February 2012 Archives

It's no secret that through the years Charlotte has risen through the ranks to become US Airways' predominent hub. But this chart included in an investor presentation today illustrates the importance of Charlotte's traffic flows.

Charlotte now accounts for 36% of US Airways' capacity, part of a broader strategy to centre 99% of its flying at the most profitable points in its network, and where it is strongest -- Phildadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix, Washington National (thanks to the years-long efforts to trade slots with Delta) and its Shuttle markets.

As Charlotte has gained more emphasis in the US Airways network during the last couple of years, Philadelphia, which was once the carrier's strongest transatlantic gateway, has diminshed.

Back in 2010 US Airways offiicials when announcing new transatlantic seasonal service from Charlotte cited the maturity of Philadelphia with respect to the overseas markets served from the hub.

Charlotte has also served as US Airways' gateway to Latin America after launching service to Rio in late 2009.  The carrier also in 2010 said it would remodal part of the Charlotte hub to accomodate more international flights.

The dedication to Charlotte stands against a mild feud US Airways has been having with Philadelphia during the last couple of years. Philadelphia's anchor carrier opposes a roughly $5.2 billion expansion project that includes construction of a fifth runway.

US Airways in its recently releases annual report warned the overall capacity enhancement project at Philadelphia airport could result in huge cost increases for airlines serving the airport.

Previously, US Airways has said the costs of the planned fifth runway at Philadelphia would make it the most expensive built outside of Japan.   

At the Singapore air show this weekend the country's flag carrier is giving one of aviation's iconic airliners a worthy send-off.

For SIA will retire the Boeing 747 from its passenger fleet on 6 April after almost four decades of faithful service. Although the Jumbo will continue to haul freight for SIA's cargo arm for some time to come, it is game over for the "Mega Top" at the passenger division.

To celebrate, SIA has brought the last 747-412 it received, back in 2001, to the static park at the Singapore air show this weekend (after a 7min positioning flight from nearby Changi Int'l) to celebrate its massive contribution to the airline's development since it arrived in September 1973.

"The 747 has been the flagship for so many years in the SIA fleet. We're sad that we're having to say goodbye to it, SIA's VP public affairs (and former Flightglobal hack) Nick Ionides told Interactive Flight Daily News.

"The 747 enabled us to pioneer non-stop flying across the Pacific and from Singapore to London. It's only fitting that we involve the public, so we've brought the last 747 passenger aircraft we received to the show and opened it up to visitors."

When the big jet arrived in Singapore 39 years ago it immediately transformed the airline, which until then had been relying largely on the 747's little sister, the 707. Indeed there were many who wondered what the tiny island state was doing ordering such a huge aeroplane in large numbers (sound familiar?).

The jumbo quickly went on to help SIA establish itself as the world's leading international network carrier with a reputation for fine service delivered by troupes of attentive (and attractive!) "Singapore Girls".

The airline's original 747-200Bs were joined by the stretched upper deck 747-300 "Big Tops" from 1983 and the -400 "Mega Tops" in 1989.

But the airline has called time as it transitions to the 777-300ER and A380 for its long-haul network. The Jumbo's last scheduled service will be on 25 March from Melbourne and the type will retire after a SIN-HKG-SIN commemorative flight on 6 April.

The Jumbo is open to tours at the show and has been decked out with an exhibition displaying the history of the airline's 747 operations over the four decades of service. The piece de resistance is the display in the forward cabin which features the original 1993 waxwork (above) from Madame Tussaud's of real Singapore Girl Lim Suet Kwee, who looks as beautiful as ever. Kwee, who has been with SIA since 1986, only stopped flying last year and now a cabin crew executive.

Farewell Singapore Jumbo...

Watch the feature about SIA's 747 farewell at the Singapore air show here

And here's a link to the story from Flight International in August 1972, when newly created SIA placed orders for two 747s and took options on two more. It said at the time it may have a requirement for up to 12 Jumbos over the next 10 years.

SIA has also set up a dedicated website to mark the 747 retirement, with history and info about the type's service with the airline.

