Tag Archives: Lufthansa

441 Airlines, Destinations, and Strapping Yourself to the Perimeter Fence

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This episode, we talk to aviation and travel-industry expert Chris Kjelgaard about new Lufthansa and Iberia A350-900s, low fares from Norwegian, airlines charging fees for services, and a worrisome EASA safety report. Also, Astronics’ missed aerospace sales guidance, and the most scenic airport landings.

Guest

Chris Kjelgaard, airlines and travel industry expert

Chris Kjelgaard

Chris Kjelgaard reports on airlines and the travel-industry with more than three decades of experience. He is the founder and editor of the air and destination travel news website AirlinesAndDestinations.com. Chris also serves as editor of various print and online magazine titles, and he has written for dozens of aviation trade and consumer magazines and websites. Chris has been interviewed many times by television, radio, print, and online media on aviation and travel topics. He is a contributing editor to Runway Girl Network.

Aviation News

Inside Lufthansa’s Brand New A350-900

A Look Inside Lufthansa’s First Airbus A350-900

Iberia CCO explains carrier’s long-haul IFEC decisions

Lufthansa unveiled its new A350-900 in Munich at the beginning of February at the Lufthansa Technik hangar. This was the first of ten aircraft that are to fly from Munich to Delhi and Boston. Iberia is set to take delivery of 16 A350-900s starting in the second quarter of 2018.

Norwegian Air to offer U.S.-Europe fares starting at $65 one way

Norwegian Air Shuttle was offering $65 one way flights to Europe from some smaller US airports in New York state, and also Providence, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut. Norwegian Air spokesman Anders Lindström said, “I pay for what I want, you pay for what you want. We don’t pay for what everybody else on the plane wants.” Only a limited number of one-way tickets were offered at $65, and a return flight costs more.

More airlines are charging for everything from carry-ons to soft drinks

Airlines continue to unbundle offerings, and charge fees to add them back in. A new report by research firm Hopper sheds some light on airline ticket pricing.

EASA safety report highlights worrying increase in serious incidents

2016 was the safest year ever measured by large commercial aircraft fatal accidents, but the 2017 Preliminary Safety Review published by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) shows an increase in the number of serious incidents involving aircraft operated by carriers from the 32 EASA member states.

John King Vows Battle with the FAA to Reinstate His Medical Certificate

When it comes to aviation education and training, John King (and his wife Martha) are about as well known as anybody. But on the basis of a seizure episode in early 2014, King was denied his third-class medical certificate in November 2015. Since then he has appealed the denial, but without success. He plans to take it to an an administrative law judge at the NTSB.

First-degree murder charge filed in possible hate crime shooting at Olathe’s Austins bar

This unfortunate event has a number of connections to aviation.

Mentioned

PZL Mielec Prepares M28 – A PZL Mielec M28 twin turboprop aircraft is undertaking a two-month, 13-city tour across seven Caribbean and Latin America countries to demonstrate the M28’s all-weather operational capabilities to potential new customers, including airlines, government agencies and military operators.

Turn your friends into podcast listeners

California Black Aviation Association – A non-profit organization of aviation professionals of various ethnic backgrounds with the passion for flying and promoting aviation awareness and education through community outreach.

California Redtails – Honoring the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, also known as the “Redtails,” by educating, inspiring and promoting general aviation.

Embry-Riddle’s Lift, Off the Page: A Panel Discussion on Aviation Cybersecurity

Listener Submissions

Launchpad Marzari brings us another language editorial.

Xavier provides some personal thoughts on aviation from the perspective of a black pilot.

Gerry gives us his story of a memorable flight when he rode in the flight deck of a Boeing 747-400.

Credit

Intro music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonne from The Sound of Flaps.

 

AirplaneGeeks 394 Plane & Pilot Magazine

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We talk with the Editor-in-Chief of Plane & Pilot about changes to the magazine, drones interfering with airliners, the impact of lower airline fees on customers, an Airbus assembled in the USA, and blocking flight tracking.

Guest

Robert Goyer

Robert Goyer

Robert Goyer is VP, Editor-in-Chief, at Plane & Pilot magazine. He’s an award winning aviation editor, journalist and photographer. For more than two decades he’s been documenting the world of personal aviation in words and photography.

