Aeroflot enhances passenger services

Boeing 737 from Aeroflot

Russia's most well-known airline, Aeroflot has expanded its range of extra services for passengers with the introduction of paid-for advance seat selection for travellers on the carriers Promo and Budget fares. Previously, passengers holding these ticket types were not able to choose a seat before check-in. In addition, passengers can pay an additional fee to upgrade to Business Class from Economy or Comfort Class. 

Passengers holding Economy or Comfort Class tickets will be able to upgrade to Business Class for an extra fee. Upgrades can be purchased during check-in at the airport at least 1.5 hours before the flight, via the Online Check-In page of Aeroflot’s website or through Aeroflot’s 24-hour Contact Centre, starting 72 hours before the flight and at least 2 hours before take-off time. 

Upgrades are subject to seat availability in Business Class by the end of check-in. Passengers will receive a new boarding pass before boarding the plane. If no upgrades are available, passengers will get a full refund. More information can be found on the Aeroflot website.

Mexico's Volaris issues latest results

The leading ultra-low-cost airline serving Mexico, the United States and Central America, Volaris has issued its latest figures for November 2018 and the year-to-date. 

During November 2018 Volaris increased total capacity, as measured in Available Seat Miles (ASMs), by 11.3% year over year. Total demand, as measured in Revenue Passenger Miles (RPMs), in November 2018 increased 17.1% year over year, reaching 1.6 billion. Volaris transported a total of 1.6 million passengers during the month, an increase of 16.6% year over year. Network load factor for November was 88.3%, an increase of 4.4 percentage points year over year. During November 2018, Volaris started to operate 12 domestic routes, from its focus cities Mexico City, Bajio and Guadalajara. Additionally, Volaris started to operate three international routes, two from Bajio to Sacramento and San Jose, California and one from Guadalajara to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Volaris' President and Chief Executive Officer, Enrique Beltranena, commented: "Passenger demand continues to be solid for Volaris. We hit a record number of passengers transported during the month, positioning the airline as the domestic market leader during 2018". 

Gulfstream to debut G500 and G600 at MEBAA Show 2018

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. announced the all-new, clean-sheet Gulfstream G500 and Gulfstream G600 will make their first appearance at the Middle East and North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) airshow Dec. 10-12 in Dubai. These all-new aircraft will join the Gulfstream fleet, including the super-midsize Gulfstream G280, the high-performing Gulfstream G550 and the flagship Gulfstream G650ER.

Aeromexico November performance

Aeromexico reported November 2018 operational results earlier this week.  The group transported 1 million 777 thousand passengers in November; a 1.5% year-on-year increase. International passenger numbers increased by 0.3%, while domestic passenger numbers increased by 2.2%. Demand, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPKs), increased by 2.4%, year-on-year. Aeromexico's capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs), increased by 2.4% year-on-year. Aeromexico's November load factor was 82.0%, flat versus November 2017.

Norwegian 787 took off from the wrong part of Gatwick's standby runway......

A Boeing 787, registration G-CKWC, belonging to low-cost long-haul airline Norwegian, began its takeoff roll from the displaced landing threshold of runway 26R at London's Gatwick Airport on March 28th at 2201, however, that wasn't the start of the runway, which was some 417 metres behind them!

Photo Gatwick Airport

Gatwick's runway 26R is the emergency or standby runway, it is sometimes used when work is being carried out on the main landing strip, usually at night. It is also the one that Gatwick's owners want to use as a second runway for take off's in tandem with the main runway according to plans undergoing a consultation process at the moment, despite the narrow distance between the two. 

The start of the standby or emergency runway is marked by a white line, but the part of the runway before the landing threshold does not include white edge lights or centreline lights as runways do have. This configuration complies with relevant current specifications. To get to the start of the runway aircraft follow a route on a taxiway that is on the same heading as the runway and no turn is required. This is most unusual, as the majority of airports have runway entry points that require a turn onto the runway centreline. 

