United Airlines Boeing 767 Emergency Landing on Terceira island, Portugal

United Airlines Boeing 767 carrying 179 passengers an emergency landing in Terceira island, Portuguese, after the discovery of smoke on the plane. According to the estimate of the pilot smelled smoke coming from Iceland’s volcanic eruption. However, the results of detection of a flight crew, the smell of smoke coming from the smell of burning electrical wires.

Parties airline United Airlines has confirmed that will provide compensation to passengers for the inconvenience during the flight.

Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in Iceland, which began on April 14, disabled air traffic across Europe, leaving thousands of travelers stranded and forcing more than 20 European countries to close their airspace.

United Airlines Boeing 767 aircraft to continue flight to Moscow on Thursday and landed at Domodedovo airport, Moscow.

The flight was originally delayed in Washington for five hours due to bad weather. Further delayed when the European air controllers providing air traffic to Paris and Brussels prerogative to take off first.

Ethiopian Airlines First Flight from Addis Ababa to Cairo

Ethiopian Airlines made its maiden flight from Addis Ababa to Cairo and breathed a lease of life into a dormant African aviation industry and rightly called it self, ‘The Spirit of Africa’.

Short as the weekly flight could have been, it was a milestone in shaping the future of the aviation industry on the continent.

Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s oldest airline and apart from scoring that first with the flight to Egypt, it has continued to perform well in the African aviation industry.

It has in its existence taken some battering from heavy competition in and outside Africa, among the competitors being South African Airline, Kenya Airways and British. Airways among others and the only way to counter this was to set out a strategic plan.

The just ended five-year plan brought success to reinstall the airline among Africa’s finest and is an example of how well an airline could be managed by maximizing on profits.

In the just ended five-year strategic plan, the airline surpassed all targeted by raising its income to US$ 1.3 billion when the target was $1 billion from the $390 million at the start of the plan.

They last year posted profits in excess of $123 million, and that is at a time when the airline is in the processing of acquiring a new fleet of planes, both from Boeing and Airbus.

But an outside image of the airline does not actually paint the correct picture of their vision, strengthen and dominance.

As a result of heavy traffic, for example, and the inevitable challenge of handling a

lot more clients in transit via Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airline will soon start constructing a five-star hotel in Addis Ababa with funds from the China Africa Development Fund. Chinese constructor China Hinan has already been engaged.

The airline has a maintenance department that repairs and overhauls Boeing plan engines and the trust from Boeing goes to extremes that the airlines makes all sorts of cables from their Bole International Airport headquarters for all the flying Boeing aircrafts and last year raked in $ 33 million.

The cables are flown to the Boeing base in the US once done.

For every plane bought, Ethiopian Airlines has a state-of-the-art engine testing machine that checks for any manufacturers malfunction before the engines are let off into the air.

All this is for the ‘zero mistake’ campaign the airline has.

And at their headquarters, the airline has a reputable Academy that does not only train its own pilots, but thosefrom other airlines including competitors like Kenyan and South African Airways.

Ethiopian airline has a successful cargo wing which carries more cargo on the continent and then the peak of land infrastructure are the two Boeing Simulators.

“We believe we have come from a good past and having achieved so much to reach where we are, we believe we can not push into the next generation and we are well on track for that.

“Vision 2025í is our new plan, we want to achieve a lot of things and we are sure we can achieve them, we are buying as many as 34 aircraft,” were the word’s of company chief executive officer Tewolde Gabre-Mariam.

The airline plans to become the most competitive and leading aviation group in Africa by providing safe, market driven and customer focused passenger and cargo transport, aviation training, flight catering, MRO and ground services by 2025.

This vision 2025, explain what the airline wishes to achieve, though a huge mountain to climb, as Mr Gabre-Mariam said.

He believes this is achievable going by their ability to beat all targets in the 2010 strategic plan.

He said in the just ended five-year strategic plan, his airline surpassed all targeted by raising its income to $1.3 billion when the target was $ 1 billion from the $390 million.

The 100 per cent Government owned company also raised its profitability last year to $123 million and with such a performance they see room for improvement, now it plans to up showing and increase.

He said in the airlines expansion plans, it would increase the number of passengers it flies from the 3.2 million they did last year to more than 18 million per year by 2025.

“We carried more people, we travelled more miles, we made more money we carried more goods and because of that, we see a lot of room for improvement.

“Besides, we have retained a significant number of staff and since human resource is our biggest asset, we are sure we can easily meet the 2025 targets,” he said.

Sitting high on the agenda of the 2025 vision is Zambia.

