Air Astana Goes For E190 Replacement

Air Astana have announced they will be welcoming five Embraer E190-E2s on long-term lease deals from AerCap. Deliveres of the second-generation E-Jets will start in the autumn of next year and will replace the airline's existing E190 fleet.

A350-1000 To Arrive This Year For Qatar

European aircraft manufacturer have confirmed today that Qatar Airways will receive its first A350-1000 aircraft before the end of the year.

Doha based Qatar Airways is the launch customer of of the A350-1000's which will be Europe's largest twin-engined passenger jet and has an order for 37 of the aircraft.

"Airbus has assured us we would receive our airplanes, though late, but we will receive it before the end of the year," Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker told the media in Doha this week.

UAE And Bahrain Relax Flight Route Restrictions For Qatar Airways.

In an unexpected move both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to open up some of their airspace to Qatar Airways, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization.  

Bahrain, the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia all cut diplomatic ties and land, sea and air transport links with Qatar, as tensions mounted. The gulf four nations also locked and sealed off all Qatar Airways offices presenting staff from accessing anything from the buildings, shops and offices, even personal belongings. 

Ethiopian and Air India Aircraft Collide

It could have been a catastrophic disaster two airliners came so close together their wings collided at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport very early on Wednesday morning.

According to airport officials the incident occurred when an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft was being pushed back from stand 87 at 2.25am.  It struck the wing of an Air India's Airbus A320 that was stationary.

US Airlines Reduce Number of Bumped Off Passengers.

Following the horrendous public relations nightmare United faced after a video of one of their passengers being dragged off a flight went viral, it seems you're much less likely to get bumped off.

According to figures released by the American Transportation Department this week, only one in every 19,000 airline passengers was booted from an overbooked flight in the first six months of 2017.

This is the lowest number since the government started tracking the practice in 1995.  However, rather surprisingly whilst other airlines are drastically reducing the number of 'bumpings'  United still off loaded  1,064 passengers from January to June of this year!  That's despite the airlines new policy regarding not off loading of passengers on overbooking flights. It would therefore seem the giant American carrier was all talk at the time in order to get out of a public relations disaster the good doctors removal caused, yet in practice they've done very little. 

We asked United for a comment yesterday,  we're still waiting for a reply. 

Silver Airways Orders 50 ATR Aircraft

It is all smiles in the sunny south Florida city of Fort Lauderdale for aircraft manufacturer ATR and Silver Airways as they announce a deal for up to 50 brand new aircraft.

The deal worth a whopping $1.1billion, will see Silver Airways become the North American launch customer for the sleek ATR 42-600 series turboprop. The agreement includes a firm order of 20 ATR 42-600s plus options for another 30 aircraft. Silver Airways will also have the option of upgauging the aircraft to the new bigger ATR 72-600 should it require more capacity in the future.  

Swiss First Revenue Flight At London City Airport On Bombardier C Series

Photo Bombardier

Swiss International Airlines, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft and London City Airport celebrated in style yesterday as the airline made its first revenue flight into the city airport using its brand new technologically advanced C Series aircraft yesterday.

“We are proud to see the C Series aircraft in SWISS livery landing at London City Airport for the first time. This new milestone continues the momentum propelling the C Series aircraft program,” said Fred Cromer, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “The CS100 aircraft has the perfect combination of steep approach and short field capability as well as longer range. These attributes provide airlines with the opportunity to reach new markets from London City Airport and other challenging airports around the globe, generating an increased level of interest in the C Series program.”

Direct to Nashville For British Airways

Photo British Airways

A British Boeing 787-8 will be heading to the world capital of country music, Nashville, from May next year when British Airways inaugurated a new non-stop direct service.  

British Airways confirmed yesterday they will launch a five-a-week service from London Heathrow, Terminal 5 to the vibrant music city making them the only airline flying a direct link between Europe and the capital of Tennessee.

More Jets For CommutAir

The small Ohio-based commuter/feeder airline CommutAir has signed a memorandum of understanding with United Airlines for 21 Embraer ERJ 145s.  These aircraft are in addition to its existing 40-jet agreement with the United, which operate under the United Express branner. 

