Boeing and GOL Airlines to collaborate on aviation biofuels in Brazil

By BA Staff

Boeing and Brazil's GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. will work together to speed the research, development and approval of new sources of sustainable aviation biofuel in Brazil. Their collaboration will support GOL's plans to use this lower-carbon jet fuel on more flights during upcoming major sporting events and also will benefit long-term development of a new sustainable aviation biofuel industry in Brazil.

Paulo Sergio Kakinoff, chief executive officer of GOL, and Van Rex Gallard, vice president of Sales for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, signed a memorandum of understanding for biofuel collaboration at the Latin America and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) Airline Leaders Forum 2013.

Paulo Kakinoff, chief executive officer for GOL said:

"Because of its continuous improvements in technology that result in ever-lower fuel consumption, the Boeing Next Generation 737 is the only airplane that GOL flies. Boeing's focus on fuel efficiency helps us all operate in a more sustainable fashion, and the expansion of our partnership with this new project will further advance the effort to expand biofuel use in Brazil. It also will serve as an example to the world of what is possible today and in years to come. Boeing is very pleased to work with GOL on this key project to advance the use and availability of biofuels. As Brazil's leading low-cost carrier, GOL is showing great leadership in its efforts to conduct lower-carbon flights."

GOL plans to use biojetfuel on 200 flights during the major sporting event in Brazil in 2014 and to incorporate biofuel into 20 percent of its flights during the Olympics taking place in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

On Oct. 23, Brazil's Aviator's Day, GOL conducted Brazil's first commercial biofuel flight in a Boeing 737-800 powered in part by sustainable aviation biofuel made from waste cooking oil and blended by Petrobras, with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Following the flight, aviation industry stakeholders including GOL and Boeing, as well as Brazilian officials and research institutions, announced a national effort called the Brazilian Biojetfuel Platform to establish a sustainable biojetfuel industry with research and development in several regions of the country. If the Platform is successful, Brazil, which has already established a biofuel industry could be the first nation to establish a sustainable aviation biofuel industry from biomass production to flight.

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Boeing names Ted Colbert Chief Information Officer

By BA Staff

Boeing has named Ted Colbert chief information officer and vice president of the company's Information Technology organization. Colbert, who was formerly vice president of the Boeing Information Technology Infrastructure organization, replaces Kim Hammonds, who is leaving the company.

Colbert, 39, will report to John Tracy, Boeing chief technology officer and senior vice president of Engineering, Operations & Technology. He will lead the Information Technology organization and be responsible for all IT strategy, systems, infrastructure, architecture, process and people across the Boeing enterprise.

Tracy said:

"Ted's extensive background in Information Technology strategy and his years of successful leadership will ensure the continuity and successful implementation of the strategies we have put in place to achieve the critically important objectives of supporting and protecting our global operations with the most capable, reliable and secure IT systems in the world. We appreciate the job Kim Hammonds has done in positioning the IT organization for leadership, and we're confident that Ted will take our team to new levels of performance for our customers and our employees."

In his previous role, Colbert was responsible for developing and maintaining IT solutions comprising networks, computing, servers, storage, collaboration and infrastructure across Boeing. He has also served as vice president of IT Business Systems, where he was responsible for developing and maintaining the computing application systems that support Boeing Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Offices and the company's internal systems.

Colbert joined Boeing in 2009 as a director of the Enterprise Network Services organization. Before joining Boeing, he was a senior vice president of Enterprise Architecture at Citigroup. He also spent 11 years with Ford Motor Company's Information Technology organization.

Colbert completed the Dual Degree Engineering Program at Georgia Tech and Morehouse College in Atlanta, with degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering and Interdisciplinary Science.

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dnata selects Amadeus' flight management solution

By BA Staff

Amadeus, announced that dnata, part of the Emirates group of Dubai and one of the world’s largest combined air services providers, will implement Amadeus' Altéa Departure Control’s Flight Management solution in their centralised load control offices (CLC) in Dubai.

The airport ground handler, is now present in 75 airports in 38 countries. The deal spans all Emirates and flydubai domestic and international flights and over 100 other dnata customer airlines using the system.

Under the agreement, Amadeus will provide dnata, which offers ground handling, cargo, travel and flight catering services, with a fully automated solution for managing the weight and balance of all flights it handles from its CLC in Dubai.

