easyJet to open new base in Hamburg, expand Berlin base

By BA Staff

easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, has announced it will open a base in Hamburg, Germany as well as increasing its fleet in Berlin in the spring of 2014.

Building on its success to date in both Hamburg and Berlin, easyJet’s new base will open with three A319 aircraft with the airline increasing its fleet in Berlin by an additional plane. easyJet will more than double its network from Hamburg with 15 additional new business and leisure routes on the top of its existing portfolio of six routes offering almost 170 flights a week during summer 2014. With more frequencies and early morning departures from Hamburg the schedule will make easyJet more attractive to business passengers.

Carolyn McCall, easyJet chief executive officer, commented:

"I am really pleased to be able to announce the launch of a new base in Hamburg which will enable us to double the size of our operation. Hamburg and its region is one of the most dynamic economies in Europe with a significant and growing tourist industry. In the last twelve months more than half a million passengers have enjoyed easyJet’s low fares combined with our friendly service. These expansion plans mean that we expect to carry twice as many passengers in the first year of operations which will take us to more than a million passengers annually for the first time."

Hamburg will be easyJet’s 23^rd base in its European network. Germany’s second largest city is also one of Europe’s wealthiest economies with a strong local industry in banking, aviation, renewable energy media & publishing and the second largest European harbour. easyJet expects to bring 275,000 additional business and leisure visitors in Hamburg in the first year.

First Mayor of Hamburg Olaf Scholz said:

"easyJet's recent decisions strengthen both the Hamburg Airport and the aircraft manufacturing location Hamburg - the third largest after Seattle and Toulouse. The most recent decision of the airline to purchase new aircraft is good for Airbus. It is also good news for suppliers that are involved in aircraft manufacturing. easyJet's decisions underscore the positive development that Hamburg is experiencing in regards to aviation. This development shows that it was the right decision of the Hamburg Senate in 2000 to invest in aviation in Hamburg and to give the aviation industry the importance it deserves."

In Berlin, the additional aircraft will take the total based there to eight. It will mean 130,000 more passengers on the top of the four million passengers easyJet has carried on the last 12 months (a 9.5% increase on the previous year). The aircraft will allow easyJet to increase frequencies on popular business and leisure routes. At Summer 2014 passengers will have the choice of up to 635 flights per week.

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Virgin America Reports August Traffic

By BA Staff

Image Credit: Virgin America

San Francisco-based Virgin America reported its preliminary operational results for August and August year-to-date. Virgin America’s August 2013 traffic (revenue passenger miles) decreased 5.1 percent on capacity (measured in available seat miles) that was 5 percent lower than in August 2012.

Load factor was 82.2 percent, which is unchanged from the same month a year prior. The number of onboard passengers fell 1.9 percent compared with August 2012. Virgin America estimates August 2013 passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) to have increased by between 8 and 9 percent, compared with the same month in 2012.

	August				August Year to Date
	2013	2012	Change		2013	2012	Change
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	913,612	962,133	5.1%		6,666,197	6,712,749	0.7%
Available Seat Miles (000)	1,110,443	1,168,567	5.0%		8,206,745	8,363,432	1.9%
Passenger Load Factor	82.2%	82.3%	0.1		81.2%	80.3%	1.0
Onboard Passengers (000)	590	601	1.9%		4,259	4,202	1.4%

Virgin America also announced the resumption of its seasonal flights between New York JFK and Palm Springs, which are offered every Saturday as the only nonstop flight between the New York City area and Palm Springs. 

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easyJet announces new routes out of Belfast

by BA Staff

easyJet, one of the largest low cost carriers (LCC) in Europe, has announced two new routes from its Northern Ireland base at Belfast International Airport. Starting in summer 2014, easyJet will introduce new nonstop flights from Belfast to Bordeaux, France and Jersey in the Channel Islands.

Ali Gayward, easyJet's Northern Ireland head had this to say about the expansion:

We’re pleased to mark this important anniversary for easyJet by announcing two new routes for Northern Ireland. From summer 2014 we will introduce flights to Bordeaux and Jersey to offer a range of new holiday and business connections to and from Northern Ireland.... Since we launched our first flight to Belfast in 1998 over 32 million people have chosen to fly with us. Today we’re saying thank you to all those passengers who have helped make easyJet Northern Ireland’s largest airline. Belfast was one of our first bases outside Luton and we look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries here.

easyJet has six aircraft based at Belfast, and will serve 24 destinations from the airport once the two new destinations are inaugurated. easyJet as a whole has a fleet of 194 aircraft (consisting of 138 Airbus A319s and 56 Airbus A320s) serving 138 destinations across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. 

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Routes: easyJet to begin services between Jersey and London Gatwick

British low cost carrier (LCC) easyJet has announced new thrice daily service between Jersey and its hub at London Gatwick commencing 30th March 2014 utilizing 156 seat Airbus A319 aircraft. Find out more details below.

28th August 2013

easyJet, the UK’s largest airline has today announced it is increasing its Jersey network with the introduction of a year-round service to London Gatwick.

From 30 March 2014 easyJet will operate three flights per day between Jersey and London Gatwick offering the choice of a morning, afternoon and evening departure in each direction. The new service will go on sale in September 2013 and means easyJet now connect Jersey with five UK airports – London Gatwick, Southend, Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow.

