General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Oil prices could double by 2022, IMF warned
A report produced for the IMF says there could be a permanent doubling of oil prices in the coming decade with profound implications for global trade. The new "working paper" comes after the IEA reported that oil consumption would accelerate for the rest of this year in line with a wider economic recovery. The report presumes that extraction rates will depend on the price that will be able to be charged for the final product, rather than that actual physical availability is constrained. The report predicts small further increases in world oil production coming at the expense of a near doubling, permanently, of real oil prices over the coming decade. Meanwhile OPEC says the price of oil in 2012 will stay high due to Iran, and that the period of decline in oil demand is now over, and the upward trajectory is being resumed.
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Private jet business travel. Who uses it and why?
In a long article on who is using private business travel, and why, ABTN gives a lot of information on how the industry works. Private flying has fallen significantly since 2008 and the financial crisis. The banking sector used to use more business jets when they launched new IPOs (initial public offerings) when executives wanted to make many presentations in different places, the same day. They also say companies want the private space on the plane to continue their discussions, as well as the very fast transfer from car to plane, and plane to car, with the minimum of hassle. Rock bands etc, now make a higher proportion of their money from tours, so they like using private jets for painless travel. And the remote locations where some natural resources and minerals are found are more quickly accessed by private flights to small airports, rather than large planes to main airports. And more ....
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BMI REGIONAL IS SOLD FOR £8M
BRITISH Airways owner IAG has agreed to sell the regional business of newly acquired BMI for £8million to an Aberdeen-based consortium. BMI Regional, which operates 18 Embraer jets in the UK and northern Europe, is being bought by Sector Aviation, led by Ian Woodley, who founded a regional airline bought by BMI in 1996. The consortium is backed by Stephen and Peter Bond, who are also investors in Scotland’s Loganair. IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said a deal, which needs Civil Aviation Authority approval, should secure about 330 jobs
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Emirates’ profits fall on ‘crippling’ fuel costs
Emirates, the Dubai based airline, is still making huge profits. However, its profit for 2011/12 was $629 million, down from $1.6 billion in the previous year. Emirates says th is is due to fuel costs. The airline transported about 31.4 million passengers in 2010, and says this was up to about 34 million passengers in 2011. Wikipedia data look as if Emirates is the global airline with the highest level of passenger kilometers, implying it does particularly long haul routes. Which would explain why their fuel bill was $6.6 billion last year. But Delta Air Lines' fuel bill was approaching $12 billion.
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Airbus and Boeing hit by plane cancellations
Airlines have cancelled a total of 32 orders for planes so far this year, according to data from the world's two major plane makers. Boeing said it had 25 orders for its 787 Dreamliner cancelled by airlines without naming who they were. Airbus has had 7 A350 orders cancelled by Etihad Airways. The cancellations reflect the difficult travel market and weak global economy. For Boeing, the 25 Dreamliner cancellations compare with 19 orders so far this year, meaning the plane maker is in negative territory for its flagship plane. Based on list prices, it would cost the airline about $193.5m (£119m). Boeing's order book stood at 415 on 1 May, against 95 for Airbus on 30 April.
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Are the B787 Dreamliner’s claims to be a new generation in aircraft fuel efficiency over-stated?
Kevin Lister has written an open letter to the Aviation Minister, Theresa Villiers, pointing out to her that, despite all the hype about the Dreamliner being touted as the first of a new generation of planes, it is not greatly more fuel efficient than others. It is not likely to "solve" the industry's future fuel or emission problems. Looking at the likely number of passengers, the range and the fuel capacity, the fuel consumption figures for the A380, Boeing 787, 777, and 747 very comparable. And are in the same range as the old Lockheed Constellation aircraft of the 1950s. The Dreamliner has lighter components, using carbon fibre rather than aluminium. But its main aim is to be a slightly smaller plane, that can fly long distance, without needing to refuel. This means carrying a great deal of fuel on take off for such a long trip. A doubling in a plane's speed increases drag by a factor of four, and the power consumption of the engines by a factor of eight. Therefore, for greatest fuel efficiency, a plane would fly more slowly and over relatively short distances.
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Customs checks ‘drop as staff move to passport control’
The Immigration Service Union warns that the number of customs checks at main UK airports has dropped because more staff than usual have been moved from other duties to work on passport control. Passengers were being waved through without extra checks, leaving the UK open to a higher risk of arms and drug smuggling. The government says it is committed to maintaining border security by deploying staff flexibly. Both the home secretary and immigration minister have pledged to deal with the airport immigration delays. But with customs staff being moved to help with passport checks, Heathrow staff "are having to reduce all other activity, and that includes the secondary activity of checking for drugs, firearms, and such like." Organised crime gangs are well aware of this.
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Boeing ‘Dreamliner’ offers only marginal noise benefit – its “quietness” is exaggerated
The Dreamliner 787 has been much hyped, for its theoretical reduction in fuel use and in noise. Boeing claims it is 60% quieter, a statement that needs to be understood in terms of how aircraft noise is measured. It does not mean 60% quieter, in the way a layperson would understand the statement. It means actually a reduction of perhaps 3 decibels, to anyone standing under the flight path - a difference that is barely noticeable, even to trained ears. These figures are also theoretical, along the lines of the car fuel consumption figures given by manufacturers, and very difficult to replicate in real life. If the planes are heavier, taking off with more fuel and luggage on board, or landing on full power, they are still very noisy. And if there are more flights overhead, that is actually what people are bothered by, rather than a 3dB difference.
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Lufthansa to cut 3,500 jobs in savings drive – 2,500 in Germany
Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, announced plans to slash 3,500 administrative jobs around the world as it tries to offset soaring fuel costs and fierce competition in Europe to return to profitability. It says these job cuts will reduce its administrative costs by a quarter. Lufthansa has a workforce of about 117,000 people worldwide but it needs to radically cut costs to remain competitive. About 2,500 of the planned job losses will be in Germany. The high fuel price,a weak global economy and competition for passengers with fast-growing low-cost carriers and Middle East airlines are the problem. Other European airlines have also done less well recently than expected. Lufthansa said it will only increase seat capacity by 1% this year, not 2%.
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May 8th. The 28th day of the Nantes airport hunger strike – 5 hunger strikers are still continuing.
The campaigners against the proposed airport outside Nantes in South West France have today occupied the centre of Nantes with a convoy of tractors and 1,000 people - and 15 young cows. They are supporting the peasant farmers who have moved into their 4th week of a hunger strike and are making their voices heard before Sunday’s Presidential Election. Already the campaigners have forced Hollande, who has supported Nantes Airport, to agree it will not go ahead until all the legal cases have been heard but Sarkozy, when questioned, said the area is just a wasteland without the airport! That is an insult to the beautiful farming area and especially to the farmers on hunger strike.