The natural tendency during a recession is to batten down the hatches, freeze all spending, and ride out the storm. There is also a school of thought which advocates increasing investments and advertising spend during a recession to increase market share, when customers are looking to change in an effort to obtain better value for their spend.


Quite evidently, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline is in the latter.

In early January I had written about the phenomenal 400% expansion of Emirates Airline in India, now it appears that Emirates is going for the jugular of its competitors across the globe. At a time when all airlines are cutting back and removing capacity, Emirates recently unveiled plans to grow the number of flights across its network by 14% in 2009. Compare this to the 11% reduction in capacity announced by another world famous and recession beater - Singapore Airlines, just three days ago.

Established in October 1985 with leased aircraft operating flights to Karachi, Pakistan and Mumbai, India, Emirates Airline today directly serves 101 cities in 61 countries. In October 2008, the Emirates dedicated Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport opened. With a total built-up area of 515,000 sq metres and the capability of handling 43 million passengers annually, the 10-storey concourse was specifically designed with Emirates’ future growth plans in mind.

In 2008, 22 million Emirates passengers passed through Dubai International Airport, an 11% increase on 2007.

This year, Emirates will add 18 new aircraft to its fleet, increasing seating capacity by 14% and enabling it to start new routes as well as increase frequencies on many existing routes. It will also expand cargo capacity by 17%.

The additional frequencies will afford passengers a greater choice of flights, more frequent connections with their target markets and shorter, more convenient connection times.

Emirates already has an all wide-body fleet of 129 aircraft. By the end of the 2008-09 financial year, ending March 31, the fleet will increase to 132, including four superjumbo Airbus A380s. In fiscal 2009-10, the carrier will add a further seven A380s along with 10 Boeing 777-300ERs, one 777-200LR and one Boeing 777F freighter.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, recently said

“The next year is not going to be an easy ride for the airline industry. Emirates has prepared the best we can for the challenges we foresee, but we also see it as a time of opportunity. 2009, with our significant capacity increase, will be a year of consolidation for us, with fewer new routes launched than in previous years.

“Instead, we will concentrate on strengthening our presence on routes where there is a greater demand from our customers. All of our new capacity will be deployed in markets where we see growth potential, particularly Africa and the Middle East.”

Africa and the Middle East are Emirates’ fastest growing markets, recording 17% and 6% growth respectively in the last 12 months.

Emirates recently added a second daily flight to Lagos. It will also introduce services from Dubai to Durban, South Africa on 1st October 2009. The route will be served by a two-class, 278-seat Airbus A330-200 which can also carry up to 14 tonnes of cargo into the port city.

Last month, Emirates announced a vast Middle East expansion plan taking the number of seats in the region to 50,000 on 180 flights a week. Additional services to Amman, Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait and Damascus were started recently.

Emirates has added 32 weekly flights to its existing Indian services since November, and now operates 163 weekly flights into 10 Indian gateway cities, almost 400% more than it nearest foreign competitor.

As new aircraft come online, both of Emirates' newest routes, Los Angeles and San Francisco, launched in October and December and operated by its luxurious Boeing 777-200LRs, will go from thrice weekly to dailies from May. The extra services will add more than 2,000 seats a week to the current 1,600 seats, between the US west coast and Dubai.

Emirates' strategy is demonstrated very well in Bangalore. The west coast flights enabled Emirates to compete head-on with all the European (British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa) and Asian (Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Dragon Air/Cathay Pacific) carriers, for the technology sector dominated traffic of Bangalore, and their need to fly to North America and Europe. From one flight Emirates ramped up to three flights a day. Two of the airline's current three daily flights are going full, and third is also at very respectable passenger load factors. During this time, almost all the other carriers, cut back on flights, frequencies, and/or aircraft capacity.

On 1st February, Emirates became the first carrier to operate commercial superjumbo Airbus A380 flights into New Zealand with the launch of its Dubai-Sydney-Auckland service. There is increased capacity to Australia with additional daily flights to Brisbane and Melbourne, taking the total number of flights a week to 63 effective 1st February. From 1st May, a third daily service to Sydney operated by its 489-seat Airbus A380 three times a week will be added, in full competition to the A380s operated by Australia's Qantas and Singapore Airlines.

Plans are also afoot to deploy the A380 superjumbos on Dubai–Seoul and Dubai–Singapore services in November and December respectively.

