201308_swiss_traffics_statistics_english.pdf |
You can find attached at this post the results of SWISS during the month of August:
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SWISS has secured first place once again in the “Europe’s Leading Airline Business Class” category of the annual World Travel Awards – for the third time in succession and the fifth time overall since 2005. “We are delighted that our constant endeavours to make the SWISS Business air travel experience as attractive as possible on both the long and the short haul have been recognized once again,” said Frank Maier, Head of Product & Services at SWISS, on learning of the award. “This latest distinction also confirms to us,” he continued, “that as The Airline of Switzerland, with our typically Swiss top-quality service, we can more than hold our own.”
SWISS has also embarked on further refining its long-haul service product and adding even more “Swissness” to the SWISS travel experience, a process that began in July. As well as expanding the range of its inflight movies (up to 130 by autumn), the airline now also offers its new “Made in Switzerland” platform featuring famed and less-well-known Swiss musicians and a growing number of films both about Switzerland and by Swiss movie makers. In addition, SWISS Business guests on long-haul services from Switzerland also enjoy the delights of “SWISS Taste of Switzerland”, SWISS’s unique award-winning inflight culinary concept. Every three months a reputed Swiss chef based in a particular Swiss canton is invited to create exclusive meals focusing on the local produce and cuisine. SWISS Business travellers are also offered Swiss specialities and traditional Swiss fare all year round on selected flights to Switzerland within SWISS’s European network. And to ensure that the SWISS Business travel experience is as pleasant as possible not only in the air but also on the ground, SWISS has also been one of the first airlines in the world to provide a round-the-clock customer service via the Facebook and Twitter social media channels, enabling customers to contact a SWISS Service Center any time with any questions they may have about their flight, their ticket, rebookings and more. Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. Corporate Communications Phone: +41 848 773 773 Fax: +41 44 564 21 27 Following a recommendation by the Deutsche Lufthansa AG Executive Board headed by Dr Christoph Franz, the Supervisory Board approved the purchase of 59 ultra-modern aircraft for the Group at its meeting yesterday. 34 Boeing 777-9Xs and 25 Airbus A350-900s will be added to the Lufthansa Group's wide-body fleet. The first of these new aircraft will be delivered as early as 2016. Older Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A340-300s will be phased out by 2025. The new aeroplanes will primarily serve to replace existing aircraft at Lufthansa.
The investment amount for the Lufthansa Group's latest order totals EUR 14bn at list prices and is the largest single private-sector investment in the history of German industry. "This investment will safeguard about 13,000 jobs at Lufthansa alone as well as thousands of jobs at our partners in aviation and other suppliers", said Christoph Franz, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, explaining the macroeconomic significance of the investment at a press conference in Frankfurt. This investment in new technology, efficiency and customer comfort is a continuation of the ongoing fleet modernisation that is taking place at the Group's airlines. Lufthansa operates a wide-body fleet of around 107 aircraft, among them ten ultra-modern Airbus A380s and nine Boeing 747-8s as well as the Airbus A330-300 (18 aircraft). The fleet also includes Airbus A340s (48) and Boeing 747-400s (22). In addition to these, the Group subsidiary Swiss has 31 wide-body aeroplanes, while Austrian Airlines' wide-body fleet consists of 12 aircraft. The aim is to reduce the number of different models and fleet complexity in the Passenger Airline Group segment and also replace existing aircraft with state-of-the-art aeroplanes. In March, the Group approved the purchase of around 100 short and medium-haul aircraft. This order included six new Boeing 777-300ERs for Swiss, which are also intended to replace older Airbus A340-300s at the airline. Improved efficiency – good for the environment, good for Lufthansa"Less fuel consumption, less CO2 emissions and less noise: The aircraft on order will enable us to make a quantum leap in efficiency and to enter the 2-litre class", commented Christoph Franz. No other aircraft type will fly as economically as the A350-900 and the Boeing 777-9X in terms of kerosene consumption per passenger and 100 kilometres flown. This order underscores the company's desire to invest in the latest technology to help the environment. The 59 new aircraft will consume an average of just 2.9 litres of kerosene per passenger and 100 kilometres flown. That is around 25 per cent less than aircraft available today and it will have a positive impact on the Group’s carbon footprint. Unit costs will sink by approximately 20 per cent compared with predecessor models. The new aircraft will be operated by ultra-modern, powerful, low-noise engines – the Airbus A350 by the Rolls-Royce 'Trent XWB 84' engine and the Boeing 777-9X by General Electric's 'GE-9X' model. The noise footprint of the new models will be at least 30 per cent lower than today's aircraft. State-of-the-art in-flight products to improve travel comfort"Both aircraft types