 in India.
“Following the Rafale contract, Dassault Aviation
and its partners are also contributing to the ‘Make
in India’ policy, through a vast procurement, train-
ing and industrial subcontracting network involving
dozens of companies, in accordance with our offset
obligations,” the company says.
The Indian air force’s first five examples arrived
at Ambala air base in July 2020, and the type was
formally inducted to service late the same year. It
now fields 28 Rafale Cs and eight Bs, with these
assigned to two squadrons.
In a potential further opportunity for Dassault, the
Indian air force retains a need to acquire addition-
al new western fighters, but New Delhi has yet to
advance this to a formal request for proposals. Other
potential candidates include the F-15, Eurofighter Ty-
phoon, Lockheed Martin’s F-21 – an Indian-optimised
version of the F-16, and the Saab Gripen.
Naval requirement
Dassault also is pursuing an Indian navy requirement
to acquire 57 carrier-based fighters. At the Aero India
show in Bengaluru in February 2023, it exhibited a
Rafale M mock-up, as it eyes the potential to land its
first international buyer for the ‘Marine’ model.
Boeing’s F/A-18F is also in contention for an
order, which could potentially represent the last
success for the type before its manufacturer halts
production. The US airframer earlier this year an-
nounced that it will deliver its final Super Hornets in
2025, but noted that success with an international
“We will do everything
in our power to develop
our industrial presence
in [India] and meet its
military needs, both today
and for the future”
Eric Trappier Chief executive, Dassault Aviation
India’s air force has 36 B/C-model
fighters, flown by two squadrons
AirTeamImages
58 Flight International June 2023
EXERCISE
How ‘Rastaban’
mission tested Rafale
M’s endurance
French navy deployment from
Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier
saw a trio of jets cover 2,160nm
nonstop, ahead of joint exercise
in Singapore
Greg Waldron Singapore
E
arly this year, a trio of Dassault Aviation Rafale
Ms completed the longest-ever operational
mission undertaken by French navy combat
aircraft, dubbed ‘Rastaban’.
After launching from the aircraft carrier Charles de
Gaulle in the western Indian Ocean, the single-seat
‘Marine’ fighters staged a nonstop, 2,160nm
(4,000km) flight to Paya Lebar air base in Singapore
in late January. Their mission was supported by
a French air force Airbus Defence & Space A330
multi-role tanker transport.
“The Rastaban manoeuvre is the furthest projec-
tion that the French navy has ever conducted from
the sea,” says Rear Admiral Christophe Cluzel, who
commanded the French Carrier Strike Group (CSG)
which was headed by its lone such vessel.
“It proves how much the Rafale Marine operated by
the French Navy is reliable to operate from the sea,
in a large carrier strike group’s operation area as well
as much further, with partners far beyond the CSG
horizon,” Cluzel notes. The recent naval deployment
also involved operations in the Mediterranean Sea
and Red Sea.
French naval airpower places a high priority on
working with allies, and during the recent deploy-
ment this included co-ordinating with the US Navy’s
(USN’s) Nimitz-class carrier USS George H.W. Bush.
customer could extend this schedule by up to a
further two years.
Dassault’s rival is pointing to several claimed ad-
vantages with its Super Hornet design. These include
its two-seat configuration – a stated requirement for
the Indian customer – and an ability to fit on lifts on
current Indian navy vessels. Both the Rafale M and
US type have already demonstrated ski-jump ramp
take-offs during trials at a land-based facility in Goa.
“We will do everything in our power to develop our
industrial presence in this great country and meet
its military needs, both today and for the future,”
Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier said ahead of
the Aero India show.

‘Cross-deck’ work saw Rafales landing and taking
off from the USN vessel, and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super
Hornet fighters and Grumman C-2 transports con-
ducting flight operations aboard Charles de Gaulle.
“We are used to operating with US carrier strike
groups because we share the same expertise and our
pilots are trained in the US,” Cluzel notes.
Following their arrival, the Rafale Ms participated
in exercises with the Republic of Singapore Air
Force (RSAF).
“Flying with our RSAF friends is a proof of the
high level of trust and interoperability that links Sin-
gapore and France,” says Cluzel.
The Rastaban activity represented the second visit
by French-operated Rafales to Singapore within
DLeng/Shutterstock
Carrier-based fighters touched down at Paya Lebar air base
Another export buyer, Greece, in September 2020
sealed a rapid acquisition of 18 Rafales, with its
purchase divided between a dozen used jets drawn
from French air force stocks and six new jets. Its first
six of the second-hand assets – to be replaced in
the French air force with new-build examples – were
transferred to Tanagra air base in January 2022, and
it has now received a total of 13: nine Cs and four Bs.
Athens in March 2022 signed for another six
new-build Rafales, with these due for delivery from
mid-2024.
Another transfer deal had been signed in November
2021, meanwhile, with Croatia also to acquire a dozen
ex-French air force fighters.
Paris Rafale
Ludovic Marin/SIPA/Shutterstock
‘Cross-deck’ work saw Rafales launched from Charles de
Gaulle, along with the US Navy’s USS George H.W. Bush
several months. In September 2022, three French
air force examples visited the island state as part of
Mission Pegase: a major French deployment to the
region that also included participation in Australia’s
Pitch Black exercise.
During their stay in Singapore, the Rafale Ms were
supported by a logistics team sent from the type’s
home base at Landivisiau in northwestern France.
“We have to thank these guys and all the tech-
nicians working on the carrier,” Cluzel says. “Their
dedication and expertise allow us to launch our
aircraft daily. There are also other jobs involved in this
manoeuvre, of course, and crew spirit plays a strong
part in this shared success.”
Cirium fleets data shows that the French navy has
41 Rafale Ms in active use, with the type capable of
deploying the MBDA ASMP-A missile from Charles de
Gaulle as part of France’s nuclear deterrent.
Speaking to FlightGlobal in Singapore, Cluzel also
offered some insights into the future air wing of
France’s next aircraft carrier, which is likely to replace
Charles de Gaulle in the late 2030s.
Initially, an advanced version of the Rafale and
the Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye
airborne early warning and control system aircraft will
fly from the ship. Later, the air wing will incorporate
the New Generation Fighter to be developed via the
French-German-Spanish Future Combat Air Sys-
tem programme, which will be fully integrated with
unmanned ‘remote carrier’ loyal wingman assets.
Zagreb will take eight aircraft next year, with the
remainder to follow during 2025. The type will replace
the NATO nation’s remaining Mikoyan MiG-21s.
But Dassault’s biggest success to date with the
Rafale came in December 2021, when the UAE
announced a shock 80-unit order. Its commitment
was revealed one month after a Dubai air show that
had been dominated by talk of the Lockheed F-35
and developmental RAC MiG-75 Checkmate.
Valued by Paris at €16 billion ($17.5 billion), the UAE
deal came into effect in April 2022, on the receipt
of an initial contractual payment from Abu Dhabi.
Deliveries of its F4-standard aircraft are scheduled to
run between 2027 and 2031.
June 2023 Flight International 59
US Air Force Paris Rafale

There are 90 Rafale Bs currently in service,

representing 37% of the total inventory

The UAE’s acquisition includes an extensive

armaments package worth an estimated €2 billion, Rafale active fleet
with Europe’s MBDA to be the main provider.
Last year also brought confirmation of a planned Nation (service) Active Ordered

Indonesian air force acquisition of 42 Rafales, Croatia 12**

with the first six aircraft having been placed Egypt 24 30
under contract in February 2022. This saw Jakarta France (air force) 93 37+84*
confirmed as the first Asia-Pacific buyer, becoming France (navy) 41 2+10*
Dassault’s seventh export customer for the type. Greece 13 11
Indonesia is currently spending big on new- India 36
generation fighters, with its shopping list also Indonesia 6+36*
including the F-15IQ and Korea Aerospace Industries Qatar 36 36*
KF-21 designs. United Arab Emirates 80
Total 243 164***
Long heritage Source: Cirium fleets data (as of 25 April)
Notes: *pending confirmation **ex-French air force aircraft ***firm backlog at end of 2022
While Dassault’s international successes to date
have in some instances formed part of broader
defence equipment packages promoted by the
French government, the company is quick to point Croatia and Indonesia are the only buyers to date
out that it has a decades-long heritage in providing for the Rafale to have not previously relied on a
equipment to multiple customers that are now mov- Dassault product for their combat air power.
ing to the Rafale. Other current sales targets include Colombia,
Notably, Egypt, Greece, India, Qatar and the Trappier confirmed earlier this year.
UAE all are current users of its Mirage 2000-series Analysis of the current in-service fleet shows that
fighter, while the Egyptian air force also still flies the there are 90 Rafale Bs in service, representing 37% of
older Mirage 5. the 243-unit total. The single-seat C is the most widely
Dassault notes that the Indian air force has employed variant, with 112 aircraft, or 46%. The mar-
operated its aircraft since 1953, making the service its itime M-model – operated only by the French navy –
“longest standing export customer”. accounts for the remaining 17%, with 41 aircraft in use.

