™ May 2018
Volume 17 No.5
R35.00 incl. VAT N$35.00 incl. VAT
Helicopters 2018
WORKING ON
FIRE Heavyweight dogfight
Two Competitions - Prizes worth R13 000 • Events Calendar endar d Cover photography by Athol Franz
www.africanpilot.co.za
F He ligh nl t fo e Ra y A r tw nd ir h o p Ai eli eo rp co pl or pt e er t
Ermelo airshow
Contents Airline Pilot 8 8 9 10 11 12 16
World’s best-selling jetliner Virgin Atlantic drops A380 order Boeing delivers first Dreamliner Comair’s backbone is the B737 Turkish Airlines purchase Why is your fleet failing? DHL introduces B737-400F
CAASA Aviation Activity Index Cessna SkyCourier Cirrus Vision Jet wins award Comet Aviation aircraft tyres Akagera Aviation Tecnam aircraft Bose ProFlight headset
Drone Pilot 38 40
Bird’s eye perspective Rocketmine
Aircraft Technical 46
The ‘blow-by’ test
Helicopter Pilot 60 62 63
90 94 96 98
Junkers Aircraft factory SACWC Aerobatics Swellengrebel Flying Club Ermelo airshow SAPFA Rally National Championships Nylstroom Flying Club Lowveld airshow 2018
4 6 18 20 32 34 102 104 106 110 112 113 114 118
Competitions Letters Events Calendar Picture of the Month Fact File Names to Remember Accident Report Medical The Best of the Best Register Update Flying High Subscription Form Shop Window Aircraft Sales
26
Special Features
Mediclinic Midstream Helistop UH-1H ‘Huey’ HIA Expo 2018
48 65
Helicopters 2018 Helicopter OEMs
Other
Military Pilot
Sport Pilot
36 42 59 80 99 100 108
88
distributed by
85 86 86 87 87
16
Regulars
Commercial Pilot 22 24 26 28 29 30
88 89
L-39NG jets Qatar multirole helicopters Boeing KC-46 Kuwait F-18 Super Hornets Switzerland to replace fighter jets
Tecnam P2010 MkII
48
SACAA meets media Heavyweight Dogfight High-Flying Maverick DeHavilland Museum Cape Town runway Straddling your Strategy SACAA open day
Contributors Athol Franz Aidan Owen Pete van der Spek Charlie Marais
Dr Stephan Bouwer Christine Brits Des Erasmus Tayla-Kaé Nicholson
Dr Roelof Botha Charlie Hugo Rob Jonkers Dr Nick Lee
Divan Muller Fiona Hugo Kevin Donnellan Lara Bayliss
copyright The views expressed in African Pilot are not necessary those of the editor, publisher, or staff writers. The editors and publishers cannot be held responsible for differences of opinion or statements published in good faith. No part of this magazine may be reproduced including advertisements produced by Wavelengths 10 (Pty) Ltd in any form without permission from the publisher. – South African copyright laws apply. distribution African Pilot is distributed by On the Dot throughout southern African countries to approximately 1 000 retail stores:CNA, Exclusive Books, Pick ‘n Pay, PNA, selected Spar stores, garage convenience shops, Checkers Hypermarkets, 7/11 stores, selected bookshops, Fascination and Incredible Books as well as to neighbourhood convenience shops. Own distribution to specialist pilot shops at airports as well as to key decision makers within the aviation industry. Back editions are distributed free of charge to African countries, airport lounges, charter companies, the South African Air Force and selected flight schools. Altogether 6 500 copies of African Pilot are printed each month. The magazine also has online readers from all over the world. The first ten pages of African Pilot may be downloaded free of charge by visiting www.africanpilot.co.za
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Editorial The changing world of social media There is no doubt that over the past five years or so, social media websites and blogs have grown exponentially. Whilst the very best intentions of the owners of online publications have been to provide a service to the particular interest group, this has not always been the case. In many instances the resultant politicking by certain individuals who use these forums to promote their own agendas, slandering their competitors and opponents in the process, is the reason why many serious people in aviation have lost all respect for these forums. The world of communication has changed forever as social media platforms become more prolific, but therein lies the responsibility for the owners and moderators to act with impunity to protect the interests of the particular media. Certain individuals hide behind their pseudonyms, whilst they believe they are immune to being held legally liable for their written slander of another person or that person’s business. Recent test cases have shown that irresponsible postings by individuals can actually hold the owners of these media websites responsible for allowing this slanderous content to be displayed in public. As the owner of African Pilot printed monthly magaizine, digital magazine and weekly APAnews, I have clearly understood my responsibility towards providing genuine news and entertainment to the aviation industry in southern Africa and indeed the world. At the same time African Pilot is not a daily newspaper or news blog, where mostly the editorial desire is to seek sensationalism. At all times our responsibility is to share news and mostly this is ‘good news’ within the exciting and ever-developing aviation industry. With the excellent development of the