So Malev has become the second established European carrier (its history dates back to 1946) in a week to suspend operations. While there have been some smaller airline casualties in Europe so far this year - Czech Connect and Germany's Cirrus Airlines both suspended flights while seeking new finance (another, Austrian carrier Air Alps, has now resumed flights after earlier suspending operations in January), it is the fall of Malev and Spanair over the last seven days which demonstrates how tough it is for airlines in Europe. Malev and Spanair are both established in alliances - Oneworld and Star Alliance respectively - and feature in the top 150 airlines by revenues.

MALEV

• 21 aircraft
• Revenues $421m (2010)
• Passengers: 3.05m (2010)

SPANAIR

• 29 aircraft
• Revenues $800m (2010 Airline Business estimate)
• Passengers: 6.96m (2010)

This is rapidly looking like it might become a winter of discontent for Europe's airlines. The region is forecast for losses this year as they battle the headwinds of high fuel prices and the eurozone woes. And enforcement of European Commission state aid rules is adding further pressure to those who might previously have taken comfort from the state for support. (For more on this pressure check out our ANALYSIS: Spanair collapse bad news for state-funded airlines article).

Alongside airline collapses, mergers are the other element to airline consolidation - and a number of deals in the works will further change the picture. How far has this journey gone? Well here is a little graphic which shows the number of passenger airlines (scheduled and charter) operating today from some of the major markets compared to 2001 - and while passenger numbers for European carriers among the top 200 airlines have jumped more than 75% over the last ten years, the number of carriers in each country has fallen (and this doesn't take account of deals in the works or shared airline ownership).

And for a more detailed look on how this process has worked, look at this analysis of the Italian market - which if planned mergers are completed, will mean it will have gone from around 20 airlines to essentially three in the last decade.

Airline Business has once again tackled the intriguing world of aviation finance and leasing in digital format, with its first interactive special report of 2012. And after the success of last year's edition, we have again teamed up with renowned aviation financier DVB Bank.

The DVB link, along with our recent tie-up with aviation consultancy Ascend, has enabled us to really get under the skin of this sector of the industry, tackling the issues that are in the forefront of people's minds at the moment. This has seen us tap the views of bankers, airframers and analysts to explain and explore the issues.

Flightglobal's iMag team (l to r) Max, Laura, Alex, Fay, Andy, Babs, Gareth, Alexis, Becky, Graham and Olivier

These include the "jitters" about the availability of funding in 2012, the impact of the re-engined narrowbodies on current production aircraft, and the "funding gap" that makes trading of young secondhand airliners difficult.

In the latest interactive we speak to Airbus's John Leahy, Boeing's Kostya Zolotusky and DVB Bank's Bertrand Grabowski and Bert van Leeuwen, as well as EADS finance guru Hans Peter Ring.  We've also cross-examined some analysts - Ascend's Eddy Pieniazek and Chris Tarry from CTAIRA.

The Ascend connection has enabled us to slice and dice the fleets of the major lessors, as well as take a deep dive into the evolution of the aviation leasing sector, which is illustrated with some familiar faces from the leasing world.

Contributions for the editorial content have also come from across the Flightglobal group.  My own efforts have been superbly supported by Fay Sanders - editor of Ascend's Aviation Exchange - who conducted the interviews with the DVB bankers. Flightglobal finance editors Olivier Bonnassies and Laura Mueller also put in much time and effort to ensure that all the bases of the aviation finance world were covered. This included Olivier tackling the video interviews with Boeing Capital's Kostya Zolotusky.

And of course the iMag wouldn't have become a reality without a huge production effort. Gareth Burgess juggled producing the lively cover and snazzy interactive graphics with the final preparations for his wedding to Emma (pictured below just after they tied the knot last Saturday).

The videos were, as ever, a joint effort involving the very pregnant Babs Cockburn (ably assisted by Becky) and Andy Costerton. The iMag design and layout was tackled once again by Alexis Rendell, with production undertaken Kern and the team at FMG. Last but not least - many thanks to my core AB team of Graham Dunn and Alex Thomas for all the help in the delivery of yet another great interactive.

We've got more of these iMags planned in 2012, so stay tuned to flightglobal.com!

And if you haven't had a chance to look at the latest iMag - then click here..