Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is indeed heading into the fourth quarter of the year on a high note as AirAsia X, the long-range premium branch of AirAsia Group, has placed a firm order to Airbus for another 12 A330-900 and 30 A321XLR aircraft. The contract was inked today in a well attended signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur. Air Asia recently received its first A330neo as reported here. https://aviationroundtable.blogspot.com/2019/08/air-asia-takes-delivery-of-its-first.html?m=1 In a statement to mark the occasion, Sri Tony Fernandes, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Group, present at the event, said that “This request comes to reaffirm the choice of the A330neo as the most efficient option for our future fleet of wide-cabin aircraft. In addition, the A321XLR, with greater autonomy than any other single-aisle aircraft, will facilitate the introduction of new services to other destinations. Together, these aircraft form the perfect combination for long-range and low-cost operation

The first Airbus A350 of Air France have finally completed it's maiden flight. This is a major step leading to the delivery of the brand new aircraft to the Airline in the coming weeks. The Airbus A350 will be fitted with 34 seats in Business class, 24 seats in Premium economy and 266 seats in economy. Air France a Sky Team alliance member currently have 28 firm orders for the A350. With a current fleet of over 220 aircrafts serving over 200 destinations worldwide, Air France is pursuing a vigorous fleet renewal module in abid to boost it's operations. The brand new A350 aircrafts on order will replace the Airbus A340-300 and also the older Boeing 777 currently in their fleet. Picture Credit: Airbus.

Qatar Airways announced the addition of flights to Langkawi, Malaysia. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive,Mr. Akbar Al Baker, hosted a press conference to announce the new route. The new service to Langkawi, starting 15 October 2019, is part of the airline’s strong expansion plans in Southeast Asia and marks Qatar Airways’ third destination in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Qatar Airways will initially start with four-times weekly Langkawi services via Penang with an increase up to five-times weekly services from 27 October 2019 on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, featuring 22 seats in Business class and 232 seats in Economy class, with spacious cabins and specially-designed interiors. Langwawi is a tourist delight with forested hills, stunning white-sand beaches and glimmering turquoise waters are among the reasons why travellers enjoy Langkawi Island, an archipelago of 99 picturesque islands surrounded by the azure Andaman Sea on Malaysia’s west coast. Known as ‘t

The first A220-300 for EgyptAir has successfully completed its inaugural test flight from the Mirabel assembly line. The first of 12 aircraft EgyptAir has on order is due to be delivered to the Cairo-based airline in the coming weeks. The A220 for EgyptAir will provide passengers with superior comfort, its innovative cabin design featuring the widest economy seats of any single-aisle aircraft, and panoramic windows for more natural light. The aircraft, which is outfitted with a brand new cabin layout of 134 seats, will now enter its final phase of completion before delivery. The A220 delivers unbeatable fuel efficiency and true wide-body comfort in a single-aisle aircraft. The A220 brings together state-of-the-art aerodynamics, advanced materials and Pratt & Whitney’s latest-generation PW1500G geared turbofan engines to offer at least 20% lower fuel burn per seat compared to previous generation aircraft. With a range of up to 3,400 nm (6,300 km), the A220 offers the performa

An ANA -All Nippon Airways Boeing 787-8, registration JA808A performing flight NH-963 from Tokyo Haneda (Japan) to Beijing (China) with 225 people on board, was descending through about 5500 meters (FL180) towards Beijing when the crew illuminated the fasten seat belt signs. Shortly afterwards the aircraft encountered turbulence causing serious injuries to four people on board. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Beijing’s runway 01 about 30 minutes later. The injured were taken to hospitals. One of the injured was a lady (60) diagnosed with the fracture of her right instep. Turbulence are natural phenomenon that do occur during flight. The importance of ensuring you have your seat belt always fastened cannot be over emphasized. Picture credit: ANA

Dubai International Airport DXB have announced over half-a-million people are expected to arrive into Dubai on Emirates flights from Tuesday, August 20, through to the beginning of September 2019. Travel is expected to reach an all-time high in the coming weeks as the summer holidays come to an end. “With another record breaking period coming up when it comes to passenger arrivals, we want to ensure that Emirates customers coming back to Dubai have the best experience possible starting from disembarkation through to every touchpoint and have positioned extra resources to ensure a speedy arrival journey," said Mohammed Mattar, divisional senior vice president, Emirates Airport Services. Emirates airlines has a number of services and initiatives in place to ensure stress-free movement from gate to arrivals, eliminating potential bottlenecks and cutting wait-times for passengers to complete their formalities. After disembarkation, passengers with restricted mobility can boo

