Boeing, CAE sign MOU to enhance global aerospace training, innovation and fleet support

Farnborough, July 19, 2022 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] and CAE [NYSE: CAE; TSX: CAE]

CAE today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand their collaboration and explore further teaming opportunities in defense aerospace training. The memorandum leverages the strengths, skills, and advanced technologies of Boeing and CAE with the intent to further enhance innovation and competition through potential joint-offerings.

Additionally, the MOU aims to advance mission readiness for defense customers worldwide operating Boeing military aircraft. Working together, Boeing and CAE are uniquely qualified to deliver outcome-based pilot training, aircrew ground school, in-service support, and instructor training at the point of need.

“Boeing and CAE share an unwavering commitment to deliver value through innovative training solutions that provide increased efficacy and reliability to our defense and commercial services customers,” said Stephanie Pope, president and CEO, Boeing Global Services. “This collaboration demonstrates the best of how governments and industry can collaborate to benefit customers worldwide.”

This collaboration amplifies a long-standing relationship spanning commercial and defense portfolios across the globe. CAE is an integral partner on the CH-47 Chinook program in Germany, has supported Boeing extensively with P-8 training solutions worldwide, and is a charter member of Team Poseidon in Boeing’s Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft offering. This MOU builds on the recent exclusive teaming agreement in Germany for Chinook, and continues our joint efforts to deliver enhanced training offerings for Chinook in the United Arab Emirates that support Emiratization efforts, as well as expanding P-8 solutions in Canada, Germany, and Norway.

“Our purpose is to prepare our military customers for safe and successful mission outcomes through advanced training and mission readiness,” says Daniel Gelston, president, CAE Defense & Security. “CAE and Boeing are leveraging our global training experience and aircraft expertise to expand solutions that support modernization and adaptability for the future of these platforms.”

The MOU expands Boeing and CAE international teaming and supplier networks to provide solutions that support both customer and regional development.

About Boeing

As a leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing’s diverse team is committed to innovating for the future and living the company’s core values of safety, quality and integrity. Learn more at www.boeing.com.

About CAE

CAE Defense & Security is at the leading edge of digital innovation providing training and mission support solutions across multi-domain operations – air, land, maritime, space and cyber.  Our training and operational support solutions prepare customers who operate in complex, high-stakes environments where mission readiness and successful outcomes are critical.  CAE is the world’s leading pure play, platform agnostic training and simulation company serving the global defense market. Learn more at www.cae.com.

At CAE, we equip people in critical roles with the expertise and solutions to create a safer world. As a technology company, we digitalize the physical world, deploying simulation training and critical operations support solutions. Above all else, we empower pilots, airlines, defence and security forces, and healthcare practitioners to perform at their best every day and when the stakes are the highest. Around the globe, we’re everywhere customers need us to be with more than 13,000 employees in more than 200 sites and training locations in over 40 countries. CAE represents 75 years of industry firsts—the highest-fidelity flight and mission simulators, surgical manikins, and personalized training programs powered by artificial intelligence. We’re investing our time and resources into building the next generation of cutting-edge, digitally immersive training and critical operations solutions while keeping positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact at the core of our mission. Today and tomorrow, we’ll make sure our customers are ready for the moments that matter.

Burloak Technologies Becomes First Additive Manufacturer Approved to Supply Boeing

OAKVILLE, ON, Jan. 27, 2021 /CNW/ – Burloak Technologies Inc., a division of Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, today announced it has been approved by The Boeing Company to additively manufacture aluminum AlSi10Mg components to the Boeing BAC 5673 specification. Burloak Technologies is the world’s first additive manufacturer to achieve this qualification.  

“This approval marks the completion of a qualification process that included a rigorous evaluation of Burloak’s capabilities by Boeing. We would like to thank Boeing’s additive manufacturing team for its collaborative approach,” stated Peter Adams, Burloak’s Founder and Chief Innovation Officer. “Together, we developed a well-defined specification that has demonstrated robust, repeatable processes to produce flight components using additive manufacturing.” 

“Achieving this qualification further validates Burloak’s position as a global leader in the additive manufacturing space, and clearly demonstrates our ability to commercialize this transformational technology,” said Colin Osborne, Samuel’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “This milestone also signals the increasing importance of additive manufacturing within aerospace and represents a step forward on the path to a greener future for aviation.”

Burloak Technologies and Boeing are now working to apply the BAC 5673 specification to several programs for existing and future components.

Transport Canada validates the design changes to the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

OTTAWA, ON, Dec. 17, 2020 /CNW/ – The Government of Canada remains committed to keeping Canadians, the travelling public, and the transportation system safe and secure.

