Kawasaki Heavy Delivers First Production C-2 Military Transport

Compiled from various domestic reporting

1 July 2016

The editor

Jiji Press

Kawasaki Heavy Industries announced on June 30 that the company delivered the first kind of production unit of C-2 medium military transport to Japanese Air Force.

The new transport is  a successor of C-1, the first indigenous military jet transport by the same company in service since 1973, but can carry 30 tons  almost four times as heavy than C-1 which have been criticized of too small cargo capacity.

PHOTO: Tadayuki YOSHIKAWA/Aviation Wire

With length of 43.9 meters, wingspan of 44.4 meters, C-2’s maximum takeoff weight is 141 tons.

With payload of 12 tons, it can fly as long as 6,500 km and reach Hawaii from Japan. C-2 also has air refueling receiver in flying boom system.

C-2 is powered by two GE CF6-80C2 engines which is also used by commercial Boeing 767 and defense purpose-built E-767 for the Japanese Air Force.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries was awarded development contract of experimental XC-2 in 2002. The  company also was awaraded to develop P-1, four-engined maritime patrol aircraft to replace P-3C for the Japanese navy and its first example of prodcution spec fliew first timei in September 2012.

The Defense Ministry will procure more than ten C-2s with total budget of JPY 264.3 billion with unit price of JPY 22.9billion but the series production unit will be priced JPY 18.8 billion.

But the demand of the Japanese military is quite limited and Kawasaki looks forward to exporting the aircraft.

PHOTO: Tadayuki YOSHIKAWA/Aviation Wire

Breaking News: Korean Air Engine Fire on Haneda Runway INCIDENT

FIRE ON KOREAN AIR BOEING 777’S LEFT ENGINE ABORTED TAKEOFF AT HANEDA TOKYO

From various sources,

May 27, TOKYO

KE2708’s left engine shows the sign of fire and burn. May 27, 2016 at Haneda, Tokyo. PHOTO  N. Takuchi, Mainichi Shimbun.

At around 12:30 pm JST today, Korean Air KE2708 bound for Gimpo International Airport, South Korea, was about to take off at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport with 319 passengers and crew. The Boeing 777-300 broke fire from its portside engine.

1. The aircraft made an emergency stop on the runway.
2. All of passengers and crew were able to evacuate by shooters but a total of 19 passengers had minor injury in their evacuation.
3. Japan’s Transport Safety Board made a preliminary investigation and found that the Korean aircraft’s left engine caught fire after running around 1,000 meters from a full stop. The investigators found the engine was severely damaged and internal parts got out by breaking through the casing to many parts of the runway. Experts thought some cause made a fuel leakage and got fire later.
4. According to sources at the Ministry of Land and Transportation and Korean Air, Haneda tower informed the aircraft that ‘Found fire at the left engine’ and the crew aborted takeoff. The crew confirmed anomaly at cockpit instruments.  The aircraft flew to Tokyo earlier on that day and there was no error found in the previous flight as well as pre-departure check up.
5. The aircraft has been flying since 1999 and the burned engine was exchanged a year and half ago.
6. Tokyo Metropolitan Police found no suspicious articles and found no clue to terrorism. When this Korean Air got this incident, US President Barak Obama was in the western part of Japan by attending G7 Summit in Mie Prefecture.
7. At Haneda, the runway was closed for about six hours while the other three runways stopped operations for about two hours.  According to Japan Airlines and ANA, the two major Japanese carriers, a total of 406 flights were cancelled affecting over 70,000 people by the Korean Air incident.

Update Kumamoto Airport;: April 20, Resumes Operations Partially

On April 19, small number of departing flight resumed at Kumamoto Airport where severe earthquakes struck in series since last Thursday.

One of departing flights bound for Nagoya had its check in and all procedures under the sky as the terminal building is still closed.

On April 20, some 30 flights will be arriving to Kumamoto from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya by Japan Airlines and ANA.

The terminal building, later, restarted its business only partially on Tuesday.

Kumamoto Airport Resumes Operations of Arriving Flights On April 19

Kumamoto Airport, with its terminal buildings were damaged by previous earthquakes, has resumed flight services from today, for only fewer arriving flights from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.

All of departing flights from the airport are still cancelled as baggage security check cannot be performed inside the damaged buildings.

The airport is closer to the epicenter of the first major earthquake of April 14 and severely damaged including collapse of the ceiling inside the building.