Ethiopian Airlines plans to turn Zambia into a regional hub that would help the airline capture the lurking market in Central and Southern and all this is its bid to become Africa’s best airliner.

Gabre-Mariam said Zambia is an area best suited to help their airline grow bigger by catering for all its passengers and planes that would be visiting the region before flying back to Bole International Airport in Ethiopia.

Zambia would be picking up all passengers in the region and fly them to Ethiopia.

Apart from been economically impressive and being one of the airlines most trusted routes, Lusaka is a well located and would be only the second hub on the continent outside Addis Ababa.

ìIn our vision 2025, we have Lusaka high on our programme to become a hub for the central and Southern Africa for Ethiopian Airline, this will receive all our customers from the region and bring them to Addis,î he said.

The Airlineís only other hub is in Lome, Togo which was handling handling the business in the hugely populous West Africa.

Though giving no dates, this would happen in the next few months as it continues on its expansion programme in which it hopes to grow by more than 500 percent in the vision 2025.

Ethiopian Airlines runs a daily flight into Lusaka.

He said that first, and as a result of increased traffic between Zambia and Addis Ababa, the Airlines would make a direct flight between Lusaka and Addis Ababa instead of triangular route.

Zambia is a drop and pick up point for the airline whose plane, mainly the Boeing 737-800 starts off from Harare Zimbabwe.

And another first to its long list of impressive feats, Ethiopians is taking obsession to outgrow its African rivals to a whole new level.

It has acquired four new jumbo-jets from Boeing, the Boeing 777-200 LR (long Range), three of which have already delivered, the first planes to operate in Africa.

The planes were bought at a cost of $1.3 billion, making it the first African carrier to own and operate the Long-Range aircraft.

The Boeing 777-200LR, though carries 321 passengers has been described as the worldís most success plane and with the latest high-tech on the plane and greater fuel capacity, it can fly 17 hours non-stop.

This makes the trip to as far as China non-stop a lot shorter as unlike other jests, it does not needed to stop over for refueling.

The Long Range Aircraft is the first of its kind in Africa and the four were just part of the airline wish to increase its fleet from the current 46 to 115 at the expiry of its 2025 strategic plan.

And with the arrival of the 777-200LR, Ethiopian Airlines would on May 1 commence new flights to Hangzhou, one of the most renowned and prosperous cities in China to add to other three destinations in China.

Hangzhou, located in Zhejiang province, is an alternative to the busy Shanghai airport for those travelling to and from Shanghai as it is only 45 minutes away via Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed train.

With the opening of the fourth destination in China, Ethiopian Airlines will expand dependable passenger and cargo handling services to traders, business people and tourists between China and Africa via the strategic business hub at Addis Ababa.

In addition to the five weekly flights to Hangzhou, Ethiopian provides daily services to Beijing and Guangzhou, plus four weekly flights to Hong Kong.

Another first is that Ethiopian Airlines is the first African airlines to connect the Peopleís Democratic Republic of China with Africa, starting with its first flight to Beijing on November 7, 1973.

With this next generation that the Ethiopian Airlines in getting to, it might just be The new Spirit of Africa.

Major Airlines Industry Expected to be Profitable in 2009

A year ago, most experts were predicting that 2008 would be a strong year for the airline industry, with high hopes for growth and billions in profits.

Those expectations were shattered by a record-breaking spike in oil prices, followed by a plunge in demand for travel as the economy took a nose dive. The year’s events were a stark reminder that predictions can quickly go awry in the tumultuous airline business.

So many are being cautious about forecasting 2009. The biggest factors that will affect airline passengers, employees and investors are the economy and price of oil, which remain question marks.

“It’s no secret that the big question is what’s going to happen with the economy,” said Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing for American Airlines, based in Fort Worth. “Nobody knows for sure, and the industry’s health is very closely tied to the economy.”

Still, many analysts are predicting the major airlines to turn a small profit despite the downturn, although projections have been slashed in recent months. The airlines are likely to continue cutting their passenger capacity, which could keep ticket prices stable. Travelers can expect to keep paying fees on items like checked bags and may have to start paying for some new services as well.

American hopes to receive approval for its alliance with British Airways, which would allow it to coordinate with that airline on operations, scheduling and marketing for trans-Atlantic flights.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, meanwhile, plans to begin flying into New York City for the first time and will work to build the first North American low-fare alliance with the Canadian carrier WestJet and Mexican airline Volaris.

“I think 2009 is going to be a very, very interesting year for the airlines,” said travel analyst Terry Trippler of Tripplersview.com.

