Alaska Airline’s First Flight Using Biofuel to Boeing 737 and Bombardier Q400

Alaska Airlines will operate 75 scheduled domestic flights partially powered by biofuel derived from used cooking oil. The first of the these flights, to be operated with Boeing 737s and Bombardier Q400s, will occur Wednesday when two aircraft fly from Seattle-Tacoma to Portland, Ore., and Washington National, respectively.

The fuel, a blend comprising 20% biofuel, is being supplied by broker SkyNRG and made by Dynamic Fuels, which is a joint venture between Tyson Foods Inc. and Syntroleum Corp. AS emphasized the fuel “meets aviation and military safety, sustainability and performance standards.”

The carrier said that it and regional affiliate Horizon Air “will continue to operate select flights between Seattle and the two cities over the next few weeks.” AS and Horizon parent Alaska Air Group chairman and CEO Bill Ayer said, “Commercial airplanes are equipped and ready for biofuels. They will enable us to fly cleaner, foster job growth in a new industry, and can insulate airlines from the volatile price swings of conventional fuel to help make air travel more economical. What we need is an adequate, affordable and sustainable supply. To the biofuels industry, we say: If you build it, we will buy it.”

AAG said it estimated that the 75 flights would emit 10% fewer carbon dioxide emissions compared to its traditionally powered flights. AAG and Boeing were among the group that last year formed Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest.

HSBC Global Research: AirAsia Earnings Plans Rise Joint Venture with Domestic Firm to Develop By Domestic Business

The earnings of AirAsia, the leading low-cost carrier in Asia is supported by Malaysia’s domestic business, says HSBC Global Research.

In its research note on “Asian Airlines”, HSBC Global Research said AirAsia’s planned listing of joint ventures in Indonesia and Thailand, will help reduce strain on the balance sheet.

“The prospects of contributions from joint ventures listing is rising,” it added.

On the risk side, HSBC Global Research said a strengthening of the US dollar versus the ringgit, will negatively impact business.

“Earnings are sensitive to a further rise in fuel prices,” it added.

HSBC Global Research has a overweight call on AirAsia.

On the airline industry, HSBC Global Research said economic uncertainties and collapsing share prices, normally signal the best time to revisit the Asian airlines.

“Timing the cycle will be more complicated than in the first quarter of 2009, but similar valuations suggest stocks are attractive,” it added.

The focus of HSBC Global Research was on Asian premium carriers, namely Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines.

It has upgraded Cathay Pacific to an overweight from neutral amid its strong home base, which is the best positioned gateway into southern China, while the weakening Hong Kong dollar should provide a superior medium-term outlook.

HSBC Global Research also upgraded Singapore Airlines to neutral from underweight as it believes the airline will remain profitable over the next year due to its strong brand and high margin at home.

Buenos Aires International and Domestic Flights Cancellation as Volcanic Ash Cloud in Southern Chile

International and domestic flights out of Buenos Aires were canceled for a second day as volcanic ash from an eruption in southern Chile returned to the region.

Flights between Argentina and Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay were canceled until at least 11 a.m. New York-time today after an ash cloud settled over Buenos Aires yesterday, according to airports operator Aeropuertos Argentinas 2000 SA.

Lan Airlines SA, Latin America’s biggest airline by market value, canceled flights from Buenos Aires to Lima, Santiago and Montevideo, it said in a statement on its website. British Airways Plc. halted a flight to London, while Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA said routes to Sao Paulo were interrupted, according to Aeropuertos Argentinas 2000.

Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic complex began to erupt on June 4, generating ash clouds that led to flight cancellations because of concerns that they may clog jet engines.

Damage to livestock and crops led Argentina to declare an agriculture emergency earlier this year in the southern provinces of Rio Negro, Chubut and Neuquen.

Saudi Arabia Consider Allow Gulf Airlines to Operate Domestic Flight Service

Move by kingdom’s aviation authority will help improve the country’s domestic air transport services. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) unveiled plans to open the kingdom’s skies to Gulf airlines.

