Heathrow airport have commenced developments to accommodate the A380. Terminal 3 will see a pier be demolished to allow space for the plane's wingspan.
The new development will be 280m long and 3 storeys high. Passengers will be able to disembark from both levels of the aircraft.
Managing Director of BAA said that preparations are going well: "The A380 will be an important aircraft for Heathrow... but we are also ensuring that our new facilities can accommodate all types of aircraft and meet the needs of all our airlines," he said.
A new pier will see 4 new aircraft stands designed to serve new models of aircraft such as the Airbus A320.
Airlines planning to operate the A380 to Heathrow include Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Qantas.
Showing posts with label Airlines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airlines. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Friday, 14 March 2008
Man arrested trying to run onto runway at Heathrow Airport
A man armed with a rucksack managed to get past security and onto the runway into the path of an oncoming aircraft at London Heathrow. An enquiry is now being conducted.
The man's actions disrupted flights for the day yesterday, he was arrested just before reaching the tarmac but the north runway was shut whilst armed officers held their guns towards him.
This incident came just 1 day before the Queen was expected to open the new terminal five. It's believed the rucksack contained clothes.
Police have said they don't know the man's motive but are confident it's not terror related. Workers at Heathrow believe it's a sign of protest over the new terminal and he wanted to cause havoc.
Gordon Brown has said that he's satisfied everything possible is being done to ensure security at the opening.
He later said: “I think the important thing about the Heathrow incident is that the person was detained, that all the security precautions went quickly into action, that he’s now being interviewed and that all possible steps were taken so that when this incident happened the arrest took place.”
A BAA spokesman said: “Clearly this incident is a matter of some concern and will be fully investigated in conjunction with the police.”
Twenty flights were cancelled by various airlines and outgoing flights diverted to the south runway.
This incident is the second in a number of weeks where security has been breached.
The man's actions disrupted flights for the day yesterday, he was arrested just before reaching the tarmac but the north runway was shut whilst armed officers held their guns towards him.
This incident came just 1 day before the Queen was expected to open the new terminal five. It's believed the rucksack contained clothes.
Police have said they don't know the man's motive but are confident it's not terror related. Workers at Heathrow believe it's a sign of protest over the new terminal and he wanted to cause havoc.
Gordon Brown has said that he's satisfied everything possible is being done to ensure security at the opening.
He later said: “I think the important thing about the Heathrow incident is that the person was detained, that all the security precautions went quickly into action, that he’s now being interviewed and that all possible steps were taken so that when this incident happened the arrest took place.”
A BAA spokesman said: “Clearly this incident is a matter of some concern and will be fully investigated in conjunction with the police.”
Twenty flights were cancelled by various airlines and outgoing flights diverted to the south runway.
This incident is the second in a number of weeks where security has been breached.
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Should airlines give passengers the legal right to 2 more inches legroom?
Currently the statutory width is 26 inches but now that people are getting fatter and taller should the width be increased to 28 inches?
It's been put forward that the current width prevents tall passengers from adopting the brace position if an emergency occurs.
The committee also added that "An extra tax for those who may have a medical need for extra leg room is unfair."
Airlines have also put forward their defence comments. EasyJet have said that some of their carriers would fall below the recommended statutory minimum that the committee suggested:
"It would not affect that many of our seats and we would clearly implement any new laws asked of us."
British Airways said:
"We already meet and exceed many of the recommendations put forward by the report and are actively working to improve the industries knowledge across key topics of aviation and health. The health and well being of our passengers remains of paramount importance. For over ten years British Airways has provided information to passengers about well-being in the air through an on-board video, information in our in-flight magazine and on ticket wallets."
It's been put forward that the current width prevents tall passengers from adopting the brace position if an emergency occurs.
The committee also added that "An extra tax for those who may have a medical need for extra leg room is unfair."
Airlines have also put forward their defence comments. EasyJet have said that some of their carriers would fall below the recommended statutory minimum that the committee suggested:
"It would not affect that many of our seats and we would clearly implement any new laws asked of us."
British Airways said:
"We already meet and exceed many of the recommendations put forward by the report and are actively working to improve the industries knowledge across key topics of aviation and health. The health and well being of our passengers remains of paramount importance. For over ten years British Airways has provided information to passengers about well-being in the air through an on-board video, information in our in-flight magazine and on ticket wallets."
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Chief Executive backs third runway proposals at Heathrow Airport
Willie Walsh the Chief Executive of British Airways has announced today that he is backing proposals for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
"It is a critical piece of national infrastructure and I am 100% behind the proposals. If we want a strong economy and want to be a world centre for business we have to have growth at Heathrow."
He went on to add that Terminal 5 is "on time and on budget" and would see operations at the UK's biggest airport transformed dramatically.