Beginning and threshold of runway 26R      Photo AAIB

Mechanical malfunction caused the Leicester City Football Club owners helicopter to crash

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority Air Accident Investigation Branch has issued a special bulletin report into the AW169 helicopter that crashed at 1937 on October 27th at Leicester City Football Club, which took the lives of the five people on board, including the clubs chairman and owner   Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

United's MileagePlus wins top award

United Airlines MileagePlus, loyalty programme has been awarded the 2018 Frequent Traveler Titan Award as the leading and most innovative airline loyalty program in the Americas. The Titan Awards are awarded to one airline, hotel and rental car company by a board of notable loyalty leaders who have been an integral part of building the loyalty industry.

"It's a tremendous honour to be recognized by this industry's leadership for having the best airline loyalty program in the Americas," said Luc Bondar, United's president of MileagePlus and vice president of Loyalty. "It is our goal to make sure MileagePlus members are taken care of at every step of their travel journey and we look forward to continuing to find new opportunities to enhance the experience for all of our members.".

  "We congratulate United MileagePlus for earning the prestigious Frequent Traveler Titan Award for the Americas," said Henry Harteveldt, Titan Awards chair and noted airline industry analyst. "Our distinguished panel of six travel industry loyalty pioneers recognizes MileagePlus's industry-leading strength and value across the Americas."

Icelandair saw passenger numbers increase during November

Icelandair issued its November and year to date figures on Thursday, November 6th which detailed the number of passengers on international flights was a little over 280,000, up around 12% from November last year. However, the airline also increased capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) increased by 13%.  The troubled airlines' load factor was 79.8% and increased by 1.8 percentage points over last years figured. 

The number of passengers on domestic and regional flights was 22,363, a decrease of 16% compared to November last year. Icelandair says this is a direct result of the need to axe flights to Belfast, Aberdeen and between Keflavik and Akureyri in the middle of May to cut costs.  The load factor was 65.2% increasing by 6.5%.

Sold block hours in charter flights decreased by 2% between years. Freight increased by 12%. The number of available room nights at the Company’s Hotels was up by 20% from last year. The room occupancy was 76.7% compared to 75.5% in November 2017.

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Fiji Airways starts flying as a oneworld connect partner

Fiji Airways started flying as a oneworld connect partner earlier this week, as the first airline globally to link up to the world’s premier alliance via this new membership platform.

Fiji Airways is now starting to display the new oneworld connect branding on its aircraft fuselages by the main passenger doors, on signage at airports and on other many other items of stationery and marketing collateral.

The first Fiji Airways aircraft to feature the oneworld connect logo is its initial Boeing 737 MAX 8, which has just touched down at its Nadi hub after its delivery flight from the manufacturer’s Seattle base.  Four more of these state-of-the-art twinjets will follow in the year ahead as a replacement for older 737s flying on the airline’s short and medium-haul network to destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and neighbouring Pacific Islands.  Fiji Airways is the first airline in the region to operate this modern aircraft type.

Flight with Santa Claus takes off

It has become something of a tradition just before the holiday season for Canadian holiday carrier Air Transat and the Children's Wish Foundation to operate a  Flight with Santa Claus. 

Hundreds of children were part of the festivities with the hope of finding Santa somewhere in the sky between Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver earlier this week. Upon their arrival, elves and animated characters welcomed children and their families at the Air Transat check-in counters at Montreal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson and Vancouver airports. At the boarding gate, a number of activities awaited everyone before taking place in an Air Transat airplane. Shortly after take-off, mission accomplished: Santa himself appeared in the cabin, delighting everyone.

