He said the first of five “innovation platforms” will be unveiled in a few months and that others will take longer to be implemented because of safety clearances. The carrier is completing a $161 million upgrade of its first-class cabins.

“We have to start coming up with the things the customer doesn’t know he wants yet,” Van der Post told Bloomberg.

So far, British Air has given 1,200 of its crew members iPads loaded with information about frequent flyers so they can customize in-flight service. Another innovation: Passengers can also book flights on their iPhones.
Apple Aid

London-based British Airways (IAG), a unit of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, has equipped 1,200 of its crew members with Apple iPad computers loaded with information on frequent flyers to help provide custom in-flight service. Data is added a 24 hours before departure and updated until takeoff, with the tablet small enough to be used discreetly in the cabin.

Yet as recently as five years ago, nobody had any inkling of how important the iPad and its precursor the iPhone would become and how they might aid customer service in the airline industry, said Van der Post, who before working at Dubai-based Jumeirah spent 20 years at InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG), the world’s largest provider of lodging rooms.

The next phase of the iPads initiative will see the devices issued to ground staff at London’s Gatwick airport, while passengers can also now book flights using iPhones.
Inflight Calls

Carriers are intensifying competition for premium clients as the economic slump hits travel budgets, with Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. spending 100 million pounds on frills including a cheese trolley and afternoon tea and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) adding flat-bed seats with 8 percent more space.

Virgin also announced last week that it will become the first U.K. carrier to allow passengers to make and receive phone calls mid-flight. The technology will be available on new Airbus SAS A330 aircraft flying from London to New York and will be fitted on Boeing Co. (BA) (BA) 747s undergoing a 50 million-pound refit.

While British Airways is still growing premium traffic “quite strongly” even with the U.K. economy in recession, its cabins lag some way behind the likes of Qatar Airways Ltd., said John Strickland, an analyst at JLS Consulting Ltd. in London.

“BA is quite highly regarded in terms of its premium services, ahead of European peers such as Lufthansa and Air France-KLM (AF), but they’re not top of the tree,” Strickland said. “The Asian and Gulf carriers have really set the bar high.”
‘Gut Instinct’

Some innovations at British Airways will emanate from the customer, while others will be technology-led, Van der Post said, adding: “You have to have a healthy dose of gut instinct.”

An initiative in which BA customers self-tag their own bags is to be trialed at London Heathrow airport’s Terminal 3 in the next six months after being tested at Gatwick since last year, the executive said. The plan aims to ease crowding on the concourse and could be extended to the BA-dedicated Terminal 5.

BA introduced a revamped economy and premium economy cabin in six new Boeing 777-300s delivered from 2010 and is part-way through a program to renew all four classes on its 18 existing 777-200 planes and the three classes in its 14-strong 767 fleet.

The next new cabin product is scheduled for 2013, with the arrival of its first Airbus A380s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

The carrier is also refining its catering and in October began offering business-class meals in its premium-economy cabin, Van der Post said, adding that passenger ratings for its food and beverages have improved by 18 percentage points.

External ratings such as those from Skytrax, which awards BA four stars out of a possible five, one fewer than for five Asian and Gulf carriers, are less important than in the hotel trade, since customers don’t base bookings on them, he said.

The sparkling launching pad has been in the works for more than a decade at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Besides helping to grab its share of the lucrative and growing international market, officials also hope the vast new terminal convinces Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. and other carriers to route more flights through the city.

“I think it’s very important,” Louis Miller, the airport’s general manager, says. “We’ve got to look toward the future.”

• BLOG: Live from Atlanta’s new international terminal

International flights have become increasingly important to the USA’s traditional network carriers. And though the sluggish global economy has tempered growth to some overseas markets, routes to Asia and Latin America are expected to be key drivers of the carriers’ growth in the coming decade.

“Atlanta really needed to do this,” says Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at the Atmosphere Research Group. “Delta is the dominant carrier in Atlanta, and its growth really hinges on international travel.”

