Continental Airlines announced that along with Boeing, UOP and GE it will fly a 737-800 on Jan. 7 using a biofuel blend including from algae to power one of the CFM56-7B engines. Like the Air New Zealand flight, the fuel is a 50/50 blend of kerosene jet fuel and renewable biofuel, but in this case the biofuel component is a cocktail of jatropha and algae.
There won't be any significant breakthrough [in engine emissions] for at least three decades. There's no technical fix. All we can do is reduce the amount we fly." So says Joss Garman, founder of the anti-airline PlaneStupid.com environmentalist website. But talk to Mike Benzakein, Wright Brothers Institute professor and chair of the Aerospace Engineering Dept. at Ohio State University, or Alan Epstein, former R. C. MacLaurin professor of aeronautics and astronautics, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and you get a starkly different story.
There's no way to prettify it: 2008 has been an annus horribilis, probably the worst economic mess since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was a year dominated by the three Fs: fuel, fees and fear. The mortgage crisis morphed into the credit crisis. Once-venerable financial institutions like Lehman Brothers hit the skids. A jaw-dropping 1.9 million jobs were lost.
In the next 24 hr., deforestation, mainly in the tropics, will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 12.5 million people flying from London to New York. That is the stark reality of the effect of deforestation outlined in a new report from Oxford-based Global Canopy Program, an alliance of 38 leading scientific institutions in 19 countries that forms a collaborative program of research, education and conservation addressing biodiversity, climate change and poverty alleviation.
London Heathrow's third runway moved a step closer with a qualified endorsement from the independent UK Climate Change Committee last month. Lord Turner, chairman of the CCC, told the Guardian newspaper that it was possible for aviation to be expanded while still meeting the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of this century, especially if airlines were able to use biofuels or other low-carbon power sources.
In October, Leading Edge Aviation Services, a major provider of aviation painting and related services, reached the 600 mark on its Continental Airlines account. That's about how many planes it's painted for the legacy carrier since 1994.
Emirates will use the launch of nonstop service between Dubai and San Francisco on Dec.15 to demonstrate its green credentials with what is claimed to be the world's longest green flight. Group Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum will be on the flight.
THE WORLD IS A RICH, YEASTY stew of about 6,900 living languages. As one might assume, Mandarin and English are spoken by the largest numbers of people, but assumptions fall apart as you go down the list. Far more people speak Portuguese or Indonesian than French. More than 2.5 times as many people speak Yoruba as Swedish. Fortunately for most airlines, the world in which they operate is linguistically narrower. But as they set up shop on new websites in markets far from home, carriers must navigate a minefield of bad translations, cultural gaffes and technical oversights.
WENCOR CLAIMS TO BE one of the largest PMA holders in the world and currently has US FAA authority to manufacture more than 2000 PMA parts. Based in Utah, the company boasts more than 3,500 customers worldwide, including more than 250 airlines. A major aerospace engineering, distribution and manufacturing enterprise, it offers aftermarket parts and services to commercial and military aerospace industries worldwide. The Wencor Group is made up of three entities that have long-established roots in the aviation parts supply industry: Wencor, Dixie Aerospace and Kitco Defense.
New Zealand's new Prime Minister, John Key, criticized the UK's expanded Air Passenger Duty on passengers. He told Radio NZ that he had raised the matter of the tax with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and had pointed out to Brown that "it's not necessarily rational."
Titanium, named after the Titan deities of Greek mythology, works well for aircraft production because of its high strength to low weight ratio as well as its resistance to corrosion. About half of its global demand is driven by the aerospace industry. The metal is the ninth-most-abundant element in the Earth's crust, so there's plenty of it to go around, but the processes of extraction, reduction, melting and fabrication are not easy. The tools and technologies required to fashion titanium into high-performance aircraft parts are sophisticated, proprietary and expensive.
Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.9 billion combined RPMs in October, down 3.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.9% to 4.86 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.6 points to 80.2%.
