Recently in Airlines Category

As reported by the New Statesman, easyJet is withdrawing its in-flight magazine easyJet Traveller for the month.

The latest issue of the in-flight magazine featured two unsanctioned photographs of models posing in designer clothes among the famous concrete blocks of the "Field of Stelae", Germany's foremost memorial to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide.

The magazine did not seek permission from the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which only became aware that the photographs existed when contacted by the New Statesman yesterday.

In a statement, the Memorial's director, Uwe Neumärker, said it "grants permissions only to projects which are related to the memorial, the Holocaust or some aspect of commemoration."

"The Foundation Memorial does not support commercial shoots, and fashion photography is considered to fall into this category."

EasyJet outsources its in-flight magazine to publisher Ink, which boasts it publishes "more inflight magazines for more airlines than any other publisher in the world". It also publishes the in-flight magazine for AirTran, Gulf Air, and Jetstar, amongst others.

Ignoring lapses of oversight at many levels, the more curious question is: what was the photographer thinking having a photo shoot at the memorial?

Last night at the 2009 Dubai air show the Flightglobal achievement award for aviator of the year went to US Airways Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who famously landed an A320 in the Hudson River last January.

Sullenberger's win for his phenomenal skills remind us preparation and training are two keywords in this industry. But perhaps there are times when preparation go too far, or at least too public.

As reported from Gulf News, Oman Air with government and airport agencies staged a drill to respond to a hypothetical aircraft crash.

The Oman Air website even put up a condolence message from their CEO for 'those killed in the crash'.

The crash announcement on the website said: "Exercise Exercise Exercise Exercise 13th November 2009 11:14 hrs. Revised information indicates that Flight WY900 had a total of 158 people on board, there are 126 injuries, 29 fatalities (including all 8 crew) and 3 unaccounted for. It is further reported that there are five resident fatalities."

Anyone know of any other drills that got mistaken for a real incident?

From the third-quarter results of SAS Group today:

 

 

Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann recently predicted Ryanair's demise, saying, "I think the Ryanair model is coming to an end. The more Ryanair flies to a destination, the more losses taken by the airport and the local tax payers wont stand for that."

Ryanair responded by saying, "We only reply to airlines that have a significant market share. Germanwings is the fly on the arse of the airline industry, so we're not going to bother."

Another day in the world of European LCCs.

The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN) has awarded the Master's Medal to the crew of US Airways Flight 1549, for an exemplary exercise in ditching their Airbus A320 in the Hudson River near New York with no injury or loss of life.

The detailed citation on the crew's work that day, 15 January 2009, includes this statement: "The crew quickly cleared all the passengers: parents with children, an elderly woman, and dozens of people travelling on business. Capt Sullenberger then walked up and down the cabin, twice, to make sure everyone was out. He then took a final look at his sinking aircraft, grabbed the maintenance logbook and jumped onto a life-raft that was then filled with passengers."

The presentation took place at the Guildhall in the City of London on 29 October, and the medal was received on behalf of the crew by the aircraft commander, Capt Chesley Sullenberger, and two of his cabin crew, Donna Dent and Sheila Dail.

 

 

Not present for the ceremony were the flight's First Officer Jeff Skiles and Flight Attendant Doreen Welsh.

The awards were presented by the Guild's Master, Rear Admiral C Cooke-Priest, and the immediate Past Master Air Commodore R Peacock-Edwards.

GAPAN also presented Flight International with its Award for Aviation Journalism. The citation noted Flight's work in "charting the major events and developments in aviation and making sense of them to both the general public and to the professionals since its first issue was published 100 years ago on 2 January 1909, weeks after Cody's 'hop' at Farnborough."

It added: "Flight International's team of committed and knowledgeable journalists under the current editorship of Murdo Morrison, are trusted by the people they interview and in turn trusted by their readers to deliver factually accurate and balanced information and well-informed insights. They provide a valuable service to the general media of providing expert comment to explain the complexities of aviation to a public audience."

The Award was accepted on behalf of the Flight International team by Operations and Safety Editor David Learmount.

The Guild presented more than 20 Awards for outstanding services to aviation that evening. A list of the Award winners can be found on the GAPAN website.

Related blog:

LEARMOUNT: Opening doors onto the Hudson River

LEARMOUNT: Why Sully succeeds

Related stories:

Hudson crash: A320's engines lost power simultaneously - including CNN video news report

Archive:

The Cody Flyer

 

Captain Chesley B (Sully) Sullenberger and some of his crew, (Donna Dent, Sheila Dail) who ensured the safety of all 150 passengers after the US Airways A320 Flight 1549, crash-landed in the Hudson River west of New York City after a departure from LaGuardia Airport. 

Sully accepted the Master's Medal for "an outstanding aviation achievement" from Air Cdr Rick Peacock-Edwards , Immediate Past Master (GAPAN) last night at The Guild's Annual Trophies & Awards Banquet in London's Guildhall for his and his crew's actions back in January following a bird strike and double engine failure.   