African Pilot website, we are offering opportunities for individuals to express themselves about developments within the industry. However, I would like to stress that we will not accept any slanderous postings as these will be moderated. New chapter within African Pilot On page 46 in this edition I have introduced Aircraft Technical as a new chapter, which will become a monthly feature. With assistance from engine overhaul shop APCO at Wonderboom National Airport and Aircraft Unlimited at Rand Airport, the intention is to publish illustrated articles on the various technical aspects of engine maintenance, accessory overhaul and airframe maintenance. The first of these features deals with the ‘blow-by’ for piston engines at the time of Mandatory Period Inspections (MPIs) where one cylinder was found not to have any compression whatsoever. Over the coming months I will be dealing with several aspects of aircraft and accessory maintenance, but I welcome any suggestions from our readers. Finally, the SACAA During the past month, I was privileged to attend two separate functions with executives of the South African regulator. On both occasions I found a genuine commitment by them towards improving service levels for the regulator. My take is that it will be far better for aviation business to work closer with the regulator to solve individual problems, which are often not fully understood by all the parties involved. Until next month please fly safely, Athol Franz
Editor Athol Franz 082 552 2940 editor@africanpilot.co.za
Publisher / Production Wavelengths 10 (Pty) Ltd
Marketing Lara Bayliss 079 880 4359 marketing@africanpilot.co.za
Durban correspondent Pete van der Spek
Copy reader Gordon Dyne
gdyne@global.co.za
Designers Maria Leader Creshenda Maraba
Cape Town correspondent Irene McCullagh
maria@africanpilot.co.za creshenda@africanpilot.co.za
Printing Business Print
012 843 7600 / 0861 42 42 59
Website and digital Johan Botes
johan@africanpilot.co.za
Distribution On the Dot
011 401 5938
Accounts Manager Helena Kurland
admin@africanpilot.co.za
Admin / Subscriptions Paulinah Motlhabi
subscribe@africanpilot.co.za
African Pilot Local International Fax
0861 00 11 30 +27 11 466 8524 / 6 086 767 4333
Transport Ephraim Ndlovu
P.O. Box 30620, Kyalami, 1684, South Africa
African Pilot House
No. 6 Barbeque Heights, Dytchley Road, Barbeque Downs, Kyalami, South Africa
website: www.africanpilot.co.za May 2018
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Competitions Total value of the competitions in this edition is R13 000
Cover Working on Fire Huey helicopters
May Cover Competition - Total value R3 000 This month’s cover prize has generously been donated by Henley Air based at Rand Airport for a flight for two people in a helicopter. Questions 1) At which airshow featured in this edition did Henley Air provide helicopter flipping? 2) How many helicopter Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are featured in this edition? 3) Which company has recently acquired the agency for Kopter helicopters? March Cover Competition Winner Congratulations to Gerhard Janse van Vuuren who has won a AviMap Map book and AviMap Airfields guide This Month’s Cover Competition Entries to be submitted to the following e-mail only: info@africanpilot. co.za One entry per person please. Entries sent to other African Pilot e-mails will automatically be disqualified. Picture of the Month This month’s winning entry can be viewed on page 20 & 21. This month’s winner will receive two nights for two people at the Aviator Hotel including breakfast. The overall winner of this year’s competition will receive prizes to the value of up to R10 000. By submitting a photograph, you grant African Pilot permission to publish the image in the monthly magazine as well as within our annual executive wall calendar.
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The cover picture this month of the Working on Fire Huey helicopters was taken at the 2017 Lowveld airshow by Athol Franz. Athol used his Canon 7D with a focal length of 100mm ISO 160 F18 at 160 sec exposure.
