Recently in Europe Category

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.

Somewhere in the streets of Latvia there is Mini Cooper in AirBaltic colours driving around, bought onboard one of the airline's flights. The airline claimed a world first in December when it began selling cars onboard its flights and the first one has now hit the streets. Five more have since been sold.

Air Baltic's VP corporate communications Janis Vanags was detailing this and some of the many other retail innovations the Latvian carrier has developed during the first Airline Business supported New Airline Commercial Models, Retailing and Merchandising conference in London.

Vanags passed round the audience one of the special Air Baltic-liveried trainers it is also now selling onboard - not sure if the driver of the Mini Cooper is also wearing the trainers.

Sadly this is the only one of its shoe collection to have made it into production and to be available for sale - if you want to see just how surreal the rest of collection (including AirBaltic stilettos and ice skates by the look of it) check out this link.

Look out for more from the New Airline Commerical Models, Retailing and Merchandising conference today by following the Twitter hash tag #AirlineBusinessNCM  

Half a century ago today at a small airfield north of London, de Havilland launched its best and final attempt to recover the lead it lost a decade earlier with the disastrous crashes of its pioneering Comet jet airliners.

At 12:14 on 9 January 1962 DH chief test pilot John Cunningham flew the first DH121 Trident G-ARPA off the runway at Hatfield for a 1h 21 min maiden flight. G-ARPA's control yoke, as well as a piece of its airframe that incorporates that historic registration, is preserved at the excellent Heathrow Trident Collection in Feltham, Middlesex (pictured below).

The little trijet, with its novel "S-duct" central engine installation, would go on to influence a generation of narrowbody and widebody three-holers, the most significant of which of course was Boeing's 727.

History now records that despite its innovations in configuration and technology (it pioneered Autoland systems), the Trident was a commercial flop. DH and successor Hawker Siddeley built just 117 Tridents while Boeing sold an eye-watering 1,831 727s. Why was it a flop? Because DH spent too much time listening to its launch customer - BEA - and tailored the design around that airline's requirements. This cardinal sin has ever since sat as a stark reminder to airframers about the perils of allowing one customer to have too much design influence.

But sales aside, the Trident always proved a huge hit with the pilots - most of who worked for BEA and successor British Airways which flew more than 70 of the trijets.

Three of them got together last Saturday at Farnborough's FAST museum to mark the 50th anniversary and to reminisce in the beautifully preserved cockpit of Trident 3B G-AWZI which is owned by Trident enthusiast Andrew Lee.

Capts Chris Wood, Dave Warren and John Rankin (pictured top, left to right) had between them more than three decades of Trident flying experience and fondly remember the "Gripper" - so called because of its less than sparkling take-off performance.

"The Trident was an awesome machine to fly," recalls Capt Rankin. "It was the best handling airliner I ever flew with superb control, agility and rock solid stability. Roll rates of 30o/s and smooth as silk right up to its Mach 0.96 max speed. The Boeings I've flown felt like the designer drove a Cadillac. The Trident felt like a finely tuned sports car."

So here's to Cunningham, ah de Havilland and the Trident - and what might have been...

Click below to read Flight International's report on the first flight:

The Brooklands Museum in Weybridge marked the 50th anniversary of its Vickers Vanguard on 3 December, with a reunion of the first and last Captains to fly the big turboprop.

Capt Jack Randell (pictured, above left) was in the BEA crew that delivered G-APEP "Superb" on the short hop from Vickers' Wisley airfield to the airline's "London Airport" (Heathrow) base on 13 December 1961 (see extract from Jack's log book, below). Thirty-five years later, after sterling service in the passenger role and later as a freighter with BEA, British Airways, Air Bridge Carriers and Hunting Cargo Airlines, Echo Papa was flown into its Brooklands birthplace by Capts Gary West (above right) and Peter Moore.

On 17 October 1996, West and Moore - who sadly passed away last year - positioned Echo Papa from Hunting Cargo's East Midlands base for a spectacular arrival on the remains of Brooklands' runway, which only had 600m (1,970ft) landing distance available. This was the last flight of a Vanguard anywhere in the world.

Reminiscing at the Brooklands reunion with fellow ex-Vanguard pilots about that impressive final landing, West joked: "We'd practised at East Midlands with the landing distance marked on the runway, but it still looked awfully short as we flew down the approach to Brooklands!" 
However it all went to plan and the aircraft was easily stopped in the distance available. "We were very light so we touched down at less than 100kt," added West.

