Virgin Atlantic Airways Start New Flights Route Between Vancouver to London Heathrow

Virgin Atlantic has announced a new route between Vancouver to London Heathrow. It will start in May 2012 and will continue till the end of October. It will be four-times-a-week service. The airline also added second flight to San Francisco.

Virgin Atlantic Airways yesterday announced the launch of a new seasonal route between Vancouver and London Heathrow Airport.

The new route that is expected to serve up to 40,000 travellers will be operational from May 2012 until the end of October. Virgin Atlantic will offer the flight service four times a week throughout the summer.

With London hosting the Olympic Games 2012 as well as commemorating the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne, the airline hopes that many Canadians would want to travel to the UK capital.

Reacting to the announcement, the Honourable Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia was quoted as stating, “Today’s announcement by Virgin Atlantic, of four new weekly flights between London and Vancouver, is positive news for British Columbia’s tourism industry.”

The Premier continued, “The United Kingdom is one of our key markets and also serves as a hub for other international travellers heading to our province. Virgin Atlantic is recognized around the world as a progressive airline and we look forward to welcoming their passengers to British Columbia when their service begins next summer.”

Virgin Atlantic plans to ply Airbus A340-300s on the new London-Vancouver route. The aircraft will have a configuration of 34 Upper Class suites, 35 Premium Economy seats and 171 Economy seats. The high number of economy class seats will ensure that travellers who seek cheap flights tickets will have better chances of netting them.

Flight VS95 will depart from London Heathrow (LHR) at 1:00 p.m. and will land at the Vancouver International Airport () at 3:10 p.m. Flight VS96 will take off from YVR at 7:50 p.m. and touch down at LHR the next day at 1:45 p.m. local time.

Additionally, Virgin Atlantic announced the launch of a second service between London and San Francisco. This service will be initiated from March 2012 and will run until October 2012. It will be a three times a week service (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).

Virgin Atlantic’s Flight VS41 will leave LHR at 1:00 p.m. and arrive at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) at 4:50 p.m. local time. Flight VS42 will take off SFO at 6:50 p.m. and land at LHR the subsequent day at 1:45 p.m.

Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Executive said, “The North American market has always been at the core of our business. Our success here has been due to our investment in product innovation and our willingness to respond to customer demand.”

“With almost 20,000 people flying from the UK to Canada each month in the peak season, the UK is the largest overseas market for passengers to British Columbia,” adds Ridgway.”

He hoped that more competition will mean better services and perhaps cheap flight tickets for the passengers.

“Greater competition to both Vancouver and San Francisco will benefit passengers through improved choice and better value for money,” he was further quoted in news reports.

As per the airline estimates, the increased flight frequency to San Francisco and Vancouver will create up to 430 jobs in aviation and tourism sectors in both cities.

Chandigarh Airport Soon Come on International Aviation

Chandigarh Airport gets Customs clearance, to get immigration nod soon.
From next month, Chandigarh may soon come on the international aviation map after getting the long-awaited Customs clearance from the Union government. The Centre is also expected to provide immigration clearance soon.

The Punjab government and the airport director received the copy of the notification issued by the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) on August 19 giving the go-ahead for the Customs facility to be set up at the Chandigarh Airport. Around 1,500 square feet of space has been provided to Customs officials.

An officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of customs along with his team will be on duty at the airport. The clearance for immigration facility is expected within a fortnight, sources said.

“The x-ray machines to screen the baggage have already been set up at the airport and now the work is on to set up a computer system for immigration. Around 30 Punjab police personnel have been trained at the Amritsar International Airport for immigration duties and these personnel will now be sent on deputation to Chandigarh Administration so that they can be posted at the Chandigarh Airport for immigration duties,’’ said an official.

According to an Airport Authority of India survey, it is estimated that by 2013 the Chandigarh Airport will see around 15 lakh passengers. At present the passenger traffic is 6 lakh. Three years ago the passenger traffic was 1.5 lakh. It is estimated that this year it will reach 8 lakh passengers.

Sources said Air Arabia has applied to the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start a flight from Chandigarh to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The airline operates from various cities in the country.

Fly Dubai, a low-cost airline of Emirates Airlines, had got clearance from the Union government to fly from Chandigarh to Dubai, but could not fly as the customs and immigration clearance had not come then. Other major airlines are also expected to commence operations soon.

“Besides passenger traffic from the region, the other major reason is that the fuel cost will be less. In Delhi, the Value Added Tax is 12 per cent, here it is only 4 per cent. The parking charges are also less than Delhi.” said an officer.

