The pictured Boeing 737-8EH PR-GXZ (msn 40739) (above) was presented to the media and guests at the Gol Maintenance Center at Confins International Airport at Belo Horizonte (CNF/SBCF).ย CNF is the Gol’s main maintenance center.
Above Copyright Photo: Rodrigo Cozzato/AirlinersGallery.com. PR-GXZ is later rolled out into the sunshine at Belo Horizonte.
In addition to the new visual identity (everything will change, from the website to the aircraft, through uniforms, napkins, cups, tickets etc.), the company presented the new seats, now in ecological leather.
Above: The new seats.
The pictured PR-GXZ is also the 100th 737NG purchased directly from Boeing. Gol has a total fleet of 140 aircraft. Gol also has 15 737NG to be delivered through 2018, which can be converted to the newer 737 MAX.
In 2018, Gol will receive the first 737 MAX. In all, 100 units were purchased.
Finally, Gol announced a partnership with Go Go to offer a complete inflight entertainment system with on demand Wi-Fi content and streaming – all offered free in a basic page or premium paid packages.
VivaColombia (Medellin) is coming to Miami International Airport. The low-fare carrier is intending to start daily scheduled passenger flights from Bogota and Medellin, Colombia to Miami starting on December 2, 2015.
VivaColombia operates A320 aircraft and commenced operations on May 25, 2012.
Copyright Photo: Greenwing/AirlinersGallery.com.ย Airbus A320-214 EI-EPX (msn 1454) ย became HK-4905 on delivery.
Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) is now planning to phase out the last Boeing 717 with subsidiary Blue1 (Helsinki) on November 6. The last 717 flight is expected to be flight SK724 from Stockholm (Arlanda) to the Helsinki base according to Airline Route.
As previously reported, Blue1 will sell its entire Boeing 717-200 fleet to Volotea and Delta Air Lines and replace them with Boeing 737-600s transferred from Scandinavian Airlines.
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 717-2CM OH-BLI (msn 55061) taxies at Amsterdam.
Norwegian today reported its second quarter results for 2015. The pre-tax result (EBT) was 456 million NOK ($56.0 million), an improvement of 593 million NOK ($72.8 million) from the previous year. The load factor for this period was 85 percent with strong progress in all of Norwegianโs markets. This also applies to the long-haul operation, where the load factor was over 90 percent and the passenger number has more than doubled since the same period last year.
The load factor for the second quarter was 85 percent, up five percentage points from the same quarter last year. Norwegianโs long-haul operation had an even higher load factor of 91 percent. During the second quarter, the airline carried 324,000 passengers on its long-haul network. This means that passenger figures for the long-haul operation has more than doubled since the same period last year, where the passenger number was 139,000. Norwegian currently operates 434 routes in Europe, USA and Asia โ 21 of which are long-haul routes. All in all, Norwegian has 28 long-haul destinations for sale, with more to come within just a few weeks, including London Gatwick โ Boston.
During the second quarter, Norwegian took delivery of a new 787 Dreamliner and two Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Today, Norwegian has a long-haul fleet of eight Dreamliner aircraft. Four more Dreamliners will be added to the fleet next year; all of which will be a bigger version of the ones Norwegian operates today.
Solid growth in all markets
Seven million passengers chose to travel with Norwegian in the second quarter โ an increase of nine percent. Norwegianโs strongest growth in terms of passenger numbers was at London Gatwick, with Oslo Airport as a close runner up. The Spanish airports are also experiencing a solid rise in number of Norwegian-passengers. During this quarter, Norwegian has launched domestic routes in Spain, new routes to the Caribbean, as well as new routes between the Caribbean and the cities of Boston, New York and Washington DC.
Despite a weak Norwegian krone, the unit costs are down, ensuring the company’s competitiveness in the future. The fuel prices have decreased, which more than outweighs the effects of a weak Norwegian krone. New aircraft consume considerably less fuel than older aircraft, which gives Norwegian a significant competitive advantage. Norwegian boasts one of the worldโs youngest aircraft fleets with an average age of just four years.