have a much wider cabin again than the Airbus A340, which will give us new opportunities to improve comfort for our customers when designing the cabin interior", explained Carsten Spohr, Member of the Executive Board of the Lufthansa Group. The positive feedback from customers about the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 shows that investing in new types of aircraft pays off, he added. Commitment to Germany and Europe as a business locationThis aircraft order demonstrates Lufthansa's commitment to operating a modern, state-of-the-art fleet and also represents an important investment in Germany and Europe as a business location. "Every single A350 and every single Boeing 777 develops the employment effect of a medium-sized company in Germany", said Christoph Franz, referring to the macroeconomic significance of the order. At Lufthansa alone, every aircraft safeguards about 220 jobs directly. For 59 aircraft, that equates to 13,000 directly attributable jobs. Added to these are approximately another 100 jobs per aircraft at airports, air traffic control, manufacturing companies, freight forwarders and other partners in the system. The employment effect of the 59 wide-body aircraft comes to over 20,000 jobs in Germany and Europe as a result. "This order creates excellent prospects for the company as well as for our employees worldwide", commented Carsten Spohr. According to Spohr, approximately half of the jobs linked to an aircraft are held by airborne staff. The rest are spread across passenger services, catering, maintenance and overhaul, as well as proportionately across the management services needed, such as in sales, marketing and controlling, he said. 295 brand-new aircraft between 2013 and 2025 The Lufthansa Group is currently undergoing a fundamental reorganisation. This includes the development of innovative business models, such as the one used by the new Germanwings, and the restructuring of internal Group services in the areas of purchasing, finance and HR administration. "Through the SCORE programme, which we have been implementing since 2012, we are creating the strategic and financial conditions necessary for this type of investment", explained Christoph Franz. The aircraft are to be paid for from the Group’s cash reserves and through external funding arrangements. Following the aircraft order already placed in March of this year, the Group currently has a total of 295 brand-new aircraft on order with a list value of EUR 36bn. These should be delivered by 2025. Photos to illustrate this topic are available here: http://www.lufthansagroup.com/media Deutsche Lufthansa AG Media Relations Lufthansa Group Bombardier’s 2.5h-long maiden flight of the CS100 flight-test vehicle on 16 September went smoothly enough for the landing gear to be retracted, a promising sign during any initial sortie. “It’s a bit of a cliché, but it really did fly like our predictions,” says chief test pilot Chuck Ellis. The only anomaly occurred when the crew received a “small advisory message from one of the subsystems”, Ellis says, without elaborating. However, the message would not have required a certificated aircraft carrying passengers to call an emergency. And even in the conservative setting of a first test flight, the message still did not curtail the operation. “It just affected that we were being more careful,” Ellis says. For Bombardier’s team, completing the flight offered the relief of ending an eight-month delay. The challenge is now bringing the remaining four flight-test aircraft for the 110-seat CS110 variant into the campaign. All four are in various stages of assembly, but Rob Dewar, Bombardier’s vice-president and general manager of the CSeries programme, declined to specify when each would be ready. “We’re going to assess the data of [the first flight] and decide if there are any changes required, but so far [it’s] very positive and we’ll keep you posted,” Dewar says. The CSeries represents Bombardier’s boldest foray yet in the commercial sector. In addition to introducing Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan engine series, Bombardier designed the CSeries with a composite wing and an aluminium-lithium fuselage – both firsts in the narrowbody segment. One of the technologies most under scrutiny on CSeries is the fly-by-wire flight-control system, a first for Bombardier. Though the smaller CRJ1000 features a fly-by-wire rudder, the CSeries is the first production aircraft designed by Bombardier with a full three-axis fly-by-wire system. Fly-by-wire replaces mechanical linkages with a computer that interprets control-column inputs by the pilot and commands the flight-control surfaces to accomplish the pilot’s intent. The system also adds flight-envelope protections to prevent, for example, aircraft stalls. Moreover, the CSeries uses a bespoke version of the generic fly-by-wire system supplied by Parker Aerospace. Only four years ago, the CRJ1000’s flight-test programme was shut down for nine months when Bombardier detected an anomaly with the fly-by-wire rudder in an early test sortie. Bombardier learned from that episode and, with the CSeries, made a huge upfront investment in testing and simulation to ensure that the flight controls were mature before entering flight testing. Inside a new facility called the complete integrated aircraft systems test area (CIASTA), Bombardier’s engineers have run thousands of hours of tests using an “iron bird” simulator called the integrated systems test certification rig – all in preparation for first flight.
