Etihad Airways is gearing-up for the launch of its new four flights a week service from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Kathmandu will be Etihad’s ninth new destination of 2007 and demand for the service has been strong with more than 65 per cent of seats in economy class booked throughout the month of November.
The new service joins Etihad’s expanding network across the Indian subcontinent which includes Dhaka, Delhi, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar.
James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: “Etihad continues to offer air travellers flights to the world’s most exciting destinations. Our new Kathmandu service will provide a valuable link for business and leisure travellers many of whom will fly from across the world connecting via our home base at Abu Dhabi airport.”
The flights will also provide a valuable link for the 90,000 Nepalese nationals living in the UAE and across the Middle East region, as well as the growing demand from holidaymakers keen to experience the ancient culture offered in Nepal and the world-famous Himalayan mountains.
Tourism in Nepal has developed considerably in recent years with thousands of travellers visiting the country each year to enjoy its spectacular scenery, wildlife and Everest, the world`s highest mountain.
Etihad will operate a two cabin Airbus A330-200 between Abu Dhabi and Kathmandu configured to carry 262 passengers, with 22 in business class and 240 in economy.
October 19, 2007
Demand grows for Kathmandu flights
October 14, 2007
Airbus set to deliver first A380
PARIS (AP) -- After repeated, embarrassing delays, Airbus is to deliver its first A380 superjumbo jet Monday -- a critical step for the European plane maker in its efforts to rebound from a string of troubles.
The double-decker jet, the world's largest passenger plane, is to take off from the southwestern city of Toulouse, Airbus' headquarters, for delivery to Singapore Airlines following a glitzy delivery ceremony including a sound and light show.
Airbus President and Chief Executive Thomas Enders called the handover "a major milestone for the A380 program" in a statement released by the company Friday.
Airbus has gone though five CEOs as multiple delays in the A380 program resulted in massive write-offs and a restructuring plan that foresees 10,000 job cuts over four years -- not to mention billions of dollars in lost profit.
Such delays have hurt more than just profits: Airbus' reputation has suffered, and U.S. rival Boeing Co. grabbed the top sales spot in 2006.
The A380's inaugural commercial flight has been set for Oct. 25 from Singapore to Sydney. Singapore Airlines has auctioned all seats on the first flight on eBay, raising about $1.25 million for charity.Singapore has fitted its jet with 471 seats configured in three classes: 12 luxury suites on the main deck, 60 business class seats on the upper deck, and 399 economy class seats on both decks. The plane is to replace one of three Boeing 747-400 jets already serving the Sydney-Singapore route.
John Leahy, Airbus' chief salesman, suggested that the A380's problems will be over once the plane gets into commercial service.
"When this airplane is out flying, my marketing job will get a lot easier," he told The Associated Press in an interview last week.
The A380 includes glamorous features such as a cocktail bar complete with water fountain and a duty-free lounge. Some airlines will offer passengers the chance to freshen up with a shower.
Morale at Airbus has also been hurt by accusations that senior managers profited from knowledge about the A380's problems to cash in on share options. A preliminary report by the French Financial Markets Authority pointed to "massive insider trading" at European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., Airbus' parent company.
The A380 represents Airbus' bet on future demand for long-haul travel between increasingly congested hub airports worldwide. Boeing argues passengers want point-to-point journeys between smaller airports and is targeting the more lucrative market for midsize jets.
Airbus is targeting every airline currently flying a Boeing 747, currently the biggest passenger plane in the skies.
October 13, 2007
Singapore Airlines Garners More Awards
SIA garners more awards
  In another annual survey conducted by the UK edition of Conde Nast Traveller, Singapore Airlines was rated the 'Favourite Business Airline 2007' by Business Class travelers. -- PHOTO: BT |
The Airline has won this top award 19 times since it was launched 20 years ago.
