Page 28 - World Airnews September 2020 Edition

NEWS NEWS

APOC ACQUIRES ANOTHER CATHAY PACIFIC STRIPS

A320 SEATS FROM 777 AIRCRAFT

Inevitably there will be a decline in the
market value of older narrow body parts -

POC Aviation has purchased so the A320 and B737 family aircraft APOC fter operating thousands of car-

Aanother A320 family airframe Aviation seeks are those equipped with the Ago-only passenger fl ights since late

for teardown. Built in 2000, the aircraft latest modifications. March, Cathay Pacific has deployed two wide

was last operated in Europe and it is the “As airlines worldwide slowly rebuild their body aircraft with seats removed to maximise

fifth narrow body acquisition that APOC operations, narrowbodies and regional jets floor loading of cargo in the passenger cabin.

will be the first to fly again. Our pro-active

The Hong Kong-based airline removed
has successfully closed this year. teardown programme is designed to increase the economy and premium economy seats

Funding for the purchase was swiftly our stock of high-quality commercial parts, from two Boeing 777 passenger planes to
secured through private placement. It is not just replenish. We will support our create more space for personal protection

anticipated that the first serviceable parts, customers through the sale of parts but also equipment and high-value products, it said

including landing gear but not engines, will exchange, loan and consignment - whatever in a cargo-oriented published recently.
be parted out from the teardown facility in is best for them” said van den Boogaard.
Cathay Pacific began flying the modified

Spain in the fourth quarter of the year. Over the next few months, APOC has aircraft at the end of July to Australia. It

Jasper van den Boogaard, vice president air further airframe acquisitions in the pipeline Jasper van den Boogaard is participating in Australia’s International front and rear seat rows in place to protect and overhead baggage compartments since

frame acquisition and trading at APOC Aviation, and van den Boogaard, who is an ISTAT Freight Assistance Mechanism, which the the doors and bulkheads from cargo that May, developed special procedures for

said the company is confident it can continue certified appraiser, is observing the fluctua- of those can access the necessary liquidity to government created to help agricultural might shift during turbulence. Two or three loading cargo on cabin floors.

to secure investment for the right assets. tions in aircraft asset valuations closely. complete transactions smoothly.” exporters get products to market after airline employees accompany the cargo Warehouse workers put the cargo bags in

“APOC Aviation was quick to seize this “In today’s environment there will be more Once teardown of the A320 is completed, airlines closed passenger networks because in the cabin to periodically check on the

opportunity and we had secure financing in aircraft, LDGs and engines for sale, even parts will be shipped to the Company’s close- of the corona virus pandemic. cargo and respond to any potential fire. half-sized containers in the order they will

be positioned in the plane. The containers

place to close the deal. Even in these difficult though many are currently parked or stored ly audited group of repair stations worldwide The emergency programme, which has All aviation authorities that allow airlines are towed to the aircraft and unloaded one

times I am pleased to say that, despite the in the hope that prices will rise again. But whereupon components will be returned to been extended until year’s end, co-ordinates to operate with cabin cargo require cargo box at a time into hydraulic catering service

constraints of COVID-19, APOC was able few investors are buying right now. No-one serviceable status before transition to APOC’s and subsidises shipments through a select marshals because cabins aren’t equipped trucks that are lifted to the rear doors of the

to source and finalise deals for our target wants to make a bad deal so I cannot see the Rotterdam warehouse facility. group of freight forwarders and airlines. The with fire-suppression systems. Dangerous aircraft. Ground handlers then wheel boxes

aircraft. If something is for sale we’ll look at it volume of deals increasing quickly. Pre-COVID “Strategic investment in A320 family seatless aircraft, which were reconfigured by goods are never allowed in the upper deck. into the cabin, position them according to

but I must emphasise that we are focused on there would frequently be 30 or 40 offers on spares increases APOC’s inventory of premi- HAECO in Xiamen, China, can carry 12 extra Redeploying idle aircraft for dedicated the load plan and zip and secure the bags.

the youngest assets at a price we can afford.” the table, now it is just a handful and not all um components” said van den Boogaard. Q tons of cargo, according to Cathay Pacific. cargo service has been lucrative for passen- Cabin loading takes much more time and

The overhaul and maintenance company ger airlines. manpower than loading a pure freighter

Cathay Pacific is late to the game of re-

FLIGHTSMART TO PARTICIPATE IN also modified the seat track and marked moving seats from passenger planes to cre- with containers and pallets. Cathay Pacific
lashing points for securing cargo to the floor.
estimates the load time at about three

ate more space for cargo. Air Canada and
hours, but said it hopes to get faster as it

The Hong Kong civil aviation department

THE AFWERX 2020 CHALLENGE requires the airline to place cargo in cus- Lufthansa did so in April. The US federal refines the handling process. Alex Leung,
aviation administration last month granted

the cargo products manager, said Cathay
tomized bags made from a fire-retardant

US carriers the authority to strip cabins of
could convert more planes to seat-less
material that helps keep the cargo intact.