Read the 1996 article from Flight International (above) about the Brooklands arrival here, and our jump-seat ride to Brussels in the last Vanguard  here.

For information on how you can visit Echo Papa and the museum's extensive collection of aircraft (including Concorde G-BBDG) and motor vehicles, go to Brooklandsmuseum.com

British Airways World Cargo has just taken delivery - through cargo wet-lease specialist Atlas Air - of its first Boeing 747-8F freighter.

Based at London Stansted, the 747-8F is due to enter service on Tuesday (8 November).

Unlike the 747-400Fs Atlas has previously operated on wet-lease for BA, this aircraft is in the airline's full "Union Flag" colour scheme - and looks fabulous. (The purists will point out that one Atlas 747-400F did briefly appear in BA colours, but this was the Utopia scheme with the "Chelsea Rose" tail colours.)

The red, white and blue 747-8F brings back memories of the airline's brief dalliance with the 747 freighter variant in the early 1980s. BA took delivery of a single 747-200F "G-KILO" (pictured below by Kevin Colbran/Air Britain) from Seattle, which was named "British Trader".

In those days things were slightly different at BA's cargo division though. G-KILO was integrated into the airline's large 747-100/200 passenger fleet, and the flightcrews expected a seamless service whether they were flying freight or "self-loading cargo" (ie passengers). So each cargo flight operated with a stewardess on board to ensure the flightdeck team had the service they were used to on the passenger flights - coffees, teas, meals and that legendary cheese board!

So perhaps it was no wonder that the economics of BA's single 747-200F operation didn't work out, and the aircraft was disposed of fairly pronto to Cathay Pacific?

Latest twist in the saga around a third runway for Heathrow - UK opposition party, Labour, has dropped its backing for an extra runway. Shadow transport secretary said the party has taken the third runway off its agenda because of the "local environment impact".

The move sends a worrying signal to those people who had been gearing up for the construction of a third runway during the Labour era. If they had been marking time while the coalition is in power waiting for the return of Labour, they now know that avenue has closed.

The uncertainty will also be frustrating for the inhabitants of the villages due to be bulldozed when the runway is built, as many have accepted the inevitable will happen sooner or later. Most are actually relaxed about the prospect of compulsory purchases (it is the residents under the new noise corridors that will be created across the home counties who are most concerned about runway 3), so for the villagers of Sipson, Harmondsworth and Harlington decisive action is the order of the day.

(comment from Graham Dunn, Airline Business) But in a mad, twisted logic kind of a way, maybe it helps. After all once one party takes a position on an issue, the natural inclination for the other is to do the opposite. And to my mind, the Conservatives switching to backing a third runway for Heathrow would help restore the more traditional political status quo. It's always seemed a bit like the two main parties had their positions on the third runway slightly the wrong way round. If there was one UK political party you would normally think of as being pro-business and thus in favour of a third runway it is the Conservatives. But I'm no politician.

Meanwhile, after 65 years Heathrow is finally going to mixed-mode operations on its two existing runways, albeit on a trial basis for four months. Airport operator BAA denies it is to raise capacity, saying the mixed mode trial is more about providing "a better passenger experience". If this means a reduction in the peak-time delays of typically 30-40 min when departing from, or arriving at, "London Airport" then bring it on!

And look out for news today of details of a rival to Boris Island -  Thames Hub - Flightglobal will be there to find out more.

I've witnessed an interesting juxtaposition today between the UK's two leading airlines. One is working hard to shake off its old image as it moves up market while the other is proudly showing off its heritage with a revival of brandings from bygone eras.

This morning I was at the World Low Cost Airlines Congress where EasyJet CEO Carolyn McCall underlined EasyJet's ambition to be "Europe's preferred short-haul airline" (above). She talked about her push to grow revenue from business passengers and unveiled a new service guarantee which will provide free flights to compensate premimum passengers for delays (below). There was even the admission that an orange FFP could materialise "if it could be done in an EasyJet way".

For that read "cost-effective" or "thrifty" - but there's no denying the airline is shifting towards the middle ground as it matures through its teenage years. That said, Carolyn is adamant she's not abandoning the airline's low-cost roots where anything that adds to operational complexity is taboo.

