Tag Archives: A340313X

Emirates to add Phuket on December 10

Emirates Airline (Dubai) is adding new passenger and belly cargo service to Phuket, Thailand. Phuket will become the second Thai gateway that connects it to international trade opportunities across its network of 126 destinations.

The launch of a daily nonstop flight to Phuket on December 10, 2012, operated by an Airbus A340-300 with a belly hold capacity of 13 tons, will take the weekly cargo capacity into and out of the country to more than 640 tons. This capacity is spread across four flights to Bangkok and one to Phuket.

Phuket, the largest island in Thailand, located in the Andaman Sea, will become the 15th route launch for Emirates this year and the second in South East Asia following the launch of Ho Chi Minh City in June.

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China Airlines becomes the first Asian airline to join the Pacific Greenhouse Gases Measurement project

China Airlines (Taipei) has dedicated one of its Airbus A340-300s for climate monitoring analysis, becoming the third airline after Lufthansa and Air France. China Airlines will be followed by Cathay Pacific later this year.

The company has issued the following statement:

“The first China Airlines (CAL) A340-300 equipped with IAGOS (In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System) instruments was officially unveiled on June 26. The aircraft livery combines an image of a flight attendant with environmental motifs, emphasizing CAL’s active contribution to global environmental protection as part of its corporate social responsibility. Through the new airplane, CAL invites passengers to participate in ecology preservation through green energy and environmental protection.

In support of the “Pacific Greenhouse Gases Measurement Project” being run jointly by Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), the National Science Council and the National Central University, CAL’s Airbus 340-300 aircraft with the identity number B-18806 has been installed with the IAGOS instrument. CAL is therefore the first Asian airline to join the PGGM (Pacific Greenhouse Gases Measurement) project to monitor greenhouse gases and the first to operate an IAGOS-equipped aircraft for taking atmospheric measurements on trans-Pacific routes.

The IAGOS instrumentation is installed in the avionic compartment underneath the cockpit on the CAL A340-300 passenger aircraft. A sampling port extending from fuselage collects data on atmospheric gases, water vapor, ozone, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide during each flight. The collected data is automatically transmitted by satellite to the European research center after landing, providing the global scientific community with valuable data for research on global warming and climate change. The EPA and the National Central University will also combine the data collected by CAL with observations from FORMOSAT-3 satellite, ground weather stations and sea observations to analyze the sources and vectors of air pollution. The information can be used as a reference when formulating air pollution control policy.

The CAL climate observation aircraft has made its maiden return trip to Hong Kong. The aircraft will mainly operate on the Taipei-Vancouver route in the future to facilitate the recording of atmospheric data over the Pacific. The official name of the project “PGGM-Pacific Greenhouse Gases Measurement¨ is painted on the nose of the aircraft while both sides of the fuselage will display “The Official Airline for Climate Monitoring¨. The aircraft livery itself features the Earth cradled by a flight attendant to inspire passengers to protect the environment. CAL’s President, Huang-Hsiang Sun has set this year as “Eco Year “. Apart from actively promoting a green quality policy and corporate environmental management, CAL is continuing to introduce more eco-friendly services through paperless electronic operations, use of local food ingredients, recycling and reuse items. CAL hopes these initiatives will inspire more passengers to take part in energy saving.

In 2011 the EPA presented CAL with an award for outstanding performance under the “Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Action Mark¨. In the following year, CAL also won “Super Green” Judge’s Award as well as the First Prize in the transportation category of the third “2012 Green Brand Survey” conducted by Business Next magazine. The awards all served to recognize CAL’s long-term support for the environment. CAL is now also promoting e-Check In, mobile electronic boarding passes, self-printed boarding passes, KIOSK services and self-printed luggage tags. The e-services will help CAL achieve the goal of paperless operations and CAL is now the most effective airline at implementing electronic operations in Taiwan.”

Top Copyright Photo: Manuel Negrerie. Airbus A340-313X B-18806 (msn 433) taxies at the Taipei base with the special stickers.

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Bottom Copyright Photo: China Airlines.

South African Airways introduces its 2012 London Olympics logojet

South African Airways (Johannesburg) brought its newly-decorated Airbus A340-313X registered as ZS-SXD (msn 642) to London (Heathrow) for the first time. ZS-SXD is painted in a special 2012 London Olympics color scheme.

