Airbus completes 100th A220

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airBaltic, Airbus, Airbus A220, Aviation, Bombardier C Series, Business, Canada, Latvia, Mirabel, Quebec, Riga, SWISS

Employees celebrate the completion of the 100th Airbus A220 in Mirabel, Que.

The 100th aircraft in the Airbus A220 family, formerly known as the Bombardier C Series, will soon be delivered to the Latvian airline airBaltic. It will be the carrier’s 21st A220-300.

A ceremony was held this week at the aircraft program’s headquarters in Mirabel, Que., to mark its production.

The 149-seat A220-300 features a new livery and cabin layout, Airbus said.

The A220s are assembled in Mirabel as well as in Mobile, Ala.

The first aircraft in the family, an A220-100, was delivered in 2016 to launch operator SWISS.

AirBaltic, which received its first A220-300 three years ago, was the launch customer for that version of the aircraft.

It has 20 aircraft in its all-A220 fleet, and has ordered 30 more.

“We are truly proud to be the launch operator of the Airbus A220-300 aircraft which, being an integral part of airBaltic’s fleet over the last three years has demonstrated an outstanding performance,” said Martin Gauss, chief executive officer of airBaltic.

“To introduce this aircraft was a forward-thinking decision that has most certainly paid off as A220 family aircraft are not only considerably more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, but also more convenient for both passengers and staff.”

The A220 is powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.

As of October, Airbus had received 530 firm orders for the aircraft.

Emirates keeps its fleet young

Twenty Airbus A380s and 16 Boeing 777-300ERs will join the Emirates fleet next year as part of a fleet renewal program, the airline announced Monday.

Some of these airplanes will replace 26 retiring aircraft, including 12 A330-300s, 4 A340-300s, one A340-500, six Boeing 777-200ERs, two Boeing 777-300s and one Boeing 777-300ER, the company said.

“At the end of 2016, the aircraft retirements and new deliveries will put Emirates’ average fleet age at 5.6 years, dramatically younger than the global average,” the airline said.

It noted that the average fleet age for the top five airlines in North America is 13.6 years, while the average fleet age for the top five airlines in Europe is 10.7 years.

The airline will retire 13 more aircraft in 2017 and another 13 in 2018.

“We are fully committed to flying a modern fleet that is better for the environment, and provides our customers with a superior level of comfort and safety,” said company president Sir Tim Clark (left).

“With the retirement of older aircraft and the introduction of new, more fuel efficient aircraft in 2016, Emirates will continue to lead the industry in reducing the age of our fleet, while at the same time defining new levels of service that our customers have come to expect.”

The world’s largest international airline, Emirates currently has 243 airplanes, including 26 it received this year. It has an additional 263 aircraft on order.

The images are courtesy of Emirates.

 

CS100: ‘The quietest in its class’

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Airbus, Airlines, Aviation, Boeing, Bombardier, Business, Canada, CS100, CS300, CSeries, EASA, Embraer, Environment, FAA, ICAO, News, Toronto, Tourism, Transport, Travel, TSB

The message was loud and clear as the all-new Bombardier CS100 made its Toronto debut Thursday: It’s the quietest aircraft in its class.

The company told a gathering of government officials and airline executives that the “aircraft’s noise performance and its outstanding short-field capability make it ideal for city centre operations.”

The CS100 is the smaller version in the CSeries and is on course for certification later this year.

The aircraft that debuted in Toronto was in the colours of launch customer SWISS, or Swiss International Air Lines, and is expected to make the first commercial flight before the middle of next year.

The CS100 can carry up to 125 people while the bigger version, the CS300, is meant for up to 160.

It is not the first time Bombardier is stressing the efficiency of the aircraft. Just before this year’s Paris Air Show, the company declared that the performance of the CSeries was “better than advertised.”

“We announced previously that the CSeries aircraft are exceeding their original targets for fuel burn, payload, range and airfield performance,” said Rob Dewar, vice-president of the program.

