Notam
>The Largest Airline in the World
Some days ago American Airlines and US Airways announced plans to merge. The deal is expected to be closed in some months, and it will mean that both airlines will join and become the largest airline in the world. This announcement coincides with the launch of the new corporate image of American Airlines which includes a completely new livery for its fleet, a new logo and a desire to re-position the brand. It's fair to say that many industry experts and marketing analysts disliked American's new livery and it seems that after the merger the new powerful airline will keep the American brand. Not long ago, in the Continental-United merger the new company kept the United name but decided to choose more popular Continental livery.
The current US Airways management group will apparently run the new company which will be called American Airlines Group. The combined fleet of the new group will consist of 945 airplanes, strengthening the One World alliance currently led by American and British Airways (US Airways will leave Star Alliance).
It is important to mention that there are several ways of "calculating" the size of an airline. It can be measured in the following ways. These are the largest airlines according to the different measures as of 2011:
-Passengers carried: Delta airlines (161 million)
-Passenger kilometres: United (291 million)
-Fleet size: Skywest (740 airplanes)
-Number of destinations: United (374)
Enrique Cornejo Jr.
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>787, the Dream which is becoming a real headache
We were all amazed when we witnessed the first flight of the Boeing 787 in 2009. Almost two years later, in the fall of 2011, the first Dreamliner was delivered to All Nippon Airways. The aviation industry agreed that Boeing's new aircraft represents a new era in commercial aviation which can probably only be compared with the introduction of the fly by wire technology decades ago. The 787's use of composite materials make it the most fuel efficient aircraft ever built, being around 20% cheaper to operate than similarly sized aircraft, such as the 767. There is no doubt why airlines have ordered more than 800 units, of which 49 have already been delivered. The Dreamliner is a main pillar of the economic strategy of many airlines that are desperately looking to reduce their costs and improve their efficiency.
Although the future of the 787 looked bright and solid, serious incidents have forced all units to be grounded for maintenance checks. Those events include smoke in the cockpit, apparently generated by a burnt lithium battery, cracks in the cockpit windshield, false break alarms, engine malfunctions during takeoff and even a fire while the aircraft was in a US airport platform after arriving from a flight from Japan. Although some minor incidents are normal during the first operational weeks of a new aircraft, the continuous trouble has raised concerns about the safety of the design of the aircraft. This model incorporates technology which powers many systems of the aircraft with batteries, instead of doing so with power coming from the engines. As a result, the engines are more efficient and that power is substituted by batteries, which apparently are causing much of the recent trouble.
Some analysis say that the recent incidents are quite serious and could potentially have caused an accident of major consequences. On 16 January the FAA grounded all 787 for maintenance checks, one day after the Japanese aviation authority announced a similar measure.
Hopefully the engineers will come with a permanent solution and this blurry start of the Dreamliner's operational life will be forgotten soon. If that doesn't happen, Boeing, which has put all it's efforts in developing this aircraft, might get in real trouble.
Enrique Cornejo Jr.
Some days ago American Airlines and US Airways announced plans to merge. The deal is expected to be closed in some months, and it will mean that both airlines will join and become the largest airline in the world. This announcement coincides with the launch of the new corporate image of American Airlines which includes a completely new livery for its fleet, a new logo and a desire to re-position the brand. It's fair to say that many industry experts and marketing analysts disliked American's new livery and it seems that after the merger the new powerful airline will keep the American brand. Not long ago, in the Continental-United merger the new company kept the United name but decided to choose more popular Continental livery.
The current US Airways management group will apparently run the new company which will be called American Airlines Group. The combined fleet of the new group will consist of 945 airplanes, strengthening the One World alliance currently led by American and British Airways (US Airways will leave Star Alliance).
It is important to mention that there are several ways of "calculating" the size of an airline. It can be measured in the following ways. These are the largest airlines according to the different measures as of 2011:
-Passengers carried: Delta airlines (161 million)
-Passenger kilometres: United (291 million)
-Fleet size: Skywest (740 airplanes)
-Number of destinations: United (374)
Enrique Cornejo Jr.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>787, the Dream which is becoming a real headache
We were all amazed when we witnessed the first flight of the Boeing 787 in 2009. Almost two years later, in the fall of 2011, the first Dreamliner was delivered to All Nippon Airways. The aviation industry agreed that Boeing's new aircraft represents a new era in commercial aviation which can probably only be compared with the introduction of the fly by wire technology decades ago. The 787's use of composite materials make it the most fuel efficient aircraft ever built, being around 20% cheaper to operate than similarly sized aircraft, such as the 767. There is no doubt why airlines have ordered more than 800 units, of which 49 have already been delivered. The Dreamliner is a main pillar of the economic strategy of many airlines that are desperately looking to reduce their costs and improve their efficiency.
Although the future of the 787 looked bright and solid, serious incidents have forced all units to be grounded for maintenance checks. Those events include smoke in the cockpit, apparently generated by a burnt lithium battery, cracks in the cockpit windshield, false break alarms, engine malfunctions during takeoff and even a fire while the aircraft was in a US airport platform after arriving from a flight from Japan. Although some minor incidents are normal during the first operational weeks of a new aircraft, the continuous trouble has raised concerns about the safety of the design of the aircraft. This model incorporates technology which powers many systems of the aircraft with batteries, instead of doing so with power coming from the engines. As a result, the engines are more efficient and that power is substituted by batteries, which apparently are causing much of the recent trouble.
Some analysis say that the recent incidents are quite serious and could potentially have caused an accident of major consequences. On 16 January the FAA grounded all 787 for maintenance checks, one day after the Japanese aviation authority announced a similar measure.
Hopefully the engineers will come with a permanent solution and this blurry start of the Dreamliner's operational life will be forgotten soon. If that doesn't happen, Boeing, which has put all it's efforts in developing this aircraft, might get in real trouble.
Enrique Cornejo Jr.
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