It is no longer news that covid-19 pandemic has brought devastating consequences on the aviation industry. With a handful of airlines already bankrupt and many others barely managing to survive. International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects airlines heading for $84 billion net loss in 2020. The current challenging business environment and an incredibly uncertain future for the aviation industry is however not stopping in the way of new entrants into the airline world. Aviation Roundtable blog takes a look at some of the new comers in the year 2020. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is a low cost airline based in Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates. The new airline is an offspring of the European Wizz Air based in Hungary. The airline prepares to connect Abu Dhabi with five new routes when the airlines commences flight operations with plans to cover flights to Europe, the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Africa. Thai Eastar Jet is the Thai subsidiary of Korean low cost carrier Eastar Jet base...

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is planning to replace the face masks worn by its flight attendants with an alternative form of personal protective equipment (PPE) after passengers complained that the masks affected their perception of the cabin crew’s hospitality. Since the airline resumed domestic flights in May, Flight attendants have worn face masks and gloves as part of the health protocols put in place to prevent COVID-19 transmission. However, Garuda president Irfan Setiaputra said the company received many complaints from passengers saying that they could not see the faces of the cabin crew clearly when they had face masks on. "Many Garuda customers have complained about the flight attendants wearing masks as the passengers cannot see whether or not the flight attendants are smiling or frowning,” Irfan said in a virtual discussion monitored by Aviation roundtable blog. Garuda Indonesia airlines would gradually issue face shields in place of face masks following the ...

  In conformity to make air travel under the new normal safer, Philippine Airlines has announced that starting July 1, it will introduce a new aircraft seat design, which aims to better enable physical distancing. Philippine Airlines said that aisle or middle seats are blocked out in 'distancing sections' of specific fare classes. “PAL's premium economy cabin class will have purely 'distancing seats' while the PAL Express economy cabin class will have a mix of regular and 'distancing seats,’” PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said in a statement. Villaluna said passengers of these flights may reserve the 'distancing seats' at no added cost. “A distancing seat is not an added fee/travel extra. It is a new product included in specific fare classes (Economy Flex and Premium Economy Class),” the PAL spokesperson added. For regular seats, distancing will be observed depending on space availability, and is an option ideal for groups who wish to be seated togeth...

Civil Aviation Authorities in Vietnam have grounded two foreign pilots after a VietJet Air passenger plane they were controlling skidded off a runway as it landed in Ho Chi Minh City. The aircraft, which was arriving from the tourism island of Phu Quoc, skidded off the runway at Tan Son Nhat Airport on Sunday due to heavy rain and a tailwind as was earlier reported. Unconfirmed reports suggest there was confusion between the pilots at the very crucial stage when the plane was on final approach to land. One of the Pilot wanted to initiate a miss approach while the other wanted the approach to continue. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam have also seized the licences of the two pilots, pending the investigation into the incident. A preliminary report is expected in the coming weeks as stated by the aviation Authorities. Vietjet is an international low cost airline from Vietnam which is an emerging force in South East Asia serving 18 domestic and 26  international destinations. T...

After years of neglect, the Federal Executive Council in Nigeria has approved the sum of N1.7 billion for consultancy services for the construction of a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport Abuja.  This was disclosed by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, while briefing State House correspondence at the end of the 3rd virtual meeting of the council, presided by President Muhammadu Buhari. The amount covers consultancy services for the design of the runway for the construction of a new runway in Abuja.The Abuja airport currently has only one runway Which was closed for 6 weeks for extensive repair work in March 2017. The Nnamdi Azikiwe airport in Abuja is the second busiest airport in the country. Recall in the year 2010, a contract to build a second runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria was awarded at a cost of N64 billion ($165M USD) which came under serious scrutiny and outrage for its perceived inflated contract sum.  The c...

The recent aircrash of Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320 operated as PK8303 near Karachi International Airport brought to limelight Ram Air Turbine in aircraft operations. Based on pictures taken of the doomed aircraft just minutes before it crashed, showed clearly the deployment of the RAT. What exactly is RAT? A Ram Air Turbine (RAT) is a turbine that is installed in an aircraft and used as an alternate or emergency hydraulic or electrical power source. The RAT generates power from the airstream based on the speed of the aircraft and is connected to an electrical generator or to a hydraulic pump. Modern aircraft only utilize the RAT in emergency: either in the event of loss of hydraulic systems or following the loss of primary electrical generation. In these cases the RAT will power vital systems such as flight controls or flight-critical instrumentation, navigation and communication equipment. Some RATs produce only hydraulic power which in turn is used to power an electri...

It is a common knowledge that airlines around the world do from time to time as a means of boosting capacity and expansion of route network do lease aircrafts as the case may be. Aviation Roundtable blog takes a look at the effect of covid-19 pandemic on aircraft leases. A lack of cash flow has resulted in airlines resorting to laying off employees or having their employees take leave without pay. Under these unprecedented social and economic conditions, airlines who lease aircraft may face severe challenges making rental and maintenance reserve payments to lessors.The impact on covid-19 pandemic on the aviation industry in general was extensively analysed in our previous post. Read here. https://aviationroundtable.blogspot.com/2020/04/an-overview-of-impact-of-covid-19-on.html The fall out of the pandemic on aircraft leasing is our focal point in this write up. The implications of COVID-19 pandemic on an aircraft lease agreement vary from one agreement to another, depending on the term...