Qatar Airways to launch Business Class-only service to London Heathrow

By Jonny Clark, TheDesignAir

24 February 2014 | Qatar Airways has announced the launch of a new daily all-premium Business Class service from its hub in Doha to London Heathrow. Mirroring the Business-only product currently run by British Airways from London City Airport to New York JFK, the new service will be the first of its kind in the Middle East and will commence on 15 May 2014.

Qatar Airways will fit an A319 aircraft with an all Business Class, single aisle, 2–2 seating configuration offering 40 seats – slightly larger than the 32 seats on BA’s A318 that operates the LCY – JFK route.

Full-flat bed, big-screen IFE, connectivity

Delta raises the bar in Business Class with new enclosed ‘Delta One Suites’

This article first appeared on TheDesignAir

26 August 2016 | When airlines such as Qatar Airways have announced recently they are working on brand new Business Class seats and Emirates is working on new First Class suites, it was a surprising twist to see Delta, a US carrier, to leap-frog the Gulf-based competition with an adapted Thomson Aero Seating product by UK-based design agency Factorydesign.

Business Class ‘Suite’
The new Delta One Suite is the first Business Class cabin in the world to feature a sliding door for each suite – a feature normally saved for First Class passengers. The doors are a key part of Delta and Factorydesign’s collaborative efforts to improve customer comfort and privacy. The industrial design consultancy worked in close partnership with Delta and seat manufacturer Thompson Aero Seating throughout the design, development and engineering process to achieve this.

The word “cabin” is important in this announcement, as JetBlue’s Mint product offers 4 mini-suites on their aircraft featuring sliding doors, however, the rest of the seats don’t offer this level of privacy.

The seat may look familiar, and follows the traditional 1 x 2 x 1 staggered forward facing design that Delta has already adopted in many of its long-haul aircraft. In fact the product has more in common with SAS’ new Thomson Vantage XL seats that the London based design firm also worked on.

Privacy
The ability to add doors was driven by the A350’s extra width, explains Factory design’s senior designer Ryan Graham. “The high degree of customization possible with Thompson’s seating platform enabled us to

Emirates to Operate One-Off A380 Flight to Chicago

For the first time in the airport’s history, on July 19 2016 Emirates will fly one of its flagship A380 aircraft into Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Emirates has been invited by O’Hare International Airport, the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) and the City of Chicago to test the gate, operations and significant infrastructure improvements that have been implemented to accommodate A380 service.

Emirates is the world’s largest operator of A380 aircraft, the world’s largest commercial jet, with 81 of this aircraft type flying customers in comfort across the globe – including to 4 cities in the USA.

“Chicago has welcomed us from the day Emirates commenced daily flights from Dubai in 2014, and we are honored to work alongside the City, airport, and department of aviation, to bring the A380 for a test flight to this exciting and progressive city,” said Rob Gurney, Emirates’ Senior Vice President of The Americas.

“Over the last two years, Emirates flights have carried over 160,000 passengers from Chicago to Dubai and beyond for both business and leisure travel and have carried more than 60,000 tons of cargo, supporting tourism, business and exporters. Many of our customers from Chicago and surrounding areas have already experienced the Emirates A380 seamless and convenient connections from our hub in Dubai to more than 40 destinations across our network, including the Middle East, South Asia, and the Far East.”

“The arrival of Emirates’ A380 plane to O’Hare International Airport is exciting for the city of Chicago,” said CDA Commissioner Ginger S. Evans.

“The improvement we’ve made at O’Hare to accommodate the A380 is one of many projects underway that will make Chicago more competitive and attractive for passengers and businesses. I want to thank Emirates for its commitment to Chicago.”

Emirates’ existing Boeing 777 service to Chicago provides USD $383 million in annual economic benefit, contributes over USD $153 million in annual spending by visitors, and helps to support over 3000 U.S jobs, according to Campbell-Hill Aviation Group.

Airbus looks for that elusive India customer for its superjumbos

By Anurag Kotoky (Bloomberg). Airbus Group, whose A380 jet doesn’t have a single customer in India, is still looking for a carrier in the South Asian country to buy the superjumbos, betting infrastructure growth in the world’s fastest growing air travel market will fail to keep pace with the rise in traffic.

Airlines in India will need more of the bigger planes to carry the growing number of passengers as airports get congested with smaller aircraft, Joost van der Heijden, head of marketing for Airbus in Asia, said in an interview on the sidelines of an air show in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. The now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines was the only carrier to place an order for A380s, five of them, which was later scrapped.

“In India, air traffic will grow fivefold in the coming 20 years,” van der Heijden said. “Of course, infrastructure will develop. But it will never be able to keep up with that.”

The Rolls-Royce and Airbus A350 jet engine up close for the first time

Fuel efficiency is good for the environment, but it also saves airlines money. That doesn’t mean the price of travel is falling. But it does mean a lot energy goes into advancing jet engine technology.