“Now we are delighted that the CS100 aircraft’s noise performance tests have confirmed it as the quietest in-production commercial jet in its class.”

The company said the first production CS100 will soon start function and reliability testing, signalling the start of the final flight testing phase.

“For these tests, the aircraft will operate on a commercial airline type of schedule from key airports in North America.”

In all, Bombardier has won 243 firm orders for the CSeries aircraft, 180 of them for the CS300.

No new orders were announced Thursday but Fred Cromer (above), president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, was very optimistic.

“The momentum continues to grow,” he said.

All images are by the author.

Cochin becomes world’s 1st fully solar-powered airport

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Airlines, Airports, Aviation, Bosch, Business, Calicut, Cochin, Electricity, Environment, God's Own Country, India, Kannur, Kerala, Kochi, Kozhikode, News, Pollution, Solar Power, Tourism, Transport, Travel, Trivandrum

Cochin International Airport (COK) in southern India was opened just 16 years ago. This week it is celebrating a major environmental milestone – it has become the world’s first fully solar-powered airport.

More than 46,000 solar panels laid across 45 acres are generating 12MW of power, enough to run the airport smoothly.

“Now, Cochin airport will have 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day to be consumed for all its operational functions, which technically make the airport absolutely power neutral,” its operator, Cochin International Airport Ltd., said in a release.

CIAL has been a trendsetter since its launch in the late 1990s. Cochin is the first Indian airport to be built under a public-private partnership model.

The company forecasts the project will help mitigate carbon emissions by more than 300,000 tonnes in the next 25 years. That is equivalent to planting three million trees, it said.

The busiest airport in Kerala state and the fourth largest in India, Cochin handled nearly seven million passengers in 2014-15.

The project was built by Bosch Energy and Building Solutions.

Images are courtesy of CIAL.

ATR tests ‘green’ airplane

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Airbus, Aircraft, Alenia Aermacchi, ATR, Aviation, Clean Sky, Environment, Europe, European Union, Transport, Travel

An ATR “green” aircraft has made its first flight as part of Europe’s Clean Sky initiative.

The Clean Sky Green Regional Aircraft Flying Demonstrator took off from Toulouse, France, at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and returned two hours later.

ATR said the purpose was to test new and more effective composite insulating materials and sensors integrated into a panel of the airplane’s forward fuselage section.

The flight also tested new generation of optical fibres for improved identification of micro-cracks, the company added.

“The objective of such advanced technologies is to reduce the aircraft weight, fuel consumption, emissions and noise level.”

ATR has been part of the project financed by the aeronautical industry and by the European Union since its launch in 2008. The aim is to reduce emissions and noise pollution by half by 2020 from 2000 levels.

“Today’s successful flight shows the real progress accomplished in introducing large pieces of innovative materials in regional aircraft,” said Eric Dautriat, executive director of Clean Sky.

“The outcome opens the door to further improvement to the environmentally friendly planes people expect.”

A second flight, planned for later this year, will check out improvements to the electrical distribution, energy dispersal and the air conditioning systems.

ATR is jointly owned by Airbus Group and Alenia Aermacchi of Europe. It has sold more than 1,500 aircraft to 190 airlines.

Images are courtesy of ATR and Clean Sky.

Boeing expands ecoDemonstrator tests

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Aircraft, Aviation, Biodiesel, Biofuel, Boeing, Business, ecoDemonstrator 757, Environment, Masdar Institute, NASA, News, Transport, Travel, TUI Group

Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator 757 has made its first flight with U.S.-made “green diesel,” expanding the testing and use of technologies to improve aviation’s environmental performance, the company said Friday.

The U.S. aircraft manufacturer said the 757 flew on June 17 from Seattle to NASA‘s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

The aircraft used a blend of 95 per cent petroleum jet fuel and five per cent sustainable green diesel, a biofuel used in ground transportation, it said. Green diesel is a different fuel product than “biodiesel.”