British Airways will use the new terminal primarily leaving the capacity in other terminals for other airlines.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Airlines to make 'aviation english' compulsory
Come March 2008 pilots flying international routes must acquire a mandatory level of proficiency in 'aviation english'. If they fail to do so ther licence could be taken off them.
It's likely to be compulsary that new pilots pass the language test as part of their commercial pilot licence training.
Aviation english involves communication of flight plans and landing and take off positions between pilots and air traffic control.
The move comes to try and fill the gap between communication with the cockpit and the control tower. One of the most primary factors responsible for accidents is misunderstanding of communication.
It's likely to be compulsary that new pilots pass the language test as part of their commercial pilot licence training.
Aviation english involves communication of flight plans and landing and take off positions between pilots and air traffic control.
The move comes to try and fill the gap between communication with the cockpit and the control tower. One of the most primary factors responsible for accidents is misunderstanding of communication.
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Are Airlines sacrificing safety for money?
The China Airlines accident couldn’t have happened at a worst time, the jet was packed with holidaymakers in the peak season of the vacation period.
It’s amazing that all passengers onboard escaped alive even if it was just by a hair’s breadth.
Ground workers have reported seeing fuel leaking from the right engine as the aircraft was taxiing to its parking spot. They alerted the pilots who at once began the evacuation procedure.
Once everyone had evacuated using emergency slides an explosion fired out on the left hand side engine.
It’s now serious questions are being asked. Where and how did the fuel leak happen, did the pilots notice the leak and if not why not, were the fuel tanks already damaged and been ignored?
This especially brings about a very important issue I have talked about before, have safety inspections been compromised in favour of money making? Investigations into this incident will be looking at the airline’s daily maintenance processes.
Nobody who wasn’t onboard the aircraft can imagine the terror and panic filling the cabin. Some have said the smoke that filled the inside whilst they were still evacuating started to take over the plane. It could have been a totally different result had the evacuation process taken longer than it did.
The designs of all aircraft are designed specifically so that all passengers can be evacuated in 90 seconds even with all the seats filled.
The investigation will most likely look at whether the crew did carry out proper evacuation procedures despite the evacuation going well in the accident.
This particular airline hasn’t had a good safety record to say the least. A China Airlines Airbus crashed on landing in 1994 at Nagoya Airport killing 264 people onboard. Four years later another Airbus went down in a residential area, in 2002 a 747 crashed in the Taiwan Straits.
China Airlines need to finally learn an important lesson and review its current operations and safety management. How many more lives are to be lost on their aircraft?
It’s amazing that all passengers onboard escaped alive even if it was just by a hair’s breadth.
Ground workers have reported seeing fuel leaking from the right engine as the aircraft was taxiing to its parking spot. They alerted the pilots who at once began the evacuation procedure.
Once everyone had evacuated using emergency slides an explosion fired out on the left hand side engine.
It’s now serious questions are being asked. Where and how did the fuel leak happen, did the pilots notice the leak and if not why not, were the fuel tanks already damaged and been ignored?
This especially brings about a very important issue I have talked about before, have safety inspections been compromised in favour of money making? Investigations into this incident will be looking at the airline’s daily maintenance processes.
Nobody who wasn’t onboard the aircraft can imagine the terror and panic filling the cabin. Some have said the smoke that filled the inside whilst they were still evacuating started to take over the plane. It could have been a totally different result had the evacuation process taken longer than it did.
The designs of all aircraft are designed specifically so that all passengers can be evacuated in 90 seconds even with all the seats filled.
The investigation will most likely look at whether the crew did carry out proper evacuation procedures despite the evacuation going well in the accident.
This particular airline hasn’t had a good safety record to say the least. A China Airlines Airbus crashed on landing in 1994 at Nagoya Airport killing 264 people onboard. Four years later another Airbus went down in a residential area, in 2002 a 747 crashed in the Taiwan Straits.
China Airlines need to finally learn an important lesson and review its current operations and safety management. How many more lives are to be lost on their aircraft?
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Are airlines paying fair?
Further to my previous article relating to poor pay for cabin crew, Sara Nelson who has worked 11 years for United Airlines had to sell her car in order to afford living costs.
Sara believes her pay has come down at least 30% and although has to do without the luxury of a car she does have longer hours and the addition of more broken lavatories to deal with!
"It seems more and more that one or two lavatories are shut down," said Nelson, who is also a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants union.
With on-board staffing reduced, "There are fewer people to look out for the problems and try to head them off from the get go," she said.
Tensions are riding high as cabin crew have to cope with more and more difficult conditions that the airlines are imposing on them.
Flight attendants are starting to actually resemble prisoners as a result of tighter security restrictions, faster turnaround times and congested planes without being provided adequate food and more importantly more pay.