Khalid Al Khaibary, spokesman for the GACA, has said that the authority is seriously considering allowing the GCC-based airlines to operate domestic services in the kingdom.

The GACA’s move came at a time when there were rumours that the authority would not allow Gulf airlines to operate domestic flights here.

There are several factors attributed to this move. Most important among them is that the kingdom’s airlines are not in a position to compete with other Gulf airlines as the latter enjoy the full support of their respective governments.

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Improving transport

Al Khaibary said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency that the opening of Saudi skies would help improve domestic air transport services and boost the kingdom’s social and economic development.

“The top officials of the authority are seriously considering various aspects of the matter. The new move would be helpful to both citizens and expatriates,” he added.

Meanwhile, Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah, Assistant Minister of Defence and Aviation at the Civil Aviation Affairs and deputy chairman of the GACA board of directors, said that the authority has not received applications from any Gulf airline seeking a licence to operate domestic services in the kingdom.

He noted that the domestic airline sector here was more attractive compared to that of some other countries in the region. The charges are stable and cheaper than in countries such as Sudan and Yemen, he said.

It is also noteworthy that the Shoura Council earlier approved a study proposing to grant licences to Gulf airlines to operate domestic services in the kingdom.

The Council had also directed Saudi Arabian Airlines, the national flag carrier, to re-start services to some local airports following the travel crisis as a result of discontinuation of services stopped by budget airlines Sama and Nas Air.

Sama withdrew from the market last year.

The Saudi aviation market makes up about 29 per cent of the aviation sector in the Middle East.

Budget offer

Saudi Arabia’s budget airline Nas Air has introduced new offers of reduced ticket prices starting at 279 Saudi riyals (Dh273), including taxes. Turki Al Juaiwani, deputy chairman of the airline for the commercial sector, said that the offers are available until August 20.

There are 50,000 tickets at discounted rates that can be used between September 15 and October 20, he said, adding that the tickets can be bought from the airline’s retail sales outlets or through their online purchase.

Southwest Airlines Plans to Create Low Cost Airline-Cheap Flights

Monday should see Southwest Airlines complete its purchase of AirTran and create the first mega–low-cost airline on the United States, with resultant cheap flights!

The Justice Department when giving its approval to the merger indicated that the entrance of the new airline into competition with airlines such as Delta and American is likely to influence cheap tickets. It is not anticipated that competition will be reduced to a great degree and it will enable new routes to be served.

Southwest is already transporting more passengers on domestic flights than any other American airline. When it is combined with AirTran, it plans to service over 100 cities. Reports indicate, that full integration of the two airlines, will take twelve to eighteen months to implement.

The general consensus of opinion is that the merged airlines and the creation of a single carrier, offering cheap flights and cheap tickets, will make an impressive impact on the market.

Other views put forward suggest that some preferential business passengers, used to travelling in the reserved, business-class with AirTran may not favour the open-seat and single-class cabins of Southwest. This comfort may be preferred to cheap flights and cheap tickets.

Although Southwest has established itself in the market with cheap flights and cheap tickets in comparison to the legacy carriers, there are those in the industry, who expect an eventual rise in airline prices. This ism primarily based on the shrinkage of the competition, contributed to with the past merging of Delta-Northwest in 2008 and Continental-United last year.

Ethiopian Airlines First Flight from Addis Ababa to Cairo

Ethiopian Airlines made its maiden flight from Addis Ababa to Cairo and breathed a lease of life into a dormant African aviation industry and rightly called it self, ‘The Spirit of Africa’.

Short as the weekly flight could have been, it was a milestone in shaping the future of the aviation industry on the continent.

Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s oldest airline and apart from scoring that first with the flight to Egypt, it has continued to perform well in the African aviation industry.

It has in its existence taken some battering from heavy competition in and outside Africa, among the competitors being South African Airline, Kenya Airways and British. Airways among others and the only way to counter this was to set out a strategic plan.

The just ended five-year plan brought success to reinstall the airline among Africa’s finest and is an example of how well an airline could be managed by maximizing on profits.

