Meridiana Launches New Look: Air Italy

Meridiana, Italy’s long-established privately owned airline, has announced an exciting new phase of growth and development with its new identity as Air Italy. Qatar Airways previously strengthened its commitment to Italy in 2017 with the acquisition of 49 percent of AQA Holding, the new parent company of Air Italy, while the previous sole shareholder Alisarda kept 51 percent.
Qatar Airways previously strengthened its commitment to Italy in 2017  with the acquisition of 49 percent of AQA Holding, the new parent company of Air Italy 
Air Italy will provide travellers with an innovative,  sophisticated and stylish carrier, offering an enhanced travel experience

During a press conference this week in Milan, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Mr. Akbar Al Baker; Mr. Marco Rigotti, Chairman of Alisarda and AQA Holding;  Mr. Sultan Allana of Alisarda and AKFED and Mr. Francesco Violante, Chairman of Meridiana, unveiled Air Italy’s fresh and modern brand identity and presented the new airline business plan, focusing on excellent passenger experience and the next generation of traveller, aimed at positioning itself as Italy’s leading airline.
Air Italy aims to have approximately 50 aircraft by 2022 and is already committed to receiving 20 of the brand new Boeing 737-Max aircraft type from April 2018, over the next three years. Air Italy will also receive five Airbus A330-200 aircraft this year from the Qatar Airways’ fleet, prior to these being further replaced by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, commencing May 2019.

Qatar Airways Welcomes the first A350-1000

Much of the World's aviation correspondents descended upon Toulouse, France today for the handover of the first super advanced Airbus A350-1000 to launch customer - Qatar Airways. The excitement had been building for quite some time and was literally palpable in the last half an hour before the celebrations and press conference began.  The aircraft is the first of 37 A350-1000s ordered by Qatar and is the first ever Airbus aircraft fitted with the revolutionary new Qsuite seats, which offer unrivalled levels of comfort and space including the first ever double bed in Business class.  Qatar Airways is the world’s largest A350 XWB family customer with a current total of some 76 aircraft on order and is also the largest A350-1000 customer to date. The growing airline was the launch customer for the 900 model and has indicated that it may upgrade some outstanding A350 orders to the new 1000 version in the future. The carrier says they expect to receive six 1000's this year. “Qatar Airways always demands the very best for its customers, so it is right that we are the first airline in the world to fly the Airbus A350-1000,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, “This remarkable state-of-the-art aircraft will become a firm part of Qatar Airways fleet and will keep us ahead of the curve, allowing us to continue to offer our passengers outstanding levels of comfort and service”.

Forbes Travel Guide Announces 2018 Star Rating Awards

As it celebrates its landmark 60th anniversary, Forbes Travel Guide today unveiled its 60th list of worldwide Star Rating winners, continuing its exceedingly selective approach for recognising the world's finest properties and rewarding gracious, intuitive service.

The 2018 award winners include 27 new Five-Star hotels, 70 new Four-Star hotels and 76 new hotels in the Recommended category. Other first-time recipients include five Five-Star restaurants, 24 Four-Star restaurants and 10 Recommend restaurants. The list also honours five new Five-Star spas and 29 new Four-Star spas. See the complete list of winners here.

Southwest Airlines Cargo To Go Beyond Borders

 Southwest Airlines announced this week, its intention to begin shipping cargo to select international destinations beginning in May 2018, subject to requisite government approvals. The first international destinations Southwest Airlines Cargo® expects to serve are Mexico City, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta with more international destinations planned for 2018.

"By offering the cross-border services that our Customers are looking for, we're able to help meet the needs of businesses throughout the United States and, soon, in Mexico," said Matt Buckley, Southwest Airlines' Vice President of Cargo and Charters. "As we enter the international cargo market for the first time, Customers will have more opportunities to experience the friendly and reliable service for which our Cargo Team is known."

