March 5, 2018 - No. 018 In This Issue GE Plans Major Expansion In Asheville and West Jefferson, North Carolina The ViaSat-2 Satellite Wins an Aviation Week Network Laureate Award S7 Technics will provide ??-21 maintenance Copa Not Planning Third-Party MRO Offerings Hongkong Jet Adds to Its Service and Maintenance Capabilities in Greater China Plan to assemble MH370 wreckage pieces to be finalised by mid March Ramco Systems' Aviation Suite goes live for Cobham Aviation Services Embraer E190-E2 achieve triple FAA, EASA and ANAC certification Could Wichita Land Delta After NRA Flap in Georgia? Skyguide & AirMap Join Forces to Develop Europe's First National Drone Traffic Management System SpaceX Confirms Plan To Activate South Texas Launch Site In Late 2018 GE Plans Major Expansion In Asheville and West Jefferson, North Carolina GE Aviation, a global manufacturer of aircraft engines and components, will create 146 full-time jobs over four years at its facilities in Asheville and West Jefferson, North Carolina. The company will invest nearly $105 million to add production capacity supporting its revolutionary ceramic matrix composite line of engine components. GE Aviation's Asheville and West Jefferson facilities are part of the company's Aviation Supply Chain. The Asheville plant, opened in 2014, was the company's first site to mass produce CMC components for jet engines. The ceramic components, which are lighter and stronger than conventional materials, enhance engine performance and offer lower fuel and maintenance costs. GE Aviation currently employs more than 1,700 people in North Carolina. Of the 146 new positions, 15 will go to Ashe County and 131 to Buncombe County. "We are very pleased to continue expanding our GE Aviation business in Asheville," said Michael Meguiar, Asheville Plant Leader. "We continue to build on a great workforce, culture and community that supports advanced manufacturing jobs in Western North Carolina. This merging of technology and a strong, creative workforce is the foundation of our success. Our site continues to grow as we win components for our next generation of engines such as the GE9X and the CFM LEAP. I'm very proud of the technology advances and the continued competitiveness that our teams have been able to demonstrate." "North Carolina welcomes innovators who drive our economy forward," Governor Roy Cooper said. "GE Aviation and their North Carolina employees have a long history of accomplishment in our state and this expansion will put even more people to work building the next generation of innovative products for the aerospace industry." "The companies that know North Carolina best are the ones already doing business in our state," said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland. "GE Aviation's vote of confidence with this decision confirms once again that North Carolina offers innovative companies all the ingredients they need for success in today's competitive marketplace." According to state officials, North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. were instrumental in supporting the company's expansion decision. As an incentive performance-based grant of $558,700 from the One North Carolina Fund will help facilitate GE Aviation's expansion in North Carolina. The One N.C. Fund provides financial assistance to local governments to help attract economic investment and to create jobs. Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All One NC grants require a matching grant from local governments and any award is contingent upon that condition being met. In addition to North Carolina Commerce and the Economic Partnership of North Carolina, other key partners in the project include the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, Buncombe County, Ashe County, the City of Asheville, Ashe County Economic Development, and the Economic Development Coalition of Asheville and Buncombe County. http://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/3-2-2018/ge-aviation-asheville-west-jefferson- north-carolina.shtml Back to Top The ViaSat-2 Satellite Wins an Aviation Week Network Laureate Award CARLSBAD, Calif., March 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aviation Week & Space Technology announced the ViaSat-2 satellite has been selected as a winner of the 61st Annual Laureate Awards, honoring extraordinary achievements in the global aerospace arena. Viasat's ViaSat-2 satellite, built by spacecraft partner The Boeing Company using a payload architecture designed by Viasat, was selected as a winner in the 'Space, Platforms' category. The panel of judges recognized the ViaSat- 2 satellite because it is expected to be the world's highest-capacity commercial communications satellite, reducing the cost of space-based connectivity to make satellite broadband competitive with terrestrial internet services. The ViaSat-2 satellite system is expected to significantly improve speeds, reduce costs and expand the footprint of broadband services across North America, Central America, the Caribbean and a portion of northern South America, as well as the primary aeronautical and maritime routes across the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe. ViaSat-2 is a geostationary satellite that operates in Ka-band frequencies. It was designed to offer high-capacity connectivity and wide coverage, with the