"You have more people getting off, more people getting on, so the expectation is you basically don't get off the plane," Carla Rogat of Mesaba Airlines said.
"You can work a 14-hour day and get off the plane for 20 minutes,"
Contrary to what people may think, when aircraft are still waiting at the gate due to lengthy delays cabin crew aren’t actually being paid whilst the plane is standing still. It’s only when the plane leaves the gate that crew are being paid, so in effect they are working for free while the aircraft is stationary.
"I can work a 14-hour day and get paid for five of it," said Rogat.
The average salary of US flight attendants can be between $US19,200 and $US33,800 but many stay within this employment for the travel benefits and flexibility.
"I still really do love the job," said Alin Boswell, an 18-year veteran of US Airways Group Inc.
Airlines have in the past promised to ease stress put upon cabin crew but such actions have remained under the belt.
"We have taken a number of steps to improve the quality of life and scheduling flexibility for our flight attendants," said United Airlines spokeswoman Jean Medina.
"People are very, very upset. They've been stretched to the end," said Nelson. "They were stretched to the end before, but at least there was a promise of something better. Now when that hasn't been returned, it's as if the rubber band was broken."
Sara believes her pay has come down at least 30% and although has to do without the luxury of a car she does have longer hours and the addition of more broken lavatories to deal with!
"It seems more and more that one or two lavatories are shut down," said Nelson, who is also a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants union.
With on-board staffing reduced, "There are fewer people to look out for the problems and try to head them off from the get go," she said.
Tensions are riding high as cabin crew have to cope with more and more difficult conditions that the airlines are imposing on them.
Flight attendants are starting to actually resemble prisoners as a result of tighter security restrictions, faster turnaround times and congested planes without being provided adequate food and more importantly more pay.
"You have more people getting off, more people getting on, so the expectation is you basically don't get off the plane," Carla Rogat of Mesaba Airlines said.
"You can work a 14-hour day and get off the plane for 20 minutes,"
Contrary to what people may think, when aircraft are still waiting at the gate due to lengthy delays cabin crew aren’t actually being paid whilst the plane is standing still. It’s only when the plane leaves the gate that crew are being paid, so in effect they are working for free while the aircraft is stationary.
"I can work a 14-hour day and get paid for five of it," said Rogat.
The average salary of US flight attendants can be between $US19,200 and $US33,800 but many stay within this employment for the travel benefits and flexibility.
"I still really do love the job," said Alin Boswell, an 18-year veteran of US Airways Group Inc.
Airlines have in the past promised to ease stress put upon cabin crew but such actions have remained under the belt.
"We have taken a number of steps to improve the quality of life and scheduling flexibility for our flight attendants," said United Airlines spokeswoman Jean Medina.
"People are very, very upset. They've been stretched to the end," said Nelson. "They were stretched to the end before, but at least there was a promise of something better. Now when that hasn't been returned, it's as if the rubber band was broken."
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Do airlines pay their cabin crew a fair wage?
Cabin crew have to endure both long and short haul flights so why do they only get a basic salary of £10,000?
True they are experiencing the delightful element of travel but they only have a stop over of one or perhaps in some cases two nights. In order to get to these fabulous destinations they have to first serve people tea and coffee and deal with difficult passengers.
Looking after 50-300 people isn't easy so why do they only earn a very small salary? At the end of the day it is just another type of job, these people still need somewhere to live and put food on the table for families.
How on earth can cabin crew live on that salary!!! Is it really only because the employers believe they are travelling all round the world that they feel justified in paying such low wages?
Businessmen travel the world also yet I don't think they would for that kind of money!!
True they are experiencing the delightful element of travel but they only have a stop over of one or perhaps in some cases two nights. In order to get to these fabulous destinations they have to first serve people tea and coffee and deal with difficult passengers.
Looking after 50-300 people isn't easy so why do they only earn a very small salary? At the end of the day it is just another type of job, these people still need somewhere to live and put food on the table for families.
How on earth can cabin crew live on that salary!!! Is it really only because the employers believe they are travelling all round the world that they feel justified in paying such low wages?
Businessmen travel the world also yet I don't think they would for that kind of money!!
Thursday, 19 July 2007
Is safety still top priority with low budget airlines?
It’s a well-known fact that while aeroplanes are stuck on the ground they aren’t making money, but with the pressure mounting on individual airline staff to reduce turnaround times is safety being compromised?
Low budget airlines such as BMI Baby have targets for ground staff to get the plane back in the air after only 25 minutes!!
With all this extra pressure on individuals are they really taking the proper time and care with checking the aircraft after it’s previous fight. Do tight timescales cause negligence and only brief checks rather than thoroughly checking a carrier?
True, airlines want the aircraft to be in the air as many times as possible with hundreds of paying passengers on board. But then it’s only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.
And then what will the excuses be?