The first A380 flight between Dubai and Seoul’s Incheon International Airport will depart in November, while the Singapore service will start in December and initially run four times a week.

In Europe, Emirates has already embarked on an expansion programme. In recent months it has commenced double daily flights into Milan, increased Istanbul services to 11 flights a week, increased services on the Larnaca-Malta route to seven times weekly and Nice flights to five times weekly. Second daily services into Moscow and Athens are also planned for March.

Emirates has been recording an annual growth rate of 20 per cent over the last five years. In 2007, with the launch of its Dubai–Sao Paulo service, Emirates became the first, and only airline to fly to six continents non-stop from a single hub.

With the addition of more than 8,635 seats and around 600 tonnes of cargo capacity added to its fleet, Emirates is showing no signs of slowing down, on the contrary, competitors better watch out.

This photograph by Digital Airliners taken just two days ago at Toulouse shows two Airbus A340-500's.

One is still painted in Kingfisher Airlines' colours. Kingfisher had ordered five A340-500s, but defaulted on taking delivery last year. Three were diverted to Nigeria's Arik Air, but it appears the balance two have become the dreaded white tail for Airbus, i.e. a jet built but now the ordering airline is not taking delivery, and therefore the plane has no place to go.

Just two weeks ago, Kingfisher diverted 4 A321s to Turkish Airlines after its financial problems forced it to again default on delivery from Airbus.

A Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration N676NW performing flight NW2 from Manila, Philippines, to Tokyo Narita, Japan, with 408 passengers and 14 crew, was in a holding pattern near Chiba, 40nm south of Narita, about 30 minutes before landing with seatbelt signs turned on, when the airplane encountered severe turbulence and suddenly dropped from its assigned altitude of 15000 feet.

Image courtesy Lin Y.C.

A number of passengers, who had not fastened their seatbelts, were thrown out of their seats and hit the ceiling.

The crew reported about 2-3 injuries via radio, but did not declare emergency. The landing 30 minutes later at 12:19 local (03:19 GMT) was safe.

A total of 43 passengers were injured in the upset and were brought to hospitals. Initially reported two serious injuries turned out less severe. However, Japanese officials reported later, that one passenger received a serious injury (neck fracture).

Report by AVHerald

An Antonov AN-12, belonging to Aerolift a cargo operator in Windhoek, Namibia, registration S9-SVN freight flight LFT-1015 from Entebbe, Uganda to Nikolaev, Ukraine with 5 crew on board, had diverted to Luxor (Egypt) due to shortage of fuel. After refuelling the airplane caught fire and burned down while taking off Luxor, killing all 5 occupants.

According to the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority the airplane crashed about 700 meters off the runway at Luxor, while taking off from Luxor after being refuelled for the flight to the Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian aviation sources one engine caught fire, the fire quickly spread to the entire airframe.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Egypt reported, that flight LFT-1015 from Entebbe to the Ukraine via Luxor was performed by an AN-12 registration S9-SVN. All 5 crew were Ukrainian citizens, later this was corrected to 2 Belarus, one Russian and 2 Ukrainian citizens.

A source at Luxor Airport said, that the airplane had diverted to Luxor to refuel due to a fuel leak. Although the crew was aware of the risk of a fuel leak, they decided to takeoff again.

Russian diplomats in Egypt also reported, that the airplane had diverted due to a fuel leak. The crew was advised by mechanics to not take off before the damage was fixed, the commander however decided to depart despite the risk.

Reported by AVHerald

Boeing delivered the company's first 777 Freighter (777F) to launch customer Air France Cargo in a ceremony at the Future of Flight Aviation Center Tour near Paine Field yesterday.

The contractual delivery and airplane departure are scheduled for Friday, and Air France will land F-GUOC, at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport tomorrow, 21 February, to join the airline’s fleet.

This video from Liz Matzelle shows the Boeing 777F being wheeled in to position for the ceremony. Thanks Liz. This aircraft does not wear the new livery Air France introduced a week ago.

Providing cargo capacity normally associated with larger airplanes, the 777 Freighter can fly 4,880 nautical miles (9,038 kilometers) with a full payload of 226,700 pounds (103 metric tons). Air France Cargo has ordered five of these aircraft to progressively replace the 747-400 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) in its fleet. Air France currently operates five 747-400ER Freighters (ERFs) and four 747-400BCFs.