The aircraft was officially unveiled on July 18. South African issued the following statement:

“South African Airways on July 18, 2012 revealed the fully branded aircraft that will fly Team South Africa and officials to the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 19, 2012. The spectacular design painted on the aircraft was created by Adri le Roux, a first year design student at Stellenbosch University.

The long-haul Airbus A340-300 is set to cause a splash at international airports with its bold and colorful images of South African swimmers, runners, soccer players and other sports stars.

SAA issued a public competition challenging South African youth of ages 13-21 to design an iconic visual which captures the spirit of South Africa. The judging criteria included creative flair and an eye for design. Furthermore, the simplicity and longevity of the design was considered, with the third and final criteria being how the design compliments SAA’s internationally recognised branding.

The design of the aircraft is colorful and vibrant and uses the colors of the South African flag to create brush strokes covering the plane. The sportsmen and women in the stroke illustrate the speed and excellence with which the SA Olympic team performs on the field.

As an official air transportation partner to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), SAA will fly athletes and officials to London for the Olympics, which takes place from July 27, 2012 to August 12, 2012. SAA will also fly athletes and participants to the Paralympics, scheduled for August 29, 2012 to September 9, 2012.

Adjudication of the competition to design the Olympic aircraft’s special livery was conducted by a panel of technical, arts, and design professionals. On the panel were South Africa’s National Herald Mr. Themba Mabaso, SAA Technical Senior Engineering Analyst: Mr. JJ Pretorius, Vega School of Arts lecturer Mr. Matthew Partridge, and Mr. Steve Knapp, Art Director at Brand Activation. The results were audited by Ernst and Young, SAA’s auditing firm.”

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Iberia starts nonstop Madrid-Accra flights

Iberia (Madrid) tomorrow (July 18) will launch twice-weekly Madrid-Accra service.

Iberia:

SAS is coming to San Francisco

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) is coming to San Francisco. The airline will launch nonstop Copenhagen-San Francisco service on April 8, 2013. The new route will be operated six days a week. The SFO route will feed Star Alliance partner United Airlines which has a hub there.

The carrier is also launching an evening departure from Copenhagen to Newark (three days a week) starting on April 1, 2013.

SAS:

Aerolineas Argentinas departs from Auckland for the final time

Aerolineas Argentinas (Buenos Aires) as planned, dropped the Auckland, New Zealand stop and started flying the Buenos Aires-Sydney route as a nonstop route via Antarctica three days a week on July 1.

Copyright Photo: Colin Hunter. Airbus A340-313X LV-CSE (msn 126) climbs away from AKL bound for Sydney and the last time at Auckland during daylight. LV-CSE returned later in the day after dark for its final flight via Auckland to Buenos Aires.

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LAN acquires TAM, becomes the LATAM Airlines Group

LAN Airlines S.A. (Santiago) (which has been renamed LATAM Airlines Group S.A.) and TAM S.A. (Sao Paulo) on June 22 completed their exchange offer. The acquisition has created the LATAM Airlines Group S.A. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. will offer passengers more flights to more destinations than any other affiliated group of airlines in South America, initially reaching about 150 destinations in 22 countries and transporting cargo to 169 destinations in 27 countries.

As previously announced, the transaction was carried out through an exchange offer in which TAM’s shareholders could elect to exchange their TAM shares for LAN shares at a ratio of 0.9 LAN shares for each TAM share. The offered LAN shares will be delivered in the form of BDRs (Brazilian Depositary Receipts) in Brazil and ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) in the United States. The exchange offer, which was materialized with the auction on June 22, 2012, was subject to the condition that more than 2/3 of the TAM shares that participate in the offer agree with the deregistration of TAM as a public company in Brazil. This delisting condition was satisfied when 99.9% of the participant shares agreed with TAM’s deregistration. The tendered shares together with the TAM shares committed by the TAM Controlling Shareholders represented 95.9% of the total outstanding shares of TAM.

According to this report by Reuters, LATAM Airlines will decide within the next six months which airline alliance it will stay with. Currently LAN is a member of the OneWorld alliance, while TAM belongs to Star Alliance.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Alvaro Romero.

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Bottom Copyright Photo: Marcelo F. De Biasi.

Air Mauritius’ stock slumps after reporting a $37 million fiscal year loss

Air Mauritius (Port Louis, Mauritius) reported a $37 million loss for its fiscal year ending on March 31. The flag carrier had previously announced a plan to return to return to profitability.

Read the full report from Bloomberg.