flexibility to move capacity to where demand requires it. Aviation Week & Space Technology Editor-in-Chief Joseph C. Anselmo commented, "The ViaSat-2 satellite, and all of the winners selected by Aviation Week Network editors who reviewed dozens of nominations, embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision that will inspire others to strive for broad-reaching progress in aviation, aerospace and defense." "We are honored the ViaSat-2 satellite has been recognized with an Aviation Week Network Laureate Award. These awards have a long history of recognizing the very best in the industry and we are proud to win this distinction," said Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO, Viasat. "The ViaSat-2 system represents focused teamwork to bring high-speed, high-quality internet to more people on the ground, in the air and at sea. This is a rewarding moment for our team, partners and customers." The winners of the 2018 Laureate Awards were honored on March 1, 2018 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. The award categories were Business Aviation, Commercial, Defense and Space. About Viasat Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For more than 30 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people's lives anywhere they are-on the ground, in the air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit: www.viasat.com, go to Viasat's Corporate Blog, or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube. About Aviation Week Network Aviation Week Network is the largest multimedia information and services provider for the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries that has a database of 1.2 million professionals around the world. Industry professionals rely on Aviation Week Network for analysis, marketing and intelligence. Customers include the world's leading manufacturers, suppliers, airlines, business aviation operators, militaries, governments and other organizations that serve this global market. The product portfolio includes Air Transport World, Aviation Week & Space Technology, AC-U-KWIK, Aircraft Blue Book, Airportdata.com, Air Charter Guide, AviationWeek.com, Aviation Week Intelligence Network, Business & Commercial Aviation, ShowNews, SpeedNews, Fleet and MRO forecasts, global maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) tradeshows and aerospace & defense conferences. About Informa Aviation Week Network is part of Informa, the international business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and events group. Informa serves commercial, professional and academic communities, helping them connect and learn, and creating and providing access to content and intelligence that helps people and businesses work smarter and make better decisions faster. Informa has over 7,500 colleagues in more than 20 countries and a presence in all major geographies. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-viasat-2-satellite-wins-an-aviation-week-network- laureate-award-300607368.html Back to Top S7 Technics will provide ??-21 maintenance Russian MRO provider S7 Technics has been approved to service the country's latest narrowbody development, the Irkut MC-21 jetliner. It is currently undergoing flight tests in the run-up to national certification. S7 Technics' Moscow base won the 2017 MC-21 maintenance tender, which also included UTG, Nord-Technik, Volga-Dnepr Technics Moscow, and Tulpar Technic as the bidders. All the details and terms of the contract have been agreed upon, Igor Panshin, who is responsible for planning and sales at S7 Technics, told ATO Show Observer: "The [document], which is currently undergoing internal approval at Irkut, stipulates the maintenance procedures for the MC-21's airframe and onboard equipment; it implies long-term cooperation covering all aspects of line and base maintenance." Russia's flag carrier Aeroflot, which is the MC-21 launch customer, expects to take the first delivery in two years from now. Asked by the Show Observer whether this timeframe was enough for S7 Technics to build associated maintenance infrastructure for the brandnew type, Panshin had this to say: "The clock is ticking, so we really should start training our personnel, doing the paperwork, and auditing our documents right now, as well as preparing the equipment, providing the infrastructure, stocking our parts depots, proceeding with the certification and other activities." http://www.rusaviainsider.com/s7-technics-provide-%D0%BC%D1%81-21-maintenance/ Back to Top Copa Not Planning Third-Party MRO Offerings Panama-based Copa Airlines does not plan to use its soon-to-be-expanded maintenance capabilities to branch out into third-party work, a top executive at the airline said. "For now, I think that we're comfortable with [serving] our own needs," Copa CFO Jose Montero told analysts on a recent earnings call. "I think the plan in the immediate future is just simply to cater to our own requirements in terms of maintenance." Copa is building a new hangar at its Tocumen International Airport home base in Panama City, and expects the facility to be ready in the 2018 fourth quarter. It will accomodate three narrowbodies simultaneously. The hangar "more than doubles our current capacity in terms of ability to perform heavy checks here locally," Montero said. "So we will have that expanded capability in the