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Thursday 26 April 2012
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Thursday 12 April 2012
Air France KLM SA Announces Update on Business Transformation Plan Including Creation of New Regional Division
Air France KLM SA presented an update on the company's business transformation plan, TransForm 2015. The objective of the plan is to reduce controllable costs by 20% to reach the industry level. Amongst other things, the Company will also establish a new organization, streamlining processes and procedures, reducing the number of hierarchical levels, improving management practices and deepening the integration with KLM. The Company also announced that its goal is to return to break-even for point to point service in 2013 and for the entire short and medium haul business in 2014. The first steps include developing the Transavia subsidiary under its own or another brand. The regional commercial offensive also will be extended to the rest of the point to point network, including Orly, with all components of the offer clarified and optimized. Finally, a true, standardized regional division will be created to optimize the working relationship between Air France and its regional subsidiaries. Also, the Company intends to accelerate the transformation of freight particularly in the areas of purchasing, fleet and business development via enhanced integration between Air France, KLM and Martinair; and develop growth segments in maintenance.
Source: Reuters
Satellite-Guided Airport Landing Trials
Spearheaded by Alaska Airlines, it involves advanced satellite technology and it's designed to enable airliners to carry out more fuel-efficient and timely landings.
For over 70 years, radar navigation has been a feature of air travel and it's allowed ATC workers to plot the state of the skies, around an airport, on a regularly-updated basis. These updates, though, occur at a rate of ten per minute, whereas the satellite-based system works constantly.
Once in place at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, it'll permit aircraft approaches to be made at a constant angle of descent, rather than the staggered path followed at present.
Satellite Landing Trials
The technology behind the Alaska Airlines' satellite landing trials isn't brand new but it will be making its debut outside Alaska and, to boot, will be used at a major airport for the first time.
Data published by the US FAA highlights the impact that the introduction of satellite-guided airport landings could have. Over the coming 20 years, it says, there'll be a twofold increase in the number of US-based airliners and, by 2024, annual US domestic passenger levels will hit the one billion mark.
It's the largest airports that are expected to bear the brunt of these increases, although the majority are already operating at near-maximum capacity. However, with satellite-guided landing systems in place, airports could ramp up this capacity ceiling without having to lay down additional runways and taxiways, since there'd be more hourly aircraft takeoffs and landings.
Satellite-Guided Landings
There'll also be potential fuel savings for airlines and, drawing on the example of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the FAA highlights how significant these could be. If equipped with the satellite-guided landing system, Hartsfield-Jackson would be able to launch ten additional takeoffs every single hour. It would also give, to all the carriers that use it, a combined annual fuel reduction of almost three million gallons.
The Alaska Airlines sat-guided landing system's been in operation in Alaska for over 15 years and while that's come at cost, the savings produced have offset this to a large extent.
Airport International will revisit the sat-enabled airport landing technology trials in future News coverage.
Source: Airport International
Wednesday 4 April 2012
CAA data shows improved punctuality performance at the 10 major UK airports
Interesting data recently released by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (known as CAA) demonstrates that from the months October to December 2011 the overall on-time performance (defined as the proportion of flights arriving or departing early or up to 15 mins late) of scheduled flights at the 10 UK airports monitored was 80%. This is a notable 12% higher than in the 4th quarter of 2010. The average delay across all scheduled flights monitored was 11 mins, which is a fall of 10 mins compared with to the same period in back in 2010.
Within the 4th quarter of 2011, the punctuality of 319,000 scheduled and 13,000 charter passenger flights was measured at 10 airports. This represents a 3.2% increase in scheduled flights and a 6.9% decrease in charter flights, compared with the final quarter of 2010. Here below is a summary of the results in bullet form:
- In the 4th quarter of 2011, 80% of scheduled flights were "on-time". This is up from 68% in the 4th quarter of 2010.
- The average delay also fell from 21 mins to just 11 mins. Here a notable punctuality improvement was seen at all 10 airports monitored .
- These results, together with other punctuality improvements in previous quarters, mean that over the whole of 2011, 80% of scheduled flights were on-time; up from 73% in 2010.
Iain Osborne, the CAA Group Director for Regulatory Policy, commented as follows...
“We welcome the marked improvements this year, which have a significant impact on the passenger experience of air travel. 2010 punctuality performance was poor, and although some of the improvement can be explained by the lack of significant weather-related disruption, airlines can also be congratulated for operational performance improvements which have also played a part. 2011 also saw the first increase in passenger numbers for four years. If this trend continues, airlines and airports will need to carefully balance growth with targeted investment if they are to secure continued improvements in passenger service.”
Scheduled Flights
On-time performance (defined as early to 15 mins late) for scheduled flights at London airports increased by 13% to 80% and the average delay fell by 10 mins to 11 mins, between the last quarter of 2010 and the same period of 2011. here below are some specific results...
- The biggest increase in on-time performance was seen at Stansted that saw it increase by 16 percentage points to 85%.
- Gatwick and Luton had the biggest reductions in average delay (12 minutes).
- Heathrow’s on-time performance increased by 12 percentage points and its average delay fell by 9 mins.
- London City’s on-time performance rose by 7% and its average delay fell by 6 mins.
- A fall of 7 mins at Manchester.
- A fall of 8 mins at Edinburgh.
- A fall of 9 mins at Glasgow.
- A fall of 11 mins at Birmingham.
- A fall of 13 mins at Newcastle.
