Video: The complete WestJet 787 Dreamliner review

A new video from Sam Chui.

In this video, I take a trip to Calgary, Canada, at the invitation of the Canadian airline WestJet’s guest experience team, to enjoy a flight from Calgary to London aboard their brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aeroplane. This video will feature not only WestJet Business Class, but also look into Premium and Economy cabin. Moreover, I share some behind the scenes product development story on the WestJet 787.

I fly in to Calgary on one of WestJet’s Boeing 737’s and before I go on my voyage on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with Westjet, I take the opportunity to visit the stunningly beautiful Banff national park in Alberta. Banff national park is located within the Canadian Rocky mountains and is a UNESCO world heritage site and also Canada’s first, and flagship, national park, established in 1885. It is west of Calgary and covers an area of more than 6000 square kilometres. I see the beautiful, bright turquoise blue lakes of the park, fed by rushing streams and rivers which are in turn fed by glacial melt water. Banff national park is a real jewel in the crown of Canada and I highly recommend a visit!

After my visit to the park, I get back to the aviation side of things and start my journey from Calgary to London at the international terminal of Calgary airport, making use of the Aspire lounge for international departures.

I take my flight in business class, which consists of sixteen individual private pods with lie-flat seats which can convert in to a bed. There are also 28 premium economy seats on the WestJet Boeing 787 Dreamliner and a further 276 economy seats spread across two cabins within the aircraft.

I am given a warm welcome in to the WestJet Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a personalised introduction to the facilities afforded by my business class pod by a member of the flight attendant team. I am shown the large, touchscreen 4K entertainment screen, which offers a variety of in-flight games, television programs, films and music and am given complimentary, noise cancelling headphones. I am also shown the adjustable arm-rests of the seat and the storage bins where I can tuck away my belongings. My welcome is capped off with the WestJet signature drink – a lovely refreshing mix of green tea and cranberry juice – and also the provision of a complimentary Matt & Nat amenity kit.

My flight from Calgary to London on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with WestJet is over eight hours long and takes me to a maximum altitude of 36,000 feet, but before I can get in to the air, the cold, snowy weather in Canada means that the wings of the aircraft have to be de-iced but to WestJet’s credit, their staff work very well in the adverse weather conditions to keep everything running on time.

Up in the air, I enjoy some exceptional, restaurant quality WestJet cuisine. The service in premium economy and business class is as in a restaurant, with each dish being taken to the customer individually, rather than being given from a trolley, and on special non-slip trays to reduce accidents. WestJet have paid great attention to detail by integrating reminders of Canada’s fabulous nature in to their food service – the food trays of economy are bright, turquoise blue just like the lakes of the Banff national park and the salt and pepper pots in business class are made in the shape of the Rocky mountains.

In premium economy, customers enjoy a rice and curry dish, refreshing and authentic draft Canadian beer and a salad complete with goat’s cheese. The vegetarian option is extraordinary – a vegetarian shepherd’s pie, the signature dish of Canadian chef Bill Alexander. In business class, I am able to choose from lots of smaller dishes rather than having just one, big main meal. I enjoy Italian antipasto, smoked salmon mille-feuille, alberta beef short ribs and sour cherry pie. There are also Ravioli dishes – each one unlike the other with irregular pasta cuts, representing the nature of Canada. I think that high praise is due to WestJet for the phenomenal quality of their airline food, which I think has really put them on the map as a major international airline and shows their considerable development from their start as a low cost, budget airline.

The meal is rounded off nicely with the serving of some special, Canadian Ice wine – one frozen grape yields only one drop of the very sweet wine – before I get some quality sleep and land at London Gatwick.

All in all, I highly enjoyed my trip with WestJet on their Boeing 787 Dreamliner aeroplane and my hat is off to them for their food. What did you think of the beauty of the Banff national park and the flight itself? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section down below and, as always, thanks for watching!

Video: Piloting a Boeing 777 out of Dubai

New video from JustPlanes.

JustPlanes in the cockpit of the TNT Boeing 777-200 from Hong Kong to Liege Belgium with a stop at Dubai. Seen here if the flight preparation, taxi and takeoff from Dubai International Airport.

Video: easyJet : Inside The Cockpit Series 2 – Episode 3

We meet the pilots flying out of two of easyJet’s regional bases: Manchester and Newcastle and we join Senior First Officer Iris De Kan on her mission to become a Captain.

