New Partnership to Develop the Fastest Commercial Airline
Dassault Systèmes has announced that Boom Supersonic is deploying the 3DEXPERIENCE platform in order to accelerate the design and development of Overture, its Mach-2.2 commercial airliner, with an aim to make supersonic travel mainstream and affordable. Boom Supersonic is using Dassault Systèmes’ “Reinvent the Sky” industry solution experience based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to support product development from concept through manufacturing and certification. By using this industry-leading solution, Boom Supersonic can cut development time of its first prototype in half and improve product quality by reducing program complexity, inefficiency, costs and resources, thus lowering the barriers to market entry. “Overture takes new advances in aerodynamics, materials, and propulsion and uses them to revolutionize long-haul commercial airline travel. We need powerful design tools to deliver our vision of a supersonic future, and that is exactly what Dassault Systèmes provides,” said Joshua Krall, co-founder and VP, technology, Boom Supersonic. “As a startup, we aren’t constrained by legacy software systems and aim to keep IT costs low. We quickly and easily deployed Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform and expect to scale up to hundreds of users as our project matures.” In response to increasing passenger travel and demand for new products and services, aerospace startups, new market entrants and small original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are shaking up traditional aviation industry dynamics with new and emerging aircraft design concepts that aim to overcome technical challenges of the past. Tailored for product innovation by small OEMs and startups, “Reinvent the Sky” offers scalable access to digital design and simulation applications in a single, secure, and standards-based environment. Boom Supersonic’s engineers, program managers and chief test pilot can collaborate in real time to define requirements, access and reuse common processes and parts with full traceability. “Aerospace companies are working to deliver faster, lighter, more efficient aircraft without sacrificing passenger comfort,” said David Ziegler, Vice President, Aerospace & Defense Industry, Dassault Systèmes. “Smaller innovators need tools for their product development programs that offer them the infrastructure of more established companies yet allow them to stay nimble and incur minimal IT-related expenses. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform delivers this support. Boom Supersonic can create the next generation passenger experience with digital applications that have long been at the core of the industry’s major milestones.” Boom Supersonic is currently building XB-1, its two-seat demonstrator aircraft, to prove key technologies for supersonic flight. Once operational, the company’s flagship airliner, Overture, will become the fastest commercial airplane in history, flying Mach 2.2 from New York to London in 3.25 hours and from Tokyo to San Francisco in 5.5 hours.
With Cyber-Attacks On The Rise, Are Airlines At Risk?
2018 was a big year for cyber-attacks, with movie studios, universities, and governments all being subjects to disruptions of varying sizes. Marriot hotels experienced a breech of 500 million records, exposing the travel and hospitality industries as new targets for cybercrime; the hotel guests’ information was stolen in a data breech that was detected on September 10th, 2018 though it could have started as far back as 2014. British Airways was another victim, or their customers to be more precise, when personal information from 380,000 users was stolen, alongside credit card information. It’s not just data breeches that caused troubles, cybercriminals took what they could get with many aiming for pure disruption without explicit financial benefit. With this in mind Sungard took a closer look at the rate of airline outages in the US, uncovering shocking numbers in the process. The data looked back to 2007 to track the rate of outages across the US airline industry. The numbers started out low, with 2007 recording three outages, while 2008 and 2009 saw just one per year. Fast forward to 2011 and the number rose to five, peaking in 2015 with eleven outages overall. in 2016, nine outages were recorded; six in 2017; ten in 2018, and three so far in 2019. The trend is not linear but the presence of outages every year does confirm that airlines are the major new targets for cyber-attackers. The most widely deployed attacks are of the DDoS style, which stands for Distributed Denial of Service. What happens during a DDoS attack is that hackers flood an organisation’s systems with so many communication requests that it overwhelms the servers, resulting in disruption of normal functions. Airlines are sensitive to these types of attacks since so many of their operations take place on line, making them vulnerable at many different points. Another possible reason is that airlines simply haven’t taken their cybersecurity as seriously as they should have from the start. The problem is of course not isolated to the US, with attackers targeting international airlines too. When it happened to the Polish airline LOT, its chief executive Sebastian Mikosz said, “This is an industry problem on a much wider scale, and for sure we have to give it more attention.” Adding, “I expect it can happen to anyone anytime.” Typically, the attacks don’t cause immediate danger to passengers as they don’t affect systems used by aircrafts while they’re in the air. Still, the disruptions are certainly annoying for all involved. They ground flights thanks to the knock-on effect of disruption and intricate flight schedules keeping all airports running. Some flights end up being rescheduled whilst others are altogether cancelled, causing issues for hundreds of passengers and costing airlines profits alongside reputation. While profits are recoverable, reputation is much harder to restore as passengers who experience disruption with a particular airline will view it as unreliable, choosing to avoid it for their next journey. Airlines must wise up to the increased rates of attacks if profits and reputation are to remain intact. This can be done by targeting security, so that attackers aren’t able to cause disruptions in the first place, increasing resiliency, while also looking at recovery procedures to minimise downtime. Travellers need to take extra precautions too. Travel insurance is a good bet when it comes to adding a layer of security to journey plans. Airlines that have undergone multiple mergers are more sensitive to cyberattacks due to merged patchwork of systems that are easier to exploit. Additionally, scheduling flights in the morning and choosing non-stop routes where possible, is safer, since afternoons and evenings see most of the server loads spike. Manufacturing & Engineering Magazine | The Home of Manufacturing Industry News
