November 2010 Archives

 

Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) is launching its C919 narrowbody with six customers. They are Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Chinese leesor CDB Leasing Company (CLC) and GE's leasing arm General Electric Capital Aviation Services (GECAS).

The aircraft, which is due to enter into service in 2016, will be powered by GE's LEAP-X enginne. It is being positioned as competitor to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 family of aircraft, although it is likely to be operated by Chinese operators only initially.

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We have been following developments that pointed to AirAsia X serving Paris, and now the Malaysian carrier has confirmed it: AirAsia X will launch flights to Paris Orly.

The carrier has not yet released a schedule or indicated a starting date but does have this teaser up on its website, including an option to receive an e-mail once more details are released.

Chief executive Azran Osman-Rani said in July it was likely he would scale back the carrier's London route and transfer frequencies to Paris. We'll have to see if and how that pans out.

Either way, the carrier is prepared to promote Paris flights since its first A330-300, 9M-XAA, about a month ago, according to local spotters, underwent this new paint job. (The aircraft was used on Hajj charters, largely keeping it out of the eyes of more spotters. I saw it last Friday at KUL and snapped these photos.) The scheme features silhouetted emblems and the names of cities AirAsia and AirAsia X fly to. Curiously included were two cities the airlines do not fly to: Sydney (which has its own backstory) and Paris, which was listed along with an image of the Eiffel Tower (left).

AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani commented the new livery was to "refresh" the aircraft "and to celebrate our breadth of global network".

What's next on AirAsia X's expansion plan? Its continuing quest to let the Malaysian government permit it to fly to Sydney, which the carrier recently agitated about with a special livery.

My colleague Cory Mathews got this video of the Qantas A380, QF32, that made an emergency landing in Singapore.

You can read more about this story here and see more pictures over here.
 

My colleague Cory Mathews rushed over to the airport after we heard the news, and here are the pictures that he got from the scene.

We have more details of the story here.

During a recent visit to Toulouse for an Airbus A330 delivery flight for Cathay Pacific, Airbus pulled out all stops to impress the Hong Kong-based carrier's executives with the A380. No surprise there, given that the airline could be one of the most lucrative customers for the type.

Yet, Cathay remains hesitant. And its chief operating officer John Slosar gave us some insights into the carrier's thinking after the trip.

He says that at least 10-15 aircraft are needed to make it cost effective. It appears as though the carrier is still not convinced that it needs that many large passenger aircraft. Until then, the existing orders for Boeing 777-300ERs and Airbus A350s are more than enough to for Cathay's long-haul plans for the next decade, and replace its Boeing 747-400s and A340-300s.

More intriguingly, he talks about the lack of cargo space within the A380. That is important for an airline like Cathay that derives around 30% of its revenue from the cargo business.

Let me make it clear - Slosar does not actually say that Cathay will buy the aircraft if a stretched A380-900 variant is introduced. But it does appear to be a message to Airbus nonetheless - start to design the larger variant, and involve the customers like Cathay.

So Cathay as the launch customer for the A380-900? Watch this space.

Is AirAsia X preparing to finally launch flights from its Kuala Lumpur hub to Paris Orly?

There have been a number of interesting developments in the past week or so that could indicate yes.

For background, last October AirAsia X asked the French government for landing rights, and was later approved but elected not to start flights at that time. While the carrier has been expanding, it has been doing so with A330-300 aircraft, which do not have the range to serve Western Europe. For its London Stansted flights AirAsia X uses two leased A340-300 aircraft.

First AirAsia listed France as a country to book from on its home page:
There are no flights to or from France--yet--but all of the other 22 countries on that list do have AirAsia flights.

Last Friday AirAsia X reached an agreement with New Zealand's Christchurch Airport to launch four weekly direct flights. What's curious about Christchurch is that it's beyond AirAsia X's A330-300 normal operating range.