Transport Canada aviation safety experts have completed their independent review of the design changes to the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft recently certified by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and have now validated these changes. Validation of these changes means that these modifications can now be incorporated on Canadian registered aircraft.

Transport Canada has worked extensively with the FAA and other key certifying authorities, including the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), as well as the three Canadian operators of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, and their pilot unions throughout the validation process of the aircraft to ensure all factors are addressed prior to a safe return to service of the aircraft. Transport Canada’s certification experts, by their rigour and thoroughness, have demonstrated great leadership throughout the process, and were instrumental in guiding the aircraft design changes.

This validation is an important first step in the eventual return to service of this aircraft in Canadian airspace. However, the return to service is complex, and Transport Canada must put in place comprehensive safety plans that require additional aircraft changes, maintenance and training.

Transport Canada will work with Canadian airline operators, crews and union associations over the coming weeks to determine how these requirements will be implemented in Canada.

In January 2021, the department expects to issue a Canadian Airworthiness Directive which will stipulate the Canadian design changes that must be incorporated in Canadian aircraft. At the same time, the department will also mandate the training requirements for air crew through an Interim Order.

In other words, prior to a return to service of the aircraft in Canadian airspace, Transport Canada will require:

• modifications to the aircraft as specified in the Canadian Airworthiness Directive;
• incorporation of the revised pilot training syllabus into the Transport Canada-approved training program for each Canadian airline; and
• airlines to conduct maintenance on the aircraft to ensure it will operate safely, given the aircraft have been in storage for some time.

Specifically, the Canadian design changes for the Boeing 737 MAX will include an enhanced flight deck procedure that provides the option for a pilot-in-command to disable a loud and intrusive warning system (commonly called the “stick shaker”) when the system has been erroneously activated by a failure in the angle of attack sensor system. This feature will help to reduce pilot workload given what has been learned from the two tragic accidents, and has been fully evaluated by Transport Canada’s flight test pilots. There will also be differences in training including training on the enhanced flight deck procedure.

The commercial flight restrictions for the operation of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Canadian airspace remain in effect and will not be lifted until Transport Canada is fully satisfied that all its safety concerns have been addressed, that required modifications have been incorporated, that enhanced flight crew procedures are in place, and that all training has been conducted in Canada.

Associated Links

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Infographic – Transport Canada steps leading to the return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Canada

Mitsubishi struggles to realize its jet globalization plans

News from Nikkei Asian Review – link to story

Financial woes hit SpaceJet program while low demand hits Bombardier deal

A SpaceJet takes off at Nagoya airport in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has made cuts to the program. (Photo by Koji Uema)

MITSURU OBE, Nikkei staff writer ▪︎ June 1, 2020

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries marks a milestone in its aviation ambitions on Monday by integrating the commercial jet business of Canada’s Bombardier, even as doubts grow about the Japanese company’s ability to keep its own commercial jet program on track at a time of airline industry upheaval.

MHI’s $550 million purchase of Bombardier’s global network of service centers was meant to secure a foothold in the aircraft servicing business and provide a maintenance platform for its own Mitsubishi SpaceJet family of next-generation regional aircraft under development for 12 years.

But MIH’s ability to finance the much delayed program is under renewed scrutiny as the short-term challenge of the coronavirus crisis weighs heavily on its finances.null

Last month, MHI decided to shutter SpaceJet’s overseas operations, consolidate activities at its headquarters in Nagoya and suspend all flight testing. Mitsubishi Aircraft, the program operator, has approximately 2,500 workers — 1,800 in Japan, some 100 at the development center in Montreal, 160 at the U.S. headquarters in Renton and 450 at the flight test center in Moses Lake, both in the state of Washington.

MHI fell into the red for the first time in 20 years for the year ended in March and is struggling to shoulder the cost of the SpaceJet program, in which it has invested at least 716 billion yen ($6.7 billion). S&P Global downgraded company debt to BBB plus from A minus on Feb. 19, due to the growing strain the program is putting on finances. The rating company warned of a further downgrade if project costs surge beyond present assumptions.]

MHI, also a core supplier to Boeing, says it remains committed to the SpaceJet program, at least in the long-term. “As we consolidate, the hope is to reduce redundancies while still maintaining the core competencies we have developed,” said a spokesman for Nagoya-based Mitsubishi Aircraft, which is overseeing the program.

That the Bombardier acquisition will have to be written off entirely underscores MHI’s financial challenge. There is little demand for new aircraft or maintenance services, as 60% of the world’s 26,000 passenger jets are grounded during the pandemic, meaning they require no servicing. Bombardier’s network of service centers around the world repairs and maintains 1,250 jets flown by 130 operators.