A special customs counter was set up at the Chandigarh Airport during the Cricket World Cup semi final match between India and Pakistan as the Pakistan prime minister along with a delegation had flown directly from Islamabad to Chandigarh.

U. S. Department of Transportation Vows to Force Airline Ticket Sellers to Disclose Flight Operator Under Law

Travel websites and airlines must clearly identify which airline is flying each flight when customers use the Web to buy plane tickets, the U. S. Department of Transportation said Monday, vowing to “pursue enforcement action” against ticket sellers who continue to break the law.

The DOT’s announcement came as a huge victory for the Families of Continental Flight 3407, who lost loved ones in a February 2009 crash that claimed 50 lives in Clarence Center and who pushed a major aviation safety law to passage last year.

That law includes a disclosure provision forcing ticketers to identify each flight’s operator. The families have been waging a campaign to get online ticket sellers to comply with that provision.

“We are extremely pleased” with the DOT action, said Scott Maurer, a leader of the families group who lost his daughter, Lorin, in the crash. “Consumers deserve to know who really is flying the plane they are about to buy a ticket on, something our loved ones on Continental Flight 3407 didn’t know.”

Colgan Air, a regional airline that hires less-experienced pilots, operated the flight in Continental’s name. Federal investigators identified pilot error as the cause of the crash.

In the wake of pressure from the families and federal lawmakers, the DOT issued a guidance to travel websites and airlines informing them that they must clearly comply with the disclosure provision, which aims to force ticket sellers to say clearly when a smaller regional airline is operating a flight in the name of a major carrier.

“When passengers buy an airline ticket, they have the right to know which airline will be operating their

flight,” said U. S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “For years we’ve required airlines to inform consumers about code-sharing arrangements, and we’ll be monitoring the industry closely to make sure they comply with the provisions of the new legislation.”

The DOT made clear it would sanction travel websites or airlines that did not show exactly which airline operates each plane on the first page that pops up after a consumer searches for a flight.

Ticketers will have 60 days to bring their websites into compliance with the law. After that, violators will be subject to fines and “cease-and-desist orders” forcing them to change their policies, a DOT spokesman said.

“Airlines and travel websites will now have absolutely no excuse for not obeying the law and providing travelers with the information they need to know,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y.,who authored the provision forcing the information to be disclosed.

A Buffalo News study in December showed that seven of 10 major online ticketers and one airline, USAirways, were not in clear compliance with the law.

Huge online ticket sellers such as Expedia, Travelocity and Kayak were among those that did not clearly show which airline was operating each flight. Some displayed that information only in links or in “rollover” symbols that required customers to move their mouse to a certain spot to see the information.

Since The News article and the Flight 3407 families’ campaign to pressure the websites, Priceline and CheapOAir changed their Web displays to clearly comply with the law.

And on Monday, Travelocity announced that it had done the same.

Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence, has met with representatives of several travel sites and has been in touch with the DOT to press for enforcement of the law.

“I appreciate DOT issuing these guidelines, and the focus now turns to ensuring each and every ticket issuer fully implements them,” Lee said Monday.

Aviation Job Fair : 3 Aviation Companies (Spirit Aerosystems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin) to Hold Job Fair In Wichita

Three airplane makers are holding a job fair in Wichita this week and 2,200 jobs are up for grabs. The job fair will include Spirit Aerosystems, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin.

It’s not a great sign, but it’s a sign no less. Three of the major aircraft players in the country will be in Wichita this week looking for workers. Unfortunately, many of the jobs aren’t in Wichita, but for those who have been out of work for a year or more, they just might take anything.

“It’s real tough out there right now,” said James McDuffee, who was looking for work at the Workforce Alliance Center in Wichita. “Nobody’s hiring and if they are, it’s minimum wage. But you got to take what you can get sometimes.”

Hopefully with today’s news, workers like McDuffee will have a chance at being employed again soon. Tuesday and Wednesday, Spirit, Boeing and Lockheed Martin are coming together to look for a total of 2,200 workers.

Spirit is looking to hire 200 workers right here in Wichita. Boeing is looking to hire 1,000 workers at their Puget Sound facility and Lockheed is looking to hire another 1,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

In an emailed statement to KAKE News, Spirit’s Ken Evans was cautious about the hiring.

“Some positions are backfilling after retirements. Others are in response to upcoming rate increases already announced by customers,” Evans said “Further hiring plans will depend on many factors, including the new 787 schedule which hasn’t been announced by Boeing.”

Meanwhile, the Workforce Alliance Center in Downtown Wichita is urging laid off aviation workers to do as much as possible to expand their skill set to include other areas like health care or information technology.