The proportion of on-time charter flights increased by 10% to 73%, in the 4th quarter of 2011 compared with the same period of 2010. The average delay across all charter flights monitored in the 4th quarter of 2011 was 21 mins, a considerable improvement from the average delay of 38 mins recorded in the 4th quarter of 2010. This improvement in charter punctuality performance was of similar magnitude at London and Regional airports.
Destinations with most passengers
Among the 75 scheduled international destinations with the most passengers in the last quarter of 2011, flights to and from Larnaca (Cyprus) recorded the worst on-time performance of 63% and the highest average delay of 21 mins.
Flights to and from Rotterdam achieved the best punctuality with and on-time performance of 92%, and flights to and from Berlin (Shonefeld) achieved the lowest average delay of 6 mins.
Original Source: AirTransport News
LAX Terminal 6 Upgrade Opens for Alaska Airlines
LAX Terminal 6 will now be the domain of Alaska Airlines - which has also been involved in the upgrade - and the carrier's presently relocating there from Terminal 3 - its current home.
Los Angeles Terminal 6 features a host of innovations centred on an ‘airport of the future' passenger check-in concept. For passengers, it begins with an array of self-service check-in desks, at which boarding passes can be printed and checked bags can be paid for.
Moving on, there's a bag check-in station and then an advanced conveyor belt system
which, having passed through security, feeds luggage directly onto the waiting aircraft.
New LAX Terminal 6
Elsewhere, the new LAX Terminal 6 also features an energy-efficient Board Room airline lounge with reduced-consumption lighting systems, electrical outlets in place at 50 per cent of the boarding gate area seating and new hi-tech information displays.
"Alaska's Terminal 6 is an example of what can be achieved when government and private business partner", Antonio R. Villaraigosa, the Mayor of Los Angeles, explained in an Alaska Airlines press release published on 28 March 2012. He continued: "The renovation, delivered on time and under budget, is part of LA's US$4.1 billion investment in modernising LAX. In addition to dramatically improving the travel experiences of both domestic and international passengers, the Alaska Terminal 6 project also supported over 1,000 jobs in our region."
Alaska Airlines Terminal 6 Upgrade
"We want Alaska to be the easiest airline to fly on, and our new terminal in Los Angeles epitomises our mission to make travel hassle-free and seamless for our customers", the CEO and chairman of Alaska Airlines, Bill Ayer, said of the Terminal 6 upgrade. "Our new terminal provides more room for passengers to roam, swifter passage to the security checkpoint, more convenient connections to international flights and access to electrical outlets throughout our gates.
"These state-of-the art amenities remove some of the traditional barriers between air travelers and where they want to go."
Source: Airport International
Heathrow Passenger Rush Precedes Easter Strike
With the Easter weekend still some days away, the UK's flagship airport is nonetheless prepared for 30 March to be the break's busiest period.
The Easter weekend itself could see luggage backlogs develop at another site, London Stansted Airport, on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Monday, after the hub's baggage workers said they'd be going on strike.
Stansted Airport Strike
The London Stansted Airport strike action's related to shift alterations imposed by Swissport Stansted which, its workers claim, could leave them up to £1,000 a year out of pocket.
In a statement, however, Swissport stressed that London Stansted's Easter weekend operations would be unaffected and that there's no prospect of disruption.
"Swissport is disappointed that the GMB trade union has decided to call industrial action. The company wants to avoid redundancies", general manager Richard Prince added in comments quoted by the BBC.
He continued: "The proposed changes to working patterns will achieve a proportion of the necessary savings we need to make to offset our decline in revenue and it means we will avoid job losses. We are not cutting peoples' pay. We are not increasing the amount of hours they work. We are asking people to spread their contractual hours over a five-day week and not a four-day week. We are keeping people in jobs."
Easter Heathrow Passengers
Today's pre-Easter Heathrow passenger rush is expected to see the UK's largest airport handle some 220,000 travellers and, between now and 15 April, approximately 3.4 million.
Meanwhile, Gatwick Airport is predicting that 1.5 million passengers will pass through over the next two weeks. The most popular Easter holiday destination for Gatwick Airport's passengers is expected to be Dublin, with Spain's Malaga in second place and Italy's Milan coming in third
Source: Airport International
Monday 2 April 2012
EasyJet introduces trials for allocated seats
Budget Airline EasyJet will soon begin a trial to allocate passenger seats on some of their flights, after receiving and reviewing customer feedback.
This of course is not such a big deal for most airline carriers, however it is a complete sea change for EasyJet and he low cost carrier sector in general that originally vowed to change the way we travel including the business of seat allocation.
After seeking strategic ways to improve their services, EasyJet now believe that an allocated seat system could even improve their prices and make travel easier and more organized, however this flies in the face of the original concept.
EasyJet Plus cardholder passengers travelling on the flights appointed for allocated seats trials will be able to pre-book any seats, including extra legroom seats, free of charge. the advantage of boarding the plane frst also will still be respected.
The flights selected for trials are as follows:
From 24th of April
- Luton - Sharm el Sheikh and vice versa
- Luton - Malaga and vice versa
From 1st of May
- Luton - Alicante and vice versa
- Luton - Istanbul and vice versa
- Glasgow - Alicante and vice versa
This is clearly an interesting development and perhaps EasyJet are beginning to realise that it's better to deal with the middle seat issue from the outset and stop all the tedious games to block seats in addition to the uncivilised rush to board, by allocating seats at the time of booking.
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