August results for LATAM

LATAM Airlines Group reported its preliminary monthly traffic statistics for August 2018 this week, which showed system passenger traffic increased 2.7%, while capacity rose by 6.3%. As a result, the company's load factor for the month fell 2.8 percentage points to 81.6%. International passenger traffic accounted for approximately 58% of the month's total passenger traffic.

LATAM Airlines has one of the largest route networks in the world, offering air services to around 143 destinations in 26 countries, and is present in six domestic markets in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in addition to its international operations in Latin America, Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, Oceania and Africa. It has a fleet of around 315 aircraft that have an average age of seven years and features modern craft like the Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and A320neo.

Recently the airline recieved a colourful welcome from the airport fire service at Lisbon Airport following the inaugural service from São Paulo/Guarulhos.

Air France - KLM release August figures

The Air France - KLM group released its figures for August this week and despite the recent industrial action by staff, passenger numbers continued to grow, up by 2.3% to 9.6 million people. Load factor for the group was also up slightly to 90.8%. The biggest increases in passenger numbers were seen in the Latin America and North America markets for the group. 

Gulf Air appoints new chief commercial officer

The national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gulf Air, announced recently the appointment of a new Chief Commercial Officer, taking up the role is Vincent Coste.  

Mr Krešimir Kučko, the Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Air welcomed Mr Coste to his new post along with the good wishes of the rest of the board. Coste comes with a wealth of aviation business experience, having spent 25 years in various commercial roles with airlines in the Europe, Americas,  Middle East and Africa. His most recent post was as Chief Commercial Officer of Kenya Airways where he spent the last 2 years establishing a new business model for the airline, to develop and grow. 

Mr Coste joins the Gulf Air management team at a significant time of change for the airline, earlier in 2018 the executive management of the carrier stated that 2018 was the #YearOfChange for the airline. Some of the changes include new livery, new fleet, new uniform, new destinations and a new strategy. 

By end of 2018, the airline is scheduled to receive 5 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and 1 Airbus A320neo aircraft in total. The new Dreamliners will be put on Gulf Airs double daily London Heathrow service as well as the flights to Casablanca. These latest additions to the fleet will enhance the on-board products and services the airline can provide.

(photo Gulf Air)

Hi Fly's A380 has a prang in Paris

The Hi Fly Airbus A380 is having a bit of a bumpy baptism with its first few clients,  first, there were massive delays in New York when the delightful double-decked superjumbo had been wet leased by Norwegian for its LGW to JFK route. 

The delays were not really of Hi Fly's making, more to do with the congestion at the departure gate configured for use by Airbus A380 aircraft which was already in use at the time of Norwegian's JFK flights. It seems the New York port authority wouldn't allow passengers to board the aircraft manually, via old-fashioned stairs, so they had to wait to use the departure gate.  

Now the brightly painted aircraft has been hired by Air Austral to operate its flights to Reunion.  Indeed, the A380 was operating the longest non stop domestic flight in the world, the airline said on  1st September, flying the St. Denis, Reunion to Paris. The double-decked plane carried 506 people over the 5,809 miles in 11 hours on the 1st. Everything was going well, until Friday last week, when one of the A380's engine cowlings was damaged by a jetbridge at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.  It has been reported that the aircraft was being towed by airport staff when the prang happened, although this hasn't yet been confirmed. According to FlightRadar24 the aircraft is still in Paris and undergoing repairs, although it isn't clear when the jet will be back in the air, we hope it will be soon. 

HiFly A380 is under maintenance after one of its engines has been hit by an airbridge at Paris CDG
https://t.co/n0LBXzgPn7

— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) September 9, 2018

More on the A380 from Hi Fly and its special 'save the coral reefs livery here.

WestJet passenger numbers increase during August

The Canadian airline, WestJet has announced its August 2018 traffic results today which show the carrier saw its load factor decreasing by 1.6% year on year to 89.0%.