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Hi Athol, Unfortunately, the ones that depend on getting photographs for the magazines are the ones who will suffer here. When this whole airside issue started a few years back, Frans Dely and I sat down and decided to do something about it. We said that photographers should be graded - group A should be pro photographers allowed airside, group B would be photo enthusiasts from photo clubs etc. and they would be given a platform from which to shoot. We even offered to take some of those photographers under our wings to train them for the future. I distinctly remember sitting at a pub after the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) in England one year discussing this problem. Soon after that, RAASA was born and the vetting of photographers started. However, somewhere the whole process has gone wrong, because every Tom, Dick and Harry were given RAASA status and the fun started. Funnily enough, I applied a few years back and was told I did not qualify as I was not present at enough local airshows! However, I still ran two airshow media sections for the organisers. That is how silly this whole thing was. As you quite rightly pointed out, other ‘photographers’ wear ‘dayglo bibs’ and wandered amongst parked aircraft, posing a huge danger. Personally, I have given up on local airshows as they have become ‘bun fights.’ The two airshows in which I was involved organising the media, namely Newcastle and Bethlehem were always well run and there were not any issues.To say that we are not allowed airside at Newcastle is a huge problem for us now as there is a high fence surrounding the spectator area due to the airfields upgrade to regional airport status. This means we professional photographers cannot take our photographs, which is a pity for the organisers. I for one will not bother to attend this airshow in future. Why would I spend in excess of R3000 to get there, stay there and then can’t do my job? All these rules and regulations are killing the airshow industry for us photographers. Such a pity! Regards, Pete van der Spek Dear Pete, Many thanks for your e-mail. Having just returned from the Ermelo airshow I am delighted to report that the organisers and officials were fantastic with their planning for photographers, but only the recognised group which always delivers excellent results at airshows. Frankly I am rather pleased with this new ruling, because it will now be up to the various individual airshow organisers to come up with a plan to be approved by ASSA for professional photographers to work and this will exclude the many ‘hangers on’ who just get in the way all the time. That means only those photographers who deliver excellence in the form of a proper publication, be this printed or digital media. Therefore it will be up to the Flight Director and the Safety Officer at each event to make key decisions to assist the professional photographers. So, as I have said before: “when one door closes, another opens”. Best regards, Athol. For the benefit of readers, Pete van der Spek is a South African professional freelance photographer and writer who covers most of the airshows in England and Europe for African Pilot and has done so for many years. Pete also writes on his visits to aviation museums and similar. His work is invaluable to African Pilot. Frans Dely, to whom Pete refers, was a world-class South African aviation photographer who was tragically killed in a plane crash on 14 August 2011. Frans was amongst 13 people killed when two Piaggio P.166S Albatross aircraft, in which they were travelling, crashed into
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mountains near Tzaneen, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa in bad weather. The two aircraft had departed Tzaneen airport, where the passengers had been attending an airshow, to return to Johannesburg. Dear Athol, I had the surprise of my life a couple of weeks ago when a good friend of mine, whilst travelling through the International Airport in Namibia, saw your African Pilot edition of February 2018, in a bookshop, with a picture of my Fairchild 71 on the cover. He brought me the copy and I must say that I was very impressed with the article you wrote. It is the best article written on my 71 so far! Thank you so much. Whilst the Vintage Aviation article was very well written by Spark Barnes, your writing is very informative as to the details of the plane, her history and the restoration details. Of course, the cover is special as I lost out on the Vintage Aviation cover due to photography difficulty with the weather. EAA editors demand that only their photographs are used. Oh well! Such is life! At this time, my 71 is the only flying one of the four on the FAA registry. NC 9727 which made the Vintage Aviation cover in 2014 is grounded for the foreseeable future. It is in need of a total rebuild of the wings which are original and have been determined not to be airworthy any longer. Practically it is a static museum piece, pending a $200K repair. I think the last time we talked, I told you I will not be at AirVenture this year, but my plans have changed and I am delighted to say that I will be there the entire week. I am so looking forward to catching up with you again. Looking forward to OSH 2018. Kind regards and once again, thank you for the article and for the cover. Marlin Horst Dear Martin, Very many thanks for your e-mail. I was delighted to receive your approval for my article and pictures. I well remember that lovely afternoon at Oshkosh when we first met at the Vintage Aircraft section. You were proudly and rightly so, speaking to visitors about your stunning Fairchild 71. My decision to place your Fairchild on the cover of my February edition of African Pilot was the fact that your enthusiasm for your beautifully restored vintage aircraft was exceptional. This coupled with the delightful pictures that you sent to me, made up my mind. Back home in southern Africa that particular edition of the magazine was well accepted by African Pilot’s thousands of fans and the magazine sold well. This year we will have a record number of South African visitors to AirVenture with more than 177 already booked by Neil Bowden for the South African campsite we call ‘Kamp Plakkerfontein’ meaning ‘squatter camp.’ This will be my 18th trip to Oshkosh in a row and every time, I meet up with many extraordinary aviation enthusiasts from all over the world. I will definitely look you up and this time I would please like to take some pictures of the interior of your Fairchild 71. Best regards, Athol.
