Episode 52

Travel, Airports and Aircraft

• 3:16 - Airbus dramatically revamps its A320 family aircraft passenger entry area (Hero lighting)
• 9:36 - Is this the beginning of the end of hard copy inflight magazines?
• 19:00 - WizzAir UK discovers that current pitot tube covers can be inadequate protection
• 25:20 - Singapore starts its first cruise to nowhere

Airlines

• 31:52 - Start saying goodbye to blocked middle seats on US airlines
• 40:39 - United goes paperless for hotel vouchers in its drive to cut costs.
• 46:49 United introduces an updated cleaning solution for its high traffic airport areas.
• 57:59 - Ravn Alaska restarts operations. Sort of. But much to the relief of isolated Alaskans.
• 1:05:51 - More details of FlyPOP, the UKs first long-haul LCC
• 1:14:00 - Emirates SkyCargo inducts its first, temporary, A380
• 1:20:27 - Qantas moves to eliminate manned airport service desks

Where To Find Us

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• Listen Notes
• Podcast Addict
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• Spotify

In this episode, we talk about:

• Qatar and the 77Ws
• A380 retirements (AF, QF, QR, LH)
• Quarantine within country and from U.S. state to state
• Update about the Pakistan Airlines Airbus A320 crash
• NokScoot liquidates

and our usual background and knowledge spliced in as necessary.

#319 - Einige der Boeing 737MAX-Bestellungen werden storniert und aufgrund der langen Wartezeiten ist die Airbus A320-Serie keine Option. Auch ist die 737MAX ist ein größeres Flugzeug und würde eher mit dem A320 als mit dem A220 mithalten können. Aber Airbus investiert 500 Millionen und mehr in die Entwicklung längerer Versionen.

Beim Vergleich der 737 Max 8 und der A220 gewinnt fast immer die Boeing-Option. Es können bis zu 210 Passagiere in der 737MAX mitgenommen werden, fliegt auch ca. 1000 km weiter als die A220, benötigt dafür jedoch 7.000 Liter mehr Kraftstoff. In der 737MAX steht auch mehr Laderaum zur Verfügung. Die A220 ist billiger zu operieren, aber die neuere Boeing 737MAX 8 hat die Möglichkeit an Bord zu nehmen, um den zusätzlichen Kraftstoff zu rechtfertigen.
Was ist deine Meinung? Welches Flugzeug magst du mehr 737 oder die A220?

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Last week the Air Force inadvertently tried to add their own kind of fireworks to the holiday festivities. Apparently, an A-10C Thunderbolt II out of Moody Air Force Base in Georgia dropped three 25-pound nonexplosive training bombs after an unlucky encounter with a bird. 

Fortunately, the rounds fell harmlessly just outside of Suwannee Springs in Northern Florida. Thus far the Air Force has failed to locate the shells. Fortunately, the jet wasn’t carrying its wartime payload of 500-pound M1a-82 bombs. The dummy rounds do carry a small pyrotechnic charge and could pose a slight danger to anyone who might try to handle them.

 Although this encounter had a minimal impact on the plane, its passengers and its surroundings, bird strikes are no joke in the aerospace industry.

They first gained notoriety after an incident that became known as “The Miracle on the Hudson”, when Captain Chesley Sullenberger had to land his Airbus A320 on New York’s Hudson River after one of the engines was damaged by a flock of Canadian geese.

According to a recent report on Business Insider, the Air Force has encountered more than 105,000 bird strikes since 1995. The 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs office also attributes the deaths of nearly 40  airmen to bird strikes since 1985. 

These encounters with our winged friends have also generated more than $800 million in damages to jets and transport planes. The most recent being an F-35 stealth fighter that needed $2 million in repairs after encountering a bird during takeoff.