Readers, who participated in the annual Business Travel survey conducted by the magazine, also voted the Airline as the winner in the following categories: Best Transpacific Business Class, Best Transatlantic Business Class
In another annual survey conducted by the UK edition of Conde Nast Traveller, Singapore Airlines was rated the 'Favourite Business Airline 2007' by Business Class travelers.
Recently, readers of the UK-based Business Traveller magazine voted Singapore Airlines as the top airline in the following categories: Best long-haul Airline, Best Business Class, Best Cabin Staff and Best Asian Airline.
These accolades come soon after the recently announced rating of Singapore Airlines as Airline of the Year in the annual Skytrax survey.
'We are grateful to our customers who have supported the Airline through the years by consistently according it good ratings in the various surveys. We appreciate their unwavering loyalty,' said Mr Huang Cheng Eng, Executive Vice President, Marketing & The Regions for Singapore Airlines.
He adds,'Our staff must also be commended for working as a team to provide the best possible travel experience for our customers. I am confident that these awards will encourage our people to continue their good work and to set even higher standards of customer service'.
The awards that Singapore Airlines has been winning over the years encompass categories such as inflight service and entertainment, food and beverage, ground services, safety and company management.
Qatar Airways Sponsors International Travel Exhibition In Vietnam
Qatar Airways Senior Manager Commercial Operations Far East & Australasia Marwan Koleilat, poses with local television celebrity Quynh Huong and Qatar Airways cabin crew holding a Certificate of Appreciation from the organisers of the International Travel Exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The travel trade and consumer show, considered one of the highlights of the travel calendar in the region, has grown in significance with Laos, Cambodia and host country Vietnam among the many nations that took part.
Record numbers of visitors attended the three-day event, which ended on Sunday at the Phu Tho Exhibition Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial capital. The event attracted more than 120 international buyers from 22 countries.
Qatar Airways launched direct flights to Ho Chi Minh City in March from its hub in Doha, State of Qatar, becoming the first carrier in the Middle East to serve the country of Vietnam.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the expanded format at this year's ITE travel show highlighted its growing importance as a platform to promote outbound tourism from the region.
"Qatar Airways is delighted to be supporting travel to and from this part of the world with our four weekly non-stop flights which are part of our ever-growing international network," said Al Baker.
"The brand new international terminal at Tan Son Nhat Airport is an outstanding example of Ho Chi Minh City's status as a major travel destination, as well as being a point of origin for increasing numbers of passenger traffic."
Tourism ministers from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam officially opened the exhibition following high-level meetings between the participating tourism authorities. Delegations from each of the three "Jewels of the Mekong" combined their efforts to create the largest event in ITE's history.
Qatar Airways, one of the show's sponsors, exhibited a state-of-the-art stand at the event, which featured Business Class seats complete with cabin crew assistance to help create an onboard experience for visitors.
There were also flat-screen televisions displaying the airline's latest corporate video, together with refreshments for visitors, destination brochures and in-flight magazines.
Qatar Airways Senior Manager Commercial Operations Far East and Australasia Marwan Koleilat was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from the event organisers for the airline's participation at ITE.
"We enjoyed highlighting our award-winning Five Star service at this important event and look forward to facilitating the growing number of people looking to travel from this region throughout Qatar Airways' expanding network," said Koleilat.
The increase in passenger numbers is expected to allow more premium class travellers flying Qatar Airways with access to its exclusive Premium Terminal at Doha International Airport, exclusively for departing First and Business Class passengers.
The Premium Terminal features facilities such as a spa, jacuzzi, duty free, business centre and fine dining restaurants. Built in just nine months, the terminal is the world's first commercial passenger building dedicated to First and Business Class passengers.
The Doha – Ho Chi Minh City schedules are:-
Depart Doha International AirportTue, Fri, Sat QR688 at 0745, arrive Tan Son Nhat Intl at 1920
Sun QR688 at 2359, arrive Tan Son Nhat Intl at 1135 following day
Depart Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City
Mon, Tue, Fri, Sat QR689 at 2030, arrive Doha International at 2359
Airbus 'insider trading' denied
French finance minister Christine Lagarde has denied the government acted improperly in relation to alleged insider trading at Airbus parent, EADS. 