Global passenger jet traffic has been down about 80% from a year earlier since April 1, according to data from aviation analytics company Cirium.

A Mitsubishi Aircraft spokesman stressed that the retrench is not the first step in canceling the SpaceJet program.

“Because of the cost control measures and budget directives that forced us to close our flight test facility at Moses Lake, we are putting the aircraft into storage,” the spokesman said, adding that a small team will continue to maintain the aircraft. “Since we are focused on cost control measures now, we will focus on [the] validation and documentation” portion of type certification, he added, referring to paper work for certification with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau and work to validate it with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

After more than 3,000 hours of actual flight testing, Mitsubishi Aircraft officials have said that the company’s 88-seat aircraft for the Japan market, SpaceJet M90, was close to type certification, and were eyeing that to be achieved in the spring of 2021.

The coronavirus, however, upended the plan. “When the whole industry is downsizing, right-sizing and fleet-optimizing, the last thing they need is a brand-new airplane, all new training, all new spare parts,” said David Pritchard, associate professor of business at the State University of New York Empire State College.

In such an environment, MHI has no choice but to control costs and has frozen its ambition to develop, certify, and mass-produce the SpaceJet M100, a 76-seater for the lucrative U.S. market — the main target for the SpaceJet program.

Mitsubishi Aircraft has company orders for 163 aircraft, options for 124 and letters of intent for another 200, most of them for SpaceJet 100. But those orders could be in jeopardy if the buyers go out of business.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun predicted in May that a major U.S. airline could go under, warning that it will take a full-three years for air traffic to return to the pre-crisis level and another two years for the growth rate to recover.

With the industry in survival mode, “cash is the king,” Pritchard said. “As much as I hate that statement, it’s so true.”

He argues that MHI will have to find a partner to fund the project and said that Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or Comac, is the most logical one, noting the Chinese aircraft maker’s deep pockets and its desire to access Bombardier’s global service network and Mitsubishi’s experience in FAA certification.

Comac will form a joint venture either with Mitsubishi Aircraft or its rival Embraer of Brazil, and the one that doesn’t get such a partner “will not be around,” Pritchard predicted.

There have already been reports that Comac is reaching out to Embraer for collaboration. The Brazilian company already has over 80% of the Chinese market for planes carrying 150 passengers or less, and maintains a dedicated office for the country.

Hirotaka Yamauchi, director of the Japan Transport and Tourism Research Institute, a Japanese government affiliate, says it’s highly unlikely that MHI, the nation’s top defense contractor, will partner with a Chinese state-owned company. Further, SpaceJet’s billing as a ‘national project’ has also made it difficult to bring in foreign capital.

Aircraft manufacturing is a highly concentrated industry, and only Airbus and Boeing have the financial, engineering and marketing wherewithal to support a major jet program. But both companies reported net losses last year and are now too consumed with their own problems to throw a lifeline to others.

Therefore, Yamauchi doesn’t expect realignment to happen anytime soon. But, he said, “MHI will eventually need a partner” for the SpaceJet program.

Prolonged Flight Ban Could Cut Aircraft Sales by About 10,000

News from BNN Bloomberg – link to story

Richard Weiss, Bloomberg News ~ April 8,2020

BC-Prolonged-Flight-Ban-Could-Cut-Aircraft-Sales-by-About-10000 , Richard Weiss

(Bloomberg) — Demand for new aircraft could drop by almost one-half in the event the coronavirus forces airlines to keep much of their fleets grounded for six months, according to a report by Roland Berger.

In Roland Berger’s so-called “recession” scenario, airlines will likely need about 10,000 fewer new aircraft through 2030 than would have been the case without the pandemic, it said in a report on Wednesday. The best case is a “rebound,” whereby fleets are grounded for two months, and just 790 fewer aircraft are delivered.

The consultancy firm’s worst-case estimate is a grim prospect for investors in Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, which has seen factories making some of its best-selling models slow down from record rates. Planemakers are now pondering how to best handle the unprecedented production cuts. Airbus warned last month it wouldn’t achieve its earnings goals this year, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG yesterday became the first major airline to slash its fleet.

Roland Berger outlined a mid-way “delayed curve” scenario persisting for four months, where 5,920 fewer planes are needed. The speed of recovery in the air-traffic market underpinned the consultancy firm’s different scenarios. In the recession case, the market only recovers 80% of its strength by 2022, compared with a full recovery by the end of this year in the most optimistic situation.

Story Link: Groundings Could Cut Demand for New Aircraft in Half: Consultant

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.