Based in London, Tony covers European defense programs. Prior to joining Aviation Week in November 2012, Tony was at Shephard Media Group where he was deputy editor for Rotorhub and Defence Helicopter magazines. Tony has covered avionics, unmanned vehicles, the supply chain and cyberwarfare.
Political issues and the higher costs of export credit are pushing airlines towards making greater use of capital markets as they look to buy aircraft. Last year, just 11% of the $95 billion spent on aircraft financing came from the capital markets, according to figures from Boeing. That’s now up to 14% of $104 billion in 2013, and is set to rise to around 22% of a $112 billion financing requirement in 2014, reports Kostya Zolotusky, managing director of capital markets development and leasing at Boeing Capital.
While green shoots of economic recovery are beginning to emerge in Spain, deep cuts in public spending have had a dramatic effect on the country's armed forces. For the air arm, which was poised to undergo a major modernization, the cuts could not have arrived at a worse time. The service was preparing to introduce new helicopters and transport aircraft while continuing to integrate the Eurofighter Typhoon.
AgustaWestland is accessing the Internet and the cloud to support the latest addition to its product line. Internet-based tools for flight planning and manipulation of health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) data will be launched when the new AW189 intermediate-heavy helicopter begins operations early next year.
