Hong Kong Airlines this week took delivery of its first Airbus aircraft, an A330-200 with which it intends to launch services to Europe by the end of the month, initially flying to Moscow. The A330 is the first of 53 Airbus aircraft it has on order comprising 23 A330s and 30 A320s. "The arrival of the A330 is a milestone for Hong Kong Airlines as we expand into the long-haul market," President Yang Jian Hong said. Aircraft are equipped with Panasonic Avionics' eX2 IFE and communication systems.
Turkish Airlines topped up its firm order with Airbus with an additional A330-200 for delivery in July 2011. The aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. The purchase joins existing orders for 10 A330-300s, two A330-200 freighters and 24 A320 family aircraft signed last year.
US airlines were bullish on the industry's recovery in comments to investors yesterday, predicting robust second-quarter unit revenue increases. Speaking at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in New York, available via webcast, United Airlines CFO Kathryn Mikells said the recovery is "greater than we were able to predict six months ago." She said UA's consolidated unit revenue will rise 26% or more year-over-year in the current quarter.
The European Commission yesterday issued a report on the use of so-called body scanners that could lead to creation of a legal framework for introduction of the machines at airports on an EU-wide basis.
Alaska Air Group subsidiaries Iberia, Spanish airport and ATC authority Aena and the Ineco transport engineering firm Etihad Airways signed a service agreement
An 18-month NASA research effort to visualize the passenger airplanes of the future produced some ideas that at first glance appear to be out of an old 1950s aircraft magazine. Instead of exotic new space-age designs borrowed from science fiction, far more familiar shapes dominate advanced concept studies that four industry teams completed for NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program in April.
New York-based Bernstein Research issued an upbeat report on Pratt and Whitney’s PW1000G geared turbofan. It said Pratt expects a 16% better fuel burn for the 30,000-lb.-thrust engine on the A320 after including effects of drag and weight caused by the larger fan. Noise is expected to be 20 dB better than Stage 4, which should result from simple physics as the fan blade tips remain subsonic in a geared engine, it said.
Representatives from five leading airlines will speak at ATW's 3rd Annual Eco-Aviation Conference taking place at the Capital Hilton in Washington June 23-25. The newest addition to the conference agenda is Lufthansa Senior VP-Corporate Fleet Nico Buchholz, who will discuss environmental sustainability in the context of airline fleet decisions.
The US airline industry won a small but significant victory last month in its bid to challenge the legality of the EU's plan to apply its Emissions Trading Scheme to non-EU airlines when the English High Court of Justice said it would refer the case to the European Court of Justice.
EADS demonstrated an all-algae-powered flight at the ILA 2010 Berlin Air Show this month using a Diamond DA42 New Generation powered by two Austro Engine AE300s. According to EADS, the higher energy content of the algae biofuel meant that the fuel consumption of the aircraft was 1.5 litres per hr. lower compared to conventional jet fuel while maintaining equal performance. Only "relatively minor modifications and adjustments" had to be made to the engines to qualify the biofuel from algae for the demonstration flights, the company said.
Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May called into question the discussion draft of the American Power Act, climate change legislation proposed by US Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), saying that while “the nation’s airlines are committed to promoting energy independence and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we have strong concerns about the punitive approach this draft legislation proposes for jet fuel and other refined products."
John Plaza, founder and CEO of US-based Imperium Renewables, warned last week that the future widespread availability of aviation biofuels in North America should not be taken for granted.
Singapore Airlines will increase five-times-weekly Manchester-Munich-Singapore service to daily Sept 1. Etihad Airways will operate a 777 on its daily Manchester-Abu Dhabi route, replacing an A330, during the summer months, increasing capacity by more than 2,100 seats per week. Iberia will resume thrice-weekly Madrid-Dubrovnik service June 15-Sept. 28 aboard an A320 family aircraft and twice-weekly Madrid-Zagreb service July 3-Sept. 19. It will launch twice-weekly Madrid-Oran service Sept. 16 aboard an A319.
AirBaltic transported 295,809 passengers in May, a 29% increase year-over-year. Load factor grew 3 points to 69%. Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 7.82 billion RPKs in May, a 10.3% rise year-over-year. Capacity grew 2.8% to 9.62 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 5.5 points to 81.3%.
Continental Airlines yesterday said it plans to start daily 787 flights between Houston Intercontinental and Lagos on Nov. 10, 2011, launching what would be its first-ever service to Africa. The flights, which also would be the first daily scheduled service between Texas and Africa by any carrier, are subject to government approval. CO currently serves 63 international destinations from IAH and recently announced plans to begin service between IAH and Auckland on Nov. 16, 2011.
Spirit Airlines said it has cancelled all flights through Wednesday as its Air Line Pilots Assn.-represented cockpit crew remained on strike. A few days prior to the walkout, which began in the early morning of June 12, the airline said it had "developed plans to continue operating" in the event of a strike, but it appears that these plans fell through or that management badly miscalculated the solidarity of the pilot workforce ( ATW Daily News, June 14).
China Southern Airlines said it remains on track to join the SkyTeam Cargo alliance formally in November, and sources indicate that it is contemplating a possible merger of its cargo business with that of China Eastern Airlines.
Boeing announced yesterday that the 747-8 freighter has received expanded type inspection authorization from US FAA, a critical step toward certification that allows agency personnel to participate in test flights and collect required data.
