Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 15, 2008 - (Page 3) FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 AVIATION WEEK President Tom Henricks Publisher Greg Hamilton Editor-In-Chief John Morris Morrisoff@aol.com Senior Editors Rich Piellisch Mike Jerram News Editor Scot Greenan Copy Editor Andrea Ader Writers Tamir Eshel, Fred George, Robert Hewson, David Hughes, Paul Jackson, Reuben F. Johnson, Paul Richfield, Adrian Schofield Senior Art Director & IT Manager Kirk Fetzer Art Directors Maureen Spuhler, Ariel de Man Photographer Mike Vines Digital Photo Fran Vines Photo Assistant Nick Vines Digital Data Manager Jill Loveless Newsroom Manager Mara Morris VP Sales Mark A. Flinn mark_flinn@aviationnow.com MD Europe, Middle East, Africa Iain Blackhall Europe Romaine Meyer romaine_meyer@mcgraw-hill.com Germany/Switzerland Robert Rottmeier rottm@mcgraw-hill.com E. Europe/CIS/India/Italy Vittorio Rossi Prudente prudente@mcgraw-hill.com UK Mike Elmes mike.elmes@aerospacemedia.co.uk Business Manager Sean Beers Operations Manager Erving Dockery AVIATION WEEK B/CA Show News is published at Farnborough by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121 AVIATION WEEK also publishes Aviation Week & Space Technology, Aviation Daily, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, Business and Commercial Aviation, Overhaul & Maintenance, The Weekly of Business Aviation, Defense Technology International, and the World Aerospace Database including World Aviation Directory. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Printing & Distribution Managed by: Mike and Rachel Meadows Communisis © Copyright 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Library of Congress ISSN 1092-6151 Opposition Leader Stops By The Rt. Hon David Cameron M.P., the leader of the Conservative Party, brought a group of his MPs to the show yesterday. During his visit to the Thales exhibit he was shown their latest technology by Alex Dorrian, CEO of Thales UK. A group of British soldiers back from a recent tour of Iraq explained real UAV operations using the Thales/Elbit Hermes 450 UAV. Niki CFO Gottfried Nevmeister, Niki president Niki Lauda, Embraer evp Mauro Kern and svp Luiz Fuchs. Five + Five ERJ 190s for Niki Lauda’s Niki On Monday Niki Lauda, president of Viennabased, low-cost air carrier Niki, announced five firm orders for Embraer ERJ 190 regional jets, with two slated for delivery in the May/June 2009 timeframe, followed by one delivery per year from 2010 to 2013. He also said that Niki has options for five additional ERJ 190/195 jets. The total value of the contract is $187.5 million. Production slots had to be jockeyed somewhat to accommodate Niki’s May/June 2009 delivery schedule, according to Embraer airline market evp Mauro Kern. “I would have preferred February,” Lauda quipped. Niki intends to go head-to-head against Austrian Air in Innsbruck, an air terminal that serves 200,000 travelers a year. Currently, Niki only flies between Innsbruck and Palma de Mallorca, Rhodes and Vienna with its Airbus jets. When it acquires the ERJ 190 jets, it will be able to serve Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich as well because they are more cost-effective on such routes. The ERJ 190 aircraft initially will be fitted with 104 seats, but will be retrofitted with 112 slim-line seats when they are certified in October. Niki, 24% of which is owned by Air Berlin since 2004, offers single-class service, but also food and beverage service. “We needed airplanes below the Airbus. The ERJ 190 is 20% cheaper [to operate] than the Airbus. It’s easier to break into new markets. “We started in 2003, and we were profitable after the first year. Last year, we had a $3.5 million profit,” Lauda said. He intends to continue acquiring at least one aircraft per year and grow Niki, even though the airline industry is faced with —Fred George enormous cost pressures. Show News at Farnborough On site Newsroom: Chalet A20 Tel: +44 (0)1252 417798 www.aviationweek.com/shownews July 15, 2008 3 http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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