Giving evidence to parliament, she said her ministry was not aware of any problems at the firm before approving share sales in the Airbus owner.
Media reports claim the state knew about setbacks to the Airbus 380 and still allowed suspicious share sales.
These occurred before news about delays to the Airbus A380 emerged last June.
Ms Lagarde told a French parliamentary committee on Thursday that the government had acted "in the most irreproachable" manner with regard to EADS from the end of 2005 to May 2006, when delays to the Airbus 380 superjumbo first became public.
The announcement wiped 26% off the value of EADS, the Franco-German firm which owns the Airbus plane manufacturer.
A report from the stock market regulator AMF sent to the French prosecutor's office a week ago is understood to have examined the extensive sale of stock options before the problems with the plane were revealed.
The French press, claiming to have seen a leaked copy of the report, claim 21 former and current managers are under suspicion but stock market regulators have refused to comment on this, saying their probe is incomplete.
This prompted a parliamentary investigation into the role of the French government, a major EADS shareholder, amid allegations that ministers allowed state bank CDC to buy shares from defence firm Lagardere in April 2006 despite knowing about problems at the plane maker.
'Not aware'
Ms Lagarde said that the finance ministry's internal investigation into its conduct proved that until "at least the end of May 2006", the government was "no more aware than the public or the markets" of delays with the superjumbo A380.
"The services of my ministry performed their task in the most professional manner, the most irreproachable fashion," she said.
Thierry Breton, finance minister at the time, testified last week before the parliamentary committee that he knew nothing of the deal with Lagardere, also defending the finance ministry's actions as "beyond reproach".
President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised to investigate fully whether the government played any part in the alleged insider trading, while opposition politicians have called for a public inquiry into the matter.Shanghai’s seagull terminal nears completion
Officials at Shanghai Pudong International Airport have confirmed that the US$2.5 billion (Yuan 20 billion) seagull-shaped Terminal 2 project will open for passengers early next year.
This marks completion of the second phase of construction at the airport, which opened in 1999. Upon completion, the expansion project will increase the airport’s annual passenger capacity from 20 million to 60 million, making Shanghai one of the world’s largest airports.
More expansion is planned. The airport expects to handle around 100 million passengers a year and 5.7 million tonnes of cargo by 2020, making it the biggest international airport in China.
By then, it should have three terminals, two satellite buildings and five runways, and will handle most air passengers travelling to and from the city.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport is located in the eastern part of China’s Pudong district. In 2006 it handled 17.15 million passengers on international flights, considerably more than Beijing Capital International Airport, which handled 12.6 million international passengers. At present, only 5% of passengers traveling to Pudong are on transfers, but that figure is expected to grow to between 30 to 40% by 2020.
October 12, 2007
Air India in talks with Star Alliance to join group
By Saifur Rahman, Business News Editor
Dubai Air India, the newly merged Indian national carrier, has began negotiating with Star Alliance to join the group, a senior official told Gulf News.
It is mulling more firm orders for its future needs.
"The newly-merged airline has appointed a team to look into future fleet requirements and they are currently talking to both manufacturers," Jitender Bhargava, executive director of Air India's corporate communications, said.
"We have also started talks with Star Alliance for possible membership."
The company is in the process of establishing new routes and will then built on those in the coming years. "The current orderbook is good enough for now. However, we will need more in the coming years," he said.
"There are 330 aircraft currently in operation in India. In five years, it will jump to 1,000. This means we will have to order more to meet future demand.
"The current plans are to develop intercontinental routes from India to the US, via a common hub in Europe. We are looking at cities like Munich, Vienna and Copenhagen to offer those services, where travellers from all major cities could come and change aircraft to board flights to their destinations in the US."
Volumes
Air India carried 4.8 million passengers, while Indian Airlines, which merged with Air India, carried 7.86 million passengers, he said. "The Indian aviation industry is growing at 30 per cent year on year - one of the highest in the world."