The airline also reported its revenue passenger miles (RPMs), or traffic, increased 8.1 % on the same period last year. Capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), grew by 10.0% on last years numbers and the carrier welcomed an additional 128,000 guests during August, that's up 5.4%. 

"In August, we flew two of our busiest-ever traffic days with more than 80,000 guests choosing one of our four airline brands. In only its second full month of operation, Canadians continue to embrace Swoop with load factors consistently above ninety-five per cent," said Ed Sims, WestJet President and CEO. "I want to thank every individual WestJetter for continuing to provide our guests with an award-winning service experience."

Worst UK airlines for delays named.

According to a report by Which magazine, around 1.3 million UK air passengers have endured severe delays in the last 12 months alone.

The study said that 13,000 flights to or from UK airports were delayed by three hours or more in 12 months up to June this year.  On average, nearly 3,500 passengers faced lengthy delays each day.

According to the delay report, budget carrier, Easyjet was the worst with 2,618 late flights,  its low-cost-high-fee rival Ryanair was second with 1,868 flights and the former 'world's favourite airline' British Airways was third with 1,668 flights being delayed.

SpiceJet embarking on cargo only project from next Tuesday!

SpiceJet Ltd confirmed today that it will be launching a dedicated cargo service from next Tuesday, 18th September.  

The move comes as the airline is desperate to boost income and expand its offering above and beyond the normal commercial passenger operations.  SpiceJet says they are working towards a separate pure air cargo fleet Boeing 737 jets and expects to be operating the first four in the early part of next year.  

The airline also expects air freight demand within India to increase by at least 60% during the next five years and as such the carrier wants to be ready to capitalise on this growth.  The airline said, it ideally wanted to increase its cargo capacity to up to 900 tonnes per day during 2019.  The current tonnage as approximately 500 tonnes per day. 

19 dead in Sudan plane crash

South Sudan Plane Crash -   It has been confirmed that nineteen people were killed when a small passenger plane crashed into a lake as it tried to land in thick fog in central South Sudan. 

According to government official Taban Abel Aguek, four people, including two children, survived the crash. Victims include the pilot and co-pilot, a staff member of the Red Cross and an Anglican bishop, he told local media. 

"When it arrived the weather was so foggy and when it tried to land it crashed into Lake Yirol adjacent to Yirol town," Mr Abel Aguek, said. "The whole town is in shock, the shops are closed, some people have taken their relatives for burial. It is a commercial plane that crashed," he added.

The aircraft was carrying 23 people from the capital, Juba, to the city of Yirol on Sunday when the incident happened.  Images appearing on social media seemed to show the tangled wreckage of the aircraft part submerged in water with some locals using canoes helping the rescue effort. 

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End of the 'Open Skies' era

The 'Open Skies' era has come to an end, at least in terms of the airline called Open Skies set by British Airways in 2008, which operated its last flight last week.

Open Skies was a premium brand flying a premium service between New York and Paris Orly and has been absorbed into the new IAG budget carrier, Level, which used the Open Skies operators certificate to get airborne.   Now the last aircraft featuring the Open Skies livery doing an Open Skies route has flown its last revenue flight for the airline. The Orly operation is now run with two Level-branded Airbus A330-200s.

The last flight from Newark to Paris took place on 2nd September and the Boeing 767 is now in the process to be retired from service and as it bows out, so too does the last remnants of OpenSkies brand, at least in public eyes.

The aircraft, registration: F-HILU was flown to St Athan, a few miles from Cardiff, Wales on 3rd September to end its 28-year working life. 

Photo © Dominique Scarmure 

Vietnam Airlines and Aeroflot sign agreement for codeshare deal

The leading air carriers of Russia and Vietnam have agreed to strengthen cooperation between the two with a codeshare arrangement.

Aeroflot and Vietnam Airlines signed a special Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the ties between the two aviation leaders.  This MoU indicates that starting in 2019 the airlines will codeshare on domestic routes in Russia and Vietnam and also be expanding their cooperation over several areas of business.