The announcement follows a deal secured by easyJet earlier this year to purchase 25 additional slots at Gatwick Airport from Flybe. Since this time, the airline has worked closely with the route development team at Jersey Airport to expand its operation in the Island and enhance connections to London Gatwick. The new flight will be operated by an Airbus A319 aircraft with the capacity of 156 seats.

Group CEO for Ports of Jersey, Doug Bannister, is delighted by the announcement and says the confirmation will offer an excellent and affordable choice for both leisure and business passengers.

UK Commercial Manager for easyJet, Ali Gayward, says: “easyJet is pleased to confirm it will introduce new flights between Jersey and London Gatwick from spring 2014, which underlines our continued commitment to serving Jersey.

“The new early flight will allow business travellers to reach London in time for meetings while the evening departure enables them to travel home on the same day. The introduction of low cost seats will also help to boost tourism to Jersey.

“In developing our plans for London Gatwick we have listened to all the points made by Economic Development and Jersey Airport. Their enthusiasm to work with easyJet has been clear from the start and we hope this support will continue to make the route a success”.

Minister for Economic Development, Senator Alan Maclean, says: “Today’s announcement once again demonstrates easyJet’s continuing confidence in Jersey, which has continued to flourish since it first established services from the Island in 2008. The airline has the capability of delivering in excess of a quarter of a million passengers per year on the Gatwick route alone, which will be of great benefit to the vitally important tourism and business economy”.

Provisional schedule for summer 2014 – timings to be confirmed in September.

London Gatwick – Jersey             Jersey – London Gatwick
Depart Arrive                     Depart       Arrive
07:00 08:00                      08:30       09:30
14:30 15:30                      16:00       17:00
17:30 18:30                      19:00       20:00

The introduction of a London Gatwick service brings the total number of routes the airline serves from Jersey to five. In addition to its exiting year-round services to Liverpool, Glasgow and London Southend, the airline also introduced a summer service to Newcastle earlier this year.

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Bhutan Airways (Tashi Air) to begin daily Paro-Kolkata-Bangkok

by Vinay Bhaskara

According to the Airline Route blog, private Bhutanese carrier Bhutan Airways (also known as Tashi Air) is set to begin daily Paro-Kolkata-Bangkok flights from October 2013 with its new Airbus A320 aircraft. Proposed schedules are as follow:

B3700 PBH-CCU 1035 - 1110 CCU-BKK 1150 - 1550 320 Daily

B3701 BKK-CCU 0630 - 0730 CCU-PBH 0810 - 0945  320 Daily

Tashi Air has an existing fleet of one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft (seating 8 passengers), which it uses to serve domestic flights within Bhutan from Paro to Jakar and Trashigang. The airline was founded in 2011, and the purchase of its first Airbus A320 marks a major expansion for Bhutan's second largest carrier. It will face major competition from the much larger national carrier Druk Air, who serve ten destinations on a fleet of four aircraft (three Airbus A319s and one ATR 42). Druk Air already serve six destinations in India including Kokata, and have nonstop flights between Paro and Bangkok.

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Emirates commences luxury private jet service

by Devesh Agarwal

Dubai-based Emirates, has announced the launch of its luxury private jet service using a ultra-spacious Airbus 319 aircraft.

Providing a bespoke private charter service to most locations worldwide and beyond the existing Emirates network, the aircraft offers a new configuration with a high level of comfort and service for up to 19 passengers.

The configuration of the A319 Emirates Executive aircraft is based on two main zones.

The first area is a wide dining and executive lounge at the front of the aircraft designed to seat up to 12 passengers, combining a work area and a rest zone with two large sofas surrounding four mechanically-activated tables and two 42” HD LCD screens.

The second distinct area comprises 10 Private Suites each featuring a fully lie flat seat and a 32” HD LCD screen.

The suites are complemented by a large and elegant Shower Spa, equipped with a full-height shower, featured innovations like a floor heating system, decorative mirrors and marble accents, as well as luxury, all-natural skincare products.

Customers can also enjoy a variety of multi-course culinary options from Emirates’ award-winning menus, and the finest selection of hot and cold beverages, as well as customised options to suit any palette or dietary requirement.

The aircraft is equipped with state-of-the-art technology including Emirates’ award winning in-flight entertainment (IFE) with up to 1,500 channels of on-demand entertainment, as well as a live TV, video conferencing facilities and high-speed internet and mobile phone connectivity.

The personalised service for customers includes booking an aircraft at short notice and a premium chauffeur drive service. The A319 aircraft is supported by a dedicated team of highly trained and experienced inflight crew and ground staff.

For enquiries visit the Emirates Executive website.

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Air China ends Shanghai-Chengdu-Bangalore

by Vinay Bhaskara

Yesterday, Sunday, August 4th, marked the final nonstop flight for Air China limited, the world’s 10th largest airline by passenger traffic, between Bangalore and Chengdu. Flights have been zeroed out from the global distribution system (GDS) and are no longer bookable via AirChina.com. The nonstop flights, which began in early 2010, had actually been increased in frequency by Air China from twice to thrice weekly on March 31st, and had been planned to operate as thrice weekly flights until late October. Service was offered on 128 seat Airbus A319 equipment in a 2-class configuration (8C/120Y), and was structured as Bangalore-Chengdu-Shanghai Pudong and return. Flights departed Bangalore Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and arrived in Bangalore on those same days of the week after departing Shanghai Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The same plane journey from Shanghai to Bangalore took over 7 hours and 40 minutes to complete in either direction.