The British car and engine maker, Rolls-Royce, is proud of its new Trent XWB jet engine. They say it’s the most fuel efficient engine in the world. It was designed specifically for the Airbus A350 passenger plane and uses light materials to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency.

Engineers describe it with four words, saying it “sucks, squeezes, bangs, and blows.”

The Trent XWB sucks in about 1.3 tonnes of air per second. The air is compressed, or “squeezed,” and then in the combustion chamber, it is heated to about half the surface temperature of the sun. Finally, “bang” – and the engine blows the air back out, creating a thrust of 97,000lbs.

It was on show for the first time at the 2016 Hanover Fair.

Finnair Sets A350 Delivery, EIS Dates

Finnair expects to take delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 from Airbus during a ceremony scheduled to take place on October 7. Finnair has placed an order for 19 Airbus A350 XWBs, scheduled for delivery from the European airframer until 2023.

The first A350-900 for Finnair completed its first flight from Toulouse, France on September 17. (Photo: Airbus)

Finnair plans to place its first Airbus A350 into long-haul revenue service on November 21, when the aircraft flies from Helsinki to Shanghai. The next A350 long-haul destinations include Beijing, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore. Finnair also plans to take the big twinjet to New York later this year, becoming the first airline in the world to fly to the U.S. with the new aircraft type.

“We are excited about welcoming the first A350 aircraft into our fleet, and look forward to introducing it to our customers,” said Finair COO Ville Iho. “For the first few weeks, the new aircraft will serve crew familiarization flights in Europe, with the first commercial flights taking place on October 9 to Amsterdam and Oslo.”

Finnair has slightly adjusted its Airbus A350 long-haul launch schedule, due to a delay in first delivery, the need for the crew familiarization program and other unnamed operational factors. “The company wants to offer the best possible customer experience…and has therefore adopted a slightly more conservative launch schedule than previously indicated,” the airline said in a statement.

“Introducing 19 new aircraft into our fleet over a period of eight years is a major program for Finnair,” said Iho. “We have built the necessary flexibility into our preparedness plans and our A340 exit plan to adjust to any changes that may arise over the course of this massive program, ensuring a smooth introduction of the new aircraft into our fleet.”

Finnair plans to replace all seven of its A340-300s with A350-900s by 2017.

Airbus May Build 60 A320neos A Month By 2020

The first CFM Leap-1A-powered A320neo touches down in Toulouse. (Photo: Airbus)

Airbus is considering increasing the monthly production rate of the A320 family from 50 in the first quarter of 2017 to 60 or more by 2020, CEO Fabrice Bregier revealed at the company’s Innovation Days media event in Toulouse on Thursday. The company currently builds 42 of the narrowbodies each month. “It is a question of when, not if,” said Fabrice Bregier. When the time comes, however, Airbus will have to meet three criteria: market demand, supply chain health and Airbus factory productivity. “We’ll go when we believe we have a market, when we have a clear commitment from our customers,” he added.

Flying The A350: Airbus’s Most Technologically Advanced Airliner

Passenger comfort, operating economics and systems safety are all part of the appeal of Airbus’s new big twin

Airbus and Boeing are betting their futures on a new generation of long-range widebody twins with better fuel efficiency, lower operating costs and reduced noise and emissions compared with today’s two- and four-engine widebodies.

The A350 is Airbus’s largest, longest-range, highest-flying and fastest-cruising twin. The A350-900, the first version now entering service with Qatar Airways and other carriers, is a larger aircraft than Boeing’s 787. With nine-abreast economy seating, the A350 can fly 315 passengers 7,750 nm at Mach 0.85. The 787-9 seats 280 and has a maximum range of 8,300 nm.

Having flown the 787 in 2012 (AW&ST Dec. 10, 2012, p. 46), Aviation Week & Space Technology has now had the opportunity to fly the A350. Several differences are apparent, between the new Airbus and Boeing widebody twins and between the A350 and earlier A330.

The A350 has the most efficient wing yet designed by Airbus. The aircraft’s nominal range with 315 passengers is 7,750 nm. Credit: Airbus

Both the A350 and 787 make extensive use of composites, have full three-axis digital flight controls and use the latest turbofan engines—Rolls-Royce Trent XWBs on the Airbus. But the A350 has a more conservative systems design than the 787, with fewer electrically powered systems. The Airbus has only two hydraulic systems, whereas the Boeing has three; its dual electrical systems provide the critical flight control redundancy.

A senior Airbus engineer just showed us 5 new inventions that could transform aviation

BIRDPORT proposes deploying a flock of drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to guide birds from airports.

Airbus, the 50 billion (£36 billion, $56 billion) French aircraft maker, has potentially uncovered a number of inventions that could transform the aviation industry in the future.