Airbus opens new A330 Completion Centre in Tianjin, China
Airbus have begun construction on a brand new Completion and Delivery Centre in Tianjin China. This new facility will be the final stop for the widebody A330 aircraft. The location was chosen due to its close proximity to the final assembly line for the Airbus A320 family. The existing facility has been based in Tianjin since 2009 and has been responsible for the building of more than 250 of the single-aisle aircraft to date. Once the Completion and Delivery Centre opens the facility will employ around three hundred personnel with fifty bringing their experience over from the existing Tianjin A320 assembly line and a further seventy will be moving from Airbus’ various European final assembly lines. The A330 Completion and Delivery Centre will be responsible for a series tasks including installation of the passenger cabin, fuselage paint jobs, engine running, production flights, and final delivery to customers. The Airbus A330 aircraft scheduled to be processed at the new Completion and Delivery Centre will first be assembled at the existing final assembly line in Toulouse, France before being flow to Tianjin. The first aircraft off the production line will be delivered to their customers in September 2017. Also moving over to the new facility is Julien Montcru who has served a series of roles at Airbus and brings with him vast experience. He started his Airbus career in the Toulouse design office before taking on his first management role dealing with A330 cabin furnishings. Montcru then moved onto Hamburg where he worked at the Airbus A380 site when the giant airliners had their cabin interiors fitted before their final paint job and delivery. From 2012 he spent three years back in Toulouse where headed up the paint centre for the A320, A330 and A350. The move makes sense for Airbus with China set to become one of the leading countries for air traffic and the company already having a roughly 50% share of the current market having seen a massive growth over there over the past 20 years.
Airbus Global Footprint to Grow with New C&DC in China
Following recent investment and a new partnership with China, Airbus is to grow increasingly international. The aerospace giant is set to enlarge its global footprint significantly as China welcomes a new Completion and Delivery Centre (C&DC) in Tianjin, expected to house the Airbus A330. The new facilities will add to Airbus’ existing presence in the country, and will occupy the same site as the Family Final Assembly Line and Delivery Centre for the Airbus Tiajin A320. Plans were approved by the Tiajin Free Trade Zone (TJFTZ) and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) back in 2014. President and CEO of Airbus, Fabrice Brégier is confident the development will allow Airbus to widen its customer base, commenting that the A330 C&DC was “a new milestone for Airbus’ international footprint”. At the project’s sign off, it will be the company’s first C&DC for widebody aircraft beyond the borders of Europe. Airbus had previous only served China’s single aisle market. The A330 C&DC Tianjin is is expected to provide a number of key maintanence and manufacturing services. It will incorporate facilities including: cabin installation, aircraft painting and flight test, as well as aircraft delivery and customer flight acceptance. The new A330 Family aircraft is to be the first test for the Tiajin-based facilties. While the new aircraft is to be assembled in Toulouse, final touches like painting and cabin fitting will be conducted at the new C&DC in Tianjin. The Airbus A330 has been a consistent hit with Chinese operators. Despite not being the most prevalent of any Airbus model in the country, it is regularly billed as the most popular with operators and passengers alike. There are current over 170 Airbus A330 Family aircrafts in use by Chinese operators compared with some 1,000 A320s. Airbus has long been a leader in the passenger airline market and the new C&DC is the latest in a string of recent investments for the company. The new facilities are hoped to support the firm’s increasing passenger numbers. Demand for air travel in China is, too, expected to grow well beyond the global rate predicted – at a rate of nearly seven percent compared with an international average of just 4.6%. As demand for both domestic and international travel is on the up, China’s economy looks set to continue to to grow. And as the country gets ever more connected with the wider world, exports are set to sky rocket.
Bombardier and Air Inuit Aircraft Conversion
It has been announced that Air Inuit and Bombardier Commercial Aircraft will be partnering for the passenger-to-freighter conversion of a Q300 turboprop aircraft, with the resulting freighter also including a large-scale door for cargo. As an operator which has worked with the Q300 aircraft for some time now, the organisation has spearheaded the conversion and will also consequently be the launch customer for it. Also, a new STC is to be created under a new license by a third party to further support the conversion. Providing an excellent combination of design and technological advancement, the Q range of aircraft provides a very rugged and performance-led approach best befitting that of short airline journeys undertaken quite regularly. Also as a cost effective range in the Bombardier offering, Q aircraft has successfully achieved a tried-and-tested reputation through use across more than one hundred and fifty operators across the globe. Reputed for its flexibility, Q aircraft are able to adapt to a range of different tasks, including roles not typically associated with airlines such as for maritime patrol, corporate transport and even for cargo service. With over 1,100 of the aircraft already being utilised globally, the quality of the series is clearly defined and proven time over. As Bombardier’s Vice President and General Manager, Customer Services, Todd Young enthused that the conversion may be able to provide a great avenue for the use and benefit with the: Robust, reliable platform that the Q300 aircraft provides. Todd Young also provided thanks to Air Inuit for its assistance in pushing the scheme further towards culmination, bringing both parties one step closer to bringing the amazing new option to the market. As a regional Canadian airline, Air Inuit offers a variety of airline services across its large fleet of some twenty five arctic-adpated aircraft and, like Bombardier, also has a positive industry reputation for offering a high standard and reliable service.
