Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ joint venture facility in Jinjiang, China has secured a three-year deal to support China Eastern Airlines’ fleet of ten Embraer 145LI regional jets with new and retreaded tyres. The agreement will see the Shanghai-based airline receive new tyres made at Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ factory in Birmingham; these will be distributed from and retreaded at the manufacturer’s joint venture company, Dunlop Taikoo (Jinjiang) Aircraft Tyres.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has appointed Mike Askew as chief executive officer. He joins the firm from APPH Group, a company that designs and manufactures hydraulic systems and landing gears for commercial and military aircraft. Askew had been managing director at APPH for almost three years and before that he held senior positions at Doncasters and GKN Westland Helicopters.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres is to benefit from BAE Systems’ £1.9 billion deal to sell Hawk training jets to Saudi Arabia. According to the company, 22 Hawks will be built in Lancashire and supplied with tyres made by Dunlop Aircraft Tyres in Birmingham. The company, the world’s only specialist aircraft tyre manufacturer and retreader, already provides tyres for the 45 Hawks already in service with the Royal Saudi Air Force. Each aircraft uses three tyres – two on the main gear and one on the nose gear – and once the Saudis take delivery of the new aircraft the country will be the world’s second largest operator of the type after the UK.
The Duke of York visited Michelin in Stoke-on-Trent yesterday (8 March 2012) where he met young apprentices and employees, was given a tour of the factory and offices at the company’s Campbell Road site and unveiled a plaque.
During the visit, His Royal Highness was given a presentation by Michelin UK managing director Eric Le Corre and met employees and local dignitaries before embarking on a tour of the Michelin Remix production facility with factory manager Sean Parry.
Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has reported that it is building on its success in the Americas by offering its entire range of narrow and wide bodied aircraft tyres to operators throughout the region.
A scientist at Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has been recognised for his work in developing a new tread compound that could increase the tyre life and reduce operating costs for airlines. James O’Callaghan, 26, from Erdington received the Sue Panteny Award from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. While developing the new compound, O’Callaghan studied one-day a week for a polymer technology degree at Staffordshire University, which, after three years, he passed with first class honours last summer.
Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres halted new and retread tyre production during the week commencing 15 November after identifying a “potentially sub-standard rubber” supply. According to the Birmingham Mail, managers at the Castle Bromwich plant suspended manufacturing for three days following a “potential issue” with the raw material.
Desser Tire & Rubber Co. affiliate, Aero WBS has achieved the qualification for retreading Canadair 200, 700, 900 series and Embraer 135 and 145 series aircraft tyres, as well as forming an investigative committee for opening a FAA/EASA approved factory outside of the United States.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has announced the signing of a major deal with Korea Aerospace Industries. The Birmingham-based manufacturer will be the exclusive supplier of tyres for its new Korean utility helicopter, the Surion. The aircraft is being developed to replace South Korea’s aging fleet of 500MD and UH-1H aircraft. The Surion made its first flight early in 2010 and more than 245 are on order.
Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has appointed Marcus Hancock as technical director. Hancock has 21 years’ experience in the tyre industry and joins Dunlop from Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe, where he was general manager for the company’s European Technical Centre with responsibility for overseeing all product development for the region. The company’s former technical director Martin Pye has moved into a new role as head of original equipment sales. He will seek to strengthen Dunlop’s relationship with, and secure new business from customers, including airframers and landing gear manufacturers.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres reports securing a major deal to support the new fleet of Bombardier CRJ1000 Next Gen regional jets operated by Spanish carrier Air Nostrum. The Valencia based airline operates as a franchise of Iberia Airlines and has 20 of the new aircraft on order, with options on a further 15. This will be the largest fleet of CRJ1000s in the world and Air Nostrum will take delivery of its first aircraft later this month. Dunlop Aircraft Tyres will supply the two nosewheel and four mainwheel tyres for each of the 100-seat aircraft.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres is the world’s only specialist aircraft tyre company, and in 2010 the firm celebrated a century in the business. After a hundred years the Birmingham-based manufacturer is still going strong and recently announced further additions to its research, quality and production teams.
On November 11 the EEF announced the Midlands region winners in its 2010 Future Manufacturing Awards, and Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ apprentice Adam Cox was honoured for the quality of his work. At a ceremony held in the Warwickshire town of Gaydon, Cox was named runner-up in the Outstanding Achievement by a Final Year Apprentice Award for his work in the design of aircraft tyres for some of the world’s newest civil and military aeroplanes.
Goodyear Aviation has announced today at the NBAA2010 show in Atlanta that its radial aircraft tyre expansion project will be completed by the first quarter of 2011 – ahead of schedule – which will double the company’s radial tyre production capacity. The radialisation of aircraft tyres is a key economical and ecologically-friendly strategy in the aviation industry’s attempts to burn less fuel per passenger, since radial tyres are lighter than the bias or crossply alternatives. The move towards radialisation in the industry has been slow not just because of the changes required in long-lasting hardware, but also because aircraft tyres are retreaded frequently and crossply tyres provide extra casing strength to allow the process to be completed more times; an issue the UK’s Dunlop Aircraft Tyres chairman Ian Edmondson discussed at length with Tyres & Accessories earlier in the year (see below for a link to this interview).
September 2010's Retreading Special supplement produced in both English and German by Tyres & Accessories and Neue Reifenzeitung is now available for virtual viewing online. The latest edition of the increasingly popular retreading publication features exclusive articles on Bridgestone/Bandag's arrival in Europe, the latest innovations from Kraiburg and an interview with the chairman of Dunlop Aircraft Tyres concerning the company's new Chinese retreading facility, as well as latest profit and loss reports from the sector. Click more to read the complete 32-page product.
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