The first set of AMC/GM for U-space Regulation is published by EASA

To promote the uniform, secure, and effective implementation of U-space throughout the European Union, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has released its first set of Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material.

The management of unmanned aircraft traffic to ensure the safety of interactions with other entities using the same space in urban areas and other locations has come to be known as "U-space."

Representative | EASA

This is a significant step for the drone service market, as U-space airspace and services implementation enables more complex drone operations beyond the visual line of sight, such as drone operations in an urban environment, across European airspace. This major EASA deliverable would not have been possible without the active involvement of the European drone and aviation community. The implementation of U-space airspace and U-space services represents the first step towards the safe integration of manned and unmanned traffic in the airspace-  said Patrick Ky, Executive Director of EASA

More than 30 specialists, as well as officials from the civil aviation authorities and industry, worked together under the direction of EASA to produce the paper that was eventually released. The AMC/GM for the U-space regulatory framework represents the state-of-the-art of U-space concept, systems, and technology and has been designed taking into account the most recent innovations from industry and U-space stakeholders. As a result of the AMC/thorough GM's treatment of the U-space regulation's many facets and key players, U-space will be implemented across Europe in a way that is equitable, effective, secure, and safe.

Representative | EASA

As of January 26, 2023, when the U-space regulatory framework (Regulations (EU) 2021/664, (EU) 2021/665, and (EU) 2021/666) officially enters into force, EASA looks forward to the next phases of the U-space implementation.

Representative | EASA

The first U-space airspace designations and U-space service provider (USSP) certifications will be made shortly as part of the implementation process. Beyond creating the legal framework, EASA will continue to actively contribute to the deployment of U-space by accrediting USSPs from third countries (non-EU) that want to provide services in Europe.

consilium.europa.eu

The Agency will eventually be able to improve the initial set of AMC/GM based on the lessons learned during the first few years of drone operations in the U-space thanks to the experience all U-space stakeholders obtained during the early deployments.

SOURCE: easa.europa.eu

COVER: Eurocontrol

In response to a question on the proposed Bhogapuram airport and the status of Visakhapatnam airport, by BJP’s Rajya Sabha Member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao on Monday, December 19, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen. V.K. Singh said that the Greenfield Bhogapuram Airport will have the investment of over INR 2,500 crore and the present Visakhapatnam Airport will have no commercial flights for 30 years.

Gen Singh stated that the Government of India had granted ‘Site Clearance’ to the Government of Andhra Pradesh in January 2016 for the development of Bhogapuram Greenfield airport. Subsequently, ‘In-Principle’ approval for the project was given by the Government of India to the Government of Andhra Pradesh in October 2016.

ALSO READ - New Visakhapatnam International Airport project to take off soon

The Minister also stated that the Government of Andhra Pradesh has taken up the development of Bhogapuram airport in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Andhra Pradesh's Bhogapuram Airport to have an investment of over INR 2,500 crore

The land required for the development of the airport is approximately 2,203 acres and Phase I development of the airport would be able to cater to 6 million passengers per annum.

The timeline for completion of the airport project depends upon many factors such as land acquisition, availability of mandatory clearances, financial closure and others.

The Minister also stated a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and GoAP in September 2022 for the mutation of the entire 372.72 acres of land in possession of AAI in Vizag Civil Enclave in the name of AAI with permission to use the said land for any purpose without any restriction.

Ministry of Civil Aviation has granted a No Objection Certificate (NOC) in September 2022 to GoAP for the closure of scheduled commercial operations at the Civil Enclave at the existing Vizag Naval Airfield (lNS Dega) for 30 years, subject to compliance with the provisions of MoU entered between AAI and GoAP.

The airport at Visakhapatnam has several restrictions for an increase in flying slots for civilian aircraft despite the availability of several parking bays.

Visakhapatnam International Airport, which is now being used for defence and civilian aircraft, will go the Begumpet Airport way once the Bhogapuram International Airport in Vizianagaram district becomes operational.

The airport at Visakhapatnam, which recently completed the construction of a second terminal by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), has several restrictions for an increase in flying slots for civilian aircraft despite the availability of several parking bays.

