Air France A320-100 bound for Nürnberg by Kevin Chan
This week saw the end of an aviation era with the retirement of the last A320-100 in service – F-GFKA operated by Air France. Airbus only produced 21 total -100 variants for three carriers Air Inter (7), British Caledonian (5) and Air France (8).
The arrival of the -200 with its greater range and efficiency killed off interest in the -100 right away. In fact the -100 was much maligned for its performance and there are even stories of BA operating payload restricted flights between Heathrow and Newcastle (< 218nm) due to Maximum Zero-Fuel Weight issues. [Unconfirmed]. Aesthetically the -100 and -200 only differ in that the -200 has wingtip fences. There is currently a Facebook petition in place to preserve an A320-100. To add you name to it please click here.
Below is a clip of an Air France -100 taking of from Paris (CDG), enjoy!
Woody Allen once quipped that “you can’t ride two horses with one ass.” I can’t help but feel that this is exactly what the proposed United-Continental post-merger livery is trying to do. United was settled upon as the go-forward name because it was the stronger brand – certainly on the global stage – so why dilute the brand by cross-breeding it with Continental colors. Even in a “merger of equals” you’re not going to please everybody so why back this half baked livery? For my part I have to say this livery of equals seems like a disingenuous olive branch. To Continental pilots worried that they might get the axe during “right-sizing” does the color of the plane matter? Probably not, unless the Continental white was favored for reasons of cost (most/all of their fleet is uniform and would only need a quick pit stop for paint). If this is the case then fair enough but I’m not sure if that’s how they got there.
Perhaps Continental folks just take more pride in their paint. The last time I was in Newark I don’t recall seeing a single dirty Continental frame. United are… well a picture is worth a thousand words.
Without knowing the particulars it’s hard to be too critical but I have to say that the proposed livery is lazy at best. At the very, very least they could have capitalized “United” the way it has always been.
Old United 737-200
Old United 767-200
Old United Dornier 328
Old United L1011
Old United Viscount
Also, what happens if the new United’s relationship with Copa goes south? Will we have two disparate airlines buzzing around in the same livery? That could be nice and confusing.
Some of you will think that I’ve got my priorities wrong. After all airline mergers are a complex nightmare entailing labor issues, network optimization problems, fleet harmonization, crew base shuffling etc. “Aren’t those more important issues?” you ask. I would argue that they are more important but that this is a situation in which the order of problem resolution is not totally congruent to the importance of the problems themselves. The reason is simple the flying public doesn’t see or care about any of the operational side of things. They purchase tickets in the same way they purchase chewing gum; brand and name recognition, price point and past experience though not necessarily in that order. There’s no point creating the world’s biggest airline if there aren’t bums in the seats. Delta (and Northwest) got it right, maybe Tilton and Smisek can take a leaf out of their playbook.
[Update: CO-UA have updated the proposed livery to a more bold font and have capitalized "UNITED" on the fuselage as shown here. ]
A change at the top
Sean Durfy’s resignation announcement has paved the way for Gregg Saretsky to assume the reins as CEO. While this caught me by surprise the reason given – the desire to spend more time with his family – seemed perfectly plausible. However, the cynics of this world were not quite so willing to accept this, with a number of people choosing to believe he was shown the door for the less-than-elegant adoption of the new reservation system. You could forgive the cynics for their speculation as CEOs have been at the centre of upheaval at WestJet in the past. Whatever the case may be I think it’s a win for all concerned. Durfy gets to live life at a smell the roses pace for a while. WestJet benefits from the experience and energy of a new CEO who already understands the inner workings of the company and has a stellar track record to boot. It’s great to see somebody with a sincere passion for aviation leading the charge – there are far too many “suits” running the show at other carriers.
A new dance partner
For years we’ve heard about potential tie-ups between WestJet and Southwest. It’s one of those stories that just won’t go away – murmurs about codeshares and ground handling agreements seem to flare up periodically and then vanish as quickly as they appeared. WestJet themselves have fueled this fire on a number of occasions with ambiguous statements declaring interest but only ever offering vague timelines. Personally I’ve always felt that the synergy potential between WestJet and Southwest is overblown. Though they were founded on similar business models WestJet is for all intents and purposes a full service carrier. It seems I’m not the only one with this mindset; this weekend WestJet went public with the fact that they are courting Delta with a view to drumming up US traffic through codeshares. WestJet is set to receive 5 slot pairs at LaGuardia (subject to regulatory approval) which will allow them to exchange traffic with Delta. Indications are that theses slots are to be used for flights to Toronto and Montreal. The folks at Delta must be happy about this; additional feeder traffic to LaGuardia (where they are trying to grow their presence) without using any of their own planes and crews and without signing a capacity-purchase agreement. All of this in exchange for slots they would likely have been forced to give up anyway. Talk about getting something for nothing.
Walk. Don’t run.
Despite WestJet’s friendly demeanor towards Air France/KLM and this new cozying up towards Delta I remain confident that they are not positioning themselves to enter SkyTeam – there’s simply not enough in it for either party. SkyTeam currently plays second fiddle to the Star Alliance in Canada and adding WestJet would do little to change that. What it would do is tie WestJet’s hands in terms of partner opportunities with OneWorld carriers. It’s far more likely that they will cherry pick codeshare partners from both SkyTeam and OneWorld under the “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” mantra with a view to building a robust codeshare network à la Alaska Airlines. Did I mention Saretsky used to work there?