BBC: What went wrong inside Boeing’s cockpit?

From the BBC:

“There was nothing more the pilots could have done.

As alarms sounded in their cockpit, the captain and first officer struggled to regain control of their stricken aircraft.

They were far too close to the ground, and needed to gain altitude. Yet when Capt Yared Getachew tried to guide the nose of the Boeing 737 upwards, an electronic system forced it down again.

Simply pulling back on his control column wasn’t enough. So he used a thumb switch as well, to adjust the aerodynamic balance of the plane, and encourage it to climb. But a few seconds later, those adjustments were automatically reversed.”

Read the full article.

Inc.: The CEO of Delta Air Lines was asked what he worries about the most

From Inc. Find out what worries Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian the most. Read the full article.

Ethiopian Airlines pushes back on criticism of its pilots, states the Boeing 737 MAX has a problem

Ethiopian Airlines is pushing back strongly against criticism that its pilots were to blame for the tragic MAX accident.

The airline issued this statement:

Although we don’t want to comment on the investigation as it is still going on and we believe it is too early to comment, we would like to highlight some factual statements based on the preliminary report of the accident investigation.

Ethiopian airlines has the largest Aviation Academy in Africa with the most modern training devices and facilities of global standards which is accredited by all required national, regional and international regulatory agencies. Ethiopian Airlines is among the very few airlines in the world and the only one in Africa which has acquired and operates the Boeing 737 MAX 8 full flight simulator. However, it’s very unfortunate that the Boeing 737 MAX 8 simulator was not configured to simulate the MCAS operation by the aircraft manufacturer.

Ethiopian requirement for command position is over 3500 hours which is way above the FAA requirement of 1500 hours. In this case ET302 captain has a total of over 8000 hours of which 3445 hours is on Boeing 737NG. He was upgraded to commander position with over 6500 total hours. The First Officer was a graduate of Ethiopian Aviation Academy after successfully completing the required training per ICAO standards for the Commercial Pilot License and gone through the type rating training on Boeing 737NG and Boeing recommended and FAA approved differences training on Boeing 737 MAX 8 before he is assigned as co-pilot and he has exceeded the minimum ICAO requirement.

The preliminary accident investigation report, which has been conducted by a joint team from Ethiopia, USA, France and EASA, has made it abundantly clear that the Ethiopian Airlines’ pilots have followed the procedures of the aircraft manufacturer.

Any effort that is being made to divert public attention from the flight control system problem of the airplane is a futile exercise because it is not based on factually correct analysis.

The fact that the entire world have grounded more than 370 Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes speaks loud and clear that the airplane has a problem.

It is important to refer to the safety recommendation part of the aircraft accident investigation preliminary report, which says:

SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.
• Since the repetitive un-commanded aircraft nose down conditions are noticed in this preliminary investigation it is recommended that the aircraft flight control system related to flight controllability shall be reviewed by the manufacturer.
• Aviation Authorities shall verify that the review of the aircraft flight control system related to flight controllability has been adequately addressed by the manufacturer before the release of the aircraft to operations.

We would also like to focus on the following facts:
• The automated anti stall feature (MCAS) was not known by airlines and pilots until after the Lion Air accident.
• Even after the Lion Air accident the bulletin released by Boeing and the FAA airworthiness directive did not mention MCAS at all.
• It was a major failure that the MCAS was designed to be automatically activated by a single source of information (Only one angle of attack sensor).
• Although the pilots followed the procedures as stipulated in the bulletin and the airworthiness directive none of the expected warnings appeared in the cockpit which deprived the pilots of necessary and timely information on the critical phase of the 6 minutes flight.
• As per the preliminary report, there is no evidence of any foreign object damage (bird strike or any other object) on the angle of attack sensor.

Since flight safety is our collective priority and should not be compromised by any means and not a single life should be at risk, we strongly believe that the recommendations made by the preliminary report should be fully implemented.

Ethiopian Airlines would like to assure all concerned that it will continue to cooperate with the investigation authorities.

Top Copyright Photo: One of the grounded MAX 8s: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 ET-AVM (msn 62446) DUB (Greenwing). Image: 942621.

