British Airways Selects Collins Aerospace For Club World Upgrade | Inmarsat | Satcom Direct | Thales | Boeing | Other News

COLLINS AEROSPACE

• Customized Club Suite offers passengers luxury, privacy and all-aisle access
• Creates a consistent passenger experience across the British Airways fleet
• Completion expected by the end of 2022

British Airways has selected Collins Aerospace to upgrade its fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft to the Club World experience for business class passengers.

The agreement includes installation of the popular Club Suite business class seat, the Club Kitchen and a new cabin configuration. Collins will also perform full-cabin integration work – including engineering design, test and approval – along with program management and third-party supplier approvals. Some of the modified aircraft are already flying with the upgrades expected to be complete by the end of 2022. The retrofitted Boeing 777 aircraft will be operating from London Heathrow.

“When we launched our Club Suite product, it was a huge hit with our customers who loved the privacy the new seat offers,” said Sajida Ismail, Head of Inflight Product for British Airways. “We are focused on the roll out of this product and other cabin enhancements to ensure we deliver on our commitment to provide the very best British quality, style and comfort for our customers.”

The Club Suite is a customized version of Collins Aerospace’s industry-leading Super Diamond business class seat, providing British Airways international passengers with privacy doors, a spacious seat that converts to a fully flat bed and an upgraded inflight entertainment system. Similar to the upgraded cabin on British Airways’ new Airbus A350 fleet, the suites are laid out in a 1-2-1 pattern, allowing all-aisle access for every passenger. This proven design can be tailored to fit different airframes, helping maintain a consistent passenger experience.

The Club Kitchen is an area consisting of galley inserts, chillers and built-in storage for snacks, drinks and other refreshments, allowing passengers the ability to collect self-service snacks and refreshments at their leisure.

“The upgraded Club World cabin raises British Airways’ already high standards and provides commonality across their fleet of aircraft,” said Trevor Skelly, general manager of Integration Engineering for Collins Aerospace. “Our Integration Engineering team has worked closely with British Airways designers for several years to bring the latest in business class comfort, style and privacy from concept to reality.”

Through its Integration and Engineering group, Collins Aerospace has an Organization Designation Authority from the FAA to oversee the certification and Supplemental Type Certificate for the upgrade. Manufacturing of the new suite seats is being completed at the company’s facility in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland, while the new Club Kitchen was designed at the company’s facility in Everett, Washington.

INMARSAT

Inmarsat, a world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, has announced a new partnership network for its ground-breaking Velaris connectivity solution and confirmed the first member is set to be Altitude Angel, the world’s leading Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) technology provider.

As part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed this week, the two companies will explore opportunities to further integrate Inmarsat’s recently-launched Velaris connectivity solution for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with Altitude Angel’s market-leading UTM technology. Together, they will offer secure communications for commercial UAVs – commonly known as drones – to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) on long distance flights and access applications, including real-time monitoring, to ensure safe integration with aircraft in commercial airspace.

The new agreement will strengthen the existing partnership between Inmarsat and Altitude Angel, which has initially focused on the development of a Pop-Up UTM platform that delivers advanced flight tracking and management capability for UAVs. The solution has already been successfully demonstrated on a number of flights, offering full situational awareness to the operator team and preventing any potential conflicts with commercial aircraft. In addition, the Pop-Up UTM was crowned winner of Air Traffic Management Magazine’s UTM Service Supplier Award earlier this year and has been shortlisted in the prestigious Maverick Awards innovation category at World ATM Congress 2021, taking place this week.

Anthony Spouncer, Inmarsat’s Senior Director of UAVs and UTM, said: “Inmarsat’s Velaris Partner Network (VPN) allows us to develop an unparalleled array of end-to-end UAV solutions and capabilities, working alongside a world-class ecosystem of leading players from across the industry. We are delighted that Altitude Angel has been announced as the first member and look forward to expanding the network further, with the additional of both new and well-established companies expected in the near future.”

Phil Binks, Altitude Angel’s Head of UTM, said: “Our Pop-Up UTM platform has received an outstanding response from the UAV industry, showing the immense potential for unmanned traffic management to enable safe, highly-automated UAV flights in both urban and rural environments. As the inaugural member of Inmarsat’s Velaris Partner Network, we will build on this momentum together by developing cutting-edge new innovations for this fast growing market that combine our unique individual strengths.”

The announcement comes a day after Inmarsat and Cranfield University published a new report, titled ‘UAVs: Unlocking positive transformation in the world’, which examines the wealth of new possibilities and applications unlocked by commercial UAVs. A key finding was the potential of UAVs to almost half the CO2 emissions of urban freight transport compared to small light commercial vehicles (LCVs), providing an unprecedented opportunity to reduce the logistics industry’s environmental impact.

The report, which analyses both new and existing research, also identifies the many other commercial advantages provided by UAVs to organizations that embrace the technology and adopt new operational methods, with cost and time savings leading to enhanced supply chain and business efficiencies. In addition, it explores the considerable benefits that extend beyond those driven by commercial gain, such as delivering humanitarian and medical aid to remote communities and conflict zones, surveillance to protect endangered animals from poachers, and monitoring for illegal deforestation or mining operations.

Velaris is powered by Inmarsat’s ELERA global satellite network, which delivers the world’s most reliable and flexible global connectivity, with full global redundancy and unique resilience in all conditions. ELERA capabilities will be enhanced further with the upcoming addition of Inmarsat-6 satellites, the largest and most sophisticated commercial communications satellites ever built, the first of which (I-6F1) is scheduled to launch before the end of the year. The L-band capacity on each I-6 satellite will be substantially greater than Inmarsat’s 4th generation spacecraft and, among other enhancements, delivers 50% more capacity per beam in addition to unlimited beam routing flexibility.

