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.

THE BIG THREE

Everyone is talking about the big 3, so what exactly is " THE BIG THREE " ?

The big three are actually the trio which is giving sleepless nights to all the major airliners of the world. The trio is none other than the Legendary:-

1) Emirates Airlines, operating from Dubai International Airport

2) Etihad Airways, operating from Abu Dhabi Airport

3) Qatar Airways. operating from Hamad International Airport

These three airlines are probably the last entrants in the airline business. But the three have a lot of things in common and also kind of the some illegal advantage. They are the chief Gulf operators, they are located at the cross-roads of the world. Every impossible connection is possible from this location. Almost 75% of the world population is 7 hours flying distance from these airports. Last and not the least, the land under these location produces a lot of oil. Almost an ideal setup for any airline.

Emirates is building a whole new airport the Al Maktoum International Airport, which is slated to be the busiest airport.
The Abu Dhabi Airport is rapidly expanding with new terminal buildings and additional developments.
Qatar recently moved up to a new airport, Hamad International Airport.

The big 3 are at the start of their career, actually the real damage is going to show up when all their airport work in full swing, and the other threatening thing is their fleet, all of them have a lot of heavy bodied flights on order, these 3 alone combined will be having a fleet of over 1100 aircrafts and majority of them being twin aisle, ultra long haul flights.

The Arabs know what they are doing, and they are really smart putting their money planning their country`s future.

A350 is Going on a World Tour

It is a common practice for new airplanes to go on test routes on locations around the world.

The most talked about tour was the A380`s tour. Now it is the turn of the much talked about A350 XWB, the direct competitor of the 777.

(XWB- Extra Wide Body)

There are going to be 3 test routes, as depicted by the different coloured lines on the above map. The main objective of such test runs is to check how the plane is performing in different locations and conditions. Also, it provides a feedback report to clients who ordered the aircraft. The A350 is scheduled to be delivered to Qatar airways this year.

Till date the A350 has already operated over 2000 flying hours !!!!


Image courtesy: australianaviation

Airline Alliances and Partnerships

Alliances help us at personal as well as professional levels. This is kind of important for airlines too. The more the friends an airline has, the more benefits it gets. 

There are three major airlines at this moment namely, Star Alliance, SkyTeam and One World. The main benefit of having an alliance is that sharing of resources, which effectively bring down the cost of operation. Plus, the alliances also help them to forward passenger to routes using partner airline routes where it does not operate its own flights. This is definitely a win, because, despite not serving a destination an airline can still service the passenger thus, improving the load factor. Certainly a win.

Eg. When some one want to fly between Toronto and Delhi, a passenger realizes that there is apparently no direct flight,

BUT,

There is choice, Air Canada and Air India are members of star alliances, which means, the passenger can fly between Toronto and London on an Air Canada flight and then fly between London and Delhi by an Air India flight. An onward connection is also possible further.

For frequent flyers there is another plus, where miles can consumed and gained even while flying on partner airlines. This in turn makes the customers loyal to a particular alliance

Members of the alliances are as follows: 

Star Alliance: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca Holdings, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Swiss International Air Lines, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways International, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines

SkyTeam: Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

OneWorld: Air Berlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, TAM Airlines, SriLankan Airlines and US Airways.

Airbus A330 NEO, A Quick Response to Boeing 787

At Farnborough International Airshow, Airbus made an announcement that a newer version of the A330 is going to be under production soon. The reported plane would be called A330 NEO (New Engine Option), this product is going to be a direct competitor of the Dreamliner.

The A330 from Airbus has been one of the best planes ever built, this has been one of the better models of its time. But the 787, the latest offering from Boeing, has allowed airlines to operates flights at a cheaper rate due to its fuel efficiency. It consumes almost 20% lesser fuel over any other traditional plane. The 787 has been attracting airlines because, this plane has enabled airlines to launch newer routes which didn`t exist earlier.

Airbus claims that with the new A330, they would be able to improve fuel efficiency by almost 14% and this would indirectly increase the range by 400 Nautical miles. Another plus is that, the plane is going to be cheaper than the 787 and would be delivered earlier as the research program is not very long. The first half of 2014 has not been a great one for Airbus because not many orders were held by it. Airbus is somehow trying to attract the lost traction and hope for revival.

