We almost made it through June without an airline bankruptcy. On Tuesday June 26, Air Finland, an airline and package tour operator filed for bankruptcy, ending all operations. 1,000 customers were stranded. They have been the 16th airline to collapse in 2012 (for list of collapsed carriers see here). Founded in 2002, Air Finland flew to destinations in Dubai, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. They state that they have flown over 400.000 passengers every year since 2005. Air Finland fleet had three Boeing 757s with an average age of 18 years. Each seated 219 passengers in a one class configuration. They…
Airline News (Friday)
Category Archives for Airline News (Friday).
Delta to have 1000 wifi enabled planes
Delta announced last Thursday,wifi will be added to its 150 strong international fleet from 2013. It currently has 550 planes wifi equipped and they say they are aiming at a wifi equipped fleet of 1000 planes. Domestically, Delta uses GoGo which provides the service via air-to-ground technology that uses land-based cell towers to beam signals to aircraft. For International flights, this is not so practical so it will be an Air to Satellite product. GoGo are working on their satellite systems. Delta have annouced Gogo will be Delta’s provider on the international services Satellite systems are almost four times more expensive…
US Best and Worst Carriers
The North America Airline Satisfaction Study was released on June 13 showing satisfaction with US and Canadian airlines declined slightly from the previous year . This survey run by J.D. Power and Associates 2012 involves more than 13,500 passengers giving their input between May 2011 and April 2012. Power scores airlines out of 1000 points with points being awarded for seven factors in this order of importance: Cost and fees In-flight services; Boarding/deplaning/baggage; Flight crew; Aircraft; Check-in; Reservations, Overall North American airlines rated 681 points down from 683 in 2011. Low cost carriers (average score 754 up 3) performed…
2012 Airline Bankruptcies
A cheerful topic! The one commonality the airline industry has, is that no brand is impervious. Unlike brands in other industries: Ford (USA), Cadbury (UK) and Waitrose (UK), airlines seem to come and go. The airlines lost so far in 2012 are listed below. Where I have blogged about the collapse, you will see my link. 2oth January: Cirrus (Germany) 27th January: Spanair (Spain) 30th January: US3000 (USA) 9th February: Malev (Hungary) – Check out my three blog posts about them: The Collapse 17th February : Air Australia (Australia) 26th February: Norfolk Air (Australia) 27th February: Velvet Sky (South…
British Midland Regional Future???
This post is an update of my earlier post: Bye Bye BMI. Sector Aviation (previously known as Granite Aviation) successfully bought Scottish based bmi British Midland Regional Limited for £8 million cash from International Airlines Group (British Airways/Iberia). Handover was completed June 1. IAG inherited bmi Regional when it bought British Midland from Lufthansa earlier in 2012. This sale included all of bmi Regional’s fixed assets and long-term liabilities, including owned and operating lease aircraft. The carrier has 19 Embraers. Sector Aviation is led by Ian Woodley who is now Chair of bmi Regional. In 1987, Woodley founded Business Air. It became…
United ditches Auckland-Houston
Remember the promise of a 787 flight from Auckland to Houston Intercontinental (IAH)? It was made by pre merger Continental. At approximately 11900 km (7400 miles), the new route was to be the longest from Continental’s Houston hub. I was very excited by this possibility. Houston is a much nicer airport than Los Angeles and the flight would get you into the heart of the USA. For me, Melbourne-Auckland-Houston-Philadelphia for example (as nightmarish as it sounds) is much more preferable than Melbourne-Sydney-Los Angeles-Philadelphia. Changing planes at Sydney is a hassle and in Los Angeles it is awful. The only…
Qantas -Back to or Ready for the Future
Of regular concern to me is the future of the airline I have flown the most with: Australian Flag Carrier: Qantas. The next step in CEO Alan Joyce’s Grand Plan for Qantas was unveiled last week. It came as the airline shut down its Melbourne maintenance base, eliminating over 500 jobs. From July 1st, 2012, Qantas will be split into four entities: Qantas domestic which has 65% of the Australian air market. This division will run Qantas’ engineering, catering and airport operations Qantas International which will control Freight operations Jetstar, the low cost carrier, which already operates as a separate…
Not Wanting the Cheapest Fare?!
As a Qantas Frequent Flyer, there are some categories of American Airlines Coach tickets that earn me points and status credits. These are: GLMNSV Discount Economy and BHKY economy. Other fare classes do not earn me any points or status credits eg OQ. I don’t overly care about the points but Status Credits are important to me as I want to keep my priority check in, higher luggage allowance and lounge access. Often the difference in price between a Q and a N fare is very, very slight but the outcome is,of course, very different. The obvious…
Qantas/Jetstar 787
The Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” made it to Australia this week on its world tour. Kate Schnider and Steve Creedy from The Australian newspaper have an excellent review and commentary of the plane. A photo gallery of the plane during its Sydney visit is here. I cannot wait to fly the 787!! Qantas, has ordered 50 of the dreamliners. The first 15 of them are to be delivered first to Qantas low cost airline subsidiary Jetstar in mid 2013, despite rumours the planes will go to Qantas International or Domestic operations. The Jetstar 787-8s will seat 313 passengers in a two class configuration.…
Kingfisher- still flies!
Can you believe India’s Kingfisher airlines is still flying. The group has now slipped from the largest to sixth airline in India in terms of passengers. Last week, the Indian government announced the carrier owes $US 49m (£31m) in taxes. In addition, the carrier owes money to airports, lenders and its own staff. The airline shut down most international short-haul operations in February and and all international services ceased on 10 April. In March, its mooted membership of One World never happened and IATA (the International Air Transport Association) suspended Kingfisher’s usage of the inter-airline funds transfer system. Cancellations, delays and disruptions have been…
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