During the second quarter, Norwegianโs total revenue was almost 5.9 BNOK, up 16 percent from the same quarter last year. Norwegianโs long-haul routes had a revenue growth of 60 percent. Norwegianโs production growth (ASK) for this quarter was 8 percent, while the companyโs traffic growth (RPK) was 15 percent, which reflects that each of Norwegianโs passengers on average flies significantly longer than they did before. In addition, more and more passengers are purchasing optional extras on board.
Copyright Photo: Keith Burton/AirlinersGallery.com. Norwegian is phasing out the last of the older and less fuel efficient Boeing 737-300s. The last of the type is expected to be retired at the end of the current summer season. Boeing 737-31S LN-KHB (msn 29264) is pictured departing at Southend.
AeroMexico (Mexico City) has announced the beginning of its new daily AeroMexico Connect service between Mexico City and Cozumel starting on October 1 with Embraer ERJ 145 regional jets.
Cozumel becomes the 46th destination AM serves in Mexico.
Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Embraer ERJ 145LR (EMB-145LR) XA-YLI (msn 145400) approaches the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.
Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) has issued a new advertising campaign (see the videos) that attacks other airlines for their high ticket prices through their “bundling” of services. The airline issued this statement and survey:
For decades, the major airlines have been playing a psychological trick on their passengers. They charge people very high airfares, and then tell them they are giving away different items and services for “free.” In reality those airlines are forcing all of their customers to pay for those items upfront with bundled, all-inclusive fares. Spirit Airlines (SAVE) wants air travelers to know they’ve been bundled by other airlines and is giving travelers a way to fight back.
Every product or service on an airline has a built-in cost: Agents handling bags and printing boarding passes, the cost of beverages, food, and magazines and stocking these items on planes, and the extra costs in fuel for the added weight of carry-on bags and in-flight entertainment systems, just to name a few. Many consumers don’t realize that airlines pass those costs on to their customers and, even if the product or service isn’t used, the airline still financially benefits.
“Bundling is a practice that, at best, is less-than-transparent,” said Spirit’s President and CEO Ben Baldanza. “When airlines tell their customers the item or service is free, it just isn’t true. We feel air travelers should only have to pay for what they want or need — not be forced to pay for everything an airline may offer. We did the math on all those unused items and it adds up to billions of customer dollars.”
At Spirit, customers pay for their seat and a personal item to get them from point A to point B. Spirit calls this their Bare Fare(R). If you want other options they are available, but Spirit puts you in charge by allowing you to pay only for what you want, not what you don’t. This is called Frill Control(R). This unbundled approach allows Spirit customers to pay the lowest total price for air travel. According to the Department of Transportation, Spirit’s fares are 40 percent less than other airlines, on average. Even after adding optional items Spirit’s total price is still 30 — 35 percent lower, making Spirit the smart choice for air travel.
To understand the impact of airline bundling, Spirit conducted a nationwide study of air travelers regarding their most recent flight. The survey reveals that many passengers skip the complimentary services that they paid for in a bundled price. For example, one in four (25%) passengers didn’t bring a “complimentary” carry-on bag, but likely had to pony up as much as $35 within their ticket price for that amenity. In some cases, customers lost that money because the overhead bin space was full, and they were forced to have their bag checked. With 586 million travelers on major airlines in 2014, Spirit estimates customers spent more than $5 billion on carry-on bags that they didn’t use.
It may seem small, but the costs for those “free” snacks add up too. Twenty percent of passengers skipped the complimentary snacks, but may have been charged up to $3.50 for each one. That’s approximately $410 million of unused snacks that airlines benefited from by charging their customers in the price of their ticket.
To help air travelers understand this long-held less-than-transparent practice, Spirit has introduced a vigilante lawyer team called “The Unbundlers” dedicated to getting air travelers their money back. The fictitious, but hilariously-truthful duo encourages travelers who have been bundled to directly calculate how much money they lost as a result of not checking a bag, passing on ‘free’ soda, or not using various other products and services. They can demand their money back by posting a message on Twitter to the offending airline. You can see The Unbundlers in action at http://www.Unbundlers.com
“It’s a fun way to point out a serious issue,” said Baldanza. “At Spirit we pride ourselves on being very upfront and honest about what you get — and what you don’t — when you purchase tickets on our airline. All airlines should be as transparent with their customers and should let them know exactly what they’re paying for.”
