Can't believe the flames of trans-Tasman rivalry needed any stoking, but LAN's route mappers clearly thought otherwise when they twinned Auckland, Australia, with Sydney, er, New Zealand.
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Just as I get to work on writing a feature on regional airlines for the October edition of Airline Business, news comes in of Irish regional carrier Aer Arann's entry into examinership - which is roughly the Irish equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The airline, which says it will continue to operate normally, blames two years of losses and the volcanic ash disruption for its plight.
During my interviews for the feature, Mike Ambrose, director general of the European Regions Airline Association, warned that the volcano disruption and subsequent compensation payouts are threatening regional airline survival.
"Traffic figures we picking up, but the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be the burning top of the Icelandic volcano," says Ambrose. "The problem the volcanic ash created for us was enormously damaging effects on cash flow. Some airlines had half a million in cash taken out of their business and now they need to build it up again."
For a detailed round-up of the state of the regional airline market, keep an eye out for the October edition of Airline Business.
Right. Let's just toss out the notion that employment in the air transport industry requires any sense of geography. I wouldn't want anyone to start imagining that, just because an aircraft is capable of navigating a precise path between one side of the globe and the other, it means that the airline's Internet route mapping department* knows the difference between Frankfurt Main and Frankfort, Kentucky (population 28,000, for heaven's sake).
*Saudi Arabian Airlines in this case, since you ask.
Aer Lingus puts its first half results improvement down to increasing transfer traffic at its Dublin base, the closure of its loss-making London Gatwick operation and tight cost control.
"In the first quarter we still had Gatwick going and Shannon long-haul [services]," says chief executive Christoph Mueller.
Since then the Irish carrier has pulled Gatwick and decided to stop operating from Shannon to the US in the winter.
If the Gatwick operation had run a full financial year Aer Lingus would have lost €40 million ($51 million) on these services alone, he says.
Although the Gatwick strategy, launched in April 2009 before Mueller joined, was in principle a good one, it was introduced at a time when demand was extremely low.
In addition, the marketing campaign took aim at easyJet. It was probably a mistake to take on easyJet with just two aircraft at one of its largest and most profitable airport operations. "It was too much in easyJet's face," he says.
One of the main challenges facing Aer Lingus is the extremely sluggish Irish market, says Mueller.
While traffic is rising in many European countries in line with GDP growth, in Ireland it is currently falling. Traffic at Dublin airport fell by 13% in the first quarter of 2010.
With its home market stuttering, Aer Lingus has "switched on the connectivity in Dublin", says Mueller.
"In the second quarter this was a real breakthrough - we are quite happy with what's happening on the revenue side."
Aer Lingus is promoting its Dublin hub as a transfer location for travellers connecting from its European network to its transatlantic services.
It has signed a feed deal with Irish regional carrier Aer Arann on 12 routes and has now had through fares on its network since quarter one, he says.
The arrangement with Aer Arann has seen over 100,000 passengers carried since it began earlier this year.
Although Dublin has not been seen as a natural transatlantic transfer point it has a geographic advantage over others, says Mueller.
"We can offer a really shorter travel time compared to services over Heathrow," he adds.
The extended codeshare deal with United Airlines, which has seen Aer Lingus operating United's Madrid-Washington route since March has shown "positive trading result at the operating profit level".
This deal is about to be expanded to other routes, says Mueller.
Irish carrier Aer Lingus is once again studying its alliance options but will not make a hasty decision on which path to take, says chief executive Christoph Mueller (seen below).
"It is a very complex business case and we do not expect a decision anytime soon," he says.
The carrier, which was a member of oneworld up to April 2007 but left to pursue an independent, low-fare strategy, has forged new partnerships and codeshares in recent year, including deals with United Airlines and JetBlue Airways.
For Mueller, much of the carrier's thinking is going into how the Aer Lingus brand would be treated under different alliance senarios. "Whichever way we go I believe Aer Lingus should remain as a brand," he says.