Kumamoto and Oita region are  still under the pressure of continuing earthquakes numbered over 500 since the previous week and over 100,000 residents are accommodated inside refugee camps.

Update Advisory: Kumamoto Airport Closed

As of Monday April 18, Kumamoto Airport still has suspended all of commercial flights but open for emergency air lift operations on 24-hour basis. 

Relief supplies are being flown to Kumamoto but due to destructed land transportation paths, it is very hard to be delivered to all refugee residents, reportedly over 100,000 staying out of their homes.


Over 500 times of earthquakes have been counted since the first major quake on April 14.

Update: Kumamoto Airport Closed on April 17

All flights to and from Kumamoto Airport are cancelled on Sunday, April 17, too.

Kumamoto and its vicinity are still having frequent earthquakes of major scale over the days. At present there is no sign of getting back to normal conditions.

Kumamoto Airport Closed by Earthquakes

Terminal building at Kumamoto International Airport （IATA: KMJ - ICAO: RJFT) has been closed since early morning of Saturday, April 16. A large-scale earthquake in the midnight of Saturday damaged the buildings by collapsing the ceilings. All flights at Kumamoto Airport are cancelled on April 16.

1. The midnight earthquake was recorded 7 by Richter's scale and surpassed the previous one at 9:26 pm (JST) on April 14.
2. Japan Airlines cancelled all of 24 flights while ANA cancelled all of its 32 flights on April 16. Solaseed Air, Kyushu-based low cost carrier, cancelled its 10 flights bound for Haneda-Tokyo. Other airlines include Jetstar Japan for two flights to Narita, Fuji Dream Airlines (6 flights to Komaki-Nagoya) and Amakusa Airline to remote Amakusa island.
3. Reportedly, the runway of Kumamoto Airport is intact while the terminal building was damaged by earthquakes.

MRJ to be shown to G7 VIPｓ in May

Mitsubishi MRJ, photo Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation

Showcase Japan High Tech at Gateway of May Ise-Shima G7 Summit

Chubu International Airport, or Centrair, will display two examples of Japanese technologies: Toyota Mirai, fuel cell car and MRJ regional jet by Mitsubishi Aircraft for visiting VIPs in order to appeal Japanese advancement in technologies.

The first example of  MRJ, the first jet airliner developed in Japan, will be parked on the airport apron where  the top leaders of the summit  will transfer from their aircraft to helicopters to reach the venue of the summit, Kashikojima, Mie Prefecture, and Japan wants to impress them.

A model of MRJ cabin interior will be shown at media center of the summit to show the new aircraft to the press of many countries as well.

Toyota Mirai, fuel cell vehicle

ANA Collaborates with Vietnam Airlines

ANA Invests in Vietnam Airlines

Compiled from the Yomiuri Shimbun, 12 January 2016

ANA Holdings, a parent com;pany of All Nippon Airways,  announced on January 12 that the company and Vietnam AIrlines reached to an agreement in capital and business collaboration to be signed.

ANA will acquire about 8.8% of the issued stocks of Vietnam Airlines for JPY13 billion (USD111 million)  by coming summer. Upon agreement of alliances that respective companies are members, the two airlines will start code share and other airport services joint operations from October at earliest and also start joint service in mileage programs. ANA will send  its representative to the board of directors of Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines has been collaborating with Japan Airlines but it will cease its relations with JAL after this new tie up with ANA.

Passenger traffic between Japan and Vietnam is on the rise these years and ANA

hopes to see a further business demand between the two countries as Trans Pacific Partnership will take effect soon.

Vietnam Airlines operates a total of 66 flights every week in  ten routes; Hanoi-Haneda (weekly 7 flights), -Narita (weekly 7 flights), Chubu (weekly 7 flights) and Fukuoka (four flights a week); from Ho Chi Minh to Narita (14 flights), Kansai (7 flights), Chubu (4 flights) and Fukuoka (twice a week) and from Danang to Narita (weekly 7 flights).

While ANA flies daily in Narita-Ho Chi Minh and Haneda-Hanoi routes. ANA Holdings says the load factor for both routes are kept somewhere 70 to 80 %.

Vietnam Airlines will become the second recipient of capital investment by ANA following Asiana of the South Korea that ANA holds 0.63% of the stocks.■

Wedding in Sky? ANA offers a plan.....

