Tag Archives: Airbus A319-100

Lufthansa to offer broadband Internet on board short and medium-haul flights from 2016

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) has made this announcement:

From early summer 2016, Lufthansa will be the first network airline in Europe to offer broadband on board its short and medium-haul flights. This will enable passengers on continental flights and flights within Germany to enjoy the full freedom to communicate and to use the Internet with a wide bandwidth above the clouds. The first aircraft will be fitted with the new technology in early summer 2016.

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, comments: “Lufthansa has always been a pioneer of Internet services on board its aircraft. Having equipped all planes in the Lufthansa intercontinental fleet with our successful FlyNet® system, we are now continuing our success story by providing Internet on board our short and medium-haul flights. We are therefore the first airline in Europe able to offer its guests an Internet surfing experience boasting the same quality and speed as they are used to at home.”

The new service from Lufthansa and its technology partner Inmarsat is based on the most modern broadband satellite technology from Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network (Ka-band) and offers seamless, reliable coverage on short and medium-haul flights. Inmarsat recently successfully launched the third satellite in this global constellation and Lufthansa will be its first aviation customer. The service will enable passengers to make the most of broadband Internet access on their own mobile devices via a wireless network. They will not only be able to use simple e-mail services, but also superior applications and even streaming. On top of all this, passengers will also be able to use their mobile phones to send and receive text messages and for the transfer of data based on their own mobile phone contract. Telephone calls on board, however, will still not be allowed due to customer preference.

Lufthansa Technik will integrate all systems and components into the aircraft thanks to its many years of experience in the field of plane modification. This work will not only include installation activities, but also all tasks required in terms of aviation and licensing law.

Lufthansa Systems will provide the technical infrastructure needed to establish a well-functioning Internet connection on board. This work will include tasks such as setting up network operations in the aircraft, which is the main technical requirement for a wireless network on board and providing the software required for the operation of an Internet portal.

Lufthansa Systems and Lufthansa Technik are additionally planning a long-term global partnership in order to also be able to offer other airlines a modern on-board IT platform (BoardConnect) with broadband Internet access that can be used for a number of different purposes. Both the Lufthansa Group and future clients in the third-party market will benefit from the additional services and lower risks provided by this strong partnership.

With regard to the future, Lufthansa is also committing to a flight trial program for a new hybrid network being developed for Europe. The European Aviation Network combines an S-band satellite from Inmarsat with a complementary LTE ground network being provided by Deutsche Telekom. This promising and innovative technology offers potential in terms of costs and can be flexibly adapted to suit the broadband transmission demands of the future. From 2017 onwards, Lufthansa will commence a flight trial program of the new technology.

Lufthansa operated the world’s first scheduled flight with broadband Internet access on January 15, 2003. Although it was increasing in popularity among passengers, this technically reliable broadband Internet connection via a wireless network had to be suspended in 2006 because the necessary satellites were no longer in operation. Since December 2010, Lufthansa has again been the first airline to offer broadband Internet access on its intercontinental flights. FlyNet® has been available on all 106 long-haul aircraft in the Lufthansa fleet since the beginning of this year. Lufthansa therefore boasts the world’s largest long-haul fleet with broadband Internet access.

Copyright Photo: AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-114 D-AILU (msn 744) with the special “Lulu Stork” markings taxies at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Lufthansa aircraft slide show:

Finnair prepares for a national demonstration by labor unions

Finnair (Helsinki) has issued this statement for Friday, September 18:

The Finnish labor unions have announced an extensive, nationwide demonstration to take place in Finland on Friday September 18, 2015. The demonstration is expected to have a wide impact on different industries, including commercial aviation.

Finnair estimates the demonstration to have significant impacts on Finnair customer service, baggage handling and different processes and services related to flight departures at Helsinki Airport on Friday. These services are affected primarily between 11:00 and 13:00 EET, but the impacts can be visible to customers both prior to the demonstration period and after it – for example, transportation services at Helsinki Airport are impacted during 06:00-22:00 EET.

“We are extremely sorry about the disruption this demonstration causes to our customers’ travel plans. We will do our utmost to serve our customers in the best possible way in this difficult situation, and thus offer them the possibility to change their flights,” says Janne Tarvainen, Head of Finnair’s Operational Control Center. “We hope that despite this demonstration that is not dependent on Finnair, as many customers as possible will get to their destinations as planned.”