This solution is a new generation load control platform designed to enable ground handlers to ensure efficient flight departures and optimise the weight and balance process of all handled flights. It improves the productivity of load controllers, and enables greater precision in the forecast and analysis of passenger and cargo load. The system automatically defines optimal load distribution, thereby optimising fuel requirements for airlines and increasing uplift capacity of aircraft.

Jon Conway, Divisional Senior Vice President, Airport Operations, dnata, said:

“Amadeus’ in-depth experience, vast reach and high level of development will help us gain greater efficiencies through the full automation of our weight and balance system. Furthermore, Altéa Departure Control’s Flight Management enables us to provide our airline customers with significant fuel savings. The system’s community and SaaS elements also allow for greater collaboration with our customers. Altea DCS FM is already showing high performance in a centralised load control (CLC) environment, increasing productivity.”

John Jarrell, Head of Airport IT, Amadeus, commented:

“We are extremely pleased to continue our airport journey having signed the world’s fourth largest ground handler. Amadeus is proud to be part of dnata’s successful growth strategy today and into the future. We are certain this will only be the beginning of a fruitful relationship as we work closer together with this important customer to offer further enhancements in ground handling. This agreement enables us to strengthen our foothold globally, alongside our 50 ground handlers currently using our solutions today.” 

Francois Weissert, SVP & Chief Technology Advisor Middle East and Asia, Amadeus, stated:

“We are very happy to add an important ground handler like dnata to our growing list of customers in the Middle-East region, where we already have agreements in Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. Amadeus believes in the potential of this region, which has established itself as a global air travel hub over the last few years. Since the creation of our regional head office in Dubai, we continue to invest in this strategic area, growing hand in hand with our customers and the regional travel industry.”

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Study identifies Korea as a game-changing market for Asia Pacific travel

By BA Staff

Courtesy of Caan.asia

Amadeus, a leading technology partner for the global travel industry, has released research into the big four travel effects that will shape the future of travel in Korea. The research shows that growth potential in Korea may be stronger than any other market in Asia Pacific.

The study was unveiled at the conference titled, “Shaping the Future of Travel in Korea: the big FOUR travel effects” and conducted in partnership with Frost & Sullivan, the report highlights the enormous growth of Korea’s travel industry in the last 30 years, mirroring the country’s emergence on the global economic stage. International departures have grown by more than 12% annually since 1980, with annual departures equivalent to 25% of the population – one of the largest travelling populations in Asia Pacific.

Inbound travel is also growing; the government met its target of 10 million visitors in 2012 and continues to reach record numbers for arrivals in 2013. Much of this growth is coming from China, India and Indonesia, as Korea continues to develop its reputation as a ‘cool’ destination thanks to the popularity of Korean culture including food, fashion and music.

However, Korea’s highly tech-savvy population and a strong social media culture means that travel companies will need to communicate with their customers using increasingly sophisticated technology. And the travel industry as a whole will need to continue investing in infrastructure in order to handle the growing number of travellers both inbound and outbound.

Commenting on the research findings, Angel Gallego, President, Amadeus Asia Pacific said:

“Korea is one of the most exciting travel markets in Asia Pacific and one of the most rapidly evolving travel markets in the world. With Korea’s increasing popularity as a destination for younger travellers, and startling numbers of Koreans venturing abroad for business and leisure, both inbound and outbound travel are seeing enormous growth. However, upgrades to existing infrastructure will be needed to manage these higher volumes of travellers and their changing expectations and demands.”

The research identified four dominant themes, or effects, that will fundamentally shape the future of travel in Korea to 2030. They are:

1. The Me Effect: The increasing individualism of the Korean traveller

Korea is now the third largest business travel market in Asia, with business travel expenses growing on average by 6% every year over the past decade, primarily as a result of spending by large multinationals. However, the government is actively encouraging growth in the SME sector, which accounts for 85% of total employment in Korea, and this is likely to stimulate an increase in SME business travel. The SME traveller is likely to be more focused on budget travel and doing business in neighbouring markets such as Japan and China.

Korean culture is moving away from its traditional family and group-orientated leisure travel and moving towards more individualism, driving an increase in the numbers of Free Independent Travellers (“FITs”). Seventy percent of Koreans now travel independently, and almost 40% of leisure travel bookings are researched online. Almost half of Korean travellers have close family members living overseas, with 90% keen to visit them.