It is surprising that Air China elected to cancel services between Bangalore and Chengdu given the strong business ties between the two cities. Bangalore is India’s information technology (IT) hub, while Chengdu is China’s electronics manufacturing center; and several multinational tech corporations have major operations in both cities. In particular, this route was often dubbed the "Cisco-Huawei Express". Networking Equipment Manufacturer Cisco’s “East” Headquarters are located in Bangalore while their largest manufacturing base in China is located in Chengdu. Meanwhile, electronics manufacturer Huawei has a major IT research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore and massive manufacturing operations in Chengdu (as does rival Chinese telecom firm ZTE). These firms often formed the base of demand for the nonstop services, and when combined with the incremental demand between Bangalore and China’s financial capital of Shanghai, the route seemed to be a strong performer for Air China.

But global macroeconomic conditions have certainly shifted in the past few months. Both India and China are seeing slowdowns in growth that are causing tapering in travel demand between the 2 nations – as firms scale back expansion plans and begin to curtail employment growth. India’s projected GDP growth for 2014 has fallen to a new low of 5.2% (after running at 8% or above for nearly the last decade; even through the global financial crisis) tied to a similarly projected GDP growth for China of just 6.9% in 2014, the lowest total in more than 20 years. In addition to these macroeconomic factors, Cisco, a major US manufacturer of Telecom equipment, is also facing a major slowdown in its core market, the US, as firms increasingly turn away from its services and put off purchasing new network equipment due to uncertain economic conditions. Even in India, the economic slowdown is contributing to a reduction in demand for telecom equipment. All of these factors certainly contributed to a reduction in demand for the route.

Beyond the macroeconomic forces, there is increasing tension between China and India thanks to labor disputes and border issues in India’s Northeast. Additionally, ZTE and Huawei are coming increasingly under suspicion of playing a role, if only indirectly, in increased Chinese hacking of Indian government web servers, thanks to their close ties to the Chinese government. The added security concerns have led to increased scrutiny for ZTE and Huawei – and forced the two firms to cut back on their Indian operations. Given the relatively close ties between the Chinese government and Air China, these political disputes may have also played a role in the cancellation of the route.

Air China will continue to service India with 7 flights per week; 4 weekly Mumbai-Chengdu-Shanghai Pudong on board the same Airbus A319 equipment, and 3 weekly Beijing-Delhi on-board 301 seat Airbus A330-300 equipment in a 2-class configuration (30C/271Y). Beijing-Delhi had previously been increased to 4 weekly till October 26th, but those plans appear to have been scrapped.

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Photos and videos: American Airlines receives first Airbus A319

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara

Dallas-Fort Worth headquartered American Airlines recieved its first Airbus narrow body aircraft, an A319-112(WL). MSN 5678 is registered N8001N, is the first A319 delivered, equipped with Sharklets, and the 100th A320 family aircraft delivered, fitted with the new wing-tip devices. The engines are from CFM.

Our Vinay Bhaskara captured these exclusive photos at the Hamburg delivery centre on behalf of airchive.com. You can read his story about the events of the delivery day here.


The videos are below the fold. All images are credit of airchive.com.

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25th anniversary of the first Airbus A320 delivery

by Devesh Agarwal

25 years ago today, Airbus entered the hither-to US dominated market of narrow body airliners when it delivered its first A320 to Air France. The A320 shook up the market segment with the highest demand. As of today Boeing and Airbus estimate the single aisle narrow body segment to purchase about 20,000 airframes in the next 20 years.

The A320 which seats 180 passengers in a single class high density configuration, was the first member of the A320 family. Launched in March 1984, it first flew on 22 February 1987, and without a doubt, has significantly altered the face of "Code C" market segment, which sees the highest demand of aircraft. As of today Boeing and Airbus estimate the single aisle narrow body segment to purchase about 20,000 airframes in the next 20 years.

The A320 family. A318, A319, A320, A321. The number of over-wing doors is the secret to identifying the variants.

The A320 family was soon expanded to include the extended length A321 seating 220 passengers in a single class high density configuration, first delivered in 1994, the shorter A319 seating 156, first delivered in 1996, and the really short A318, seating 132, first delivered in 2003.

All economy class Kingfisher Airbus A321 VT-KFW.

The A320 family pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire flight control systems, as well as side-stick controls, in commercial aircraft, and extensive use of automation and flight envelope protection, causing Boeing supporters to deride the aircraft as flying a video arcade.

Final assembly of the A320 family takes place in Toulouse, France, and Hamburg, Germany, and in Tianjin, China. Airbus has announced the construction of a final assembly line (FAL) in Mobile, Alabama, USA, the home turf of arch-rival Boeing.

Winglets and Sharklets

The first series of A320s, the A320-100 did not feature any winglets. Only 21 aircraft were produced for Air Inter and British Caledonian Airways, both bought by Air France and British Airways respectively.

An Airbus A320-100 (F-GGEA) of Air Inter without winglets. Image courtesy Wikimedia

The all familiar wing-tip fence was added from the -200 series onwards. Indian Airlines an early adopter of the A320 had Airbus develop special four-wheel main gear bogies for use on rough under-prepared airstrips which the large dual wheel bogies could not handle. Unfortunately these non-standard four wheel bogies have become a curse for the airline, which now cannot find a buyer for these aircraft.