Friday is the busiest day in terms of passenger numbers for Finnair, and the demonstration thus impacts thousands of Finnair customers. The demonstration’s impacts are expected to cause flight delays, time table changes and possibly also flight cancellations during Friday. Even though the demonstration takes place on Friday, some impacts can still be expected in aviation over the weekend.

Finnair has started preparations to minimise the disruptions the demonstration causes on our customers’ travel plans. Customers who have reservations on Finnair flights during September 17-19, 2015, can change their trip to another time free of charge, and avoid traveling during the time when the demonstration causes delays and other disruption on Finnair traffic.

Finnair continues to estimate the detailed impacts of the demonstration, and will communicate possible time table changes and/or cancellations starting on Wednesday, September 16. Finnair advises customers to take the following action:

Customers who are travelling with Finnair on September 17-19, 2015 can already now change their travel dates free of charge, following instructions given at http://www.finnair.com/info
Please make sure that you have the correct mobile number and other contact information in your reservation.
Decisions on timetable changes and/or cancellations are made starting on Wednesday, September 16,2015, and we will communicate the changes directly to customers, and also on our webpages at http://www.finnair.com/int/gb/flights/flightlist
If a flight is cancelled, customers can change their travel date to an earlier or later date, get rerouted when possible, or seek a refund for the ticket price.
We advise customers to reserve enough time to get to Helsinki Airport, as the demonstration is expected to have impacts on public transportation as well as on transportation services near the airport.

We apologize if our customer service lines are busy during the next few days.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

United Airlines unveils its new premium seat for 200+ narrow body aircraft

United Airlines (Chicago) according to the airline, “is introducing a new, comfortable, custom-designed seat for first-class cabins on more than 200 of the company’s narrowbody aircraft.”

Above Photo: United Airlines.

The seat will debut on an Airbus A319 (above) next week, with retrofits on A319s, A320s and many Boeing 737s and 757s through 2016.

Developed with input from customers whom the airline invited to test seat prototypes, the custom seat United and design firm PriestmanGoode have created features several elements to improve the customer experience, including:

All-leather seat covers in signature navy and champagne colors;
A patented-design tray table with tablet holder, enabling travelers to enjoy food and beverages while using their personal electronic devices;
An articulating seat bottom for greater comfort when reclining and an adjustable headrest;
In-seat universal A/C power outlets for customers to charge their devices;
Additional in-seat storage, including two seatback pockets and side stowage for laptops and tablets;
Dedicated beverage holders; and
Granite cocktail tables.

At 21.1 inches wide, the new United First seat is wider than the current seat and will have numerous custom-design elements and premium finishes, including the signature United-branded tag.

Each aircraft will continue to have the same number of premium-cabin seats.

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-131 N850UA (msn 1653) departs from Los Angeles International Airport.

United Airlines aircraft slide show:

SKY Airline to become a low-cost airline in Chile

SKY Airline‘s (Chile) (Santiago) CEO Holger Paulmann, announced a big change in the company’s management, as it is in the process of becoming a low-cost airline.

Starting today (September 4), only beverages are included in the ticket price. Those wanting to eat something on board the aircraft will have the option to buy the on-board service. According to the carrier, this is aimed at reducing costs, and allowing the passenger to decide which services he or she will require, such as paying for first rows or the emergency row seats, and checked baggage.

According to the company, they expect to charge a 20-30% discount on tickets, as well as offering one way tickets cheaper than buying them for the round trip.

According to Paulmann “100% of our flights last less of 4 hours, 80% of our passengers are not willing to pay for meals. 30% do not need to carry luggage, why do we have to invest and ask our passengers to pay for services they will not use? We believe the clients have to pay for those services they appreciate more, giving them flexibility for choosing and a service made to order.”

This announcement follows the announced future elimination of the Chile-Bolivia route by November 2, 2015 because of the low load factors (usually the aircraft carried less than 50% of its capacity), and the increase to two daily flights to Arica in northern Chile from October 5. The process must be finished by July 2016.

Thanks to Alvaro Romero reporting from Chile.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Ex-easyJet Airbus A319-111 G-EZEP became CC-AFZ (msn 2251) with SKY Airline.