With a full payload of 103 tonnes, able to carry a total of 37 pallets, equipped with a deck that can accommodate 3-metre pallets and a wide side door, the Boeing 777 freighter is able to carry the same type of freight as the Boeing 747 over equivalent distances.

A passenger on Qantas flight QF032 from London to Singapore, went berserk, on Wednesday, after being caught smoking in the toilet as per news reports from Australia and Singapore.

Believed to be in his 40s, the man set off a smoke alarm in the toilet of the plane. When the Qantas cabin crew tried to restrain him, he ran amok, yelling and kicking walls.

Cabin crew had to bind the burly passenger's hands and tie him to the chair after he managed to break free of their restraints.

He continued to yell and kick the walls during the rest of the QF32 flight to Singapore.

The man was placed in the custody of Singapore police when the flight arrived at Changi Airport earlier this morning.

A Super Puma helicopter with 18 people on board crashed in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland Wednesday. The helicopter ditched about 120 miles east of Aberdeen while approaching an offshore platform in the ETAP field.

Four helicopters, including three in-field aircraft and a Sea King from RAF Lossiemouth, took part in the rescue. The Royal Air Force (RAF) at Kinloss also scrambled a Nimrod. The RAF received its first report of the crash at 18:43 GMT.

BBC quoting the Aberdeen coast guard says all 18 people on-board the helicopter have survived and have been rescued from two life-rafts, say coastguard.

The Eurocopter AS 332 Super Puma is a workhorse, ferrying workers to and from oil platforms in the North Sea.

Image: Eurocopter

The United States Federal Aviation Administration today issued a final airworthiness directive (AD) instructing operators of most Airbus A330 and A340 models to power down suspect air data inertial reference units (ADIRU) using one specific rotary dial on the panel.

The mandate follows EASA Emergency AD 2008-0225-E of December 18, 2008, which superseded EASA Emergency AD 2008-0203-E of November 19, 2008, issued after a Qantas Airways A330-300 pitched down unexpectedly while in cruise at flight level 370, seriously injuring 14 of the 303 passengers.

The Airbus A340 is also affected due to its cockpit similarity to the A330.

Read the directive here.

Qatar Airways has launched an innovative Economy Class in-flight service on all flights operating to and from the UK, which sees all onboard meals served in a new presentation style using recyclable materials, with see through trays, bright meal cartons and cutlery packs, as well as a personal table mat in a variety of different colours. which are 99% recyclable.

For the main meals of lunch and dinner each tray will offer a flavour of Arabia with a regional dressing or dip, such as humus, to serve with the fresh salad starter accompanied by Arabic bread.

Passengers will be given a choice of three delicious main courses, including a lighter option for the more health conscious.

Malaysian chicken curry, fish and fennel pot pie and Indian style kadi pakora are among the selection main meals.

For breakfast service, it is fresh fruit, a healthy yoghurt and croissant with preserves, and a choice from two hot dishes such as Zucchini and Majoran Fritatta with Cherry tomatoes or Apple and Cinnamon crepe with maple syrup and berry garnish.

Following the introduction of this new tray service on flights between Doha and London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester, Qatar Airways plans to roll out the concept across the remainder of its international network over the next few months.

In a bid to strengthen the financial position of Air India, the Indian government yesterday substantially increased the allocation for its holding company, National Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL), by about Rs 4,029 crore (approx $806 million) in the interim Budget 2009-2010. Almost the entire increase in allocation for the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) was cornered by NACIL, with the airline being earmarked Rs 8,165.64 crore ($1.633 billion), up against the revised estimate of Rs 4,136.89 crore for 2008-2009.

MoCA received a total allocation of Rs 12,164.76 crore, compared with the revised 2008-2009 estimate of Rs 7,490.06 crore, a hike of almost Rs 4,675 crore. The move came in the backdrop of Air India seeking enhancement of its equity and a soft loan to meet the growing expenditure on its ongoing aircraft acquisition programme of buying 111 planes.

A provision of Rs four crore was also made, for salaries and other administrative infrastructure was also made in the non-plan budgetary allocation of the Ministry for the newly-created Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), whose Chairman and two members are yet to be appointed.

Last week Air France unveiled its new logo and livery. The current livery which was changed way back in 1975, i.e. 34 years ago. Due to the current cost pressures, the new scheme will be gradually introduced as new planes are inducted or as existing aircraft come in for maintenance.