42
Indonesian air force order confirmed in February 2022,
making Jakarta first Asian-Pacific customer for the type
A total of five Rafales have been lost to accidents
since its operational introduction: four French navy
Ms and one French air force-operated B.
With its seventh export customer now in formation,
a new operating standard to deliver enhanced
capability for the French military and internation-
al operators, and an already healthy backlog that
is set to grow further this year, Dassault’s Rafale
programme will remain fighting fit until its successor
NGF enters use. ◗

60 Flight International June 2023

 Green shoots
With a first set of projects under way, EU-backed
Clean Aviation is thinking about next steps, including
an eventual flight-test campaign, as it looks to help
aviation meet ambitious decarbonisation goals

Airbus’s ZEROe programme will require many of the

Airbus

technologies being matured by Clean Aviation

62 Flight International June 2023


Dominic Perry London
I
t has been a busy few months for Axel Krein, exec-
utive director of Clean Aviation – the EU’s research
and innovation body helping to fund commercial
aviation’s drive towards net-zero by 2050.
Back in September 2022 it announced the first 20
projects selected to share €654 million ($721 million)
under the programme’s first phase, with initiatives
officially kicking off in January.
Then in February this year Clean Aviation launched
its second call for proposals as part of its phase one
activity, and in April there was the small matter of a
two-day conference in Brussels – described
by Krein as “our best yet”.
There is a sense, particularly given the
often-slow pace of change in both aerospace
and a notoriously bureaucratic body like the
EU, that events are moving quickly.
The first “deliverables” from the two-score
Clean Aviation projects are due by mid-year,
and will be followed by the organisation’s
initial annual report in December.
Second call
In the meantime, it will also have allocated
over €137 million to projects selected under
its second call. Those proposals, designed to
fill in any gaps left over from the first round,
will be evaluated before the summer break
Clean Aviation
and recipients selected before year-end, to
enable them to kick off in January 2024.
And then there is the organisation’s all-new
High Five Awards, which will be presented to
“five trailblazers revolutionising the future of
climate-neutral aviation” at a 20 June ceremony at
the Paris air show.
Several things appear to be behind the rapid shift
in gear: the sheer scale of the challenge; the short,
three-year duration of most phase one projects; and,
arguably, Krein himself. Even on our video call he
projects an air of drive and enthusiasm, delivering
answers in an animated rapid-fire staccato.
On balance he has much to be excited – if not nerv-
ous – about. Those initial 20 projects, each delivered
by a consortium, involve 244 participants: a mix of
industry, aerospace research institutes like Germany’s
HECATE (hybrid-electric regional aircraft technologies)
The recipient of €40 million in combined Clean
Aviation and UK Research & Innovation funding,
project HECATE – named after a Greek god-
dess associated with witchcraft – is developing
a high-voltage electrical distribution system for
regional aircraft.
Led by Collins Aerospace’s Applied Research
and Technology unit in Cork, Ireland, HECATE also
involves the manufacturer’s sites in Nordlingen,
Germany and Solihull in the UK, alongside Diehl
Aerospace, Safran Electrical & Power, and Thales,
plus Airbus Defence & Space and Leonardo who will
provide an airframer perspective.
Paris Sustainability
DLR, and universities. And among those 244 entities,
52 are new to Clean Aviation and its Clean Sky pre-
decessors. “It’s important to bring in companies from
outside the known spectrum that might have compe-
tencies or expertise we can benefit from,” says Krein.
As you would expect, those companies are drawn
from across the EU, essential to ensuring contin-
ued bloc-wide political support. There are even 20
companies from the UK involved – although due to
post-Brexit complications, none can lead projects and
funding is provided by the UK Research & Innovation
body rather than Clean Aviation.
Clean Aviation’s projects are grouped into three
broad aircraft-based workstreams – or “thrusts” as
“It’s important
to bring in
companies
from outside
aerospace with
expertise we
can benefit
from”
Axel Krein Executive director,
Clean Aviation
Krein calls them – hybrid-electric regional, ultra-
efficient short-medium range (SMR), and hydrogen-
powered. There is additionally a fourth “transversal”
strand, with projects looking at certification require-
ments and how individual technologies will interact on
conceptual regional and SMR aircraft designs.
By the end of phase one, ground testing of the
systems under development will be complete, having
been taken to technology readiness level (TRL) 4 or 5.
Phase two, planned to kick off in 2026, will see some
but not necessarily all of those projects selected to
proceed to extensive ground or flight testing, with
Full testing of the 500kW-plus system at technol-
ogy readiness level 5 is envisaged in 2025. It will ma-
ture both the individual components or sub-systems
– power switches, protection and power conversion
systems – and the integrated distribution system.
Although lacking the glamour of advanced
engines or structures, mastering high-power electric
distribution for aviation is vital for future regional
aircraft designs that envisage hybrid- or hydro-
gen-electric powertrains.
With future aircraft power requirements likely to
be higher than that of the system on test, Collins
says there will be growth potential in its design.
June 2023 Flight International 63
 the aim of achieving TRL6 by 2028 or 2029. Sticking
to that timeframe is key if the products or systems be-
ing matured are to be selected for a next-generation
aircraft with a service-entry target of 2035.
The EU is providing a total budget of €1.7 billion –
split between around €800 million in phase one and
€900 million in phase two – with industry’s contri-
bution mandated to be at least 1.5 times that figure.
However, Krein says that so far the private sector’s
contribution is significantly higher.
While the ratio is higher than that seen in the Clean
Sky programmes, Krein is not astounded at the
private sector’s willingness to invest.

“We are entering into the

window of opportunity.
Those new aircraft are
so imminent. There is an
urgency to put those new
AirTeamImages

aircraft into the market”

Aviation is targeting net-zero emissions by 2050
Axel Krein Executive director, Clean Aviation

“It’s no surprise because now we are entering into

what I call the window of opportunity. Those new
aircraft are so imminent. There is such an urgency
to put those new aircraft into the market that the
effort from the private side is huge,” he says. “There
is a huge pull and push demand from society, from
politics, from everyone.”
On top of this, new technologies are “becoming
available” and there is a “huge appetite now to go
for it and to make them work”, he says.
A crucial aspect of Clean Aviation’s approach is
that it is not focussed on one single technology,
even within a broader strand of research. Take the
ultra-efficient engines under consideration for the
CFM International

SMR aircraft, where three distinct designs are being

researched by consortia led by MTU Aero Engines,
Rolls-Royce Deutschland, and Safran Aircraft Engines.
CFM RISE effort will benefit from OFELIA research
Respectively, these are SWITCH (a water-enhanced

OFELIA (open-fan for environmental low impact of aviation)

One of the three ultra-efficient engines that are
being funded by Clean Aviation under its short-
and medium-range aircraft stream, the OFELIA
programme is seeking to mature technologies
required for a future open-fan engine.
Led by Safran Aircraft Engines, the project
supports work on the RISE open-fan demonstra-
tor being conducted by the CFM International
joint venture in which the French firm is a partner
alongside GE Aerospace.
The 27-strong OFELIA consortium will receive
€100 million for the three-year project, which is
scheduled to run until December 2025.
OFELIA’s aim is to demonstrate the benefits of an
open-fan architecture for a new narrowbody engine
to enter service in 2035; critically it should deliver a
20% fuel-burn saving over today’s powerplants, the
same figure as targeted by RISE.
CFM launched the RISE demonstrator programme
in June 2021 with flight-tests due to begin by the
middle of the decade.
Safran and partners Avio Aero – owned by GE
Aerospace – and GKN Aerospace will work togeth-
er to design and manufacture components for the
demonstrator engine. Topics to be researched by
the OFELIA consortium include whirl flutter, the

