Airlines

DUBAI: Emirates will install premium economy cabins in three of its existing Airbus A380 superjumbos as it prepares for an anticipated shift in demand once the airline industry emerges from the coronavirus crisis.

The world’s biggest long-haul airline will retrofit the seats – which offer more room than economy at a cheaper price than business class – into planes supplied by Amedeo Air Four, the leasing firm said in a statement Wednesday.

The change should help adapt the Emirates fleet to a post-Covid travel market in which well-heeled leisure passengers may be prepared to pay more for extra personal space amid continuing health concerns, even as demand for business trips remains subdued or switches to less costly options.

Though Emirates, the largest A380 operator, said at the end of 2020 that its last few new double-deckers would feature premium economy, President Tim Clark only revealed last month that it would convert older ones.

Four-class jets will have 56 premium-economy seats, according a December statement, with the number in coach dropping to 338 to accommodate them. The A380s will still have 76 business and 14 first-class berths.

Dubai-based Emirates has been a late convert to attractions of an upscale coach, which was first introduced at Virgin Atlantic and Taiwan’s EVA Air in the early 1990s.

Superjumbo operators including British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Qantas have long offered the product on their planes, while Lufthansa introduced it in 2015.

Emirates aimed to incorporate premium economy on Boeing’s 777X wide-body last year but switched to deployment on the A380 when that program hit delays.

A single new superjumbo was delivered with the cabin in January and five yet to be delivered from Airbus are expected to be similarly equipped.

KUALA LUMPUR: As per a report, Malaysia Airlines’ CEO has confirmed that the airline plans to retire their Airbus A380 fleet.

“We are cognizant of the challenges to sell this aeroplane, but we are still looking at ways and means to dispose of our 380 fleet. At the moment, the management is convinced that the 380 doesn’t fit the future plan” said Izham Ismail, Malaysia Airlines CEO.

Malaysia Airlines took delivery of their first of 6 A380’s in 2012, the last of which arrived in 2013 and was the 100th A380 produced. Malaysia Airlines A380 features 8 First Class Suites (later re-branded as Business Suite), 66 Business Class angle flat seats and 420 Economy Class seats, spread across both decks.

Since the arrival of A350 into the Malaysia Airlines fleet, the smaller twin Airbus has been slowly replacing the A380 between London and Kuala Lumpur; this has left the A380 doing adhoc high demand flights to Seoul, Tokyo, Madinah and Jeddah.

The pandemic has caused the acceleration of Airbus A380 retirements. Air France, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways and Thai Airways are all planning to retire their A380 fleets.

“There is no future for the A380. It was the wrong airplane at the wrong time. It is something that passengers love, many liked to travel on the A380. It’s very quiet and it’s very spacious, but at the end of the day, for the operator, it’s really painful to keep them in the skies. The operating costs are punishing and so are the maintenance costs, an A380 at C check is three times the cost of that of a B777 or an A350-1000.”

ISTANBUL: Turkish Airlines continues to be the carrier that flies boldly into the pandemic, operating almost 800 flights per day across the first week of April. With one eye on COVID-19 safe operations, the airline has recently been rewarded with an upgrade from the Safe Travel Barometer. Its score of 4.1 puts it fourth in the world for COVID safety and makes it the top airline in Turkey for clean and safe travel.

Throughout the pandemic, Turkish Airlines has maintained as much flying as possible, reaching 200 destinations served by October last year. To date, it remains the most active carrier in Europe, operating almost 800 flights per day, more than double the number of the next most active carrier, Lufthansa.

At the beginning of March, Turkish Airlines operated just over 600 flights per day, but as the summer season progresses, the airline is keenly ramping up operations. In the week ending April 4th, it operated an average of 797 flights, an increase of more than 32% from the level flying just a month ago. While the overall picture in Europe is one of declining flights, Turkish Airlines layered on more capacity, adding 14.1% additional flights week on week.

The airline has implemented all available measures to prevent the spread of COVID on its flights. Measures undertaken include the disinfection of all high-touch items between services, including blankets, pillowcases, and textiles. The cabin crew donned full PPE for all flights to and from high-risk areas, and the airline was keen to note that its onboard HEPA filters were adequately employed to remove contaminants from the cabin air.

Turkish Airlines’ efforts have not gone unnoticed. Safe Travel Barometer evaluates the safest airlines and airports in relation to COVID-19 and has uprated Turkish Airlines’ ranking in its latest leaderboard.

Like many other airlines, Turkish Airlines chose to suspend hot food service as part of its COVID safety measures. Now, passengers can look forward to improved service on long-haul flights, as the hot food option returned to Turkish Airlines from March 1st, 2021.

