Feature: Airline Update
and have taken delivery of the first of six
Boeing 777-300ER aircraft which have all new interiors including new First, our award-winning new Club World cabin, new World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabins.” Adds Walsh: “The state-of-the-art aircraft is bigger, quieter and more fuel efficient than its predecessors and showcases the future face of BA.” The carrier says its design team is already
at work on cabin designs for its batch of 24 Dreamliners and 12 A380s, indicating an interior ‘inspired by the airline’s rich heritage, but with a contemporary feel which will include environmentally driven design initiatives’. Emirates, which has a whopping 90 A380s on
“The state-of-the-art aircraft is bigger, quieter and more fuel efficient than its predecessors and showcases the future face of BA.”
order, has introduced the Super Jumbo on its Dubai-Manchester service, making Manchester the first ‘regional’ airport in the world to welcome the aircraft on a scheduled service, having made the necessary infrastructure improvements at a cost of £10million. Back at the Farnborough Air Show, the big- spending Middle Eastern airline placed an order for an additional 30 B777-300ERs, on top of the 71 previously ordered, 53 of which are currently in service. Further signalling Emirates’ intent on rapid and large-scale growth, the airline also has an order in place for 70 A350s, an aircraft that Airbus is developing that will compete directly with the Dreamliner, particularly on environmental grounds. Qatar Airways is targeting similarly quick expansion, with its fleet set to rise from 82 aircraft to 120 by 2013 and orders for more than 200 aircraft worth over US$40billion. The panel on the this page highlights some
of the recent cabin and seat developments, but among the more intriguing to have surfaced this year are Air New Zealand’s new Economy Skycouch and Premium Economy Spaceseat, and the introduction of flatbed Business seats by Malaysia’s low-cost carrier Air Asia X.
30
www.onboardhospitality.com
The B787 Dreamliner
The Big Two – how They compAre Airbus A380 Launch date:
Launch customer: No. in operation: Confirmed orders: No. of customers: Seating: Range:
Top customers:
October 2007 (12 months late) Singapore Airlines 33
234 17
Typically 555, but up to 800 15,200km
Emirates (90) Qantas (20)
Singapore Airlines (19) Lufthansa (15) Air France (12)
Other notables:
British Airways (12) Virgin Atlantic (6)
An unavoidable area of development is the number of airliner mergers and partnerships, with South American airlines LAN and TAM recently jumping into bed together, following in the footsteps of Continental and United, and the three-way tie-ups of British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia, and Air France, KLM and Delta. Such partnerships have little immediate impact
on travel programmes, but in the long-term there is likely to be a reduction in schedules and less competitive pricing. They are not in the interests of the passenger and there is some concern with regard to differing service levels as many airlines indicate they will retain their own identity. This creates problems, for example, when flying out
Boeing 787 Dreamliner Q1 2011 (originally May 08) ANA 0
860 50
250 to 290 15,750km ANA (55)
Qantas/Jetstar (50) Air Canada (37) Etihad (35) JAL (35)
Qatar (30)
British Airways (24) Virgin Atlantic (15)
Business with British Airways and returning with Iberia – they are very different service levels for the passenger. Lack of competition is also a cause for concern
for passengers as history tells us that the greater the choice, the lower the fare. Consolidations, mergers, alliances and anti-trust immunity all effectively act to reduce competition which can lead to an increase in the average airline fares. However, we are all aware that many carriers have
been losing money, which in the medium term is unsustainable. It’s in nobody’s interest to have carriers that are here today and gone tomorrow and in this sense it is recognised that survival may only be possible through some form of partnership.
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