SKY Airline aircraft slide show:

easyJet increases its profit forecast

Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at www.finspreads.com commented on the updated profit forecast of easyJet (London-Luton):

easyJet impressed the market by increasing its profit forecast from a range of £620 million to £660 million to £675 million to £700 million on the back of a very strong summer and continued weakness in oil prices.

In August they carried 7.1 million passengers, a monthly record, whilst the proportion of occupied seats on each flight also reached an all time high of 94.4%.

This is great news for easyJet, who have staged an impressive recovery since earlier in the summer. Back in May easyJet issued a profit warning after air traffic control strikes in France led to a series of cancelations, which combined with the impact of two fires at Rome´s Fiumicino airport, resulted in the company wiping £25 million off its full year guidance.

Its definitely been a turbulent year for the budget airline and this has been reflected in the share price which slumped 17% following the profit warning in May. However, today’s news has seen the share price jump over 6% as investors become more confident in the future of easyJet.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDA (msn 3413) arrives at EuroAirport in the new look.

easyJet aircraft slide show:

United Airlines to add seasonal New York LaGuardia – Montrose flights

United Airlines (Chicago) is planning to add weekly Airbus A319 “ski service” from New York (LaGuardia) to Montrose, Colorado starting on December 19.

The carrier is also adding United Express Bombardier CRJ700 from the San Francisco hub to Fayetteville (Northwest Arkansas) on October 25 per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-131 N818UA (msn 882) taxies to the runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

United Airlines aircraft slide show:

British Airways to add seasonal Glasgow – Salzburg flights

British Airways (London) will add weekly winter ski seasonal Airbus A319 service from Glasgow to Salzburg starting on December 12 per Airline Route.

BA is also adding Airbus A319 service from London (Gatwick) to Valencia starting on November 6 and to Porto on February 11, 2016.

In other news, British Airways on May 4, 2016 will resume the London (Gatwick) – Lima route with Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft. The restored route will operate three days a week.

British Airways aircraft slide show:

Allegiant to grow its Airbus fleet to 50 aircraft

Allegiant Air (Las Vegas) has announced an agreement to purchase its 50th Airbus aircraft, an A320, from Airbus Financial Services. The purchase marks an important milestone for the company in its long-term transition to an Airbus fleet.

By the end of 2015, the company’s in service Airbus fleet will number 25, consisting of 15 A320s and 10 A319s. The remaining 25 committed Airbus aircraft will be delivered through 2018. The aircraft announced today will enter revenue service in early 2016. Allegiant anticipates adding further aircraft commitments as opportunities for new transactions arise. At the end of this year, Allegiant will have a total of 82 aircraft in revenue service.

The younger A320 family aircraft will help Allegiant to increase operational efficiency in the coming years. The enhanced operating economics of the aircraft will also open up new growth opportunities for the company by making longer routes and off-peak flying profitable. Routes such as Sanford to Bismarck, North Dakota and Mesa to Fort Wayne, Indiana have been made successful with the introduction of the A320/A319 into the fleet.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 N304NV (msn 2265) approaches the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Allegiant aircraft slide show:

Finnair narrows its second quarter loss, hopes to break even or better for the year

Finnair (Helsinki) reported a second quarter net loss of €6 million, down from a larger 2Q net loss of €23.9 million in the same period a year ago.

CEO Pekka Vauramo commented on the results:

Our passenger traffic revenue from tickets and ancillary services saw strong growth in the second quarter of 2015, and we achieved a new record in June by carrying more than 37,500 passengers in one day. At the same time, ancillary sales grew by one third from the previous year. Our customers have heartily welcomed the Chicago route as well as our new seasonal summer routes, with demand exceeding our expectations. Furthermore, business travel has picked up noticeably.

Profitability improved significantly, although the operational result still showed a loss of 12.9 million euros. The result improvement is attributed to revenue growth in our core business operations, the progress of cost reduction measures and the decline in fuel prices, which is reflected in our costs gradually due to our hedging policy. The appreciation of the dollar diluted the benefit from fallen jet fuel price and significantly increased our other dollar-denominated costs, but at the same time, the appreciation of our income currencies boosted our revenues particularly in Asia. In addition, our positive performance was supported by the result improvement at Aurinkomatkat Suntours.

While we cannot be satisfied with our loss-making result, our financial position and liquidity are very strong. Our long-haul fleet renewal, which will start this autumn, will significantly improve the cost-competitiveness and customer experience of our long-haul traffic. At the same time, we will continue to focus on increasing our revenue through, for example, ancillary services and product improvements in intercontinental traffic.