Two new environment-related technologies were also used in the flight:

• Solar and thermal energy harvesting to power electronic windows, as a way to reduce wiring, weight, fuel use and carbon emissions.

• On the 757’s flight deck, Boeing has installed a 3D-printed aisle stand made from excess carbon fibre from 787 production to reduce airplane weight and factory waste.

“With the ecoDemonstrator, Boeing looks to reduce environmental impact through the airplane’s lifecycle, from improving fuel efficiency and cutting carbon emissions to recycling production materials,” said Mike Sinnett, vice-president, product development at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

“In addition to our new technologies, flying the ecoDemonstrator 757 with U.S.-made green diesel is another positive step toward reducing our industry’s use of fossil fuel.”

Boeing said NASA and the TUI Group of Germany, the world’s largest integrated tourism company, were collaborating on the tests.

The ecoDemonstrator 787 made the first-ever flights with green diesel last December.

Since it was launched in 2011, the ecoDemonstrator Program has tested more than 50 technologies, with 737, 787 and 757 aircraft, Boeing said.

Boeing’s global initiatives to advance development of a sustainable aviation biofuel include a project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where it has partnered with the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

Images are courtesy of Boeing and TUI Group.

E-Fan: The plug-in plane takes off

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Airbus, Aircraft, Aviation, Business, CO2, E-Fan, Emissions, Environment, France, Le Bourget, News, Paris, Paris Air Show, Transport

The Paris Air Show doesn’t open until Monday, but one airplane is already creating a lot of buzz.

Airbus has unveiled the E-Fan, the environment-friendly plug-in plane.

The European manufacturer says it will be the world’s first series production electric plane and will open the way for a new era in air transportation that is environmentally-friendly and highly efficient.

The the E-Fan 2.0 (left) and the E-Fan 4.0.

“The E-Fan demonstrator will be followed by serial production versions – first, the two-seat E-Fan 2.0 version for basic pilot training, then by the E-Fan 4.0, a four-seat airplane for full pilot licensing and the general aviation market,“ the company says on its website.

The first flight for E-Fan 2.0 is planned for late 2017. It is expected to go into service the following year.

“It will be CO2 emissions-free and nearly silent in flight, becoming the world’s first all-electric plane certified to international civil airworthiness standards,” Airbus said.

The E-Fan 4.0 is scheduled to arrive in 2019.

“E-Fan is a crucial step on Airbus Group’s journey toward all-electric aviation,” said Detlef Muller-Wiesner, head of Airbus E-Aircraft Programmes.

Airbus subsidiary Voltair will manage the airplanes’ industrial evolution.

Images are courtesy of Airbus.

The largest habitable work of art

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Airports, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austria, Autmotive, Bad-Blumau, Business, Cities, Culture, Environment, General Motors, Luxury Hotels, Luxury Travel, New Zealand, News, Opel, Rogner Bad-Blumau, Spa Hotels, Tourism, Travel, Travel Blog

“The water feels like silk on your skin.”

That is how Rogner-Bad Blumau describes the thermal water at the Austrian hotel’s spa.

The supply is from the nearby Vulkania springs and is said to be the most mineral-rich curative water in the spa town of Bad Blumau.

And the healing water is just one of many features that make this hotel out of the ordinary.

Billed as the world’s largest habitable work of art, Rogner-Bad Blumau was designed by eccentric Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, whose last name literally means “100 waters.”

“Your name is Hundertwasser, I have water of hundred degrees,” businessman Robert Rogner told the artist as they began the work on the hotel in early 1990s.

Rogner-Bad Blumau is unique in so many ways – the most compelling being the architecture itself.

There are six “houses” connected by a maze of hallways and green roofs with golden onion domes.

In addition to supplies from the Vulkania springs, the hotel’s numerous pools and bathing areas get water from the Melchior and Balthasar springs.

Original roof tiles from old farmhouses have been used for the facade of one of the rainbow-coloured buildings.