In the just ended five-year strategic plan, the airline surpassed all targeted by raising its income to US$ 1.3 billion when the target was $1 billion from the $390 million at the start of the plan.

They last year posted profits in excess of $123 million, and that is at a time when the airline is in the processing of acquiring a new fleet of planes, both from Boeing and Airbus.

But an outside image of the airline does not actually paint the correct picture of their vision, strengthen and dominance.

As a result of heavy traffic, for example, and the inevitable challenge of handling a

lot more clients in transit via Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airline will soon start constructing a five-star hotel in Addis Ababa with funds from the China Africa Development Fund. Chinese constructor China Hinan has already been engaged.

The airline has a maintenance department that repairs and overhauls Boeing plan engines and the trust from Boeing goes to extremes that the airlines makes all sorts of cables from their Bole International Airport headquarters for all the flying Boeing aircrafts and last year raked in $ 33 million.

The cables are flown to the Boeing base in the US once done.

For every plane bought, Ethiopian Airlines has a state-of-the-art engine testing machine that checks for any manufacturers malfunction before the engines are let off into the air.

All this is for the ‘zero mistake’ campaign the airline has.

And at their headquarters, the airline has a reputable Academy that does not only train its own pilots, but thosefrom other airlines including competitors like Kenyan and South African Airways.

Ethiopian airline has a successful cargo wing which carries more cargo on the continent and then the peak of land infrastructure are the two Boeing Simulators.

“We believe we have come from a good past and having achieved so much to reach where we are, we believe we can not push into the next generation and we are well on track for that.

“Vision 2025í is our new plan, we want to achieve a lot of things and we are sure we can achieve them, we are buying as many as 34 aircraft,” were the word’s of company chief executive officer Tewolde Gabre-Mariam.

The airline plans to become the most competitive and leading aviation group in Africa by providing safe, market driven and customer focused passenger and cargo transport, aviation training, flight catering, MRO and ground services by 2025.

This vision 2025, explain what the airline wishes to achieve, though a huge mountain to climb, as Mr Gabre-Mariam said.

He believes this is achievable going by their ability to beat all targets in the 2010 strategic plan.

He said in the just ended five-year strategic plan, his airline surpassed all targeted by raising its income to $1.3 billion when the target was $ 1 billion from the $390 million.

The 100 per cent Government owned company also raised its profitability last year to $123 million and with such a performance they see room for improvement, now it plans to up showing and increase.

He said in the airlines expansion plans, it would increase the number of passengers it flies from the 3.2 million they did last year to more than 18 million per year by 2025.

“We carried more people, we travelled more miles, we made more money we carried more goods and because of that, we see a lot of room for improvement.

“Besides, we have retained a significant number of staff and since human resource is our biggest asset, we are sure we can easily meet the 2025 targets,” he said.

Sitting high on the agenda of the 2025 vision is Zambia.

Ethiopian Airlines plans to turn Zambia into a regional hub that would help the airline capture the lurking market in Central and Southern and all this is its bid to become Africa’s best airliner.

Gabre-Mariam said Zambia is an area best suited to help their airline grow bigger by catering for all its passengers and planes that would be visiting the region before flying back to Bole International Airport in Ethiopia.

Zambia would be picking up all passengers in the region and fly them to Ethiopia.

Apart from been economically impressive and being one of the airlines most trusted routes, Lusaka is a well located and would be only the second hub on the continent outside Addis Ababa.

ìIn our vision 2025, we have Lusaka high on our programme to become a hub for the central and Southern Africa for Ethiopian Airline, this will receive all our customers from the region and bring them to Addis,î he said.

The Airlineís only other hub is in Lome, Togo which was handling handling the business in the hugely populous West Africa.

Though giving no dates, this would happen in the next few months as it continues on its expansion programme in which it hopes to grow by more than 500 percent in the vision 2025.

Ethiopian Airlines runs a daily flight into Lusaka.

He said that first, and as a result of increased traffic between Zambia and Addis Ababa, the Airlines would make a direct flight between Lusaka and Addis Ababa instead of triangular route.

Zambia is a drop and pick up point for the airline whose plane, mainly the Boeing 737-800 starts off from Harare Zimbabwe.