Embraer and NAC sign firm order for three E190 aircraft

Embraer has signed a firm contract for three E190 aircraft with Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), the global leader in regional aircraft leasing. This agreement was announced as a Letter of Intent (LoI) in July at the 2018 Farnborough Air Show. The firm order has a value of USD $156 million, based on Embraer’s list prices, or $86 million after discounts

These new aircraft will join the existing 155 E-Jets currently owned by NAC, Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial jets up to 150 seats. The Company has 100 customers from all over the world operating the ERJ and E-Jet families of aircraft. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged almost 1,800 orders and 1,400 deliveries, redefining the traditional concept of regional aircraft.

NAC is the industry’s leading regional aircraft lessor serving over 70 airline customers in 50 countries. The company provides aircraft to well-established carriers such as British Airways, Air Canada, LOT, Azul, Lufthansa, Garuda, Flybe, Aeroméxico and airBaltic as well as major regional carriers including Air Nostrum and Widerøe. NAC’s current fleet of nearly 500 owned and managed aircraft includes ATR 42, ATR 72, Bombardier Dash 8, CRJ900, CRJ1000, A220, E170, E175, E190 and E195.

American Express are bringing Centurion lounges to London Heathrow and Charlotte Douglas

American Express has announced that it plans to open the thirteenth and fourteenth locations in its signature airport lounge network, The Centurion Lounge, at London’s Heathrow Airport (Image rendering left), as well as a location in the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. 

The Centurion Lounge at Heathrow Airport will be the first location in Europe, and the second location outside of the US. Whilst the lounge at Charlotte Douglas Airport in North Carolina will be one of the largest locations in the network.

GOL's impressive November figures

GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, Brazil's premier domestic airline, announced its preliminary air traffic figures for the month of November 2018, earlier this week which showed a steady increase in performance when compared to last year.   GOL's domestic supply (ASK) and demand (RPK) increased by 1.1% and 2.9%, respectively. GOL's domestic load factor was 83.7%, a 1.5 p.p. increase in comparison to November 2017. The volume of departures decreased by 2.4% and seats increased by 1.9% over November 2017. The airlines' supply (ASK) and demand (RPK) increased by 27.5% and 30.8%, respectively, and international load factor was 76.0%, an increase of 1.9 p.p. in relation to November 2017.  GOL's total supply (ASK) increased 4.0% due to a 1.9% increase in seats and a 2.0% decrease in departures. GOL's total demand (RPK) increased 5.7% in comparison to November 2017 and consolidated load factor was 82.6%.

Air Macau to lease two Airbus A321neo aircraft

Leading aircraft leasing firm Air Lease Corporation announced a long-term lease agreement for two new Airbus A321neo aircraft with Air Macau. 

The aircraft are powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1133G engines and are scheduled to be delivered in November 2019 and the first part of 2020.  "ALC has worked closely with Air Macau’s management team since 2010 and we are pleased to strengthen our long-standing relationship with the airline with this announcement today,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Executive Chairman of Air Lease Corporation. “We are committed to providing the most modern, fuel-efficient aircraft to ALC customers and these two new A321neo aircraft will significantly enhance Air Macau’s fleet operations.”

Norwegian reports strong passenger growth in November

The popular and rapidly growing low-cost carrier Norwegian has reported strong passenger growth as it carried almost 2.9 million passengers in November, an increase of 14% compared to the same month the previous year.

The airline carried 2,877,549 passengers in November, an increase of 357,329 passengers, or 14% more when compared to the same month last year. The total traffic growth (RPK) increased by 26 percent driven by a 34% capacity growth (ASK). The load factor was 78.8%.

The traffic figures for November are influenced by the transition from summer to winter operations, as well as the launch of several new routes, plus increased aircraft utilization, compared to the same month the previous November.  Norwegian’s passengers continue to fly longer distances, which also effects this month’s figures. The boss, CEO Bjørn Kjos is happy with the performance, saying “I am pleased that there has been a positive development in yield this month. At the same time, several of our summer routes have been extended into November, which has affected the load factor. A full transition into the winter program will take place early next year, once the busy holiday season is behind us,” 

Talks progressing between WOW and Indigo

Indigo Partners, the private equity firm behind Wizz Air, Tiger Airways, Spirit and Frontier confirmed it has been having due diligence meetings this week in Reykjavik as the initial steps to a potential Indigo investment in the financially struggling Icelandic carrier WOW air.  