Air France is now just one word, and the tail stripes have been subtly redesigned.

The French national colours (blue, white and red) remain present on the aircraft’s tail fin and fuselage

• navy blue, predominant since the birth of Air France, evokes the brand’s historical capital and the airline’s efficiency,
• white, the colour of excellence, suggests well-being and the French travel experience,
• the bright red accent, punctuates and energizes the brand, underlining both French chic and the attention paid to Air France customers by the airline’s staff, both on the ground and on board.

Click on the image to see an animation comparing the two tail liveries.

One aircraft that will definitely wear the new livery will be Air France's first Airbus A380 MSN033 which is expected to be registered F-HPJA, which first took to the skies, on a flight to the paint shop, on February 12th. Observe the old livery on the tail. Thanks to Christophe Ramos for the fabulous picture. Do take the time to visit his Flickr photostream.

The Indian Government yesterday gave post-facto approval to the formation of following Joint Venture Companies (JVC) between the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) which is the combined Air India and Indian Airlines entity, but branded Air India now, and Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS). The joint venture companies are more commonly referred to AI-SATS or Air India-SATS:

For Cargo Handling at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Bangalore with 50:50 shareholding.

The project cost is estimated to be Rs.99.10 crores. (Rs. 5 Crore ~ $1 million). The debt-equity ratio will be 50:50 and each partner's equity contribution would be Rs.30 crores in the total share capital of Rs.60 crores. The balance would be borrowed from Banks and Financial Institutions. The JVC is estimated to be profitable during its operation and expected to yield an IRR of 17% over a 15 year period.

To undertake the Ground Handling activities at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Bangalore with 50:50 shareholding.

The 50-50 joint venture company would involve investment of around Rs.72.78 crores, out of which Rs.50 crores would be share capital and the balance raised from banks as commercial borrowings. As per estimates, it is expected to yield an IRR of 35% over a period of 10 years.

To undertake the Ground Handling activities at GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), Hyderabad with 50:50 shareholding.

The JVC for ground handling services at GHIAL would involve investment of approximately Rs.80 crores, out of which Rs.60 crores would be share capital and the balance capital would be raised from banks as commercial borrowings. The equity share holding of AI and SATS would be in the ratio of 50:50. As per estimates, it is expected to yield an IRR of approximately 41% per annum over a period of 7 years.

(iv) To undertake Ground Handling at Mumbai, Delhi and other Indian Airports excluding Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin with 50:50 shareholding.

NACIL as a National Carrier had the option of either undertaking the ground handling services at all metro airports under its subsidiary company or through a Joint Venture partnership company in terms new ground handling policy. It selected SATS as its JV partner for providing comprehensive ground handling services at Indian Airports. This agreement is for all airports other than Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin. In the proposed JVC, both AI and SATS shall subscribe 50% of the shares each. The terms and conditions will be firmed-up after negotiations with SATS and accordingly the Memorandum Of Understanding for a particular station would be signed by the partners.

As I had indicated in my article "An air battle ..... on the ground", Government owned Air India, holds majority market share of the ground handling business at Indian Airports, since the existing agreements were signed when the airports were operated by Airport Authority of India, a government department, creating a monopoly situation.

Almost all these contracts were to cease by December 31, 2008, with the introduction of the new policy on ground handling but will now cease by January 1, 2010, due to the protests of airline companies, airline employees, and employee unions of existing ground handling companies.

SATS is considered one of the première ground and terminal handling companies in the world, and Air India would like to meet the increasingly competitive, price sensitive and demanding needs of its customers in a free market scenario. It is looking to SATS to provide the modern equipment, processes, technology and resource management tools needed to upgrade its capabilities.

Eurojet is to propose a thrust-vectoring version of the Eurofighter Typhoon's EJ200 powerplant to meet India's requirement for up to 150 engines to equip the first squadrons of its indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

The Aeronautical Development Agency - which is leading development of the Tejas - is expected to issue a request for proposals in the next few weeks, pitching the EJ200 against General Electric's F414.

Read the complete story from Flight International here.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) on the most profitable airlines in the world, announced today further route adjustments as part of the 11 per cent reduction of capacity from April 2009 to March 2010.

While Bangalore remains unaffected, for now, most other gateways of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad have already been or are being affected by this latest announcement.

I cannot help but compare the withdrawal of services by most international carriers to the massive ramp-up by Emirates and other middle-east airlines in India.