In fact, airport advisory committee members K Vijay Mohan and O Naresh Kumar have been demanding an increase in flight frequency of domestic flights and the introduction of international flights to Kua Lumpur, Dubai, Bangkok and other destinations since the removal of Covid-19 restrictions.

However, it will be curtains down for Visakhapatnam International Airport once Bhogapuram Airport proposed to be developed by GMR Group under PPP mode, about 40 km from the city, becomes operational.

To map out Air India's ambitious expansion plans, the chairman of Tata Sons and Air India, N Chandrasekaran, met simultaneously with the CEOs of Singapore Airlines (SIA), Goh Choon Phong and the Lufthansa Group, chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr, in India last week. 

While the German mega carrier aims to strengthen its current alliance with the Maharaja in several ways, including an expansion of codeshares and possibly including engineering and aviation training, SIA will hold a 25.1% stake in the new Air India.

ALSO READ - Lufthansa Group wants to strengthen its ties with Indian airlines

India has historically lacked a sufficient place at the (global) aviation table. Air India has the potential to do something significant that will change Indian aviation, with SIA on one side (east) and Lufthansa Group on the other (west).

India, home to the world's largest aviation market and its flag carrier Air India ought to hold a larger portion of that market, Spohr said.

As a partner, it would be an honour for us to assist in elevating AI to its proper position on the world stage. It is due to Air India. India is due it between 2001 and 2006, Spohr, a Lufthansa pilot said. He claimed that in the long run, the current high demand might allow the new AI to “redefine its role” in the Indian market.

Up until now, an excessive amount of traffic travelled between India and Europe and the US via other hubs, like those in the Gulf. India, home to the world's largest aviation market and its flag carrier Air India ought to hold a larger portion of that market, Spohr said.

Another hub and hub airline for traffic between Southeast Asia, the Southwest Pacific and Europe is India and AI is “well-positioned” to serve. 

Lufthansa intends to strengthen its relationship & explore new opportunities with Air India

Spohr added, “We (AI, SIA, and Lufthansa) are a very strong triangle. Deeply connected to United Airlines in the US, Lufthansa Group will speak with them "about possibly turning it into a rectangle. Having a strong partner in the US market helps to be successful.”

The Lufthansa Group is also investigating additional business prospects with the new Air India. “We operate a sizable aviation training facility for pilots and flight attendants. I see many chances for growth. If Air India needs engineering assistance, Lufthansa Technik might be able to help,” said Spohr.

"India has not had an adequate seat at the (global) aviation. Air India with SIA on one side looking east and Lufthansa Group looking west has potential for something big, something that can change Indian aviation. As a partner it would be a privilege for the Lufthansa Group to help bring AI to its rightful place on the global stage. Air India deserves it. India deserves it."

Carsten Spohr, Chairman and CEO, Lufthansa Group

ALSO READ - Air India close to placing landmark orders for 500 jetliners

Air India’s fleet is set for a massive overhaul, with around 500 new aircraft expected to join over the next decade. In an attempt to build a global brand, Air India would need high-level crew training and technical support.

As Air India launches more international flights to Europe, it would need to create more connection opportunities in an enhanced partnership. Since no airline, no matter how big it is, can fly everywhere, enhancing networks means connections through partnerships with other carriers becomes crucial. “AI has SIA and we can be a strong ally as well. No airline can do it alone – everyone needs partners,” Spohr said.

Air India’s fleet is set for a massive overhaul, with around 500 new aircraft expected to join over the next decade.

ALSO READ - Global airline executives believe that only Tatas can revive and increase the market share of Air India

Airline alliances typically develop gradually, beginning with shared access to frequent flyer programmes, then code-share flights and joint fares and may eventually result in a joint venture, including “metal neutrality,” in which partner airlines behave as though they were one.

Carsten Spohr is planning to be back in Mumbai with his top management team in March. “There is no other country that I have visited twice within just four months”. Lufthansa Group, Tata Air India and SIA have agreed to continue talks between now and then. “The atmosphere of our talks is very good and I am confident we will see significant progress.”

(With Inputs from The Times of India)

IndiGo took the No. 1 spot in on-time performance (OTP) in November, after seven months. It dislodged Air India, which was second. IndiGo carried more passengers sequentially, while its market share fell to 55.7% (from 56.7% in October).