The incoming ERJ's will replace the Bombardier Dash 8 turboprops which are being phased out and will be gone by January 2018.

Singapore Puts On The Style For New Safety Briefing

As many airlines the world over are now realising that the pre-flight safety briefing video needs to have a bit of 'Omph' to grab our keep our attention these days. It's also has become an outlet for such creativity that airlines hope they will become the talk of the town - or at least go viral on social media.   

Singapore Airlines is no exception, they've definitely gone for 'style' over humour as befitting an airline of their stature and reputation. In this new video that's just a little short of six minutes viewers follow the Singapore Girl as she travels to familiar landmarks such as Boat Quay, The Intan Peranakan Home Museum, River Safari, Haji Lane, Henderson Waves, Capitol Theatre and Gardens by the Bay. At each location, she meets diverse characters engaged in different activities that creatively demonstrate the safety instructions.

British Airways A380 Bound For Chicago

The biggest aircraft in the British Airways fleet will be heading for Chicago from spring next year, the airline has announced today.

The airline released the news that they will fly an Airbus A380  on a daily rotation between London Heathrow and Chicago O’Hare starting from 8th May 2018. The double decked super jumbo will be taking the place of the former biggest commercial passenger plane, a Boeing 747-400.

JetBlue going Gladly

American budget carrier JetBlue and tech firm Gladly have announced their new partnership which could fundamentally enhance the way airlines deal with customers.  

"We are an enterprise software and services company and our mission is to reimagine and reinvent how customer service can be delivered by creating a platform that puts the customer back at the center of the process," Gladly CEO Joseph Ansanelli told Business Insider site.  

30% Savings for MH with the A350

The Malaysian national airline hopes to make substantial on its popular, yet difficult London - Kuala Lumpur - London route towards the end of the year when it starts flying the new Airbus A350.

Malaysian Airlines say they expect costs to fall by around 30% when the new jets take to the skies from the end of this year and into the first quarter of 2018. Much of the savings will come from the better fuel economy the A350 has over the double decked A380's which currently fly the route. "The impact on yields will not be as bad, and we will not be as exposed to high operating costs. We expect unit cost to come down by around 30%, as compared to operating the A380," Izham Ismail, Malaysia Airlines CEO explained during a briefing in Singapore.

Rescue plan for Kenya Airways approved.

Kenya Airways has apparently gained approval from its minority shareholders to issue more shares and convert some debt into equity, its reported today, Monday. This is despite some notable opposition from its local investors and lenders. 

The troubled carrier reveled in June that a financial restructuring plan would help it cut back on debts, reduce exorbitant finance costs as well as enabling it to stay flying after many years of losses. The airline descended into the red five years ago following a massive downturn in tourism after a spate of attacks by Islamist militants in the country.  They have failed to turn a profit since then and the losses were further compounded by the vast loans the airline took on to buy a fleet of new Boeing aircraft

Take away pilots and save $35 billion a year says UBS

The Swiss bank UBS has hit on a novel idea for airlines to save money, as much as $35billion a year - by taking away the pilots!

Yes, according to research released today UBS thinks pilotless planes are the way forward, "Reducing the intervention of human pilots on aircraft could bring material economic benefits and improve safety," UBS analysts wrote in a report published Monday. 

In basic terms of material economic benefits, number-crunching analysts at UBS advise that there could be a material profit opportunity of more than $35 billion per year for the aerospace and aviation industry. To unlock these massive savings the Swiss bankers suggest the aviation sector would need to explore a number of elements, for example, how airlines could benefit from lower operating and training costs, reduced fuel costs and lower insurance premium costs. Overall, they believe ditching the pilots could save $26 billion a year. 

"The opportunity, we believe, would be dependent on the timing of the roll-out of pilotless planes and we think it is likely we would initially see cargo the first subsector to adopt new related technologies, with the number of pilots falling from two to one and eventually from one to none," UBS said.