Both airlines are members of the Sky Team global airlines alliance and believe the codeshare deal with help drive new passengers into their respective networks.  The agreement signed on 7th September marks the 25th anniversary of Vietnam Airlines’ services to Russia. The Executive Vice President of  Vietnam Airlines, Trinh Ngoc Thanh “The MoU takes our cooperation further in the direction of a solid and mutually beneficial partnership, offering customers a wider choice of travel options and world-class quality of two leading 4-Star airlines.” 

Aeroflot operates nine flights per week on routes between Moscow and Vietnam with a daily flight to Hanoi and a twice-weekly service to Ho Chi Minh city, utilizing Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft. Vietnam Airlines offers three direct flights per week between Hanoi and Moscow, operated on Boeing 787-9 aircraft. 

Air New Zealand celebrates a decade as Australasia’s number 1 airline

Air New Zealand has been named Australasia’s Leading Airline for the 10th consecutive year at the World Travel Awards in Hong Kong.

The airline has also been named Australasia’s Leading Airline Brand for the second year in a row, an award that was first introduced last year. The awards are voted for by travel and tourism professionals, as well as business and leisure travellers worldwide.

Air New Zealand Chief Marketing and Customer Officer Mike Tod says it's fantastic to have been recognised as Australasia’s top airline by both consumers and the travel industry for the past decade.

"This is a huge achievement and I'd like to thank all of our customers as well as those in the industry who voted for Air New Zealand. This award is a reflection of the commitment our 12,000 staff around the world put into ensuring we deliver products and services that our nation can be proud of," Mr Tod says.

Four new international routes for Aeroflot

The leading Russian airline, Aeroflot has confirmed that it will start four new international flights from the start of this coming winter season.

The airline is introducing services to Colombo, Gothenburg, Ljubljana. The flights will operate under the winter schedule effective 28th October 2018 and run through 30th March 2019.

Moscow-Colombo
- flight SU 0286 will depart Sheremetyevo on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 22:05, and arrive in Colombo at 9:05.

- return flight SU 0287 will depart Colombo on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:45, and arrive at Sheremetyevo at 17:30.

Photo Arvind Kumar

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka and its financial and cultural centre. It is the main tourist hub from which travellers start their journeys across the country. Five weekly flights on Airbus A330 aircraft.

Da Nang service to start in December for Qatar Airways

The Doha based Qatar Airways will be launching a flight to Da Nang, Vietnam, from 19th December 2018, its confirmed this week.

The service will operate four times a week on a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, featuring 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our newest gateway to Vietnam, the beautiful city of Da Nang. This new direct route demonstrates our commitment to expanding our presence in the Far East, a highly-important market for Qatar Airways.

Jet2 increase service Bourgas in Bulgaria

The UK holiday airline Jet2 will be adding more flights to Bourgas in Bulgaria during summer 2019 the airline has said.

A new Saturday service will be taking off from Manchester and Leeds Bradford Airports next summer.  in Summer 19! The new flights will mean the carrier will operate up to 14 services a week to Bourgas from across its nine UK bases.

The two additional services will both operate on Saturdays, on the following schedule:

Air India crew of brand new A320neo land on wrong runway that was under construction at Male, Maldives

An investigation is underway into why the crew of an Air India Airbus A320neo landed on an unfinished runway at Malé Velana International Airport in the Maldives on 7th September.

The aircraft, registration VT-EXL, was operating flight AI263 from Thiruvananthapuram International Airport with 136 passengers onboard at the time of the incident. During the landing on the unfinished runway that was still under construction at least one tyre in the main gear deflated and there was some damage to the aircraft's braking systems. Following the landing, the aircraft had to be towed to a parking stand where all passengers disembarked safely. 

The flight deck crew of the aircraft have been grounded pending results of the investigation which is being carried out by officials from both the Maldives and India.