Cabo Verde Airlines, the Cape Verdean airline, will start flying to Lagos Nigeria, from December 9th 2019. The connection between Sal and Lagos will be operated five times a week, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with a Boeing 757, with 161 economy class seats and 22 Business class seats. The inaugural flight is scheduled for December 9th, departing from Amílcar Cabral International Airport (Sal) at 20:50 local time and arriving at Murtala Muhammed Airport (Lagos) at 02:10 local time. All flights will connect to Sal Island, Cabo Verde Airlines' international hub, and will make connections to Lisbon (five times a week), Washington DC (three times a week) and Boston (once a week), as well as to the airline’s destinations in Brazil - Salvador, Porto Alegre, Recife and Fortaleza.  In addition to the hub connections on Sal Island, Cabo Verde Airlines' Stopover program allows passengers to stay up to 7 days in Cabo Verde and thus explore the various e

Africa's largest airline Ethiopian Airlines announced that it will launch thrice-weekly service to the city of Beira in central Mozambique via Malawi effective September 3, 2019. Beira is the fourth largest and one of the main commercial cities in Mozambique and will serve as a gateway to most of the countries in Central Africa with potential tourist attractions. In a statement to mark the new route, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, said “Covering the largest network in Africa and connecting major world trading cities across our global network, we have been filling the connectivity vacuum in the continent not only with primary cities in countries but also with secondary and tertiary cities and towns. Our customers in these smaller cities will get a special opportunity to connect to our global network of more than 120 international destinations in five continents with direct flights and fewer stops. “Supporting our main hub in Maputo, Beira will serv

South African Airways is further strengthening its presence in Ghana by increasing weekly frequencies from 9 to 10 flights between Johannesburg and Accra, and by launching a daily service between Accra and Washington DC, with effect from 5th September 2019. The flight to Washington DC commence in Johannesburg with a short stopover in Accra.These two additional weekly services to Washington DC provide SAA’s most convenient schedule yet between Ghana and North America, and will also deliver seamless connections for customers from across West Africa. This includes connections to/from Abuja and Lagos in Nigeria; to/from Monrovia in Liberia; and to/from Freetown in Sierra Leone. This important strategic milestone has been made possible through South African Airways’ growing co-operation and partnership with Africa World Airlines.At the same time, the South African airline is examining new opportunities to connect Dakar services through its Accra base. Whilst these plans are finalised

Vietnam Airlines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, which is leased from Air Lease Corporation (ALC). The Vietnamese flag-carrier becomes the seventh operator of the new aircraft. The airline is outfitting its Boeing 787-10 aircraft with 367 seats; the two-class configuration consists of 24 seats in business class and 343 seats in economy class. The carrier did not specifically announce potential Boeing 787-10 routes. However, it plans to deploy the aircraft “on the busiest routes in its expanding network“. An Official of the airline was quoted as saying. Vietnam Airlines currently operates eleven Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Furthermore, Airbus A321 (both ‘ceo’ and ‘neo’ variants), as well as A330 and A350-900 jets are part of its fleet. The airline has a further seven Boeing 787-10 aircraft on order that will join the airline’s fleet. Moreover, additional Airbus A320neo and A321neo airplanes have also been ordered. Vietnam Airlines joins the e

Africa's leading airline Ethiopian airline will launch a new route to Houston United States commencing on 15th December, 2019. The flight route will depart from the airlines hub in Addis Ababa and a stopover in Lome Togo before proceeding to Houston. Ethiopian Airlines has now opened bookings for 3x weekly flights to Houston as of December 15, 2019, using a Boeing 787-8 aircraft. The flight schedule as stated in the airlines website is summarized below. ET518 Addis Ababa to Lome departing 9:30PM arriving 12:05AM (+1 day) ET518 Lome to Houston departing 1:15AM arriving 8:40AM ET519 Houston to Lome departing 11:00AM arriving 5:00AM (+1 day) ET519 Lome to Addis Ababa departing 6:00AM arriving 2:30PM In a statement by the airline marking the launch of the new route, "The U.S. is among our most important markets owing to the presence of a large African community and growing business and tourism ties with Africa.  Our new route structure with additional frequencies to

Egypt air have have received it's 6th and final Boeing 787-9 aircraft on order. In a congratulatory post by aircraft manufacturer Boeing on its social media handle. Egypt air also confirmed the delivery of their latest aircraft addition. This addition will further strengthen their global route network which currently stands at 80 worldwide destinations with plans to expand in the pipeline. Egypt air is pursuing an aggressive fleet renewal program to further position the airline as one of the leading airline in the African continent. The star alliance member also have 15 Airbus A320Neo firm order. With delivery expected soon. Aviation Roundtable blog congratulates Egypt air on this latest acquisition. Picture credit: Boeing.