So far, the validation of all that work still lies ahead in the 2,500h CSeries flight-test programme. Bombardier’s maiden flight profile was designed cautiously, given the clean-sheet design of the aircraft and the airframer’s inexperience with full fly-by-wire technology. For instance, Ellis explained that the entire flight was operated in the direct flight-control law of the fly-by-wire system, which deactivates all the flight-envelope protections available in normal law. “We made it so that you can’t flip the switch [to normal law]. We blocked it out,” Ellis says. “We wanted to be able to see the airplane and not the computers and fly-by-wire system interacting.” Under normal control law, the CSeries fly-by-wire system is designed with a set of soft stops in pitch, roll and yaw, Ellis says, which provide the basic envelope protections. The system, however, allows the pilot to push through a soft stop to a hard limit, Ellis says. Source: Flightglobal by Stephen Trimble Finnish national carrier, Finnair, the launch customer for the A321 equipped with Sharklets, has taken delivery of its first of five aircraft on order. The aircraft will eventually replace Finnair’s existing fleet of 757s, making it an all Airbus operator. The aircraft was officially handed over to Ville Iho, Finnair Chief Operating Officer, during a delivery ceremony at the Airbus facilities in Hamburg, Germany.
“We are extremely proud to receive the world’s first A321 equipped with Sharklet fuel saving wing tip devices. This new aircraft will fit perfectly into our fleet and will contribute to optimizing our operating costs, whilst also reducing our environmental footprint.” said Ville Iho, Finnair Chief Operating Officer. ‘’We share a long-standing relationship with Finnair and are delighted that the airline has decided to build its future with an all Airbus fleet. With the Sharklet equipped A321, Finnair will benefit from lower operating costs, extended range, and better fuel efficiency. Thanks to the widest cabin of any single aisle aircraft on the market, the A321 also offers passengers more space and comfort,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer – Customers. Finnair will take delivery of a total of five Sharklet equipped A321s. It currently operates an Airbus fleet of 40 aircraft (25 A320 family aircraft and 15 A330s/A340s). Finnair was the first airline to commit to the A350 XWB with a total of 11 aircraft on order. The A321 is the largest member of the best-selling single aisle A320 Family. The Family has the lowest seat mile costs of any single aisle aircraft and with the widest cabin in its sector, it has wider seats, a wider aisle, more personal space and better comfort in all classes. To date, more than 9,800 aircraft from the Family have been ordered and over 5,700 delivered to more than 390 customers and operators worldwide. Airbus Media Release Delta Air Lines has placed a firm order with Airbus for 30 A321ceo (current engine option) and 10 A330-300 aircraft. This order marks a strong return to Airbus since Delta’s last order some two decades ago. The airline has selected CFM56-5B engines from CFM International to power its A321s and CF6-80E1 engines from GE Aviation for its new A330s. Deliveries of Delta’s new A330s are slated to begin in 2015, and its first A321 is scheduled for 2016 delivery.
