New Boeing B-52 upgrade to increase smart weapons capacity by half

By BA Staff

B-52H. Photo courtesy US Air Force

Boeing will continue to increase the B-52 bomber’s effectiveness and versatility under a new U.S. Air Force contract that calls for the aircraft’s smart weapons capacity to expand by 50 percent.

Under the $24.6 million agreement, Boeing will develop a modification to existing weapon launchers so the aircraft can carry smart weapons in the bomb bay, allowing aircrews to use the B-52’s entire weapons capacity.

 Scot Oathout, B-52 program director said:

“When you combine that ability with the extremely long flying time of the B-52, you have an efficient and versatile weapon system that is very valuable to warfighters on the ground. This weapons capacity expansion joins the CONECT program, a comprehensive communication upgrade currently being installed on the aircraft, to give the warfighter even more flexibility.”

Boeing will produce three prototype launchers for test and evaluation. Initial capability is expected in March 2016, and potential follow-on efforts could add additional weapons and allow a mixed load of different types of weapons. Following the upgrade’s first phase, the B-52s will be able to carry 24 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) or 20 2,000-pound JDAMs. Later phases will add the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and its extended range variant (JASSM-ER), as well as the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) and its jammer variant (MALD/J).

The bomb bay upgrade will also enable the B-52 to carry weapons internally only, increasing fuel efficiency in flight. The modernization work will use parts from existing Air Force rotary launchers re-purposed for conventional missions, as well as hardware and software already developed for the wing pylons.

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Best & Beyond - Air France reveals new economy and premium economy class upgrades

by Devesh Agarwal

Flag carrier Air France, revealed its new upgraded economy class and premium economy class service offering which includes new seats, new meal services, in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems, ice-cream and second hot meal service on longer flights. The carrier will equip 44 of its long-haul Boeing 777s starting from summer 2014 with the new product.

These upgrades are part of the new Best & Beyond initiative the airline is undertaking under the umbrella of its Transform 2015 strategic plan.

The airline will also upgrade its business class and La Première first class which will be unveiled in January and April 2014.

In economy class, there is a new fully-revised seat, with more legroom, a new seat cushion, more comfortable headrests and a wider tray table. The seat has been ergonomically-redesigned to guarantee optimum comfort. The seat also features new functionalities including an electric socket, headphones holder, etc.

CGI of the new economy class seat. Photo courtesy Air France.

Children have received a lot of attention from the carrier in their meal upgrade. The airline uses organic produce adapted to the tastes of infants and young children, new tableware and a selection of new games (plane-shaped cutlery, pilot’s badge, colourings) to make the flight fun for children.

Economy class children's meal featuring "plane" cutlery shaped for children and toys pouch. Photo © Devesh Agarwal.

Economy class meal featuring new lightweight plastic containers. Photo © Devesh Agarwal.

In premium economy, Air France retains its leadership with its exclusive shell seat, which will be made more comfortable with improved seat cushions and a multi-position footrest. The meal service too is upgraded along with amenities and has been implemented since September this year. Candies, and chocolates are also added. On flights longer than 8.5 hours a second hot meal will also be served.

Premium economy class meal with Champagne service, candies and chocolates in a conical tube. Photo © Devesh Agarwal.

CGI composite of the new service offerings in the premium economy cabin. Image courtesy Air France.

For an actual cabin photo of the current premium economy cabin, please read our trip report.

The IFE is being upgrades with wide touch screens loaded with High Definition images offering over 1,000 hours of music, movies, TV series and many other programmes on an AVOD (audio video on-demand) system.

CGI of the new touch screen HD AVOD IFE system.

At present Air France operates only Airbus A330s to India and has no plans, at present, to re-introduce any Boeing 777 service.

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Delta improves food and beverage options at JFK airport terminal 2

by BA Staff

Delta Air Lines is building on its successful investments at New York's John F. Kennedy airport terminal 4 and terminals C and D at New York's LaGuardia Airport, and is launching a new chef-driven food and beverage program at JFK Terminal 2.

In May, Delta opened the new terminal 4 expansion as the first phase of a $1.4 billion redevelopment at JFK airport. T4 features nine new and seven renovated gates, a redesigned lobby that includes a dedicated Sky Priority check in area, a 24,000-square-foot Delta Sky Club with the first-ever outdoor Sky Deck and restaurants from top names including Danny Meyer and Marcus Samuelsson.