We will get our answers only in 2017, when the first A330 NEO rolls out.

Air India, is it that bad ??

On my recent trip, rather than taking a foreign airline ticket, I decided to book direct flight tickets with Air India, I wanted the firsthand experience of Air India and forget how badly it has always been criticized by the media. I was booked. Even I had doubts if the plane would take-off or would it be cancelled like we read in the papers all the time. I reached the airport a cool 5 hours before time, because I wanted to see the Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 at length. It was mid-night flight, the flight took off... The crew began offering beverages, snacks, to the passengers who were awake and hungry. Mine was a special meal so I was the first one to receive my food. I asked for additional bread, to which the air hostess politely replied, "On the returning from the end", yes indeed when she returned she handed me some more and after some time, she again asked if I wanted anything else. Meanwhile, the guy in the row ahead of me, was so drunk that he passed out in the alley, within minutes another guy in the front row seat also passed out.  So on my outward trip I came to one conclusion, that the crew was very well trained, and they did a great job overall, there was literally nothing which was out of order.

On inward flight, a big tour group of some 40 odd people boarded the plane, not to forget, they very jolly and friendly amongst their group. The moment the flight took off, before the air hostess` could give us anything, the people from this group started distributing wafers, gathiyas, kachoris to one another.... and then they started distributing to the co-passengers also. They were repeatedly warned to take their seats but then they would not listen, despite their wives being with them, they misbehaved and kept drinking. The Air India Employees were not able to provide food/beverage services in their regular fashion because of this confusion. Had this been the case in a popular airline then, they would have been hand cuffed or duct taped to their seats like the poor guy below.

Further, the guys from the group even started clicking photos of the Air Hostesses, in all unruly behavior. It was certainly an embarrassment to our whole culture. Some Europeans were also on board, I bet they would have pledged that they`d never fly on any airlines from India, nor have a layover at an Indian airport by mistake. 

Finally we landed in Mumbai and I had a new image of Air India in my mind. I can proudly announce that the service which was offered by Air India was actually awesome, but it is us who fly on board are not allowing the crew to function properly. If we don`t allow them to carry out their task efficiently then we should not complaint either.

Dear Brothers and Sisters from India, how well behaved are we when we fly with foreign carriers, then why not behave well in our own Air India flight ??

Emirates Receives Its 50th A380 Jumbo

Emirates received its 50th A380 today, and still continues to be the undisputed leader with the highest A380s in its fleet.

With this addition, this newest A380 aircraft will be taken for operations by August. It is estimated that by late 2017, there would be a total of 90 A380s in the Emirates fleet in operation. Currently 27 airports are being served with the A380 by Emirates alone. By the end of this fiscal year, the number of destinations will rise to 33 after the gradual addition of Kuwait, Mumbai(YES our MUMBAI !!!), Frankfurt, Dallas, San Francisco and Houston.

With 50 A380s already delivered to Emirates, deliveries are still pending for an additional 90. And no surprises that in case Airbus chooses to offer the A380-NEO(New Engine Option), which Emirates is asking for, who knows, it is quite likely that Emirates may add more of the double deckers to their fleet.

Literally, the A380s of the Emirates fly from one corner of the world to another, Los Angeles in one end, to Auckland in the other end.


Image Courtesy of bhmpics.com

Mumbai Aviation: A Soon To Be Extinct Species

Mumbai Airport, or as locally called the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, is perhaps the most important place in the whole of India.

Be it Business, Glamour, Travel or a Fun trip, a person is most likely to land in Mumbai. This airport began operation as early as in the year 1942, this is one of the few airport in the world which is located in the middle of the city and not in the suburbs or the out skirts of the city. This airport is the hub for India`s flagship airline the Air India and its competitor Jet Airways. Time and again this airport has seen developments in the limited space, but there is no room for further development or to make a ground making change because of the lack of additional space. This airport has 2 very long runways, but then they cannot be used simultaneously due to their intersecting nature. 

