Flagship takes off on second long-haul route; flights to Johannesburg to follow

Lufthansa’s third Airbus A380 enters scheduled service today (Wednesday, 1 September), just one week after being delivered to the airline. The aircraft, which bears the name Peking, will depart from Frankfurt for the Chinese capital at 17.20 hours under flight number LH720. After landing in Beijing at 8.30 hours local time on the Thursday, the aircraft will be officially named. The return flight (LH 721) will leave Beijing on Thursday morning at 10.30 hours and arrive at Frankfurt the same day at 14.30 hours.

Initially, the A380 will serve Beijing once a week. In coordination with Chinese authorities, Lufthansa aims to gradually increase the frequency of this service. On 12 September Lufthansa will launch flights to its third A380 destination, Johannesburg. The city will be served twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays.

In the Lufthansa configuration, the Airbus A380 can seat up to 526 passengers. The totally revamped First Class cabin with eight generously proportioned seats on the upper deck stands for individuality, the ultimate in comfort and technical innovation, which greatly enhances the travel experience. Also on the upper deck is Lufthansa’s award-winning Business Class cabin with 98 seats. On the main deck, the 420 seats in the impressively spacious Economy Class provide an unprecedented level of comfort. Details of the A380 flight schedule can be accessed at www.lufthansa.com/a380.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG Corporate Communications 01.09.10

Today, Wednesday 1 September 2010, Air France’s Airbus A380 served the Paris-Tokyo route for the very first time, making Tokyo the first destination in Asia to be served by the airline’s Super jumbo. The aircraft with registration number F-HPJD, Air France's fourth A380, took off early in the afternoon from Paris-CDG north runway eastbound, and will land at Tokyo-Narita at 08:10 local time, tomorrow morning.

The A380 flight schedule on the Paris – Tokyo route:

- Paris-Tokyo:

AF 276, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; flights will be daily starting 4 October 2010.
Flight departs from terminal 2E at 13:30, and arrives at 08:10 the following day

- Tokyo-Paris:

AF 275, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays; flights will be daily starting 5 October 2010
Flight departs at 11:50 and arrives at Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2E at 17:15

Paris-Tokyo is Air France’s 3rd route served by A380, following Paris-New York in 2009 and Paris-Johannesburg in February 2010. Thanks to the A380, Air France is rationalizing frequencies on these busy routes by combining two flights leaving at close departure times, while still offering the same number of seats and reducing costs by 20%. The A380’s main deck is the same size as a Boeing 777-200 and the upper deck is the same size as an Airbus A340-300.

Air France’s A380 is equipped with 538 seats in three cabin classes – La Première (First), with 9 seats on the main deck, Affaires (Business), with 80 seats on the upper deck, and Voyageur (Economy), with 449 seats divided between the two decks.

The A380 is the world’s most environmentally-friendly aircraft – with less than 75 grams of CO2 produced per passenger per kilometre – and the quietest in its category. Its spacious cabin offers passengers additional comfort. On board this aircraft, Air France has introduced changing lighting moods adapted to the various stages of the flight, meeting points and relaxation areas, as well as a completely new in-flight entertainment system with wider screens.

Air France has ordered twelve A380s, four of which have already been delivered.

In winter 2010, Air France and KLM will operate 52 weekly return flights between Paris, Amsterdam and Japan:

- to and from Tokyo-Narita : 31 flights, including 21 AF flights (of which 7 operated by JAL on a code-share basis) and 10 KLM flights;

- to and from Tokyo-Haneda: 7 AF flights operated by JAL on a code-share basis, starting 31 October 2010 ;

- to and from Osaka-Kansai : 14 flights, including 7 AF flights and 7 KLM flights.

With this large number of flights, Air France and KLM offer passengers a wide choice of departure times both ways with daily flights leaving both in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Air France press release, Wednesday 1 September 2010

Airbus has commenced production of the latest Airbus product, the A350 XWB, in Germany. The green light was jointly given at the company’s production plant in Stade by Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders, Executive Vice President Operations and Chairman of the Board of Management Airbus Germany Gerald Weber, and Parliamentary State Secretary and German government aerospace coordinator Peter Hintze.