“We have so many aviation workers right now that all have that aviation background that just a little bit of training above and beyond what some of those have can put you at the top for positions,” explained Kimberly Cronister.

The Boeing and Lockheed positions will require a move away from Wichita, however.

“There are certain areas in certain parts of the country that are hiring,” said Michael Burleigh, I-A-M local business representative, “so we want to make sure we get some of our people back to work. Right now, the market here in this town is not very good, so we want to help our people find jobs someplace else.”

The job fair is two days. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Machinist Union Hall near I-235 and Meridian starting at 9am.

Singapore Airlines Plans Global Expansion Strategy as Rising Competition in Asia Aviation Industry

Goh Choon Phong, who takes over as chief executive today, may get offers for the last major remains of Singapore Airlines’ global expansion strategy as he confronts rising competition in Asia. Virgin said in December it had received tie-up inquiries, and Singapore Airlines’ outgoing CEO, Chew Choon Seng, called the investment ”underperforming” two years ago and has said the airline would consider a sale.

In Asia, Mr Goh faces low-fare competition on long-haul routes from Jetstar and AirAsia X, as well as renewed efforts by Cathay Pacific and Korean Air Lines to lure away lucrative business-class travellers. And Middle Eastern carriers Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have ordered close to 300 planes since 2007 as they build hubs linking Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
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Delta Air Lines and Middle Eastern airlines are among the carriers exploring a Virgin tie-up, Sky News reported in December, without saying where it got the information. Singapore Airlines’ stake complicates a deal as local ownership rules limit non-European investors to minority stakes.

”Either Singapore Air sells or Branson loses effective control by selling part of his stake,” said Andrew Miller, chief executive of CAPA Consulting, which advises airlines.

Singapore Airlines was ”very supportive of our business strategy, including the review by Deutsche Bank”, Greg Dawson, a Virgin spokesman, said.

Mr Chew, who spent almost four decades at Singapore Airlines, sold a leasing arm and spun off a ground-handling unit while CEO to focus on the carrier’s flying business. He will take over as chairman of Singapore Exchange Ltd today.

Mr Chew’s predecessor, Cheong Choong Kong, bought stakes in Virgin and Air New Zealand to expand overseas. The value of the Air NZ investment was written down in 2001, and the remaining holding sold three years later.

Competition is intensifying in the premium market, which accounts for 40 per cent of Singapore Airlines’ sales. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific is working on a $HK1 billion ($A126 million) business-class upgrade to lure executive travellers.

Korean Air, which aims to get 50 per cent of passenger sales from premium classes by 2019, will receive its first five Airbus SAS A380s next year. And Emirates is building a fleet of 90 A380s.

source : Bloomberg

Austria Aviation Industry Changes Terms of New Air Passenger Tax

The Austrian Finance Ministry has softened conditions for collecting a special tax on airline tickets after protests by local carriers. The fears of a possible outflow of passengers from Vienna Airport to MR Štefánik Airport in Bratislava (BTS) might also have played a role.

The Austrian Government delayed the launch of collecting €8 for short-haul passengers, €20 for medium haul and €35 for long-distance travellers from January 1 to April 1 of next year. It also re-classified several countries into the lowest-fare group, including flights from Vienna to Armenia, Georgia, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt. The special tax on tickets should bring in about €60 million in 2011, the e-TREND financial news website wrote on December 7.

Both the original proposal and the amended final decision have faced strong opposition. National carrier Austrian Airlines Group called it economic nonsense; and the majority stakeholder in low-cost carrier FlyNiki labelled it stupidity and would not rule out transferring some of the company’s flights to Bratislava Airport.

Opponents of the fees have pointed to what they say have been the negative experiences of other countries imposing a similar tax, for instance the Netherlands, where the move brought in an additional €300 million but reduced the country’s attractiveness as a tourist destination and resulted in billions in losses for the whole industry. As a result, the tax was eventually cancelled.

In Austria an outflow of customers to the benefit of Bratislava is now expected, mainly affecting charter and low-cost flights.

Source: TASR

Boeing Co Again Postponed Deliveries of Boeing 787 Aircraft

Boeing Co. again postponed the delivery of its first Boeing Commercial Airplanes 787 to the middle of the 2011 first quarter, compounding a string of delays for the jetliner that is already more than two years past its original scheduled debut.

The latest delay is the result of engine delivery problems, Boeing said in a statement early Friday. The Chicago company said in July it expected to deliver the plane late this year, but it warned that might not happen. It had said at that time that a series of problems, including supplier work related to parts of the tail and instrument issues that might push the first delivery “a few weeks into 2011.”

The 787’s first customer, Japan’s All Nippon Airways, said in a statement the delay is regrettable especially “given the success of the flight test program so far.”