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World’s best-selling jetliner reaches new milestone fuelled by strong market demand On Tuesday 13 March, thousands of Boeing employees gathered at the company’s Renton, Washington factory to celebrate the 10 000th 737 to come off the production line. With this airplane, a 737 MAX 8 for Southwest Airlines, the 737 has broken the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS’ title for the most produced commercial jet aircraft model. The 737 previously held this GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS’ title in 2006 for the 5 000th airplane to come out of the Renton factory, a mark that took almost four decades to reach. Due to growing market demand and higher production rates, the 737 programme reached the 10 000th airplane milestone only 12 years later. Boeing will increase the 737 production from the current rate 10 000th Boeing 737
of 47 airplanes per month to 52 airplanes per month later this year. The 737 programme has more than 4 600 airplanes still on order fuelled by sales of the newest version of the 737, the 737 MAX.
Boeing 737 facts • Presently a Boeing 737 takes off or lands somewhere every 1.5 seconds • On average, more than 2 800 Boeing 737s are in the air at any given time • More than 22 billion people have flown on a Boeing 737 • The 737 has flown more than 122 billion miles, the equivalent of five million times around Earth
Virgin Atlantic finally drops A380 order as production cuts loom Despite being one of the first customers for the aircraft, eventually Virgin Atlantic Airways cancelled its 2001 order for six Airbus A380 superjumbo jets after years of delaying deliveries. The airline now has plans to operate 12 A350-1000s instead. The news appeared in Airbus’ order-and-delivery report for February, published on 7 March 2018. The cancellation was also confirmed by the British carrier.
Virgin placed the order over a decade ago, but kept on delaying the delivery date as it went on to build its fleet around smaller wide-body jets, such as the A330s. Virgin Atlantic CEO Craig Kreeger was cited by Bloomberg saying that the A380 was “never really likely to make sense” for the airline. Kreeger explained that Virgin does not have enough high-volume routes to support a reasonably sized A380 fleet, adding that 10 jets might be closer to the number required to generate real efficiencies.
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Airbus A350-1000
Brian Summers from Skift observed that: “Richard Branson loved the idea of the Airbus A380 and promised that his airline would make the aircraft its flagship. However, the economics of the airplane will not work for a carrier like Virgin Atlantic and within the past few years, it became apparent that the carrier would never fly the type.”
However, Virgin Atlantic recently agreed to purchase the latest A350 twin-jet model, with 12 A350s set for delivery from early 2019 through 2021, by which point it will have 44 aircraft. Several other customers have also not followed through with their orders for the A380s. One of those was the Dublin-based aircraft-leasing company Amedeo, which ordered 20 superjumbos, but has not taken delivery of any after failing to establish a rental market for the model.
Orders, deliveries and cuts Airbus announced reduced production of its A380 and that the new production schedule could be affecting 3600 jobs. France should be spared, but in Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, workers are expecting some reassignments. Airbus report states that based on February’s orders and deliveries activity, its overall backlog of jetliners remaining to be delivered as of 28 February 2018, was 7 243 aircraft in total. This comprises 6,126 from the A320 Family, 308 A330s, 700 A350s and only 109 A380s. The report
shows the current total orders of the A380 Family at 331, with 222 total deliveries of the aircraft and 222 jets currently in fleets. The UAE-based Emirates is the aircraft’s largest customer, with most other operators taking only a dozen airliners, with the intention of making the giant jet the centrepiece of their fleets. As of 28 February 2018, Emirates had orders on Airbus for 161 of the A380 Family airliners. Right behind Emirates and the only other major customer is Singapore Airlines with 24 orders, 21 deliveries and 19 A380s in operation; followed by Qantas Airways with 20 orders, 12 deliveries and 12 A380s in service. On 11 February 2018, Emirates also announced firm orders for 20 and 16 options for the A380 in a deal worth $16 billion. Deliveries of these will start in 2020, at a production rate of six aircraft annually during the next 10 years. This new order brings Emirates A380 programme to 178 aircraft, worth over $60 billion.
Boeing delivers
the world’s first 787-10 Dreamliner to Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines Boeing 787-10 On 26 March 2018, Boeing celebrated the delivery of its first 787-10 airplane, the newest and largest member of the Dreamliner family and a jet that will set a new global standard for fuel efficiency, to Singapore Airlines. About 3 000 people marked the milestone at Boeing’s facility in North Charleston, South Carolina where the latest 787 model is manufactured. As with th e other 787 Dreamliners, the 787-10 is designed with strong, lightweight composites, the most advanced systems and comfortable cabin features. The 787-10 though, features a longer fuselage which allows it to carry about 40 more passengers or a total of 330 seats in a standard two-class configuration. With the additional capacity, the 787-10 provides airlines the lowest operating cost per seat of any widebody airplane in service today.