The first German component will also be one for the record books for its size. Measuring almost 32 metres by 6 metres, the upper wing shell is the largest integrated component ever to be built by Airbus from weight-saving carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP).

“The A350 XWB sets new benchmarks for the aviation industry and passengers. Advanced materials make the new Airbus the most economical and environment-friendly aircraft in its class. We are also applying these new standards to our production with facilities and machinery operating to the highest technology and quality standards. Thanks to this leading-edge production process, we are able to achieve a very high efficiency,” says Tom Enders.

The upper wing shells will be built using advanced production processes at the 30,000 square metre production hangars in Stade. For the first time automated tape-laying technology will be used not only for the carbon fibre but also for the lightning strike protection and fibreglass components. The wing shell, measuring 31,6 m by 5,6 m, will then undergo polymerisation in the autoclave. This high-tech oven is one of the largest facilities of its kind worldwide and can accommodate two wing shells simultaneously.

In addition to laying the wing skin panels, the plant also produces the stringers (longitudinal stiffeners used in wing panels). In order to produce these components Airbus has for the first time set up a flow line production system which measures 140 metres in length.

Other innovations include an entirely new quality control system which now permits inspection of the external and internal surfaces of CFRP components of that size simultaneously. The advanced plant also boasts the use of waterjet technology for edge trimming and a high-precision automated conveyance system in the production hall for large components.

In addition to producing the upper wing shells for the A350 XWB, the Airbus Stade plant builds the vertical tailplane and, for the first time, CFRP fuselage shells. Approximately 100 employees will work in A350 XWB production by the end of 2010. This figure is expected to rise to around 500 when production reaches full capacity.

The Stade plant also has its own dedicated combined heat and power unit. This unit not only generates electricity and heat for the hangars: the emissions are used as inert gas for the autoclave and ensure fire protection. This means energy exploitation of the power unit is an exceptional 100 percent.

The A350 XWB is a new family of widebody airliners (A350-800, A350-900 and A350-1000) for which Airbus currently has 528 confirmed orders. With an airframe made of 53 percent lightweight carbon fibre composites, the aircraft has enormous fuel-saving potential. Final assembly of the A350-900 is scheduled to start in 2011, with first delivery expected in 2013.

Airbus press release 31 August 2010

RYANAIR TO CLOSE BELFAST CITY BASE (1 AIRCRAFT) PROMISED RUNWAY EXTENSION DEFERRED… AGAIN

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (31st Aug) announced that it would close its Belfast City Airport base at the end of the current summer schedule on Sun 31st October 2010, following the airport’s confirmation that the public inquiry into the promised runway extension will be further delayed, thereby delaying yet again the launch of Ryanair low fare flights from Belfast City Airport to destinations all over Europe.

Ryanair regrets that despite repeated promises, the runway extension at Belfast City, which was originally scheduled to be delivered in 2008, still has not been approved by the Northern Ireland Government, and would now be the subject of a delayed public inquiry, which means the runway extension will not be delivered until 2012 at the earliest, some 4 years after it was originally promised.

Ryanair, which launched a base in Belfast City in Oct 2007, operates five routes to the UK because of the short runway at Belfast City. Ryanair had planned to open up a wide range of low fare European routes from/to Belfast City once the promised runway extension was delivered, but this has sadly failed to materialise. Today’s closure of Ryanair’s Belfast City base means that Belfast and Northern Ireland tourism will lose up to 1 million passengers annually.