Airbus A320-200 VT-EPC of Indian Airlines (now Air India) featuring winglets and four wheel main gear bogie.

Now the A320 optionally ships with new blended winglets called "Sharklets". Both of India's low cost carriers GoAir and IndiGo operate Sharklet equipped A320s.

Airbus A320-200 of GoAir VT-GOL featuring the new "Sharklets". Image courtesy Airbus.

Competition

The Airbus A319, A320, A321 today compete with the Boeing 737-700, 737-800, and 737-900ER respectively. The venerable Boeing 737, even today, is the best selling aircraft in the world, Boeing having just delivered its 7,500th 737 aircraft recently; but this lead is slender and the A320 is closing the gap. The McDonnell Douglas MD80, MD83, MD88, and MD90 which morphed in to the Boeing 717 are no more in contention. Newcomers like the Bombardier C series and COMAC C919 are expected to offer competition, especially in the smaller sizes.

Delivery history Airbus A320 vs. Boeing 737

As of December 2012, Airbus has delivered 5,402 A320 series aircraft since their first delivery on March 26, 1988, with another 3,629 on firm order. In comparison, Boeing has shipped 5,919 737s in the same period and has a further 3,074 on firm order.

Annual deliveries of Airbus A320 (in green) vs Boeing 737 (in red). Image courtesy Wikipedia.

The future

On 1 December 2010, Airbus officially launched the next generation of the A320 family with the A320neo or "New Engine Option". The neo offers a choice of larger diameter engines which offer significant fuel savings, which can top 15%, when combined with airframe improvements and the standard fit of Sharklets. Airbus enjoys an advantage in larger diameter fan engines, since its A320s are taller and there is more space under the wing, unlike Boeing which needs to so 

Cut and make your own A320neo paper model airplane

Operators are offered an engine choice of the CFM International LEAP-X or the Pratt and Whitney Pure Power PW1000G Geared Turbo-Fan (GTF). With well over 1,400 aircraft on order from 22 airlines, the A320neo family is the fastest ever selling commercial aircraft.



Boeing subsequently responded with its re-engined option of the 737 called 737 MAX which has scored impressive wins but lags behind the neo on backlogs of the newest generation orders 40%-60%.

Read our analysis of the A320neo vs. the 737 MAX

The re-engined aircraft will carry the two behemoth airframers for the next ten years. The narrow body single aisle aircraft segment is the hottest in the industry and both Airbus and Boeing are going to face competition from the Bombardier C Series, Sukhoi SuperJet, COMAC C919, Embraer E195, and UAC/Irkut MS21. Expect a new aircraft from both manufacturers about 12 years to 15 years from now. A paper by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) documents well, the challenges the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing face in the coming years. You can download the PDF here.

For now, just a simple congratulations to the team at Airbus for developing an option.

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US FAA and EASA issue Emergency Airworthiness Directive on Airbus A320 family aircraft

DATE: December 17, 2012
AD #: 2012-26-51

Emergency airworthiness directive (AD) 2012-26-51 is sent to owners and operators of
Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes.

Background
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Community, has issued EASA Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2012-0264-E, dated December 17, 2012 (referred to after this as the Mandatory Continuing Airworthiness Information or “the MCAI”), to correct an unsafe condition for the specified products.

EASA has advised that an Airbus Model A330 airplane equipped with Angle of Attack (AoA) sensors installed with conic plates recently experienced blockage of all sensors during climb, leading to autopilot disconnection and activation of the alpha protection (Alpha Prot) when Mach number was increased. Based on the results of subsequent analysis, it is suspected that these conic plates may have contributed to the event. Investigations are ongoing to determine what caused the blockage of these AoA sensors.

Blockage of two or three AoA sensors at the same angle may cause the Alpha Prot of the
normal law to activate. Under normal flight conditions (in normal law), if the Alpha Prot activates and Mach number increases, the flight control laws order a pitch down of the airplane that the flight crew might not be able to counteract with a side stick deflection, even in the full backward position.

This condition, if not corrected, could result in reduced control of the airplane. EASA also issued Emergency AD 2012-0258-E, dated December 4, 2012, for Airbus Model A330 and A340 airplanes to require an amendment of the AFM to ensure that flight crews apply the applicable emergency procedure.

AoA sensor conic plates of similar design are also installed on Model A320 series airplanes. Installation of these AoA sensor conic plates was required for Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes by EASA AD 2012-0236, dated November 9, 2012 (corrected November 12, 2012).

Subsequently, EASA issued AD 2012-0236R1, dated December 17, 2012, to remove the requirement to install AoA sensor conic plates.

Read the full Emergency AD here.

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The Kingfisher Airline's Airbus storage at Mumbai airport, ATR72 graveyard at Bangalore airport

In the Google Maps photograph below, you can see the storage yard, some may say, graveyard, of the Airbus fleet of Kingfisher Airlines at Mumbai airport.


View Larger Map

This parking area is at the 14 end of runway 32-14 next to the Kalina hangars of Air India.

From the top you can see an Airbus A330-200 parked in an East-West alignment next to the private jet. In the lower part of the image, from left to right, a representative of each of the Airbus jets in the Kingfisher fleet. 2 x A321's, 1 x A320, 1 x A319.

From a ground view the planes look somewhat like this.