latter part of this year." Copa operates Boeing 737-700s and -800s and EmbraerE-190s, and will begin taking deliveries of 737 Max family aircraft later this year. The carrier's 2018 fleet plan has it operating 106 aircraft by yearend: 19 E-190s, 14 737-700s, 68 737-800s and its first five 737-9s. The new hangar is part of the airline's strategy to reduce maintenance expenses, in part by handling more of its own work. Other efficiency improvements include installing a new MRO software, IFS Mxi Maintenix, last year. The new $15 million hangar will not just handle airframe MRO, but also will house back-shops and parts storage. It also will serve as a paint shop and will handle certain components, such as landing gear. http://aviationweek.com/awincommercial/copa-not-planning-third-party-mro-offerings Back to Top Hongkong Jet Adds to Its Service and Maintenance Capabilities in Greater China Hong Kong - 02 March 2018 - Hongkong Jet has today announced the upgrade and expansion of its HKAR-145 maintenance capabilities to include approval to certify the Gulfstream G550 to 144MOS / 12C level. The G550 aircraft type first entered into service in around 2003-4 and as aircraft age, the checks required to keep them flying become more in-depth and complex, under the new approval upgrade, the entire Greater China fleet of 40 G550's are now covered under the company's Hong Kong 145 and Joint Maintenance Management (JMM) approvals. Diarmuid O'Shea, Head of Maintenance, Hongkong Jet said, "The biggest saving for any aircraft owner is to protect the residual value of the aircraft, so we are working to ensure we can continue to provide our world class maintenance services for the entire fleet as it ages. Engineers are in limited supply in the industry, however, at Hongkong Jet we are actively expanding our maintenance capabilities. As part of this move, initially our goal is to extend this capability increase (G550 - 12C) to the rest of our NAA authorizations - Bermuda (VP-B), Cayman (VP-C), and USA (N-) - foremost. Once that is complete, we will roll-out the process on the other aircraft types within our scope, focusing on the Gulfstream G450, G650 and the Bombardier Global Express as first priorities". Hongkong Jet Hongkong Jet's mission is for our passionate team of experts to provide Clients, with a Safe, Professional, Personal and Proactive service, which consistently exceeds Client expectations. We provide business jet owners with a comprehensive suite of services tailored to their specific requirements. These services include aircraft completion, delivery, management, operation, maintenance, charter, sales and consultancy - essentially covering all aspects of the life cycle of aircraft ownership. Hongkong Jet holds Air Operator's Certificate for both Hong Kong and Bermuda and operates, manages and maintains its charter and private fleet of aircraft in accordance with the ARGUS Platinum and ISBAO III safety standards. Hongkong Jet is fully certified with Part 145 maintenance approvals from the HKCAD, Bermuda and Cayman Islands. Hongkong Jet forms part of the HNA group which was founded in 1993 and has grown into a global conglomerate with 11 listed companies and assets in excess of USD 72 billion. The diverse HNA holdings include Aviation, Airport Management, Shipping, Hospitality, Tourism, Logistics, Financial Services, Real Estate and Retail. HNA collectively operates in excess of 500 aircraft, serving approximately 72 million passengers each year. For more information, please see our website over at www.hongkongjet.com.hk. http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12401062/hongkong-jet-adds-to-its-service-and- maintenance-capabilities-in-greater-china Back to Top Plan to assemble MH370 wreckage pieces to be finalised by mid March KUALA LUMPUR: The move to assemble MH370 wreckage pieces is in the last phase of preparation will be finalised by the mid of this month. Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) chairman, Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said the plan was devised by Malaysia with inputs from Australian experts. He said the plan includes technical preparation and the related equipment to bring up the wreckage of the aircraft which maybe found at a depth of 6,000 metres in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean. The plan was initially agreed upon in 2014 when we conducted search in a 160,000 square kilometre area which at that time was led by Australia. "But now, the search is being led by Malaysia, so we need to consider drawing up a plan to reconstruct the debris of the plane and the black box with the cooperation of various agencies and local experts. "The purpose of the plan is to enable further follow up action to be taken in the event the underwater search by the Seabed Constructor, owned by Ocean Infinity Limited, finds MH370," he said today. Azharuddin was speaking to reporters at the fourth year commemoration of the MH370 incident, here. Present was Deputy Secretary-General of the Transport Ministry, Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman and CAAM chief executive officer, Ahmad Nizar Zolfakar. He further explained that Seabed Constructor which is equipped with eight autonomous underwater vehicles has the ability to conduct a 26 day cycle search operation. Azharuddin said as such the 90 days allocated under the