Unlike the EU airports, this airport functions 24 hours round the clock, even with just a single runway operation this airport comfortably manages over 250,000 aircraft operations and almost over 3 million passenger pass through this airport annually. In February, 2014 Terminal 2 began operations which was perhaps the best terminal building which could have been ever built. It is not just a terminal or a building, it is a museum, it has tons of artwork, paintings, statues, etc, where seeing all the display items would need a 4km walk, pretty amazing. Having traveled to London`s Heathrow Airport, New York`s JFK Airport, Boston`s Logan Airport, Abu Dhabi Airport, Bangkok`s Suvarnabhumi Airport and a couple others, I can proudly say that India has made a big statement and shown the world what they can achieve when they are hell bent. A person having a connecting flight may miss the next flight as he may be so engrossed with the art work in this airport.

What is missing in Mumbai Airport ??

Being a huge business district, Mumbai definitely attracts a huge set of travelers, but what Airports Authority of India (AAI) failed to understand is that for airports to expand they must be extended horizontally and not vertically, but there is no space for the horizontal expansion,  and there you go, this is a need for a new airport at a new location close to Mumbai. The solution was Navi Mumbai Airport, which is a decade old plan and has been delayed by a number of reasons.

Will the Navi Mumbai Airport be enough ?

For starters the Navi Mumbai airport will have 2 parallel runways just like London`s Heathrow airport, which was built in the 1960s....

Seriously ?? Mumbai is putting up a plan which was used by the Brits 50 years ago, this clearly shows the lack of planning and management. Is Mumbai 50 years behind the United Kingdom?? Heathrow airport is operating at 98% capacity which means, newer airlines are not given additional landing slots. So if Mumbai has a new 2 runway airport then in just 10 years, because of tremendous demand, the airport will be operating at full capacity and there shall be need for a third airport, which shall take again 2 decades of planning and construction.

Seeing the forecast, it seems that Mumbai actually needs a 4 parallel runway airport just like the one in Los Angeles Airport (LAX), because Mumbai is in the centre of Europe Africa, Asia and Australian sub-continent, which means if there is infrastructure, foreign airlines may consider it as their secondary hub also. This location could act as an onward connection for flights between Europe-Australia, Africa-China, Gulf-Far East & a lot of other combinations.

Mumbai Airport fared far better than most of the other airport in the Asian sub-continent a couple decades ago, but now even underdeveloped economies like Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines have better planning and better airports to give their economy a boost, seems like the planners have not thought the process all the way through.

An important lesson which we can learn is that Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and other gulf cities have all got huge just because they focused really well in the aviation business, they literally stole the charm from the European airports by planning and operating better. Another example to consider is the Suvarnabhumi airport of Bangkok, currently they are working on a 2 runway system, but they reserved enough space to construct a total 5 runways, a country like Thai is setting the priorities right.

Mumbai, a city which never sleeps, is actually sleeping in the Aviation department, and lesser aviation business means, hurting the local economy, AAI, do something, Mumbai is the Los Angeles of India.

Emirates: The Flying Supremo

A small desert nation, with nothing but oil, started as a small time airline, by leasing a couple aircrafts from other airlines, began its venture in the flying business.

No one could ever imagine then that it would spoil the party for the giants like British Airways, Lufthansa, Qantas, American Airlines and so on. Emirates is one of the few airlines in the world to solely operate wide bodied, twin aisle aircrafts in their entire fleet for the regular passenger flights. Perhaps in modern day time, it is the only airlines running a successful flying business with profits and still expanding at an exponential pace.

Today Emirates is the worlds leading airline, transferring the highest number of international passengers. Their home airport, the Dubai International Airport (DXB), is operated 24 hours round the clock where they send their flights packed all round the world. 

During the night, when the North American and European airport are sleeping (thanx to the locals who don`t allow the flights to take-off and land there during nights) Emirates silently packs and blasts almost 200 heavy bodies out of Dubai. And they fly back to Dubai by the end of the day. What American and European airport can`t achieve with even 5 runways, this Dubai airport is possible to achieve using just 2 runways,  by operating 24 hours round the clock.

What makes the Emirates this big ??