An Emirates A380 seconds away from touching down at YYZ – photo by Rafal Kiermacz
Last year I blogged about Emirates’ displeasure at not being given unlimited access to the Canadian market. In the time that has passed their stance has not changed. They remain adamant that they are being treated unfairly and that there are adequate reasons for Transport Canada to comply with their requests demands for greater access.
In an attempt to strengthen their case Emirates commissioned a study to detail the economic impact of further flights between the Canadian market and Dubai. That study was released earlier this week by InterVISTAS Consulting who curiously do not list Emirates amongst their airline clients.
Before getting to the content of the study it is important to understand that there is a fundamental disconnect here. View Full Article »
Iran has issued a warning to foreign airlines that they will be banned from flying into its airspace, unless they use the term “Persian Gulf” (rather than Arabian Gulf) on their in-flight monitors. Whether this demand is system-wide or limited to flights that use Iranian airspace is not abundantly clear. The Iranian transport minister, Hamid Behbahani, has given carriers 15 days to enforce this change.
The chances are that non-state owned airlines from Europe and Asia (outside of the Middle East) will capitulate and make the change. From their perspective it’s a semantic difference so profit should trump politics. It’s the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) governments – and the carriers they control – that have the potential to turn this rift into a full blown chasm. View Full Article »
A Finnair MD11 operating a charter for Barcelona FC. Photo by Andrew W Sieber
It seems not a single week goes by in the world of civil aviation without the start or end of an era. Next week will be no different. On Monday, February 22nd, 2010 Finnair will operate its last ever passenger MD11 flight – AY22 will operate from Delhi to Helsinki. This will bring to a close a very successful twenty year tenure.
Boeing’s fourth and final 747-400 Dreamlifter entered service on Februay 16th, 2010. It will be used to transport the large composite structures of the 787 from manufacturers around the world to Boeing’s Everett, Washington plant for final assembly. The last hauler will carry the registration N718BA.
Now that the ink is dry and the various suits that facilitated the Northwest-Delta merger have disappeared, the days of the Northwest brand are coming to an end. Less than ten airframes remain in the rotation to be painted into Delta colors. While I am confident it will only be a matter of time before we see a Northwest retrojet make an appearance, it will be odd to not see a heap of red tails at MSP and DTW. It’s also going to take a lot of time getting used to seeing DC9s in Delta colors.
Very few companies can boast an 85 year run. Even fewer in aviation. Anyone who has been a part of the Northwest story should be proud of the organization. The last Northwest coded flight to land was NW248, a flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, landing at 5:33 AM EST, 1053 Zulu on January 31st.
Under the tutelage of its new CEO, Vitaly Savelyev, Aeroflot is taking steps in all areas of operation to modernize itself for a dramatic push into the 21st century. Unfortunately one of his directives was to hire only “very striking, very eye-catching girls” moving forward. Not exactly 21st century thinking but I can look past that for the time being. What I can’t really look past is the uniforms these new hires will be wearing – probably because the hot red has partially burned my retinas. The first time I laid eyes on these uniforms one word sprung to mind: McKGB. Bright red and yellow/gold with four (count them) hammer and sickles per flight attendant!
A short video of the new threads (in Russian) can be found below.
To celebrate turning ten, the nice folks at JetBlue are celebrating with a special livery. For the next little while an A320 (N569JB) will be buzzing around in the above colors. Though I’m not crazy about the design (I would have much preferred one of the employee submissions) it does serve its purpose. I hope for JetBlue’s sake and for their passengers that their fast approaching teenage years are less turbulent than mine were. :)
Effective May 30th, 2010 Qatar Airways will begin service to South America offering a daily Doha – São Paulo – Buenos Aires service to be operated with a 77L. They will become only the third airline ever to offer non-stop service to six continents from a single hub. The current members of the Six Continent Club are South African Airways and Emirates who serve six continents from their Johannesburg and Dubai hubs respectively.
Qatar Airways is often accused of aping Emirates. In this instance I think they have one-upped them. Unlike their Gulf cousins QR’s service will continue on to EZE from GRU with full 5th freedom traffic rights. A smart move considering it tests the market for EZE-DOH direct (which the ridiculously capable 77L can handle) and maximizes utilization of the 77L fleet. Indications are that EK did not pursue the GRU-EZE leg as it would have meant a less desirable departure time. This type of paired expansion is not new to QR. When getting their feet wet in Africa they took a similar approach initially serving Cape Town via Johannesburg. After establishing themselves in those markets and proving demand existed both cities were upgraded. A certain Emirati carrier followed suit
This all begs the question, who will be the next member of this elite club? A number of other airlines already serve six continents but from different hubs and with stops. Off the top of my head British Airways, United, Malaysia Airlines and Air France are in the mix but for reasons of equipment, bilateral agreements and other complications I don’t believe any of these four will be the next. My pick is Etihad. The reasons are simple. They have a similar business model to EK and QR, they have capable aircraft on order and they have a strong desire to not be an also-ran in the arena of Gulf aviation. Time will tell.
As part of their efforts to reinvent themselves, Gulf Air today announced that they have dry leased two Embraer E170AR jets for a period of three years. They will be used on regional hops and form a small part of GF’s broader fleet renewal program. As part of the same program GF will be adding five new A320s this calendar year. Given that the E170 is proving to be invaluable to three of GF’s neighbors (EgyptAir Express, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Royal Jordanian) on similar sectors, all indications are that these first two E170s will not be the last.
The new United livery, post-merger