terms of the MH370 search contract, signed by Malaysia with Ocean Infinity Limited excludes time for the vessel's return journey to its pier for maintenance and resupply services. "We expect the MH370 search handled by Ocean Infinity would be completed around June or July of this year and it involves an area of 25,000 square kilometre. "As such it is too early for us to conclude the possibility that the search efforts for te MH370 in the Indian Ocean will be met with failure. "In any case, the next of kin would be given priority on the latest development's involving our search efforts. In fact we produce weekly reports every Tuesday based on information received from two Royal Malaysian Navy members who are attached with the mission led by Seabed Constructor," he said. Malaysia signed a deal with the United States-based exploration firm Ocean Infinity Limited to officially continue the search for the missing aircraft. The deal is on a "no cure, no fee" whereby debris found within the first 5,000 sq km will be paid US$20 million (RM82 million), and for the subsequent 10,000 sq km, a sum of US$30 million (RM122 million) will be paid; and for another 10,000 sqkm, US$50 million (RM204 million) will be paid. Beyond that area, Ocean Infinity will be paid a total of US$70 million (RM280 million), however the search must be completed within a 90-day time frame. Australia, Malaysia and China called off their two-year search for the plane a year ago after finding nothing in a 120,000-sq-km underwater search zone. Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 with 239 people, mostly Chinese, on board. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/03/340995/plan-assemble-mh370-wreckage-pieces- be-finalised-mid-march Back to Top Ramco Systems' Aviation Suite goes live for Cobham Aviation Services Ramco Systems has announced the successful deployment of Ramco Systems' Aviation Suite for Cobham Aviation Services. The Ramco Systems' Aviation Suite provides an integrated and unified view of Cobham's continued airworthiness, engineering, supply chain management and finance operations and the recent deployment marks the completion of the first phase of an engineering and finance transformation. Cobham Aviation Services - which caters to clients in the defense, government and commercial sectors - began installing Ramco's software as a part of an initiative to optimize business processes and reduce overheads for its global fleet of more than 130 aircraft around the world. In Phase I of the implementation, beyond engineering, the scalable Aviation Suite also automates functions for compliance, maintenance costs and revenue tracking and financial reporting. It will improve supply chain efficiency and ensure continuous airworthiness of Cobham's fixed and rotary- wing aircraft around the world. Phase II of the implementation will witness significant expansion of the scope of Cobham's UK operations and productivity improvements with process refinements and automation in flight contracts, fixed assets and automation of supplier invoice processing through OCR (optical character recognition) integration. Peter Brown, Vice President - Technical Services, Cobham Aviation Services, said,', Ramco's aviation package has changed our processes for the better across our entire organisation. We are witnessing improvements in our fleet management and productivity thanks to Ramco's user-friendly dashboard and mobility apps. We expect this technological transformation to translate into an improved bottom-line in the years ahead." Ramco offered a solution that is scalable and provides a high quality user experience; both these aspects were of fundamental importance to Cobham for it to drive usability and manage the change in an organisation that is diverse and dispersed. Commenting on the go-live, Virender Aggarwal, GEO, Ramco Systems, said, "Cobham is a leading player in the aviation industry, and our team is delighted to have supported them in the go-live of this strategic transformation. This project has underscored our track record in specialised enterprise software, and we remain grateful to cobham for trusting Ramco as their partner over the years." Ramco Aviation Software is trusted by 21,000+ users to manage 4,000+ aircraft, globally. Designed to be accessible on cloud and mobile, Ramco Aviation Software continues to add technological innovations with 'AnyWhere-Apps', redefining the power of mobility, to significantly reduce transaction time both during aircraft-on-ground (AOG) conditions and critical aircraft turnarounds. Ramco is changing the paradigm of enterprise software with ZERO UI powered by cool new features such as Chatbots, Mail bots, HUBs and Cognitive solutions. Furthering this, the company has also developed application compatibility on Microsoft HoloLens to bring Augmented Reality which improves efficiency in maintenance operations. With 75+ Aviation leaders onboard, Ramco is the solution of choice for several large airlines and top heli-operators and multiple MROs in the world. http://equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=223977 Back to Top Embraer E190-E2 achieve triple FAA, EASA and ANAC certification The Embraer E190-E2 commercial jet has received certification after completing the flight testing program. In a ceremony held today at the Company's facilities in São José dos