The merger will be completed in 12 to 18 months, when flight codes of Air India and Indian Airlines will be unified and booking systems integrated, he said. "Then we will look into route rationalisation and network optimisation. We hope to expand our flights to the Gulf then," he said.
IATA standard paves way for global mobile phone check-in
Α global standard that paves the way for global mobile phone check-in using two-dimensional (2D) bar codes was announced by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Mobile phone check-in enables airlines to send 2D bar codes directly to a passenger’s mobile phone, personal digital assistant or smart phone.
Passengers simply register their mobile number with their airline at the time of booking to receive a text message with a 2D bar code, or instructions to download it. The bar code becomes the passenger’s boarding pass and it is read directly from the screen of the mobile device, eliminating paper completely from the check-in process.
“Passengers want the convenience of self-service options in a paperless environment. This standard is an important step in getting rid of paper that bogs down processes and drives up costs,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
Historically, airline global applications for mobile phone technology have been restricted due to differerent regional formats. The IATA standard uses existing codes: Aztec and Datamatrix which are used extensively in Europe and North America; and QR which is widely used in Japan. All three are proven technologies and can be read by a single scanner type that is cost effective and readily available globally.
“The creation of a standard code is only part of the solution,” said Bisignani. “In the next months we will be working with our members to develop standardised processes and guidelines that facilitate global implementation.”
The industry has set a deadline of the end of 2010 to implement 100% bar coded boarding passes (BCBP). Upon full implementation, BCBP will save the industry over US$500 million annually. A 2D standard for paper bar coded passes was established in 2005 and is the basis for web check-in. Both standards (mobile and paper based) can be issued and accepted by airlines worldwide.
The global introduction of BCBP to replace magnetic stripe technology is one of five Simplifying the Business (StB) projects launched by IATA in 2004. The StB goal is to use technology to make travel more convenient while saving US$6.5 billion in costs.
ASTA and ACTA applauds RCCL`s stance against card mills
The American Society of Travel Agents and the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies applauded Royal Caribbean Cruise’s (RCCL) announcement that its brands (Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises) will begin terminating relationships with businesses it deems to be card-mills.
In a letter to travel agents, RCCL noted that it "has a fundamental concern with the business practices of these companies" and that it is "taking this action in an effort to prevent a growing and troubling trend within the travel industry."
In a letter sent to Lisa Bauer, senior vice president of sales for Royal Caribbean, and Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice president of sales for Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises, ASTA said: "We appreciate that [your] actions once again demonstrate the value of the travel agency distribution system as well as the importance of promoting industry integrity. [This] announcement is good news to legitimate travel sellers whose businesses depend upon consumer trust and to consumers who look to their travel agent for expert and professional service."
"ASTA has worked long and hard to educate consumers and travel companies regarding card mills, and we would welcome any opportunity to work together towards this goal. ASTA has long been engaged in the fight to stop the proliferation of card mills and the damage these firms inflict on the reputation of professional travel agents."
"ACTA has long been concerned about the acceptance of such cards by suppliers, as they are sold to non-travel professionals and ACTA certainly welcomed the cruise line’s decision. The association can only wish that many other travel suppliers, and hotel chains in particular, will follow suit and help the industry fight the proliferation of such card mill," commented Christiane Theberge, President and CEO of ACTA.
"This fight to preserve the value and integrity of bona fide travel professionals was also behind the decision ACTA took at the beginning of this year to introduce a new ACTA ID Card recognizing Canadian travel professionals. This card with stringent requirements is already recognized by numerous suppliers who were unanimous to claim that travel professionals carrying the ACTA ID Card are the major sellers of travel products," concluded Theberge.
Ryanair carries more ABC1 passengers than BA survey reveals
Ryanair’s passenger profile for the last 6 months included a greater proportion of ABC1 passengers than British Airways (BA) an independent survey commissioned by in-flight media company InviseoMedia and carried out by iCD Research revealed.
