17 Aug 2020

North American Newsletter 17 August

Bombardier Donates 2,800 Face Shields to HCA in Florida

Bombardier’s fifth Global 7500 flight-test vehicle, FTV5, has found a new mission: transporting face shields for medical facilities. The Canadian manufacturer recently donated 2,800 face shields to HCA Healthcare East Florida Division for distribution throughout the medical care provider’s 15 affiliates across East Florida. Bombardier loaded FTV5 up with the face shields earlier this month and transported them to Sheltair Aviation at Fort-Lauderdale-Hollywood International. Bombardier Aviation president David Coleal said “These types of missions really highlight how pivotal aviation is in the transportation of life-saving humanitarian aid. The Global 7500 aircraft is particularly well-suited to this type of assignment: with its long-range and ability to land and take-off from challenging airports, it can go anywhere.” California FBO Receives First SAF Load California’s ACI Jet is the latest FBO operator to offer sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to its customers, having received a 7,300-gallon load of the fuel at its facility at John Wayne-Orange County Airport. The fuel was supplied by Avfuel, which sources its concentrated SAF from Gevo and blends it with standard petroleum-based jet-A in accordance with ASTM standards. ACI expects to receive another 7,300-gallon load, which will be split between the company's headquarters at San Luis County Regional Airport and its Paso Robles Municipal Airport location. AEI adds HAECO Xiamen as authorized AEI Conversion Center  Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. (AEI) announced that it has selected Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering Company Limited, also known as HAECO Xiamen, as an authorized AEI Conversion Center. HAECO Xiamen’s first AEI conversion, a B737-800SF, is scheduled to commence in January 2021. This will be followed by an additional line starting in April 2021. Eastern Airlines to Introduce Direct Flights From NYC to Los Cabos Eastern Airlines has announced twice-weekly service beginning 29  August from New York's JFK International Airport to Los Cabos, the glamorous desert-meets-sea getaway at the tip of the Baja Peninsula. Josh Bustos, Eastern's senior marketing director, said, "We're very proud of our legacy, but we're a brand-new version of Eastern. We are the first airline in recent memory to offer direct service from JFK to Los Cabos, a premier destination well-suited to the New York market. We are also the only non-legacy U.S. airline with scheduled service operating wide-body aircraft." Qatar Airways Resumes Flights to Houston and Philadelphia in Continued Rebuild of U.S. Network  Qatar Airways will offer 56 weekly flights to eight U.S. gateways by mid-September, maintaining its position as the largest international carrier operating services to and from the U.S. To build on its commitment to the U.S. market with the resumption of flights to two additional U.S. gateways, Houston (IAH) and Philadelphia (PHL) along with expanding frequencies to daily to Los Angeles (LAX) from 12 August and double daily to New York (JFK) from 1 September. This news, which will add three weekly flights to Houston from 2 September and four weekly flights to Philadelphia from 15 September, will see the airline’s U.S. operations grow to eight gateways including Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington, D.C., strengthening its positions as the leading international carrier operating services to and from the U.S. TAP Air Portugal Returns To All North American Gateways By October, With The Return Of Chicago O’Hare, San Francisco & New York’s JFK  TAP Air Portugal continues to resume its operations in October, with 666 flights planned on 82 routes, including returning service from Chicago O’Hare, San Francisco International, and New York’s John F Kennedy International airports.  By then, TAP will be back in all 9 North American gateway cities:  New York’s JFK and Newark, Boston, Miami, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal. United To Consolidate All ERJ145 Flying with CommutAir  United Airlines sent notice last week to its ExpressJet regional unit that it will not renew its flying contract and will consolidate all Embraer ERJ145 flying with its CommutAir regional affiliate starting “later this year.”

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