And another first to its long list of impressive feats, Ethiopians is taking obsession to outgrow its African rivals to a whole new level.

It has acquired four new jumbo-jets from Boeing, the Boeing 777-200 LR (long Range), three of which have already delivered, the first planes to operate in Africa.

The planes were bought at a cost of $1.3 billion, making it the first African carrier to own and operate the Long-Range aircraft.

The Boeing 777-200LR, though carries 321 passengers has been described as the worldís most success plane and with the latest high-tech on the plane and greater fuel capacity, it can fly 17 hours non-stop.

This makes the trip to as far as China non-stop a lot shorter as unlike other jests, it does not needed to stop over for refueling.

The Long Range Aircraft is the first of its kind in Africa and the four were just part of the airline wish to increase its fleet from the current 46 to 115 at the expiry of its 2025 strategic plan.

And with the arrival of the 777-200LR, Ethiopian Airlines would on May 1 commence new flights to Hangzhou, one of the most renowned and prosperous cities in China to add to other three destinations in China.

Hangzhou, located in Zhejiang province, is an alternative to the busy Shanghai airport for those travelling to and from Shanghai as it is only 45 minutes away via Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed train.

With the opening of the fourth destination in China, Ethiopian Airlines will expand dependable passenger and cargo handling services to traders, business people and tourists between China and Africa via the strategic business hub at Addis Ababa.

In addition to the five weekly flights to Hangzhou, Ethiopian provides daily services to Beijing and Guangzhou, plus four weekly flights to Hong Kong.

Another first is that Ethiopian Airlines is the first African airlines to connect the Peopleís Democratic Republic of China with Africa, starting with its first flight to Beijing on November 7, 1973.

With this next generation that the Ethiopian Airlines in getting to, it might just be The new Spirit of Africa.

US Airlines Raise Fare Prices on Domestic Flight as Increase Demand and Rise Oil Prices

Airlines have been increasing their airfare prices on domestic services in response to increased demand and a rise in the price of oil. Just 2 weeks after raising round-trip tickets $10, American Airlines raised prices another $20.

FareCompare, which monitors airfare pricing, says that US Airways, United Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines have all matched this latest hike. However, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Frontier Airlines and AirTran Airways are some carriers that haven’t increased their prices.

This move comes at a time when passengers are still stranded due to the blizzard that hit the US northeast over the Christmas holiday. Many flights have been delayed and thousands have been canceled due to the weather.

American Airlines hasn’t, in the past, increased fares on routes where they compete with Southwest Airlines. However, it seems as though the carrier hasn’t excluded these routes this time, following the rival matching its December 15 increase.

These latest increases come after a string of rises on both domestic and international flights, and if oil prices continue to rise, so will airline ticket prices. FareCompare chief technology officer Graeme Wallace said that the months of January and February are usually the least traveled times of the year for domestic services, and airlines normally try to roll out sales. However, if oil prices continue to rise, airfares will likely follow, he added.

Industry consultancy Boyd Group International president Michael Boyd says that oil prices have risen from $80 per barrel to almost $100. Traffic may be flat at best next year and demand will probably get slightly weaker, he noted, so revenue per passenger will go up. However, the good news is that online capacity may bring prices down if the economy worsens, he added, while the industry is pretty strong to handle a modest downturn.

Air India Express to Offer Discounted Domestic Flight Tickets January 26 and March 26, 2011

Thirty-seven of the 168 weekly flights that AI Express operates, will offer five free seats and passengers will have to pay only the taxes. The free seats will be available between January 26 and March 26, 2011.

In order to promote its domestic operations, Air India Express has decided to offer free tickets in the domestic leg of its international flights. The airline is also planning to get into some kind of a partnership with all the leading travel portals.

Thirty-seven of the 168 weekly flights that AI Express operates, will offer five free seats and passengers will have to pay only the taxes. The free seats will be available between January 26 and March 26, 2011.