The terminal also is important to Southwest, the USA’s largest low-cost carrier, as it builds its presence in Atlanta. Southwest is finishing its merger with AirTran, which operates its largest hub in Atlanta and is the city’s No. 2 carrier behind Delta.

Southwest had long avoided international destinations but now plans to sell tickets to Bermuda, Aruba and Mexico, as it absorbs AirTran’s routes. Here, those flights will operate from the new international terminal.

Given all the airlines’ needs, Harteveldt says, it was “critical” for Atlanta to push ahead with its new terminal.

Most obvious to passengers will be the terminal’s new architectural design. It’s a dramatic departure from the boxy, suburban-shopping-mall feel of the airport’s other terminals.

The new terminal has:

•Soaring glass windows that give passengers views of the airfield throughout the terminal. Even at the check-in counters, passengers can watch takeoffs and landings as counter agents process their reservations.

•A separate entrance, which will be the airport’s second, symbolizing the “new front door.” Adding a second entrance is designed to help reduce airport lines by funneling international passengers through the terminal.

•A trove of art. Installations valued at more than $5 million have been placed throughout the new terminal, thanks to an Atlanta city ordinance requiring that 1% the new terminal’s construction money be spent on public art.

•And in a move that will make fliers happy, the design eliminates the requirement for Atlanta-bound passengers to “re-check” their checked luggage after customs and pick it up at baggage claim. They will be able to keep their checked bags and exit the airport after clearing customs and immigration.

The expansion helps Atlanta keep pace with other major international stops. Beijing’s airport, the second-busiest on the planet, built a third runway and a colossal glass-and-steel terminal in time for the 2008 Olympics. And Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the world’s third-busiest, is undergoing a $15 billion expansion that will add a new runway and other upgrades.

Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal
2600 Maynard H. Jackson Jr. Blvd.
Atlanta, GA 30354
InternationalTerminalQuestions@atlanta-airport.com

There is a very ugly story breaking in Germany about management failures and project fiascos at the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport which was, until a week ago, officially supposed to open on 3 June.

According to Der Spiegel, it may not open until next March, and the very late, and very grudging admissions of failure on the part of the airport are going to inflict substantial financial damage on the airlines, and considerable inconvenience on passengers, caught out by what is also a gross failing of governance

Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport, built at a cost of 2.5 billion euros ($3.2 billion), will commence services on March 17 following the completion of fire-safety tests that had already led to the cancellation of a June 3 start date. “This is completely unacceptable and will result in irreparable damage to the image of Berlin as an airport hub,” Air Berlin Chief Executive Officer Hartmut Mehdorn said in a statement today.
“This is completely unacceptable and will result in irreparable damage to the image of Berlin as an airport hub,” Air Berlin Chief Executive Officer Hartmut Mehdorn said in a statement today. “The delay of the opening by many months can’t be explained any more by simple fire-safety measures.”

Berlin Brandenburg said on May 8 that its opening would be postponed after tests on a system that removes smoke in the event of fire fell behind schedule. Air Berlin, which will use the airport as its hub, said then it was surprised at the news, as did Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA), Europe’s second-biggest airline, which will operate more than 1,000 weekly flights there.

Work on the fire-safety system will last until December, followed by three months of testing, and the new schedule will avoid the risk of opening during inclement winter weather, airport officials said at a press conference today.
Plans Needed

The timescale presumes that complete and accurate planning documents are delivered by mid-June, Siemens AG (SIE), Robert Bosch GmbH and Imtech NV (IM), which are responsible for various components in the system, said in an e-mailed statement, adding that they support a “speedy” completion of the project.

Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)’s T-Systems unit was incorrectly identified as involved in installing the mechanism, according to the airport, and isn’t working on the program.

The cost of the disruption is as yet unclear, the airport said. Operations chief Manfred Koertgen will leave and a contract with Planungsgemeinschaft Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg International, responsible for planning, has been terminated. PG BBI couldn’t be reached for comment today, a holiday in Germany.