United add 737 Max 9 to its domestic schedule

United Airlines announced this week it has added its newest aircraft type, the Boeing 737 MAX 9, to its domestic flight schedules. The MAX 9 features Boeing's Advanced Technology winglets and fuel-efficient engines providing a quieter ride and the ability to fly farther on less fuel than some of its existing fleet.
United expects to begin operating MAX 9 aircraft on 7th June, between its hub at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and five cities. Beginning 29th June, United expects to add additional MAX 9 flights from its Houston and Los Angeles hubs including service between Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Lufthansa Don't Like Air101

German airline group Lufthansa don't like this site, despite the largely positive coverage we've given the airline and its subsidiaries.  We applied to their affiliate programme but received the following message "your application for http://air101.co.uk to Lufthansa UK has been denied. Lufthansa UK do not think that the content of your site is suitable."
We also had subscribed to their mailing list for press releases, however, that has also now seems to have been removed.  
Perhaps they are taking revenge for Air101 not being overly positive or excited by the new brand identity and livery of Lufthansa. 

It does seem a rather petty and juvenile way for an airline to behave, however, we will continue to cover the airline in a fair and balanced way. 

Trainspotting writer calls airline staff muppets over small delay

Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting went on a rant worthy of one of the characters he created after his American Airlines flight was delayed. The aggressive Scot used social media to bemoan about his experience branding the airline muppets after a technical error with electronic flight bags meant critical safety flight manuals were not loaded correctly on the crew's flight iPads. “@AmericanAir can’t take off on this or any other flight as they’ve ‘lost all our updated flight manuals from our iPads. Are you f*****g kidding us, you muppets!” he wrote on Twitter.  

Following up with a more offensive expletive in another tweet -

The writer's reputation for being aggressive, rude and belligerent to those working in the service industry continues. And, the duration of the mega long delay that caused such anger and hate from the writer was....an hour. 

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Philippine Airlines view the A350-1000

The national airline of The Philippines is looking to add the largest version of the Airbus A350 family to its fleet the carrier’s president said on Thursday.
Philippine Airlines is currently undergoing a massive $2 billion that's approximately £1.4 billion expansion and fleet renewal programme to give it one of the youngest fleets in Asia.
“It is one airplane we can consider. It is a bigger version of the A350-900,” Jaime Bautista, president of the airline’s operator, PAL Holdings Inc, told reporters before an A350-1000 test flight in the capital Manila.

65 people feared dead in Iranian plane crash

It's believed that all 65 passengers and crew on an Aseman Airlines ATR72 aircraft have perished in an air disaster in the mountainous region in southern Iran.

The ATR72 was 24 years old and left the Iranian capital Tehran at around 8am local time Sunday morning and is understood to have crashed approximately an hour later. Local media is reporting that the aircraft came down near the remote mountain town of Semirom, which is close to 390 miles south of Tehran. A blanket of heavy fog was said to be in the region at the time of the incident.  
A spokesperson for Aseman Airlines originally advised that there were 66 people on the aircraft, however, it now appears one passenger had actually missed the flight, bringing the likely death toll to 65.  According to local media, there were 59 passengers on board, as well as a flight crew of two, two flight attendants and two air marshals.
The aircraft was en route to the southern city of Yasuj, in Isfahan province when the crash happened and "Given the special circumstances of the region, we still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers of this plane." said the spokesperson, Mohammad Taghi Tabatabai.  Rescue teams and Iran's Red Crescent have deployed workers to the area on foot as the fog is preventing helicopters from reaching the crash site.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a statement: "The very tragic incident of a passenger plane crashing on Tehran-Yasuj route, which led to the death of a number of our fellow Iranians, caused great grief and sorrow.  I hereby express sympathy with the bereaved families and offer my condolences to the Iranian nation, asking the Almighty mercy for those who lost their lives, and patience and rewards for their bereaved families."
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani issued messages of condolences. The president asked the transport minister to lead an investigation into the crash. The Armenian Prime Minister expressed his sympathies and condolences. 

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Air Canada Announces Appointment of Jon Turner as Vice President, Maintenance

Air Canada President and Chief Executive Officer Calin Rovinescu announced on Thursday the appointment of Jon Turner as Vice President, Maintenance.
Mr Turner began his career at Air Canada in 1980 and held a wide-range of critical operational positions with the company. From 1997 to 2004, as General Manager, Aircraft Programs, he was responsible for all aspects of Air Canada's aircraft acquisition and disposal. From 2004 to 2007 he was Vice President, Maintenance and Engineering. He is returning to Air Canada after working at other airlines, most recently Air Canada Express partner, Sky Regional, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer. He will report to Richard Steer, Senior Vice-President – Operations, who reports to Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada, who has overall responsibility for all aspects of the operations of the airline.