“A thorough safety check was compromised because we wanted to get the plane back in the air as quickly as possible to make more money”?
or “It was only a 2 hour flight nothing could have possibly happened to jeopardise safety”?
There are no excuses.
Low budget airlines such as BMI Baby have targets for ground staff to get the plane back in the air after only 25 minutes!!
With all this extra pressure on individuals are they really taking the proper time and care with checking the aircraft after it’s previous fight. Do tight timescales cause negligence and only brief checks rather than thoroughly checking a carrier?
True, airlines want the aircraft to be in the air as many times as possible with hundreds of paying passengers on board. But then it’s only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.
And then what will the excuses be?
“A thorough safety check was compromised because we wanted to get the plane back in the air as quickly as possible to make more money”?
or “It was only a 2 hour flight nothing could have possibly happened to jeopardise safety”?
There are no excuses.
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Sunday, 25 March 2007
All aircraft unsafe!
Indonesian Planes have been undergoing assessments which have found that none of the aircraft meet the required safety standards.
Australians have been warned not to fly on Indonesian planes by the Federal Government.
The assessment found that none of the carriers met "requirements of the civil aviation safety regulations". Garuda, Indonesia AirAsia and Mandala Airlines all fall into category two meaning that the minimal requirements regarding safety have been met yet not all have been implemented.
For those airlines falling into category three which meet only minimal safety standards (these include Batavia Air, Adam Air and Kartika Airlines), they have been given only three months to improve standards or face being taken out of flying.
This has come as a result of a Garuda plane catching fire which killed 21 people earlier on in March.
Australians have been warned not to fly on Indonesian planes by the Federal Government.
The assessment found that none of the carriers met "requirements of the civil aviation safety regulations". Garuda, Indonesia AirAsia and Mandala Airlines all fall into category two meaning that the minimal requirements regarding safety have been met yet not all have been implemented.
For those airlines falling into category three which meet only minimal safety standards (these include Batavia Air, Adam Air and Kartika Airlines), they have been given only three months to improve standards or face being taken out of flying.
This has come as a result of a Garuda plane catching fire which killed 21 people earlier on in March.
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
Airbus A380 lands in the USA
The Airbus A380 touches down for the first time in the USA. Report by the BBC - Click here!
Monday, 19 March 2007
Airbus A380 still being added to Malaysia Airlines fleet
The Airbus A380, which is currently running almost two years behind schedule, is still being sought after by Malaysia Airlines despite reports that the new Jumbo was no longer needed.
MAS said they were "still in discussions with Airbus on the various options available". And then later said "These planes are really expensive. So there is no point wasting taxpayers' money if it no longer fits into MAS's overall plans".
The new jets were supposed to be delivered this year but now the earliest delivery won’t be until 2009.
MAS said they were "still in discussions with Airbus on the various options available". And then later said "These planes are really expensive. So there is no point wasting taxpayers' money if it no longer fits into MAS's overall plans".
The new jets were supposed to be delivered this year but now the earliest delivery won’t be until 2009.
Sunday, 4 March 2007
Should Birmingham Airport be expanded?
It seems that everybody is migrating from the South towards the Midlands and as a previous story told, people are choosing to fly from Birmingham rather than London Airports.
But whilst there have been many unfavourable arguments towards the expansion of Birmingham Airport there are also many upsides to it. If there were to be another runway constructed then there would surely be the option of flying to many additional destinations and exotic places.
This could only bring more tourism to Birmingham and open up people’s eyes to what is actually on offer in the West Midlands, but then on the downside there would certainly be more pollution and excessive noise.
The introduction of new cars every year surely also brings about more pollution, doesn’t it?
And on a more selfish point of view I have never as yet seen a Jumbo 747 flying over Birmingham NEC!
Saturday, 3 March 2007
Birmingham Airport favoured over London Airports
Good news for Birmingham International Airport and Emirates Airlines. The airline boasted a 71% rise in passenger numbers from people favouring the Midlands airport over London.
This means Birmingham could be looking to accommodate larger aircraft as Emirates’s passenger numbers continue to increase.
Seven most popular destinations with Emirates’s passengers are in Australia as Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are now leaving places such as Delhi and Dhaka behind in the popularity stakes.
Friday, 2 March 2007
Go Mas Airlines!
Off to Malaysia at the end of the month with Malaysia Airlines.
Just getting into the mood!
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Airbus announce job cuts across Europe
Today the Airbus President gave a news conference announcing that 10,000 people across Europe would suffer in a job cuts announcement. Of those, 1,600 would be people in the UK.
Airbus have been hindered with delays to its A380 Superjumbo resulting in cancelled orders.
Airbus boss Louis Gallois said the firm was "facing huge challenges" and "was not efficient enough".
He also commented that the weak US dollar had also made the changes necessary.
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
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