7 MARCH 2022

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Article from BTNews 7 MARCH 2022

ON TOUR: Middle East Aircraft Interiors and Middle East Show MRO

Alison Chambers reports from Dubai.

Sustainability, digitalisation, collaboration were the three big themes at the co-located Middle East Aircraft Interiors and Middle East Show MRO at Dubai’s downtown Trade Centre February 22 to 24, writes Alison Chambers.  Organisers Tarsus and Aviation Week Events reported a healthy footfall of visitors – some 4,000 professionals from 80 countries, including 72 airlines and 350 airline representatives.   

Bringing energy and buzz to the show was influencer and blogger Sam Chui (Sam.Chui.com), whose collaboration with Tarsus was first sealed at November’s Dubai Air Show.  “Remember when there was relief at being disconnected, unavailable for 12 hours on a long-haul flight he poised to his Inflight Connectivity panel?  No longer.  Passengers start to get internet anxiety if they are disconnected for an hour and the challenge for sustainability/weight vs connectivity prompted panellist Nina Schutz, Managing Director of Independent Aircraft Modifier Alliance to suggest passengers would indeed be happy to settle for less food for inflight connectivity.  Naveed Khan, Manager Aircraft Cabin Maintenance at Emirates – whose Wi-Fi is easily one of the best in class, said there are still spots (around the North Pole) where it drops off – but new solutions are coming that will bring fast, consistent coverage.  

 highlighted that 20 to 30% of business travel will not come back owing to hybrid working, bolstered by the success of Teams and Zoom and people now comfortable working from home.  By 2021 we were still 28% below pre pandemic levels (Flight Radar) he said.

Health and wellbeing is going to be a new and critical decision-making factor for future air travel, he said.  Enhanced telemedicine allowing for remote diagnosis of sick passengers, which will heighten passenger confidence, as well as reduce costly aircraft diversions in turn will further aid the drive to sustainability.  

Airlines are also placing greater emphasis on healthier food (virtuously I passed on the champagne for a detoxifying beetroot juice on my Emirates flight).  The Emirates lounge at Heathrow also offers delicious juices and smoothies.

Tomorrow’s traveller, added Orkur, will see renewable catering products and increased digitalisation – on menus, magazines, online duty free pre-ordered for home delivery as aviation retail increases.  Tom Eskola, VP EMEA at exhibitor Panasonic Avionics interviewed by the Show’s media partner Times Aerospace TATV said that digitalisation will be even more important for airline to passenger engagement.  Passengers will be able to receive real time relevant information through seatback, through their own devices and have the capability to pair between mobile phone and seat back monitors too.

Exhibitor Latecoere from France was showcasing its LiFi (Light Fidelity) wireless communication technology which uses light, literally, to transmit data.  The business signed a deal with Airbus Corporate Jets for its next-gen technology last year.  Latecoere launched a live inflight gaming tournament with Air France on an A320 at the 2019 Paris Air Show, demonstrating a new platform coming in connectivity.  Its LiFi Monitor is a plug and play solution offering wi-fi, Bluetooth and LiFi connectivity.

Middle East MRO is a growing business and companies here hold a 29% share of the engine/airframe market.  A panel headed by Fahd H Cynndy, at Saudi Aerospace Engineering, stated it would be better to collaborate rather than compete for business in a climate where there are challenges with supply chain, obtaining raw materials and attracting skilled manpower.  These are challenges that will continue for a few more years.  He was pleased with the positive reaction from his panel which included Etihad Airways and Lufthansa Technik ME.

Now the pandemic is in endemic phase and airlines are back flying, digitalisation in MRO will be important delegates agreed.  Secure data mining and digital transformation has the potential to revolutionise predictive maintenance, said Kuljit Ghata-Aura, Boeing President MEA and Turkey.  It’s important for an airline to understand its own efficiency.   We can confidently predict (in 95% of cases) when a component part will fail.  This equates to US$1 billion savings for Boeing customers.

Latest advances in seat design, with a nod to sustainability and well-being captured the interest of Sam Chui on his YouTube videos from the show.

A big trend is densification in economy class through the installation of additional seat rows of new, light weight slimmer seats.

Gary Doy, DOY Design, visiting from the UK, remarked.  “There is a huge opportunity to be a game changer in economy seats right now, moving to sustainable products.”  He added it was encouraging to see airlines be so pro-active, as Peter Azzouni from Etihad Engineering presented its work investigating light-weight sustainable materials.  
Exhibitor HAECO showcased its 8kg light weight airliner seat featuring a soft (and wide) lower cushion.
 
The average passenger weights the seat companies are promoting can be misleading, suggested Gary Doy, as there are many variables – dress cover materials, equipment specification etc.  Economy seats have already become lighter over the past ten years so the existing generation of light weight aircraft seats will be around 9kg-10kg.  “We can make seats much lighter, but manufacturing costs and modularity are considerations that need balancing with weight optimisation.”

Leveraging the benefits of the latest materials and manufacturing processes DOY Design is working on its own Ultra Slim seat with an average passenger place of under 6.5kg.  On an existing 180-seat Airbus A320 flying 10kg seats the new seat will remove over 600kg.  Take out meal service, duty free goods, a tray table, galley or galley carts. If we concentrate on delivering the basics better and question the logic of carrying other ‘standard’ equipment we could cut the weight of an A320 down by over 1,000kg, he suggested.  “Combining this initiative with other near term sustainable opportunities, like sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), we could make a significant contribution to a greener airline offering.”

Sustainable aviation fuel will make the biggest impact on the industry’s drive to be green, MRO Middle East’s sustainability panel all agreed.  Jason Sutcliffe, Regional Marketing Director of Rolls Royce, EMEA was joined on the Steps to Sustainability panel by Sonia Dumas, Head of Services Marketing, Airbus, plus Ram Muslik, Regional General Manager for EMEA, GE Aviation.   

Jason shared that Rolls-Royce is working with SAF alliances to make its Trent engine 100% SAF compatible by 2030 – (up from 50%). “We won’t see a large widebody flying electrically for a long time, so SAF is the way to go,” he said.  Electric/hydrogen advances are well behind, we heard, and in any case they will start in eVTOL and 18-seat aircraft applications, first - from 2024.  GE is working on a 100% SAF fuelled B777 with Emirates, along with similar ambitions for Embraer Regional Jets.  

Will electric aircraft be a reality by 2025-2026? asked Aviation Week Network Executive Editor MRO facilitator LeeAnn Shay.  Voting on the online Slido audience 80% said no, with just 55% believing hydrogen aircraft will fly by 2035.  The audience was much more enthusiastic about SAF however with 90% of respondents believing it will be available in the quantities required by 2023.

On my flight home (Seat 20A) on the A380 I thought about the comments the panellists had made.  The Emirates cabin reflected it all – large seat back screen, personal iPad, seat and USB power, duty free/retail moved to online.  But after a full week’s work and meetings I didn’t connect.  I wanted to catch up on two unseen boxsets (Emirates ICE is extraordinarily good and current) and enjoy the inflight service.   When we touched touch an aircraft was on our stand.  There was a delay of 30min the captain told us.  I didn’t mind, being fully engrossed in Episode 5 of the Undoing.  

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