We are moving in the right direction and our strategy, which was updated in the spring, is clear. Our goal is profitable growth, which we will be better equipped to achieve once the Airbus A350 aircraft start joining our fleet later this year. They will enable the gradual growth of capacity and substantially reduce our fuel costs on long-haul flights. In addition, we have begun to recruit cabin crew with a view to future growth. Our whole team is enthusiastically preparing for Finnair’s next phase.

Here are the details:

Finnair Plc. Interim report August 14, 2015:

April-June 2015

Revenue on a par with second quarter of 2014, at 561.0 million euros (565.7).
Operational result improved to -12.9 million euros (-19.6).
Operational EBITDAR was 37.4 million euros (35.5).
Net cash flow from operating activities stood at 88.4 million euros (69.2), and cash flow from investments totalled -53.7 million euros (-92.3).
Unit cost at constant currency excluding fuel (CASK excl. fuel) increased by 0.7% year-on-year.
Unit revenue at constant currency (RASK) decreased by 1.9% year-on-year.
Earnings per share amounted to -0.06 cents (-0.20).

January-June 2015

Revenue on a par with first half of 2014, at 1,101.4 million euros (1,109.0).
Operational result improved to -41.3 million euros (-53.9).
Operational EBITDAR was 56.6 million euros (53.0).
Net cash flow from operating activities stood at 101.4 million euros (48.7), and cash flow from investments totalled 89.2 million euros (141.4).
Unit cost at constant currency excluding fuel (CASK excl. fuel) increased by 0.9% year-on-year.
Unit revenue at constant currency (RASK) decreased by 1.2% year-on-year.
Earnings per share amounted to -0.16 cents (-0.44).
Finnair updates its guidance and estimates that, in 2015, its operational result is around break-even or slightly positive.

Outlook

Outlook published on May 7, 2015

The demand outlook for passenger and cargo traffic in Finnair’s main markets still involves uncertainty. Finnair estimates that, in 2015, its capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres will grow by approximately 3 per cent and that its revenue will remain at the 2014 level. Finnair further estimates, as a change to its previous guidance, and when calculated with the same accounting principles as earlier, that its unit costs excluding fuel will increase from the 2014 level due to the structural changes in the company’s business and the strong appreciation of the US dollar. By applying the changed calculation method, that neutralises the effect of these changes as defined in notes 16 and 18 to the interim financial statements, Finnair estimates that its 2015 unit costs excluding fuel at constant currency will decrease from the 2014 level.

The lower price of jet fuel and the full impact from the completed savings program are supporting the financial performance of Finnair 2015.

According to its disclosure policy, Finnair will issue guidance on the expected development of its operational result in connection with the January–June interim report. As a separate guidance Finnair estimates that, when calculated using the exchange rates effective at the end of the review period, the non-recurring items associated with the long haul fleet renewal in 2015 will have a substantial positive impact on Finnair’s operating result due to the strengthened US dollar. Finnair has previously estimated that the long haul fleet renewal would not have a significant effect on its operating result in 2014 and 2015. The non-recurring items related to the long haul fleet renewal react substantially to changes in the euro-dollar exchange rate.

Outlook on August 14, 2015

Finnair estimates that, in 2015, its operational result is around break-even or slightly positive.

Finnair reiterates its previous estimate that its capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometers will grow by approximately 3 per cent and that its revenue will remain approximately at the 2014 level. As a change to its previous estimate, the company now estimates that its 2015 unit costs excluding fuel at constant currency will remain at the 2014 level.

Finnair also reiterates as a separate guidance that, when calculated using the exchange rates effective at the end of the review period, the non-recurring items associated with the long haul fleet renewal in 2015 will have a substantial positive impact on Finnair’s operating result due to the strengthened US dollar.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

Video: Finnair is depending on the new Airbus A350-900 to boost its bottom line later this year.

easyJet to add the London Gatwick – Friedrichshafen route

easyJet (UK) (London-Luton) on December 12 will start the twice-weekly London (Gatwick) – Friedrichshafen route. This new service will be operated with Airbus A319s according to Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDK (msn 3555) in the new 2015 livery arrives at EuroAirport.
easyJet (UK) aircraft slide show: