Airline Post

Turkish Airlines to introduce Next-Generation Boeing Airplanes

Kevin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:07:33 +0000

Turkish Airlines have recently placed an order for 20 Next-Generation 737 airplanes with 10 737-800s and 10 737-900ER airplanes. The order placed at Boeing is evaluated as $1.6 billion. Currently Turkish Airlines have 66 Boeing airplanes which include 58 next-generation 737s.

Among these 20 airplanes, 737-900ER is the latest model in the 737 family. It has improved aerodynamic and design aspects. It will provide room for extra 215 passengers. As said by Marlin Dailey, vice president of Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, 737-800 is the backbone of the Turkish Airlines.

The new 737-900ER will easily fit into their existing operations. The company has also announced its new Boeing Sky Interior for all of its 737s which will give the customers increased level of satisfaction. This Sky Interior will offer soft blue overhead lighting, contemporary sculpted sidewalls and window reveals that draw passengers’ eyes to the airplane’s windows. Passengers will also have larger storage bins which will allow them to store their carry-on luggage near to the seat itself.

Istanbul based Turkish Airlines carries around 25 million passengers on a yearly basis. It runs 120 international flights and 37 domestic flights. It was founded in the year of 1933 and it started international flights in 1947.

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Air France files complaint against Ryanair

Dave — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:48:05 +0000

According to an article published today in the French newspaper Le Figaro, Air France is file a complaint against Ryanair at the European Commission for receiving hundreds of millions of euros in illegal subsidies.

According to Air France, Ryanair received 660 million euros in 2008 in the form of reduced landing fees and airport taxes. While Air France avoided to make any comments regarding their action, Ryanair said the accusations are false, a spokesman adding: “It’s Air France that is getting illegal aid in terms of reduced airport taxes on its domestic routes in France.”

The European Commission opened an investigation to see if Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, is getting preferential treatment at European airports.

Previously, in 2008, Ryanair won an appeal when a European anti-trust court overturned a decision from Brussels, that made the company reimburse aid received from a regional airport in Belgium.

The news will be updated as soon as we receive more info.

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JAL – World’s most on-time airline

Dave — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:12:31 +0000

Japanese are famous for their fast trains that are precisely on-time and, as of recently, their airline services. According to records from FlightStats, Japan’s JAL and ANA were named the world’s most on-time airline companies.

Out of Japan Airlines‘ 216,478 flights, 90.95% of them were less than 15 minutes late or on-time. Another Japanese airline, ANA, comes in second, with 130,852 flights in 2009 where 90.37% were less than 15 minutes late. Here’s the rest of the airlines from the top 10, according to Forbes.com.

3. SAS (Sweden) – 158,572 flights in 2009, 89.11% on-time or less than 15 minutes late
4. Korean Air Lines (Korea) – 133,662 flights, 88.61% on-time or less than 15 minutes late
5. Horizon Air (USA) – 142,094 flights, 85.88% on-time
6. Air Nostrum (Spain) – 119,549 flights, 85.80% on-time
7. Chautauqua Airlines (USA, regional carrier for major American airlines) – 171,026 flights, 84.60% on-time
8. Qantas (Australia) – 153,816 flights, 83.90% on-time
9. Lufthansa (Germany) – 386,205 flights, 83.21% on-time
10. British European, formerly known as Jersey European (U.K.) – 128,360 flights, 82.64% on-time

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Ryanair asks 1 million euro to come back to Ostende

Roman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:30:51 +0000

Last week, some Belgium sources started to evoke the fact that Ryanair could come back to Ostende. Yesterday, it was a more important Belgium newspaper’s turn to bring up the topic again.

Ryanair already operated out of Ostende in the past. Back in May 2003, Ryanair launched a route between the Belgian coast and London, a route that had turned out to be a failed project as flights were poorly programmed.
The airport, in order to become more attractive was renamed Ostende-Bruges Airport. The main problem was the competition of the Eurostar and ferries.
As a result of this failed attempt, Ryanair would have planned to instead operate routes towards Spain. Malaga and Geronna have both been mentionned by several websites.

Ryanair asks 1 million euro:

As any new route that Ryanair opens, it involves grants and public money. Ryanair made the headlines of several French regional newspapers last week due to stories of blackmail used in order to increase airport fees at Angouleme and Poitiers. Last week again, Grenada Spain local authorities announced it would not be able to pay Ryanair, as the amount was to important for service received… A different country but one same story…
And then in Italy, Alghero also said no to Ryanair’s financial support demands.

Belgium authorities are however currently negociating with Ryanair, and according to Belgium sources, Ryanair would have asked for about one million euros. Several voices have already protested against this type of aid, declaring it should be banned by the EU Commission.
The Flemish authorities, who always have been very critical to aids given by the Walloon Region for the development of Charleroi, seem to totally overlook this fact when it comes to their airport!
But as many politicians would, Bruges authorities dream of the thousands of tourist that Ryanair most probably promised!

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Costa Verde offering a Boeing Home

Kevin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:51:24 +0000

Hotel Costa Verde has come out with its new lodging – 727 Fuselage Home. This suite is built on a refurbished 1965 Boeing 727 airframe. When on air, it used to fly on South Africa Air and Avianca Airlines. It is considered as the most exclusive hotel in the whole region of Costa Rica.

The pieces of this airframe were transported from San Jose airport to the jungles of Manuel Antonio on 5 big-rig trucks. This suit is perched on a 50 foot pedestal in the National Park of Costa Verde II area. This height will give you an opportunity to enjoy both Scenic Ocean and jungle view from the hard wood deck of the suite.