64 Flight International June 2023


Rolls-Royce
R-R will adapt UltraFan architecture
through HEAVEN initiative
turbofan concept), HEAVEN (an evolution of R-R’s
UltraFan architecture), and OFELIA (an open-fan en-
gine). As well as offering a substantial reduction in fuel
burn, the three engines should also be capable of run-
ning on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) or hydrogen.
Consuming a substantial part of the phase one
budget – the OFELIA project has been awarded
€100 million alone – the trio are “really core parts”
of the SMR thrust, Krein says. While the propul-
sion architectures under consideration all appear
promising – and in the case of HEAVEN and OFELIA
build on work carried out under Clean Sky 2 – he
cautions there is no guarantee that all will be taken to
flight testing by Clean Aviation.
“We are pursuing all three [designs] – at the mo-
ment, it is impossible to say which will be the one for
unducted fan – comprising a single-stage propeller
and a row of static vanes – high-speed booster, and
high-speed low-pressure turbine aerodynamics.
Maturation work will focus on a high-power com-
pact reduction gearbox, lightweight engine compo-
nents, combustor emissions, high-pressure compres-
sor aerodynamics, and hybrid-electric technology.
OFELIA consortium members include Safran’s
nacelle, transmission and booster businesses,
GKN Aerospace, Avio Aero and GE’s German unit,
aerospace research institutes Cenaero, DLR, NLR,
ONERA and VZLU, plus universities in Dresden,
Graz and Turin.
Paris Sustainability
the next short- to medium-range aircraft. We may
– although this is not clear yet – decide, by 2025, in
phase two to downselect one or two.”
Any decision will depend on progress over the next
two years “in order to see whether all three still have
the same promise that we have analysed now” and if
they have advanced quickly enough.
“But at the moment I am rather positive to see all
three moving ahead at full steam, full power, and
maybe we will be in a lucky situation and have all
three more or less at the same level, and we will
pursue all three,” Krein adds.
Earlier work
Many of the projects selected by Clean Aviation are
leveraging earlier work performed under the Clean
Sky programmes, he notes. “We are benefitting
now from those findings, those results and we have
now picked the most promising ones for entry into
service with the new regional aircraft and for the use
of the SMR aircraft.”
Take Safran’s open-rotor concept – a version
of which was tested through a Clean Sky project.
“Without that pre-work it would be impossible now
to think that there is a realistic chance that such
a very unconventional configuration – but a very
rewarding one in terms of performance – has a very
serious and significant chance to be selected [for
a future programme],” Krein says. It is also worth
noting that CFM International, in which Safran is a
€1.7bn
EU’s total budget for Clean Aviation effort, with private
sector contributing at least 1.5 times the public investment
joint-venture partner with GE Aerospace, is already
pursuing the concept through its self-funded RISE
demonstrator programme.
Clean Aviation has also made sure of European
Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) involvement in
the programme. This will allow the regulator to tackle,
early in the process, certification concerns around the
new technologies being contemplated – for example
electric or hydrogen propulsion, where no means of
compliance currently exist.
“I think that will be invaluable in terms of results
and speed to market,” says Krein. “And I think EASA
will benefit because their experts will grow and will
understand about the technology with us, and then
be in a much better position to define those means
of compliance.”
And, he argues, that process needs to begin now
rather than “in five years’ time when there is high pres-
sure because certification [targets are] getting closer”.
While the first tranche of projects is under way,
Clean Aviation is still building its phase one portfolio
through a second call for proposals; submissions
closed on 11 May.
Krein says there is a wide distribution of topics
contained in its second call – several of which,
June 2023 Flight International 65
 such as a multi-megawatt-class fuel cell propulsion
system, were already addressed in the first round. In
that case, additional expertise was needed “because
we saw that we need to reinforce this”.
Fuel cells are simple in a sense – they use hydrogen
to generate electricity – but come with particular
complexities, notably the fact that alongside the
electricity, they also generate a phenomenal amount
of heat: about 1MW for every 1MW of power.
There is, he says, “a tremendous amount of work to
be done, and not just blast out the heat with aerody-
namic inefficiencies”.
“This thermal management is a key element of the
future programme and probably the most, I don’t
want to say challenging, but one of the most difficult
to pursue in the context we are speaking about now
because it’s a first at aircraft level – it has never been
done at aircraft level.”

Structural change
Also included in the second call are projects looking
at the fuselage and empennage design of regional
aircraft and a wing for the SMR aircraft.
“This is complementary and filling in a few of the
gaps, the holes, so that basically those results can be
taken into account when we decide on the demon-
strators in 2025.”
The plan for flying demonstrators – and their atten-
dant cost and complexity – is reflected in the higher
budget for phase two, although Krein says at this
stage it is unclear how many it will fund, given the
AirTeamImages

“huge variety” of projects across Clean Aviation.

It will also hinge on the progress made over the
coming years: “For me it depends very much on the
successes of the technology programmes we are run-
ning over the next two years. So, by the end of 2024
or the beginning of 2025 we will know more,” he says.
Additionally, several different technologies could be
combined into a single platform, Krein suggests, for
instance a high-power electrical distribution system
with a fuel cell powertrain, or a particular fuselage
and wing combination.
One argument frequently levelled against research
programmes like Clean Aviation is that, given the un-
proven nature of the technologies being pursued and
however well-intentioned they are, a more effective
SAF offers one route to decarbonisation, but Krein believes
hydrogen power will be a more energy-efficient path
way of achieving the net-zero goals would be to spend
the organisation’s sizeable budget on ramping up SAF
production, particularly of synthetic efuels.
While he says he understands the argument,
Krein points to the cost of efuels and the green
energy required to produce them – noting that the
feedstock is essentially hydrogen. “The big question
is, do you produce the hydrogen and stop there and
use it, either through direct burn or in a fuel cell, or

SWITCH (sustainable water-injecting turbofan comprising hybrid-electrics)

Another big-ticket propulsion programme backed a 1MW unit on the low-pressure spool – to further
by Clean Aviation, the MTU Aero Engines-led bine.
optimise the performance of the gas turbine.
SWITCH project will build on the German set some of
Those efficiency gains should help offset
powertrain specialist’s research on its WET – or the weight and drag penalties that such an engine
water-enhanced turbofan – concept. will incur.
The WET engine system recycles water and heat sortium
Also included in the MTU-headed consortium
from the exhaust stream to inject steam into the ospace and
are Airbus, Collins Aerospace, GKN Aerospace and
combustion chamber. This is predicted to increase rch bod
Pratt & Whitney, alongside several research dies
bodies
overall engine efficiency through heat recovery, and universities.
while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and grounnd
Under the project’s timeline, by 2025, ground
contrail formation. geare
runs of a hybrid-electric-equipped P&W geared ed
However, the Switch project sees the WET ed,
turbofan engine will have been performed,
MTU Aero Engines

architecture combined with a parallel hybrid- alongside technology and component testsests for
fo
or the
th
he
electric system, including a pair of motor genera- udies fo
WET engine, plus aircraft integration studies for th
thee
tors – a 500kW unit on the high-pressure spool and combined system.

