what major events have taken place in international civil aviation in 2021?
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joint selection and release top ten news of international civil aviation
take you back to the extraordinary international civil aviation 2021
2021 top ten news of international civil aviation
1 Luo · Luo company launched the world’s largest engine test bench
On January 14, 2021, Luo Luo announced the commissioning of testbed80 test-bed at Derby plant in the UK. The test-bed costs 90 million pounds and takes three years to complete. With an internal area of 7500 square meters, it is the largest engine test-bed in the world. At present, testbed80 test bench can meet all engine test requirements of Luo Luo company. In the future, the test bench will be mainly used to test the ultrafan engine that Luo Luo plans to put into use in 2025.
Ultrafan engine, also known as super fan engine, has a bypass ratio of 15 and a total boost ratio of 70. The fuel consumption and emission will be 25% lower than the current Trent 700 engine. Ultrafan engine applies a number of challenging new technologies, which can meet the application requirements of 25000-100000 pounds of thrust. It is suitable for narrow body aircraft and wide body aircraft. It is worth mentioning that ultrafan engine adopts a gear transmission structure similar to Pratt Whitney turbofan engine in the United States, and successfully completed the power gearbox test. During the test, the power reached 70000 HP, setting a new record for the maximum power of power gearbox in the global aviation field.
2 global promotion of vaccine transportation and vaccination to enhance confidence in reopening borders
On February 15, 2021, UNICEF launched a humanitarian air transport initiative. More than 10 major airlines in the world have signed agreements with them to support the priority delivery of covid-19 vaccine, essential drugs, medical equipment and other key materials to deal with the covid-19 pneumonia epidemic. On the one hand, with the promotion of global vaccination, the aviation industry has ushered in the century mission of vaccine transportation; On the other hand, the increase in vaccination rates has built confidence for governments to reopen their borders.
The report jointly released by DHL, the world’s famous postal and logistics group, and McKinsey shows that the global demand for vaccines exceeds 10 billion doses, which requires about 200000 pallet shipments, about 15 million cooling box shipments and about 15000 fully loaded Boeing 747 all cargo aircraft. More and more governments, industry organizations and airlines recognize that efficient vaccine transportation and vaccination are very important to end the epidemic and support economic development. With the improvement of vaccination rate, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Australia and other countries began to reopen their borders to allow international tourists who meet specific conditions to enter.
3 5 European and American low-cost aviation enterprises were established against the trend
On April 28, 2021, faced with the impact of covid-19 pneumonia epidemic, aviro airlines, a newly established low-cost airline in the United States, successfully realized its first flight. According to incomplete statistics, after the outbreak, at least five low-cost aviation enterprises in Europe and the United States were established against the trend in 2021.
Aviro Airlines takes Burbank Airport around Los Angeles as the hub, flying a number of short haul routes in the western United States. The company focuses on small and medium-sized airports with easy traffic and not too busy, rather than large hub airports dominated by large airlines. The development focus of play aviation is to use narrow body aircraft to connect the eastern United States and European destinations with Iceland as the transfer point. Norwegian FlyR Airlines is mainly oriented to the developing Nordic vacation market, and its advantage is its novel route network. Norse Atlantic Airways in northern Europe focuses on cross Atlantic China Welding Consumables Inc(600558) , second tier cities and point-to-point routes. British flypop Airlines focuses on the route between Britain and India, focusing on the market of visiting relatives and friends.
After the outbreak, business travel recovered slowly, while the demand for leisure travel to visit relatives and friends was relatively strong, which brought some market opportunities to low-cost aviation enterprises.
4 IATA predicts that the industry loss will narrow and increase, and Chinese is the official language
At the 77th IATA annual meeting held in Boston in early October 2021, IATA predicted that although the covid-19 pneumonia epidemic crisis continued, the performance of the global aviation industry improved and the loss narrowed year by year. At the same time, IATA also revised the language charter for the first time, and Chinese has become the only official language added in 76 years.