Campos, Embraer received Type Certificate from the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil - ANAC), the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency). The E190 E2 is the first member of the new generation E-Jets E2 family of commercial aircraft, and also the newest aircraft powered by the Pratt Whitney's geared turbofan engines. The E190-E2 features new ultra-high bypass ratio engines and a completely new wing and landing gear. Compared to the first-generation E190, 75% of the aircraft systems are new. The flight test program comprised four prototype aircraft which were subjected to rigorous testing, clocking over 2,000 flight hours. Some 45,000 hours of tests were conducted in laboratories with rigs for aircraft avionics, flight controls, and electrical, hydraulic, and environmental systems. Widerøe, the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, is the first airline in the world to receive the brand-new E190-E2 and will put the aircraft in revenue service in April. The airline has a contract for up to 15 E2 family jets consisting of three firm orders for the E190-E2 and purchase rights for 12 further E2 family aircraft. Embraer recently announced some final flight tests results confirming the E2 as the most efficient single-aisle aircraft on the market. In fuel consumption, the E190-E2 proved to be 1.3% better than originally expected, a 17.3% improvement compared to the current- generation E190. The E190-E2 also becomes the most environmentally friendly aircraft in its class, with the lowest levels of external noise and emissions. Flight test results also confirmed the E190-E2 to be better than its original specification in takeoff performance. The aircraft's range from airports with hot-and-high conditions, such as Denver and Mexico City, increases by 600 nm compared to current-generation aircraft. Its range from airports with short runways, such as London City, also increases by more than 1,000 nm allowing the aircraft to reach destinations like Moscow and cities in the north of Africa. The E190-E2 will also have the longest maintenance intervals among single-aisle aircraft with 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit for typical utilization. This means an additional 15 days of aircraft utilization over ten years compared to current generation E-Jets. Another key gain is with pilot transition training time. Pilots of current- generation E-Jets will need only 2.5 days of training and no full flight simulator to be qualified to fly an E2. http://www.aviationanalysis.net/2018/03/embraer-e190-e2-achieve-triple-faa-easa-anac- certification.html Back to Top Could Wichita Land Delta After NRA Flap in Georgia? March 01--A Kansas lawmaker says if Georgia doesn't want Delta after its scrap with the National Rifle Association, the international airline would be more than welcome in Wichita. "Hey @Delta, if the peach state isn't treating you right I'd love to show you around our new airport in #Wichita," Rep. Brandon Whipple said in a Facebook post. "We're the Air Capital of the World, with mid-west values, an amazing work force, & access to world class universities. My #ksleg (Kansas Legislature) friends & I would love to talk." Contacted Thursday, Whipple said he's serious and would work to facilitate any Delta presence, up to and including moving its headquarters from Atlanta. "I think Wichita would be a good home for whatever Delta's needs might be," Whipple said. To establish a major presence in Wichita, the company's two biggest needs would be educated business people and trained aircraft maintenance personnel, Whipple said. "If you looked at Wichita objectively, we meet both of those," he said. What brought on this idea is a schism in Georgia, with Delta on one side and the state Legislature and NRA on the other. In the wake of the deadly school shooting in Florida that killed 17 -- and a bitter debate over gun control -- Delta on Saturday canceled a program offering discounted airfares to NRA members traveling to the association's annual meeting. "Delta's decision reflects the airline's neutral status in the current national debate over gun control amid recent school shootings," the company said in a statement. "Delta supports all of its customers but will not support organizations on any side of any highly charged political issue that divides our nation." That sparked a backlash in the pro-gun Georgia Legislature, where a Senate committee scrapped a planned tax break that would have saved Delta $50 million on fuel costs. The company is based in Atlanta and the airport there is its main hub. While the Kansas Legislature is as pro-gun or more so than Georgia, Whipple said he thinks his colleagues would put that aside if they could bring significant jobs and commerce to the state. "I don't think any serious leader would let their political views get in the way of an economic opportunity," he said. "Georgia apparently did. That might be how they do business in Georgia, but here in Kansas, we focus on the people when it comes to companies. We don't focus on our own knee-jerk political reactions." Whipple is the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee. "I'm sure if we got someone from a company like Delta who was interested in taking a look at our state, those are the type of conversations that we on the committee would love to