Related content:

VIDEO: US Airways A320 crew showed the world how ditching should be done

US Airways A320 Flight 1549 coverage on Flightglobal and the rest of the web

Maybe there is such a thing as bad publicity.

The Age reports:

Qantas says it does not deserve "in any way" the "Shonky" award it received from Choice today, for what the consumer watchdog believes is the airline's "sky-high" surcharge on bookings made with a credit card.

The Shonky awards - now in their fourth year - aim to name and shame "dubious, dodgy and doubtful" products on the basis of their performance, pricing and marketing claims, Choice said.

Qantas charges each passenger $7.70 to purchase domestic tickets with a credit card, while international flights incur a $25 surcharge. Other Australian airlines (Jetstar, Tiger, and Virgin) charge credit card fees, but not as high as Qantas does.

Yes, credit card companies charge outlets whenever someone uses a credit card, but as the Shonky award identified, Qantas is going excessive.

EVERETT, Wash., Oct. 19, 2009 - Cathay Pacific Airways 12th Boeing 777-300ER sports a special oneworld alliance livery as it takes off for a test flight at Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The new airplane expands the airline's 777 fleet to 29 airplanes, including 12 777 300s and five 777-200s.

Cathay Pacific's senior executives, Hong Kong government officials and aviation industry leaders were on hand to witness the delivery ceremony on Oct. 17 at the Future of Flight Aviation Center in Everett before boarding the airplane to Hong Kong.

In other oneworld news, Mexicana is set to join the alliance on 10 November.

Last month on the Image of the Day blog you might have read that Etihad's 100th cadet pilot was an Emirati female. She was also the sixth female Emirati cadet pilot, and eighth female overall to join the programme.

Today we hear from the Abu Dhabi carrier that its first female Emirati cadet pilots, Salma Al-Baloushi and Aisha Al-Mansouri, have successfully graduated from flight training alongside nine male colleagues and gained their airline transport pilot licence (ATPL).
Etihad Airways' first female Emirati cadet pilots Aisha Al-Mansouri (left) and Salma Al-Baloushi (right) celebrate graduating from flight school.

In a statement, Etihad said:

The cadet pilots, Etihad's second group to graduate, were conferred with their flying wings in a ceremony at the airline's training academy which was attended by family and friends as well as senior management from Etihad Airways and the Horizon International Flight Academy.

Joining Salma and Aisha to receive their wings were Ali Al Farsi, Ahmed Balalaa, Ibrahim Sanqoor, Khalid Al Ali, Mohamed Al Kaabi, Khalid Al Marzouqi, Khalil Amiri, Abdalla Balkhashar and Hasan Abdulla.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: "Everyone at Etihad is delighted that Salma and Aisha - our first female cadet pilots - have made history as the first women to graduate from the programme.

"Salma and Aisha are a key part of Etihad's expanding female pilot community and we wish them, as well as their male colleagues, the best of luck as they enter the next phase of their careers with Etihad."

The cadets started the pilot programme course in September 2007 and now have the rank of second officers at Etihad Airways.

As second officers the pilots will undertake a multi-crew co-operation course and an Airbus A320 type conversion course which will enable them to fly as co-pilots on the Etihad Airways Airbus A320 short haul fleet.

The cadet pilots will spend much of the time during the type conversion course in Etihad's A320 full-flight simulator as well as training in the development of non-technical skills applicable to working in a multi-crew environment. After approximately six months they complete their final checks and will qualify as A320 first officers.

In order to gain the frozen ATPL the cadet pilots had to complete 750 hours of classroom tuition and 205 hours of flight training in single and multi-engine aircraft. During this time they all passed the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority's theoretical knowledge and flying exams.

Etihad Airways recently welcomed the 100th cadet pilot to its innovative and expanding flying programme. Shareefa Al Bloushi is a member of Etihad's tenth group of cadets. She is also the sixth female Emirati cadet pilot to join the programme, and eighth female overall.

In addition to the cadet pilot programme, Etihad Airways' Emiratisation initiatives focus on two other streams which include the technical engineering development programme and graduate management development programme.

Etihad now also has two international cadet pilot courses which run alongside the five Emirati courses at Horizon Academy. The two groups contain 24 cadet pilots from countries around the world including Hungary, Canada and the United Kingdom.

KLM is celebrating its 90th anniversary today. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded on 7 October 1919 and still operates under its original name.

KLM is hosting a European "Tour of Inspiration" visiting 29 European cities in 45 days including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

The tour has been designed to celebrate and showcase KLM's products and services including the recently launched "Economy Comfort" seating zone.

KLM's 90th anniversary celebrations kicked off on 1 January with a celebration flight of a Boeing 737-800 over Holland which was painted in KLM's old livery especially for the occasion.  

Flight International's coverage of KLM matters

Building an image (1995)

BA & KLM confirm merger talks (2000)

BA & KLM merger talks colllapse (2001)