Tag Archives: Airbus

Oman Air posts a loss of nearly $295 million for 2013

Oman Air (Muscat) reported a financial loss of nearly $295 million for 2013. This loss deepened from the previous year.

Oman Air reported strong increases in revenues and passenger numbers, supported by growth in seat capacity, cargo operations and the number of passengers carried in 2013. Oman Air blamed the loss on its investment in new aircraft.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Read the analysis by Muscat Daily: CLICK HERE

Oman Air:

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Emirates to upgrade the Dallas/Fort Worth route to the Airbus A380 on October 1

Emirates (Dubai) has announced it will bring its Airbus A380 to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), launching the first scheduled A380 service at the airport.

On October 1, 2014, the world’s largest passenger aircraft will touch down at DFW with a daily service between Dallas/Fort Worth, the world’s fourth busiest airport, and the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Dallas/Fort Worth will become the 28th international destination to which Emirates operates the aircraft, joining New York (JFK) and Los Angeles which are already served by the A380.

Emirates started flying to Dallas/Fort Worth in 2012 with a Boeing 777-200 LR, the first passenger carrier to fly nonstop to the Middle East from DFW. The introduction of the 489-seat A380, powered by U.S.-made GE GP7200 engines, is a direct response to demand with over 370,000 Emirates’ passengers travelling between Dallas and Dubai to date.

DFW Airport is making its final preparations for the arrival of the Emirates A380 with the construction of a second level jet bridge in Terminal D and modifications to the airfield, ramps and taxiways. Terminal D opened in 2005 with A380 capabilities already built into its design, so the final additions to make DFW ready for the A380 are relatively minor.

Emirates’ A380 is a wide-bodied double decker aircraft with a capacity of 489 passengers including 14 First Class Private Suites, 76 lie-flat beds in Business Class and 399 spacious seats in Economy Class.

Powered by GP7200 engines which burn up to twenty percent less fuel per seat than its nearest competitor, Emirates’ A380s have lower carbon dioxide emissions and thirty percent better fuel efficiency than the ICAO global fleet average. This is the most significant advancement in reducing fuel consumption and emissions in four decades. Emirates also stands apart from the rest as the average age of the fleet is less than half that of many European airlines. Emirates is the largest operator of the A380 and continues to work closely with Airbus to further reduce weight of future A380s by using a range of lightweight materials that account for twenty five percent of its structure.

The Emirates A380 service will operate daily as EK 222, departing Dallas/Fort Worth at 12:35 and arriving in Dubai at 12:20 the following day. EK 221 departs Dubai at 02:45 and arrives at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport at 09:45 the same day.

Emirates:

US Airways joins the trans-Atlantic joint venture

American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth), British Airways (London), Iberia (Madrid) and Finnair (Helsinki) today (April 3) celebrate a key milestone as US Airways (Phoenix) joins the airlines’ trans-Atlantic joint venture. As part of the joint business, established by American, British Airways and Iberia in October 2010, the airlines can cooperate commercially on trans-Atlantic flights. The joint venture also includes a revenue sharing agreement in which member airlines have permission to coordinate schedules and pricing on North Atlantic routes. These benefits provide customers traveling between North America and Europe increased choices and access to a more comprehensive network.

US Airways brings 28 trans-Atlantic routes to the joint business including nonstop service from the United States to 18 European destinations including Munich, Athens and Amsterdam. Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C., will become oneworld’s largest East Coast gateways to Europe providing customers access to more than 100 destinations throughout North America with one-stop connections from these two airports. With combined operations, the joint business will serve 29 destinations in North America and 25 destinations in Europe, operating nearly 100 routes between the two regions.

US Airways also plans to implement extensive codeshare agreements with the other carriers in the coming weeks, providing easy access to the joint business’ combined global network.

US Airways:

Aer Lingus launches its new route to San Francisco

Aer Lingus (Dublin) yesterday (April 2) launched its inaugural flight to San Francisco. The flight, flight EI 147, was assigned to an Airbus A330-200 (EI-DUO) named St. Columba,

Aer Lingus will operate five flights per week from Dublin to San Francisco as part of its significant trans-Atlantic growth plan in 2014.

The 2014 growth plan includes:

· New routes from Dublin to San Francisco and Toronto (Pearson)
· Almost doubling of frequency on services from Shannon to Boston and New York (JFK)
· The addition of three Boeing 757 aircraft to the long haul fleet

Top Copyright Photo: SM Fitzwilliams Collection/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-202 EI-DUO (msn 841) taxies at Shannon.

Bottom Copyright Photo: Mark Durbin/AirlinersGallery.com. EI-DUO arrives at SFO on the inaugural flight.

Aer Lingus:

easyJet’s new William Shakespeare Airbus A319 logo jet and oldest William Shakespeare are the center points of a new campaign to recognize the famous playwright on the British calendar

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) as previously reported, painted one of its Airbus A319 with likeness of playwright William Shakespeare. We now know the reason. The airline today (April 2) launched a campaign to get the playwright officially recognized on the British calendar. The airline issued this statement:

Britain’s oldest real life William Shakespeare (below) has today launched a campaign to get the world’s most famous playwright officially recognized in the British calendar.