2. The Red Tape Effect: The breaking down of barriers to travel

The number of inbound business travellers has changed little over the past decade as Korea has generally not been a target market for most overseas companies. Only 215,000 business travellers visited Korea in 2012, mainly from China, Japan and India. But the size of the Korean economy and improved access to its market, with the signing of 13 Free Trade Agreements since 2003, is likely to increase interest from overseas companies, driving more inbound business travel.

Inbound leisure travel numbers are also growing rapidly, almost doubling in number over the past decade. Much of this increase is being driven by its Asian neighbours, China, Indonesia and Thailand. Korea is also increasingly being seen as a “cool” destination by young Asians. This research showed that Korea is among the top three preferred destinations for 18-30 year old travellers from all countries except India.

3. The Leapfrog Effect: Technology and infrastructure in the Asia Pacific

Koreans are tech savvy travellers, with 66% of Korean leisure travellers generally booking trips online. Korea also has the highest smartphone penetration in the world, estimated at 73% in 2013. Travel providers will therefore need to use the internet and mobile technologies to reach Korean travellers, who are increasingly confident in managing their own travel arrangements online.

Korea has a highly developed social media culture; two-thirds of the population is active, including virtually everyone aged in their 20’s.  It is therefore not surprising to find that 80% of Korean leisure travellers use social media during their travel, one of the highest rates of usage in the region and double the numbers from Japan.

4. The Barbell Effect: Growth at the upper and lower ends of the market

Whilst the numbers of travellers to Asia Pacific destinations will more than double over the period to 2030, traveller requirements will become more extreme at the upper and lower ends of the economic spectrum. Although there will be many more travellers from emerging countries, they will generally be travelling on a budget – and this will stimulate rapid growth at the budget end of the travel scale, whether on budget airlines or in economy hotels. In order to capture the growing traveller numbers from emerging economies, Korea will need to increasingly cater for the budget traveller with facilities such as budget airlines and hotels. 

Amadeus developed this study to gain insights into the future of Korean travel, in line with their partnership plans with TOPAS to introduce the most advanced travel technology platform in Korea this month – TOPAS SellConnect.

Based on Amadeus’ technology and TOPAS’ local market knowledge, TOPAS SellConnect will offer travel agencies more opportunities to sell more effectively, and will offer travellers a better experience from booking to boarding. TOPAS SellConnect will begin piloting with travel agencies next month with all TOPAS-subscribing travel agencies completing the migration in the first half of 2014.

This study also comes as Amadeus works with Korea’s top national carriers, Korean Air and Asiana, to complete their migration to a new Passenger Service System, Altéa, which will further help Korea to advance its travel processes.

Mark Dougan, Managing Director of Research, Frost & Sullivan added:
llaborate 2013 conference in Seoul, hosted by Amadeus and TOPAS, attended by more than 250 travel industry professionals.

“We wanted to understand where the industry is headed and which travel effects will have the most impact. It’s clear from the findings that it will take a collaborative effort across the industry, with a strong underpinning of technology, in order to really take advantage of the growth opportunities in Korea. With some of that change already underway, Korea has the potential to be a real game-changer in Asia Pacific travel and indeed, globally.”

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John Dabkowski to join Amadeus

By BA Staff

Amadeus, a technology provider for the global travel industry, announced that John Dabkowski is to join the company’s Airline IT business unit, effective October 14 as Vice President Airline Commercial and will assume responsibility for commercial activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the Americas.

Dabkowski joins Amadeus from Navitaire, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Accenture. Navitaire provides technology and business solutions to the airline industry on an outsourced basis. Dabkowski was managing director at Navitaire.

Julia Sattel, Senior Vice President of Airline IT at Amadeus said:

 “We are delighted to welcome an executive of John’s calibre to Amadeus. His track record is second to none in the industry and he brings with him a wealth of experience and insight that will be invaluable as we seek to extend our leadership in IT solutions. His arrival is great news for Amadeus and great news for our customers, as we are confident that he will play a significant role in the development and execution of our strategy.”

Dabowski had this to say about the partnership:

“Amadeus has a unique role in aviation, being at the heart of both IT and distribution for airlines. And with so much change in the industry right now there are many opportunities and challenges for the company and I’m very excited to be joining at this time and I’m looking forward to getting involved and making a contribution."