Mean while, Bangalore airport is host to the ATR graveyard of the airline. This photo taken by me on October 24, shows the ATR 72-500 aircraft parked. The aircraft on the left of the picture have their engines stripped. The ones on the right are more recent additions, two of them without any logos on their tails, which typically means the airline does not own/lease them any more.

In related news, The Economic Times reports the Mumbai airport operator, MIAL, may ask Kingfisher to vacate the terminal, due to non-payment of dues.

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Vijay Mallya shifts ownership of his Airbus A319 private jet VT-VJM away from Kingfisher Airlines

In what could be a move to protect his personal toys, UB Group has transferred the operational ownership of the ultra-luxurious Airbus A319-133ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jet) used by Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya out of Kingfisher Airlines.

In its previous avatar, VT-VJM used to sport a tail with the Kingfisher Airlines logo and used to operate with the radio call sign "Kingfisher 11 (one-one)".

Now the plane wears a plain white tail with the same UB Group logo near the front door, but with a conspicuous absence of any reference to Kingfisher, the beer, or the packaged drinking water, or the airline. Sources inform that the plane has also stopped using the radio call sign "Kingfisher 11", and now just uses its registration number like any other private plane does.

VT-VJM at Liege Airport when Dr. Mallya attended the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix. Photo copyright Jean-Marie Hanon. Used with permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce.

Both Boeing and Airbus offer a business jet version of the popular 737 and A318, A319 airframes. Typically, the commercial A319 carries about 140 passengers, but the corporate jets have a much more luxurious interior, reducing the passenger capacity.

The price of the aircraft is reported as $61,093,550 — its standard equipment costing $33,321,040 and customised equipment $27,772,510, when purchased in November 2006. As per DGCA records the owner leasing company is C J Leasing (Cayman) Ltd., located in the tax haven of the Grand Cayman islands. This implies a sale and lease-back arrangement.

Dr. Mallya's plane has a capacity of only 22 passengers as per DGCA records. In addition to its hefty price tag, an ACJ319 typically costs upwards of Rs. 10 Crore  per year to operate. Given Dr. Mallya's many international trips to and from various Formula 1 venues across the globe, the operating costs of his private jet could be, even higher.

The picture below shows a representative business jet cabin layout, but each owner decides the level of customisation and luxury. A normal A319 will cost about $7 million above the base airframe to outfit for airline use, but Dr. Mallya's plane has cost a whopping additional $27 million. One can be reasonably sure the aircraft has a bedroom and may be even a shower, in addition to a business section.

Though the transfer of the aircraft out of Kingfisher Airlines reportedly took place sometime in May or June this year, DGCA records still reflect the old information of Kingfisher Airlines. The correct status of two Eurocopter EC-155-B1 helicopters (VT-SVM and VT-LVM) owned or operated by Kingfisher Airlines, too remains unknown.

VT-VJM was last spotted in the New York city area leaving for a trans-Atlantic flight on October 4th morning. Her current whereabouts are unknown but we can be rest-assured it will be at New Delhi on the weekend of 26~28 October during the Airtel Indian Grand Prix.

Share your thoughts on this transfer via a comment.

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SilkAir to commence Visakhapatnam Singapore service

SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines (SIA), will launch nonstop air services between Visakhapatnam (VTZ) and Singapore (SIN) from the winter 2012 schedule which commences on 28 October, making it the first airline carrier to provide a nonstop international air connection from Visakhapatnam.


The new thrice a week service will be operated with Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft, in a two class configuration.

Flight MI448 departs Singapore on Wed, Fri, Sun at 20:25 and arrives Visakhapatnam 22:05
Flight MI447 departs Visakhapatnam 22:55hrs and arrives Singapore 05:55+1 (the next morning)


Popularly known as Vizag, Visakhapatnam is the second largest city of Andhra Pradesh and offers a multitude of cultural, historic and natural scenic sites such as the Dolphin’s Nose, a prominent rock promontory, the world famous Araku Valley, a pleasant hill station renowned for its scenic gardens, and also the greatly revered Borra Caves, famous for its spectacular, million-year-old stalactite and stalagmite formations. Vizag is also a major port city, a significant base of the Indian Navy, and home to many heavy engineering industries.

Visakhapatnam will be SilkAir’s eighth destination in India and together with Singapore Airlines’ flights to six other Indian destinations, both airlines will now operate from a total of 11 cities in India.

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Farnborough Orders on Day 2

Once again, this is courtesy of Aspire Aviation.

Airbus

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Arkia Israel Airlines	4	A321neo	Agreement
10th July	Cathay Pacific	10	A350-1000	Agreement; convert 16 existing -900 into -1000
10th July	Drukair	1	A319	Firm

Boeing

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Air Lease Corp (ALC)	60	737 MAX 8	Firm; Reconfirmation rights for 25 more
9th July	Air Lease Corp (ALC)	15	737 MAX 9
10th July	GECAS	75	737 MAX 8	Agreement
10th July	GECAS	25	737-800	Agreement
10th July	ALAFCO	20	737 MAX 8	Agreement

Bombardier

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
10th July	Air Baltic	10	CS300	LOI; purchase rights for 10 more

Pratt & Whitney

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	IndiGo	300	PW1100G-JM	Firm
9th July	CIT	60	PW1100G-JM	Firm
9th July	Cebu Pacific	60	PW1100G-JM	Firm
9th July	Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS)	100	PW1100G-JM	MoU

CFM

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Air Lease Corp (ALC)	150	CFM Leap-1B
10th July	GECAS	150	CFM Leap-1B	Agreement
10th July	GECAS	50	CFM56-7BE	Agreement
10th July	ALAFCO	40	CFM Leap-1B	Agreement

Embraer

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Hebei Airlines	5	E-190s	Booked in Q2 backlog

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Video and photos: British Airway's special Dove livery celebrating the London Olympics by Pascal Anson

British Airways has launched a special 'Dove' livery celebrating the upcoming London Olympic games of 2012. Nine Airbus A319's will wear this new livery for the next one year.

As part of our BA Great Britons programme, designer Pascal Anson was chosen to create a unique aircraft livery to celebrate London 2012. His beautiful design is based on a dove, the symbol of peace.

Below are photos and a video of G-EUOH in the new livery. All the photos are courtesy British Airways, but the copyrights belong to Nick Moorish and Geoff Lee. Click on the images for a high resolution view. In the video recall the classic British Airways "World's favourite airline" advertisement tune adapted from Yanni's Aria during the 1980s and early 1990s.

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Virgin America to take delivery of 6 A320s in the first half of 2012 (and other news)

Late last week, San Francisco based Virgin America announced their latest destination, Philadelphia, which will be served from Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Flights will begin in April with two daily flights from LA and one from San Francisco, and will increase to 3 and two daily flights respectively.

Schedules for the new routes are as follow: (via airlineroute)

Los Angeles – Philadelphia

VX124 LAX1055 – 1900PHL 320 Daily
VX126 LAX1540 – 2355PHL 320 Daily
VX130 LAX2135 – 0545+1PHL 320 Daily

VX121 PHL0700 – 0955LAX 320 Daily
VX125 PHL1125 – 1425LAX 320 Daily
VX127 PHL2005 – 2255LAX 320 Daily

San Francisco – Philadelphia

VX136 SFO0830 – 1655PHL 320 Daily
VX144 SFO2300 – 0725+1PHL 320 Daily

VX137 PHL0835 – 1155SFO 320 Daily
VX141 PHL1750 – 2110SFO 320 Daily

The routes will be operating from common usage gates in Philadelphia's terminal E.

We spoke with Virgin America's media team regarding the new route and some other occurrences at the airline.

Last year, Virgin America CEO David Cush told me in an interview that their A320s occasionally struggle to make East Coast- West Coast (US) flights nonstop, necessitating the A319s in their fleet. Thus I was surprised to see that Philadelphia was scheduled to be served solely with Airbus A320s. However, Virgin America spokesperson Abby Lunardini stated that there were "No restrictions for PHL, so right now [the flight is] operating on 320s." However, it remains to be seen whether or not the A320s will make this route all the time next winter, and Lunardini did mention that, " as with other East Coast routes, we [can] operate a mix of A319s and A320s on the route depending on time of year flying."

I was also interested to ask about Virgin America's growth plans. Since its inception in 2007, Virgin America has been the fastest growing US airline, with annual capacity increases hovering around 30%. A figure in the ballpark of 30% for Virgin America was quoted in 2011 by Aviation Week, however, the carrier will be taking delivery of six A320s in the first half of 2012 – which will be the total number of aircraft that they take new delivery of this year. 6 new planes would likely necessitate increased utilization of current aircraft to meet capacity targets. Virgin America neglected to provide specific capacity guidance for 2012.

Virgin America had a few teething problems problems with their reservation systems earlier this month, after switching from an upstart reservations system back to industry leader Sabre. We expect this move to improve their visibility amongst business travelers. However, the switch did result in a few customer service issues for Virgin America passengers; with reduced website functionality and unsatisfactory call center performance.

To their credit, Virgin America owned up to the issues when questioned, and they believe that the worst of the problems are now behind them.

Here is what Lunardini had to say on the issue of the reservation systems:

Yes, the overwhelming majority of web issues have been resolved – and bookings are operating normally. By way of further background,reservations systems switches of this scale are a once in a lifetime event for an airline, involving the knife-edge migration of millions of records during live operations. Prior to the switch, we additionally staffed our operation, thinned our flight schedules and communicated to guests in advance about the potential impacts. Although our airports ran on time and without related cancellations, as an airline that prides itself on its guest service –we never like to see guests inconvenienced for any reason, including the web errors a sub-set of guests were encountering (ability to change/cancel online,check-in, view Elevate points and other web services) as well as unacceptably long call hold times. We apologized to impacted guests and offered 5000 Elevate points for those guests most impacted.

We made the switch to Sabre because of our growth. We needed to move to an industry standard system that would accommodate our growth, allow us to expand our code-share/interline ability and give guests and teammates better tools.

All told, some interesting news from San Francisco. Readers, do you have a question or thought about Virgin America? Please do let us know via a comment below.

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Investigative agency to file criminal charges in Airbus Indian Airlines aircraft purchase deal

The Press Trust of India and other media is reporting that the India's federal investigative agency the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is getting ready to file a criminal case against European airframer Airbus, the erstwhile national domestic carrier Indian Airlines (which is now merged in to Air India), senior civil aviation officials, for alleged irregularities in the 43 narrow body jetliner procurement in 2005, worth over Rs. 8,000 crore ($1.6 billion).