Air India Express has finalized a blueprint to launch cheap-fare domestic routes from April. The plan includes shifting base from Mumbai to Kochi, rebranding to Express India and improving utilization of its 21-strong fleet from nine hours to 12.5 hours daily.

The airline will start operations for Kochi-Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar-Kolkata and Kochi-Ahmedabad-Jaipur. It plans to include smaller cities while flying between major hubs. The fares in the domestic leg are 40 per cent cheaper than full service carriers and will compete with low-cost carriers.

As of now, Air India Express only sells tickets through it’s websites but the Airline is planning to sell its tickets through various travel portals in the near future.

The airline is also upgrading its ticketing system to a web-based dynamic fare system to make it competitive. As of now, the fares are calculated manually.

Frontier Airlines Launches Five-Day Big Sale Cheap Flights for Winter Season

Denver-based regional carrier Frontier Airlines has launched a five-day sale on flights targeted for this winter. One-way fares from Denver start at only $39 with destinations targeting Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Chicago, L.A. and more.

To purchase these cheap tickets from Frontier, you need to buy them between 9:59 pm MT on January 7 and March 10.

Non-Colorado residents can also take part of they book their flights with a layover in Denver. One could book a flight in Chicago, have a small lay-over in Denver and fly Frontier to their destination. Consumers can save nearly $400.

Frontier’s flights originate from Denver International Airport (DIA). Here’s a listing of some example destinations:

• $99 to Boston, Bozeman, Dayton, Des Moines, Detroit, Louisville, Milwaukee, Newport News, San Francisco, Steamboat Springs.
• $49 to Salt Lake City.
• $59 to Aspen, Austin, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Omaha, Phoenix, Tucson.
• $69 to Long Beach, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Oklahoma City, Orange County, San Diego, Spokane, Wichita.
• $79 to Chicago, Durango, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Portland, San Antonio, St. Louis.
• $84 to Seattle-Tacoma.
• $89 to Billings, Branson, Houston, Nashville, Sacramento, Santa Barbara.
• $39 to Albuquerque, Colorado Springs.
• $109 to Atlanta.
• $114 to Fort Lauderdale.
• $118 to Cleveland.
• $119 to Columbus, Dallas, Tampa.
• $129 to Mazatlan, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Puerto Vallarta.
• $139 to Newark, Washington.
• $149 to Cozumel, San Jose (Costa Rico).
• $159 to Cancun, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
• $169 to Cabo San Lucas.

Kingfisher Airlines Adds 14 New Flights Services on 7 Routes

Kingfisher Airlines frequent flyer programme—will earn double the number of miles if they fly on these new flights before January 15, 2011.

Kingfisher Airlines, India’s only Five Star airline rated by Skytrax, has announced the launch of 14 new flights on 7 routes, with effect from December 15, 2010.

The new flights that have been introduced are:

New Delhi – Hyderabad: 2 additional flights launched taking the total number of daily flights on this route to 3 flights in each direction.

New Delhi – Chennai: 1 additional flight launched which means that there are now two daily flights on this route in either direction.

New Delhi – Bhubaneshwar: 2 new flights have been introduced on this route.

Mumbai – Lucknow: 2 new flights have been introduced on this route.

Manoj Chacko, Executive Vice President-Commercial, Kingfisher Airlines Limited said, “The launch of these new flights will offer excellent connectivity and more flight options between metropolitan cities and other important cities in India. These flights have been introduced with convenient timings and have been planned in such a manner that they offer a same-day return for travellers. With this second wave of new flights, the total number of flights introduced in the 2010 Winter Schedule goes up to 36 flights.”

As a special introductory offer, all members of King Club–Kingfisher Airlines’ frequent flyer programme—will earn double the number of miles if they fly on these new flights before January 15, 2011.

Kingfisher Airlines caters to all segments of the air travel ranging from low-fare service – Kingfisher Red, to the premium economy service – Kingfisher Class, to the luxurious Kingfisher First. As India’s market leading airline, Kingfisher Airlines offers the maximum number of flights offered by any single airline network in India. Kingfisher Airlines flies to 59 cities in India and 8 international destinations with a fleet of 66 aircraft.

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