The 91 year old, from Bristol, was joined by Stratford-upon-Avon MP Nadhim Zahawias. Mr. Zahawias signed the petition to recognize April 23 as the national William Shakespeare Day.

Copyright Photo: EasyJet. Will-I-Am: Britain’s oldest William Shakespeare (above) launches campaign to make April 23 official day of the Bard.

The duo launched the campaign at London’s Gatwick Airport by unveiling a special edition easyJet Airbus A319 (G-EZBI) with an image of William Shakespeare on the fuselage. The airline is backing the bid to get the Bard recognized and is helping to garner the 100,000 signatures necessary for the issue to be debated in parliament and trending online with #Shakesonaplane

Heritage and culture remain one of the key drivers of tourism to the UK (Visit Britain report) and easyJet has arranged a program of free Shakespearean performances at airports across the country to share the playwright’s most famous work. The airline’s special William Shakespeare plane will also operate on flights across easyJet’s network this summer to help promote the UK as one of Europe’s leading cultural hot spots. The campaign for national William Shakespeare Day will culminate on the 450th anniversary of the Bard’s birth this April 23.

William Shakespeare from Bristol, said: “It is such an honor to be chosen to launch this campaign to recognise my namesake. All my life I have been proud to share my name with such an iconic British figure and I think it is important we recognise his achievements with an official day in the calendar.”

Paul Moore, Communications Director for easyJet said: ‎”William Shakespeare is Britain’s most famous author so easyJet is proud to back the bid to make 23 April his national day. We are asking our UK passengers to sign the petition while suggesting to those from the rest of Europe that they visit the land of Shakespeare to learn more about him and see his works performed.

“Our campaign will run during April in our in-flight magazine read by 5 million passengers a month, across thousands of seat back adverts and we will be staging free Shakespearean performances at airports across the UK. Passengers can win free flights by writing a sonnet supporting the campaign and it will be launched with our special Airbus which will carry Shakespeare’s image on the side. Aviation and Shakespearean language combine for the name – Romeo Alpha Juliet.”

Nadhim Zahawi, MP for Stratford-upon-Avon said:

“Is it a Bard, is it a plane? William Shakespeare is one of Britain’s greatest gifts to the world, ‘he was not of an age, but for all time’, and I have long argued this sceptre’d isle should celebrate April 23 as a national holiday. I’m delighted that easyJet have chosen to campaign on this issue – let’s hope we can get it off the runway.”

EasyJet will be collecting signatures and offering free Shakespeare performances at the following airports this month:

• London Gatwick: April 12-13
• London Luton: April 14-15
• Edinburgh: April 14-15
• London Stansted: April 14-15
• Manchester: April 16-17
• Bristol: April 16-17

Top Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZBI (msn 3003) is seen departing from Gatwick Airport near London. (all others by EasyJet).

EasyJet (UK):

SAS expands flights to the U.S. as it celebrates 50 years of flying between Copenhagen and Chicago

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) is celebrating 50 years of flying to Chicago with increased service to the United States. The airline issued this statement:

SAS was the first airline to fly over the North Pole to the U.S. West Coast in 1954. Ten years later, SAS also began flying to the U.S. Midwest and is now celebrating 50 years of service between Copenhagen and Chicago. In 2014, SAS is continuing to increase its traffic, adding five weekly departures and a new route to the USA. In doing so, SAS is cementing its position as Scandinavia’s biggest and most capable airline for travel to the United States.

On April 2, 1964, SAS launched the route to Chicago (O’Hare) with the maiden flight from Copenhagen. Captain Jens Mueller flew passengers and crew in a Douglas DC-8-33 to Chicago via Montreal, sowing the seeds for a successful route, which has since been operated by aircraft including the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, Boeing 767 and Airbus A330and A340. More than 3 million people have flown this route with SAS, and today the airline flies directly from Copenhagen and Stockholm to Chicago.

SAS operates a nonstop route between Copenhagen and Chicago (O’Hare) with one flight a day every day of the week. This will now also apply to the route to San Francisco, which is getting an extra departure on Tuesday, making it a daily service as of June 10.

SAS currently flies from Stockholm to Chicago every day in the summer and five times a week in winter. SAS is adding another winter departure to Chicago (O’Hare) from Stockholm, which will also be getting an extra flight to New York (JFK). SAS is also adding two more departures a week on the Oslo-New York (JFK) route in winter. Oslo-New York (JFK) operates daily in the summer.

SAS has also just announced the opening of a new route between Stavanger and Houston (Bush Intercontinental) (please see our previous report).

Details of the expansion of U.S. services:

· Copenhagen-San Francisco: From June 10 to October 25, 7 departures per week (Tuesday has been added)
· Stockholm Chicago: Daily departures in the summer. On the winter timetable (from end of October) 6 departures per week (Thursday has been added)
· Stockholm-New York: Daily departures in the summer. On the winter timetable (from end of October) 6 departures per week (Friday has been added)
· Oslo-New York: Daily departures in the summer. On the winter timetable (from end of October) 6 departures per week (Tuesday and Wednesday have been added)
· Stavanger-Houston: From 20 August with 6 departures per week (except Saturday)

Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus Airbus A340-313X OY-KBM (msn 450) in the Star Alliance motif departs the runway at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport (ARN).