Then this afternoon I was in the glamorous surroundings of BAFTA at its headquarters on Piccadilly. Here, British Airways CEO Keith Williams unveiled the launch of the airline's biggest marketing campaign for a decade, which it says "backs the £5 billion being spent on customer products and services over the next five years".

While not a rebranding per se, the high profile marketing campaign centres upon a re-enforcement of BA's heritage as a full-service, global and pioneering flag carrier, so it's no surprise that there is a return of the old coat of arms. This dates back to the early days of BA but was brought to the fore in the halcyon days of Lord King in the so-called "Landor scheme" era that began in the mid-1980s. And with the crest comes a revival of the slogan: "To Fly. To Serve."

The centrepiece of the campaign is a retro-style television advert, "Aviators", which incorporates elements from nine decades of history of the airline and its predecessors. The 90 second production includes iconic aircraft such as the Douglas DC-3, de Havilland Dragon Rapide (below), Vickers VC10 (bottom) and of course Concorde, as well as a DH51 pretending to be an AT&T DH9A from 1919. Heritage brands the like of BEA and BOAC are much in evidence, as is BA's now very fashionable original red-tail "Negus & Negus" scheme of the 1970s.

The new TV ad is a wonderful piece of cinematography - albeit with the odd historical anachronism (see if you can spot any!). BA tells me it was filmed at Heathrow, Duxford, Brooklands and the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden. Some of it was created using real metal and some by CGI.

The TV ad will run alongside a print campaign, and will debut at 11:00 on 21 September on Facebook and then on Channel 4 later that day. The coat of arms logo will be applied to the fuselages of all BA's aircraft but sadly the airline says that there are currently no plans for a repeat of retro style paint jobs like the one used last year to mark the end of Boeing 757 operations.

So while BA's mood goes all reflective, EasyJet is looking to its next evolution. Well let's face it, there's little chance at this juncture of the orange brigade reviving images of their original icon - Mr Haji-Ioannou - for a bit of nostalgic advertising!

 Click here to watch the new Aviators ad in full.

I spent my two-week August break cruising across the Med at an altitude of around 100ft (amsl) at a speed of 21.5kt on board Cunard's latest piece of hardware - the Queen Elizabeth.

"Getting there is half the fun" was Cunard's slogan back in the 1960s, as the dawn of the jet age threatened to bring the curtain down on the era of the transatlantic liner. Four decades on that adage still applies, with the addition of: "...and travel without the hassle too"! And there's a lie-flat bed for every passenger (pictured below)!

The great thing about a ship-borne family hol is that it starts just moments after arriving at the port. That endless queuing for long-term car park buses, check-in, security, boarding, baggage, taxis, hotel check-in etc is pretty much non-existent. It's a case of turn up, get on board and start holidaying - even before you've left the port!

Perhaps that's why the liner has enjoyed such a huge renaissance, and why we should not be surprised that those '60s rumours of its demise were greatly exaggerated!
Read my review of the Queen Elizabeth for AERBT here.

UK Government policy on the country's aviation policy, and for London and the south-east in particular, has moved back into focus with the publication of the UK Department for Transport''s latest long-term Aviation Forecast.

The UK of course has been at the centre of the environment verusus economic growth debate over recent years, and the Coalition Government scrapped the previous government's plans for an additional runway at Heathrow Airport last year.

But this, together with other factors such as the soon to be applied EU emissions trading scheme, rising oil prices and continued economic woes, has had a pretty dramatic impact on projected growth. In 2009 it was projecting 455 million passengers per annum going through UK airports by 2030. Now it is projecting 335 milliion passengers per annum by 2030 - that equates to knocking around a quarter of its forecast of just two years ago.

A number of factors are attached to this - read more on this here in this Financial Times article - but it does of course renew the debate about aviation growth in the UK.

Indeed the projections that London's airports will be full by 2030 is prompting calls for action from within London's local leadership - see this article in The Guardian for more on this.

None of this of course is news to the UK's airline sector - indeed Willie Walsh, now heading BA parent International Airlines Group, has spent much of the last year explaining why the lack of room in London means the Madrid base of merger partner Iberia provides room for its growth ambitions. 

I'd expect the environment verusus economic growth debate regards aviation policy, especially if UK economic growth remains stifled, to run and run over the next few years. 

Anyway, if you are interested here are some key documents for further reading.

• 2011 Aviation Forecast
• 2009 Aviation Forecast