The upgrade of terminal 2 will include seven food and beverage concepts, fresh markets, coffee shops, concierge services and the integration of Apple iPads in the new restaurants to make it easy and convenient for travellers to order food and drinks, shop, monitor their flight information and stay connected. Some of the biggest names from New York culinary world will be developing concepts for Terminal 2, including Andrew Carmellini of Lafayette and the Dutch, Ceasare Casella of Salumeria Rosi, Laurent Tourondel of Brasserie Ruhlmann and Arlington Club, and Robby Cook of Morimoto. The new venues are:

• Due Amici: This restaurant features traditional Italian cuisine in the distinctive atmosphere of chic Italy. The menu highlights rustic Italian flavors and features locally grown products. A standout will be the salumi and cheese platters, a specialty of concept Chef Ceasare Casella.
• BRKLYN Beer Garden: Beer gardens have historically been a gathering place for communities and celebration, and they are the inspiration for this outpost. With a characteristic Brooklyn edge, this bar features a selection of more than 20 beers on tap. Chef Laurent Tourondel will offer his expertise to see that the menu is as cutting-edge as the selection of brews.
• Shiso: Featuring contemporary Japanese cuisine by Chef Robby Cook, Shiso brings a modern menu that celebrates fresh ingredients and traditional technique. The menu includes a creative assortment of sushi and rolls, as well as fun Japanese small plates.
• Croque Madame; This playful sandwich shop offers traditional French sandwiches, tartines (open faced sandwiches), mouthwatering crepes, and a selection of made-to-order salads. Chef Andrew Carmellini¹s menu at Croque madame highlights fresh ingredients and classic flavors. This eatery features a full breakfast and fresh breads and pastries from some of New York¹s best bakeries including Pain D'Avignon. The vibrant design adds a whimsical element to the terminal with its exuberant, feminine patterns. It is a celebration of excess ­ much like French design and cuisine.
• Cibo Express® Gourmet Markets. Featuring a wide assortment of freshly prepared products and bottled beverages, including more than 1,000 different products. The markets feature not only 57 varieties of sandwiches, wraps, sides and salads rotated through the offerings, but also an expansive assortment of nuts, fruits, dried fruits, sweets, chocolates, cookies, health bars, granolas, veggies, cheese, crackers, side salads and pastas, spreads and dips, chips, pretzels and pastries.
• Tagliare: Classic New York-style pizza by the slice or the pie, baked fresh all day using local ingredients.
• WorldBean: Fresh roasted coffee and espresso drinks. Fair-trade beans are sourced seasonally from small farmers throughout the world. Roasted in small batches to ensure freshness, the coffee selection will rotate depending on which coffee crops are in season. Balthazar pastries will be served at World Bean.

Temporary versions of the concepts have begun rolling out. The the full program is expectted to be implemented by the summer of 2014.

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Bangalore airport update: terminal expansion photos. To complete by end 2013. Code F approvals received.

The on-going upgrade of Terminal 1 continues its progress. The airport operating company BIAL told Bangalore Aviation that the expansion would be completed in phases.

First to be ready will be the new VVIP terminal building, followed by each of the left and right wings and finally the small strip in the front of the terminal where the current escalators are.

Here are some pictures showing the work in progress. I must say, they do look a lot like the initial artist's impressions and video which can be seen here.

The right wing, on the site of the old VVIP terminal, is going to be marginally longer than the left.

Code F aircraft capability

German carrier Lufthansa, has announced, Bangalore will be a destination for its new Boeing 747-8i aircraft, which happens to be Code F due to a massive wing span. On enquiry a BIAL spokesperson informed Bangalore Aviation

For your update on Code F aircraft operation from Bengaluru International Airport please note Bangalore International Airport Limited has done safety risk assessment for Code F aircraft and has received approval to permit regular operations of this type of aircraft at this airport from the Director General Civil Aviation. Additionally Code F compliant stand is being created as part of T1 expansion and it will have the capability to accommodate A380 type of aircraft.

This is good news indeed, as Lufthansa's third 747-8i D-ABYD had its first flight earlier today. As a bit of trivia, there is a mis-match between the registration sequence and aircraft number sequence, as the registration D-ABYB is "number plated" i.e. retired and locked. This was the registration of a Lufthansa Boeing 747-100 operating flight LH540 which crashed at Nairobi, Kenya back in 1974.

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Virgin Atlantic to deploy new £100 million business class cabin on new A330 aircraft to Delhi

Richard Branson promoted, British carrier, Virgin Atlantic will introduce a new Airbus A330 aircraft equipped with a re-designed and upgraded Upper Class (business class) Cabin National, on its London Heathrow New Delhi service starting July 11, 2012.

The state of art cabin boasts of the longest bed in business class in a modified herringbone layout, a 2.7 meters long bar onboard – the longest in the sky, an innovative touch screen entertainment system, unique mood lighting, stylish uplifting interiors and in flight mobile phone and GPRS connectivity.

The new Upper Class Suite has the airline taken four and a half years to design and build. Each seat has an innovative touch screen entertainment system JAM loaded with the latest Hollywood and Bollywood entertainment and has a new technology hub that allows passengers to connect their iPod, iPhone or other smart phone, USB stick or iPad or other tablet to JAM, to watch or hear personal content.

The new aircraft also has the AeroMobile system installed for passengers across the cabin to make and receive calls, and send texts from their mobile phones in-flight.

Steve Ridgway, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, explained the airline has experienced a business class growth exceeding 15% from New Delhi, prompting Virgin to deploy its latest product on the route. He is confident of even further growth with the new cabin product. Ridgway went on to invite visitors to the airline's virtual tour of the cabin with videos at their site, Virgin Atlantic PlaneView.