66 Flight International June 2023


do you put more energy into it and then produce
efuels out of it?”
He points to both the cost of production and the
ultimate sustainable energy required to produce
efuels compared with hydrogen as weighing in the
latter’s favour in the longer term.
“Today’s aircraft can’t take hydrogen, and that
is why I think it is so important now to invest and
push the boundaries so that this hydrogen aircraft
WET engine recycles
water and heat to inject
steam into combustion chamber
Paris Sustainability
Newborn
A rarity among Clean Aviation projects for its
lack of a snappy acronym, Project Newborn will
culminate in 2026 with ground tests of a 1MW
liquid hydrogen fuel cell powertrain. Led by Hon-
eywell Aerospace from its facility in Brno, Czech
Republic, the consortium includes 18 entities from
10 different countries – including the UK.
Although the system will only be taken to TRL 4
– or TRL5 for most components – Honeywell insists
the programme is focussed on eventual commer-
cial applications, not just building a demonstrator.
Key to that is the company’s pre-existing work
with consortium member Pipistrel Vertical Solu-
tions – part of Textron since April last year – to drive
understanding of what would make a system com-
mercially viable. Additionally, having an airframer as
part of the project could ease the transition to flight
testing under Clean Aviation’s second phase.
Other partners in Newborn include Aciturri of
Spain, which is building the system’s cryogenic
hydrogen storage tank, Sweden’s PowerCell, which
is providing aviation-optimised fuel cell stacks,
and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, supplying
high-power-density electrical systems. Addition-
ally, the consortium includes two members from
the UK: the University of Nottingham will deliver a
high-power-density electric motor, and Reaction
Engines its heat-exchanger technology.
Honeywell says the technology being devel-
oped is scalable to provide up to 8MW of power –
suitable for a future regional aircraft.
will become a reality and the more efficient energy
carrier can be used,” he says.
Clean Aviation’s inaugural projects may only be a
few months old, but Krein offers a “strong yes” when
asked if he is pleased with the progress so far.
“At the beginning it was not an easy journey
because there was a huge effort in alignment to be
done between all the different participants in the
sector, and between the public and private sectors.
“I think this is probably a big achievement, not just
for us, but of the whole community to foster this
alignment and reinforce it over the last few years,”
he says.
Intense discussion
Those disagreements were largely centred on timing
– “in terms of what the final target is and when it can
be achieved” and the likely service-entry date – the
technologies to be prioritised, and the thorny issue of
budgets. All required some “quite intense discussion”
to achieve a consensus, he adds.
And while Krein thinks it “would have been better
to start a year or so earlier” the projects are now
running “at full steam”, he says. “I think we are on the
right track to make it work, but I don’t think we have
a choice – I mean, we can’t say ‘We are coming five
years late, OK, bad luck.’ This is not an option.”
Managing to secure a position on a future aircraft
with such cutting-edge technology is “more or less a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Krein says. ◗
June 2023 Flight International 67
 Stelia Aerospace’s Opera seat has an integrated door for added privacy

Different
class As airlines increasingly deploy narrowbody
Franck Socha/Stelia Aerospace

aircraft on ever-longer routes, seat manufacturers

are working to ensure this does not result in a
slimmed-down premium passenger experience

68 Flight International June 2023


Kerry Reals London
F
lying business class on a narrowbody aircraft
used to mean a slightly bigger seat with a bit
more legroom and a recline function. But that
was before longer-range variants of Airbus’s
and Boeing’s single-aisle jets hit the market. The
introduction of aircraft such as the Airbus A321LR
and the upcoming A321XLR, with respective ranges
of 4,000nm (7,400km) and 4,700nm, has turned the
narrowbody business-class cabin on its head.
Airlines have realised that if they are going to charge
passengers a hefty premium to take a long-haul flight
on a single-aisle aircraft, the experience had better at
least match that of a long-range widebody cabin. This
means a lie-flat bed, privacy and plenty of personal
space – all with the challenge of creating a compara-
ble experience in a much more restricted area.
Premium experience
Seat manufacturers have risen to the challenge,
however. A range of options are now available to help
airlines emulate, or even exceed, the premium expe-
rience that passengers have come to expect on twin-
aisle aircraft, but in the considerably smaller cabins of
this new generation of long-range narrowbodies.
“When Airbus revealed the [A321]XLR, there was
very strong and positive feedback from the airlines.
It was a game-changer. But the next question was,
‘OK, it’s very good to have a single-aisle aircraft that’s
able to do an 8-9h flight, but currently on the mar-
ket we don’t have any business-class seats that fit
Safran Seats’ Vue product provides
passengers with direct aisle access
Safran Seats
14
Average number of Opera seats airlines are looking to install
in the business-class cabins of their long-range narrowbodies
Interiors Seating
in with this extra-long range’,” says Alain Bordeau,
vice-president of global sales and marketing at Stelia
Aerospace – the premium seating arm of newly-
rebranded aerostructures business Airbus Atlantic.
“Mainly on the market at the time it was the recliner
seat for much shorter 4-5h flights. So Airbus came to
us and said, ‘Can you think about seats specifically
for this extra long-range aircraft?’ And this was how
the Opera seat was born.”
Stelia’s Opera seat is marketed by the company as
“the widest full-flat bed available on single-aisle”. It is
a reverse herringbone seat, meaning passengers face
the window rather than the aisle, and it features a
fully-integrated door for additional privacy.
Bordeau says the company took “the opposite”
approach to competitors when designing the seat
because instead of adapting a widebody product for
the narrowbody market, it specifically developed its
Opera for single-aisle aircraft from the outset.
“The requirements for a single-aisle are different
than for a widebody – not only because of the size
of the tube, but also in a narrowbody you have much
lower luggage bins, so you need extra space in your
seat,” he says.
“When Airbus revealed
the [A321]XLR, there was
very strong and positive
feedback from the airlines.
It was a game-changer”
Alain Bordeau Vice-president of global sales and marketing,
Stelia Aerospace
Another key challenge was making the seat as light
as possible. Stelia achieved this partially through
minimising the number of parts, says Bordeau, also
making it easier to maintain. A widebody version of
the Opera seat is also available.
Star performer
Stelia’s design intention was that the passenger ex-
perience had to be as good, if not better, than in the
business-class cabin of a twin-aisle aircraft.
“We need to bring all the comfort from the wide-
body – even more, because on single-aisles you don’t
have a galley with a bar to go to outside your seat. So
the living space in our Opera seats for single-aisles is
even bigger than on the widebody,” says Bordeau.
He adds that the average number of seats airlines
are looking to install in their long-range single-aisle
premium cabins is 14, in a two-abreast configuration.
Certification of the Opera is “almost complete”,
says Bordeau. The company has two undisclosed
launch customers for the A321XLR – one in Europe
and another based “outside Europe but not in the
USA” – and is in “advanced discussions” with a
potential customer on the A321LR.
Another window-facing reverse herringbone seat
aimed at the long-range narrowbody market is
Safran Seats’ aptly-named Vue product, which the
June 2023 Flight International 69
 US carrier JetBlue has 14 A321XLRs on
order, for use on transatlantic services

manufacturer revealed at last year’s Aircraft Inte-

riors Expo in Hamburg. Vue will be delivered to its
first customers this year and will launch on a Boeing
737-family aircraft, says Quentin Munier, executive
vice-president of strategy and innovation at Safran
Seats. He declines to specify the 737 variant.
The Vue seat provides passengers with direct aisle
access and an “easy exit, even with the TV or meal
table deployed”, says its manufacturer. It also offers
“excellent” privacy, with no eye contact and the
option of adding a door to the suite.
“It is no secret that matching the overall widebody
passenger experience on a narrowbody presents a
challenge: think about the number of available galleys,
the boarding process, the single aisle, and so on,”
says Munier. “It was key for us to be able to deliv-
er a product that would match the most premium
business-class products in widebody aircraft, while
making the best possible use of cabin real estate and
achieving the seat counts airlines were asking for.”
Munier expects that most airlines deploying
narrowbody aircraft on flights with a duration of
more than 5h will want to install fully-flat beds in their
business-class cabins. “A lot of the challenge
“The long-haul narrowbody market is still in its early
days and presents an interesting growth potential,” he this market provides
says. “With products like Vue, Safran Seats has been
preparing for this new trend early on.” is to optimise seat
Passenger facing geometry for the narrow
Collins Aerospace’s Aurora business-class seat for
long-range narrowbodies is also a herringbone fuselage so you give the
offering but, unlike the Opera and Vue, passengers
face away from the window and into the aisle. passenger the maximum
“At the front of the aircraft we have a lie-flat seat
called Aurora – essentially a herringbone seat with living space and comfort
shoulders towards the window and toes towards the
aisle, bringing a full privacy suite to the narrowbody that you can, but also
and optimising it for the geometry of the aircraft,”
says Alastair Hamilton, vice-president of sales and get enough passengers
marketing for aircraft seating at Collins Aerospace.
Speaking specifically about the A321XLR, Hamilton on to the aircraft to make
agrees that “airlines are trying to bring that widebody
experience to narrowbody long, thin routes”, which it commercially viable”
he says has created a number of challenges.
“A lot of the challenge this market provides is to Alastair Hamilton Vice-president of sales and marketing
optimise seat geometry for the narrow fuselage so for aircraft seating, Collins Aerospace
Airbus