The late Friedensreich Hundertwasser

They all fit well with the philosophy of Hundertwasser: A life in harmony with nature.

“The great thing about Blumau is the uniqueness,” said Jasmin Rogner, co-owner of the 312-room, four-star hotel.

“It’s a great artwork, which rather increases in value with time,” she wrote in an email.

“The biggest challenge is to interpret this great place consistently.”

Hundertwasser died in February 2000 in his adopted home country of New Zealand.

The hotel sits on the beautiful rolling hills of Bad Blumau, less than an hour from the city of Graz – a UNESCO City of Design and the hometown of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I stayed at the hotel back in March 1998, barely a year after Rogner-Bad Blumau opened its doors to first guests.

The 1998 launch of Opel Astra at Rogner-Bad Blumau. Photo by Abdul Latheef

I was among a group of journalists flown in from around the world for the launch of a new General Motors car, Opel Astra.

The hotel has since become a major site for product launches and corporate events.

The property is owned by Rogner International Hotels and Resorts.

Bad Blumau is easily accessible from Graz, Vienna and Salzburg. Austrian Airlines has direct flights from Toronto to Vienna while Lufthansa offers flights to Graz from several German cities.

 Images are courtesy of Rogner-Bad Blumau

Finnair, South African set high environmental standard

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Aircraft, Airlines, Airports, Aviation, Buisness, Environment, Finnair, IATA, Icelandair, IEnvA, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, News, Qatar Airways, South African Airways, SriLankan Airlines

The organization that represents global airlines says Finnair and South African Airways have become the first carriers to complete the highest level of its environmental assessment program.

The International Air Transport Association said Tuesday they completed State 2 of the IATA Environmental Assessment, or IEnvA, program, aimed at improving an airline’s environmental management.

“This ensures that an airline has implemented all of the IEnvA program standards, identified and mitigated its significant environmental impacts, and has set performance targets,” IATA said.

“Stage 2 also certifies that an airline has developed processes for monitoring and reviewing its performance against its environmental targets and objectives.”

Meanwhile, Icelandair, Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines completed IEnvA Stage 1, joining Air Transat, Kenya Airways, LATAM, LATAM Cargo and Malaysia Airlines.

Five years ago, the industry agreed to cut net carbon emissions by 50 per cent from 2005 levels by 2050.

“This certification is proof of our commitment to environmental leadership within the aviation industry,” says Pekka Vauramo, Finnair’s CEO.

“Environmental sustainability is at the core of Finnair’s operations and we are continuously working to improve our environmental performance.”

There was no immediate comment from South African Airways.

Images are courtesy of IATA, Finnair and South African Airways.

Boeing, Embraer in biofuel initiative

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Aircraft, Airlines, Aviation, Biofuel, Boeing, Buisness, Business, Embraer, Environment, Menu 1, News, Technology, Transport

Boeing is partnering with Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer to advance sustainable aviation biofuel development in the largest country in South America.

They will conduct joint research at a centre in Sao Jose dos Campos Technology Park in Sao Paulo, Boeing announced today.

The two companies will also fund and co-ordinate biofuel research with other Brazilian instiutions.

“Boeing is working aggressively around the world to expand the supply of sustainable aviation biofuel and reduce aviation’s carbon emissions,” said Julie Felgar, managing director of environmental strategy and integration at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Boeing’s global initiatives include a project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where it has partnered with the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and others to produce aviation biofuel.

“Embraer is committed in supporting the development of sustainable biofuels for aviation and the joint efforts with Boeing will undoubtedly contribute to the company continuing to be in the forefront of research in this area,” said Mauro Kern, executive vice-president of engineering and technology at Embraer.

Boeing’s experts have concluded that when produced sustainably, aviation biofuel emits 50 to 80 per cent lower carbon emissions through its lifecycle than petroleum jet fuel.

The fuel was approved for use in airplanes in 2011. Since then, Boeing says, it has been used on more than 1,500 passenger flights.