Other results of the survey, conducted by Toluna Research for Spirit Airlines:
25% of air travelers did not bring a carry-on
20% skipped the snack (peanuts, chips, etc.)
21% said no to coffee, tea, or soda
40% didn’t read the in-flight magazine
41% didn’t check-in with an agent
52% didn’t use WiFi (however other surveys suggest WiFi usage is below 10%)
It’s time to take a stand against being bundled.
Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt) has announced in the summer of 2016 it will be flyingย between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and Frankfurt International Airport (FRA). The seasonal flights are scheduled to operate on Mondays and Thursdays from June 27, 2016 through September 1, 2016. Austin is the third addition to Condor’s network in the United States within one year after launching nonstop service between Providence (PVD) and Portland (PDX) to Frankfurt, Germany this summer.
Flights are scheduled to depart Austin at 7:55 p.m. (1955) and arrive in Frankfurt at 1:10 p.m. (1310) the following day. Flights are scheduled to depart Frankfurt at 1:25 p.m. (1325) and arrive in Austin at 5:55 p.m. (1755), all times local. Flights will operate on Condor’s Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft with 259 seats (18 Business/35 Premium Class/206 Economy).
On an annual basis, 7 million passengers fly with Condor to around 75 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
Since 2013, the German airline Condor is part of the Thomas Cook Group Airlines to which the Thomas Cook Airlines UK, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia also belong.
40 aircraft are in the Condor fleet: 12 Airbus A320s, 3 Airbus A321s, 13 Boeing 757-300s and 12 Boeing 767-300s.
Copyright Photo: Javier Rodriguez/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 767-38E ER D-ABUS (msn 30840) in the new 2013 livery arrives back at the FRA base.
Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) management team held a conference call yesterday, mainly with the analysts and representatives of the media, after posting a record second quarter profit, beating all Wall Street forecasts.
In the conference call, CEO Richard Anderson when asked about the rejection of the proposed contract by the pilots, stated, without elaborating further, the 40 Boeing 737-900 ERs and 20 Embraer ERJ 190s on order “will be cancelled”. The company had tied these two orders with the ratification of the new pilot contract.
The comment could be considered posturing by some observers, intended as a new salvo to the pilots for the next round of contract negotiations.
The pilots, represented by ALPA, voted nearly two-to-one against the proposed contract. Both sides will now have about six months to further negotiate new terms in which both sides can agree.
ALPA has not formally responded to the comments.
The Embraers would have represented a new lower level of mainline flying.
Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-932 ER N817DN (msn 31928) banks on the river approach to the runway at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (Sao Paulo) today unveiled in a ceremony this new look on Boeing 737-8EH PR-GXZ (msn 40739). The new look also features this new logo.
Airbus (Toulouse)ย kicked off the U.S. leg of its tour of the Americas by arriving in Atlanta yesterday. The demo tour features a flight test version of the A350-900 XWB, which Airbus is showing off to investors and airlines in Atlanta, Newark, Chicago (O’Hare) and Milwaukee before the general public can experience the A350 XWB at EAAโs AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
While it is was in Atlanta, Delta Air Lines employees toured the aircraft, familiarizing themselves with its layout and features. For many of them it will be their first opportunity to get a closer look at what will become the newest member of its fleet in 2017, when Delta accepts the first delivery of its 25 A350 XWBs. Delta currently operates Airbus A319, A320 and A330 aircraft, with additional outstanding orders for each type.
The A350-900 that is in the U.S. this week is a flight test aircraft featuring a two-class cabin. It seats 42 in lie-flat, business-class seats, which are four abreast, and 210 economy-class seats. For passengers, the aircraft will provide new levels of comfort, with extra space in all classes. It features wider panoramic windows, larger overhead stowage compartments and the latest in-flight entertainment and connectivity.
Copyright Photo: Eurospot/AirlinersGallery.com. The pictured Airbus A350-941 F-WWCF (msn 002) in the Caron Fiber livery is the tour aircraft.
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