TV Area & Kitchenette

The interior furniture is built on Teak from Java, Indonesia. This suit comes with 2 air conditioned bed rooms. Other features of the suit includes a flat screen TV, a Kitchenette, dinning area foyer, a private entrance up a river rock. The whole suit is surrounded by gardens. This place will be a perfect one to enjoy a glass of wine with some jungle neighbors – sloths, monkeys.

Second bedroom & master bedroom

This idea of building a Boeing 727 home is inspired from a company offering a hurricane proof living using Boeing 727 airframes. Along with this great idea various forms of luxury life have been added to make your stay in Costa Rica a splendid one.

Master bathroom and view from the Boeing

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Air Slovakia’s bankruptcy

Roman — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:26:34 +0000

Air Slovakia, the east European carrier stopped its flights yesterday. An investigation revealed its financial difficulties this week, and the Aviation Bureau has temporarily suspended Air Slovakia’s licence. Stanislav Jurkovic, a Transport Ministry spokesman announced it on Tuesday.

Air Slovakia financial difficulties are related to major outstanding debt besides its business partners, its employees and insurances. Like others airlines, Air Slovakia also met troubles regarding to irregularities with unpaid taxes and health-insurance payments

After the failure of Seagle Air and Sky Europe, This is the third Slovakian company which will probably stop its activity the last 6 months. The east European aviation market is a major issue, especially for low cost airlines. Few months ago, some rumours spread about the possible bankruptcy of Wizz Air. How long it will take to Ryanair to be in control of this market?

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Ryanair having a tough time

Kevin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:05:42 +0000

As reported by the Holiday watchdogs, Ryanair, the Stansted-based airline is charging its passengers with hidden fees. Ryanair is now officially declared to have the worst airline budget.

Though Stephen McNamara at Ryanair says, Ryanair will carry more than 73 million passengers this year at the lowest possible fares, but its charges are increased by 61 percent as compared against other airlines – Bmibaby, Jet2 and easyJet. It is also reported that Ryanair is charging its passengers for each piece of luggage they are carrying by credit card.

In another report Ryanair has been hit by Irish government. Government claims that the company has ignored a huge jobs offer. The reason behind this as stated by the company is the presence of huge obstacles.

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Lufthansa Airbus wingstrike

Dave — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:26:16 +0000

Here’s something you don’t see very often. An Airbus belonging to Lufthansa suffered a wingstrike while trying to land at the Hamburg airport, on 1 March 2008 during the Emma storm. Luckily, nobody was hurt and the plane landed safely. Here’s footage from the incident:

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Small European airports fed up with Ryanair?

Roman — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:57:56 +0000

This week, Idedicated a post to the story of an airport willing to slam the door in Ryanair’s face: Angoulême Airport. The airport decided to reject Ryanair’s attempt to raise its fees.

As the Irish Times reported two weeks ago in an interesting article, Michel Boutant, a French representative, did not accept the way Ryanair tried to negotiate a better deal. To block what he named Ryanair’s financial blackmail, Boutant has called for the creation of a common front against Ryanair and asked other regional airports to not give in to the airline’s demands, saying it was adept at playing the “competition card” by threatening to move its services elsewhere.

Boutant guessed right… At the same time, Ryanair sent a request to Pau Airport (a French city located in the southwest of France). This time, Ryanair asked to quadruple subsidies on the route, to €1.4 million, and threatened to move out its services.

Did the French Regional airport spread the word?

Yesterday, the news came from Italy. Alghero Airport (Sardinia, Italy) announced that Ryanair is to stops all its flight. In the Ryanair PR press release the following was stated:

“Unfortunately the lack of support on the part of the local administration and the airport for Ryanair’s growth in Alghero has led to the cancellation of seven Ryanair services”

What I immediately understood when I read Ryanair’s PR release is that Alghero refused to give millions of euros without any guarantee or any compensation. Just as Angouleme Airport did.

According to a web site, other Italian airports are going to make public Ryanair’s methods to try and put a stop to low cost airlines using public money to be able to offer low fares.

In France, a survey estimates that Ryanair received around 35 millions euros in public grants in 2008 (almost 10% of Ryanair’s profits in 2008). A French union talks about 650M€ for Europe, but figures have not yet been released. It is therefore very hard to estimate how much public grant money Ryanair could have received over the past few years. But day after day, all across Europe, this kind of news seems to indicate that public money is a major part of Ryanair’s revenue.

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Boeing’s 747-8 passed test flight, still problems ahead

Kevin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:33:02 +0000

Boeing ran the test flight for its largest new plane 747-8 on the last Monday. Due to some unfavorable weather condition the flight was delayed a little bit and but everything went well as reported.

Boeing’s 747-8 is both a passenger and freighter plane. It was supposed to be in the market last year itself, but the prevailing worst postwar conditions forced the delay. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) the passenger demand fell to 3.5% last year. Moreover freight demand fell down by 10 percent with a load factor of below 50 percent. As reported by the IATA, because of excessive aircraft delivery in the market profit will continue rising.

Airbus 380 is giving a tough competition to all the existing airplane manufacturers in the market. As reported by Boeing, it has succeeded in selling only 108 aircrafts.

There is a hope for jumbo jet technology in the near future when the economy stabilizes. According to Boeing, 747-8 is around 10 % less costly than the exisiting 747-400 and the company has all intentions to replace it with the newer one. 747-8 engines manufactured by General Electric also produce fewer emissions as compared to the previous one.

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