CHICAGO:  Boeing said that its first-quarter (Q1) revenue from commercial airplanes decreased to $4.3 billion driven by lower 787 deliveries, as against a revenue of $6.2 billion during Q1 2020, marking a fall of 31%.

First-quarter operating margin improved to -20.1% (-33% in Q1 2020), primarily due to higher 737 deliveries and lower period costs. The company delivered 77 commercial airplanes in the quarter, as compared to 50 in Q1 2020, an increase of 54%.

Boeing is continuing to make progress on the safe return to service of the 737 MAX worldwide, a company statement said.

“In addition, we are working closely with the FAA and our customers to address electrical issues identified in certain locations in the flight deck of select 737 MAX airplanes. Since the FAA’s approval to return the 737 MAX to operations in November 2020, Boeing has delivered more than 85 737 MAX aircraft and 21 airlines have returned their fleets to service, safely flying more than 26,000 revenue flights totaling over 58,500 flight hours (as of April 26, 2021),” the statement said.

The 737 programs are currently producing at a low rate and continue to expect to gradually increase production to 31 per month in early 2022 with further gradual increases to correspond with market demand. The company will continue to assess the production rate plan as it monitors the market environment and engages in customer discussions.

The company also resumed 787 deliveries in late March, following comprehensive reviews to ensure each airplane meets the company’s highest standards. During the quarter, the 787 programs consolidated final assembly to Boeing South Carolina and transitioned to the previously announced production rate of 5 aircraft per month.

“Commercial Airplanes continues to work closely with global regulators on all aspects of 777X development, including its rigorous test program, and the company still expects to deliver the first 777X in late 2023. As previously announced, the combined 777/777X production rate is transitioning to 2 aircraft per month,” Boeing said.

Commercial Airplanes secured orders for 100 737 aircraft from Southwest Airlines, 25 737 aircraft from United Airlines, 23 737 aircraft from Alaska Airlines, and four 747 freighter aircraft from Atlas Air. Commercial Airplanes delivered 77 airplanes during the quarter and the backlog included over 4,000 airplanes valued at $283 billion.

NEW YORK: Avelo Airlines, America’s first new airline to launch in the COVID era, took flight Wednesday, April 28 with a single round-trip between Burbank and Santa Rosa, CA in the wine country.

“Today’s first flight represents far more than a 90-minute journey from LA’s iconic Hollywood Burbank Airport to the Sonoma County Airport in the heart of California wine country, we’re embarking on a new era of choice, convenience and everyday low fares” said Avelo Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy. “Avelo was created to Inspire Travel by making it easier and more affordable to reconnect with family, celebrate with friends and explore new places. We’re excited to play a small part in making these new memories and adventures possible.”

“We are excited to bring our low fares, caring Soul of Service and convenient experience to Santa Rosa, Sonoma County and the Greater Bay Area” said Levy. “This new route will help stimulate demand to the region and allow travellers to skip Bay Area traffic. They can land in the heart of California’s wine country and be on their way to over 425 vineyards and 55 miles of majestic Pacific coastline just a few steps from the gate.”

Reported by aviation journalists Chris Sloan, Avelo’s strategy targets “connecting under-served, high-priced destinations with secondary airports in really large metro areas, more like a Ryanair and EasyJet, or even say a Southwest of 40 years ago in big metro areas avoiding congested airports” says Levy.

With low operating costs he estimates at 25 percent below Allegiant; with an initial fleet of three Boeing 737-800s on property, one owned and two leased at rock bottom costs, Levy is leveraging low costs. When asked why use such a large mainline jet on such thin routes, he points to Allegiant as a model “It used to be that small airport, market, right. We kind of busted that idea part at Allegiant by flying big airplanes to small markets”.

With three additional 737-800s due by end of the year, the out and back model will likely be applied to a new secondary airport base later in the year perhaps Wilmington, DE near Philadelphia.

ABU DHABI: Etihad Airways will no longer operate Boeing 777-300ER jets after this year, the chief executive said on Wednesday, as it accelerates plans to become a smaller airline.

State-owned Etihad is targeting to return profit in 2023, as part of a five-year restructuring plan that it has accelerated during the pandemic that has crippled the air travel industry.

“You will see of us a very focused, a very disciplined operating model which is heavily built around the fleet of the 787 Dreamliner and A350-1000” CEO Tony Douglas told the online World Aviation Festival.

The retirement of Etihad B777-300/ER means that the majority of their First Class seat capacity will be removed. It is unclear whether the A350-1000 will retain its First Class cabin.

Etihad operates 19 B777-300/ER’s, some of which they have recently converted to cargo flights in response to increased demand. They have 39 B787 Dreamliners in their fleet and have taken delivery of 5 of 20 A350’s that they have ordered.

Douglas said it was too early to comment as to how the Boeing 777X jet, which they have ordered, would fit into their future fleet plans.