London Heathrow, The Death has almost arrived !!!

London !!!!!!!!!!

The place where even today, Kings and Queens still exists, but then the air travel has not gone the way it should have. Thanks to the locals !!! They can`t sleep at night if the planes keep zooming at night, so this led to a series of disasters for the aviation scenario there.

The Heathrow Airport is waiting for development for decades now, and it already functioning at a 98-100% capacity. Since they aren`t developing the airport, the traffic and the passengers are choosing the better option of flying via the Gulf, because that is reasonably cheaper and also fantastic.

I have landed at the Heathrow, and yeah, its air space is really a busy mess. Many a times the flight keep circling in the air for 30 minutes. and when you flight is taking off there is a huge queue, sometimes even 10 planes are waiting on taxiway and from the window you could actually count how many planes were lined before yours.

The vicinity does have a lot of development options and none of them seem to be advancing. It is aptly said, that, if the city or a country has to develop for infrastructure, then some locals have to face hardships.

Considering the fact that, the development isn`t a possible option even in the next decade, they should allow flights to operate during the night which may allow opportunity for more passengers and flights. Frankfurt Airport on the other hand has 4 runways and ample more space for future terminals and runways. So, a lot of share of Heathrow has also transferred there.

A lot of airlines have started flying the A380 to LHR because, that way more people can be commuted, but at this point, there is a need for more landing and take off spots needed. Ironically, the case of LHR also has a side-effect, it seems British Airways may no longer be competitive in the next 4-5 years.

Let`s see if the Queen cares enough and does something about it.

Castellón–Costa Azahar Airport

In India we normally crib about having a new, better airport all the time, but then some how there is always no space or not enough funds to get it done. Even if there is planning and finance, they would take nearly 30 years to be operational. By that time a new generation is out there.

In Spain they built an airport which is not being used. Interesting !!!

They have this airport name Castellon Costa Azahar Airport, which is a single runway airport, and is ready to be operated but no airlines has singed up to use this airport. It is clearly a sign of a wasteful expense because anything once made needs maintenance as well. So even if this is not used, more expense will be needed to have it in shape once it is decided to have it working.

A hundred and fifty million euros gone down the drain. 

Red Eye Flights in India for Domestic Travel

Red Eye flight is a synonymous term with international travelers. But most of the domestic travelers don`t even know what it is. A Red Eye flight is a flight which departs late in the night and arrives early next morning. It is called red eye because, when you are supposed to sleep, you actually, are awake, leading to red eyes and tiredness and so the term has been coined "Red Eye".

Generally, domestic travel is restricted only during the day time, as the source and destination fall in the same time zone, so most of the times, domestic flights are seen to be operated in the day time only. Consequences, the flights fly all day and then at night they sit at the airport (literally, to me it seems that even the flights would snoring making those noises). For any airlines, a flight sitting on the airport even for an extra minute is a loss meter, because it does not make the airline company any profit unless it flies.

AirAsia India has come up with a unique strategy to operate red eye flights in India. When a flight operates during day time, then the in air time of the flight is 13 hours a day, which for a budget carrier is low. The more they fly, the more profits they generate. So operating an additional late night flights allows them to have an in air time of 16 hours. This also makes the fare more competitive, as not everyone would want to travel late night, plus, the flyer gets the advantage of a cheaper ticket option.  It would be interesting to see how the load factor is going to be, as majority of the travelers prefer the timing between 10am and 6pm for their domestic travel.

Another notable point is that, smaller airport which don`t have much capacity will be able to perform better as the night slots becomes available all of a sudden and thus, the number of passengers being able to use the facilities with the existing infrastructure would increase as well.

However, it will be interesting to see how these flights fare in the metro cities where at night time only international flights are operated. It should be a tough drive for budget airlines to buy night time landing and take-off slots because those shall be priced higher as, foreign airlines get in metro cities with big planes and they can afford it due to more passenger carrying capacity.

Should You curse Malaysian Airlines ?