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Boeing To Delay Delivery Of 787
Reuters - Boeing on Wednesday pushed back first deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner by at least six months as it struggles to assemble the new lightweight, carbon-composite plane.
The delay is a major embarrassment setback for Boeing, which has for months insisted it would meet its delivery timetable despite production problems, and mirrors delays suffered by rival Airbus on its A380 superjumbo.
"We are disappointed by today's schedule changes and deeply regret the impact these delays will have on our customers," said Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney.
Boeing, which has orders for more than 700 of the 787s from 48 airlines and leasing companies -- worth more than USD$100 billion at list prices -- said there would be no "material" impact to earnings and left its forecasts for this year and next unchanged.
The Chicago-based company said 787 deliveries are now slated to begin in late November or December 2008 versus an original target of May 2008.
Chief Financial Officer James Bell said some revenues would slip from 2008 to 2009 as about 30-35 plane deliveries are moved from one year to the next. The company is set to update its financial forecasts alongside its third-quarter earnings report on October 24.
The company said it is still aiming to deliver 109 787s by the end of 2009, only three fewer than originally planned.
The delay is a blow to Japan's All Nippon Airways, the first 787 customer, which was hoping to ferry passengers to next summer's Beijing Olympic Games in the initial planes of its planned 50-strong 787 fleet.
"Many outside Boeing had questioned the feasibility of meeting the first delivery date," Bank of America analyst Robert Stallard said in a note. "Boeing has now bitten the bullet and accepted that the schedule is beyond them. The firm has taken the only sensible move under the circumstances."
Boeing said the delay was due to problems putting together the actual structure of the plane, compounded by the scarcity of some parts.
It said that integrating the plane's flight control software, being produced by Honeywell -- which had contributed to a previous delay in the schedule -- was not the cause of the delivery delay.
The company said it now expects the first test flight of the 787 to take place "around the end of the first quarter" next year, suggesting it could be as late as March or even April 2008.
That is a drastic extension to its original plan to start airborne tests in August 2007. In early September, Boeing rescheduled the first test flight for mid-November to mid-December as it wrestled with software problems and a shortage of bolts.
Boeing said the new schedule restores some margin to deal with unexpected problems that might appear during ground and flight tests. If Boeing sticks to its new schedule, it could have eight months to complete flight testing and certification, as opposed to six months on its previous estimate.
Flight testing and certification on Boeing's last new airliner, the 777, took 11 months.
"We deeply regret the impact these delays will have on our customers, and we are committed to working with them to minimize any disruption to their plans," Scott Carson, chief executive of Boeing's commercial planes unit, said in a statement.
He said the main problems were installing parts of the plane's structure, which had been thrown out of sequence by some suppliers sending incomplete work to Boeing's main Everett, Washington plant, aggravated by a shortage of some small parts.
Boeing, which rolled out a shell of the first 787 model in front of many of its customers in early July, did not say whether it would have to pay any penalties or other compensation to airlines buying the plane, which is standard in the industry when a plane's delivery is delayed.
US Plans October Meeting On Airline Delays
The meeting planned for October 23-24 will address scheduling practices of domestic carriers at John F. Kennedy and Newark airports. Airlines were supposed to submit scheduling information for spring and summer 2008 travel to aviation authorities by Thursday.
Carriers expected to participate include: JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, American Airlines, and Continental Airlines.
JetBlue is based at JFK and Delta has major operations there. Continental operates a hub at Newark. Both airports have extensive international departures. Delta has already announced some schedule changes at JFK for next summer.
Like the first meeting of its kind in Chicago for O'Hare Airport in 2004, the US Justice Department will oversee the proceedings to ensure that no antitrust rules are violated.
The scheduling meeting seeks to wring a voluntary agreement from airlines to change scheduling by eliminating flights or moving them to less busy times of the day. The FAA could cap flights at either airport, if no agreement is reached.
JFK and Newark are two of the most congested airports in the United States and delays there can impact traffic in other cities as well as international flights.