“We know that we need to win back confidence that we’ve lost,” Rainer Schwarz, Berlin Brandenburg’s chief executive officer, told journalists, adding that he was not directly to blame for the failure. “We’ve disappointed many partners, not just the airlines but the concessions.”
Compensation

The airport, originally slated for completion in 2011, will have an initial capacity of 27 million passengers annually, with longer-term plans to handle 45 million. Berlin’s existing airports, Tegel and Schoenefeld, will close when it opens.

Air Berlin said there’ll be a significant business impact from the delay and that it might not be able to implement its full flight plan. The no-frills carrier has said it expects to be reimbursed by the airport and owners which include Germany’s federal government, the city of Berlin and state of Brandenburg.
Following several crisis meetings over the weekend, the project directors have come to the conclusion that the completion and subsequent official inspection and approval of the technical safety systems at the new airport cannot be completed in time for the opening date originally scheduled. The relocation of air traffic from Schönefeld and Tegel to BER has been temporarily halted. The opening will be postponed until after the summer holidays.

The “Around the terminal” open days on 12 and 13 May will remain unaffected by the rescheduling of the airport opening and will go ahead as planned. The opening event on 24 May 2012 will not be taking place.

http://preview.berlin-airport.de/en/company/about-us/news/2012/2012-05-08-opening-postponed/index.php.

The Agni Air plane plunged into a hill close to Jomsom near the Annapurna mountain range

Fifteen people have been killed. Thirteen of them were Indian tourists and the other two were Nepali pilots, local authorities said.
Kathmandu’s Indian embassy identified three Indian survivors as Tirumala Kidambi Sreekanth, Tirumala Kidambi Sreevardhini (9) and Tirumala Kidambi Sreepada (6). They were airlifted to the tourist town of Pokhara for treatment along with other survivors – two Danes and a Nepalese air hostess. Officials said Sreekanth was admitted to Pokhara’s Manipal Teaching Hospital ICU, while the two children were in a post-operative ward. B L Karna of Tribhuvan airport said the pilot aborted landing at Jomsom airport at the last moment and tried to return to Pokhara, 60km away, due to a technical problem.

Officials of Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International airport said the Agni Air Dornier 9N AIG, which crashed near Jomsom airport in Nepal, ploughed into the ground while it was trying to ascend. “The pilot had reported a warning light flashing in the cockpit as he descended to Jomsom. The aircraft seems to have lost balance,” said B L Karna of rescue coordination committee at Tribhuvan airport.

Reports said the aircraft broke into pieces, but did not catch fire and that rescuers managed to reach the scene swiftly thanks to its proximity to an army camp. The crash was the second deadly air disaster involving the airline in less than two years and the fifth in Nepal in less than two years. It comes about eight months after 10 Indians were killed in another crash near Kathmandu. Jomsom Airport is among one of the world’s most dangerous airfields due to the mountainous terrain on the approach.

“Paa” child actor Taruni Sachdev dies in Nepal plane crash!

The 14-year-old Indian child artist Taruni Sachdev, who had a cameo in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Paa”and acted in numerous southern language films died in the Nepal plane crash on Monday.

She was among 13 Indians who were killed when the aircraft crashed into a hill while coming in to land at Jomsom in western Nepal – As per the reports.

Taruni’s mother who was accompanying her on the flight also died in the crash.

A survivor recalls the tragedy
Danish survivor of the Nepal plane crash that killed 15 people including 13 Indians, recalls the horror of the tragedy saying that she had to climb over “hands and arms” to get out of the wreckage.

“The plane that was to land, suddenly flew up and lost control after one of its wings hit the hill,” Emilie was quoted by a local newspaper.

Altogether six people, including three Indians and two Danish nationals, miraculously survived the crash of the Dornier aircraft that belonged to the private carrier Agni Air. The tragedy comes nearly eight months after an air disaster killed 10 Indians near Kathmandu.

Last week guards sent to Colombia ahead of a visit by US president Barack Obama were called home after claims they spent a booze-fuelled session with prostitutes.