Singapore Airlines, through its subsidiary Scoot already operates 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners. With this delivery the group will be the first to operate all three Dreamliner models. In addition, Singapore Airlines has 68 Boeing widebody jets on order, including 48 additional 787-10s and 20 of the new 777-9s. The 787-10s superior performance and high commonality with its Dreamliner siblings have attracted strong interest from around the world, including Asia where the jet can connect all points within the region. The 787-10 also offers Asian operators the flexibility to fly to Europe, Africa and Oceania. Singapore Airlines plans to place its 787-10s into scheduled service in May, with flights from Singapore to Osaka, Japan and Perth, Australia. Prior to the introduction of these services, the aircraft will be operated on selected flights to Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for crew training purposes. May 2018
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Comair’s backbone is the Boeing 737 Boeing’s J. Miguel Santos
Comair CEO Erik Venter
At a media briefing on Thursday 15 March 2018, jointly hosted by Comair and Boeing, Comair CEO Erik Venter outlined the next phase of the airline’s fleet renewal programme. At 72 years young, Comair is South Africa’s oldest independent airline and is reported to be the only commercial airline to have continually turned in a profit for all those years. The airline also has South Africa’s most modern and efficient fleet, using the world’s best-selling airliner, the Boeing 737. Comair is scheduled to take delivery of the first of eight Boeing 737MAX 8s early in 2019 with the final airliner due in 2022. This marks the next stage of the airline’s renewal strategy that will see the company phasing out the remaining Boeing 737- 400s and becoming the first airline on the continent to take delivery of the Boeing 737 MAX. Venter said: “This will give Comair’s two airline brands, kulula.com and British Airways (operated by Comair) the benefits of increased seating capacity, lower operating costs and lower downtime for maintenance. “Comair already has the most modern and efficient fleet in South Africa, which increases its competitiveness. The reasoning behind this investment goes to the core of the operating efficiency of our airline and non-airline brands. The airline business has very narrow margins, so to operate sustainably you need the right equipment, operating systems, levels of customer service and the right people. One example of getting this right is the large proportion of our 2 100 employees who have been with the company for more than 10 years.” Comair’s airline brands operate to eleven destinations in South Africa, southern Africa and the Indian Ocean, and that includes the ninth-busiest route in the world (rated by aircraft movements), between Johannesburg and Cape Town. Venter continued: “In 2017, there were nearly 33 000 flights by various airlines on that route, so consistency is important for us on that route and all
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the routes on which we operate. Our fleet renewal strategy means we use 33% less fuel per passenger and the aircraft are 7% more fuel and cost-efficient overall. It means that increases in the oil-price actually work in our favour.” This focus on efficiency also drives Comair’s longstanding relationship with Boeing. Boeing’s J. Miguel Santos, said: “the 737 is already the world’s best-selling airliner. IATA estimates that Africa has just 2.2% of the global airline passenger share, but 16% of the world’s population; an indication of the potential for growth in the sector in coming years. Africa also has a number of fine, large airports, many of which are underutilised, whilst Open Skies could help ensure these are used to their full potential.” That growth will help drive a demand for personnel, which mirrors a global trend: Boeing’s most recent Boeing Commercial Outlook estimates that Africa will need 20 000 new pilots, 24 000 new technicians and 26 000 new cabin crew by 2035. Considering that the 10 countries worldwide with the youngest populations are all in Africa, this will be a boon for youngsters seeking aviation careers. Boeing has instituted an internship programme to assist with the nurturing of young talent in Africa and as such works closely with airlines in Africa, as it has done for more than 60 years.
Turkish Airlines to purchase 60 Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-9 airliners
Turkish Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner In a statement on 9 March 2018, Turkish Airlines said it had agreed to purchase 25 Boeing B787-9 Dreamliners and 25 Airbus A350-900s. The airline has confirmed plans to purchase 50 firm and 10 optional wide-body aircraft from Airbus and Boeing for its ever-growing fleet ahead of a move to a new Istanbul airport. The Airbus aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. In addition, the company has the option to buy five more of each aircraft from both manufacturers, bringing the eventual purchase to a total of 60 jets. According to the statement, six planes would be delivered as soon as 2019, 14 in 2020, 10 in 2021, 12 in 2022, 11 in 2023 and seven in 2024. İlkerAycı, the Turkish Airlines Board Chairman, stated that the airline, with the participation of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, signed a preliminary agreement with Boeing in New York, in September 2017, to purchase the 787-9 Dreamliners. Likewise, a deal to add A350-900 aircraft to its fleet was signed with Airbus in Paris during President Erdoğan’s official visit in January 2018. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce has won an order from Turkish Airlines for Trent XWB engines to power the 25 - A350-900 jets. The deals with Airbus and Boeing come as Turkish Airlines plans to move from its main hub; the Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST) to a new airport by Istanbul’s Black Sea coast presently under construction.The new airport, Istanbul’s third, is set to open on 29 October 2018, Turkey’s Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan was quoted as saying on 10 February 2018. Meanwhile, Atatürk Airport; amongst Europe’s five busiest airports, will be closed once the new airport opens.