After receiving around 500 submissions for its "Fly Your Ideas" competition this year, to seek out ideas from students with a mix of engineering and non-engineering backgrounds, Airbus unearthed a number of pretty incredible innovations that could be created, patented and implemented in aerospace production.

The five finalists' inventions were so cool that a senior Airbus engineer walked Business Insider through the blueprints.

"The competition isn't for us to steal people's ideas and make a massive profit from it, we have been very clear from the start that the intellectual property is owned by the students and the academic insitutions they come from," said Professor Ian Lane, senior expert, composite analysis at Airbus to Business Insider. "This is our version of an outreach programme that can generate and inspire the next world generation of engineers and potentially create some industry changing innovations in the process. Students are a freethinking bunch."

Airbus invests 2 billion (£1.4 billion, $2.2 billion) a year in research and development and files over 600 patents a year. Some of the ideas are pretty cool and could make the grade for future production.

Drones and "Birdport"

Team Birdport from the University of Tokyo, Japan, proposes deploying a flock of drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to guide birds from airports to a comfortable habitat nearby.

It is aimed at significantly reducing the number of bird strikes to aircraft and also enhancing aircraft availability. The drones use tactics of "separation, alignment and cohesion" to manipulate flocks and divert them to Birdport, which is a natural habitat where birdsong and decoys are used.

Professor Lane said that this was the first time a drone concept had been entered into the competition, which takes place every two years.

The Birdport concept by the University of Tokyo.

Energy-harvesting skin

PICTURE: Vietnam Airlines' first A350 aircraft enters final assembly

Vietnam Airlines' first Airbus A350-900 has entered final assembly.

The entry into final assembly comes a day after the aircraft gained type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which certified it with two maximum take-off weight variants: a basic 268t and a higher 275t option.

The A350 is scheduled for delivery in mid-2015, and Vietnam Airlines will be the first Asian carrier to operate the type.The airline has 10 A350-900s order, and Airbus says that they will be used on long-haul services.

Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets database shows that the airline will receive an additoinal four A350s from lessors CIT Aerospace and AerCap.

ANALYSIS: Rolls-Royce harvests a decade of research for new engine projects

As Rolls-Royce prepares to build and begin testing next year its seventh member of the Trent family – the 7000 for the Airbus A330neo – it is harvesting the fruits of a decade’s worth of research and development projects into two studies that could form the basis for a new generation of widebody – and even possibly narrowbody – engines in the 2020s.

The UK propulsion specialist wants to develop technology and products that will secure a 50% share of the twin-aisle market, as well as – perhaps more ambitiously – help it break back into the growing single-aisle sector, vacated when it abandoned the International Aero Engines consortium in 2012, just when a host of new narrowbody programmes were arriving on the market.

ANALYSIS: Rolls-Royce makes progress with Trent 7000

Although understandably coy before Airbus’s Farnborough announcement that it was launching the A330neo, Rolls-Royce was by July quite far along the path of finalising the design for the Trent 7000, the 72,000lb (320kN) thrust engine that will exclusively power the re-engined widebody. Rolls-Royce already has a more than 50% share of engines on in-service A330s, with its original Trent 700.

EASA certifies A350-900

Airbus has secured European certification for the A350-900 following a 15-month flight-test campaign comprising more than 2,600h.

The European Aviation Safety Agency has certified the aircraft with two maximum take-off weight variants: a basic 268t and a higher 275t option.

This higher capability is intended to mitigate the A350’s airframe weight which is around 3t above Airbus’s target specification.

A350 programme chief Didier Evrard says the manufacturer can “now proceed with the next step of the delivery process”, adding that the first customer aircraft, MSN6 for Qatar Airways, is “ready to be transferred” to the Airbus flight-test team.

Etihad sells exclusive 'Residence' suite for first A380 flight

Middle Eastern carrier Etihad Airways has sold the exclusive apartment-style first-class suite for its initial Airbus A380 flight.

Chief executive James Hogan confirmed the sale as he defended the decision to include the single three-room suite – branded ‘Residence’ – as part of the A380’s interior.

While the cost of the fare is comparable to that of hiring a private jet, Hogan says the company believes there is “a segment” of customers who would prefer the option of taking the A380, particularly within the strong traffic flows such as routes to New York.

Hexcel to build new composites plant for Airbus and CFM contracts

Carbonfibre materials specialist Hexcel is to cement its relationship with Airbus via a $250 million investment in production and quality control facilities at Roussillon in France.

The California-headquartered company was chosen in 2008 as exclusive supplier of carbonfibre prepreg materials for all A350 primary structures, a deal which was the largest in is 65-year history and which now accounts for more than $4 million in content on each A350.

The new plant – to occupy 37 acres at the Osiris chemicals industry platform in Roussillon, close to Hexcel's existing weaving and prepreg manufacturing facilities near Lyon – will also be used to supply Safran with material for CFM Leap engines. Factory construction is to begin in mid-2015 and the plant should be fully operational, employing 120 people, by mid-2018.