From early in November, Ryanair will switch its one Belfast City based aircraft to another European airport, with the loss of 50 Ryanair jobs (all staff will be offered relocation elsewhere in the UK or Europe) and the loss of 1 million passengers annually, which will result in the loss of up to 1,000 support jobs in and around Belfast City Airport. Sadly passengers to/from all Belfast airports will now pay much higher fares to travel to/from the UK with other airlines.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“It is very disappointing that the promised runway extension at Belfast City Airport has still not materialised more than 3 years after we opened the base at Belfast City. It makes no sense for Ryanair to continue to invest in Belfast City, operating restricted routes with less than full payloads between Belfast and other UK airports (which suffer a double APD penalty) unless there is clear and immediate prospect of Ryanair being enabled to safely operate longer European routes from Belfast City Airport and for this we need the runway extension.

While we recognise the right of the Government and people of Northern Ireland to subject this small runway extension to an extended planning process, these repeated delays, the reference to a public inquiry and now the further delay to the public inquiry for spurious noise reasons, shows a lack of willingness on the part of the local authorities to grow and develop traffic, routes, tourism and jobs in Northern Ireland.

In these circumstances sadly we have better alternative airports elsewhere in the UK and Europe, all of whom are willing and able to provide us with the runway infrastructure and low cost facilities we need in order to operate our lowest fare flights immediately, safely and profitably.

We will of course continue to work with Brian Ambrose and his team at Belfast City Airport, and wish them continued success in securing the runway extension, but we are not prepared to continue to operate at Belfast City with restricted routes and loads because of repeated planning delays. I would like to personally thank Brian Ambrose and his team for their help and support in developing a successful route network there in recent years, which has seen Ryanair deliver more than 3m passengers over the past 3 years at Belfast City, whilst sustaining up to 50 direct and over 1,000 indirect jobs at the airport and local support services.”

Ryanair press release 31/08/2010

LOT Polish Airlines will be launching yet another new connection in October. Direct flights from Warsaw to Cairo will expand the network of Middle Eastern routes that LOT has been building steadily since the beginning of 2010. Egypt is one of the most popular destinations among Polish tourists. Tickets are already available via the carrier’s reservations system, with prices starting at PLN 1167.

The first passengers will fly directly from Warsaw to Cairo on 27th October. The new connection was set up in response to extensive passenger interest in flights to the Middle East. Egypt enjoys enormous popularity as a tourist destination and Poles are more and more frequently organising their trips independently, without the assistance of travel agencies. LOT’s new route has been established in consideration both of tourists heading for Egypt and Middle Eastern travellers setting off for Europe. The wide range of connections offered by LOT’s network of routes makes Warsaw an excellent transfer point for other European countries.

The Warsaw-Cairo flight lasts 3 hours and 50 minutes and 3 departures a week are scheduled. The route will be flown by Boeing 737-400.

Cairo is a city that never sleeps, a melting-pot of cultures and a storehouse rich in history and myriad wonders of historical architecture. Only here can visitors immerse themselves in the past, admiring Coptic churches, buildings dating back to the Ottoman Empire, medieval Muslim enclaves and magnificent historical mementos from the times of the Pharaohs. Tourist who find themselves yearning for European civilisation can set off on a stroll through the city’s Western districts, which were built in the 19th century along European lines. The district reflecting the atmosphere of Paris is a delight, with its open spaces, greenery and wide avenues. Another of Cairo’s indisputable pluses is the climate, which gives tourists the opportunity of enjoying the sunshine all year round.

Warsaw-Cairo flight schedule:

Flight number / Route / Days / Time (local) Departure Arrival
LO 115 WAW-CAI Monday, Wednesday, Saturday 10.30 p.m. 03.20 a.m.
LO 116 CAI-WAW Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday 04.10 a.m. 07.10 a.m.

LOT press release 30.08.2010

Effective 31st October, the Leading European Airlines starts daily flights from the city of Luxembourg to the Bavarian capital

With the beginning of the winter timetable, Lufthansa is extending its network out of the Benelux region. As of 31st October, passengers departing from Luxembourg will be offered up to two daily flights to Lufthansa’s Southern hub of Munich. A modern Bombardier Regional Jet CRJ-700 of Lufthansa CityLine will be operating the new route, offering up to 70 seats in Economy and Business Class.