At least 92.5% of IndiGo’s flights were on time in Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, according to data shared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This is the best OTP clocked by the airline since March this year when it had clocked 93.9%. Tata Group airlines – Air India, Vistara and AirAsia – which had clinched the top three spots in October, shifted one position down in that order.

ALSO READ - Air India becomes the most punctual airline in October in 8 years

“We are pleased to return to the top of on-time performance operations. Despite numerous challenges, the team at IndiGo has devised and successfully executed its plan to ensure the passenger experience, consistency and operational efficiency that IndiGo is renowned for.”

Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, President and Chief Operating Officer, IndiGo

Overall air traffic grew 2.3% sequentially to over 11.6 million in November. In October, airlines had flown 11.4 million passengers.

ALSO READ - Air India beats IndiGo in the on-time performance in September

Air India was in the third position with 10.63 lakh passengers and a 9.1% market share.

Indigo flew ahead of other airlines during November with a 55.7% share of the domestic aviation sector, while Vistara secured the second slot with a market share of 9.3%. As per the data for November from aviation regulator DGCA, Indigo carried 65.01 lakh air passengers during the month while Vistara carried 10.87 lakh.

Air India was in the third position with 10.63 lakh passengers and a 9.1% market share. Similarly, Go First, with 8.70 lakh passengers, had a market share of 7.5% during November.

While Go First improved its market share slightly, its OTP was the worst amongst all airlines at just 35.9% during November. This was the second month in a row where the Wadia Group airline found itself at the bottom of the OTP ranking.

Another low-cost carrier SpiceJet closed November with just 56.8% OTP, slipping even below state-owned Alliance Air which has repeatedly found itself at the bottom of the OTP table.

The brand run by InterGlobe Aviation, which has the largest fleet, has been facing issues with its aircraft engines leading to the grounding of several of its planes.

IndiGo’s improvement in OTP comes at a time when the Tata Group is working towards consolidating its four airlines while committing itself to improve services overall in line with its target of achieving 30% market share in the next few years. The brand run by InterGlobe Aviation, which has the largest fleet, has been facing issues with its aircraft engines leading to the grounding of several of its planes.

As per the DGCA data, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month has been 0.25%, and the main reasons have been identified as weather, technical, or operational. A maximum of 41.7% of flights were cancelled for technical reasons and 31.6% for weather-related reasons during the month.

Domestic aviation traffic continues to record growth as passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-November 2022 stood at 11.05 crore as against 7.26 crore during the previous year, registering an annual growth of 52.19% and monthly growth of 11.06%.

Aviation regulator DGCA has introduced new features on its e-governance platform for stakeholders, including the facility to fetch pilots’ flying hours on a real-time basis that will also help in faster processing of licence applications. Besides, the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) database has been integrated with the civil aviation ministry‘s heli-sewa portal which will allow speedier processing of landing requests.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), operators are now issued the certificate of airworthiness concerning newly inducted aircraft at foreign delivery locations through the regulator’s eGCA portal for ferrying the planes to India.

The eGCA, a single window e-governance platform, has been enhanced to further improve the ease of doing business in the civil aviation ecosystem. The pilot e-logbook in eGCA has been integrated with various operators’ internal software through API (Application Programming Interface) whereby pilots’ flying records can be directly transferred into their e-logbooks on the eGCA portal.

IndiGo pilots’ flying records are now getting directly populated in the e-logbook in eGCA software from IndiGo’s AIMS software.

The move will eliminate manual interventions. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) developed an API through which various airlines would channel their pilot data from their system to eGCA.

ALSO READ - Civil aviation services get Digital, DGCA launched eGCA

Out of eight airlines that participated in the integration process, IndiGo has already implemented this interface. IndiGo pilots’ flying records are now getting directly populated in the e-logbook in eGCA software from IndiGo’s AIMS software. Other airlines, including Air India/Air India Charters, Air Asia, Go First, SpiceJet, Vistara, and Blue Dart are in the final stages of testing and are expected to implement the same in another one to two months.

ALSO READ - Vistara to launch electronic logbook; partners with Ultramain ELB for paperless operations

Vistara has selected Ultramain System for providing electronic logbook software as the airline looks to go paperless in its operations.

