New Delhi is first airport terminal globally to register at UN as ‘Clean Development Mechanism’ project

By BA Staff
Terminal 3 (T3) of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi, has become the first terminal in the world to have successfully registered with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project for its emission reduction initiatives.

The 'Mudras' wall at Terminal 3, New Delhi IGI airport. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal. Used with permission.

T3 has adopted various energy efficient measures thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions of 16,413 tons of CO2 annually into the atmosphere. These measures include energy efficient initiatives for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), improved roof insulation, radar sensor based escalators, and travelators and a tempered cooling system.

The project made use of the approved CDM methodology AMS II.E (Energy efficiency and fuel switching measures for buildings) for calculating the emission reduction potential. CDM is one of the flexibility mechanisms defined under Kyoto Protocol, which provides market based measures to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions.

UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty that was announced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (informally known as the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992.

‘Energy Efficiency’ is one of the core objectives of the ‘National Action Plan on Climate Change’ of India and which T3 of IGIA has successfully addressed. The CDM project results in reduction of total energy consumption and saving in the use of fossil fuels and its associated greenhouse gas emissions.

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US Federal Aviation Administration gives Santa One a go for launch

By BA Staff

The US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Santa Claus, his elfin crew and the Santa One sleigh are GO for the annual round-the-world flight that will deliver presents to good boys and girls everywhere.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said:

“This is my first holiday season as Secretary of Transportation, and I feel a special responsibility to make sure Santa’s flight goes off without a hitch,” 

While there were no external changes to Santa One this year, FAA inspectors put in many hours ensuring that the sleigh’s systems – and especially its crew – met all applicable regulations. The agency approved installation of a state-of-the-art Wi-Fi system so Santa’s helpers can use their Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) to connect with the internet. Thanks to the FAA’s policy change in late October, the elves may now use their PEDs from take-off to landing to keep in touch with the North Pole.

The Jolly Old Elf himself will employ modern computer technology in the sleigh’s captain’s seat. After an evaluation period, FAA inspectors gave Santa a thumbs-up to use a tablet computer instead of paper documents to store his flight plan, chimney approach charts and Naughty-or-Nice checklist.

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said:

“We’re helping Santa fly smarter and faster while making sure he has a safe and successful mission”

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Boeing delivers first 747-8 with performance-improved engines

By BA Staff

Boeing image

Boeing delivered the first 747-8 with performance-improved GEnx-2B engines as part of the airplane's Performance Improvement Package (PIP.)

A Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo 747-8F Freighter was the first aircraft delivered with the new PIP engines.

The engine is the first of the package's three improvements to enter service. The two other components, Flight Management Computer (FMC) software upgrades and reactivation of the horizontal tank fuel system on the passenger version, the 747-8 Intercontinental, are expected to enter service later this month and in early 2014, respectively.

The PIP engine improves the airplane's efficiency by 1.8 percent. All three PIP components can be retrofitted on the 747-8. The tail fuel reactivation is applicable only for the 747-8 Intercontinental and the FMC upgrades can also be made to existing 747-400s.

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Air Caraïbes places order for three A350-1000s and will lease a further three A350-900s from ILFC.

By BA Staff

Air Caraibes has signed a firm contract with Airbus S.A.S. for three A350-1000s, the largest member of Airbus’ new generation A350XWB Family.

The airline will also lease three new A350-900s from ILFC. The aircraft will enter into service between 2016 and 2022.

The Air Caraïbes’ A350-1000s will seat 439 passengers in three classes, and the -900 will seat 387 passengers. 

The aircraft will be operated on the airline’s routes from Paris to Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Marteen, Haïti, Saint-Domingue and French Guyana which are currently flown by five A330s.

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KLM improves its business class

By BA Staff

KLM, the Royal Dutch Airline has upgraded its business class and now provides fully flat beds on its daily 747 flights from New Delhi to Amsterdam.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Yeshwant Pawar, General Manager South Asia said

“KLM continues to invest in customer comfort across the world as this has been our top most priority. The guiding principle to introduce fully flat beds is a step towards enhancing customer comfort and privacy as befits KLM. The new full-flat seat also plays an important role in helping to strengthen our position as a preferred airline in the Indian market.”

The new 180 degree horizontally reclining seats in the World Business Class are longer with 2.07 meters in length, wider with 63 inches in pitch. Every seat has an integrated 17 inch video monitor for in-flight entertainment. There is in-seat power and also storage compartments in the seat behind the passenger as well as under the television screen.

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KLM launches quiz contest to promote Business Class

By BA Staff

KLM has launched a quiz contest on their KLM India Facebook page that would give one winner a chance to win an all inclusive ticket to Amsterdam in their Business Class. The quiz contest is about answering five questions on the new KLM World Business Class.