We talk with Robert about changes to the magazine and website since its purchase by Madavor Media in 2015. That includes expanding the target audience to include serious transportation pilots, bringing in new writers and rotating columnists, a focus on photography, and a weekly email newsletter.

Robert tells us, “I started flying before I remember flying, heading up with my dad in a little red-and-white Aeronca Champ from a cozy little grass strip in New England, and after a few years we graduated to a beautiful Cessna 195 that our family rebuilt together in the big barn out back.

Today, Robert does most of his flying in the system, filing IFR and flying on business and personal travel in high-performance piston singles up through light jets. He’s type rated in the Cessna 525 CitationJet and has plans to add a couple of new type ratings in the coming year, though he admits he has his eye on an old Super Cub he says has his “name written all over it.”

Find Plane & Pilot online at their website, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

News

Lufthansa jet and drone nearly collide near LAX

The pilot of a Lufthansa A380 at 5,000 feet and 14 miles from Los Angeles International Airport says a drone passed close to the plane. The FAA is reported to say the drone flew 200 over the Airbus.

Surprise! Lower Airline Fees Would Be Bad for Customers

If enacted, the FAIR Fees Act introduced by two U.S. Senators would require that airline fees be set commensurate with the cost of the services provided. The Motley Fool says, “regulating airline fees would not be good for most travelers in the long run.”

Airbus plants seeds of a new aerospace cluster in the U.S.

An A321 destined for JetBlue should be making its maiden flight this week. The significant aspect is that the airplane is American-made at the new $600 million Airbus final-assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama. Most are describing this as Airbus’ beachhead in the U.S.Five other A321s are in final assembly for American Airlines.

Flight-tracking Blocking Efforts Under Way

The FAA has a program to block certain information about aircraft flying in U.S. national airspace, but it relies on a process where those providing flight-tracking services agree to block flight information when requested by operators. In return, the flight-tracking companies get access to the FAA’s ASDI data feed. But It’s not difficult receive broadcasts from mode-S transponders and ADS-B out transmitters.

Thousands of people run PiAware on a Raspberry Pi to receive ADS-B transmissions and forward that to FlightAware. The ADS-B Exchange website bills itself as “the World’s largest co-op of unfiltered flight data.”

The Airplane of the Week

Spartan Executive NC17682

Spartan Executive at Sun ‘n Fun 2006 by Ahunt – Own work, Public Domain.

David was given the opportunity to help 8th grader Jonah from Northern California with his paper on aircraft of World War II.  Jonah mentioned attending Oshkosh and noted that his favorite airplane was the Spartan Executive. In David’s opinion, Jonah has class and good taste so the Spartan Executive is the airplane of the week.

Mentioned

The Boeing 777 Thrust Asymmetry Compensation (TAC)

Boeing’s New Airplane Toilet and Bathroom Will Kill Humans’ Germs

Airlander 10: New pictures of world’s longest aircraft

Credit

Opening music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonne from The Sound of Flaps.

Source

Original post: Airplane Geeks #394.

 

Episode 223 – Nils Haupt from Lufthansa

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Lufthansa A340 by David M. Vanderhoof

Guest Nils Haupt is Director and Head of Corporate Communications for The Americas, Lufthansa German Airlines. We talk about the airlines and associated companies that fall under the Lufthansa airline group, their cargo operations and how Lufthansa is dealing with the severe night flight ban in Frankfurt. Also how Lufthansa operating in a high cost country means they have to deliver quality. We touch on competition with low cost carriers, the Germanwings strategy, and cooperation with United and Air Canada. Nils comments on their 747-8 experience, the cost of fuel, the schedule for interior upgrades, and much more.

We also talk about some of the recent aviation labor activity, big news on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, bizjet engine advances, and the attempted Predator shoot down by Iranian jets.

The week’s aviation news:

David’s Aircraft of the Week is the Sukhoi Su-25 “Frogfoot.”

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

There is a disturbance in the Force as the Qantas pilots union agrees with management on an issue. In this case, Qantas is refusing to pay the operators of Brisbane International Airport up front for the construction of a new runway. In other news, Qantas announces further maintenance job cuts – nearly 500 more to go from Avalon and Sydney, and some aerial fire suppression operations go a little wrong in New South Wales after a helicopter fills its bucket from a sewerage treatment pond and deposits the contents on 29 firefighters. Yuk!