Other airlines are using “seat bags” to pro- seats for cargo purposes. But Cathay Pacific freighters if demand persists, especially

ment, directly aligned with AFWERX goals. If chosen as the challenge winner, tect aircraft interiors from boxes placed in is a combination carrier with a fleet of 20 as the need for pandemic supplies collides

FlightSafety developed FlightSmart in FlightSafety will work with air combat seats, but this is the first known example of Boeing 747 freighters at its disposal and with the peak shipping season this fall.

lightSafety International has conjunction with IBM, a world leader in command, air education and training an airline receiving an operating exemption likely didn’t feel the urgency of pure pas- Cathay is only operating about 10% of its

senger airlines to increase cargo capacity.

Fannounced that its integrated pilot advanced analytics and AI. command and global strike command to for floor loading with bagged cargo. Each Cathay Pacific, which has been carrying normal passenger schedule this month and

bag is secured to the floor with a net.

performance and evaluation training “FlightSmart collects and analyzes pilot develop a solution that leverages existing medical supplies and other goods in seats has warned it expects to record a (US) $1.3

tool called FlightSmart will be used in performance data using advanced analyt- and new data for content development Safety requirements include keeping the billion loss for the first half of 2020. Q

and proves the efficacy of military avia-

the Accelerating Pilots to Combat-Ready ics that are presented on a real-time web- tion training and development.

based dashboard,” said Bert Sawyer, di-
Aviators Challenge 2020. rector strategic management. “It employs FlightSafety International is the world’s AFRICA

FlightSmart was chosen from among artificial intelligence and machine learning premier professional aviation training

more than 200 entrants. FlightSmart lever- technology to capture insights using evi- company and supplier of flight simulators,

ages AI and Machine Learning, harnessing dence-based training methodologies and visual systems and displays to commercial, URGENT BAILOUT NEEDED
the data-rich training environment from then predicts the best training approach government and military organisations.

classroom to full motion simulators. to learning by providing instructors with a FlightSafety’s highly qualified instruc-

The objectives of the Accelerating Pi- comprehensive understanding of a pilot’s tors provide more than 1.4 million hours financial situation of the Tunisian national Before the Covid-19 pandemic health

lots to Combat-Ready Aviators Challenge strengths and weaknesses.” of training each year to pilots, techni- company. crisis hit the continent Tunisair was already
include improving the efficiency and FlightSmart algorithms incorporate cians and other aviation professionals e need to establish an Faced with union leaders, and certain of- planning to restructure the airline to the

effectiveness of combat-ready aviators, rapid prototyping that are easily tailored from 167 countries and independent ter- Wurgent, short-term rescue ficials of the national flagship, the minister tune of nearly 400 million euros. This would

creating a more effective Air Force to meet customer demands and promote ritories. FlightSafety operates the world’s plan,” was said at a recent working session Fadel Karim insisted that everyone had a include the possible retrenchment or layoff

for the good of national security, and individualised training. largest fleet of advanced full-flight sim- duty to ensure that the carrier maintains of more than 60% of its workforce.

improving communication and collabora- FlightSmart is adaptable to a wide va- ulators at learning centres and training devoted to the development of a plan for its sustainability and regains its balance The pandemic, coupled with the

tion across pilot training programs. riety of organisations seeking objective locations in the United States, Australia, the Tunisian national carrier. and its influence. The minister agreed that recent sacking of the CEO Elyes Mnakbi

FlightSmart technology delivers objective analysis of individual or overall per- Brazil, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, The meeting, organised by the act- another meeting should be scheduled in has further plunged the carrier into

and intelligent assessments of pilot perfor- formance in live, virtual, synthetic and India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, ing minister of transport and logistics the future to examine the strategic direc- financial and managerial instability. Q

mance throughout the training environ- constructive training environments. South Africa and the United Kingdom. Q was specifically aimed at assessing the tions of all concerned. https://newsaero.info/airlines

World Airnews | September 2020 World Airnews | September 2020
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