Istanbul is a major hub for transit flights and attracts lucrative transfer traffic from major airports in the Gulf region. The Turkish government’s ambition is to make Istanbul’s new airport a global hub that would compete with Dubai for transfer traffic. The flag carrier has grown exponentially in recent years with passenger numbers reaching 69 million in 2017. The airline is now targeting a total 74 million passengers in 2018. With that, the carrier wants to expand its fleet from the current 329 to 424 aircraft by 2023, which is when the country will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of modern Turkey. The airline has the full support of the Turkish government in its ambitious plans. In early January 2018, President Erdoğan specifically stated the aim to make Turkish Airlines the airline with the largest aircraft fleet in the world, with the opening of the new airport that, once fully operational, is also set to become the world’s largest airport.
A350-900-RR-Turkish Airlines
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Why is your fleet failing?
Los Angeles - LAX
Poor profitability? Diminishing market share? Decreasing operational performance? If your airline is showing any of these symptoms, it might be a case of bad fleet planning. Seen across the globe, this disease is a recurring cause of bankruptcy. Gladly, the illness is not fatal and the mistakes leading to it can be avoided from the start and if the team responsible for curing the disease is good enough, full recovery is possible even after many years of struggle.
Never too late to restructure The first sign that an airline should consider changing its fleet is extremely high capacity, Jonas Juodagalvis, Vice President for Transactions at AviaAM said. “If certain routes are operated at full (or near full) capacity, this signals the need to restructure the fleet.The first step airlines should make is to evaluate, whether the route is historical (operated for decades and likely to be operated at least a decade more) or seasonal. Depending on that, the airline decides whether to purchase an aircraft, enter a long-term operational lease or a short-term ACMI lease agreement for a couple of months. It
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is a must to reflect upon your competitors’ experiences, especially the bad ones. If a competitor goes bankrupt, it does not mean that the routes were unsuitable. Perhaps an inadequate fleet was used. Take, for example, Finnair’s restructuring. It was flying half-empty Embraer E170s on Finnair flights, which were not very efficient. Right now, they choose smaller ATR72 aircraft on lease, which means they can carry almost fully loaded planes and offer more routes at the same time.”
Goldilocks effect According to Roy Fan, fleet planning analyst at Allegiant Air, one can describe a problematic fleet as either being inappropriately gauged (having too much/too little capacity per aircraft) or poorly aligned with its network growth. In the latter case, the carrier either has too many aircraft or not enough to satisfy its growth appetite. “With an oversized aircraft gauge, concerns from some existing operators on profitably filling the A380 year-round immediately come to mind. Conversely, an undersized fleet often suffers structural unit cost disadvantages and could be vulnerable to external constraints. The growing pilot shortage is an example that could accelerate up gauging” Fan said.
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In terms of poor alignment, a number of start-up failures have often been blamed on overstretched capital commitments from adding excess capacity, whilst having a limited pipeline of aircraft to fuel growth. This could risk losing market relevance or becoming a takeover target, Fan believes.
Smart decisions save companies No need to look far for restructuring cases, as airlines of different sizes are constantly reshuffling their fleets. This year, for example, we have seen Flybe announcing a reduction of 10-15 aircraft. The decision came after several years of losses or minimal profits. “A major challenge we faced was having 50 Embraer 175s the business didn’t want or need, which very nearly killed the business and it has taken us three years to ameliorate,” Vincent Hodder, Chief Strategy Officer at Flybe said at the Routes Europe 2017 conference. After the airline had reached peak capacity at 85 aircraft, it decided to reduce its Bombardier Q400 fleet by about six aircraft and it aims by 2019/2020 to go even lower; to 70-75 aircraft.
“
Planning and structuring should be a system-level approach. Each method has its own specific contribution to make and only the airline requirements and unique circumstances dictate when each technique will be more appropriate.