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Pieter gets an update from Diego López-Salazar from Aeropodcast.com. First his recent delayed trip to China, then we cover Spain and of course his pet topic Ryanair! Find Diego on Twitter as @dlopezsalazar.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Mentions:

Moab's Delicate Arch from 6500 by Jodi
Moab’s Delicate Arch from 6500 by Jodi

Listener Jodi working on her Commercial in the Bell 206
Listener Jodi working on her Commercial in the Bell 206

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 180 – Mary Kirby from APEX

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The Aerobatic Project

Guest Mary Kirby is is Editor-in-Chief of the Airline Passenger Experience magazine and the APEX media platform. We talk about the current state of inflight internet connectivity, what passengers expect aboard the flight, the GoGo IPO, and why we’re going to see more announcements. Also, pressure on interior suppliers as a result of the huge numbers of narrow body orders going on the books, and how that’s delaying aircraft deliveries. We touch on airline alliance interior commonality, and the outlook for embedded IFE.

Find Mary at the APEX Editor’s Blog and on Twitter as @APEXmary. The Airline Passenger Experience Association is at apex.aero.

The week’s aviation news:

David’s Aircraft of the Week is the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, also known as the Super Tweet.

In this week’s Australia Desk report: 12th A380 arrives for Qantas, more A380s coming to Melbourne as Emirates signals their intentions, cracks appearing in some A380s including one QF aircraft, 150 Qantas pilots now working for Gulf based airlines during their down time, tragic balloon crash in New Zealand kills 11 people.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

This week on Across the Pond, Pieter talks to new aerobatic pilot and author of The Aerobatic Project, Lauren Richardson. Lauren explains what’s its like to transition from a 152 to a Pitts Special and what it was like in her first aerobatic competition. Lauren can be found on Twitter @Groovy_Nut, while Pieter can be found on Twitter as @Nascothornet or XTP Media’s Facebook Page.oba

Mentioned in the episode:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 126 – Another Aboulafia Adventure

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Airbus A320neo

Richard Aboulafia, Vice President, Analysis from Teal Group joins the Geeks to talk aviation. Benet Wilson, editor from AviationWeek, fills in for Rob.

We have the aviation news from the past week and David’s This Week in Aviation history segment. Steve and Grant update us on the Qantas A380 in their Australia Desk Report, and Pieter Johnson talkes with an airline pilot and past AGP guest Karlene Pettit about flying in Europe in his Across the Pond segment.

The week’s aviation news:

Mentions:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 99 – Bits and Pieces

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Photo by Seb Spencer

In this episode, Rob, Max, and David discuss aviation news, with a focus on odd stories. Then Dan brings in Tom from The Airline Blog to talk about some additional stories. David has six interviews from the 2010 Joint Service Open House, as well as his usual This Week in Aviation segment. Finally, Steve and Grant have this week’s Australia Desk report.

The news:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Australia Desk Report music is Journey of the Sorcerer by The Eagles, used in the British TV version of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Post photo courtesy listener Seb Spencer.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 98 – George Hamlin

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Octuri

Our guest this episode is George Hamlin, President of Hamlin Transportation Consulting. He’s been in the commercial aviation and aerospace industry for almost 40 years, specializing in things like transport economics, marketing and strategic planning, aircraft requirements/fleet planning, economic analysis and forecasting for both passenger and cargo operations. George has worked at Airbus, Lockheed, TWA, and a number of other companies and brings a wealth of experience to the conversation.

David provides his This Week in Aviation segment, and Steve and Grant stayed up late producing the Australia Desk report.

The news:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Photo above from http://www.octuri.com/. Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 64 – Experiential Journeys

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South African Airways photo. http://www.flysaa.com/
Guest Jeffrey Ward, the Savvy Navigator, has been in the travel industry for over 20 years, about half of that with American Airlines. He now provides travelers with experiential journeys to places like South Africa, Argentina, and Costa Rica.

We have the week’s aviation news and our report from the Airplane Geeks Australia Desk. David Vanderhoof joins us for his This Week in Aviation history lesson, Dan Webb interviews Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, and we have some listener mail.

The news:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave us voice mail at (812) 757-4252.

This episode’s opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. Visit his site at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.