You are planning to fly XYZ Airlines and just 2 days prior to your flight, one of the airplanes of XYZ Airline crashes, killing everyone on board.

Will you still fly with XYZ ??

The answer should be a most probable YES, why ? because in 100% of the cases, the airline, is basically not responsible for the crash. Lets see how, 

A big airlines purchases a lot of aircrafts worth millions and billions of dollars. Even if one of the aircraft is down, it means it is going to be a total loss for the airlines. So, no airline would ever want any of its planes to crash down, because more than public safety, they would value the worth of their aircraft more. And when they take care of the aircraft, they are indirectly taking our care too.

Recently, 2 of the most advanced passengers jets of Malaysian Airlines got down, one was lost and the other was hit by a land to air BUK missile. Did Malaysian Airlines want to kill people ?? Certainly not. Does Politics came in between Air Crashes ? Certainly not. Then why are people still blaming Malaysian Airlines.

I checked the flight rates online and turns out that routes from from anywhere to anywhere within Asia are cheapest with Malaysian Airlines and still people feel, there might me another one, who knows.

Despite living in a rational world, I fail to understand why, people have stopped flying Malaysian Airlines. I saw a lot of images online where practically, the load factor for Malaysian Airlines is extremely low. 

More than a decade of awesome services have been overlooked by people and they are coming to conclusion just because of these two incidences....

Vistara Airlines

The Tatas have come up with another airlines venture, the Vistara Airlines. Recently, it came up with AirAsia India, which was a low cost carrier with operations focussed in Southern India. This time a premium segment airline, focussed in the northern India with Delhi Airport hub has been planned.

The aviation sector in India is not a reliable arena, considering that only 1 airline in profitable. In India, services are not respected a lot, and considering a premium airline to be launched is a kind of weird decision, because, all flights in India have a maximum duration of 2 hours, which is quite less.

Vistara Airlines ha 20 A320`s on order which will be delivered within 5 years, after which it`ll be eligible to begin overseas operations. Initially, this airlines will plan to connect Delhi with all the major tier 1 and tier 2 cities.

It would be interesting to see how this airlines fares considering that in the past the Tatas have had multiple failed bids to acquire Air India.

Boeing`s Winning Slot Machine Boeing "777"

Ever heard the number "777" ?

Yeah, we would associate the number to a Casino 99% of the times, and a 777 on the slot machine means a perfect win on any slot machine. Some prefer to call it "Triple Seven" and the others call is "Seven Seven Seven".

777 is actually a winning plane from Boeing, which has been the most trusted plane all over the world especially in the long haul and the ultra-long haul category. This plane has had an exceptional safety record and is a favorite among airline to put it on its busiest routes. This plane was introduced in 1994 and since then been an instant hit. A lot of new versions have kept coming in and all of them have weighed in additional benefits, keeping Boeing`s bank account flooded with money all the time.

What makes the 777, so popular ?

The 777 is a twin-engine plane, meaning, 2-engines but still able to service routes managed by the four engine Boeing 747 or an A340. Basic maths tells us that, it is cheaper to run 2 engines than 4. Despite being just a 2-engined plane, it was able to service the distances previously managed by the B747 or the A340. This aircraft soon became a replacement aircraft for the fuel sucking planes. Every major airlines has placed order for this flying beauty. It is nothing short of a magic carpet, it is a silent flying machine, where vibrations felt neither during the take-offs, nor during the landings, and the cruise control at 40,000ft is so awesome, that you`d feel, you are walking among the clouds literally. Over 1200 triple 7`s have been built so far and orders are pending for an additional 550.

Different versions of the "777"     

777-200 - This was the first of 777`s to be made.

777-200ER - The ER stands for extended range, this was an extension to the previous model but offered better range.

777-300 - This was a longer version of the 777-200ER

777-200LR - This is one special plane, the LR stands for Long Range, this particular model offered the flexibility to travel almost 17000km, which none of the modern day aircrafts can even think of. This plane has a distinguished feather of flying non-stop between Hong Kong and London for 22 hours and 42 minutes (the plane had only the main crew and the supporting crew, no cargo either), flying east wards, obviously, the wrong direction to fly this route, but then for the record there were no two points which were as away from each-other, this flight saw two sun rises, thanks to time difference and jet-setting.