KLM launched its fully flat beds on its international long-haul destination flights served by Boeing 747-400. The seat can be horizontally reclined at 180 degrees providing more legroom and no middle seat. Every seat is installed with a 17 inch screen video monitor for in-flight entertainment and storage compartments.

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Air Canada signs agreement to buy up to 109 Boeing 737 MAXs

by Devesh Agarwal

Boeing 737 MAX 9 final concept CGI rendering. Boeing image.

National carrier Air Canada has agreed to buy up to 109 Boeing 737 MAX single aisle narrow body aircraft as part of its fleet renewal plan. Boeing has wrested back an existing Airbus narrow-body customer as the MAXs will replace Air Canada's existing mainline fleet of Airbus A320 family.

The agreement with Boeing, which is subject to completion of final documentation and other conditions, includes firm orders for 33 737 MAX 8 (equivalent to A320) and 28 737 MAX 9 (equivalent to A321) aircraft with substitution rights between them as well as for the 737 MAX 7 (equivalent to A319) aircraft. It also provides for options for 18 aircraft and rights to purchase an additional 30. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2017 with 2 aircraft, 16 aircraft in 2018, 18 aircraft in 2019, 16 aircraft in 2020 and 9 aircraft in 2021, subject to deferral and acceleration rights.

With regards to the existing regional jets fleet, the airline said

Air Canada continues to evaluate the potential replacement of its Embraer E190 fleet with more cost efficient, larger narrowbody aircraft that are better suited to its current and future network strategy. Consistent with this strategy, the agreement with Boeing provides for Boeing to purchase up to 20 of the 45 Embraer E190 aircraft currently in Air Canada's fleet. The E190 aircraft exiting the fleet will be initially replaced with larger narrowbody leased aircraft until the airline takes delivery of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The company will be reviewing various options over the next six months for the remaining 25 Embraer E190 aircraft including continuing to operate them or replacing them with a yet to be determined number of aircraft in the 100 to 150 seat range.

Air Canada's plan is for its total fleet including Air Canada rouge™, but excluding aircraft flown by its contracted regional carriers, to grow from the existing 192 aircraft to approximately 214 aircraft by the end of 2019. Air Canada has 13 options and rights to purchase 10 Boeing 787 aircraft, rights to purchase 13 Boeing 777 aircraft as well as the 18 options and 30 purchase rights for Boeing MAX aircraft.

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Philippine Airlines and Airbus coordinate fourth humanitarian flight for typhoon Haiyan victims

By BA Staff

One month after Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, struck the Philippines, thousands of people are still left homeless and without food or water.

Since the disaster happened in early November this year, Airbus’ Corporate Foundation has coordinated three relief and goodwill flights, with either Airbus Flight Test aircraft or newly delivered customer aircraft.

This week-end, a fourth flight to the Philippines was coordinated by the Airbus Corporate Foundation and its partners, Philippine Airlines (PAL), Action Contre la Faim, Aviation Sans Frontières and Humedica.

A PAL A330, with four doctors and one nurse on board, loaded with 5.6 tonnes of medical supplies, food and water sanitation equipment, took off on Friday 6th December from Toulouse and landed in Manila, Philippines on Saturday 7th December early morning. This is the third flight using a PAL aircraft since the typhoon struck the country.


Share your thoughts on the corporate social responsibility of these companies and organisations via a comment.

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Kuwait Airways signs agreement to buy A350 and A320neo

By BA Staff

Kuwait Airways Airbus A350-900 CGI

European airframer, Airbus has signed an agreement with national carrier Kuwait Airways to buy 10 A350-900s and 15 A320neos.

A little over two weeks ago, Kuwait Airways had suspended its Chairman for publicly stating an intent to buy five A330-200s from India's Jet Airways.

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DOT fines Brazil's GOL airline largest penalty for violating airline consumer rules

By BA Staff

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined the Brazilian airline GOL $250,000 for violating a number of DOT’s rules protecting the rights of air travellers. This is the largest penalty assessed for violations of the rules adopted in April 2011.

The airline was ordered to cease and desist from further violations of the Department’s airline consumer rules.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said:

“We adopted these rules to ensure that passengers are treated with respect when they buy a ticket or board a plane. We will not tolerate disregard of our rules and will take enforcement action when necessary to protect travelers.”

The Department’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that GOL’s U.S. website, for a period of time after it was launched in November 2012, failed to include a variety of information and features required by DOT air travel consumer protection rules. The website did not include a contingency plan for handling lengthy tarmac delays or a link from the homepage to a list of fees for baggage and other optional services.

GOL also violated DOT’s full-fare advertising requirement by failing to include taxes and fees in fares displayed on the website in response to consumer searches. The full fare, including taxes and fees, was available only after the consumer selected a specific itinerary.

