With distribution supported by
Official publication of
Susi gets her
Italian wings
Indonesia’s largest private operator
Susi Air has been on display
at the static park this week,
showing off the latest aircraft in
its fleet – the Piaggio Avanti II.
Susi Air operates from four
main bases across the
Indonesian archipelago. The airline
and charter operator was
established in late 2004 by husband
and wife team Christian von
Strombeck and Susi Pudjiastuti.
It was set up to transport the
fisheries cargo of sister company
PT ASI Pudjiastuti in Aceh.
In addition to its executive
services, Susi Air launched
scheduled flights, survey and
freight services and flight training
in Pangandaran as the first
step to establishing a worldclass
flight-training centre in
Indonesia. Susi is now launching
a medevac service with the
Avanti, which is fitted with an
ambulance kit to allow for quick
reconfiguration.
The future
is plastic Page 5
03 Threat to full-motion
simulation
04 Boeing optimistic
despite cargo crisis
05 New stretcher can
cut medevac costs
08 Kai Tak seaplane
plans take off
THE WORLD’S NO. 1 AIRSHOW PUBLICATION
Mitsubishi Aircraft has introduced
a stretched variant
to its MRJ regional jet family and
unveiled extensive design
changes, including using aluminium
instead of carbonfibre
composites for the aircraft’s
wings.
The changes are being made
made after discussions with
potential customers in Europe
and the USA, and the final design
will now be frozen in mid-
2010 instead of the third-quarter
of 2009.
As a result, the first flight is
delayed from the fourth quarter
of 2011 to the second quarter
of 2012. Launch customer
All Nippon Airways will receive
its first aircraft in the first
quarter of 2014 instead of the
fourth quarter of 2013.
“Although first flight is delayed
by two quarters, the
number of flight test aircraft
will be increased from four to
five, which will shorten the
flight test period,” says Mitsubishi
Aircraft. The changes
are necessary to ensure that the
company comes up with a
competitive regional jet, it
adds.
Mitsubishi could add a 100seat
model to the already announced
92-seat MRJ90 and
78-seat MRJ70, potentially
putting it in contention against
Bombardier’s CRJ1000 and Embraer’s
E190.
“The MRJ stretch model is
added to the family to respond
to customer needs. The launch
is subject to demand and business
case,” it says.
With the aluminium wings,
the company moves away from
its earlier aim of using significant
amounts of composite materials
for the airframe. The result
is that the only remaining
composite parts will be the empennage,
horizontal tail and
vertical tail, amounting to 10-
15% of the total airframe.
“Conceptually, this is a very
big change,” admits Mitsubishi
Aircraft. “Structural changes are
easier and require shorter leadtime
with aluminium wings.
With an aluminium wing box,
the wing structure can be more
easily optimised for the
MRJ70/90 and the stretch model,
which enhances the overall com-
Panasonic is on the verge of
naming a Chinese regional
airline as the first in market here
to introduce the company’s Global
Communications Suite (GCS)
based on its eXConnect system.
Negotiations between the airline
and Panasonic were going
on last night as the IFE specialist
celebrated the opening of a new
regional headquarters in Hong
Kong.
The Chinese airline is the
sixth to sign up for the system
which Panasonic claims will cut
the cost of using on-board internet
and mobile telephony by up
to 90% of current charges, leaving
the way open for airlines to
keep their aircraft constantly
linked with base. David Bruner,
vice president global communications
services, says the system
can be standalone or integrated
into existing IFE systems. GCS
enables personal connectivity
petitiveness of the MRJ family.”
The change will allow its engineers
to develop an optimum
wing for the MRJ90 and minimise
the deterioration of range
performance for the stretched
version. The biggest benefit will
be for the MRJ70, which will
weigh less.
“This will allow weight reduction
through structural
changes, allowing for larger winglets
and resulting in a reduction
of block fuel [consumption] and
take-off performance improvement,”
says Mitsubishi.
The company has also increased
the height of the cabin by
1.5in (3.81cm) to 80.5in, increasing
the fuselage height by 2.5in to
116.5in. This will give the MRJ a
rounder cabin, and one that is
10
SEPTEMBER
2009
ISSUE 3
eXconnect on verge of
Chinese airline coup
through in-flight wireless highspeed
broadband internet and
data services that provide access
to live and cached content for
passengers and operational information
for the flight crew, eX-
Phone in-flight mobile phone
service using the passenger’s
own GSM phone and Panasonic
Airline Television Network.
All change for MRJ
Visit us in hall 9, booth A01
Billypix
David Bruner - Waiting for
Chinese confirmation
wider and higher than comparable
aircraft manufactured by
Bombardier and Embraer.
The aft cargo compartment
has been enlarged and the forward
cargo compartment is
eliminated. This will make “baggage
handling simpler and easier
and to use space more efficiently”,
says Mitsubishi.
It reiterates that the changes
will not affect the performance
of the MRJ, promising that this
will still be “the most fuel efficient
aircraft, have the lowest
fuel-burn, noise and emissions,
and the most comfortable cabin”
in the regional jet market.
“We want to deliver an aircraft
that our customers will
want and use for decades,” says
Mitsubishi.
Billypix
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.