Airbus A320 from the order on delivery flight

The CBI had started probing the deal after the clauses concerning the set-up of a $175 million MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) facility as part of offsets under the deal were apparently diluted by some officials to favour Airbus.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in September, had severely criticised the aircraft procurement by Indian Airlines and Air India from Airbus and Boeing respectively. The CAG had crticised the committments of Airbus on the MRO as being "open ended" while noting that in 2008, Indian Airlines entered a joint venture with EADS, the parent company of Airbus, for the MRO, but there was no tangible progress.

In a demonstration of how politicians and bureaucracy protect themselves, quoting the PTI report

The agency has concluded its preliminary enquiry in the matter and sought the permission of the Civil Aviation Ministry to prosecute officials in the case, CBI sources said.

If there is prima facie evidence of criminal conduct, why is permission required to prosecute?

Do you feel that there are irregularities in the Boeing aircraft procurement by Air India? If yes, do you feel the culprits in either case will ever be brought to justice?

Post your thoughts via a comment.

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Delta Air Lines expands Economy Comfort Service

Earlier today, Delta Air Lines announced that it would be expanding its popular economy comfrot service to all domestic aircraft. 550 mainline aircraft, as well as 250 2-class regional jets will be configured with the new seating. Earlier this year, Delta implemented an international Economy Comfort section on 170 aircraft.

The new economy comfort sections will be installed in the first 3-5 rows of Delta's 767, 757, A320, A319, 737, MD-88, MD-90, and DC-9 aircraft, as well as in Delta's two class regional jets such as the E170, E175, CRJ-700, and CRJ-900. The new seats will offer the following amenities:

• 34+ inches of pitch: Current Delta economy class seats have between 29 and 31 inches of seat; so the new cabin will have 3-5 inches worth of extra legroom
• Priority Boarding: Customers traveling in Economy Comfort will board early, directly after first class passengers and Delta's elite frequent flyers.

Initially, customers who have purchased economy class seats can upgrade to Economy Comfort for a fee of $19-$99 after purchase. In 2012, the carrier plans to gradually introduce their international Economy Comfort directly into their booking engine, though it is not yet clear whether they will choose to do so for domestic flights as well.

Passengers who purchased a full-price economy class ticket will get access to Economy Comfort for free, and the following SkyTeam frequent flyer groups get some benefits as well.

• Diamond/Platinum/Gold: Complimentary access at time of booking
• Silver Medallion: 50% discount at the time of purchase or free access at check-in

When traveling domestically within the US, the lack of domestic seat pitch is perhaps the worst part of the experience. While I do not have extraordinarily long legs (being about 5'8"), I regularly struggle with the legroom on domestic passenger aircraft. Thus even if one does not care for the extra amenities of first class, paying for an upgrade to Economy Comfort can be well worth the price.

For Delta, who becomes the second US airline to implement a premium economy section after United Airlines, the addition of an economy comfort cabin will add incremental ancillary revenue, but more importantly will help the carrier retain its frequent flyers. Junior level frequent flyers often complain that their status lacks real perks; upgrades to first class are often limited to frequent flyers of the highest tier. But the ability to upgrade cheaply (or for free) to a premium economy cabin adds value to membership in lower frequent flyer tiers; helping Delta retain high value customers.

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Trip Report: Lufthansa to Switzerland- Part 2

by Vinay Bhaskara


Earlier this year, I took a trip to Switzerland on Lufthansa. The first part of this trip report was published during my time at FlyerTalk's The Gate blog, so this part covers the return trip (a review of the lounges at both Zurich Kloten and Frankfurt will be published at a later date).

As I mentioned in the first post, we chose Lufthansa for convenience of schedule. The carrier was not the cheapest option, but the other options required super-lengthy layovers in Amsterdam and other European hubs.

After a great time in Switzerland, I got all set for the return leg. We arrived at Zurich Airport a bit late, and as such, I was unable to check out the observation deck (though I did browse some models at the SWISS shop), and I had not properly planned ahead in order to try out the Zurich Airport Tour.

Security was quick and painless, as the Star Alliance hub in Zurich allowed for my family (which was traveling with a Star Alliance gold card) to pass through the expedited security line.

Upon entry to the secure area, I spotted a SWISS business class lounge, and decided to try it out (as we still had about two hours before departure) with my father. The lounge, without giving anything further away, was simply fantastic.

After about 35-40 minutes in the lounge, we headed back out to the gate area. I was delighted to find a wide selection of newspapers for free. This is an amenity that shows a touch of class severely lacking at US airports, though the culture is certainly different in the US

Leg 1: Zurich-Frankfurt

The first leg of my flight was a short one, just 47 minutes long. The route was operated on an Airbus A319, wth no major interior differences from my earlier flight on the 737-300. This was actually my first flight ever on an Airbus A319, as I have previously flown mostly on Continental Airlines in the US (with its fleet of 737s). Seat width was a manageable 18 inches (I’m big but not huge), and pitch (legroom) was a decent 31.5 inches, so I remained relatively comfortable throughout. But the real differentiator was the service.

The short flight was done flawlessly by the professional and classy Lufthansa flight crew. It was interesting to me to note the difference in service quality between short haul flights in Europe and the US. We were given Cadbury eggs upon boarding and offered a glass of water or orange juice. Once the flight reched cruising altitude, the flight attendants managed to give the entire cabin (the flight was about 90% full in economy class) its drink plus an additional snack within 15 minutes.