ANA Sells Flying Wedding from/to Fukuoka

from Aviation Wire, December 5, 2015

ANA Holdings, a holding company of a major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways, offers a flying wedding on board a charter flight through its subsidiary called ANA Sales. At present, the offer is for only once and the date is fixed on March 26, 2016 departing and arriving Fukuoka International Airport.  Only one married couple can get the chance. When many applications arrive, ANA will choose the lucky couple by drawing.

ANA will fly its own Boeing 737-500 (monoclass 126 seats) operated by ANA Wings. Its planned schedule is as follows: bride and gloom with their family attendants should be arriving at Fukuoka Airport by noon and the flight departs the airport at 1 pm; a ceremony will take place while 1.5-hr flight. Then, wedding party will take place on ground at reserved party place around 5 pm.

ANA will accept applications until December 11. The cost is JPY4.8 million (USD 40,000) that includes the charter flight, drinks and meals for up to 60 guests, wedding dressrental, photography, courtesy bus drive, MC and coordinating, ANA says.

ANA Group conducted flying wedding in October 2013 on another charter flight from/to Chubu International (Centrair) Airport.■

Japan Develops Emergency Aircraft Divert System For Next Major Earthquakes

Anticipating Next Big Earthquakes, Japan Develops Automatic Stand-by Landing Airport Designation System

Compiled from Sankei Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, both released on August 27 2015

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has introduced a new aviation support system to advise alternative landing airports for commercial airliners in the air for the event of large earthquake may stop operations of the original airports in Japan.

1. The system will inform each aircraft of a candidate landing place individually and immediately judging from remaining fuel and other factors. This system, called Emergency Divert Flight Operations Support, will be tested in current fiscal year that will end on March 31, 2016.
2. The East Japan Great Earthquake of 2011 had forced closing  both of Tokyo’s main airports, Haneda and Narita, at once and a total of 86 aircraft heading for there had to alter destinations. Among them, 14 aircraft, as their remaining fuel was too low, declared emergency, calling for quick reactions from the ground, according to MLIT.
3. Current system takes longer time and manpower as the ground control has to ask fuel remaining for each aircraft by voice radio while checking the conditions of alternative airport for any damage by telephone.
4. However, the new system will calculate the remaining fuel volume from the original fuel amount at take-off and the location of the aircraft when a natural disaster occurs.  As each airport will input its damage report to the system, it will divert each aircraft to most appropriate airport with consideration of priority  while the information will be shared with airline companies.
5. MLIT, with assumption of the worst case, a simultaneous earthquakes of Nankai Trough and Tokyo Direct Hit happening on noon of a weekday when air traffic over Japan reaches its peak.  MLIT’s simulation assumed eight airports from Narita to Miyazaki will be closed at once. This simulation showed 133 aircraft would be in the air that will need immediate traffic control.

IHI Hopes to Start Commercial Production of Biofuel More Efficiently

IHI advances on biofuel commercial production by mastering volume production of Algae

Compiled from ZUU online 2015/5/22 14:20

IHI (Tokyo Stock Exchange code: 7013) announced on May 22 that the heavy-industrial manufacturer  succeeded in large-size culture of algae for biofuel production.  Algae has been taken attention for its potentiality to be converted to jet fuel and other companies such Euglena that tries to extract fuel from euglena and JX Holdings are moving forward to commercial production of biofuel, making the market more vibrant and competitive.

IHI revealed its volume culture technology has been developed jointly with Kobe National University and Chitose Laboratory as a commissioned program entrusted by NEDO (New Energy Development Organization) under the title of ‘Strategic Future Biomass energy Utilization Technology Development.’  According to the company press release, they succeeded in volume culture of Botryococcus braunii that generates hydrocarbon oil as alternative fuel with higher growth rate.

As for development of new types of biofuel, it has been said to keep culturing of those algae including euglena that generate oily stuff while ensuring continuous and stable manners by conditions of their culture. Euglena company, for example, is reportedly devising more active photonic synthesis by blowing carbon dioxide into a culture pool.

IHI announced that the joint research group has succeeded in stable culture of algae with only photonic synthesis  at its test facility centering on a culture pond as wide as 1,500 square meters in Kagoshima, southern part of Japan. As the previous culture called for sugar as nutrition of algae, they might have moved forward in R&D.

IHI will further move  ahead to lower fuel production cost by improvement of the whole processes  for anticipation of doing business by this technology in other countries, according to the statement.　

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