Fees ‘here to stay’

Travelers taking to the skies in 2009 can probably count on one thing — they’ll have to keep paying those fees, such as checked-baggage fees, that airlines began charging in 2008.

Although airlines cited the high price of jet fuel when they implemented the fees this year, the charges are unlikely to disappear, even though oil prices have dropped.

“I really don’t think we’ll see those fees go away,” Trippler said. “They’re here to stay.”

Garton said most customers have adjusted to the extra charges.

“The initial response was negative, but in reality, it’s giving customers more choices to pay for what they really want to consume,” he said. And, he added, “It’s been positive in terms of revenue, clearly.”

Trippler said it’s unlikely that many new fees will be added next year.

“There really isn’t much more for them to start charging for, except maybe beverages,” Trippler said. He also doesn’t expect airlines to raise fees that are already on the books.

But the airline consultant Stuart Klaskin of Klaskin, Kushner & Co. disagrees.

“I don’t think they’ve even begun to plumb the depths of the passenger fees,” he said. More airlines could begin charging for window or aisle seats, he said, or early boarding. They can also put more charges on frequent-flier program transactions.

Airlines may also begin offering new services for a fee. Several carriers, including Delta Air Lines, are planning to roll out in-flight wireless Internet access, for example, during the year.

And United Airlines recently began offering a $25 pass that allows passengers to use shorter security and ticket lines normally reserved for elite and first-class travelers.

“We’ll probably see more of these new products that the airlines will offer for a price,” Trippler said.Klaskin predicts that airlines may also try selling more expensive fares that include several services, such as checked baggage or preferred seating.

“It’s like the value meal,” he said. “Once people get irked enough paying all these fees, they may be willing to pay more for a ticket that includes them upfront.”

The lone holdout, Southwest Airlines, is likely to continue to refrain from charging most fees. The airline has made its lack of fees a major selling point in recent advertising.

Garton said it’s “hard to know” whether American has lost many customers to Southwest over the fees.

“Clearly there’s been some,” he said, but other factors such as price, frequency and schedule are factors.

Prices stable

The future is more cloudy when it comes to ticket prices. Most analysts expect demand to decline as the economy shrinks, which usually means more fare sales and cheaper tickets.

UBS recently conducted a survey of corporate travel managers, which found that 75 percent plan to reduce their company’s travel spending in 2009.

Most of those cuts are expected in domestic markets, although spending on travel to Europe is likely to be down as well.

“The results are clearly bearish for demand,” said UBS airline analyst Kevin Crissey, but he added that they are “not out of line with economic news.”

Fares may remain stable if the airlines continue cutting passenger capacity, Trippler said. American, for example, cut the total number of seats for sale by 8 percent this year and plans to cut an additional 6 percent next year.

Gerard Arpey, American’s chief executive, said recently that it could cut capacity further next year if warranted.

“The airlines have been extremely disciplined when it comes to capacity,” Klaskin said. “I think we’ll see more of that next year.”

Economy crucial

Garton said the challenge is in keeping total passenger capacity consistent with the economy.

“Traditionally, we model our revenues by looking at industry capacity plus or minus the change in” the economy, he said. “When those two get out of sync, that’s when you’ve got a problem.”

Most analysts say, at least right now, that the airlines are up to the challenge. Despite the slowdown, analysts are predicting a profitable year — although predictions are far less rosy today than they were a few months ago.

The International Air Transport Association expects a $300 million profit for North American carriers.

“North America will be the only region in the black, but the expected profit is less than 1 percent of their revenue,” said Giovanni Bisignani, the group’s director general and chief executive. “2009 will be another tough year for everyone.”

Analysts expect AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, to post a profit of $1.74 per share in 2009, excluding special gains and charges. Southwest is also expected to make money, with analysts predicting a 59 cent-per-share profit.

Both airlines plan some big moves to help boost revenue during the year. American executives hope to win approval for an alliance with British Airways.

It’s a partnership that both airlines have craved for years but hasn’t been allowed by government regulators because of concerns that the airlines would dominate London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest hub.

A new aviation treaty between the United States and the European Union has opened Heathrow to more competition. That, Garton said, makes it more likely that the airlines will be allowed to work together.

“We think we have a very strong argument,” he said.

Southwest, meanwhile, plans to move into two unlikely markets in 2009. Besides New York, Southwest will enter Minneapolis.

Both are major business destinations, which could attract more corporate dollars to Southwest.

And Southwest’s construction of an alliance with WestJet and Volaris links three low-fare carriers with similar business models.

The alliance would allow Southwest to book fares to a wide variety of cities beyond the U.S. border.