777-300ER - This model is the most sold model of the 777 family, and it is an extension of the 777-300 with extended range possibility. This plane has the range to cover up 90% of the world`s city pairs, and that is a big adjective to its name. This model is by far the most sold among all the 777s.

777 Freighter - This is the freighter version of the 777, and a preferred model in the cargo business.

Last year during the Dubai Airshow in November 2013, a new 777 program, the 777X was announced, where Boeing announced the 777-8X and the 777-9X, offering better range than all its previous family members. The most unique feature of this series is that planes will have foldable wings, meaning the wings would be extended when the flight is cruising in the skies, that would mean better mileage, and when it has landed the wings` size would be shrunken by a couple of feet. This concept is the first to be ever carried out by any airplane.

Emirates, British Airways, Air France, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, are all the major users of the 777 planes. It is because of this plane that newer routes were launched and its direct benefit was passed on to the consumers. Emirates is the largest consumer of the 777. It is the only airline to have purchased every single version of the 777. It has 128 777s in operation at the moment and an additional 203 on order. Clearly, from the Emirates fleet analysis, it is obvious that the Emirates Airlines trusts the 777 more than the A380.

In 2016, the 777 is going to be the most delivered plane, surpassing the current leaser 747.

Photo courtesy: shutter stock and respective owners. I do not own any of the images.

O`Hare Airport: Amazing Come Back

I have been tracking almost all the major airports from all continents. Going by the statistics, I may have claimed that Dubai airport, or even the Frankfurt airport are simply amazing, but there is this one airport which is always going to hold a sweet spot on my lists, and it is none other than the Chicago`s O`Hare airport, which is one the busiest airport in the world and at one point it the all time busiest airport too, amazing. This airport is soo soo busy that things get absolutely insane. Literally on any given day, almost 70% of the flights are operating behind schedule. Additionally, this airport is one of the few airports which is located within the heart of the city, i.e. within the municipal limits.

It used to be perhaps the only airport in the world which had 3 sets of parallel runways pointing in different directions, giving it an unthinkable advantage, meaning, planes could take-off and land despite high winds or bad weather in the opposite direction literally. Certainly a favorite among airlines and passenger due to the connectivity and options, but over the years it has been too crowded and this lead to a lot of delays. Alongside is the layout plan of the O`Hare airport in the year 2001.

O`Hare runways were intersecting (Hail old planning) so not more than 3 runways could be used in any configuration, the current expansion rates demand non intersecting sets of runways, which could operate independently. The American Aviation Ministry was quick to recognize this and made a remarkable plan to alter the runways and convert them to an all parallel layout.

This meant, tons of changes to be made and billions of dollars of investment. But the results have been fabulous. Now, the O`Hare has a total of 8 runways, EIGHT parallel runways !!! (which is more than all operational runways in all the airports of Indian metro cities, haha). 6 runways are parallel are now parallel to each other, and the rest 2 are parallel in another direction. 

Alongside is the image of modern day O`Hare airport`s layout. The new layout allows independent operations of the runways. Simultaneously take-offs and landing, so no more delays. Good for the airlines and a win for passengers indeed. Now all of a sudden there are no flight delays and passengers are surprised too.

In previous posts, I have mentioned innumerable times that the Al Maktoum International Airport is slated to be the busiest airport of the future, but I feel that with these development at the O`Hare, a lot of new slots are generated for airlines and this will invite new routes and added frequencies to existing routes. The highest number of passengers this airport has managed is 76 million annually, but now with availability of new slots, and added infrastructure, this airport will be able to manage a cool 150 million.

Earlier only 3 runways could be used at any given time, but now, 6 can be used, so the capacity multiplies and the O`Hare may see better days ahead. Clearly, despite being one of the oldest airports, it is still ahead of its time even today...


Photo courtesy: Wikipedia.