When I visited the airport yesterday, during discussions with various friends, I was informed that the two of the three Emirates flights were going full, and the third was also respectable.

A number of changes have already been announced and some effected, including the withdrawal of service to Amritsar (from Feb 09) and Vancouver (from Apr 09), lower frequency of flights to India, as well as a cutback on the non-stop flights between Singapore and the USA.

A whopping 17 aircraft will be decommissioned from the operating fleet, up from an earlier forecast of four aircraft to be phased out.

The new changes shown below will be in effect from March 29 to October 24, unless specified otherwise:

Europe

For the London route, one of the three daily flights will be replaced with a B777-300ER plane from end-March.

The change in aircraft from the B747-400 will result in a seat count reduction of 97, a minus 7.5 per cent difference a day.

Flights to Manchester will be at three times weekly from May, down from the present five times weekly.

Australia

The frequency of service to Sydney will be reduced from four to three times daily till July.

North Asia

Services to Seoul will be reduced to twice-daily, from its already-reduced schedule of 17 times weekly. One flight will continue on to San Francisco.

Japan, the Singapore-Bangkok-Tokyo service will reduce from six to five flights per week.

China, flights to Beijing will decrease from 21 to 17 weekly. Guangzhou and Nanjing services will reduce to five and two per week respectively.

Flights to Hong Kong will be reduced from a weekly 42 to 35.

West Asia

Aside from already announced changes affecting Indian gateways (see details below), Colombo and Male will each be served by five flights per week, down from seven.

Southeast Asia

In the region, the Jakarta route will see a reduction from 56 to 49 a week, while Bangkok flights will be cut from 41 to 33 per week.

Other routes, such as Brisbane, Perth, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Rome will now be operated with variable frequencies depending on the season.

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Flights to India

Hyderabad-Singapore services, SQ439 and SQ438, will be reduced from four to three times weekly, with the suspension of the Saturday service from February 21.

SQ405 and SQ406, between New Delhi and Singapore, will be reduced from a six times weekly service, to five times weekly service. Changes will apply from March 10 to 24, as flights on Tuesdays during that period will be suspended.

For Mumbai and Singapore, services SQ421 and SQ422 will be progressively reduced from five to four times weekly services, starting February 27. Flights on Fridays will be suspended.

Morning flights to Chennai will be cut.

The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation reported that the domestic airline passenger traffic in January 2009 has remained virtually unchanged at 3.326 million when compared to 3.323 million in December 2008.

Kingfisher took the top spot from Jet group (Jet Airways and JetLite), with 0.919 million passengers and 28% market share.

The steep fare cuts and sales announced by airlines have not provided the required jump in passenger load factors, which resulted in the airlines withdrawing the special fares, prompting rumours of cartelisation by the government.

Indigo remained the leader amongst nation-wide carriers in passenger load factors at 72.2%, while regional specialist Paramount kept the overall top spot at a whopping 83.1%. It will be interesting to understand how load factors are calculated.


The images are my copyright but may be used freely, with a credit link to Bangalore Aviation.

Video clip from CNN showcasing Steven Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) discussing the last moments of the crash of Continental flight 3407.

The NTSB indicates the plane rolled violently before the crash in Buffalo, New York, USA.

Was present to photograph Iron Maiden's departure earlier this morning, after their smash hit concert in Bangalore.

A one on one interaction with pilot and Ed Force One Captain Bruce Dickinson during the bus ride to the airplane. Really nice guy. He said he absolutely enjoyed coming to Bangalore, the fans, and the city. Being an aviator, he really missed visiting the Aero India show, but did offer a suggestion for the Indian Air Force. Look hard at the F-16IN SuperViper, and the F/A-18 E/F SuperHornet. His friends who fly the Eurofighter Typhoon say it is just an F-16, 20 years later. Thanks Bruce and do come back in 2011.

Enjoy the photographs. These are my copyright. If you would like to use these pictures, I request you to please provide a link from your site to mine. If you would like high resolution originals for your website, please contact me via the "About" link in the main menu.

For the aviation fans. Captain Bruce Dickinson on the steps of Ed Force One.

and pictures of Ed Force One at Bengaluru International Airport, Boeing 757-23A, registration G-OJIB, Astreus Airlines, CN 24292, powered by RB211-535E4 engines, from taxi to air borne.

A very special thanks to Photoyogi. At his request, I will not disclose for what though.