you give the passenger the maximum living space

and comfort that you can, but also get enough
passengers on to the aircraft to make it commercially
viable,” observes Hamilton.
Andy Morris, senior vice-president commercial
at Thompson Aero Seating – manufacturer of the
VantageSolo lie-flat seat launched by JetBlue Air-
ways in the business-class cabins of its transatlantic
A321LR aircraft – says the New York-based carrier
“has started the trend for providing a twin-aisle
experience on single-aisle aircraft”.
JetBlue opted for a bespoke version of Thomp-
son’s VantageSolo seat for the Mint-branded premi-
um cabins on its transatlantic A321LRs. The carrier
deploys the aircraft on routes linking New York JFK
and Boston with London, and will add Paris to its
European network this summer.
“The VantageSolo builds on the success of the
original Vantage seat,” says Morris. “It was the first
‘ground-up’ design for a single-aisle, full lie-flat
business-class seat with full direct aisle access.” The
VantageSolo is an inward-facing herringbone seat.
Thompson has been delivering two configurations
of the VantageSolo product to JetBlue, says Morris,
one with 24 seats and the other with 16. The larger
premium cabin is installed on its transatlantic flights,
while the smaller cabin features on transcontinental
domestic routes.
JetBlue’s transatlantic A321LRs are configured with
114 economy-class seats, including 24 ‘Even More
Space’ seats with additional legroom. The 24-seat
Mint cabin includes two seats branded as Mint Studio
suites, which offer even more space. In addition to its
A321LR fleet, the airline has 14 A321XLRs on order.
Airbus had originally planned for the A321XLR to
enter service this year, but this has now slipped to the
second quarter of 2024.

70 Flight International June 2023

 Interiors Seating

Alongside its Vantage and VantageSolo lie-flat

products, Thompson Aero Seating has also intro-
duced a seat called VantageDuo. Morris says this
product was “designed and engineered specifical-
ly to bring maximum comfort to the long-range,
single-aisle market with no compromise on density,

Unum Aircraft Seating

for those customers and routes that require great
comfort but not a fully-flat seat”.
Gearing up to compete alongside more established
players in the long-range narrowbody premium seats
Unum One lie-flat product was initially developed for widebodies
market is newcomer Unum Aircraft Seating, led by
Chris Brady, who previously founded economy-class
seat maker Acro before it was sold in 2017 to China’s
Zhejiang Tiancheng Controls. “What this means is you present the passenger
into the footwell at a lower level, so you make
Mapped out maximum use of the space available in the footwell,”
The Unum One is a lie-flat herringbone seat that says McInnes, adding that “airlines tell us our seat
was initially developed with the A330 widebody in mechanism is doing something different”.
mind and then “mapped across” to also work on Unum is “in the midst of a certification programme”
single-aisle aircraft, says Alan McInnes, vice-president with the UK Civil Aviation Authority for the seat.
business development at Unum. “The message you’ll start to see over the next
“We’ve got a seat that’s capable of providing the weeks and months is we are just about ready,” says
key requirements of the widebody operators that also McInnes. “By the time we get to Hamburg we should
works effectively for the single-aisle operators,” notes have a certified TSO [technical standards order] seat.
McInnes. “From there we set about identifying these Final certification with the first customer will take
key features that form Unum One as a family, whether place somewhere in an 18-24 month period.”
it’s a single-aisle or a widebody.” Unum is in talks with “a number of airlines”, he
Unum does not intend to reinvent the wheel with its adds, and hopes to announce a launch customer this
new seat and is “not a seat manufacturer who wants year. It will likely be for a post-delivery modification

5h
to be revolutionary”, says McInnes. What it has set
out to do is resolve some of the niggling complaints
from airlines about herringbone seats that already
exist in the market.
“It looks like a herringbone seat, and you will find
herringbone seats from lots of other suppliers that
do a fantastic job, but we would like to think we’ve
solved some of the pinch points that cause our airline
customers pain,” he says. Flight duration beyond which airlines will want to install
One of these pinch points is too little space in the fully-flat beds in premium cabins, according to Safran Seats
footwell, as McInnes explains: “One criticism that
we’ve consistently heard about herringbone seats is
they have extremely constrained footwells. It’s actu- or a retrofit with “one of the tier two airlines”, be-
ally quite a difficult conundrum because you can give cause the seat “will not be linefit approved in time” to
one passenger a bigger footwell but the passenger accommodate the tier one carriers that have already
sitting in front of them will have their elbow up here.” ordered next-generation narrowbodies, says McInnes.
Unum’s solution was to develop a scimitar-track When it comes to how most airlines will configure
recline function that allows the height of the seat – the cabins of their long-haul narrowbodies, seat man-
normally fixed – to go down as the seat reclines. ufacturers have differing opinions. Stelia’s Bordeau
believes the majority will opt for a two-class cabin
and eschew premium-economy seating, while Col-
lins Aerospace’s Hamilton says carriers are “typically
going for a three-class layout” featuring business,
premium economy and economy cabins.
Some airlines will opt against installing any pre-
mium seating and operate long-range narrowbody
flights in an all-economy configuration, as central
European budget carrier Wizz Air has indicated it will
do with its A321XLRs.
“I don’t think we should ever be surprised about
how we see airlines’ particular take on what the
capability of the single-aisle gives them,” observes
Thompson Aero Seating

McInnes. “If they want to go down the single-aisle

lie-flat route, fantastic, let’s have a proper discussion.
But there will be some airlines that will fly that air-
craft a very, very long way with an all-economy LOPA
Thompson Aero Seating offers ‘twin-
[layout of passenger accommodations]. Who’s to say
aisle experience’ with VantageSolo
who’s right and who’s wrong?” ◗

June 2023 Flight International 71

 Once seen as a novelty, the provision of rapid,
reliable and even complimentary wireless
connectivity on board is something that airline
passengers have increasingly come to expect
Flying to
free wi-fi
Kerry Reals London
M
ulti-orbit satellite technology and the march
towards free onboard wi-fi will be key
talking points at this year’s Aircraft Interiors
Expo (AIX) in Hamburg.
The imminent launch of low-Earth orbit (LEO)
in-flight connectivity (IFC) services from the likes of
OneWeb and SpaceX, and the reverberations of Delta
Air Lines’ announcement that it will offer complimen-
tary fleet-wide wi-fi to all passengers by the end of
2024, are expected to be hot topics.
SpaceX has signed up a handful of airline
customers for its upcoming Starlink Aviation LEO
satellite-based IFC service. These include Hawai-
ian Airlines and Air Baltic, both of which have said
they plan to begin installing the system on their
aircraft this year, pending certification. SpaceX’s
rival OneWeb, meanwhile, is targeting an early 2024
start date for its LEO IFC service, and has been busy
preparing the market for its debut.
“A lot of what we’ve done since last AIX is galvanise
relationships with airlines, ensure we do the education
piece so that when our distribution partners come to
them they already have a base level of understand-
ing of what OneWeb is, how to buy it and whether
they might want LEO-only or whether they think
LEO/GEO might be a good solution,” says OneWeb
vice-president, mobility services Ben Griffin.
72 Flight International June 2023
One of OneWeb’s distribution partners,
geostationary (GEO) satellite company Intelsat,
signed an agreement with Alaska Airlines earlier this
year to install its multi-orbit electronically steered
array (ESA) antenna on the Embraer 175s operated
by its Horizon Air and SkyWest regional units. The
antenna will communicate with both Intelsat’s GEO
and OneWeb’s LEO satellites.
Alaska Airlines says that the “unique combina-
tion of using both LEO and GEO satellites enables
higher speeds and more coverage, particularly across
remote areas in the state of Alaska”.
Burning issue
The deal with Alaska Airlines is “just the beginning
of the ESA era for IFC”, according to Intelsat senior
vice-president commercial aviation Dave Bijur.
Intelsat’s ESA antenna weighs 41kg (90lb) and is
10.1cm (4in) tall, which Bijur expects will be a strong
selling point for airlines seeking to reduce weight,
drag and fuel burn.
“I think there are two groups of airlines: one that’s
interested in this because it’s GEO and LEO and it
offers polar coverage which, up until now, has not
been a thing; and then there’s a whole other angle,
which is airlines are trying to reduce carbon emis-
sions and spend less on fuel,” he says. “By creating a
very small, lightweight antenna, we’re helping airlines
achieve their carbon emissions goals while also giving
them a nice package for connectivity.”
 Interiors Connectivity