Ground delays are on a record pace this year, especially those lasting between one and five hours. Chronic and widespread delays during the summer, partly blamed on scheduling, angered consumers and drew the attention of congressional lawmakers and the White House.
President George W Bush ordered deputies in September to devise a plan to shorten delays. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters will submit her recommendations in December. They could include forced schedule cuts, if voluntary efforts fall short, or a plan to charge airlines more to use congested airports at busy periods.
Germany`s hotel market keeps a strong pace
Germany’s hotel market expansion will not stop. In the next five years 179 first-class hotels and 49 luxury hotels with more than 37,000 rooms will be opened in Germany. According to tophotelprojects.com, the on-line databases for international hotel projects, most of the top hotel projects are planned for the major cities of Germany.
In the capital city of Berlin 49 first-class and luxury hotels with over 4,200 rooms are under construction and will be opened until 2013. In Hamburg 14 top hotels (with more than 2,500 rooms) are planned and in Munich 9 top hotels (with 1,700 rooms) are under construction. In Frankfurt the hotel market will welcome 12 new top hotels with more than 2,800 rooms.
A large number of planned top hotels will be managed by international hotel chains and operators, e.g. Hilton, Kempinski, Mandarin Oriental, Marriott and Rezidor. One of the most important top hotel projects this year will be The Charles hotel in Munich, No 3 of the Rocco Forte Collection in Germany (opening is scheduled for end of October 2007).
In Germany more than 12,000 hotels (from business to wellness hotels and boarding houses) and over 33,000 other accommodation facilities are currently under operation. 2,800 hotels are four star rated (first class), 224 are luxury hotels (five star rated). In total, over 4,480 hotels are focused on business travelers. Over 5,900 houses are conference hotels and more than 4,600 hotels are dedicated to leisure guests.
European MPs demand airport masterplan
It has called on the European Commission to develop a European masterplan for airports, including the development of up to 10 major airports and 15 medium-sized airports.
While acknowledging the importance and urgency of boosting existing capacity, notably by improving slot allocation and ground-handling services in airports, the Parliament urges the EU executive to “take a further step” and come up with a “Masterplan for enhanced airport capacity in Europe” before 2009, containing measures to “promote and coordinate any national and cross-border initiatives for building new airport capacities”.
“Airports are so congested that if one flight gets slightly delayed, it affects many other airports. The lack of airport capacity is therefore not just a national problem. It is a European problem,” says Danish Liberal MEP Anne Jensen, who drafted the report.
The report adds that building new capacity would help avert unnecessary air pollution caused by en route or ramp congestion, but says additional measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and noise, such as including aviation in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme, taxing jet fuel or differentiating airport charges according to environmental performance, would be necessary.
October 10, 2007
Thai lands at Hong Kong’s Terminal 2
These six airlines now serve more than 100 departing flights a week from the terminal and airport officials predict Terminal 2 will account for about 15% of the passengers departing HKIA by te end of this year.
“Terminal 2 complements the facilities and services in Terminal 1, and gives us vitally important room to grow,” says Stanley Hui, CEO of Airport Authority Hong Kong. “In the months ahead, Terminal 2 will serve an even larger number of airlines and departing passenger traffic.”
In addition to offering passenger check-in services, Terminal 2 operates as a multi-modal hub where air, land and sea transport converge seamlessly. Each day, Terminal 2’s coach station serves over 6,000 passengers, who board buses to local hotels and 70 mainland destinations.
In 2009, an automated people mover will connect Terminal 2 to the new SkyPier which will receive ferries from the Pearl River Delta.
ICAO sets 2010 deadline for e-passports
All states should embrace machine-readable passports (MRPs), or e-passports, by 1 April 2010 in order to improve security and safety at airports, claims the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
ICAO secretary-general, Dr. Taieb Cherif, says the technology “improves the overall national security of states in the fight against terrorism and criminal mobility. With the introduction of this infrastructure, we are witnessing the beginning of a new era in travel document verification and authentication.” He claims it will also support more efficient border control procedures.