According to the prediction of the International Aviation Association, the net loss of the aviation industry is expected to reach US $51.8 billion in 2021, the net loss will drop to US $11.6 billion in 2022, and the net loss expectation in 2020 has been revised to US $137.7 billion. After summing up the above losses, the cumulative loss of the aviation industry from 2020 to 2022 will be as high as US $2011 billion.
Meanwhile, the demand (in RPK) in 2021 is expected to reach 40% of the level in 2019 and will rise to 61% in 2022. The total passenger volume is expected to reach 2.3 billion person times in 2021; It will increase to 3.4 billion passengers in 2022, which is equivalent to the level in 2014, but far lower than the passenger volume of 4.5 billion passengers in 2019. The demand for air cargo will continue to maintain strong growth. The demand in 2021 is expected to be 7.9% higher than that in 2019 and 13.2% higher than that in 2022.
Compared with 2020, the overall financial performance of all regions in the world in 2021 has improved. The strongest performance is North America, which is expected to lose $5.5 billion in 2021; In 2022, it will turn losses into profits and realize a profit of US $9.9 billion. The US market has been open to vaccinated passengers since November 2021, which helps to promote the recovery of the international market.
5 ICAO covid-19 high level conference on pneumonia held
At 20:00 on October 12, 2021 Beijing time, the ICAO covid-19 high level conference on pneumonia officially opened. The meeting was held online. Feng Zhenglin, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and Hu Zhenjiang, deputy director, attended the opening ceremony in Beijing. On the 13th, Feng Zhenglin made a keynote speech at the second ministerial round table, proposing four initiatives to continue to play the leading role of ICAO, seek the best balance between epidemic prevention and control and industry recovery, ensure aviation safety and seize innovation opportunities.
Shakitano, President of ICAO Council, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He said that the global aviation industry is facing the severe challenge of the covid-19 pneumonia epidemic. Countries need stronger cooperation, more innovation and change, and work together for the recovery and development of the global aviation industry. ICAO Secretary General Salazar introduced the current situation and challenges of the aviation industry.
This high-level meeting is an important meeting for high-level officials in the field of civil aviation to gather political consensus and jointly promote the recovery and development of the aviation industry under the background of the covid-19 pneumonia epidemic. It is also a special meeting of ICAO with the highest standard since the outbreak of covid-19 pneumonia. The participating ministers and their representatives held discussions on actively promoting industrial recovery through multilateral cooperation, and focused on the declaration of the conference.
6 the end of the operation of Italian Airlines and the birth of Italian new national airlines
On the evening of October 14, 2021, with the last flight landing at Fiumicino airport in Rome, the capital of Italy, air Italia, which has a history of 75 years, officially ended its operation. Since October 15, the newly established Italian air transport company (ITA) has become a new flag carrier in Italy, opening a new era in the Italian aviation industry.
Air Italia was founded in 1946. Previously, it had spent many times on Italian government funding and emergency loans to tide over the financial crisis. In 2020, the financial crisis of the company was exacerbated by the epidemic of covid-19 pneumonia. The Italian government injected about 3 billion euros and allowed it to restructure and establish the Italian air transport company, which was fully controlled by the Ministry of economy and finance. Italian air transport company has inherited most of the assets of Italian Airlines, followed the cooperation mode of Italian Airlines, and has officially joined Trina Solar alliance.
It is reported that air Italy has about 110 aircraft, and more than half of its 11000 employees will face unemployment. Italian air transport will operate 52 aircraft in the initial stage.