”
Another European airline, Latvia’s airBaltic has been following a similar path, with past mistakes of overgrowing still haunting the carrier. Now the airline is in the process of replacing its Boeing 737s as well as older turboprops with a 100% C Series fleet. Across the Atlantic, a notable recent case of fleet optimisation is Azul. It sold ten of its ATR 72-600 aircraft to Nordic Aviation Capital, reducing its debt by $100 million. At the same time, the agreement also included the delivery of three new ATR 72-600 aircraft under operating leases.“We will continue to deploy ATRs to explore new markets and to fly shorter regional routes. However, as we expand our network over the next few years, it is only natural that we replace smaller aircraft with larger next generation aircraft. In line with our fleet strategy of having the right type of aircraft for the markets we serve, we have identified several markets that are ready to be upgraded to larger aircraft,” John Rodgerson, Azul’s CEO, said in an official statement.
According to Daniel McDonald, Managing Director at Aviation Fleet Group, correct fleet structuring approach starts with a correct business plan. An airline needs to first decide its strengths and weaknesses and then what are its targets for profitability, customer/ product offerings, competitive position, needed cost structure and revenue,” Mcdonald said. “This is an iterative process that will drive decisions on the route network and also matching the right fleet to this business plan/route network. The right fleet structure is really the right fleet plan. A fleet plan should be the number of aircraft by month/year/type over the next three to five years. This should be formally updated every quarter.
No perfect solution
Availability matters
ICAO lists three main approaches to fleet planning: macro evaluation, schedule evaluation and aircraft assignment. The macro approach is considered a reasonably quick method of estimating future fleet requirements. With a heavy emphasis on historical seat trends and past data, the approach might not be the most comprehensive. Whilst it takes the forecasted aggregate passenger numbers as a theoretical load factor, it dismisses the route structure of the airline. The schedule evaluation method examines the quality of a previously determined schedule and the aircraft assignment method, considers and initially defines the total traffic demand, airplane performance, operating economics, financial limits and system constraints. No method is perfect and there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, aviation analyst Ziad Haddad said.
Finally, it might seem like a no-brainer that longer routes require longer range aircraft and busy routes are best operated by larger aircraft. However, this is just part of the equation. Aircraft availability and the kind of service a carrier wants to offer need to be accounted for as well. “The carrier requires to weigh the difference regarding when an aircraft is available and when it is needed”, Syed M. Bilal Zaidi, aviation analyst at Flight Ascend Consultancy said. “At the same time, fleet planning relies on what the airline wishes to provide its passengers.” For example, full-premium cabins are not available on narrow-body aircraft and an airline like Emirates would not be able to provide Airbus A380 suite service even on a smaller wide-body jet.
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DHL introduces a Boeing 737- 400F to its southern African fleet On Thursday 22 March, DHL introduced its newly acquired Boeing 737-400 freighter at the Federal Air hangar at OR Tambo International Airport. DHL, the world’s leading international express services’ provider, enhanced its capabilities in the southern Africa region with the launch of this Boeing 737-400F cargo aircraft on the Johannesburg – Harare – Lusaka route. The aircraft will be placed on the intra-Africa air network to improve connectivity between key country trade partners and the rest of the world. The DHL B737-400F aircraft, which is the first of its kind for DHL in the southern Africa region, will be the fourth B737-400F aircraft in its Sub Saharan Africa dedicated air network. The aircraft will carry out flights five days per week from Johannesburg. The new aircraft has a payload of up to 21 tons over the planned route, which is over 200% higher than the effective capacity of the ATR-72 aircraft previously operating on this route and can also accommodate three times as much volume. More importantly, it will reduce the flight time between Johannesburg and Harare by over 35 minutes, ensuring an earlier arrival and later departure for DHL shipments from Lusaka. In an industry where every minute counts for the customer, this will significantly enhance the quality of DHL services in the Southern Africa region. “The increase in capacity of the new aircraft brings a new level of reliability and quality of service to the market. We will be able to adjust our aircraft operations to accommodate future increases in demand from the market by introducing even larger aircraft to our fleet where necessary. These developments will allow us to even better fulfill our obligations to our customers both in Southern and Sub Saharan Africa,” said Malcolm Macbeth, Vice President, DHL Aviation Middle East and Africa.
“The growth in business activity across the entire region, the development of international trade relations, and the expansion of companies into regional markets require that the express delivery market provides simple, fast and effective delivery solutions. The new aircraft reaffirms the commitment of DHL to develop and drive the express delivery market in Africa,” said Hennie Heymans, CEO DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa.
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We are incredibly pleased to welcome this new aircraft to our fleet and believe it is an important step to further amplify and support connectivity in the region, Heymans said.