Dr. Cherif says ICAO will support states’ plans to issue machine readable travel documents and will help to ensure standards and best practices are followed to establish and maintain confidence in the systems.
“I encourage those states that require assistance with their machine readable travel documents or electronic machine readable travel documents to contact the ICAO Technical Co-operation Bureau and see how they can benefit from its proven track record.”
ICAO estimates that up to 120 states have begun the process of introducing MRPs. Of these, around 50 states have included biometric details in their specifications.
ICAO is working with donor states, international organisations and other United Nations offices to support those states with insufficient resources to introduce MRPs by the deadline.
UK to switch taxes from passengers to flights
“It is right to tax emissions, not passengers. That means reflecting a combination of aircraft type and distance flown,” says EasyJet CEO Andy Harrison. “However, the reform should not be used as an excuse to further increase the burden of tax on passengers. EasyJet, for example, already covers its carbon costs more than four times over.”
British Airways says, “Our share of Air Passenger Duty (APD) revenue for the government is now £400 million (US$815.6 million) a year. With this money, the government could offset our entire CO2 emissions four times over.”
Ryanair says the reformed APD would be “just another tax on ordinary passengers from government ministers swanning around on private aircraft. This Labour government lied when it proposed to spend the £1 billion raised from doubling APD on the environment. Not a penny has been spent on the environment and they are back stealing more from ordinary passengers going on holidays.”
Airbus Orders Jump To 854 After Strong September
Airbus has reported 854 plane orders to the end of September versus 226 at the same point last year.
The Toulouse-headquartered company posted 141 orders in September versus just four in the same month a year earlier.
Thirty-six deliveries in September lifted the total for the first nine months to 330 from 320 at the same point last year.
US rival Boeing had 329 deliveries for the same period, its web site showed.
Boeing had 893 net orders as of October 2, subtracting 10 order cancellations.
Airbus uses gross figures which do not reveal how many plane orders were cancelled.
Wizz Air Orders 50 Airbus A320s
Wizz Air, a leading budget airline in eastern and central Europe, signed a deal with Airbus to buy 50 narrow-body A320 aircraft, the companies said on Wednesday.
Wizz Air, which is expanding its 70 route European network, also has an option to buy 25 additional A320's by 2016, they said in a presentation.
"The new deal increases the total order made by Wizz Air for A320 to 82," the companies said.
The 50 new planes are to be delivered in 2011-2014, while the option covers the period 2014-2016.
The total value of the order is USD$3.5 billion based on listed prices, but airlines usually receive a discount to the official price.
Boeing Says 787 On Track For May 2008 Delivery
Reuters - Boeing said on Monday it still expected to deliver its first lightweight 787 Dreamliner aircraft on time by May 2008, despite delays to its test flight schedule.
"It is still our objective to meet that May 2008 delivery but in doing that we have had to compress our flight-test schedule," Randy Tinseth, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President for Marketing, told reporters.
"It is an aggressive schedule but we believe we can do it."
Tinseth said the plane was still set for its first test flight between mid-November and mid-December after a three month delay due to a shortage of bolts and problems programming the flight control software.
The plane must complete 1,300 flight-test hours and 3,700 ground-test hours between the first flight and certification of the plane, Tinseth said, describing the schedule as "challenging".
The first 787 is due to be delivered to Japan's All Nippon Airways.
Boeing, which competes with Airbus for the title of world's biggest plane maker, is forecasting 28,600 new aircraft worth about USD$2.8 trillion will be bought over the next 20 years on the back of rising demand for passenger travel and air cargo.
Tinseth, speaking on a visit to Australia, said Boeing now expected 580 planes worth USD$73 billion would be bought in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific by 2026.
Boeing upped its forecast from 440 planes worth USD$60 billion previously due to rapid growth in low-cost airlines which were bumping up orders for single-aisle planes.
He said fuel prices were expected to remain volatile, although Boeing's 20 year forecast assumed they would moderate over the next 20 years.
