COMAC LINES UP C919 DEVELOPMENT CASH
Comac has signed an agreement with China Construction Bank for financial co-operation. The bank will provide Comac with 50 billion yuan ($7.46 billion) for use in its C919 large aircraft programme and also provide help with cash management and foreign exchange control.
QINETIQ TO MANAGE SWEDEN'S FLIGHT CENTRE
QinetiQ has signed a 10-year agreement with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration to operate and maintain its national Physiological Flight Centre at Malmen, in southern Sweden. The terms of the deal encourage Qinetiq to market centre services to third-party customers. Facilities include a combined human centrifuge and high-performance aircraft flight simulator; a hypobaric decompression chamber and a hyperbaric high-pressure "diving" chamber; and a purpose-built test and survival pool.
ANIMAL AIRLINE ADOPTS PET NAME
American Antiquities is to change its name to Pet Airways following the animal airline's reverse takeover in August, a move designed to give Pet access to capital markets.
COBHAM SELLS OFF FRENCH MRO UNIT
Cobham has completed the debt-free €7.9 million cash divestment of Satori SAS, trading as Cobham Maintenance Repair and Overhaul, to management backed by a French private equity fund. The divestment fits with Cobham's strategy of focusing "on its scale positions and technically differentiated products in its existing higher growth markets".
A J WALTER AVIATION TO OPEN MIAMI OFFICE
UK-headquartered spares support specialist A J Walter Aviation is to open an office in Miami on 1 November. The Florida-based operation will back up AJW's recent deployment of service-ready component inventories for Airbus and Boeing spares in Los Angeles and Miami.
SURREY SATELLITE EXPANDS TECHNICAL FACILITIES
Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL), in partnership with the University of Surrey's Research Park, is building, for completion in April 2011, a new technical facility opposite its Guildford headquarters building, to expand its capacity to integrate and test satellites in parallel. The 3,700m2 (40,000 ft2) £10 million facility will provide clean rooms, laboratories and testing facilities for approximately 40 permanent staff and anything up to 100 project-specific staff.
GOODRICH COMPLETES DECRANE ACQUISITION
Goodrich has completed the $280 million acquisition of the Cabin Management assets of DeCrane Holdings, a US provider of seating, furniture, veneers and cabin management systems for business jets. DeCrane Cabin Management employs approximately 850 people at six facilities.
IBM MARKS MILESTONE WITH JET AIRWAYS LINK
Privately held carrier Jet Airways has signed a 10-year, $62 million business transformation and information technology services agreement with IBM. "The agreement with Jet Airways is a significant milestone for IBM in the aviation industry," says the vice-president distribution India and South Asia, Sameer Batra.
Source: Flight International