Ethiopian Airlines aircraft slide show:

Hawaiian Airlines awarded tentative approval for a new Tokyo Haneda route

Hawaiian Airlines received a preliminary decision from the U.S. Department of Transportation to allocate a new slot to the airline for expanded service to Haneda Airport. This is a critical step toward gaining rights to provide additional service between Honolulu and Tokyo before the start of the 2020 Olympic Summer games. The allocation is contingent upon the successful conclusion of consultations by the Government of Japan with affected local governments and communities.

“Although we are disappointed that the tentative award does not grant our full request for three new routes, Hawaiian looks forward to the opportunity to expand its service between Tokyo Haneda and Honolulu,’’ said Peter Ingram, president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines. “With this new service we will be able to better serve the needs of guests traveling between Honolulu and Haneda as well as those connecting beyond these gateway cities.”

The U.S. DOT’s Order to Show Cause invites comments on the DOT’s preliminary decision within two weeks and Hawaiian Airlines will continue to press for additional slots during this time.

In its Feb. 21, 2019 application, Hawaiian noted that it has been flying to Haneda since 2010, longer than any other U.S. airline, and has since grown the market by providing consistent and uninterrupted service. In 2016, the carrier added additional service from Haneda, serving Honolulu four times a week and Kona three times per week. That same year, the carrier also commenced service between Honolulu and Tokyo’s Narita airport.

The tentative approval of one new slot is expected to allow Hawaiian to arrive and depart Haneda earlier, thereby allowing substantially more connections to banks of flights departing and arriving from points throughout Japan. Through its codeshare with Japan Airlines, Hawaiian expects connecting traffic to points beyond Tokyo, primarily to other cities in Japan, to grow dramatically, increasing the quantity and quality of service options as well as needed competition in some underserved locales.

The Honolulu/Tokyo market is, by far, the largest U.S.-Japan city pair with more than 2,300 passengers per day each way. Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport has more than twice the market size of passengers flying to and from Tokyo, than the second largest U.S. airport, Los Angeles International Airport. By stimulating traffic between Tokyo and Honolulu, Hawaiian has brought hundreds of thousands of tourists to the United States and the money they spend is a U.S. export that generates significant economic benefits to the domestic economy. Hawaiian estimates additional stimulation of one additional flight will lead to about 31,100 additional visitors, resulting in an annual economic impact of $80 million in sales, $25 million in earnings, and more than 750 U.S. jobs.

Top Copyright Photo: Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330-243 N389HA (msn 1316) LAX (Michael B. Ing). Image: 944831.

Hawaiian Airlines aircraft slide show:

New York Times: Boeing 737 Max simulators are in high demand. They are flawed.

From the New York Times:

“Boeing recently discovered that the simulators could not accurately replicate the difficult conditions created by a malfunctioning anti-stall system, which played a role in both disasters. The simulators did not reflect the immense force that it would take for pilots to regain control of the aircraft once the system activated on a plane traveling at a high speed.”

Read the full story.

airBaltic receives its 18th Airbus A220-300

airBaltic on May 18, 2019 in Riga welcomed its 18^th Airbus A220-300 jet, registered as YL-AAR. This was the fourth Airbus A220-300 received this year and four more new aircraft will join the airline’s fleet by the end of the year.

Photo: airBaltic.

WestJet operates its inaugural flight from Calgary to Paris

WestJet made this announcement:

With the departure of flight 10, WestJet on May 17 became the only airline to operate a nonstop route between Paris and Calgary.

The airline’s newest route, along with its codeshare partnership with Air France, provides historic new access between Western Canada and Europe. Canadian business and leisure travellers now can fly to and from 11 cities in greater Europe including Rome, Venice, Athens and Lisbon through WestJet’s Air France codeshare partnership from Paris. This flight is the second of three 787 Dreamliner inaugurals that are central to WestJet’s global strategy and selection of Calgary as its initial Dreamliner hub.

All flights between Calgary and Paris are operated on WestJet’s newest aircraft, the 320-seat, 787-9 Dreamliner.

Details of WestJet’s new non-stop Dreamliner service:

Route	Frequency	Departing	Arriving	Effective
Calgary – Paris	Four times weekly	7:35 p.m.	12:20 p.m. + 1	May 17, 2019
Paris – Calgary	Four times weekly	2:20 p.m.	3:45 p.m.	May 18, 2019

By June 2019, WestJet will offer flights to 67 non-stop destinations with an average of 975 flights per week from YYC. More Calgarians choose WestJet for their air travel than any other airline.