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First, United Airlines has announced it will retire its Boeing 747s from scheduled service sooner than previously planned. The carrier’s last 747 will stop flying for United in the fourth quarter of this year. Co-hosts Max Flight and Mary Kirby talk to Paul about what makes this aircraft so iconic to passengers and #AvGeeks the world over. and all three share their fond memories associated with the Queen of the Skies.

Next, Paul was recently interviewed for a CNN article about how a baggage handler became trapped in the cargo hold of a regional jet flying for United Airlines from Charlotte, North Carolina to Washington Dulles. The man was ultimately unharmed, but as a long-time ramp agent, the incident surprised Paul. He reveals what protocol ramp agents follow to ensure co-workers stay safe, and why there is a focus on ramp agents' health at some airlines. Paul also divulges some of the interesting things that airlines carry for passengers in the cargo hold, and provides tips to passengers on what not to do when they pack their suitcases.

Last but not least, Lufthansa Technik, the massive MRO arm of Lufthansa Group, is gearing up to host the #LHTAvDays for media again. Paul attended this special event in Germany in the past, and tells us what he learned about Lufthansa Technik's role in the airline passenger experience.

The aviation industry is grappling with another tragedy, the crash of a Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps. Audio from the cockpit voice recorder indicates that the captain was locked out of the cockpit, and couldn’t get back in, though the flight data recorder has yet to be found. This crash – and the fact that sourcing information from the physical black boxes is crucial to understanding what happened in any accident - has reignited the conversation over whether aircraft should stream some level of black box data in real-time, and whether there should be video cameras in the cockpit. Co-hosts Max Flight and Mary Kirby talk about why the chorus of voices calling for change is growing louder, and explain why black box streaming is relative to #PaxEx.

Next, Neelam has been writing a series of articles for Runway Girl Network about India’s efforts to attract women to aviation. She tells us why SpiceJet and other carriers are in a hiring push, and how they're getting the word out via social media. She notes that women from all walks of life - not just the "elite" daughters of Indian pilots - are increasingly drawn to this profession in her country.

Last but not least, Neelam draws on her deep knowledge of the Indian aviation scene to bring us up to speed on how Indian manufacturers are growing their footprint in the aerospace supply chain in partnership with Airbus and Boeing. We also consider the opportunities for Indian firms to ultimately break into the highly regulated #PaxEx market.

In this episode we discuss Airbus’ decision to re-certify its A320 to accommodate nine more seats for a total 189-seats, and how this development – which will be accomplished by adding wider evacuation slides – is driving fresh conversation about slim seats and seat pitch. French manufacturer Expliseat, for instance, believes its super-light titanium/composite seat would suit operators of higher-capacity A320s, and has suggested that some carriers might consider a mixture of seats pitched at 27 inches and 28 inches.

We also chat with Green about what the future holds for inflight entertainment. The operative word here is “choice”. Says Green, “In terms of how the content is provided, we have to meet the desire for individual choice and an expectation to manage your own experience. So that includes delivery to personal devices, not just through seat-back screen.” Thales is laying the groundwork to allow passengers to manage their own experience in how and when they consume the content.

Passenger choice is certainly a theme of this episode, which is sponsored by the APEX-backed Passenger Choice Awards (PCAs), a unique awards system that allow travelers to rate every aspect of the passenger experience (#PaxEx), and gives them a way to recognize when airlines get it right and when there is room for improvement. The deadline to participate for 2014 is 30 June, so if you haven’t done so already, be sure to cast your vote! For airlines, the awards is beneficial as well, because APEX shares the data with its airline member so that they know what areas to improve, reveals Green.

Welcome to Episode 002 of the #PaxEx Podcast. In this episode we talk about how Airbus is quietly developing a new cabin for the A320 - a move that will help it better compete with the Boeing Sky Interior on the 737NG. We discuss what this means for passengers as well as the competitive aircraft interiors landscape. Plus we look at how airline loyalty programs are losing their luster for travelers, and consider the practical applications for commercial drones in the face of Amazon's proposed drone-based delivery system.