There are models where even if a carrier is acquired by a larger parent that its brand can remain intact, says Mueller, citing the takeover of Brussels Airlines by Lufthansa Group. But this could be in doubt if the bidder was not welcome.
"I believe a hostile takeover would mean Aer Lingus would cease to exist as a brand - this should be avoided," says Mueller.
Aer Lingus has been the target of two takeover bids by Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, both of which it has rebuffed. Ryanair is the single largest shareholder in Aer Lingus with a 29.82% stake.
Mueller says that the turnaround strategy being pursued by Aer Lingus has the full support of all large shareholders including Ryanair.
The Aer Lingus management team talks to Ryanair executives four times a year to explain its strategy but the low-cost carrier declines to be represented, as it is entitled to, on the Aer Lingus board.
The difference is the story matter - no gushing destination pieces (that would be a tough one anyhow I imagine) here.
What you do get is pieces on dog fighting, a notorious Russian-era swimming pool and the country's heroin problem. Check out Safi's latest issue here (digital edition).
News today that Middle East budget carrier Sama is to stop flights, blaming the regulatory situation in Saudi Arabia.
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"The decision to stop flying was not taken lightly," says Sama chief Bruce Ashby, who says the company "remains hopeful" that - even at this late stage - the suspension will be temporary.
Read the full story here.
Probably not a combination that automatically springs to mind -- but here's a fun safety video from Air New Zealand -- enjoy.
Southwest Airlines decided this year to have a presence at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and I was lucky enough to fly in on Southwest's special ferry flight from Chicago Midway on 31 July, on one of Southwest's newest Boeing 737-700s.
The airline was offering tours of the aircraft, and was displaying some of the work it has been doing on Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures, that will allow it to fly more efficient routes. I was able to catch up with David "Fig" Newton, Southwest's Senior Manager of NextGen and Airspace, who was able to share some of the highlights of the project:
Southwest has already been able to take advantage of the benefits of the project. A major undertaking like this one created the opportunity to activate autothrottles and VNAV. Newton estimates these changes alone are saving the airline approximately $1.5 million in fuel per month.
The airline also began utilizing GPS approaches in April, which has yielded operational benefits, as the airline has now been able to operate flights that previously would have been canceled due to weather.
Newton says that about 20 Southwest airports will be ready for RNP operations when the airline begins them in January, and that the airline hopes to bring the technology across its network of 69 destinations.
Earlier in June, Jeff Martin, the Assistant Director of Operations for the airline, estimated $16 million in annual savings from RNP at an industry conference. These savings would allow Southwest to recoup its investment in less than ten years.
The airline was offering tours of the aircraft, and was displaying some of the work it has been doing on Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures, that will allow it to fly more efficient routes. I was able to catch up with David "Fig" Newton, Southwest's Senior Manager of NextGen and Airspace, who was able to share some of the highlights of the project:
Southwest has already been able to take advantage of the benefits of the project. A major undertaking like this one created the opportunity to activate autothrottles and VNAV. Newton estimates these changes alone are saving the airline approximately $1.5 million in fuel per month.
The airline also began utilizing GPS approaches in April, which has yielded operational benefits, as the airline has now been able to operate flights that previously would have been canceled due to weather.
Newton says that about 20 Southwest airports will be ready for RNP operations when the airline begins them in January, and that the airline hopes to bring the technology across its network of 69 destinations.
Earlier in June, Jeff Martin, the Assistant Director of Operations for the airline, estimated $16 million in annual savings from RNP at an industry conference. These savings would allow Southwest to recoup its investment in less than ten years.
The sheer backlog of videos we had to edit and produce around the Farnborough Air Show meant that some were not up on our site until just after the show.
This is one of them and it's worth a look to hear about how Russian finance company IIuyshin Finance, which helps lease and place a lot of the country's aircraft.
The interview is with its chief executive Alexander Rubtsov, who I only met for the first time at Farnborough and was thoroughly impressed with.
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