IFEC provider Anuvu, formerly known as Global

Eagle Entertainment, is also preparing for a multi-
orbit future. The company has traditionally provided
Ku-band IFC to airlines by leasing capacity from
various GEO satellite operators. Last year, Anuvu
signed a capacity agreement with Telesat to eventu-
ally offer IFC services using the Canadian company’s
upcoming Lightspeed LEO network. It is also open to
the idea of working with other LEO partners.
Additionally, Anuvu has invested in its own satellite
constellation, in partnership with Astranis, and plans to
launch its first two MicroGEO satellites later this year.
“Our future is a hybrid network operation where
we’re using both GEO satellites and LEO satellites,
and we are 1,000% believers in that future,” says
Mike Pigott, executive vice-president connectivity
at Anuvu. “We believe that is the future state for
the next five to 10 years for in-flight connectivity,

41kg
Intelsat believes the relatively light weight of its antenna
will be a selling point for efficiency-conscious airlines

but we’re not there yet. We’re in a GEO-only world

today and so our ‘bridge to LEO’ concept is how we
can best serve our customers and get them to that
hybrid network future.”
Earlier this year, Anuvu signed a reseller agreement
with SpaceX to provide its Starlink LEO connectivity
service to the maritime sector. On the aviation side,
Pigott says that Anuvu is “continuing our engagement
with Telesat and with others in the market”, noting:
“We have an eyes wide open view of how LEO can be
incorporated into various markets and it’s not an exclu-
sive view with any LEO operator today, just like it has
not been an exclusive view with any GEO operator.”
SES, which delivers Ku-band satellite services to
airlines indirectly through various internet service
providers such as Panasonic Avionics and Anuvu, is
also building a combined medium-Earth orbit (MEO)/
GEO Ka-band service.
Intelsat’s multi-orbit electronically steered array
Intelsat

antenna will reduce weight, drag and fuel burn

“By creating a very small,

lightweight antenna, we’re
helping airlines achieve
their carbon emissions
goals while also giving
them a nice package
for connectivity”
OneWeb

OneWeb aims to launch low-Earth orbit connectivity in 2024

Dave Bijur Senior vice-president commercial aviation, Intelsat

June 2023 Flight International 73

 “If you look at Ku, more than 60% of aircraft fly
over our capacity so we are quite a force, but we are
behind these guys so you don’t hear about us,” says
Aditya Chatterjee, senior vice-president of aero market
solutions at SES. On the Ka-band side, the company’s
SES-17 high throughput satellite over the Americas
powers Thales’s FlytLive in-flight connectivity service,
which counts Spirit Airlines as a customer.

Satellite constellation
SES is also building a MEO satellite constellation
known as O3b mPOWER, which Chatterjee expects
will play “a major part” in the mobility market.
“We are focusing on creating a global Ka network
along with our partners. This GEO network would be
overlaid by mPOWER, which is MEO,” he explains.
“We will be the first to provide a global Ka multi-orbit

Zahorui Ivan/Shutterstock
constellation for an IFC network.” SES has focused on
MEO “from day one” and sees medium-Earth orbit sat-
ellites as “more efficient” than LEO, adds Chatterjee.
Alongside discussions about multi-orbit satellite IFC
options and the new generation of antennas that will
support them, the subject of how airlines can move

“We are focusing on towards free onboard wi-fi will likely be a feature at
this year’s AIX. It follows Delta’s announcement in
creating a global Ka January that it will become the first major US network
carrier to introduce complimentary wi-fi for all.
network along with As of 1 February, most of Delta’s domestic mainline
Viasat-equipped aircraft offered free wi-fi to
our partners. This GEO passengers who signed up to join the airline’s SkyMiles
loyalty programme. Delta will also bring free wi-fi to all
network would be of its international and regional aircraft by the end of
2024, through its partnership with T-Mobile.
overlaid by mPOWER, Viasat confirmed in mid-March that it had also
been selected to install its IFC solution on all of
which is MEO” Delta’s international widebody aircraft, replacing the
carrier’s incumbent provider, Intelsat. This will bring
Aditya Chatterjee the total number of Delta aircraft equipped with
Senior vice-president of aero market solutions, SES Viasat’s system to more than 1,000.

Carriers weigh up benefits of offering personal choice

A new breed of long-range narrowbody airliners
is not only opening up fresh route opportunities
for single-aisle aircraft, but are also reopening the
debate over whether to install seatback in-flight
entertainment (IFE) systems or adopt a ‘bring your
own device’ strategy.
Deploying aircraft such as the Airbus A321LR and
upcoming A321XLR on routes traditionally operated
by twin-aisle aircraft has obvious efficiency benefits
for airlines. Further gains could be achieved by not
installing heavy seatback IFE systems and relying
instead on passengers using the in-flight wi-fi to
stream content to their own tablets and smartphones.
While early adopters of long-range narrowbodies
such as JetBlue Airways and Aer Lingus – both of
which operate transatlantic flights using A321LRs
– have opted to install seatback screens for all
passengers, there are signs that some carriers are
considering a different approach.
Alan McInnes, vice-president of business
development at Unum Aircraft Seating, which is
developing a lie-flat business-class seat for the
long-haul narrowbody market, says he has been
surprised to learn that some potential airline
customers are thinking about requiring even their
premium passengers to use their own devices to
gain access to streaming entertainment on board.
“One of the interesting things is that when we
approached this project we said we would always
have to integrate a third-party IFE solution. That’s
expected in business class,” says McInnes. “However,
what we have found in single-aisle is that some of
our potential customers are considering not having
a traditional embedded IFE solution, which has been
quite interesting and a little bit of a surprise.”
Equipment rethink
Advances in in-flight connectivity technology over
the past five years have made airlines think again
about whether or not they can dispense with “the
weight and complexity” of embedded IFE systems,
McInnes adds.

74 Flight International June 2023


SpaceX has signed up airlines including
Air Baltic for its Starlink Aviation service
The California-based satellite company, which is
in the process of attempting to acquire UK-based
rival Inmarsat, has been “banking on” and preparing
for the high demands that will be placed on in-flight
bandwidth when airlines start to offer it free-of-
charge to passengers more widely, says Viasat
vice-president commercial aviation Don Buchman.
Viasat also provides IFC services to JetBlue Airways,
which has given free wi-fi to its passengers for
about a decade.
“That’s why we’re investing in ViaSat-3 and that’s
why it’s got so many clever artefacts in it – not only a
terabit of capacity, but it also allows us to be very agile
in how we move it to make sure we never run out in
places where there’s high demand,” says Buchman. “If
we continue this mission and the market keeps doing
A ‘bring your own device’ policy could avoid heavy seatback systems
Interiors Connectivity
what it is then I think we’re going to generate a lot of
value for our airline customers and their passengers.”
Viasat is in the process of launching three satellites
to complete its ViaSat-3 constellation. The first two,
covering the Americas and Europe, Middle East and
Africa, are launching this year and the final satellite is
due to launch over the Asia-Pacific region in 2024, at
which point Viasat will offer global coverage.
Delta’s transition to a free wi-fi model is expected
to ignite discussion around how airlines can monetise
IFC and make this strategy work. However, IFC ex-
perts do not expect a mass, overnight move to a free
model. Instead, varying degrees of paid-for and free
models are likely to evolve, depending on the size,
budget and target market of each operator.
Traditional model
Nevertheless, as more airlines do start to offer free,
streaming-capable IFC, it could have an impact on
the traditional in-flight entertainment content model.
“One of the things that we’ve noted, particular-
ly with Delta, is they’re reaching out and getting
their own content and bringing it to the passenger.
They’re doing that because they’ve got streaming
quality so they can allow passengers to stream what
they want and also what their partners provide, as
opposed to the traditional content model,” says
Daniel Welch, co-founder and senior research con-
sultant at Valour Consultancy.
“I’m not saying that IFE is dead, but it’s certainly
under threat from that transition to free because pas-
sengers are then free to do what they want.”
As free in-flight wi-fi opens up, adds Welch, “the
value of the content comes into question”. Content
vendors, therefore, are starting to shift from IFE into
digital services.
“I think that’s in recognition of the fact that content
alone isn’t going to be as appetising going forward,
so they need to shift into ‘how can we provide servic-
es around the connectivity pipe that are useful to the
airline’,” says Welch. ◗
“We approached the project thinking every
deployment would have IFE, [but] with the single-
aisle it may not be as cut and dried,” says McInnes.
“Airlines can find resilient wireless solutions from
any one of the vendors out there, so we are open-
minded about this.”
Steve Hadden, vice-president of services and
connectivity at Honeywell Aerospace, also sees a
trend away from seatback IFE systems on long-
haul narrowbody aircraft. “We’re seeing a lot more
long-range single-aisle aircraft, [and] the bring
your own device rather than the seatback in-flight
entertainment seems to be the trend,” he says.
However, he does not think seatback systems will
disappear. Looking at a phone or tablet on a 2-3h
flight on a single-aisle aircraft is one thing, but would
passengers on longer flights tolerate this? Hadden
says it depends on who the airline is targeting.
“As I get older, my eyes need a bigger screen,
personally, but it depends on the subsets of the
market,” he says. “I think you’re going to see all
models going forward, and I don’t think seatbacks
are going to disappear, by any means.”
Viasat
June 2023 Flight International 75
 From yuckspeak to tales of yore, send your offcuts to murdo.morrison@flightglobal.com

