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Tag: A350

  • Air India reveals new livery on its first A350

    Air India reveals new livery on its first A350

    Air India welcomed the first of 20 Airbus A350-900 aircraft on 23 December sporting the airline’s latest livery.

    The widebody aircraft, registered VT-JRA, arrived in New Delhi at 13:46 (local time) after the delivery flight from the Airbus facility in Toulouse.

    With the latest delivery, Air India is now the first carrier in the country to operate the A350. The aircraft will enter commercial service in January 2024 and will initially be operated domestically for crew familiarisation.

    Air India has 20 Airbus A350-900 on order, with five more scheduled for deliveries through March 2024. The airline’s firm orders with Airbus this year amounting to 250 aircraft also include 20 A350-1000.

    “This moment marks a red-letter day for all of us at Air India,” said Campbell Wilson, CEO and managing director at Air India.

    “The A350 is not just metal and engines; it’s the flying embodiment of the relentless efforts of all Air India employees towards our airline’s continuing transformation and of our commitment to setting new benchmarks. It is also, in many ways, a declaration of Indian aviation’s resurgence on the world stage.”

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  • AirAsia X won’t buy “too expensive” Airbus A350

    AirAsia X won’t buy “too expensive” Airbus A350

    AirAsia X group co-chief executive Tony Fernandes has thrown the carrier’s order for 10 Airbus A350-900s into doubt.

    Speaking in a Facebook video he says, “The A350 is not an aircraft we will buy. Too expensive. Fares would go up.”

    AirAsia X is understood to have been eyeing an order for additional A350s or Boeing 787s to complement its fleet of A330-300s, and 66 on-order A330-900s.

    Its 10 A350-900s on order are scheduled to start delivering in 2019, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows.

    In the same video, however, Fernandes also appeared to throw cold water on a return to flying to London, saying that there were “no plans” to resume services to the UK capital.

    His comments appear to contradict comments from carrier’s head of network and regulatory Venggatarao Niadu, who recently indicated that the carrier would look to expand its network to Europe and the United States “in about 2019”.

    AirAsia X previously flew from Kuala Lumpur to London and Paris using A340s, but those routes were dropped in 2012.

    Airbus indicates that an A350-900 costs around $317 million at list prices.

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  • Singapore Airlines locks in daily Airbus A350 for Melbourne

    Singapore Airlines locks in daily Airbus A350 for Melbourne

    Singapore Airlines is locking in its advanced Airbus A350 jet for a year-round schedule between Melbourne and Singapore starting May 11, 2017.

    The sleek jetliner has made a number of short-term appearances on the route, but later this year it’ll be running daily as Melbourne-Singapore flight SQ208 and the SQ207 return leg.

    Travellers at the pointy end can relax in the Star Alliance member’s latest business class seat, evolved from that of the  Boeing 777-300ER flagship.

    It’s an “evolutionary, not revolutionary” approach, reported AusBT’s Suzanne Wu from one of the first SQ A350 flights – “and that’s not a bad thing. Not a whole lot was broke, so not a whole lot needed fixing.”

    Melbourne’s SQ218/SQ217 is also running on an A350 until June 30, after which it will revert to the Airbus A380 superjumbo.

    Asian rival Cathay Pacific already has one Airbus A350 on the Melbourne-Hong Kong route as CX104/105, with a second slotting into CX134/135 from October 29, while Thai Airways says its own on-again off-again Melbourne A350 flights should launch before the year’s end.

    April sees Singapore Airlines celebrate 50 years of flying to Australia, and is tipped to debut its newest Airbus A380 – fitted with next-generation first class suites and business class seats – on the Singapore-Sydney route in October 2017.

    The redesigned first class suites will be fewer in number – down the current superjumbo’s 12 to between six and eight – but much larger in footprint, and have been relocated to the upper deck.

    Next year will see Singapore Airlines restart direct flights between Singapore and the USA, with both New York and Los Angeles in line for an ultra-long range version of the A350 dubbed the A350ULR.

    This long-legged jet will carry all-new business class seats compared to the Melbourne A350, but only around 170 seats – some 80 less than the airline’s regular A350-900s – in order to minimise fuel burn and maximise range for the 18-19 hour journey.