Passengers who are beer drinkers are in for a treat if you are arriving at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport from Wednesday until August 18 will be poured a free cup of draft beer. Travellers will get the opportunity to sample local beers free of charge at the baggage claim area as part of efforts to promote the upcoming seventeenth annual Belgrade Beer Fest. The campaign is part of the Serbia Creates platform, which the national flag carrier has also signed up to. According to Eurostat, the European Union imports 57 million litres of the beverage from Serbia each year, making it the second largest exporter of beer to the bloc behind Mexico. Picture credit: Belgrade tourism

The anti Government protest in Hong Kong shows no signs of abetting as it intensified On Monday, 12th August, 2019 leading to cancellation of all departures from Hong Kong International Airport. In a statement on the official website of the airport authorities “Airport operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted, all flights have been cancelled". So many airlines have accordingly cancelled flights to and from the airport. Notable among them are Cathay Pacific, Philippines Airlines, Air Asia, Cebu Pacific etc. According to the Hong Kong Airport Authority, allowed are only the flights that have completed the procedure of check-in and the flights already heading to Hong Kong.Thus, passengers travelling from, to or via the Hong Kong hub are advised to check their flight status prior to arriving at the airport. It remains to to be seen how long this cancellation and flight restrictions at one of the world's most busiest airport will last. On

Cebu Pacific, the country’s biggest budget airline, expqnds its presence at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga, 90 KM North of Manila with the commencement on Friday three new routes, including flights to Tokyo, Japan, Bocolod and Iloilo in the Philippines. Earlier in the year, Cebu pacific had promised to revamp it's routes network as part of it expansion and growth plans. This latest route addition by  Cebu Pacific therefore is a bold move to cementing and ramping up operations as it aims to achieve it's set objective. In a brief statement to mark the occasion, Lance Gokongwei, Cebu Pacific CEO, outlined the company’s long history in Clark Airport, which it first tapped as a hub for daily flights to Cebu 13 years ago.“Since 2006 we have never stopped flying to Clark. We have always believed in the potential of Clark as a gateway to Manila, to central and northern Luzon, a hub with over 25 million residents” Cebu Pacific will also be the first airline to link

AirAsia has taken delivery of its first A330neo aircraft, to be operated by its long-haul affiliate AirAsia X Thailand. The aircraft was delivered via lessor Avolon and is the first of two A330neos set to join the airline’s fleet by the end of the year. With its enhanced economics, the A330neo will bring a step-change in fuel efficiency for AirAsia’s long-haul operations. The new-generation A330neo will be based at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport in Thailand, supporting the airline’s growth and network expansion plans to key markets such as Australia, Japan and South Korea. The AirAsia X Thailand A330-900 features 377 seats in a two-class configuration, comprising 12 Premium Flatbeds and 365 economy class seats. AirAsia’s long-haul affiliate, AirAsia X currently operates 36 A330-300 aircraft and is the largest customer for the A330neo with 66 on firm order. The A330neo is the true new-generation aircraft building on the most popular wide-body A330’s features and le

American Airlines announced a significant expansion to its summer 2020 flight schedule. The airline will launch flights from Philadelphia to Casablanca, from Dallas-Fort Worth to Tel Aviv and from Chicago to Krakow, Budapest and Prague. When American starts flying to Morocco next year, it will be the airline's first gateway in Africa as well as American will be the only U.S. carrier offering nonstop services to Casablanca. The new route will be operated three times per week on a Boeing 757. Flights are scheduled to begin as of June 4, 2020. The addition of the new route from Dallas-Fort Worth to Tel Aviv is a response to the growing demand for travels between United States and Israel. American Airlines is adding three weekly flights from Fort Worth hub, where connections to more than 33 new cities in the U.S. (such as Austin, Texas, and San Jose) will be possible. The route is set to launch as of Sept 9, 2020. American Airlines continues its growth in Eastern Europe, which

Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg calls the global 737 MAX grounding a “defining moment” for the company. Speaking today at the Jefferies Global Industrials Conference, he began  his speech by expressing “deep sympathies” to families and communities of the victims of two Boeing 737 MAX crashes. Muilenburg says the accidents  “continue to weigh heavily” on the company. The subsequent worldwide MAX grounding and the current situation is the “defining moment” for the company, “one where we will reinforce our values and stay true to those values of safety, quality and integrity,” said Muilenburg. Furthermore, Boeing is working on the aircraft software update and finalizing the recertification plans. It anticipates submitting recertification package in September 2019, while the earliest date on when the MAX could take up to the skies again remains at the “early” fourth quarter 2019. However, the latter date remains dependent on regulatory approval by regulators aroun