London
calling
Gatwick’s latest rebrand sees the airport firmly

AirTeamImages
become London Gatwick again. Its former logo –
which was designed after BAA divested the airport
back in 2009 – described it with a personal touch as
“Your London airport Gatwick”.
Adding “London” to their name – to stress a Future and past
sometimes rather tenuous geographical connection
to the capital – has been a familiar tactic of airports
in Southeast England for some time.
Luton, for example became known as London
Luton as long ago as 1990. In 2009, Kidlington
airport became London Oxford, even though it is
95km from Oxford Street.
Even in the farthest reaches of Kent, the now-
mothballed airport serving the coastal district of
AirTeamImages

Thanet briefly became London Manston, while,

down the coast, the general aviation airfield Lydd
optimistically subtitles itself London Ashford,
despite being not particularly close to either (125km
and nearly 30km, respectively).
However, perhaps the most audacious attempt at
rebranding a London airport took place in 2013 – but
in the opposite direction.
A member of the London Assembly, one Steve
O’Connell, urged Gatwick’s chief executive to
rename the airport Croydon International Airport to
reflect the borough’s proximity and “powerhouse”
economy (recent events – Croydon Council declared
Eleanor McMillan/Shutterstock

itself bankrupt in 2020 – have inevitably tempered

that boast somewhat).
The beleaguered south London suburb, of course,
once had its own rather famous airport. Croydon
was the UK’s only international airport between the
wars, but closed in 1959 when Heathrow opened.
Housing, hotels, and warehouses now occupy the
site, although the rather lovely art deco terminal
The original Croydon International
building remains.

From the archive

1923 To Cologne and back

100
The Instone Air Line’s freight service between London
and Cologne is growing by leaps and bounds. On
one day alone nearly two tons of goods were flown
between Cologne and London, and their machines
are being taxed to the uttermost. Mr. Barnard created
a new record during the week by flying from London
to Cologne and back in 6½ hours. This is the first time
that the same pilot and machine have done the return
journey, which is approximately 600 miles. It must be
remembered, however, that the Daimler pilots exceed
this distance in a single day regularly when flying from
London to Berlin. Meanwhile, the regrettable accident
in which Major E. L. Foot lost his life during the race
for the Grosvenor Cup has cast a gloom over the
entire aerodrome. He was universally admired.
1948 Cut your way out
75
One of the most obvious—and seemingly simple—ways
of giving the occupants of a crashed aircraft a chance
to get out of the machine is to increase the number
and size of emergency exits. This is, however, not as
simple as it appears. In the early days of civil aviation,
when forced landings due to mechanical troubles
or to weather were frequent, it was not difficult.
Coverings were mainly fabric, and failing everything
else a pocket knife could soon force an exit. With
all-metal construction, the problem has become more
complicated. Frames of doors and hatch covers are
apt to be distorted in a crash. It does appear possible
that a fair number of fabric-covered emergency exits
might provide a workable temporary solution, at least
in aircraft which do not have pressurised cabins.

76 Flight International June 2023

 Straight & Level

Not the return

of Dan Dare
News that Dan Air is to launch services from London to Bucharest may
have had those of a certain vintage doing a double take. However, this
Dan Air is a new Romanian airline that bears no relation to the Dan-Air
whose almost 40-year existence ended in 1992 when British Airways
bought the ailing carrier for a symbolic £1.
Named from its parent company Davies and Newman, Dan-Air would
have been 70 this year had it survived. At one time the UK’s second
biggest airline, it was the first in the country to operate the Boeing 727
and the BAe 146 and had the world’s largest De Havilland Comet fleet.
Although it had its detractors – the carrier’s somewhat patchy safety
record and curiously eclectic fleet of ageing types led to the nickname
Dan Dare – many still hold the brand in great affection, as can be seen
on the Dan-Air Remembered website, packed with anecdotes from
the airline’s heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. One – which reader Doug
Brown draws our attention to – recalls an incident involving pigs that
escaped their pen on board a Bristol Type 170 Freighter charter flight
between London Stansted and Bucharest. There are plenty more.

Joint effort T&G Engineering – unconnected to the previous

“The unfortunate events which led to the business
ceasing to trade had a catastrophic effect on staff
and customers. When appointed, we knew there
were many obstacles to overcome, in order for us
to achieve a positive outcome,” administrators for
Williams Aerospace, Quantuma’s Kelly Mitchell and
Carl Jackson, explained.
It followed the discovery by police of a
cannabis farm in a disused office at the business’s
Southampton premises, following which all 13
members of staff were sent home, the 88-year-old
company immediately ceased to trade and staff
wages went unpaid.
directors of the business – has now acquired the
company, with the majority of jobs saved.
“I am very grateful to the staff, who engaged
with us and returned to work, which allowed us to
recommence trading. I was also delighted to secure
the support of a major customer, whose ongoing
trading commitments helped us to secure a buyer for
the business,” said Mitchell, appointed (ahem) joint
administrator on 2 February.
“Notwithstanding the challenging economic
headwinds facing businesses, it has been quite some
time since I’ve advised a business with circumstances
as severe as they were at the time of our appointment.
I am delighted to have secured the future of this
Southampton manufacturer.”

1973 Rotorcraft on a roll

50
Hovering seemed largely to be absent from the
repertoire of any of the helicopters, most of whose
performances were marked by their constant
movement. The honours went to the Bolkow Bo105
which followed a series of loops with a spiral of rolls,
between times standing alternately on its nose and
tail rotor in defiance of the accepted principles of
rotary flight. While this performance was unique,
both the circuses of helicopters, those of Heli-Europe
and of Agusta, presented one model manoeuvring
fast against a backdrop of a slow procession by the
remainder of the team. For Agusta, the A.109 Hirundo
showed its individual paces and looked fast, while the
rivals could offer the agility of the Gazelle and the
surprising responsiveness of the Lynx.
1998 Sea Launch partners
25
The 61m (200ft)-high Sea Launch booster is based on
Ukraine’s Zenit 2 two-stage satellite launcher, with the
addition of a Russian Proton KDM third stage. Ukraine’s
NPO Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash, which manufacture the
Zenit 2, and Russia’s NPO Energia, which produces
the DM stage, are partners in Sea Launch, with 15%
and 25% stakes, respectively. The World Bank will
provide $200 million of guarantees to creditors of the
Russian and Ukrainian companies. The venture is being
supported by a consortium of 14 international banks. It
is estimated that the project will bring $700 million in
business to Russian and Ukrainian companies. “This is
a historic project that we can compare with the launch
of the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin in 1961,” says Yuri
Semenov, general director of Energia.