have." Whipple's invite to Delta follows an outreach by Secretary of State Kris Kobach to the NRA. Kobach, who's running for governor, tweeted an invitation to the NRA asking them to move their annual convention to Kansas, which he called "the most pro-gun state in America." His political ally, Wichita businessman Wink Hartman, publicly offered the NRA the use of the arena he owns in Park City. And Whipple's not the only one to reach out to Delta. The governors of New York, Connecticut and Virginia and several mayors have made similar online overtures. The multiple invitations prompted the respected Bloomberg business news service to write an article titled "Delta Isn't Leaving Atlanta, So Please Stop Talking About It." The article points out that Delta has had an enormously profitable relationship with the Atlanta airport, which it practically controls by virtue of its size and headquarters' presence there. In addition, the article noted that Delta signed a 20-year lease two years ago to stay in Atlanta, where it has been based for 77 years. http://www.aviationpros.com/news/12401019/could-wichita-land-delta-after-nra-flap-in-georgia- kansas-lawmaker-extends-invite Back to Top Skyguide & AirMap Join Forces to Develop Europe's First National Drone Traffic Management System MADRID, March 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- World ATM Congress - Today, skyguide, the Swiss air navigation service provider, and AirMap, the leading global airspace management platform for drones, announced that they will develop and deploy the first national drone traffic management system in Europe. The system will be the first national deployment of U-space, Europe's vision for the digital infrastructure that will support safe and secure access to European skies for millions of drones. Much like the U.S. "Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM)" initiative, U-space is a collaborative effort to enable situational awareness, data exchange, and digital communication for the European drone ecosystem. In a pilot phase starting in June 2018, skyguide and AirMap plan to integrate the AirMap UTM platform with skyguide's infrastructure and introduce automated flight authorization in a single airspace environment. Skyguide and AirMap will also develop a roadmap for Swiss U-space that will set the stage for the deployment of a fully operational drone traffic management system in 2019 and beyond. Swiss U-space will ensure that all categories of drones and all types of missions can safely take flight in Switzerland'sairspace. Swiss U-space will include features such as: * Blockchain-based registration for users and drones; * Dynamic geofencing and instant digital airspace authorization; * Real-time traffic alerts for drone pilots and live drone telemetry for airspace managers; * Connectivity and communication between drone pilots and airspace administrators; * Other services to enable simultaneous flights in shared airspace. "After a year of successful collaboration with AirMap, we expect that the AirMap UTM platform meets the highest standards required for a Swiss U-space," says Klaus Meier, Chief Information Officer of skyguide. "We're looking forward to bringing U-space capabilities to Switzerland and we are excited to drive this innovation together with AirMap." "With Swiss U-space, Switzerland aims to safely open the skies for drone commerce," said Ben Marcus, CEO of AirMap. "We're proud to work with skyguide to bring AirMap UTM to Switzerland and make it possible for more pilots, more drones, and more missions to take flight in Europe." "The establishment of a U-space is the key to improve drone operations' safety and to satisfy the security and privacy concerns of our citizens. In order to achieve these objectives, a seamless cooperation between all the partners involved is crucial. I am glad to see that a further important step to tackle this challenge was taken today." said Christian Hegner, Director General of Switzerland's Federal Office of Civil Aviation. Swiss U-space will be a powerful catalyst for Switzerland's drone economy. Since 2013, drone flight requests at skyguide have multiplied tenfold. Switzerland is home to a thriving community of drone companies and the world's first autonomous drone delivery network, located in Zürich. The partnership follows the success of skyguide's 2017 Swiss U-space trial, the first live demonstration of sophisticated U-space services in Europe. Together, skyguide, AirMap, and SITAONAIR exhibited fully operational U-space capabilities - including registration and identification, geofencing, and flight authorization - during live drone missions performed by senseFly and PX4 in Geneva. With deployments in Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, AirMap UTM is the most comprehensive and connected platform of its kind. The platform offers up-to-date airspace information for every country in the world, national airspace rules for more than 20 countries, and the largest network of drone operators, manufacturers, and airspace managers in the drone ecosystem, reaching more than 85% of the world's drones. About skyguide Skyguide provides air navigation services for Switzerland and certain adjacent airspaces of neighbouring countries. With its 1500 employees at 14 locations in Switzerland, the company guides some 1.2 million civil and military