Lufthansa herewith completes the offer of its partner Luxair which connects up to three times a day Luxembourg with Munich. Passengers will have the choice between 31 weekly flights between the two cities.

“The opening of direct flights out of Luxembourg confirms Lufthansa’s strong commitment to the European market. With this new connection, the German carrier operates services to all major European business and leisure cities”, says Karsten Benz, Vice President Sales & Services Lufthansa Europe.

“Next to our daily flights from Brussels and Amsterdam to Munich, we will now also be connecting the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with the Bavarian capital, offering even more flexibility to our customers. In addition, the new direct flights offer ideal connections to the worldwide network of 114 destinations in 44 countries operated out of the dedicated Lufthansa and Star Alliance Terminal 2 in Munich.” adds Claus Becker, General Manager Lufthansa Benelux & France.

Munich is not only a very popular destination in terms of business and leisure travel, but the airport has very recently also been voted Europe’s best Airport at the World Airport Awards 2010, achieving the highest approval rating from customers. At no other major European airport passengers can transfer easier and faster from one flight to the other than at Munich’s Terminal 2. Thanks to the special design of the building, transit passengers can catch their connecting flights within 30 minutes.

Moreover, passengers from Luxembourg have the possibility to enjoy the exclusive services at the dedicated Lufthansa Lounges. Next to the First Class Lounge and the Senator Café, a recently new refurbished Senator Lounge welcomes its guests in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere which features a well-appointed bistro, 20 workstations, two shower rooms and a separate rest area. Altogether, at Terminal 2 in Munich, Lufthansa offers customers seven lounges on encompassing a total floor space of close to 48,500 square feet.

For information and flight reservations, please visit the Lufthansa website at www.lufthansa.com or contact the Lufthansa Call Center . Customers can also book their flights through Lufthansa-designated travel agencies or at Lufthansa sales counters at airports.

A return ticket for the Luxembourg-Munich flight will be available from 99€ (inclusive of all taxes and fees) and Members of the Miles&More program, the leading frequent flyer programme in Europe, will have the possibility to earn Miles on the new flights.

The new service at a glance
Luxembourg – Munich

Airports/Three-letter-code/Time zone (winter)
Luxembourg, International Airport (LUX); UTC + 1 hr.
Munich, Terminal 2 (MUC); UTC + 1 hr.

Schedule
(all times are local times; winter time)
NEW as of 31st October 2010
Flight schedule out of Luxembourg:
LH2319 Luxembourg 09:30 - Munich 10:35 (Monday to Saturday)
LH2321 Luxembourg19:20 - Munich 20:25 (Monday to Friday + Sunday)

Flight schedule out of Munich:
LH2318 Munich 7:45 - Luxembourg 8:55 (Monday to Saturday)
LH2320 Munich 17:25 - Luxembourg 18:35 (Monday to Friday + Sunday)

Flight time (average) 1 hour 10 minutes
Aircraft type/seats CR7 / 70 seats (in Business and Economy Class configuration)

Distance 270 Miles/ 430 km

Lufthansa Corporate Communications Europe 23.08.10

Lufthansa and Germanwings plan extensive cooperation with numerous benefits for customers

From 1 September, Miles & More members will also be able to collect miles on Germanwings flights and use Lufthansa lounges / Combinable airfares and collaboration in corporate sales from 2011

Closer cooperation between Lufthansa and Germanwings and a comprehensive package of measures will provide additional travel benefits for the customers of both airlines.

Starting on 1 September 2010, Miles & More members will be able not only to exchange miles on all Germanwings flights but also to collect award miles. From then on, the same fixed mileage amounts for individual booking classes that currently apply to Miles & More members on all Lufthansa flights will also apply on Germanwings flights. For a domestic flight, for example, Miles & More members will receive up to 1,000 miles and for a flight to a Germanwings destination in Europe up to 1,250 miles, depending on the booking class. Since December 2009, Miles & More members have been able to redeem their miles for flights across the entire Germanwings route network. For 30,000 miles they can take off to a destination within Europe, and for 25,000 miles they can book a domestic flight with the air-line. In addition, frequent flyers with a Miles & More HON Circle or Senator status who are travelling on a Germanwings ticket can now use Lufthansa’s Business and Senator lounges in Germany.

