TATA, AGUSTAWESTLAND CHOOSE PRODUCTION SITE
India's Tata industrial group and AgustaWestland are to set up their Indian Rotorcraft joint venture production facility at an aviation special economic zone at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International airport. The venture is expected to produce its first AW119 eight-seat utility helicopter for delivery in 2011, with an eventual output target of 30 units a year.
AIRLINER RENTAL PRICES 'RECOVERING'
Airliner lease rates have improved by an average of 8% from their October 2009 trough, but remain 10-15% down on their peak 2007 levels. According to analysts at UBS Securities, "the recent pick-up in lease rates has coincided with an increase in new aircraft order activity. Prior cycles have seen lease rates move up in advance of orders recovering."
BOEING TO ACQUIRE 787 PARTS MAKER
Boeing has agreed to acquire for an undisclosed sum Helena, Montana-based machined parts maker Summit Aeronautics. With 135 personnel, Summit performs hard metal machining on 747-8 flap failsafe bars, 787 door edge frames and 767 main landing gear beams and may also expand its 787 parts machining business. The deal could close by the end of the year.
WORST OF CRISIS OVER, SAY US FINANCE CHIEFS
US company finance bosses believe the worst of the financial crisis is behind them and see little prospect of a double-dip recession in the near term, according to a GE Capital survey of 530 companies with revenues ranging from $50 million to $1 billion.
ISRAEL AEROSPACE RIDING HIGH ON EXPORTS
Rising military and civil export sales helped Israel Aerospace Industries boost net profit for the nine months to the end of September by 51% to $80 million on sales up 8% to $2.3 billion.
ASL EXPANDS FLIGHTS AND LEASING BUSINESS
Dublin-based flight operator and provider of leasing services ASL Aviation has acquired operator and lessor Safair and its portfolio of new generation aircraft. ASL now has 1,200 staff, some 90 aircraft and sales of around €400 million ($535 million).
UK, MOROCCO TRADE GROUPS SEAL ALLIANCE
The UK's ADS aerospace trade association and its Moroccan counterpart GIMAS have agreed to promote bilateral trade. ADS chief executive Rees Ward describes the move as a boost to an "already excellent" relationship.
COURT LIQUIDATES EUROPE AVIATION
A French court has ordered the liquidation of maintenance specialist Europe Aviation. Around 200 staff at Paris Orly, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Lyons and Marseilles will lose their jobs, but parent Valliere Aviation Group's aircraft-dismantling activities at Chateauroux airport, line maintenance work in Morocco and spares trading business are not affected.
BASQUE CLUSTER BOOSTS MEMBERSHIP
Tool and turbine casings maker Galindo Metallurgical Industries, automation and robotics engineer Ingemat and logistics supplier LTK have joined the 40-member HEGAN Basque aeronautics cluster. Galindo supplies Rolls-Royce and Europrop International.
Source: Flight International
