Aviation

Aegean Airlines received the first of ten new Airbus A320/1’s recently ordered by the airline to replace the six Boeing 737-300/400’s, which are in the process of being withdrawn. The airline—whose total investment is some one billion euros—aims to acquire 25 new aircraft in total by 2009, three of which were already received in 2007.

Airbus, a leading aircraft manufacturer, recently announced the company delivered 453 aircraft in 2007, 19 more than in 2006. The deliveries included 367 A320-Family aircraft, six A300-Freighters, 79 A330/A340’s and the first “all-new, eco-efficient” A380 to Singapore Airlines.

Eurocontrol, the European organization for the safety of air navigation, has released an analysis of traffic and delays in Europe in 2007 and predictions for 2008. According to the results of the analysis the number of flights in Europe increased to some 10 million in 2007, a 5.3 percent increase from 2006. Average daily traffic in Europe in 2007 was 27,676 flights per day compared with 26,286 in 2006.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently released full-year traffic results for 2007. The results show international passenger traffic demand grew 7.4 percent for the year 2007 that is a considerable increase from the 5.9 percent increase recorded in 2006. In December 2007 passenger traffic demand rose 6.7 percent, a large decrease from the 9.3 percent jump recorded in November. According to IATA, “This sudden decrease reflects the impact of rising prices and economic uncertainty that grew more acute in December.”

Virgin Galactic recently unveiled the design of its new and “environmentally friendly” space launch system based on the X Prize winning technology of SpaceShipOne, which successfully flew into space for the third time in October 2004 and won the seven million euro Ansari X Prize. (The Ansari X PRIZE was a space competition in which the X PRIZE Foundation offered a substantial financial reward for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks.)

A year after Lufthansa launched the program “Miles to help,” the airline’s passengers have already donated some 70 million award miles to a good cause. Members of Lufthansa’s “Miles & More” frequent flyer program have the option to donate the miles they have collected to Lufthansa’s Help Alliance organization.

British Airways recently announced its plans to launch a subsidiary inter-continental airline, “OpenSkies,” that would conduct daily flights from New York to Brussels and Paris.

Singapore Airlines recently received its second Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft. The aircraft was handed over to Singapore Airlines at the Airbus Delivery Center in Toulouse, France, on the morning of January 11 and arrived in Singapore the following day.

Boeing recently announced the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner has been moved from the end of the first quarter of 2008 to the end of the second quarter so as to provide additional time to complete assembly of the first airplane. The company expects deliveries to begin in early 2009, rather than late 2008.

Emirates Airline recently re-launched its website, www.emirates.com, by uploading 76 web pages simultaneously for 76 countries in six continents and in 10 different languages. Emirate’s new portal has the latest technological platform and according to the airline, a multitude of online facilities.