The Germanwings frequent flyer programme, the Boomerang Club, will continue to exist independently of the Miles & More partnership. Before each flight, passengers who have both a Miles & More and a Boomerang Club card will be able to select the frequent flyer pro-gramme in which they wish to collect miles. Further information can be downloaded from www.miles-and-more.com or www.germanwings.com.

“Thanks to the closer collaboration with Germanwings, our Miles & More members will have even more opportunities to collect and redeem award miles,” says Thierry Antinori, member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board with responsibility for Marketing and Sales. “We will continue to pursue our strategic approach so that both airlines can develop their product and their flight schedules independently. At the same time, however, we will be able to offer our joint customers significant added value.”

In the next phase of the cooperation, starting from the beginning of 2011, interline (i.e. combinable) fares will be available for Lufthansa and Germanwings flights. This means that travel agencies and Lufthansa sales points (call centres and ticket counters at the airports) will be able to book and sell an outbound or return flight with both airlines in a single transaction and from a single source. Customers of both airlines will profit from greater flexibility with regard to travel and booking options and will save time and effort when making their travel arrangements.

Lufthansa and Germanwings are planning to cooperate in the corporate travel segment from the beginning of 2011 so that they can extend the benefits of their partnership to their corporate customers.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG Corporate Communication press release 31.08.10

EGYPTAIR has received its first Airbus A330-300 aircraft from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France. Powered by Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines, the aircraft seats 301 passengers with 265 in Economy Class, and 36 in Business Class.

Joining EGYPTAIR’s existing Airbus fleet of 17 A320 family aircraft, seven A330-200s and three A340-200s, the new A330-300 will be the first EGYPTAIR aircraft to feature onboard communications technology, enabling passengers to benefit from in flight mobile phone services and WI-FI internet access.

“This delivery is an important milestone in the history of EGYPTAIR .We will continue to bring the latest to our customers who deserve this premium and highly competitive product” said Eng. Hussein Massoud, Chairman and CEO of EGYPTAIR Holding Company. He added “we are determined on the ambitious plan for fleet expansion and modernisation.”

Captain Alaa Ashour, the Chairman and CEO of EGYPTAIR Airlines, who flew the new aircraft himself to Cairo said “the delivery of the first Airbus A330-300 will add value to our customers and launches new services for the first time in EGYPTAIR.”

“We are proud to be partnering with EGYPTAIR as they launch their new onboard communications offering on the A330,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. “Passengers can now use these innovative services from the unparalleled comfort of the A330 cabin whilst the airline will benefit from the excellent reliability and economics offered by the aircraft.”

Airbus aircraft share a unique cockpit and operational commonality, allowing airlines to use the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers, bringing operational flexibility and resulting in significant cost savings.

In the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), Airbus has sold around 1000 aircraft and has a backlog of over 500. More than 500 Airbus aircraft are flying with 48 MENA operators, representing around 40% percent of the fleet in service in the region.

The A330 is one of the most widely used widebody aircraft in service today. To date, Airbus has won more than 1,000 firm orders for the various versions of the aircraft. Over 700 A330s have already been delivered and the aircraft is currently flying with over 80 operators worldwide.

Airbus press release 30 August 2010

Bombardier Sells Two Q400 NextGen Turboprops to Smart Aviation of Egypt

Bombardier Aerospace announced today that Smart Aviation Company of Cairo, Egypt has signed a firm order to acquire two Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft, and has also taken options on an additional three Q400 NextGen aircraft.



Based on the list price for the Q400 NextGen aircraft, the value of the firm order is approximately $62 million US, which could increase to $158 million US should all three options be converted to firm orders.

A corporate jet aircraft charter operator since its founding in May of 2007, Smart Aviation has formed a commercial airline subsidiary and will use its Q400 NextGen aircraft to launch scheduled and charter services to complement its corporate aircraft activities throughout the Middle East.