June 2023 Flight International 77

 Letters

Rewarding your contributions

From next month’s issue, we will be rewarding one
reader with a free cutaway poster or print of their
choice for submitting what we judge to be the best
letter contribution.
Your letter can be in response to an article published
in Flight International or online on FlightGlobal.com, or
relate to other aviation-related topics.
Letters should be no longer than 500 words, and
emailed to flight.international@flightglobal.com or
sent to the postal address at the foot of this page, for
the attention of the editor.
The selected winner will be able to choose one of
the prints available via our flightglobalimages.com
online store, with a maximum value to be notified
through correspondence.
The editor’s decision will be final, and we regret
we will not be able to enter into any correspondence
regarding our monthly choice.

Carbon jargon Keep searching

I saw your article titled “SAF and turboprops are
best way to decarbonise aviation in short-term”
(FlightGlobal.com, 27 April 2023 – see p41).
It is disappointing to continually see those who
have the ability to influence efforts by us humans to
significantly alter the global warming issue pushing
solutions that will continue to add or maintain
current levels of contaminants present in the Earth’s
atmosphere, instead of reducing them.
The current emphasis should be to build
atmospheric scrubbing and filtering plants that
can remove these contaminants from the air. Such
technology can be funded by a small surcharge on the
use of any fuels or processes that result in producing
the unfriendly emissions.
This is currently the only method that will meet the
climate goals in time to prevent the environmental
collapse that is currently underway and accelerating
despite all current efforts to even slow it down.
Via email
“Something will turn up” didn’t work for Mr Macawber
in Dickens’ David Copperfield, and it hasn’t worked for
the investigation of the 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight
MH370 disaster (Flight International, March 2023).
Worse, when things do turn up, they don’t get acted
on. Six years ago, a drift analysis showed there had
been a gap in the original search for floating debris
along the Inmarsat 7th Arc between 22° and 25°
south. Four other lines of enquiry suggest this could
be where the aircraft came down, yet neither of the
extensive searches of the sea floor got that far north.
The aviation community cannot leave the
disappearance of MH370 unresolved. It is not aviation’s
biggest mystery, but it could be the biggest scandal.
Blaming the crew has led nowhere, and put off the day
when difficult questions will have to be answered.
Everyone with an interest in safety should be pushing
ICAO to give fresh impetus and direction to the search.
Richard Lloyd
Coventry, West Midlands, UK

We welcome your letters about the coverage in Flight International and online at FlightGlobal.com – or about any other
aerospace-related topic. Letters should be no longer than 500 words in length, and supplied with the correspondent’s name
and location. They may also be featured anonymously, on request. Please email flight.international@flightglobal.com or write
to: The Editor, Flight International, 1st Floor, Chancery House, St Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 1JB.
Letters may also be published on FlightGlobal.com, and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor.

78 Flight International June 2023

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 A chance attendance at a free school lunch gave
Abingdon Mullin the inspiration to become a pilot,
which in turn led to her creating a bespoke range
of timepieces optimised for female aviators
One to watch
Jon Hemmerdinger Tampa
C
ommercial pilot and entrepreneur Abingdon
Mullin has a goal: to purchase a Grumman
Albatross seaplane and cruise the world,
camping out in the cabin with her husband
and Sinatra, her cat.
“We want to own an Albatross and turn it in to ‘van
life’,” says Mullin, 39, of Las Vegas. “It’s like an RV with
wings. We [could] go anywhere.”
Indeed, it was that desire to go anywhere, to see
the world, that led Mullin to become a professional
pilot in the first place – despite the field being
dominated by men.
During her career she has worked at Cirrus Aircraft,
flown turboprops throughout the Caribbean, piloted
big jets for Spirit Airlines and, amid it all, launched
Abingdon, a company specialising in selling watches
designed for female pilots.
“Have I been sexualised? Yes. Have I been called
every name in the book? Yes,” Mullin says.
Her advice: “Be a duck. Water off a duck’s back. If
you let it soak in, you’re going to get wet.”
Career lunch
The daughter of an English father and Mexican
mother, Mullin grew up living in the UK city of Leeds
and in Burbank, California. She initially had little
interest in aviation, but that changed in the late 1990s
when, at the age of 14, she had a meeting with two
pilots. That day, her high school in Burbank held one
of its monthly “career lunches” – opportunities for
students to learn about job options.
Mullin attended for the free lunch.
“I didn’t even know what the topic was. I was the
only girl,” she says. “In walked two pilots from the
local flight school.”
They explained that professional pilots need not
first be military pilots, and that many jobs exist other
than those working at airlines.
“I was bitten by the bug,” Mullin says, adding that
an introductory flying lesson at age 16 “solidified
[that] this is what I wanted to do”.
Still, at the advice of her parents, Mullin delayed an
aviation career to attend the University of California
San Diego, where she earned a degree in psychology.
82 Flight International June 2023
She later completed a stint as a business volunteer in
Cameroon with US agency Peace Corps.
But aviation kept tugging at her sleeve. “I just knew
I wanted to fly,” she says.
Mullin made it happen. She landed her private pilot
licence in 2006 at the age of 22 – completing the
programme in 34 days with just 43h of flight time –
and began working toward her commercial licence.
At about the same time, she began kicking around
the idea of launching a company selling watches de-
signed for female aviators. The idea came amid dinner
Abingdon Mullin
with other female pilots; they were discussing having
trouble finding aviation watches designed for women.
On 3 November 2007 her career came togeth-
er. On that single day, she received her commercial
pilot licence, landed a pilot job at Cirrus Aircraft and
started watch company Abingdon.
The Cirrus job, in Santa Monica, involved flying
single-engined piston SR20s and SR22s on
demonstration flights for customers, and delivering
aircraft to industry events such as the Sun ’n Fun
Aerospace Expo in Florida and the Experimental
Aircraft Association’s AirVenture show in Oshkosh.
Mullin then took a job selling aircraft and flying for
kit-aircraft maker Lancair International, which was
based at the time in Redmond, Oregon.
She entered the airline world in 2015, taking a
job with Seaborne Airlines flying Saab 340B twin-
turboprops from San Juan to places like Dominica,
Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Croix, St Kitts and Nevis,
St Martin, St Thomas and Tortola.
After logging 500h of turbine-aircraft time, Mullin
signed on with Spirit, flying Airbus A320-family jets
out of Las Vegas. At the same time, she was able
to focus on building her Abingdon watch business,
thanks to provisions in Spirit’s pilot contract
“Have I been called every
name in the book? Yes.
It’s water off a duck’s
back. If you let it soak in,
you’re going to get wet”

enabling employees to fly almost as little – or as
much – as they like.
She also has sought to encourage others to follow
her example, by participating in events such as the
annual Girls in Aviation Day.
Meanwhile, the Abingdon business continued
growing and last year Mullin left Spirit.
“I was just going to create a bunch of watches for
my girlfriends and I. Who knew it was going to take
off like fire?” she says.
Active customers
Abingdon’s target customers include “adventurous
women” – those who enjoy activities like flying, scuba
diving, base jumping, shooting and race car driving,
the company says.
The watches are assembled in Las Vegas and sold
via Abingdon’s website and at aviation and pilot
stores, retailer Macy’s, the US military’s Exchange
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Women in aviation
The annual Girls in Aviation Day
allows Mullin to encourage others
outlets and The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air
and Space Museum shop near Washington DC. The
company has logged sales since its inception nearing
$3 million, Mullin says.
She is now planning for what comes next, including,
possibly, making good on her goal to buy an Albatross
seaplane with her husband, a Frontier Airlines pilot.
Grumman developed the type, powered by Wright
R-1820 radial engines, as an amphibious utility aircraft
for the US Navy, producing it until 1961. Not many
remain for sale, but Mullin has her eye on two.
The idea goes something like this: convert the
aircraft’s cabin into a home away from home,
equipping it with solar-energy and water-desalination
systems for self-sufficiency in the remotest destina-
tions. Then, fly off to wherever adventure calls.
“Some people live on sailboats for years – we
could be doing the same thing in an all-terrain
aircraft,” Mullin says. ◗
June 2023 Flight International 83