As a part of the ongoing initiative, data from an aircraft would be fetched directly by the eGCA portal, and thus existing multi-layer data validation system will be done away with. “As the manual intervention in the process has been reduced to almost negligible, the integration will also help DGCA in faster processing of applications,” DGCA Arun Kumar said.

ALSO READ - IndiGo introduces digitised e-logbook for pilots

In a statement earlier this month, IndiGo said owing to this automated process, the flying hours entered in the eGCA e-logbook will have the consistency of data and format for all the stakeholders, which will increase safety and efficiency in operations. This will also offer real-time availability of flying hours data for pilots in compliance with rules, it said.

Apart from fetching pilots’ flying hours on a real-time basis with accuracy, the official said the facility will help in the timely submission of applications by the pilots for the issuance, renewal, and endorsement of licenses by removal of multi-layer data-validation steps.

The process related to issuing Certificate of Airworthiness (C of A) and Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC) has been enhanced.

”As the manual intervention in the process has been reduced to almost negligible, the integration will also help DGCA in faster processing of applications as the verification of flying data in submitted applications will be considerably reduced,” the official added.

With the integration of operators’ AOC database with the heli-sewa portal, the official said the workload has considerably reduced for the applicants and helicopter operators as they can access both eGCA and the portal through the same ID. Also, their requests and intimations can be processed faster. Further, the process related to issuing Certificate of Airworthiness (C of A) and Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC) has been enhanced.

The operators are now issued C of A/ ARC at foreign delivery locations through the eGCA portal for ferrying the aircraft to India, and the process has replaced the earlier system wherein these certificates (partially-filled) were prepared at the DGCA headquarters and carried to foreign locations for issuance. The eGCA handles more than 300 services related to DGCA.

Today, Rolls-Royce declared that the construction of its UltraFan® technology demonstrator was complete and that testing was now underway. A significant program milestone was reached when the demonstrator engine was moved from the build workshop to Derby, UK's Testbed 80, where it was mounted in preparation of testing.

Early in the following year, the demonstrator's first test is expected, and sustainable aviation fuel will be used throughout.

Seeing the UltraFan demonstrator come together and getting ready for test in Testbed 80 is a great way to end the year. We have all been waiting for this moment, which is such an important milestone for the programme and for the team who have worked on it. The next stage will be to see UltraFan run for the first time on 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel in 2023, proving the technology is ready to support more sustainable flight in the future - Chris Cholerton, President of Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace, said

The UltraFan Demonstrator

The largest aero engine demonstrator in the world, UltraFan features a number of revolutionary innovations that increase fuel efficiency, which reduces emissions and improves sustainability.

Rolls Royce

Fan diameterUltraFan has a 140-inch fan diameter, the large fan and relatively small core is key to its efficiencyGearboxThe UltraFan power gearbox has delivered 64MW on test, an aerospace power recordFuel burnUltraFan offers a 25% fuel burn improvement on the first generation of Trent engineRolls Royce

These technologies are scalable and might be used to construct engines for narrowbody or widebody aircraft starting in the 2030s that have a thrust range of 25,000 lb to more than 100,000 lb.

The UltraFan demonstration has a fan diameter of 140 inches and offers a 25% fuel efficiency improvement over the first generation of Trent engines. It combines a brand-new engine architecture with a suite of technologies to allow sustainable air travel for decades to come.

The UltraFan demonstrator's size and technical complexity were specifically accommodated by Testbed 80, the largest and smartest testbed in the world. Several hours of experimental engine testing have already been done since it was first used in 2020.

For the transition to net zero aviation, UltraFan offers a range of sustainability options. There are alternatives for transferring innovations from the UltraFan development program to the present Trent engines in the near future to provide improved fuel efficiency and emissions reductions. Long-term fuel efficiency improvements for both narrowbody and widebody aircraft of up to 10% are possible because to UltraFan's scalable technology from 25,000 to 110,000 lb thrust.

Representative | Rolls Royce

The UK's Aerospace Technology Institute and Innovate UK, the EU's Clean Sky programs, along with LuFo and the German State of Brandenburg, have all supported the UltraFan technology demonstrator initiative.

SOURCE : Rolls Royce

COVER : Rolls Royce