“Middle East tourism and business travel are growing steadily and we want to be in a position to meet this growth with efficient, reliable, economical and passenger-friendly aircraft,” said Wael El-Maadawy, Chairman and Managing Director, Smart Aviation Company. “Bombardier turboprop aircraft have excelled on these attributes in the Middle East operating environment for several years, so the Q400 NextGen aircraft was the first choice for our new service.”

“The Q400 NextGen aircraft is optimized for the intra-regional, shorter routes in the expanding North African and Middle Eastern travel market,” said Gary R. Scott, President,
Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “We at Bombardier are confident that the Q400 NextGen aircraft is well-suited to Smart Aviation’s new venture and welcome the company to the growing family of Q400 NextGen aircraft operators.”

Optimized for short-haul operations, the “comfortably greener,” 70- to 80-seat Q400 NextGen aircraft is a large, fast, quiet and fuel-efficient turboprop. It provides an ideal balance of passenger comfort and operating economics with a reduced environmental footprint. Including Smart Aviation’s order, Bombardier has booked firm orders for a total of 391 Q400 and Q400 NextGen aircraft, and as of April 30, 2010, 300 had been delivered. The aircraft are in service with more than 30 operators worldwide.

Bombardier press release August 30, 2010 — Toronto

Airbus-led 'AIRE2' trials to spearhead green trajectories with A380

An Airbus-led consortium in partnership with Air France and the air navigation service providers from UK, Canada and the US (NATS, Nav Canada and the FAA) will shortly commence ‘Transatlantic Green Flight’ (TGF) trials with an Air France A380 on revenue flights from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG). Under a recent contract from the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU), these A380 TGF trials are part of the second wave the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to reduce Emissions – “AIRE2”. The first phase, AIRE, was jointly launched by the European Commission and the FAA in June 2007 at the Paris Air Show.

The TGF flights, for which Airbus has brought together numerous parties, are due to take place over a six to eight week period commencing in the fourth quarter of 2010. These will cover the optimisation of the taxi-out procedure at John F. Kennedy airport, as well as the en-route leg over the Atlantic. Overall it is estimated that each A380 flight can reduce CO2 emissions by around three tonnes, compared with existing procedures.

“These transatlantic flight trials will help to move the industry towards more efficient operational concepts and sustainable growth over the longer term,” says Charles Champion, Executive Vice President of Engineering at Airbus. He adds: “What we trial today with the A380 will contribute to setting tomorrow’s standards, thanks to system-wide Air Traffic Management improvements prepared by programmes like SESAR and NextGen.”

TGF operational contributions: The FAA will support Air France to start each trial with a fuel-saving ‘reduced engine taxi’ from the gate to the runway at JFK. This will be enabled via estimates of taxi time, allowing for A380 taxiing powered by only two of its four engines. Meanwhile, NATS and Nav Canada will facilitate the Atlantic portion of the flight which will reduce CO2 emissions through an optimized trajectory where more flexibility will be arranged for speed, altitude and lateral routing. This trajectory takes advantage of the A380’s high optimum cruise altitude of 39,000ft and above.

Additional AIRE2 projects – ‘VINGA’ & ‘Green Shuttle’
Airbus is also engaged as a partner in two further AIRE2 trials: ‘VINGA’ and ‘Green Shuttle’. VINGA, which builds on the experience of last year’s AIRE ‘MINT’ flight trials (with Novair and Swedish Air Navigation Service provider LFV), will now for the first time validate a transition from a curved RNP 0.3 arrival to an ILS approach at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport. This operational implementation will be facilitated by Airbus’ RNP services subsidiary, Quovadis. Meanwhile, the ‘Green Shuttle’ project, in partnership with Air France and the French air navigation service provider DSNA, seeks to optimize all phases of the airline’s ‘La Navette’ flights between Paris-Orly and Toulouse which are operated with A320 Family aircraft.

Airbus press release 26 August 2010