When President Barack Obama’s Secret Service advance team was sent home this month for partying with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, the promo team at Spirit
sprang into action. To sell its low-cost flights to Cartagena, Spirit unveiled a tasteless Internet ad depicting a Secret Service agent, with requisite dark glasses and earpiece, accompanied by five bikini-clad women .

Colombians failed to see the humor. Sergio Díaz-Granados, the Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister, demanded that Spirit take down the ad (it did). The Colombian Association of Travel Agents scolded the carrier, which is based in Miramar, Fla., for promoting Cartagena — a colonial gem and U.N. World Heritage site — as a paradise for sexual tourism. Or as Luis Ernesto Araujo, president of the Cartagena Tourist Corporation, told TIME, “That is not the brand statement we want to have out there.”

Indeed, at enormous cost in blood and treasure, Colombia over the past decade has transformed itself from a guerrilla stronghold and drug-cartel hell to a relatively safe haven for foreign investment and tourism. Cities like Bogotá and Medellín have undergone spectacular revivals, while Cartagena — with its 18th century fortifications, monasteries turned luxury hotels and influx of celebrities and international conferences — has become Colombia’s international calling card.

A total of 12 Secret Service members and 12 military personnel were probed over the claims.

Nine Secret Service members have since resigned or been forced out and three more have been cleared of serious misconduct.

Mr Grassley added: “The issue here isn’t just people messing around with prostitutes, the issue is the security of the president of the United States and the issue is any national security implications that it might have because of the secrecy and the documents and things of that nature.”

]]> http://airlinescoop.com/colombias-hot-spot-the-not-so-secret-services-of-cartagena-time/feed/ 0 dds http://airlinescoop.com/pak-plane-makes-emergency-landing-after-hijack-threat-rediff-com/ http://airlinescoop.com/pak-plane-makes-emergency-landing-after-hijack-threat-rediff-com/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 21:49:49 +0000 Arin http://airlinescoop.com/?p=53 An airliner was forced to land shortly after takeoff in Pakistan on Friday after a passenger made a hijack threat, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) officials said.
“Soon after the plane took off a passenger on board warned the staff that he could hijack the plane,” Sultan Hasan told AFP.

“The captain was informed of the situation, who returned the plane back after getting the nod from the control tower.”

The passenger was detained and handed over to security personnel for questioning, PIA said, and the plane was searched and found safe.

PIA flight PK-586, which was flying from Karachi to Bahawalpur in Punjab province, turned back to the port city after an air hostess alerted the captain about the passenger’s threat, television news channels reported.
This was the second major air disaster in the vicinity of the Pakistani capital since July 28, 2010, when an Air Blue airliner slammed into the Margalla Hills in cloudy weather, killing all 152 people on board.

State-run PIA, which is the country’s largest airline, is grappling with a funds crunch and an ageing fleet.

Commandos surrounded the aircraft as soon as it returned back to Karachi and after a while entered the plane and safely evacuated the passengers.

According to officials soon after the flight had taken off from Jinnah International Airport at 13:09, a passenger on board the plane told the cabin crew that he intended to hijack the plane.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pia-flight-makes-emergency-landing-after-hijack-threat/1/186318.html
The passenger who made the alleged threat was arrested by commandos of the Airport Security Force at the Jinnah International Airport. The aircraft was searched by security forces after being evacuated.

Following his arrest, the passenger claimed he had made the alleged threat after a quarrel with the airhostess and that he had no intention of hijacking the aircraft. The number of passengers on the flight could not immediately be ascertained.

Pakistan’s aviation industry has been hit by a string of problems in recent years.

A total of 127 people were killed when a Boeing 737 of the private Bhoja Air crashed near Islamabadon April 20. This was the second major air disaster in the vicinity of the Pakistani capital since July 28, 2010, when an Air Blue airliner slammed into the Margalla Hills in cloudy weather, killing all 152 people on board.