Share your view and your thoughts on the new cabin.

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Video: Virgin Atlantic's first Boeing 747 with new cabin re-fit G-VROM

Virgin Atlantic shows off the first of its "face-lifted" Boeing 747-400's G-VROM named 'Barbarella'. The aircraft features the new Virgin cabin interiors and new in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.

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Air India is offering great rates for upgrades to premium classes

For all of the ribbing targeted towards national carrier Air India, the carrier appears to have finally provided some good value, with some very good deals on offer for travel within its entire network. Of course, in typical Air India fashion, they've made it very hard for passengers to find out about these upgrades; I've seen mazes that are easier to navigate than Air India's website. So we've decided to summarize the offerings in the table below.

Segment	Price to Upgrade to Business/Executive Class	Price to Upgrade to First Class	Remarks
Domestic	INR 4000 for flts up to 750km INR 6000 for all flights beyond this distance		Only applicable when flight is boarded at the following airports: Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jammu, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Portblair, Thiruvananthapuram, Varanasi
India-London	US $300	US $450 (From Business Class)	Valid for passengers originating at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata
Chennai/Delhi-Paris	US $300	US $450 (From Business Class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Delhi-Frankfurt	US $300	US $450 (From Business Class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Amritsar/Delhi-Toronto	US $300	US $450 (From Business Class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Chennai-Singapore	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Mumbai/Delhi-Singapore	US $150		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Mumbai/Delhi-Bangkok	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Mumbai/Delhi-Shanghai	US $175		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Mumbai/Delhi- Hong Kong	US $175		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Mumbai/Delhi-Seoul	US $190		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Mumbai/Delhi-Tokyo/Osaka	US $350		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Kolkata-Yangon	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
India-Saudi Arabia	US $90		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights
India-UAE	US $85		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights
India-Oman	US $85		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights
India-Kuwait	US $85		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights
Chennai-Colombo	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Colombo-Chennai	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Bengaluru/Trivandrum-Male	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Male-Bengaluru/Trivandrum	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Delhi-Kabul	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Kabul-Delhi	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Delhi/Kolkata-Kathmandu	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Kathmandu-Delhi/Kolkata	US $75		Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
London-India	GBP 200	GBP 500 (with business class ticket)	Only Applicable when destination Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Amritsar, Kolkata
Mumbai/Delhi-New York	US $700	US $1200 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Mumbai/Ahmedabad-Newark	US $700	US $1200 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Hyderabad/Delhi-Chicago	US $700	US $1200 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Hong Kong-India	US $193	US $257 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Osaka-Delhi/Mumbai	US $768	US $1536 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Seoul-India	US $200	US $310 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Singapore-Chennai	US $80	US $103 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Singapore-Mumbai/Delhi	US $180	US $230 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Shanghai-Mumbai/Delhi	US $158/ US $237	US $315 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Tokyo-Delhi	US $384/US $640	US $768/US $1280 (from business class)	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Seoul-Hong Kong	US $142	US $190 (from business class	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Osaka-Hong Kong	US $384	US $768 (from business class	Only applicable when originate at points listed in Segment category
Saudi Arabia-India	SAR 400		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights
UAE-India	AED 400		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights
Oman-India	OMR 40		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights
Kuwait-India	KWD 30		Only applicable on non-stop or direct flights

The following rules apply to this offering:

This Upgrade on Seat Available basis will be valid for travel with immediate effect till 15 th December 2011 .

No two schemes can be combined. e.g.Passengers availing of Companion Free Scheme will not be entitled to avail of this Airport Upgrade scheme.

No two schemes can be combined. e.g.Passengers availing of Companion Free Scheme will not be entitled to avail of this Airport Upgrade scheme.

Baggage Allowance will be as per the original booking of the passenger. (No enhanced baggage allowance of the higher class of travel)

Frequent Flyer Miles will be as per original class of travel. - e.g. Passengers holding Economy Class ticket, availing of Airport Upgrade will get FFP accrual of miles of Economy Class

When Passengers are through checked in with Immigration / Customs cleared at Board Point - but the flight number changes -

i)The MCO can be redeemed against the Airport Upgrade if seats available on the Gateway point to Destination. and Upgrade will be granted from Gateway point to Destination. (eg. AI 614 / AI 957 Ahmedabad – Mumbai – Dubai). If Passenger is through checked from Ahmedabad to Dubai, Airport Upgrade Scheme will be available only for the Mumbai to Dubai leg.

However, if passengers are travelling on AI 985 Ex Ahmedabad, e.g. Ahmedabad – Mumbai – Muscat, can avail of the Airport Upgrade Scheme for the entire journey from Ahmedabad as it is the same flight number.

The above upgrade offer is not valid on AD / ID tickets

This is a very solid offering from Air India; even with spotty product quality, it's always a treat to fly business/first classes on most carriers. One interesting thing to note is that upgrades to Tokyo and Osaka are priced very high, which lends credence to the rumor that these are Air India's most profitable routes.

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