flights a year safely and efficiently through Europe's busiest airspace. Skyguide also operates drones for maintenance purposes. Example: by calibrating the ILS via drones instead of planes, skyguide will achieve significant reductions in costs (-360'000 CHF) and CO2 emissions (- 94 tons) by 2020. Several more applications are being developed. Learn more about Swiss U-space at: www.skyguide.ch/u-space About AirMap AirMap is the world's leading airspace management platform for drones. Millions of drones, hundreds of industry developers, and hundreds of airspace managers and stakeholders rely on AirMap's airspace intelligence and services to fly safely and communicate with others in low- altitude airspace. AirMap powers more than 85% of the world's drones through integrations with major drone manufacturers such as DJI, Intel, senseFly, Kespry, and Aeryon Labs. With deployments in Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States, AirMap leads the industry in delivering technology solutions for Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) that help drones safely share the skies. Learn more about the AirMap UTM platform at www.airmap.com/UTM. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/skyguide--airmap-join-forces-to-develop-europes- first-national-drone-traffic-management-system-300607728.html Back to Top SpaceX Confirms Plan To Activate South Texas Launch Site In Late 2018 Following our report that Elon Musk's space company was progressing on the development of a new launch site in Texas, SpaceX's Senior Communications Manager James Gleeson has confirmed with Teslarati that the company is, in fact, working towards the activation of its South Texas launch facilities in late 2018, possibly sooner. "We are currently targeting late 2018 for the site in South Texas to be operational but we're reviewing our progress and will turn the site online as soon as it's ready." Combined with a comment made in early January by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, BFS development by all appearances is going quite smoothly. Still, it's likely that the Boca Chica site's late 2018 "operational" status refers mainly to an ability to support something less than orbital launches, perhaps suborbital testing of BFS. According to a source knowledgeable with SpaceX's South Texas outlook, there are currently no plans to manufacture BFR in the region, although the company has enjoyed the warm welcomes it's received from local leaders enthusiastic about the company's local expansion. The question of where to test the first Big F____ Spaceship (BFS) prototype also appears to be undecided at the moment, and comments made by CEO Elon Musk immediately after Falcon Heavy's inaugural launch further confirmed that a couple of different options are under consideration, one of which involves using Boca Chica as a testing facility for the Mars rocket. True orbital launch operations are thus highly unlikely to begin at Boca Chica any earlier than mid-to-late 2019, and that aspirational timeline is of course intimately dependent upon the relatively smooth development and testing of BFS, as well as the potential value SpaceX might see in a fully-private orbital launch complex compatible with their proven Falcon family of rockets. A site wholly dedicated to Starlink launches, for example, could rapidly speed up the internet satellite constellation's deployment, the completion of which could be a massive source of income capable of funding the company's interplanetary ambitions. While SpaceX's communications policy reasonably avoids commenting on employee movement, the South Texas site's late 2018 operational status would undeniably require a fair amount of work, likely on the order of the refurbishment and repair of the SLC-40 pad. This indirectly lends at least a sliver of credence to a recent claim from Space Florida, a state-run economic development agency focused on aerospace, that a portion of the workers involved in the refurbishment of LC-40 and LC- 39A's Falcon Heavy upgrades have begun "working on their Brownsville [TX] site." Indeed, local South Texas fans of SpaceX have done an outstanding job of tracking the progress made at the Boca Chica launch facility over the last several years, and activity at the site does appear to have exploded in recent months, relative to the several years of quiet landscaping that followed its 2014 announcement. Most recently, the addition of a solar array installation, Tesla Powerpacks, and an 800-kilowatt generator gives the construction zone the ability to generate considerably more than 1MW of grid- independent power, likely more than enough to operate both a bevy of construction equipment and SpaceX's Crew Dragon communications complex. Ultimately, it's all but guaranteed that significant increases in construction and development activity (or the lack thereof) will be immediately noted and communicated by observant locals. If SpaceX hopes to make its South Texas site operational before the end of the year, major work can be expected to begin within a handful of months at most. In the meantime, activities in Los Angeles, CA, particularly the Port of San Pedro, will offer another source of data on BFS' development progress. Now we wait... https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-activate-south-texas-launch-site-late-2018/ Curt Lewis