The airline also failed to post its contract of carriage in an easily accessible form on its website. A consumer had to begin the process of searching for an itinerary before being able to gain access to the contract information. This made it hard to easily compare GOL’s contract with those of other airlines, and made obtaining the contract difficult for passengers who wanted to review the information online before booking a flight by telephone or with a ticket agent.

Can we look to something similar in India? Share your thoughts via a comment.

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Qatar Airways announces new route to Edinburgh

By BA Staff

Qatar Airways will begin five flights weekly to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh effective 28 May 2014.

The new route will be served by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in a two-cabin configuration, offering passengers 22 Business Class and 232 Economy Class seats.

QR 027 departs Doha (DOH) at 08:00 on all days except Tuesdays and Thursdays and arrives Edinburgh (EDI) at 13:15
QR 028 departs Edinburgh (EDI) at 14:45 on all days except Tuesdays and Thursdays and arrives Doha (DOH) at 23:40

In 2013, Qatar Airways has launched eleven destinations to date – Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Najaf (Iraq), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Chicago (USA), Salalah (Oman), Basra (Iraq), Sulaymaniyah (Iraq), Chengdu (China), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Ta’if (Saudi Arabia) and most recently Clark Manila International Airport (Philippines).

Over the next few weeks and months, the airline will expand its network with services to Hangzhou, China (December 20, 2013), Sharjah and Dubai World Central, both in the UAE (March 1, 2014), Philadelphia, USA (April 2, 2014) and Miami, USA (June 10, 2014).

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Boeing and Korean Air commence construction of new aviation training facility

By BA Staff

Boeing participated in a groundbreaking ceremony with Incheon and Korean Air for construction of Korea's largest new aviation training facility to be located in Incheon's Free Economic Zone (IFEZ).

The new campus, which is slated to open in 2015, will allow Boeing to expand the scope of its training business in Korea and continue its long-standing training relationship with Korean Air.

The facility, once complete, will house 12 full-flight simulators for pilot training programs supporting Korean Air's flight training needs.
Once the campus is complete, Boeing will relocate its existing training support staff and equipment to the new facility.

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Cathay Pacific names new chief operating officer

By BA Staff

Rupert Hogg, 51, will take up the position of Chief Operating Officer of Cathay Pacific Airways from March 2014. At the same time Hogg will become a Director of Cathay Pacific.

Hogg takes over in the role from Ivan Chu, who will become Cathay Pacific’s Chief Executive. The current Chief Executive, John Slosar, will succeed Christopher Pratt as Chairman of the airline, John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Ltd, Swire Pacific Ltd, Swire Properties Ltd and Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd.

Hogg is Director Sales & Marketing – a position he took up in August 2010 with responsibility for Cathay Pacific Group’s sales and marketing activities worldwide. From 2008 to 2010 he was Director Cargo, overseeing all aspects of the Group’s cargo business including operations, marketing and sales.

Mr Hogg joined John Swire & Sons in 1986 and worked with Cathay Pacific from 1988 to 1997 in a variety of management positions, both in Hong Kong and South-East Asia.

From 2002 to 2008, Mr Hogg was Managing Director of James Finlay Limited - a wholly owned subsidiary of John Swire & Sons Limited, and the holding company of a group engaged in substantial tea and horticultural businesses. From 1998 to 2002, Mr Hogg held management positions in the Swire group in Australia.

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Marginal decrease in August US passenger traffic from a year earlier

By BA Staff

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that U.S. airlines carried 67.7 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in August 2013, 0.1 per cent fewer than in August 2012. Domestic passengers decreased 0.9 percent to 58.1 million, and international passengers increased 5.5 per cent to 9.6 million compared to August 2012.

Total U.S. airlines' passenger traffic for the first eight months of 2013 increased 0.4 per cent 502.7 million, compared to the same period last year. Domestic passengers remain virtually unchanged at 435.3 million, while international passenger traffic increased 3.1 per cent to 67.4 million.

System-wide and domestic load factors, the proportion of capacity measured Available Seat-Miles (ASMs) vs. utilisation measured in Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs), remained below the all-time August highs reached in 2011, while international load factors hit record highs of 87 per cent as RPM growth far exceeded ASM capacity expansion.

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Kuwait Airways Chairman suspended for announcing plans to buy five A330s from Jet AIrways

by Devesh Agarwal

Yesterday, Reuters quoting Kuwait Airways Chairman Sami Al-Nesif, reported that Kuwait Airways is buying five A330-200 aircraft from India's Jet Airways. According to Mr. Al-Nesif, Kuwait Airways wanted to take 11 jets from its old fleet of 17 out of service and use the Jet Airways' aircraft as a stop gap measure till its order of new Airbus aircraft commence delivery in 2018. Kuwait's present fleet average age is 18 years.