The most important aspect of Emirates is the location of their hub, it is literally at the center of the earth, it is at the cross-roads of the world. Secondly, it has more oil than any other part of the world. Thirdly the Dubai rulers have shown keen interest in starting, expanding and supporting this venture. Today, Emirates operates only wide bodied aircrafts, which have longer range and are more fuel efficient, this enables them to operate flights to smaller distances like Mumbai, to the medium haul distance like London, long haul distances to Sydney and the ultra long haul distance to Los Angeles, which is almost 16 hours of flying over the poles.

Dubai is located strategically at a point where it has become an important transit hub where there are connection routes to transfer people between

-Asia and North America

-Indian Sub-continent and Europe

-Europe and Australia-New-Zealand

-South America and China

...

...

...

Almost every un-imaginable connection is possible, from this one place and we call it

"Majestic DUBAI"

Emirates Fleet

The Emirates fleet consists of wide-bodied aircraft, including the Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A380 and Boeing 777, as well as Boeing 747-400 freighters operated by Emirates SkyCargo. The only narrow-body aircraft is an Airbus A319CJ which is being operated by Emirates Executive charters. Emirates operates the world`s largest fleet of Boeing 777s and the Airbus A380s. The B777 and the A380 both have been the main reason behind the hidden success of this young airline. At this point, it has over 200 aircrafts in operation and over 300 aircrafts on order, which means, there shall be a time where there will be almost 500 Emirates flights zooming around the world.

Emirates Threat

The airline is by all means cannibalizing all possible flying routes by offering better service at a lower price. It is the undisputed choice amongst business travelers and first class travelers. Once an interviewer asked, where will they deploy their new aircrafts after USA looked to decline them more landing right, to this the airlines officials answered saying that, if they weren`t allowed more rights to fly to that country, they`d simply return all the Boeing crafts back, there could not have been a bolder response to this. Similar had been the case when the Europeans thought of declining them more landing rights and they politely cancelled order of 70 aircraft of Airbus A350-XWB. Literally there is no stopping to this airlines, they have lesser words and more of action.

Futur-ama

They have already carved a niche in the global aviation sector. Now they are in process of constructing a new airport, The Al Maktoum International Airport, which on completion will have 5 parallel runways, and tons of gates, and all the Emirates operations will be shifted to this new airport and the existing Dubai airport will become the hub for Flydubai, the low cost carrier.

With the Al Maktoum Airport, they will be able to manage an impossible 1.5 million flight movements annually, and manage almost 200 million passengers, which is more than double of what Atlanta`s Hartsfield–Jackson airport(world busiest airport at this point) can manage today.

May be in the year 2025 I would write how poorly the Atlanta Airport is doing that moment...

The Beast A380 Comes to Mumbai

The legendary Airbus A380, has been going places since years, but due to regulations in India, it was still not to be seen at any Airport in India. It is good that, the DGCA(Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Government of India) realized that it was loosing the flying race to the Gulf Carriers like Emirates, Etihad and Qatar and later they approved the A380 to operate at its major airports (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai).

9 out of the 10 operators who fly the A380 have scheduled operation to India, so the market surely exists for this particular model in the country.

Late in the month of May, Singapore Airlines became the first airline to have scheduled A380 operation in India with a daily services to Delhi and Mumbai. Emirates is not far behind in making a decision, it has quickly picked its favoured destination Mumbai for operations. And now Lufthansa is planning to deploy two planes for the Delhi and Mumbai flights from its global hub the Frankfurt Airport, popularly know as the Fraport.

The Mumbai airport is so unprepared, that increasing passenger numbers is impossible and there is no additional space to either build a huge terminal or add an additional runway. All the landing slots are sold off at Mumbai, the number of seats are limited and tickets to fly in and out of Mumbai is higher compared to other cities in the world. The best an airline could do is, send in their biggest planes to Mumbai.

Before the A380, the largest plane to be allowed to operate at any Indian airport was the Boeing 747, which is again, disappearing quickly because they are being replaced by better, lighter and more fuel efficient planes like the B777, B787 and A330 which are all twin engined and have lower cost per passenger to operate and still fly on the long haul routes.