Dabkowski’s career in the technology industry stretches back more than 30 years to when he joined GEC Avionics direct from university. His career since then has taken him from London, where he worked with the IT group Logica, to Dallas where his roles with Sabre included Senior Vice President of the airline solutions division.

Dabkowski will report to Julia Sattel and be based in Amadeus’ headquarters in Madrid.

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Emirates announces new service to Boston

by Vinay Bhaskara

Image Credit: Devesh Agarwal ~ Bangalore Aviation

Middle Eastern carrier Emirates has continued its rapid expansion into the North American market by announcing the commencement of daily nonstop services between its global hub at Dubai and Boston to commence from 10th March, 2014. The new flights will be served using Emirates' Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, seating 266 passengers in a three class configuration (8F / 42J / 216Y). Flight schedules for the new route are as follow:

Route	Depart	Arrive	Frequency
DXB-BOS	0945	1515	Daily
BOS-DXB	2255	1910	Daily

Boston becomes Emirates' eighth US destination after New York JFK, Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle-Tacoma, Washington Dulles, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The airline has announced a plan to more than double the number of routes it serves in the United States over the next three to five years to 15 routes. In October, they will launch a third daily service to New York JFK via Milan's Malpensa International Airport.

As with many of Emirates' North American services, the new route will draw heavily on origin and destination traffic to and from the Indian subcontinent. Nearly 200 daily passengers traveled between Boston and India in each direction in 2011, much of it high-yielding business traffic in the information technology (IT) sector). And for Emirates, India represents nearly 12% of its network traffic.

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United Airlines applies for San Francisco - Chengdu

by BA staff

A United 787 Dreamliner - Image Credit: United Airlines

Chicago-based full service carrier United Airlines announced today that it has applied with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for the authority to serve San Francisco - Chengdu, China nonstop from 9th June, 2014.

The proposed flights to Chengdu, China's fourth largest city and home to China's fifth busiest airport by passenger traffic, would be served three times per week using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner equipment. Subject to government approval, the proposed schedule for the flights is as follows. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, flights will depart San Francisco at 1:35 pm, arriving in Chengdu the following day at 6:50 pm the following day. The return flights from Chengdu will depart at 10:00 am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, arriving back in San Francisco at 8:50 am the same day, in time for connections throughout the United States.

Chengdu becomes the eighth trans-Pacific destination served by United at San Francisco - already the single largest US carrier trans-Pacific gateway. Chengdu and San Francisco have strong business links owing to Chengdu's status as China's electronics manufacturing hub, and San Francisco's status as the world's largest technology business hub through nearby Silicon Valley. Chengdu also offers United the potential for connections throughout Central, Southern, and Western China via Star Alliance partner Air China, for whom Chengdu is the second largest hub. 

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Delta brings Windows Phones to flight attendants in-flight

Atlanta-based full service carrier Delta Air Lines has announced that its flight attendants today began using new Windows Phone 8 handheld devices to streamline on-board purchases. Find more details below.

22nd August 2013

ATLANTA, Aug. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 19,000 Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) flight attendants today begin using new Windows Phone 8 handheld devices that will streamline on-board purchasing as Delta continues its investment in technological innovation to improve the customer experience.

"Delta's 19,000 in-flight professionals are there for the safety and comfort of our customers, and equipping them with innovative solutions means they can better meet our customers' needs on board every flight," said Joanne Smith, senior vice president – In-Flight Service. "This is yet another way we're investing in technology to improve the customer experience."

The Windows Phone 8 device, a Nokia Lumia 820, enables Delta flight attendants to offer:

• Near real-time credit card processing for on-board purchases, including upgrades to Delta's popular Economy Comfort seating. On-board Economy Comfort upgrades will begin on transcontinental and international flights before being offered on flights across Delta's system.
• Convenient eReceipts that can be emailed to customers.
• Customers' use of pre-paid credit cards for on-board purchases.
• Quicker transaction processing times.
• In the near future, the ability to read coupons displayed on a customer's mobile device.
• More efficient service recovery.

On Aug. 26, flight attendants on Delta Connection flights also will begin using the device.

In the future, Delta expects to provide flight attendants with certain customer-specific information to enable more personalized service.