Virgin Atlantic is set to boost its Airbus A350 service to New York by putting a second A350 on one of its most popular routes between the two financial capitals. Starting September 10th, 2019, Virgin Atlantic will deploy their first Airbus A350 on flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and New York (JFK). According to a press release from Virgin Atlantic back in April, the full-service airline considers London to New York flight a flagship route. Virgin Atlantic intends to put more of their new A350s on the transatlantic route to New York, rather than deploying the plane to different destinations. Virgin Atlantic’s second Airbus A350 will start flying London to New York on September 24th.This equates to 13 weekly flights in each direction, with the exception being on a Thursday when Virgin plans to operate a different type of aircraft on VS045 and VS154 flights. To elaborate on the plan for their new Airbus A350s, Executive Vice President Mark Anderson, commented; “The introd

Etihad Airways commenced an upgrade in capacity with its inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to Lagos Nigeria using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. The flight took off as EY673 from Abu Dhabi at 2.35 am and arrived on schedule at 7.10 am local time. The return flight EY674 departed Lagos at 8.30am and landed at Abu Dhabi at 19:00 local time. The two-class B787-9 Dreamliner features Etihad Airways’ next-generation Business and Economy cabins configured with 299 seats – 28 Business Studios and 271 Economy Smart Seats. In a statement by Robin Kamark, Etihad Airways Chief Commercial Officer to commemorate the inaugural flight “We are delighted to upgrade to the Dreamliner aircraft on the Lagos route to further enhance the guest experience and to meet the needs of the growing numbers of business and leisure passengers travelling to and from Nigeria’s largest city". Flights between Nigeria and UAE have been quite lucrative with so many Nigerians travelling for fun and busines

Ethiopian airlines expands it's network into India with the introduction of flights to Bengaluru in addition to the already existing Mumbai and New Delhi routes. Starting from October 27, 2019  the flag carrier of Ethiopia will start direct flights between Addis Ababa and Bengaluru India. The service will be operated four times a week. The flight departing from Addis Ababa as ET 0690 with a scheduled departure time of 2300 hours. The return leg from Bengaluru to Addis Ababa as ET 0691 will depart at 0230 hours local time. Commenting on this upcoming launch, Tewolde GebreMariam, Group chief Executive Officer, Ethiopian Airlines said, “Ethiopian Airlines is a significant player in connecting India and Africa and beyond. The new four weekly flights will connect the important ICT hub city of Bengaluru to the ever-expanding Ethiopian network in addition to our twice daily flights each to the commercial city of Mumbai and the Capital New Delhi. The flights will also complement our

Air Seychelles, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, has taken delivery of Africa’s first A320neo on lease from CDB Aviation, becoming the first African airline to operate the A320neo aircraft. The new aircraft will allow Air Seychelles to increase capacity on its network, while delivering significant fuel savings and reducing the airlines’ operating costs. Air Seychelles’ new A320neo is equipped with a new inflight product reflecting the latest trends in air travel industry, offering passengers greater level of comfort and an enhanced travel experience. With its widest single-aisle cabin, the A320neo allows Air Seychelles to offer unmatched comfort in all classes and Airbus’ 18-inch-wide seats in economy as standard. The A320neo is the world’s most advanced and fuel-efficient single-aisle aircraft. Air Seychelles’ A320neo jetliner is powered by the new-generation LEAP-1A engine from CFM International and features large, fuel-saving wingtip devices known as Shar

Airbus A220-300 flight test aircraft will visit six Asian destinations as part of a demonstration tour across the region. After a stopover at Seoul’s Incheon Airport the aircraft heads to Yangon (Myanmar), the first location of the demonstration tour. The aircraft will then visit Hanoi (Vietnam), Bangkok (Thailand) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) before heading north to Nagoya (Japan). The A220 aircraft is yet to receive appreciable orders in the Asian market unlike the massive orders for the aircraft in Europe and America. Recall Air France just made a massive order for the aircraft which was reported here. https://aviationroundtable.blogspot.com/2019/07/air-france-announce-order-for-airbus.html?m=1 Therefore, the Asian tour by Airbus is seen as a way to create a deeper penetration into the Asian market, boost confidence and ultimately more sales. The A220 is the most modern aircraft in the 100-150 seat market. It delivers unbeatable efficiency and passenger comfort in its size