Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
Airline-owned e-commerce venture Aeroxchange is "actively seeking" links with supplier-led portals in the wake of the recently announced tie-up between rival AirNewco and the supplier-led MyAircraft (Flight International, 31 October-6 November). Aeroxchange's acting chief executive, Edith Kelly-Green, says it hopes to develop links with Boeing/ Lockheed Martin/Raytheon/ BAE Systems venture Exostar.
Kelly-Green says "the plan at the moment" is for Aeroxchange to begin operations in early February as an airline-only exchange. She adds that "things change", with the company "actively talking to other exchanges, suppliers and airlines".
AirNewco's decision to drop the development of its own exchange in favour of the MyAircraft deal links the latter's backers, Honeywell, United Technologies and BF Goodrich, with nine airlines which together spend $50 billion a year on parts and services. The third major aerospace exchange, Aerospan, sees less of a need to link with an airline-led site as its parent, SITA, is itself airline-owned.
Aeroxchange was formed in July with equity participation from 13 airlines: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, America West Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, FedEx, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Northwest Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and Singapore Airlines. Together they spend over $45 billion on goods and services a year.
Source: Flight International