7 23 countries sign the Declaration on international aviation climate the aviation industry focuses on sustainable development
On October 31 and November 12, 2021, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (cop26) was held in Glasgow, UK. One of the outcomes of the conference was that 23 countries signed the international aviation climate declaration. The declaration recognizes the need for “sustainable development” in the aviation industry and reaffirms the role of ICAO in implementing short -, medium – and long-term climate goals for the aviation industry. Its main objective is to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the international aviation carbon offset and emission reduction program (corsia) and the development and application of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Sustainable development is the focus of the aviation industry for a long time. In June 2021, the International Airport Council called on member airports to commit to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050; In October, the International Aviation Association approved the resolution of the air transport industry to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2050, and many airlines have made efforts one after another. Aircraft manufacturers are also constantly seeking technological breakthroughs to keep up with the general trend of emission reduction. Airbus will set up a zero emission R & D center to support the successful operation of zero emission aircraft in the future. At present, the first flight of Airbus a319neo aircraft using 100% sustainable aviation fuel has been completed, which means that the aviation industry is one step closer to achieving 100% sustainable aviation fuel commercialization by 2030.
8 the order of Dubai air show is higher than that of the last session, and the market shows signs of recovery
On November 18, 2021 local time, the five-day Dubai air show 2021 came to an end. More than 1200 aviation and aerospace enterprises from 148 countries and regions participated in the exhibition, with a total of more than 160 aircraft on display. During the exhibition, the total transaction amount exceeded 286.5 billion dirhams, exceeding the previous transaction amount.
As the epidemic continues, air exhibitions such as Farnborough air show and Paris air show have been cancelled one after another. The aviation industry regards Dubai air show as a major show in the past two years. Among them, the largest transaction, worth 121 billion dirhams, came from 255 Airbus a321neo series aircraft ordered by airlines under indigo partners.
At the Dubai air show, the most talked about is the industry recovery. However, the epidemic continues, and the recovery will be a long process for the aviation industry. The International Aviation Association predicts that the global aviation demand will increase by 51% in 2022. Although it has not returned to the level before the outbreak, the market is showing signs of recovery after the aviation industry has stagnated for nearly two years.
9 new variants of covid-19 virus in South Africa
On November 25, 2021 local time, the National Institute of infectious diseases of South Africa announced that a new covid-19 virus variant b.1.1529 (later named “Omicron”) had been detected in South Africa. Then, Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries successively reported confirmed cases of infection with Omicron virus. In order to prevent the spread of the mutant virus, many countries have imposed entry restrictions on flights and passengers from African countries such as South Africa, and upgraded prevention and control measures.
From 4:00 on November 28, the “Red List” of British travel includes 10 African countries. People entering the UK from these countries will be required to be isolated in designated hotels. The German government lists a number of African countries as the latest virus mutation areas, and authorizes local health departments to isolate immigrants from the above countries. The Australian government suspended flights from nine African countries. The Israeli government announced that it would close the only open international airport for two weeks and prohibit foreigners from entering during this period. The Japanese government announced that it would extend the restrictions on the entry of foreigners until at least the beginning of 2022.
Compared with other variant strains, Omicron strain had many variations. Preliminary evidence showed that the strain was detected faster, indicating that it may have growth advantage. In addition, people may have an increased risk of secondary infection with vid-19 virus.
10 Britain ushers in the largest airspace adjustment in history
In early December 2021, NATs, a British air navigation service provider, implemented the largest airspace adjustment in British history – free route airspace, removing the route that has long existed over Scotland and allowing aircraft to choose its most direct route. The free route airspace covers the North Sea, Scotland, northern Atlantic China Welding Consumables Inc(600558) , Northern Ireland and a small part of northern England, with a total airspace of about 514000 square kilometers, equivalent to twice the area of the UK.
The traditional route is based on navigation technology and aircraft technology, and the aircraft cannot choose the most direct route. With the development of technology and the promotion of cross-border cooperation, the flexibility of route selection has been greatly improved. Free route airspace gives Airlines the freedom to choose the optimal route based on weather, wind speed and other variables. This will effectively reduce operating costs, flight time and fuel consumption. The airspace adjustment marks a big step forward in the process of UK airspace modernization and an important step towards achieving the goal of zero net emissions by 2050.
(China Civil Aviation News)