There are a few ways to read this. First is that "direct" in aviation is not synonymous with "non-stop", and so AirAsia X could operate the Christchurch flight with a re-fueling stop. Second is that AirAsia X could fly non-stop to Christchurch. Since AirAsia X would not want payload restrictions it would use the only other aircraft available to it: an A340-300. But that would put the carrier's London flights in flux.

But what if London flights were due for a re-jig?

That's what AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani suggested in late July, saying Paris flights were still "in the oven".

He gave a defiant no to the prospect of leasing more A340s to fly to Paris, saying instead: "If I did Paris I would split Stansted, so use the existing two A340s and probably reduce our London freqency and add Paris."

Now we get to the final interesting development. AirAsia X was due to have double daily flights to London most days next summer in Europe but now only has six weekly flights until 10 August, after which the carrier's booking engine shows there are no more Stansted flights.

So what would I bet on?

Bonjour Dato' Fernandes and monsieur Osman-Rani. Parlez-vous francais?

While poking around the MAS website I stumbled upon the carrier's configuration for its A380, a nifty find considering its first bird is not due until April 2012 and airlines have so far liked to keep their configurations closely-held.

MAS will seat 420 in economy (the same as Lufthansa), 26 in its new premium economy, 54 in business, and 8 in first for a grand total of 508.

Location, location, location
MAS says economy will be split between the lower and upper deck. Premium economy will be on the upper deck, business on the upper deck, and first class on the lower deck.

We can reasonably expect first class to occupy the first zone (between the two main entry doors) on the lower deck and economy to fill the rest. But that will leave a small section of economy seats left for the upper deck, creating a small, intimate economy cabin like that found on the upper deck of some 747s.

It seems logical to place that small cabin at the back of the upper deck where the rear stairs will connect it with the rest of economy. I can't see MAS wanting to sandwich business class, so business could presumably start at the front of the upper deck, leaving premium economy to be in the middle.

What does this all mean?
The 5 carriers currently operating A380s have an average of 495 seats, so MAS is at the upper end. The two newest A380 operators, Air France and Lufthansa, had large configurations: 538 for Air France and 526 for Lufthansa.

As the A380 becomes more standard and its allure dies down, we'll continue to see the aircraft shift from an all bells and whistles aircraft to a practical piece of machinery that can haul a lot of passengers. Eventually, Air Austral will operate the aircraft with 840 seats. Before then, Korean Air has promised its A380 will be in the least dense configuration yet.

First class
There have not been huge discrepancies yet with the number of first class seats and Malaysia Airlines, with Lufthansa, will have the least number of first class seats. Malaysia's 9 seats will be suites with a seat that converts to a full-flat bed, a 23" LCD PTV, a guest seat, and dining table. There will also be mood lighting.

Business
MAS sets a new benchmark for the least number of business seats at 54. Previously Singapore had the least with 60 seats. MAS' 54 seats will have a 75" pitch in a 2-2-2 configuration with a 17" LCD PTV. There's also mood lighting in this cabin.

Premium economy
MAS becomes the second carrier to feature premium economy, a cabin that has grown in popular with corporate travelers no longer permitted to fly business while economy passengers look for a more comfortable cabin without going to business.

Qantas, the first carrier to have premium economy on the A380, will feature more premium economy seats on its next batch of A380s and will also retrofit its 747-400s to have premium economy. Elsewhere in the Oceania region Air New Zealand and V Australia prominently feature premium economy, with V Australia saying during its launch that premium economy would be its best-selling cabin.

Economy
Finally, in economy MAS has the second highest number of seats along with Lufthansa.

IFE
Although MAS' new A330-300s and 737-800s will have the Panasonic XSeries IFE, the A380 will have the Android-based Thales TopSeries, which includes a USB media player, e-books, and very interestingly, 3D games.

You may recall MAS considering offering the iPad as IFE on some flights, but likely not on the A380.

Before we come close to seeing MAS accept its first A380, China Southern and Korean Air will place into service their A380s, which we do not yet know the configuration of. As they say, watch this space.