Aer Lingus is shaking up its image, and marketing. The airline has changed its visual identity, is promoting its heritage to travelers and formally applied to join a transatlantic joint venture (JV) operated by its parent, IAG, and American Airlines.The joint motion from Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair indicates a number of potential benefits arising from the Irish airline joining the venture including lower fares and more connectivity options for travellers due to increased codesharing; all part of the new emphasis that the airline is putting on the old established European airline brand.
Airbus boss Tom Enders has launched a Brexit blast, stating that the UK’s aerospace sector “now stands at the precipice” and warned that the planemaker could move its UK factories abroad. He said, “If there is a no-deal Brexit, we at Airbus will have to make potentially very harmful decisions for the UK.” He added: “Please don’t listen to the Brexiteers. It is not possible to pick up and move our large UK factories to other parts of the world immediately. We could be forced to re-direct future investments. Make no mistake there are plenty of countries out there who would love to build the wings for Airbus aircraft.”
Indigo Air has chosen Ronojoy Dutta, former United Airlines President 1999-2002, as CEO at IndiGo, the Indian low-cost carrier. He was initially appointed in early December as principal consultant to spearhead a new five-year business plan. Dutta returns to his roots having graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched a data tool that will help airlines collaborate in real-time during flights to avoid turbulence. Turbulence Aware will instead collect data from multiple contributing airlines—under rigorous quality control—before consolidating the information into a single, anonymized, objective source database which is accessible to participants.
“Turbulence Aware is a great example of the potential for digital transformation in the airline industry,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “The airline industry has always cooperated on safety—its number one priority. Big data is now turbocharging what we can achieve. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Aer Lingus Southwest Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines already signed up
Norwegian Airlines has been in the news with questions ablout its future. This has been put to rest as it was announced by the airline that moves are being made to reduce expenditures with the postponement of aircraft deliveries, optimization of the base structure and route network and strengthening its balance sheet through fully underwritten rights issue securing $3 billion ($353 million dollars) Norwegian kroner.
“Norwegian has been through a period of significant growth. Going forward, we will see an increased focus on cost savings and CAPEX reductions. We will now get in place a strengthened balance sheet that supports the further development of the company”,
said CEO Bjørn Kjos of Norwegian.
Singapore Airlines new fleet of aircraft will be equipped with Thales’s AVANT IFE system, featuring an innovative and personalized user experience uniquely designed for Singapore Airlines. Singapore Airlines and Thales are celebrating the entry into service of the airline’s new medium-haul A350-900 aircraft. Singapore Airlines announced Adelaide as the launch point of its new aircraft commencing operations on December 17, 2018. Thales recently assisted JFKIAT at JFK with its Airport Operations Center.
Ethiopian Airlines, the largest Aviation Group in Africa and SKYTRAX certified 4-Star global airline, is pleased to announce that it will restructure its U.S. network, adding frequencies and shifting gateways as of the summer of 2019. From the planned daily flights from the New York area to Addis Ababa, four will be served via Lomé from Newark and three will be via Abidjan from JFK Airport. Regarding the route restructuring, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, a spokesman remarked, “The U.S. is among our most important markets owing to the presence of a large African community and growing business and tourism ties with Africa.”