Mexicana CEO Manuel Borja, who saw his company's takeover bid for rival Aeromexico rejected by Mexican authorities last year ( ATWOnline, Oct. 19), said he remains a "firm believer that the Mexican market should become consolidated." Speaking at last week's ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Cancun, Borja said he was in favor of competition but only among airlines "that have differentiating points." He said Mexico needs "different models in the market.
Thales signed a contract with Aviation Training Centre of Tunisia for a second A320 full flight simulator to be combined with a Thales Formation System Trainer.
UK's revised Air Passenger Duty, under which passengers will be charged ascending fees based on distance traveled, continued to be criticized heavily around the world following its Nov. 24 unveiling. The scheme, effective Nov. 1, 2009, is designed to hold passengers accountable for the "environmental impact" of their travel ( ATWOnline, Nov. 25). "This is another cash grab by the [UK] Treasury, thinly disguised as an environmental measure," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said.
British Airways will resume service to Jeddah (aboard a 767) and Riyadh (777) with five-times-weekly flights from London Heathrow beginning March 29. BA suspended the routes in March 2005. Ryanair will begin a daily London Gatwick-Dusseldorf Weeze service on Jan. 7. The new route switches from Stansted, where the LCC has reduced winter capacity 20% ( ATWOnline, Sept. 24). Shenzhen Airlines launched four-times-weekly Nanning-Singapore service.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is considering additional aircraft orders, possibly for 777s or the A350 XWB, while it is in talks with Boeing on compensation for the delay of its 787s. A potential new order is separate from discussions regarding replacement/interim lift for the delayed Dreamliners ( ATWOnline, Nov. 11), although part of an order could substitute the options and purchase rights the carrier has on an additional eight and 20 787s, respectively.
KLM appointed Air France KLM GM-Singapore Vincent Knoops as senior VP-corporate communications effective Dec. 1. American Airlines named Southwest Division MD-Line Maintenance Ken Durst as the carrier's new VP-line maintenance, succeeding the retiring Danny Martinez.
Virgin Blue announced an upgrade of its premium economy product designed to lure more passengers from Qantas. Launched in March, premium economy now will feature free meals, drinks (including alcohol) and seatback IFE ( ATWOnline, Oct. 25, 2007).
El Al reported a third-quarter net profit of $30.4 million, down 25.3% from $40.7 million in the year-ago period, a result President Haim Romano called "remarkably gratifying in light of the difficult business situation and the signs of international economic recession." The Tel Aviv-based airline said high fuel costs and "effects of exchange rates" owing to the dollar's weakness against the shekel during the quarter were the primary drivers of the profit decrease.
Icelandair Group reported a third-quarter net profit of ISK4.39 billion ($30.5 million), up 65% on a pro forma basis from ISK2.66 billion last year, but warned that "the future outlook is uncertain" because of the slowing global economy ( ATWOnline, June 30). Revenue rose 51% to ISK41.47 billion while expenses increased 53% to ISK35.28 billion owing in part to a 110% jump in fuel costs to ISK9.98 billion. EBITDA lifted 40% to ISK6.18 billion.
Virgin Atlantic Airways asked the European Commission to reject what the carrier called the "virtual merger between two of the world's biggest airlines" and yesterday submitted a document to competition authorities outlining its objection to the antitrust alliance between American Airlines and British Airways. The Commission opened its investigation into the tie-up, which also includes Iberia, in August ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1).
Lufthansa opted not to wait for a decision on a foreign partner for the restructured Alitalia and will be launching its own subsidiary at Milan Malpensa, called Lufthansa Italia, in February. Six former Germanwings A319s will comprise the venture, designed to take advantage of AZ's cutbacks in Lombardy. LH originally had planned to base Air Dolomiti E-195s at MXP but instead has decided to pursue its own Italian Air Operator Certificate ( ATWOnline, April 29).
Siem Reap Airways International, the Cambodian carrier blacklisted by the EU this month ( ATWOnline, Nov. 17), suspended domestic services on Nov. 22 and will suspend international flying on Dec. 1 as it works to "clarify" the EU ban. Siem Reap GM Lao Santi said the airline was forbidden to fly aircraft registered in Cambodia into the EU but that its flights "are entirely operated on a wet-lease basis, at and to international standards."