This solution was developed by Microsoft, Avanade and AT&T after months of development and feedback from flight attendants. The Windows Phone 8 devices will include a Delta-specific customer experience developed by Avanade on the Microsoft Dynamics for Retail mobile point-of sale platform and will operate over Wi-Fi and AT&T's 4G LTE Network. The agreement includes plans to expand the solution over the next three years to the newest Nokia devices.

The new handheld device is Delta's latest investment in technology for customers and employees, which in the past year has included the Fly Delta app for iPad, the launch of the new delta.com in December 2012 and revamped self-service kiosks in September 2012. Delta also offers its popular Fly Delta app for iPhone, Windows Phone, Android and Blackberry smartphones, and today offers in-flight Wi-Fi on more than 800 aircraft.

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. Delta was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2013 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list, topping the list for the second time in three years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 327 destinations in 63 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta is investing more than $3 billion in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta and Facebook.com/delta.

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easyJet brings popular Inspire Me function direct to tablets via its new app

European LCC easyJet has launched a new IPAD app. Find the details below.

19th August 2013

easyJet, the UK's largest airline, is now providing travellers either on a budget or in need of last minute holiday inspiration, access to easyJet’s popular and innovative ‘Inspire Me’ tool through a dedicated iPad application. 

The simple and free, map-based app enables customers to enter their preferred holiday type, budget and departure point to generate a list of perfectly matched holiday destinations & recommended flights across easyJet’s network. 

Available in 14 languages, ‘Inspire Me’ also allows passengers to save up to 10 flights on a wish list so they can compare details and select the best option. ‘Inspire Me’ is available as a dedicated iPad app and via easyJet’s website. 

Easy to identify symbols, like a heart for a romantic getaway or a sun for a beach break, help narrow options so customers can find their perfect trip faster than ever before. Each destination includes a link to easyJet’s booking process or to newly created destination guides for further destination specific information.

Peter Duffy, Director of Marketing for easyJet, commented: 

"We know our customers value accessing our services via our free apps - with over 5.6m having downloaded the easyJet mobile apps to date. The latest addition, our the Inspire Me iPad app helps people who don’t know exactly where or when they wish to travel by recommending our lowest price fares and showing possible destinations on a map of Europe.”

easyJet.com is one of the UK's most visited airline sites and the third most searched for airline globally.

Image Credit - easyJet

easyJet's booking app is the industry's fastest enabling customers to search and book flights as well as change booking details, check flight details as well as add luggage and check in.

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Video: Emirates aims to improve in-flight customer service using Windows 8 HP ElitePad 900 tablets

Dubai based Emirates airline, is deploying a line-of-business application for improving in-flight communication and customer relationship management. Called Knowledge-driven Inflight Service (KIS), the airline is equipping its in-flight Pursers with over 1,000 HP ElitePad 900 tablets running the KIS application on Windows 8.

As the video below shows, the KIS application will download passenger data at the start of each flight, which the Pursers, who are the cabin-crew lead on flights, will use, to brief the cabin crew and help them devise service delivery that best meets the personal preferences and needs of the passengers. The crew can also use KIS to easily conduct in-flight upgrades to business class or first class for Emirates Skywards members, as well as record critical customer feedback that is immediately routed to Emirates headquarters on landing.



Emirates is the first global customer of the HP ElitePad 900. The device, announced by HP in October and will be available to customers in January 2013, is built on a Windows 8 operating system with a touch-optimized user interface, with its unique Live Tiles information clustering.

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Wipro and Qatar Airways enter in to strategic partnership to develop aviation IT software

Doha based Qatar Airways and Bangalore based, Indian IT giant, Wipro have entered into a long-term strategic partnership, designed to develop new technological solutions for the airline.

This agreement will bring together Qatar Airways’ expertise in aviation systems and Wipro’s experience of application development and project management to develop a new suite of IT software.

The partnership was officially signed at the Doha headquarters of Qatar Airways by CEO Akbar Al Baker and Wipro chairman Azim Premji. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said

“Through this agreement, Wipro will work with us to build new aviation IT solutions to meet our business needs in a fast-moving environment to ultimately provide an overall enhanced customer experience and provide Qatar Airways with competitive edge in using the latest technology available.”

Under the new arrangement, a lot of the software development will be carried out by Wipro in South India.

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