July 2010 Archives

The Boeing 787 made its international debut at the Farnborough Airshow this morning, and it was a pretty exciting moment for the aviation industry.

This is an aircraft that promises a lot - lower operating costs, higher revenues by being able to carry more passengers, and allowing airlines to connect to various points around their network far more easily.

It will be especially true for Asian airlines like All Nippon Airways (ANA), Singapore Airlines (SIA), Air India and Jetstar, which will depend on the airline to be their workhorse for the next two decades or so. There will be another milestone when the first aircraft is delivered to launch customer ANA.

Yes, there are still some teething problems with the programme itself. But make no mistake - this aircraft has set a new benchmark and will be around for some more time to come.

The bad news continues for the Korea Aerospace Industries T-50, which appears to have lost out in the Singapore advanced jet trainer competition.

The aircraft, which was jointly developed with Lockheed Martin, was a serious contender. But it ultimately failed against the Aermacchi M346, which has also been successful in the United Arab Emirates.

Clearly KAI and Lockheed, which is helping to market the aircraft globally, need to rethink their strategy. From what we understand, they have not successfully convinced governments about the T-50's advantages and there remains a lingering worry about both the purchasing and life-cycle costs.

Aermacchi has also been savvier in the way it has been marketing the aircraft to Singapore and globally - the KAI/Lockheed team has just been too cautious, at times.

It is still not too late for them - the biggest prize, the US Air Force AJT requirement, is still there to be won. Singapore's decision, however, clearly shows that they need to go back to the drawing board.

I was busy tracking down a story yesterday. Reports had emerged that a Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 from India had run off the end of the runway at the airport serving the town of Bor in southern Sudan. A Jet Airways 737-800 in southern Sudan?

My initial assessment was that the story must not be true. Why would a Jet Airways 737 be in southern Sudan? Jet doesn't serve Sudan.

But the reports said the aircraft was doing an ad hoc passenger charter. Then I thought maybe the report is true so I put in a call to Jet Airways' in-house PR person Srirupa Sen.

She checked with Jet Airways' charters department who responded by saying they have had no 737s flying to Sudan.

So I left it at that. But then later in the day a news report appeared with a photograph purporting to show the Jet Airways 737-800 off the end of the runway at Bor.

So I quickly called Srirupa and pointed out that the local news website that had the photograph, with the story, showing the Jet aircraft off the end of the runway.

 

Several hours later here is the response I got.

 

 

Leithen:

The image displayed on the publication Miraya's website is from our B737 incident in Dhaka in Aug 2009.We are writing to the publication to carry a corrigendum.

Thanks for sharing same with us.

Best wishes,

Srirupa

 

 

I have to say thank you to Srirupa for helping me to get to the bottom of this. It is also a valuable lesson in journalism. You can never always believe what you see.

A few weeks ago my colleague Siva wrote about how Thai Airways is going to start selling in shops some of the sauces it uses for in-flight meals.

Over the weekend, during my holiday in Japan, I was walking around the Tokyo station area and stumbled upon a JAL office whose windows promoted ticket sales and a retail store. I was curious what JAL could sell so I went outside and found my question was naive: what can't JAL sell?

The highlight had to have been all the food items so numerous you could have a full JAL meal from the comfort of your home--way more than just Thai's sauces (however good Siva may think they are).

To start, have JAL's signature "Sky Time" drink. For an appetizer, have a packet of fermented soybeans. For a soup, you have three options: curry, soba, and ramen. For your entree, choose one of three pasta dishes and then cap off your meal with some sweets.

In case you think my visit to the JAL store got Lost in Translation, here are some photos of the meal that awaits you--or maybe not.



But what about the million yen question: were customers actually buying these foodstuffs? You bet. I saw one shopping basket filled with JAL food. Bon appetite.