A team from Indigo Partners spent the last two days with WOW air management to review the business and opportunities of the airline going forward. The overall process is progressing and both parties are working to finalise the investment.  Issues remaining include WOW's planned network development, vendor contracts including aircraft leases and certain waivers from WOW's bondholders. 

"These have been two very good days with detailed discussions around WOW's current business and how we would envision it going forward.  WOW air has a dedicated team and a strong brand that has significant potential," said Bill Franke, Managing Partner of Indigo Partners.

"We are very pleased with the visit from Indigo Partners and it's clear that we can learn a lot from Bill Franke and his team on how to build a successful low-cost airline.  I don't think we can find a better and more experienced partner to bring WOW air to the next level," said Skuli Mogensen, CEO and founder of WOW air.

WOW is advised in this transaction by Plane View Partners LLC, the U.S. air transportation advisory firm.

Fellow Iceland based airline Icelandair had previously been interested in taking over WOW in a share swap deal, however, they pulled out citing deeper debts at WOW as well as not being able to secure enough funding for the operation of the two airlines. 

(Image WOW air)

A new international flight for Azul.................Porto launches in June 2019

The largest Brazillian airline Azul has released details of a new non-stop service to Porto, Portugal starting on June 3rd, 2019. The city will receive three weekly flights from Campinas, Azul's main hub, which will have a total of 17 weekly frequencies to Portugal. Sale of tickets to Porto starts today and is available on all Azul distribution channels.

The Portuguese city is the second destination in Europe to receive flights from Azul after Lisbon. The non-stop flight will be operated on an Airbus A330, with 272 seats. With the addition of this new flight, Campinas, the largest hub in Latin America, will offer non-stop service to 57 destinations, including Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Lisbon. In partnership with Aigle Azur, Azul also offers flights to Paris, France.

Azul will fly three times a week to the Portuguese city starting June 2019 from its main hub in Campinas

Royal Air Maroc to join oneworld alliance

Royal Air Maroc is expected to be implemented into oneworld in mid-2020, when it will start flying alongside some of the biggest and best brands in the airline business. Its regional subsidiary Royal Air Maroc Express will join as a oneworld affiliate member at the same time.  

Royal Air Maroc is today the largest unaligned carrier in Africa – with a transformational strategy well underway to develop it quickly into a truly global airline and the continent’s leader in terms of both size and quality. Its schedule today will add 34 new destinations and 21 countries to the oneworld map, taking the alliance’s network to 1,069 airports in 178 countries and territories. 

It will also be the alliance’s first new full member airline signed since 2012. Fiji Airways was also linked to the alliance from December 5 as its first oneworld connect partner, the first new membership platform since the alliance was established. 

American’s first-ever Biometric Boarding Programme arrives at LAX

Biometric technology at airports around the world is increasing rapidly in these days of strong investment in advanced technology and the latest airport where the latest systems will be Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). American Airlines announced this week that customers at LAX will be able to benefit from the launch of the carrier’s first-ever biometric boarding pilot programme.

American customers travelling on select international departures from LAX Terminal 4 can now enjoy additional convenience during the departure process thanks to cutting-edge technology. Instead of scanning boarding passes, the new one-step facial recognition program will scan and verify a customer’s identity with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in seconds at the gate.

New cutting-edge technology offers customers additional convenience and security during boarding

Hawaiian Airlines predicts lower passenger numbers and revenues

Hawaiian Airlines, announced its system-wide traffic statistics for the month ended November 30th, 2018 earlier this week which showed the sunny carrier took more than 937,000  passengers for a ride in November 2018, slightly down on last year, with load factor also down slightly to 84.1%. The airline also lowered its expectations for certain fourth quarter results.