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Inmarsat, announced that Philippe Carette will be joining the company as President of its Aviation Business Unit on 22 November 2021.

Philippe joins Inmarsat from Thales, where he held several roles since joining the company in 2013. This includes the position of CEO of Thales’ InFlyt Experience Business Line (IFE), where he led a digital transformation of the business, leveraging cloud based disruptive applications and achieving a significant increase in customer satisfaction. Philippe has over 30 years’ experience in the technology & aerospace industries, which in addition to his tenure at Thales includes 14 years with the Safran Group, a major French aerospace engineering company.

Philip Balaam, currently business unit President for aviation, is moving into a new strategy role at Inmarsat, where he will be working with Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Fredrik Gustavsson to reinforce the company’s growing, broad-based commercial momentum.

“I am very pleased to welcome Philippe Carette as president of our aviation business at the start of a new era of growth across our aviation business lines, and throughout the company as a whole”, said Rajeev Suri, CEO of Inmarsat. “He brings a wealth of experience and I look forward to working with him as a member of Inmarsat’s executive team as we extend our technology leadership and significantly enhance the services we offer to our partners and customers through new initiatives such as ORCHESTRA and ELERA. His 30 plus years of experience in aviation, technology and aerospace will be invaluable.

“I wish to thank Philip Balaam for the pivotal role he played in establishing Inmarsat as a leader in the IFC sector and for his many other contributions to the growth of our aviation business. In his new strategy role at Inmarsat, he will play a crucial role in enhancing the future strategic framework for the whole business.”

SATCOM DIRECT

Satcom Direct (SD), the business aviation solutions provider, has inked a preferred supplier agreement with Slovenia-headquartered aviation services company Elit’Avia. Voice, data, connectivity, and flight deck communication functionality, along with customer support and training, is now enabling Elit’Avia to optimize the full range of SD connectivity services for its mixed fleet. Demonstrating the value of the SD Xperience portfolio, which enables customization of bundled packages, the deal realizes the opportunity for Elit’Avia to tailor SD services to meet individual aircraft requirements.

The Elit’Avia flight department already uses the digital flight operations system SD Pro® to synchronize flight operations, access the SD Cyber Security Threat Monitoring module, and to track and monitor flights. The three-year arrangement strengthens and extends the existing commercial relationship between the two companies

THALES

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) renews their trust in Thales with a turnkey modernization of their nationwide Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. The new ATM system will improve capacity and safety thanks to a complete nationwide surveillance coverage using the latest ATC and air surveillance technologies compliant with ICAO standards. An iconic new Air Traffic Management Centre and Control Tower as well as new radar building will be constructed at the Hazrat Shajalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka.

BOEING

Boeing Projects Demand for 1,540 New Airplanes in the Russia, Ukraine and CIS Aviation Market Through 2040.

• 20-year commercial airplane market valued at $520 billion, including jets and services
• Forecast anticipates that Russia, leading all regions in domestic air travel recovery, will see additional growth in leisure and business travel

Boeing said that airlines in Russia, Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will require 1,540 new airplanes valued at $200 billion over the next 20 years, driven mainly by growth in the single-aisle market. The region also will need aftermarket aviation services such as passenger-to-freighter conversions, maintenance and repair, and digital services worth $320 billion, according to the 2021 Commercial Market Outlook (CMO), Boeing’s long-term forecast of demand for commercial airplanes and services.

Global and regional air travel markets are recovering largely as Boeing projected last year. Following a strong economic rebound and large pent-up demand, Russia has led all regions in domestic air traffic recovery, with growth expected to continue, according to Boeing.

“Boeing is ready to support carriers in Russia, Ukraine and CIS as they transform their business models and take advantage of opportunities for further growth,” said Randy Heisey, Boeing managing director of Commercial Marketing for Russia, Ukraine and CIS. “Aviation is vitally important for enabling robust domestic tourism growth and a rebound in long-haul leisure travel while also supporting trade and cargo links across a huge geographic region.”

The 2021 CMO for Russia, Ukraine and CIS includes these projections through 2040:

Air traffic is projected to grow by 2.9% annually, tied to economic growth of 2.1% per year.

More than half of deliveries to the region will be for growth. The overall fleet is expected to total more than 2,000 airplanes, with demand for more fuel-efficient models.
Single-aisle airplanes will represent 75% of deliveries, with demand for 1,150 airplanes. Demand will be driven by growth in the low-cost carrier (LCC) segment, including opportunities for new and expanding low-cost airlines.

Demand for 160 new widebody passenger and freighter airplanes to serve regional leisure markets as well as long-haul passenger and cargo markets.

The region will require 83,000 new aviation personnel, including 25,000 pilots, 25,000 technicians and 33,000 cabin crews. For Boeing’s global demand forecast, go to the Pilot and Technician Outlook website.

For Boeing’s global and regional forecasts, including data and analysis, go to the Commercial Market Outlook website.

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A.P. Moller – Maersk Orders Two Boeing 777 Freighters

• Global logistics and shipping company places first order for 777 Freighter
• 777 Freighters to be operated by Maersk’s air freight operator Star Air

Boeing and A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) announced the global provider of end-to-end container logistics has placed an order for two 777 Freighters. The freighters will be operated by Star Air, Maersk’s in-house aircraft operator and is the company’s first 777 order. Star Air currently operates an all-Boeing 767 Freighter fleet.

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