“However, we trust that the time will be used to deliver the best possible aircraft in the shortest possible time frame.”

The 787, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner, is made of many composite materials designed to make it lighter and more fuel-efficient than comparable planes already in the sky.

It lists for $150 million to $205.5 million, depending on the model, but major customers routinely get discounts.

Boeing said the delay won’t affect its financial expectations. Boeing spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said the company is working closely with British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce to expedite engine deliveries, but current flight tests are continuing as planned.

Rolls-Royce said the delay was not related to the reported failure of an engine in a recent test.

“We have been informed by Boeing that the currently planned dates for Trent 1000 engine deliveries will not support their latest flight test program requirements,” Rolls-Royce said in a statement Friday.

However, Rolls-Royce confirmed “that the engine availability issue is unrelated to the test bed event which occurred earlier this month.”

The FlightGlobal website, an aviation news site, reported this week that a Trent 1000 engine suffered an “uncontained” failure – meaning debris broke out of the engine casing – during a test on Aug. 2.

China Plane Crash Highlights New Risks for China’s Booming Air Travel Industry

Tuesday night’s deadly China plane crash highlights the risks in China’s booming air travel industry. A disproportionate number of flights now have to take off and land at night without proper lighting.

The plane crash in China that killed 42 people late Tuesday night was a rare blot on the country’s aviation safety copybook, say experts here. But it highlights the risks of flying in and out of some small regional airports at night, something more airlines are forced to do to meet the demands of China’s booming travel industry.

A domestic Henan Airways passenger jet crashed and burst into flames at a fog-shrouded provincial airport near Yichun in northeastern China, killing 42 and injuring 54, according to official reports.

It is still not known what caused the accident “but from news reports I deduce that the reason is human error,” says Wang Yanan, deputy editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine. “I think it came down too fast or too steeply.”

It emerged Wednesday that another airline, China Southern, decided last August to avoid night flights into Yichun. A technical note on the airline’s website said that “in principle there should be no night flights at Yichun airport,” citing worries about landing-strip lighting, weather conditions, and the surrounding hilly terrain.

The newly built airport, one of a number of such regional facilities springing up all over the country to serve China’s booming travel industry, sits in a forested valley. China will have 244 airports by 2020, up from about 175 today, according to figures from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC.)

“Over the last few years, because of the high demand and big market, regional aviation has developed very fast,” says Mr. Wang. “The quality of personnel and facilities may not be keeping up.”

Tuesday’s crash, however, was the first major commercial airline accident in China for nearly six years, Wang points out. “I think it is an isolated case,” he adds. “In general aviation safety in China is normal.”

The government credits this to a nationwide crackdown on safety that it ordered in 2004, upgrading aircraft and airports, after 10 serious airplane crashes in four years had given China a notoriously dangerous reputation.

But at new airports a disproportionate number of flights take off and land at night, because airlines serving them can no longer get daytime slots at the busy hubs they fly to and from.

“At night in northern China it is often cold and wet, so it may be foggy,” Wang points out, suggesting that Yichun airport’s landing lights may have been too weak to see properly in Tuesday night’s fog. “Small airports should install the right sort of equipment to cope with different conditions,” he adds.

Emirates Airline to Launch Flights Services to Beijing Using Airbus A380 Aircraft

Emirates airlines has signalled its commitment to support the growing trade and tourism relationship between Kenya and China with the launch of the first scheduled Airbus A380 service to Chinese capital, Beijing.

The world’s largest commercial aircraft landed in the world’s most populous country on August 1, turning a new page in the Chinese Aviation history.

The 517 seat A380 operates as EK 306 departing Dubai daily at 04:10hrs, touching down in Beijing at 15:10hrs. The return flight, EK 307 takes off from Beijing Capital International Airport at 23:55hrs, landing at Terminal 3, Dubai International Airport at 04:20hrs the following day.
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Alaska Airlines orders two Boeing Next-Generation 737-800s

Alaska Airlines on Thursday announced it will buy two additional Boeing Next-Generation 737-800s in a deal valued at approximately 3 million.

The order by Alaska Airlines was made in June but was not announced until Thursday. Previously, Boeing attributed the sale of two Next-Generation 737-800s to an unidentified customer.

“Alaska Airlines continues to execute a successful and strategic vision based on its expansive fleet of efficient and reliable Next-Generation 737s,” said Marlin Dailey, vice president of Sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Alaska celebrated its transition to a single fleet in 2008 and with these additional orders, is truly reaping the benefits represented by its slogan, ‘Proudly all-Boeing.’ Read more