State-run PIA, which is the country’s largest airline, is grappling with a funds crunch and an ageing fleet.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft that crashed in Indonesia on 9 May 2012 was in the air space above Bogor as it is an area that does not normally have much traffic.
A Sukhoi Superjet 100 performing a demonstration flight for media, airline and aviation personnel with 46 people onboard crashed near a mountain in Indonesia on Wednesday. Their fate was not immediately known, as a search and rescue operation had to be called off due to bad weather.

Contact with the 100-seat jet (registration RA-97004) was lost about 20 minutes after takeoff from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta, according to early reports. An official told Reuters that that radio contact was lost with the plane after it descended from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet. It disappeared from radar near the 7,200-ft Mount Salak.
Search and rescue teams trudged and climbed through the mist-shrouded, jungly terrain for nearly 20 hours to reach the site where the plane roared in at nearly 480 mph on Wednesday, blowing apart and raining debris down a nearly vertical slope.

When the weather clears, all recovered bodies will have to be hoisted by nets and ropes onto hovering choppers, said Gagah Prakoso, a spokesman for the national search and rescue agency.

“We’re still searching for survivors,” he said. “But it doesn’t look good.”

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 — Russia’s first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago — was supposed to kick-start the nation’s efforts to modernize its fleet and resurrect its neglected aerospace industry.

“Our country has said on more than one occasion that we are creating a plane that has no equal – and then this happens,” Russian aviation expert Magomed Tolboev told the Moscow-based radio station Eko Moskvy. “This is a blow to the image of Russian aviation.”

Indonesia, the fourth stop of a six-nation “Welcome Asia!” tour, was one of Sukhoi’s brightest hopes, accounting for a big chunk of the 170 orders taken globally so far.

Kartika Airlines, Sky Aviation and Queen Air — among dozens of airlines to have popped up in the nation of 240 million to meet the growing demand for cheap air travel in the last decade — together were aiming to buy 48.

“Our plan is to order 30 planes, gradually until 2014, to strengthen our fleet,” said Arifin Seman, one of the top executives at Kartika. “But we will wait for the result of the investigation before making any further decisions.”

Others, too, were being cautious.

“It’s too early to say,” said Krisman Tarigan, president director of Sky, which has placed orders for 12. “But we wouldn’t rule out cancellation … if it turned out the crash occurred because the plane was not airworthy.”

Alexei Sinitsky, editor of the Aero-Transport Observer, said he didn’t believe that “one such event, no matter how tragic” would affect the world of modern civil aviation.

He noted that the plane met all European safety standards. “This is not some knocked together job,” Simitsky said. “This is a normal commercial project and potential buyers will consider it as such.”

Indonesians and Russians have always been friends

Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Alexander A. Ivanov said on Friday that he expected trade between Indonesia and Russia to continue despite the recent crash involving the Sukhoi Superjet 100 in Bogor, West Java.

The Superjet 100 was the military aerospace company’s first foray into civilian aircraft, and the crash may scupper deals with three local airlines – Kartika, Sky Aviation and Queen Air – to procure at least 48 planes.

“Indonesians and Russians have always been friends,” Ivanov said on Friday during a press conference at Halim Perdanakusuma airport via an interpreter.

“When Indonesia struggled for independence, Russia was at your side and, at that time, we helped as much as that a nation could help,” Ivanov said.

The crash likely killed the 36 Indonesians, eight Russians, one US citizen and a Frenchman who were on board. The team dispatched to the crash site has found no survivors, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).

Kartika Airlines puts 30 Superjets on hold
According to Sukhoi company, they secured around 170 orders in total as a more attractive price and lower operating costs are giving Russian aircraft a competitive advantage over Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier. Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation with a fast-growing middle class, is already one of the biggest customers.

The Superjet project is a joint venture between Sukhoi and Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica, part of the aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica. The producers of the jet aim to sell 800 planes by 2029 and take 15% of the global jet market.