“I think Southwest is going to be the airline to watch in 2009,” Klaskin said. “They have some very big plans.”

International Air Traffic Demand Rose in July on Middle-East, Asia Flights

The International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines, said international passenger and freight traffic rose in July as flights increased in Asia and the Middle East.

Passenger demand rose 9.2 percent from a year earlier while freight gained 23 percent, Montreal-based IATA said in a statement on its website. The pace of passenger growth slowed from a 12 percent increase reported in June.

IATA Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Bisignani maintained his forecast for the industry to earn $2.5 billion in 2010, after two years of losses, should the global recovery continue. Profitability will be driven by growth in Asia and Latin America as European traffic is crimped by a stalling economy.

“Europe is probably the weakest spot because of currency, because of unemployment,” Bisignani told Bloomberg Television in an interview from Sydney today. “We are still convinced that 2010 will be a great year.”

IATA’s members represent about 93 percent of total international traffic, according to its website.

Asia-Pacific carriers increased traffic 11 percent in July and will be the biggest contributor to industry earnings, with profit of $2.2 billion expected to be reported this year, IATA said.

Airlines from Latin America posted growth of 14 percent although boosts in capacity have led to a lower proportion of seats being filled on planes.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Europe had growth of 6.2 percent in July and North American passenger traffic gained 7.9 percent, it said.

Bisignani called on government and regulators to make it easier for airlines to pursue mergers and acquisitions by cutting national restrictions on ownership.

He cited this month’s agreement for Chile’s Lan Airlines SA to acquire Brazil’s Tam SA in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.7 billion. Other airlines to straddle multiple countries include Air France-KLM Group, which has united the French and Dutch carriers since combining in 2004.

“Trans-national brands are serving customers effectively in many parts of the world,” he said in the statement. “But we remain an industry of over a thousand players with only very limited opportunities to consolidate.”

American Eagle Airlines Change Flight Services from Cheyenne

Subsidiary of American Airlines, American Eagle announces change in flight service from Cheyenne Regional Airport. Service flights from Cheyenne go to one a day. This flight service changes will apply from 18 November.

Changes in air service was for some regular passengers using the service airline American Eagle was surprised, but for the American Eagle officers these plans have been announced since the beginning.

“We started out working with this on a one flight (a day) deal,” Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dale Steenbergen said.

American Eagle wanted to offer two flights during the summer months when demand is greater, he said, so backing off to one in winter “was not an unexpected happening.”

The airline will resume the two daily flights plan next April, he said.

American Eagle began services out of Cheyenne Regional Airport with two flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on July 15. American Eagle is a subsidiary of American Airlines.

The chamber partnered with Cheyenne LEADS, the city and county’s economic development group; the city of Cheyenne; Visit Cheyenne; the Downtown Development Authority; and the local airport to make up the Greater Cheyenne Foundation and bring in a commercial air service beyond Great Lakes Airlines, which flies solely to Denver International Airport.

Great Lakes offers five daily flights to and from Cheyenne Monday through Friday, two on Saturday and four on Sunday.

Airport Manager Dave Haring said Great Lakes adjusts its number of flights annually. This year it added a connecting flight to Worland so people there have easier access to DIA.

“It changes from time to time, but we don’t do anything seasonal,” Great Lakes marketing coordinator Megan Crowson said. “The schedule isn’t set in stone, but it’s based on the availability of aircraft.”

Crowson said Great Lakes serves the business traveler market, meaning that the number of flyers doesn’t fluctuate a lot because they’re traveling year-round.

She said the number of fliers has decreased minimally so far this year compared to last year, but it generally stays steady.

Steenbergen said American Eagle provides monthly reports by day and flight, including load factors, to the Wyoming Aeronautics Division.

The division is providing a $1.4 million state subsidy to this project as an Air Service Enhancement Grant.

Although the original contract with American Eagle called for one daily flight year-round, the Wyoming Aeronautics Commission, the governing board of the division, approved the addition of one flight for the summer months during its February meeting.

According to the meeting minutes, the commission also increased the original grant from $1,050,000 to $1.4 million to cover the additional flight, and the community commitment from the Greater Cheyenne Foundation increased to $459,000.

Division air service/marketing manager Amber Schlabs told the commission during the meeting that after four months, American will evaluate whether to pull a flight.

American also required a $1.4 million revenue guarantee for its first year of service, the minutes show.

An official report of American Eagle flight loads will be available to the public in September, at the end of the first quarter.

Steenbergen said the new air service has been promising so far.

“Our rate of fill for the seats has been very good,” he said.

American Airlines representatives did not return calls for comment Wednesday.