Jackie Thompson: January 2007 Archives

UK-based Jet2's claim that its roll out of Mezzo Movies' hand-held in-flight entertainment system is "a first for the low-cost industry" will be met with some surprise by fellow carriers that have been providing a similar service for some time.
Airlines currently offering rival Digecor's portable video device include Australia's low-cost Virgin Blue, and European no-frills giants easyJet and Ryanair both trialled the Digecor system for a period in 2005, but decided not to roll the service out due to a disappointing level of passenger take-up.
Jet2 thinks its offering will be better received by travellers because it will offer TV shows, music videos and CDs, which are better suited to ultra-short flight times of an hour or two - rather than the full-length movies previously trialled that had not finished by the time the equipment had to be turned off for landing.
At the other end of the market, rival transatlantic premium startups MaxJet (Digecor) and Silverjet (Mezzo) are both offering hand-held IFE systems. Most recent sign-ups to the Digecor system are Aeroflot and Kenya Airways, joining carriers from as far afield as Alaska Airlines and Singaporean low-cost JetStar Asia.
Clearly the cost of investment of such systems is considerably less than the installation of seat-back screens and so appeals to low-cost carriers looking to add a frill or two. But live television in flight is gaining ground with a number of carriers - from low-cost JetBlue to fast-growing Etihad. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

As the argument rages as to the relative merits of the European Commission's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme versus the UK's Airline Passenger Duty charge, due to double next month, transatlantic premium startup Silverjet has come up with another idea.

In an open letter to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Silverjet chief executive Lawrence Hunt outlines how his airline plans to become the first carbon-neutral carrier when it begins service from London to New York on 25 January.
Hunt says his airline is working with the Carbon Neutral Company to introduce a mandatory carbon offset contribution, giving passengers the opportunity to reinvest their "carbon points" in a number of climate-friendly projects around the world.
The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management has assessed the carbon emissions of the Silverjet fleet and associated ground activity in a Verified Emission Reductions scheme.
This scheme, Hunt says, ensures that 100% of the investment ends up in the chosen offset projects, rather than in the UK government's proposed Certified Emission Reductions scheme, which requires "a significant amount of the offset investment to go into bureaucracy and administration", he says.
If the airline industry were to simply charge its passengers 90 pence ($1.80) for each hour they fly on average, he says, they could neutralise the carbon pollution created by the aviation industry.
How will everyone else respond to that one?

While other fast-growing carriers are busily recruiting flight crew - in some cases poaching them from rival carriers - Virign Atlantic is advertising for 100 in-flight beauty therapists to join the 250 currently working alongside the cabin crew in the carrier's Upper Class cabin.

Passengers enjoying the Upper Class experience with Virgin can choose between treatments such as Back in the Clouds, Hot Hands and Handsome Hands Manicure.
The treatment takes place behind a curtain at the front of the forward cabin, where there is a dedicated seat.
The only drawback - no pun intended - that I found when I experienced the service onboard an Airbus A340 on Virgin's inaugural service to Dubai in early 2006 was that the blissed-out passenger enjoying a head massage is facing fellow travellers - and is revealed to them each time a member of the cabin crew opens the curtain en route to the galley.
Slots are negotiated with the beauty therapist on boarding, and if there are none left you are given a voucher giving you priority on your return flight. You can also choose whether or not to be woken for your treatment if asleep.
The carrier says this recruitment drive is to keep pace with expansion plans for this year, which include the introduction of services to Chicago in April, Nairobi in June and Mauritius in October, as well as an extra daily service to Washington during the summer season.
The service is available on all flights in and out of London Heathrow.

The yawning gap between high-cost air and low-cost sea freight is set to be bridged if the FastShip transportation system is all it claims. Advertising to sell capacity on its proposed service in the January issue of Airline Business, the company is planning a high-speed transatlantic link between the ports of Philadelphia in the USA and Cherbourg in France in just five days port to port. This timescale would enable New York to Paris delivery for full containers in just six days.
This, says FastShip, "will enable door-to-door delivery times comparable to standard airfreight at half the cost, aimed at the fast-growing international time-definite delivery/logistics segment of the market".
Roland Bullard, president and chief executive of FastShip, says: "Classification for the design of the vessels is in place and we are in the process of finalising the capital raise. The forward sale of capacity on the service is part of that. I expect there will be a multinational grouping of strategic and financial investors in place by the end of 2007. After that there will be 12-18 months of detailed design work with first operation some 12 months after that."
The company will operate the service with three high-speed "JetShip" vessels, each with 10,000 tonnes capacity, and anticipates a 98% on-time port arrival rate. It will also use specialised terminals to load and unload the ships and foresees a complete turnaround of the vessel "within six hours of port arrival", compared with up to 24 hours for traditional crane operations.
The vessels - the first of their type - will be built in a German shipyard by Oslo, Norway-based Aker Group.

The JetShip burns substantially less fuel per freight tonne than a Boeing 747 freighter, adds FastShip, " so the JetShip's cost advantages over air freight improve as fuel prices rise".
FastShip says it is planning to augment its initial North Atlantic route with services on other new trade routes such as the transpacific and intra-Asia.
Could this be a realistic alternative to costly intercontinental air freight?