Bombardier Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Results With Some Surprises

Bombardier reported its fourth quarter and full year 2017 results, highlighting solid financial and operational performance across the company.
“Bombardier closed out the second full year of its five-year turnaround plan with very strong performance,” said Alain Bellemare, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. “Because of this solid performance, we begin 2018 with great momentum. Our operational transformation is in full motion; our growth programs - including the Global 7000 - are on track and we have a clear line of sight to our 2020 objectives.”
In 2017, Bombardier’s full-year EBIT before special items grew 57% year-over-year, from $427 million to $672 million, while EBITDA before special items(1) reached close to $1 billion. Full year EBIT margins exceeded guidance at Transportation, Business Aircraft and Aerostructures. Before special items, EBIT margins(1) were 8.4% at Transportation and Business Aircraft; and 10.0% at Aerostructures. Consolidated revenues for the year were $16.2 billion, in line with our guidance.

Alaska Air Group reports January 2018 operational results

 Alaska Air Group reported its January operational results this week,  on a consolidated basis, for its mainline operations operated by subsidiaries Alaska Airlines Inc. (Alaska) and Virgin America Inc. (Virgin America), and for its regional flying operated by subsidiary Horizon Air Industries Inc. (Horizon) and third-party regional carriers SkyWest Airlines and Peninsula Airlines.
On Jan. 11, 2018, Alaska and Virgin America consolidated their operations onto a Single Operating Certificate (SOC). As a result, operational results for Alaska and Virgin America have been combined into a single mainline operation.

Aeroflot Open 2018 Begins in Moscow on 19 February

The Aeroflot Open 2018 international chess festival will be held from 19 February to 1 March at the Cosmos Hotel. The competition is one of the world's oldest and most popular and is traditionally held with support from Aeroflot. This year's event is taking place in the Russian capital for the 16th time and brings together a strong line-up of participants.

he Aeroflot Open consists of three tournaments (A, B and C), into which competitors are entered according to their ratings. Players in all sections will play according to the Swiss system of nine rounds. Naturally, much of the interest is centred on the "A" group, in which players must have a ranking of 2,550 or higher.

This year the "A" tournament starting list includes leading players such as Vladimir Fedoseev, winner of Aeroflot Open 2017 (Russia, 2,724); Vidit Gujrathi, winner of the Tata Steel Challengers 2018 tournament (India, 2,723); Dmitry Andreikin, champion of Russia 2012 (2,712), former European blitz champion Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan, 2,709); current European champion Maxim Matlakov (Russia, 2,709); Vladislav Artemiev, winner of the Higher League of the Russian Championship 2015 (2,697); ex-European champion Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia, 2,684); Evgeny Naer, ex-champion of Europe and winner of Aeroflot Open 2016 (Russia, 2,683); and many other stars.

More than 90 chess players from 23 countries will compete in the "A" tournament. The overall winner of the competition will receive a ticket to the elite tournament in Dortmund (12-23 July 2018).

Aeromexico to Install 2Ku on Additional Boeing 737-800 Aircraft

Gogo the leading global provider of broadband connectivity products and services for aviation, announced today that Aeromexico will install 2Ku on an additional 9 Boeing 737-800NG's, bringing the total to 29 aircraft.  Today, 20 of Aeromexico's 737-800NG aircraft are flying with Gogo's 2Ku in-flight connectivity technology.
"Aeromexico was one of the first airlines to commit and deploy 2Ku and we are excited to extend our partnership and bring the industry's leading in-flight connectivity solution to their passengers," said Dave Bijur, Gogo's SVP and regional president for the Americas.  

Boeing 737 MAX 9 Awarded FAA Certification

Boeing announced today that the 737 MAX 9 has received an amended type certificate (ATC) from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), officially certifying the aeroplane for commercial service.
Boeing's new 737 MAX 9 has received FAA certification and is now being prepped for first delivery. Paul Weatherman photo. This certification marks the culmination of a successful flight test program that began in March 2017 with two Boeing flight test aeroplanes. The FAA certification affirms that the aeroplane's handling, systems and overall performance all comply with required aviation regulations.
"Our teams built superior capabilities into the MAX 9 and proved them all the way through flight test. We're looking forward to bringing this aeroplane to market for our valued customers," said Keith Leverkuhn, vice president and general manager of the 737 MAX program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "I am proud of the entire team for helping us reach another important development milestone."