There are only 8 Superjets in service worldwide so far – most of them used by Russia’s Aeroflot, which tweeted it will not stop using Sukhoi Superjet 100 commercial jetliners. “All the SSJ100 planes are examined daily and perform flights on schedule,” the airline’s Twitter said.

]]> http://airlinescoop.com/crash-of-a-new-russian-made-jetliner-sukhoi-superjet-100/feed/ 0 sasa http://airlinescoop.com/hello-world/ http://airlinescoop.com/hello-world/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 20:09:19 +0000 Arin http://airlinescoop.com/?p=1 Singapore Airline’s sole Airbus A380 ‘Super Jumbo’ 9V-SKA has been involved in the first mishap for its type. While being towed by a tow truck the tow truck suffered an hydraulics failure which lead the A380 onto the grass. This is the first known incident for the A380 known and it was not caused by anything other then accident not caused by any aircraft defect or by pilot error, but rather, by external equipment failure. This incident comes as Singapore Airlines is set to receive its second A380!
]]> http://airlinescoop.com/hello-world/feed/ 1 93033_1199441003_tb http://airlinescoop.com/ryanairs-row-with-londons-stansted-airport/ http://airlinescoop.com/ryanairs-row-with-londons-stansted-airport/#comments Sat, 04 Aug 2007 20:38:59 +0000 Arin http://airlinescoop.com/?p=19 Written by: Arin Ghosh In a row with the British Airport Authorities and in particular, London’s Stansted Aiport, Ryanair, one of the largest low cost airlines in Europe has stated that, “This winter we will sit 7 of our 40 Stansted based aircraft on the ground because Stansted’s higher airport charges make it more profitable to ground these aircraft during the winter rather than fly them.” – Ryanair Press Release, 7/31/07 The British Airports Authorities have been planning a 4 Billion Pound project to add a new runway and a new terminal to the airport. Ryanair did not stop attacking the airport at just that, “The current service provided by the BAA at Stansted is nothing short of appalling. Many of the 17 security machines are regularly unmanned during peak morning periods, and understaffing at passport control continues to cause long queues and frequent passenger delays.” – Ryanair Press Release, 7/31/07

Ryanair has also reported an 18% upsurge in traffic and a 20% rise in profits! Ryanair is one of the fastest growing low cost airlines in the world. Offering some of the lowest fares through out Europe, sometimes even as low as 10 Pounds one way, Ryanair relies on quick turnaround times of aircraft on the ground as well as the workhorse of their fleet, the Boeing 737-800, of which it operates 120 of the type of aircraft. Most of those 120 aircraft are equipped with winglets to increase fuel efficiency. Ryanair travels to 26 different European countries and employs over 4000 people from over 20 different countries. Ryanair has been growing at amazing rates ever since it was founded in 1985. In fact, the International Airport Transportation Authorities, IATA, has confirmed earlier this year that Ryanair is in fact the largest international airline in the world! This success however, has not come without some major complaints! There have been many complaints lodged against Ryanair citing their safety standards, pilot and flight staff training, and overall turnaround cleanliness quality. With the expansion of London’s Stansted forthcoming, it will be interesting to see how Ryanair reacts in the coming months! With 40 aircraft currently based in that airport, Stansted plays an instrumental part of Ryanair’s network and Ryanair plays a crucial part in Stansted’s survival!

]]> http://airlinescoop.com/ryanairs-row-with-londons-stansted-airport/feed/ 0 1259295 http://airlinescoop.com/maxjet-bankrupt/ http://airlinescoop.com/maxjet-bankrupt/#comments Tue, 08 May 2007 20:33:12 +0000 Arin http://airlinescoop.com/?p=13 The holiday season was not so joyful for scores of MAXJet passengers who were stranded at airports when the airline ceased operations. MAXjet declared bankruptcy citing high fuel cost and low passenger loads which in turn left their planes and passengers stranded on the tarmac. MAXjet is a US based; all business class airline operating a fleet of Boeing 767s. In contrast, the British airline Sliverjet, which also operates all business class flights between London and New York (EWR) on a 767, is doing fairly well.
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