This would have been another major financial boost for the financially beleaguered airline, which finally concluded its deal with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways PJSC for a 24% stake sale recently.

In its second quarter FY2014 earnings conference call, Jet Airways' executives had indicated the airline was trying to lease out much of its A330-200 fleet which has been sitting idle at airports across India, as the airline pulled out international flights due to poor performance. The airline lost over 123 crores in fees and costs relating to the non-utilisation of its A330 fleet in the second quarter alone.

However, later in the day, in another report, Reuters said the Kuwait Airways chief, has been suspended, after he had announced plans to buy five used aircraft from India's Jet Airways. The report went on to quote an unnamed source who said the deal was in doubt.

Talk about bizarre developments.

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InterGlobe and CAE inaugurate India’s largest pilot training facility

by Devesh Agarwal

Rahul Bhatia, InterGlobe, Marc Parent, CAE

InterGlobe Enterprises, the parent company of India’s largest domestic airline, IndiGo, and CAE, a global leader in flight simulators and training, inaugurated India’s largest pilot training facility in India. Located in Greater Noida, in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Centre, CAE Simulation Training Private Limited (CSTPL), is a joint venture between InterGlobe Enterprises and CAE with an initial investment of $25 million.

The Centre starts with two CAE Series 5000 A320 full-flight simulators certified level D, and has the capacity to expand to six simulators. The facility provides "wet" and "dry" type-rating, recurrent, conversion and jet indoctrination training for commercial aircraft pilots of IndiGo, and will commence training, GoAir’s A320 pilots from December. CSTPL will also be the first centre in India to impart Airbus certified training, and can train up to 5,000 pilots per year.

CSTPL is the fourth aviation training location that CAE operates in India. CAE already trains more than 1,500 crew members every year at its training centre in Bengaluru, the first independent training centre in India and the first to earn approval as a fixed-wing Type Rating Training Organisation (TRTO). CAE also operates a joint venture helicopter training centre in Bengaluru and in partnership with the Government of India, CAE operates ab-initio flight schools in Gondia and Rae Bareli, located in the parliamentary constituencies of former civi aviation minister Praful Patel, and India's first political dynasty, the Gandhis.

India is expected to be the fourth largest aviation market in the world, with a large demand for narrow-body pilots. IndiGo and GoAir have placed orders for 180 and 72 A320 family aircraft respectively. IndiGo already has 71 A320-232 aircraft in its fleet from an original order for 100 A320s.

The country's other two major carriers, Air India and Jet Airways have their own in-house training facilities.
 

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Boeing, TUI travel PLC complete order for two 787-8s

By BA Staff

Boeing and TUI Travel, one of the world's leading leisure travel companies, have completed an order for two 787-8 Dreamliners. The deal, worth $424 million at current list prices, extends TUI Travel's 787 commitment to 15 airplanes. The purchase was originally attributed on the Boeing orders and deliveries website to an unidentified customer.

 TUI took delivery of its first 787-8 Dreamliner in May and now has four airplanes in service.

TUI Travel originally ordered the 787 in February 2005. Currently, the Group's subsidiary Thomson Airways is using the airplane on such routes as Thailand, Caribbean and the Maldives.

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Iraqi Airways signs letter of intent for up to 16 Bombardier CS300 aircraft

By BA Staff

Bombardier Aerospace announced that Iraqi Airways, the national carrier of Iraq, has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to acquire five CS300 mainline jetliners. The LOI also includes options on 11 CS300 aircraft.

Based on CS300 airliner list price, a firm order would be valued at approximately $387 million US and could increase to $1.26 billion US if the 11 options are converted to firm orders.

Iraqi Airways operates six CRJ900 NextGen regional jets.

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Air Algérie orders three A330 passenger aircraft

By BA Staff


Air Algérie has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for three A330-200 passenger aircraft as part of the carrier’s continued growth plans. This order has been placed at Dubai Airshow 2013.

The new aircraft will be deployed on medium and long haul routes from the Air Algérie hub in Algeria. Air Algérie has already ordered a total of five Airbus A330, which have all been delivered to date.

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Abu Dhabi aviation signs LOI for two Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft

By BA Staff

Bombardier Aerospace announced that Abu Dhabi Aviation, based in Abu Dhabi, has signed a Letter of Intent for two Q400 NextGen aircraft. The airline is a long time Bombardier Q-Series aircraft customer.

Based on the list price, the potential contract value for Abu Dhabi Aviation’s transaction, covering two Q400 NextGen aircraft, would be approximately $70 million US.

Abu Dhabi Aviation, the largest commercial helicopter operator in the Middle East, operates a fleet that includes one Q400 aircraft, one Dash 8/Q300 aircraft and two Dash 8/Q200 turboprops. The carrier’s main activities relate to the support of offshore oil, engineering and construction companies.

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