As a result of the merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines, Delta currently operates a large Airbus fleet, including 126 A320 Family aircraft, plus 32 A330s. “We are always gratified by a significant order from a current operator, as it is the best endorsement of the value and dependability of the Airbus product line,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer – Customers. “We have longstanding partnerships with the Delta team. Nonetheless, this is the first-ever Delta order for our modern family of comfortable and efficient A320 and A330 aircraft. We look forward to seeing the growth of the Airbus fleet at Delta meet and exceed the needs of the airline’s customers and employees for many years to come.” "Delta is excited to select Airbus to partner with us as we continue our fleet renewal," said Ed Bastian, Delta's President. "These A330 and A321 aircraft offer a combination of economic efficiency and excellent customer satisfaction, which we experience with the 158 Airbus aircraft currently in our fleet." All of Delta’s A321s will feature Sharklets – lightweight composite wingtip devices that offer up to 4 percent fuel-burn savings, providing the flexibility of either adding 100 nautical miles range or increased payload capability of nearly 1000 pounds (up to 450 kilograms). Many of Delta’s A321s are expected to be assembled at the brand-new Airbus assembly line in Mobile, Alabama, currently under construction and scheduled to deliver its first aircraft in 2016. The facility represents a $600 million dollar investment in the Gulf Coast region, and will provide 1,000 new jobs in that community. Delta’s A321s will seat 190 people in two classes. The A321 is the largest member of the A320 Family – the world’s best-selling and most modern single-aisle aircraft Family. To date, over 9,800 A320 family aircraft have been ordered and more than 5,600 delivered to nearly 390 customers and operators. With proven reliability and extended servicing periods, the A320 Family has the lowest operating costs of any single-aisle aircraft. Delta has selected the 242-metric-ton version of the A330-300 to grow its widebody fleet. This new enhancement to the aircraft type benefits from up to 500 nautical miles of extra range, with the ability to carry nearly five metric tons more payload than the previous 235-metric-ton A330-300. About 1.2 billion passengers around the world have enjoyed travelling on board the light, bright and spacious A330 cabin to and from the 300 airports it serves today. Delta’s A330-300s will seat 293 passengers in two classes. More than 1,250 A330s have been ordered to date. Airbus Media Release Amsterdam, September 2nd 2013 -
Today Darwin Airline, the Swiss Regional reference in the Alpine and Subalpine region, and the Airport Amsterdam Schiphol presented the new routes operated by the Swiss carrier departing from Amsterdam to Leipzig/Halle in Germany and Cambridge in the United Kingdom, officially operated starting as of September 2nd 2013. For the new route Amsterdam - Cambridge, Darwin Airline offers 24 weekly flights between the two cities, operated with their own Saab 2000 turbo propeller planes with 50 seats in elegant blue leather and a pitch, the distance between the seats, of 81cm. The promotional fare starts at € 186 per person, round trip. For the Amsterdam – Leipzig route the company planned 24 weekly flights as well, with an inauguration fare starting at € 193 per person, round trip. "We are honored to be able to announce these new flights," says Maurizio Merlo, CEO of Darwin Airline and continues, "Europe is increasingly at the center of the expansion plan of our airline and we are confident that this collaboration with the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol will greatly help to increase it." Maarten de Groof, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer of Schiphol Group, said: “We are delighted to welcome Darwin Airline at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. With its services to Cambridge and Leipzig/Halle, this new customer adds two new destinations, thus further strengthening the Mainport Schiphol”. Darwin Airline Media Release Bombardier Aerospace announced today that the first CSeries aircraft – Flight Test Vehicle 1 (FTV1) – has successfully obtained Transport Canada’s Flight Test Permit, thereby clearing the way for its maiden flight, expected in the coming weeks. This follows a series of pre-flight tests including low-speed taxi runs. FTV1 will now proceed with high-speed taxi runs whereby the aircraft simulates speeds for flight take-off. “Five years in the making and today, following receipt of Transport Canada’s flight test permit, we are very close to the CSeries airliner’s first flight – a historic moment for Bombardier and a game-changing moment for the industry,” said Mike Arcamone, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “The CSeries aircraft teams have spent the last few weeks completing rigorous exercises to ensure the integrity and maturity of the aircraft are absolutely in check with the flight crew’s requirements. Pending optimal weather, the CSeriesaircraft will soon take to the skies.” Bombardier will provide regular updates on the first flight timing via its website dedicated to the CSeriesAircraft First Flight www.cseriesfirstflight.bombardier.com, where the latest news about the program and its maiden flight will be posted. On the day of first flight, the event will be broadcast live on the site. |