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:

Israir Airlines to introduce four new routes

Israir Airlines (Tel Aviv) will commenced weekly Airbus A320 service to Stuttgart, Germany starting on June 4 according to Airline Route.

The company is also introducing three new routes this summer to Memmingen (May 30), Tbilisi (April 2) and Verona (April 3).

Israir Airlines:

Air Canada is folding Air Canada Jetz, will fly seasonal Ottawa-Fort Lauderdale flights

Air Canada (Montreal) is giving up on its charter division called Air Canada Jetz.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, Air Canada has made a “business decision to exit this segment of the market,” which it has been operating since 2001. The division will shut down this year when the current contracts expire.

The division’s main customers are sports teams, entertainment bands and political parties.

Air Canada lists past and current customers:

Rogers Communications
Phil Collins
Bruce Springsteen
U2
Rolling Stones
Spice Girls
United Jewish Association
CIBC
Honda
Toyota
American Express
Novapharm
Berlex
Comcast
CTV
Lombard
And many more…
Professional sports teams:

Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Raptors
Edmonton Oilers
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
And more…

In other news, Air Canada has announced it will operate seasonal nonstop flights every Monday and Saturday from July 5 to September 1, 2014, between Ottawa and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Florida.

Copyright Photo: Eddie/Maloney/AirlinersGallery.com (all other images by Air Canada). Airbus A320-211 C-FPWD (msn 231) touches down in Las Vegas.

Air Canada:

Air Canda Jetz:

Wizz Air Ukraine evolves and moves its assets to Kiev and western Ukraine

Wizz Air Ukraine (Kiev) has announced a new route that will connect the Ukrainian capital of Kiev with Naples in Italy. The route will be operated with Airbus A320 aircraft starting on June 14 2014.

Wizz Air Ukraine’s route network from Kiev will now consist of a total of 14 routes to six different countries.

Meanwhile the company is suspending flights from the eastern Russian-speaking city of Donetsk (above map) in the Ukraine to Budapest, Rome (Fiumicino), Bergamo (Orio al Serio, near Milan), Larnaca and Dortmund.

The low-fare carrier is moving based aircraft from Donetsk to the ethnic Ukrainian city of Lvov in western Ukraine (above map) given the tension in the Ukraine between the eastern and western portions of the Ukraine.

Wizz Air (Ukraine):

EasyJet to expand its presence at its London’s Luton Airport home, unveils the new Tartan livery at Inverness

EasyJet (UK) (London-Luton) has agreed a new 10 year deal with London Luton Airport which could see the airline more than double its size at the airport from four to nine million passengers a year. The expansion would also see the creation of 2,500 new jobs at the airport – the UK’s sixth largest – and in the surrounding region.

EasyJet has 15 aircraft based at London Luton, its second largest London base, and plans to grow its capacity by around 20% over the next year – adding new business and leisure routes and increasing frequencies on some of its existing 39 routes from London Luton.

EasyJet is the largest airline operating from London Luton with 1,600 staff employed locally and 39 destinations served.

EasyJet first launched flights from London Luton Airport with one aircraft in 1995 and the airport remains the home of the airline with its headquarters based there.

London Luton Airport is one of the UK’s largest airports and carried 9.7 million passengers in 2013, departing to over 100 destinations. The Airport directly and indirectly employs over 600 and 8,000 staff respectively and is a key economic driver for the region.

Top Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com (all others by EasyJet). Airbus A319-111 G-EZBF (msn 2923) in the Tartan design prepares to depart from Gatwick Airport on the south side of London.

The airline issued this statement about G-EZBF:

EasyJet today (March 31) celebrated the launch of new early morning flights between Inverness and London Gatwick by unveiling a special edition tartan plane and EasyJet tartan kilts.

EasyJet was joined by Transport Minister Keith Brown MSP and Highlands MP Danny Alexander as well as representatives from Visit Scotland, Scottish Council for Development and Industry and the Inverness Chamber of Commerce .

These services not only secure the long term future of air links between the Highlands and London following Flybe’s decision to exit the route but will also help to keep businesses in the Highlands connected to London.

To mark the occasion easyJet created the ‘Highland aircraft’ tartan which is the first to be registered to an airline since records started in 2008 and one of the most prominent orange designs available. The easyJet tartan also features on a special edition Airbus A319 aircraft – named ‘Inverness’ – which will operate on easyJet routes across Europe to help promote the Highlands as a tourism destination.

The new Inverness to Gatwick flights will be followed by four new easyJet routes launching this spring – Herakilon and Bodrum from Edinburgh and Spilt and Kos from Glasgow. In total EasyJet expects to carry over 5.3 million passengers on Scottish flights this year ensuring it remains Scotland’s largest airline.

EasyJet (UK):