Airport officer manhandles traveler

A Passport Department officer is facing punitive action after video footage showed him manhandling a Saudi who had tried to jump the queue after arriving on a flight from Germany.
The man, who arrived at Jeddah airport on a flight from Frankfurt, demanded that his passport be stamped quickly, even though there were other travelers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the queue before him.
The man then jumped the queue, prompting the officer to leave his desk and force him back to his place. KAIA authorities intervened and promised strict action against the officer.

Egypt, UAE carried out Tripoli air strikes — US officials



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Air Lease Corporation Announces the Placement of Two New Boeing 777-300ERs with KLM

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Published on Thursday, 14 August 2014 10:14

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Air Lease Corporation announced long term lease agreements with KLM (The Netherlands) for two additional new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2016 and early 2017. These aircraft placements are in addition to the two new 777-300ER aircraft scheduled for lease from ALC to KLM in early 2015 and early 2016, all from ALC’s order book.

“KLM is one of our key and strategic European airline customers. This placement of four new Boeing 777-300ERs continues our long and excellent relationship with KLM as they operate a leading global airline fleet,” said Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, Chairman and CEO of Air Lease Corporation.

“ALC is proud to announce this successful transaction with KLM, which is now committed to lease a total of four new Boeing 777-300ERs on long term basis from ALC’s own order pipeline,” said Grant Levy, Executive Vice President of Air Lease Corporation. “The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft continues to be a fundamental part of KLM’s long haul fleet operations.”

ALC also already leases Airbus A330-200, A330-300, Boeing 777-200ER and 737-800 aircraft to KLM.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including expected delivery dates. Such statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future results, prospects and opportunities and are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements will not be updated unless required by law. Actual results and performance may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source and image: Air Lease / KLM

NATS handles the 2.4% increased peak season traffic

NATS saw an air traffic increase of 2.4% compared to the same period last year, with 214,923 flights handled in July. Scheduled traffic rose at eight out of the fifteen airportswhere NATS operate air traffic control. TAG Farnborough led this growth with a rise of 31.3%, which was mainly attributable to the air show during the month. London Stansted Airport also saw growth of 9.3%.

13760 minutes of NATS-attributable delay were recorded last month, making it the second lowest July total since records began in 1996, and despite a sizable year on year increase in traffic as the summer period continues.

Last month the UK market grew by 2.4%. Leading this growth was the Transatlantic Arrivals/Departures sector, which saw a rise of 6.0% and Non-transatlantic Overflights, which grew by 3.7%. The Domestic market declined by 3.0%.

Martin Rolfe, Managing Director Operations, NATS, said: “July has been another positive month for NATS particularly as we are in peak summer season. We have handled the increase in scheduled traffic while keeping delays to a minimum.

Last month also saw the Farnborough International Air Show, which brought a sizeable increase in traffic for the airport as visitors flocked from around the world for what proved to be another successful air show.”

Source and image: NATS

Long-haul low-cost – mission (im)possible?

The summer of 2014 might have marked a new page in the development of the global passenger air travel market. Only a few global media sources have missed out on covering the Norwegian’s latest ambition – to launch low-cost transatlantic flights from London.

A similar initiative is being also considered by the Chinese Spring Airlines, while Lufthansa is also being anticipated to announce its long-haul low-cost project in the nearest future. However, yet another attempt to introduce cheap long-haul routes faces a whole set of obstacles, including the HR-related ones.

In July 2014 the Norwegian airlines launched its flights from London Gatwick to three USA-based destinations with some tickets starting at 300 USD, or approx. half the price of those offered by “traditional” carriers. Moreover, the newly-launched routes are not the only long-haul destinations on the Scandinavian carrier’s map. The company is already operating flights from Norway and Sweden to Thailand and the U.S. East Coast.
In the meantime, the Shanghai-based carrier Spring Airlines has also recently announced its plans to launch long-haul routes, connecting Asia and Europe for as little as 100-200 USD per ticket. At the same time, Lufthansa plans to launch a long-haul low-coster already in the beginning of 2015. Allegedly, it will by carrying passengers from Germany to South Asian destinations.

“Less fuel consumption, more aircraft turn-arounds, minimum ground handing and maintenance time, no catering, no multi-class, optimized aircraft ownership and HR-related costs – these are the traditional factors which allow low-cost airlines to keep their ticket prices bottommost. However, lately the industry has been increasingly noticing that the distinction between traditional and low-cost business models is becoming less apparent,” comments Skaiste Knyzaite, the CEO of AviationCV.com.

For instance, according to KPMG, over the past several years the cost gap between traditional and low-cost airlines has fallen by an average of 30%, reducing from 3.6 to approx. 2.5 US cents per Available Seat Kilometre. Nevertheless, gaining the desired competitive edge on long-haul operations might prove to be a much bigger challenge for the carriers ambitious enough to try the new approach.

In addition, on average, aircraft ownership and maintenance account for 23-24% of all carriers’ expenses. Therefore, operating new aircraft models comes as one of the main factors allowing the development of a profitable low-cost model. New aircraft provide higher residual values (70% of the initial price in five years) and lower aircraft maintenance-related costs as they are usually covered by at least four-year long warranty maintenance with no major repair works required for the following several years. Unfortunately, both Boeing and Airbus are fully booked for years ahead, meaning that not all carriers which explore long-haul low-cost routes will be able to minimize some of their major expenses with newly-built aircraft.

Yet another factor is aircraft operation. In Europe most legacy carriers operate up to 300 block hours per month, whilst low cost airlines keep their aircraft in the air for 350-400 hours or even more during the summer season. The higher density allows maximizing profit generation from a single aircraft. However, when it comes to long-haul low-cost routes (e.g. London-Los Angeles), we are talking about 20-22 hours of a turn-around flight plus 2-3 hours on-ground time. This applies to both budget and legacy carriers.

So what allows low-cost carriers to offer cheaper tickets? Apart from more fuel-efficient aircraft, one should consider the seat number – approx. 240 in 3-class against up to 380 in 1-class Boeing 787-8. In addition, no interline/codeshare agreements allow a cheaper distribution network, while more flexible HR-management provides lower personnel-related expenses.

Sourcing both cockpit and cabin crews from the entire world is one of the main strategies implemented by low-cost carriers when seeking optimal HR-solutions subject to the price and experience of the personnel. But it is the demand for cheaper HR-solutions that has been recently raising more and more concerns within the pilot/steward community, particularly in Europe. 

“European pilots shouldn’t be overly concerned about the risk. While in Europe the average market-wide salary rate maintains at 9-11 thousand USD/month, other regions, particularly Asia, are at the 11-15 thousand USD/month point due to a substantial shortage of skilled personnel. However, the same cannot be said of cabin crew which does present a viable opportunity for the carriers to optimize their HR-related costs, as in certain cases European stewards earn twice as much as their Asian colleagues,” shares the CEO of AviationCV.com. “In other words, it is essential to maintain constant monitoring of the job market and continuous communication with potential employees in separate countries and regions in order to be able to balance one’s HR costs. Therefore, as the long-haul low-cost project is concerned, it is yet too early to speculate about its potential success or failure.”

Source and image: AviationCV.com