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  • Singapore Airlines launches A350 service to Manchester/Houston

    Singapore Airlines launches A350 service to Manchester/Houston

    Mancunians will be able to sample Singapore Airlines (SIA) latest A350 from January 17. SIA’s new three-class (business, premium economy and economy) twin-jet enters enters service on the Singapore-Manchester-Houston route.  It will replace the larger B777-300ER which currently plies the route.

    But the B777-300ER had the advantage of providing first class which will be unavailable with the A350.

    I cannot talk about Houston, but in the case of the UK regions there is not the same demand for a top premium cabin as there would be from London.

    Mancunians now have non-stop access both to Singapore and Houston. (Previously the Manchester-Singapore service was one-stop service via Munich. Singapore-Houston previously operated via Moscow).

    Both are hub airports so the canny traveller can fly onwards to Asia/Australasia (in the case of the former) and Texas and the Southern US in the case of the latter.

    Interestingly, for Mancunians seeking fast flights to Perth/Australia,  what SIA is offering out of Manchester takes away the advantage of Qantas’ non-stop London-Perth service which launches in 2018.

    Why fly Manchester-London-Perth with British Airways/Qantas (with a Heathrow terminal change)  when SIA can take you Manchester-Singapore-Perth ?

    Schedules are daily except Monday and Thursday.

    • Flight SQ052 will depart Singapore at 0215 arriving into Manchester the same morning at 0840. Its flight continues to Houston at 1010 arriving in the Texas city at 1430.
    • Return flight SQ051 departs Houston at 1850 to arrive into Manchester the following morning at 0840. It then departs at 1110 and, after another overnight aloft, it arrives into Singapore at 0755.
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  • China Airlines Becomes 9th A350 Operator

    China Airlines Becomes 9th A350 Operator

    The carrier, which has 13 more on order, is the ninth airline operator of the new type.

    China Airlines will deploy the first A350 on regional routes such as Taipei-Hong Kong for crew familiarization towards the end of October 2016, before flying it to Amsterdam, Vienna and Rome from January 2017.

    According to the airline, it expects to receive three more A350s by the end of the year, with the other 10 scheduled to be delivered during the next two years.

    Airbus had originally planned to deliver the first frame to China Airlines in July 2016, but pushed it back due to production delays.

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  • Indonesia’s Garuda to Choose Between A350 and 787 This Year

    Indonesia’s Garuda to Choose Between A350 and 787 This Year

    Garuda Indonesia Persero PT expects to decide between Airbus Group SE’s A350 and Boeing Co.’s 787 models this year as it prepares to order at least 20 of the large aircraft, the airline’s president director said.

    The Indonesian flag carrier forecasts growth to pick up significantly in 2019 and will need the new planes to handle expected capacity, Arif Wibowo said Wednesday at the Singapore Airshow. The airline has no plan to use Airbus’s A380 superjumbo, he told Bloomberg TV earlier in the day.

    Garuda returned to profitability last year with net income of $76.5 million, compared to a $370 million loss the year before, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Still, its shares tumbled 44 percent in 2015, nearly four times as much as the 12 percent decline in the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index and far below the 19 percent gain in the Bloomberg Asia Pacific Airlines Index.

    Shares were down 2.4 percent Wednesday at 449 rupiah as of 10:14 a.m. in Jakarta. The stock is trading near eight-month highs and has risen 45 percent so far this year, making it the seventh-best performer on the local index.

    Trimming Hedges

    The company expects oil prices to remain low and is reducing its fuel hedges, Wibowo said. The carrier forecasts passenger numbers to rise 10 percent this year and is seeking to capture 50 percent of the domestic market, up from 44 percent currently, he told reporters earlier this month.

    If the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration upgrades Indonesia’s safety rating to Category 1, Garuda hopes to launch non-stop service to the U.S. West Coast, giving it an advantage over competitors who make the trip with one stop, Wibowo said. He said the FAA is currently evaluating Garuda itself, with the results due out in the second half of the year.

    The carrier also hopes to start non-stop service to London but is limited by the runways at Jakarta’s international airport, which Wibowo said can not yet handle a fully loaded 777.

    Garuda plans to have a two-class cabin configuration on planes serving the Middle East, Southeast Asia and North Asia, with a similar configuration on any new planes they order, Wibowo said. Only four of the carrier’s 777s, used on flights to Amsterdam and London, will offer first-class seating, he said.

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