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The Boeing 737-400F is one of the core aircraft in DHL’s dedicated air network in Sub-Saharan Africa. It complies with the strict quality, safety and environmental standards to which the company adheres. The aircraft is also equipped with a Category III C system which enables it to operate in unfavourable weather conditions. The operation of a B737-400F by DHL Aviation within the southern Africa region will allow the company to broaden the service offering for its customers and will further reinforce the service reliability and delivery performance of the company.
DHL staff and guests at the launch
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2018
Event
Venue
Contact
27 Apr - 1 May
NAC annual fly-away 10th edition
Several towns in the Karoo
Deneys Potgieter 082 891 4354 deneys.potgieter@nac.co.za
4 -5 May
SAAF Museum Swartkops airshow
AFB Swartkops
Officer Commanding 012 351 2290 oc@saafmuseum.org.za
7 - 9 May
Airport show
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Reed Exhibitions Middle East stephanie.ramos@reedexpo.ae
11 - 13 May
Battlefields Country Lodge Annual fly-in
Near Dundee
12 May
Lowveld Airshow
Nelspruit airfield
12 May
Swellengrebel Flying Club 60th birthday fly-in
Swellengrebel
Pieter Venter pventer@vgv.co.za
15 - 18 May
NAMPO Agricultural Trade Show
near Bothaville, Free State
Wim Venter 086 004 7246 Wim@grainsa.co.za
16 - 18 May
Drone Con 2018
Vodaworld Centre Midrand
avril@dronecon.co.za
17 - 18 May
8th Aviation Training and Education Summit
Shanghai, China
Josephine Zhu josephine_z@opplandcorp.com
19 - 20 May
SAC Free State Regionals
Tempe Airport Bloemfontein
Annie Boon chunge@mweb.co.za
22 May
CAASA Conference
Lanseria Airport
Louise Olckers 011 659 2345 gm@caasa.co.za
24 - 26 May
President’s Trophy Air Race
Tempe airfield Bloemfontein
Rob Jonkers 082 804 7032 rob@aerosud.co.za www.sapfa.org.za Race@sapfa.org.za
26 May
Matsieng Airshow
Botswana
Riaan van Vuuren +26 771 66 1201 riaan@gir.co.bw
29 - 31 May
European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition
Geneva, Switzerland
Bianca Dorneanu +32 2 766 0072 bdorneanu@ebaa.org
Dave O’Halloran 079 496 5286 gm@battlefieldslodge.co.za www.battlefieldslodge.co.za 013 741 6412 Naranda Leeuwner 072447 5968 Naranda.leeuwner@kishugu.com
Airshow organisers: African Pilot annual airshow award details on our website: www.africanpilot.co.za Local 0861 001130 International +27 11 466 8524 Pre & post publicity: E-mail: editor@africanpilot.co.za Website: www.africanpilot.co.za Details are published in the magazine, the African Pilot weekly Newsletter and the African Pilot Website. They serve to remind aviation enthusiasts of forthcoming events during the week running up to the event. Capital Sounds for sound and broadcast: Brian Emmenis 057 388 2351 E-mail: capital@icon.co.za ASSA - Air Show South Africa Website: www.airshowsa.org.za. To reserve an airshow or fly-in please book on-line: www.airshowsa.org.za Louise Hofmeyer 083 454 1104 E-mail: louise@airshowsa.org.za Management & Airshow Authorisation: Tania van den Berg RAASA 011 082 1000 E-mail: tania@raasa.co.za Website: www.raasa.co.za
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How to submit a photograph Should you wish to see your photograph published as a ‘Picture of the Month’, please send your image in its original size to africanpilotmag@gmail.com. All well-composed, high quality photographs with an aviation theme will be considered. This month’s winner will receive two nights for two people at the Aviator Hotel including breakfast. By submitting a photograph, you grant us permission to publish the image in African Pilot magazine, as well as our annual executive wall calendar. The photographer who takes the best photograph of the year will receive prizes to the value of up to R10 000.
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P-51 Mustang by Dr Stefaan Bouwer Mustang GA-S representing an aircraft from 112 RAF Squadron with its Shark mouth painted nose taken at the Legends show at Duxford 2017. This colour scheme has specific relevance for South Africa in that a number of our pilots flew with this squadron in these colours during WWII. This aircraft was built late in WWII and missed action, but was restored and flew numerous times, with
various companies. Prior colours to this one was in the markings of ‘Bud’ Andersons Old Crow. The aircraft was purchased by the UK-based Sharkmouth Ltd, registered as G-SHWN and currently seen in this scheme. Stefan used his Canon 7D MK II fitted with a Canon ILS 100-400 Mk I lens. Photographed in TV mode, shutter speed 1/320, F8, ISO 200
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May 2018
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