Lufthansa's superb service on short haul service was a refreshing contrast to short haul flights in the US. Continental was considered one of the best US carriers in terms of service on domestic flights and Lufthansa absolutely blew them out of the water. The fact that I was flying economy class makes me savor the thought of flying their European business class as well.

Transit in Frankfurt

Right now, transiting in Frankfurt can be painful; you are often required to navigate a maze of different concourses and security checkpoints. But that’s mostly a function of ongoing construction work at and restrictions placed on Lufthansa by Frankfurt Airport. Airport employees were efficient, though their English skills left something to be desired. Obviously, the biggest thing about the transit experience was the business class lounge, but that’ll be covered at a later date.

Leg 2: Frankfurt-Newark

Our return flight to Frankfurt was on an Airbus A340-300. Lufthansa has configured these aircraft with fewer seats than most other airlines. As such, the seat pitch was quite good in the window seat I had scored (32 inches). Seat width was a standard 17.5 inches, but overall my flight was comfortable.

One of my only frustrations with Lufthansa’s onboard service is that the IFE (AVOD) system doesn’t function properly. While there is a decent selection of movies and TV available, the cursor used to select these movies tended to shift on me, causing me to spend 10 minutes or more, just to click on the correct movie. The play-pause functionality lagged, and overall the AVOD system seems a bit poorly designed.

Regardless, the overall flight experience was still good. The cabin crew was good, though not as efficient as those on the short-haul flight (a function of fatigue?). Meal service was interesting, as I got a good helping of Indian food as the vegetarian meal. Lufthansa carries a lot of transit passengers between India and the US, and maintaining a good quality of Indian food is an important draw for these passengers (especially those flying with their older parents).

As a whole, the trip experience on Lufthansa was quite positive. Connections in Frankfurt have some complications, but as the airport completes its new A380 pier and new runways, some of those issues should get hammered out. I definitely want to try Lufthansa again (hopefully in Business Class)

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American Airlines announces largest aircraft order in aviation history. Tops IndiGo and AirAsia

AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, today announced the largest order in aviation history of 460 narrow-body single aisle jet aircraft with another 465 on option. This tops the recent record setting orders of 180 Airbus A320 family aircraft by India's IndiGo, and 200 A320neo aircraft by Malaysia's AirAsia. The deliveries will commence in 2013 and run through 2022.


The carrier has firm plans to acquire 260 A320 family aircraft from Airbus and 200 737 family aircraft from Boeing. The carrier has options with Boeing for another 100 737 family aircraft and with Airbus for an additional 365 A320 family aircraft. The new aircraft will see American to transition four Boeing fleet types (MD-80, 737-800, 757 and 767-200) to two (the 737 and the A320 families) which are also expected to offer significant commonality benefits within each family.

American has broken its long time exclusive loyalty to US airframer Boeing by giving a larger part of its order to their arch-rival, Europe's Airbus S.A.S. A major reason for this decision is the availability of the highly fuel efficient neo (new engine option) version of the A320. This order is a wake-up call for Boeing which has finally shaken off its complacency and appears to have finally ended the speculation, at least for now, of whether to re-engine the venerable 737 or develop a new aircraft.


The contract with Airbus is for 130 each of the "classic" and neo (new engine option) versions of the A320 family aircraft i.e. A319s, A320s and A321s. All 260 aircraft will feature the new blended fuel-saving wingtip devices known as Sharklets. The airline will commence taking the classic versions by 2013 and the neo versions by 2017. The contract provides full flexibility to American allowing it to choose aircraft types. The A321neo is seen as a fuel efficient next generation replacement for the carrier's ageing workhorse, the Boeing 757 fleet and can be expected in large numbers.

Under the agreement with Boeing, American plans to acquire a total of 200 aircraft from the 737 family in addition to its existing orders. 100 additional current 737NG family with flexibility to choose between the 737-700, 737-800, or 737-900ER. American also intends to order 100 of Boeing's expected re-engined evolution of the 737NG which as per FlightBlogger Jon Ostrower is expected to be formally launched in the fourth quarter of this year.

American also will benefit from approximately $13 billion of committed financing provided by the manufacturers through lease transactions that will help maximize balance sheet flexibility and reduce risk. The financing fully covers the first 230 deliveries.

The carrier has selected CFM International's LEAP-X engines for both Boeing and Airbus aircraft families.

The 737 and A320 families offer significant cost reduction opportunities in replacing American's older fleet, the new aircraft are expected to offer a 35% reduction in fuel cost per seat versus the MD-80, 12% versus the 757 and 15% 767-200.

In 2009 and 2010, American took delivery of 76 Boeing 737-800s equipped with the new Sky Interior and has another 54 aircraft which will enter their fleet between 2011 and 2013 in addition to this order. American also has firm orders with Boeing for eight 777-300ERs due for delivery in 2012~2013, 42 787 Dreamliners to be delivered starting late 2014, and seven 777-200s scheduled for delivery in 2013~2016.

Meeting the ordered and expected demand
With the A320neo order book now at 1000+ aircraft, the early adopters will monopolise production slots. IAG's Addison Schonland has written a great analysis on the impact on fleet planners at American's major competitors like United, Delta, and Southwest. He also opines that Airbus may convert the planned A330 tanker assembly line in Alabama, USA to an A320 line to reach the required production volumes.

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