Page 20 - World Airnews Magazine July Edition 2020

MANUFACTURER

EMBRAER TALKS WITH

POTENTIAL PARTNERS

mbraer recently confirmed that it
Ehas entered discussions with more
than two potential partners for its com-

mercial aircraft business as part of a five-

year strategic plan it expects to formulate
within the next few months.
Speaking during the company’s first-quar-

ter earnings call with securities analysts,
Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto named
companies in China, India, ‘and others’ as

potential partners, while confirming that
the company is considering tapping finan-

cial markets - both public and private - to
potentially help boost liquidity.

Nevertheless, Embraer CFO Antonio Car- the failed sale of 80 percent of Embraer Embraer continues to cite a target of (US)

los Garcia reported that the company - now Commercial Aircraft to Boeing. $1 billion in cash savings for the year, sup-

sitting on (US) $2.5 billion in cash reserves Embraer reported a (US) $292 million ported by cost-containment plans including

with major debt maturities not coming due loss in the first quarter, driven mainly by compensation and work hour reductions

until 2022 - expects to maintain at least weakness in its commercial aircraft division. among more than half of its Brazil-based

(US) $2 billion in liquidity at the end of the It delivered only five E-Jets during the period employees.

year, underscoring the company’s relatively when it closed operations in early January to Other measures included supplier nego-

strong balance sheet at a time of shrinking complete the segregation of the commercial tiations to delay parts deliveries and post-

revenues due to Covid-19 and a first-quar- division for the Boeing sale and again in late pone payments and a companywide effort

ter marred by expenses associated with March due to Covid-19 concerns. involving inventory “monetisation.” Q
AVIONICS
CONTACTLESS IS THE NEW KING
ber one short-term priority is restoring kiosks that are controlled, not by direct

passenger confidence. contact with a passenger’s fingers, but via

ollins Aerospace believes con- While a vaccine against Covid-19 is the a customer’s own smart phone. As for the

Ctactless biometrics and other ultimate long-term goal, in the near-term aircraft cabin, Collins is exploring light-
hygiene-related technologies will be in passengers are focused on their safety based technologies that could sterilise the

high demand, as the air transport industry throughout the whole journey, including aircraft’s interior while it is parked over-

night, with the cleaning effect potentially

the airport. Collins foresees a strong trend
emerges from the corona virus pandemic. towards reducing physical contact with peo- lasting for a few days. Airlines are also

LeAnn Ridgeway is vice-president of ple or machines at airports and on aircraft. interested in anti-viral or anti-microbio-

Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon This could mean the accelerated logical surfaces inside the cabin.
Technologies. adoption of facial recognition technolo- Other changes to the cabin could in-

Ridgeway is also part of an internal gies that confirm a passenger’s identity clude dividers between seats - although

task force looking at ways industry against their passport. there are certification considerations

stakeholders can work together to boost Ridgeway has noted that company here - touchless lavatories, and hand

passenger confidence as travel resumes. trials in recent years with airline cus- sanitiser stations throughout. The imple-

Ridgeway has noted that business jet tomers have demonstrated that facial mentation of new ways of flying, howev-

travel has done fairly well in recent weeks, scanning at the gate actually speeds up er, will be very much a group effort.

and suggested it could be a leading indica- the boarding process. From a hygiene “Aerospace and aviation has historically

tor for an up take in commercial traffic. perspective, it also obviates the require- had its ups and downs, but [corona virus]

“I’m cautiously optimistic that people ment for handing boarding passes and ID is certainly unprecedented,” she said.

want to get back to normal,” she said. documents to airport workers. “We really believe we have to be uni-
Collins Aerospace is involved in many She believes that this technology fied. I think what we do as an industry,

facets of the industry, including interiors, will supersede the fingerprint-based what we do with the airlines, the air-

flight decks, and integrated oxygen sys- biometric systems that have sprung up in ports, government, regulatory agencies,
tems. Company discussions with airline airports over the last decade. associations, and medical professionals

customers have revealed that the num- Another promising technology is airport all need to be unified.” Q

World Airnews | July 2020 World Airnews | July 2020
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