The Lufthansa Group purchases four additional ultra-modern Airbus A350-900 long-haul aircraft. The aircraft will be acquired from Deucalion Aviation Limited and delivered to the Group still this year.
Lufthansa currently operates 21 Airbus A350-900s and has ordered five more A350-900s and ten A350-1000s as recently as March 2023. In total, Lufthansa holds 38 firm orders for this highly efficient Airbus long-haul aircraft, making it the world’s third-largest Airbus A350 customer.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airbus for the purchase of nine A350-1000s.
The A350-1000 will be operated on nonstop services from Manila to North America, including to the East Coast of the US and Canada.
The new aircraft will join two A350-900s already in service at the airline and currently flying to destinations in North America, Asia and Australia. As with the A350-900, the PAL A350-1000s will be configured in a premium layout with separate Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy Class cabins.
Captain Stanley K. Ng, President and Chief Operating Officer of Philippine Airlines, said that the range of the A350-1000 would enable the airline to fly nonstop transpacific and transpolar routes in both directions all year. These will include some of the longest commercial flights in the world, such as those linking the Philippines with New York and Toronto. With an expanded A350 fleet, PAL will have the ability to once again provide a direct link from the Philippines to Europe.
In a globally unique project, the Lufthansa Group and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are currently converting the Lufthansa Airbus A350-900 “Erfurt” (registration D-AIXJ) into a flying research laboratory. Now, an essential project milestone could be reached: For the first time, experts from the Lufthansa Group have attached the measuring probe system developed especially for the project to the lower fuselage of the A350 and successfully tested it in flight. Lufthansa pilots completed a flight program coordinated with the certification authorities in the airspace over southern Germany. The measuring system now being tested on the aircraft is the most complex of its kind and, in addition to the air inlet function, has sensors for high-frequency and -precision measurement of pressure and temperature. From 2024, the Airbus will collect comprehensive climate data during regular passenger flights for the European research infrastructure IAGOS-CARIBIC.
“We want to make flying more sustainable. That is why we have been supporting climate research for decades. The conversion of our Lufthansa Airbus A350 into a climate research aircraft is a globally unique project in which colleagues from a wide variety of areas at Lufthansa have been working together with partners in science for years. Our aim is to make a valuable contribution to climate research. The data that our aircraft will collect worldwide in the future will help to improve today’s atmospheric and climate models and thus their informative value for the future climate on earth,” says Jens Ritter, CEO Lufthansa Airlines.
Over the next few months, a measurement laboratory weighing around two tons and specially developed for the project will be set up. Some 20 measuring instruments will be installed in the laboratory, which will later be loaded into the cargo hold as a cargo container and connected to the measuring system on the outer fuselage of the aircraft. Next year, this high-tech laboratory will take off for the first time and collect climate data on selected flights in Lufthansa’s worldwide scheduled operations. The laboratory continuously records more than 100 different trace gases, aerosol, and cloud parameters from the ground to the tropopause region at an altitude of nine to thirteen kilometers. What makes it special: Climate-relevant parameters can be recorded at this altitude with significantly higher accuracy and temporal resolution on board the aircraft than would be possible with satellite- or ground-based measurement systems.
“IAGOS-CARIBC helps to close an essential gap in our understanding of the climate system. With the high-precision measurements of many parameters, we can understand which atmospheric processes are changing and how in climate change, in an altitude region where most of the atmospheric radiation budget, i.e., the greenhouse effect, is generated and changed. We can thus identify process-specific errors and their causes in climate models and subsequently improve their predictive capabilities,” says Dr Andreas Zahn of KIT and coordinator of IAGOS-CARIBIC. “We are extremely grateful for Lufthansa’s great commitment and support.”
The conversion of the A350 “Erfurt” into a research laboratory was preceded by a planning and development phase lasting several years. In addition to the Lufthansa Group and KIT, six other companies (Lufthansa Technik, Airbus, Safran, enviscope, Dynatec, and ACC COLUMBIA Jet Service) are involved in the IAGOS-CARIBIC project. The KIT also acts as coordinator of a scientific consortium of currently twelve research institutions in Europe and the USA, whose complex measuring instruments will explore the atmosphere in the flying research laboratory. The abbreviation IAGOS stands for “In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System” and CARIBIC for “Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container”.
The Lufthansa Group has been committed to climate and weather research for almost 30 years now and has equipped several aircraft with measuring instruments since then. From December 2004 to 2020, a Lufthansa Airbus A340-600 (registration D-AIHE) has already completed around 500 measurement flights in the service of climate and atmospheric research as part of the CARIBIC project.
Top Copyright Photo: Lufthansa Airbus A350-941 D-AIXJ (msn 209) LAX (Michael B. Ing). Image: 957622.
Lufthansa aircraft photo gallery:
Delta Air Lines today, March 26, will launch daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and London (Heathrow).
The route will be operated with Airbus A350-900s (top).
Top Copyright Photo: Delta Air Lines Airbus A350-941 N508DN (msn 190) RIV (Michael B. Ing). Image: 960329.
Delta Air Lines aircraft photo gallery (Airbus):
Finnair is preparing to spring into summer with one of its biggest North American schedules to date.
The Nordic carrier is set to operate 21 flights a week from five major cities across North America to its Helsinki hub this summer, giving customers greater choice.
Popular year-round services from New York JFK and Los Angeles will continue into the summer, with flights operating daily and three times a week respectively.
Those looking to travel from Texas can also make use of the airline’s convenient connection from Dallas/Fort Worth to Helsinki, which operates four times a week.
This month also marks a year since services started from Dallas/Fort Worth, with Finnair launching services from the ‘Big D’ on March 27, 2023.
From March 27, 2023, Finnair is also set to resume flights to Midwest in Chicago (O’Hare) and West Coast in Seattle/Tacoma, with three to four weekly services to Finland, giving customers great access across the whole continent.
By early 2024, Finnair plans to have refitted all its long-haul aircraft with the award-winning new cabin, giving transatlantic customers a modern Nordic experience.
Alongside the five US cities served by Finnair this summer, the airline also operates a thrice weekly service from Miami during the winter months.
Top Copyright Photo: Finnair Airbus A350-941 OH-LWL (msn 134) (Marinekko Kivet) AMS (Ton Jochems). Image: 957638.
Finnair aircraft photo gallery:
Finnair is set to resume passenger flights to the Japanese city of Osaka this Sunday, March 26, 2023, after a one-year hiatus.
Flights from Helsinki to Kansai International Airport will initially operate three times per week, with flights departing Finland on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and returning from Japan on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Services will depart the Finnish capital at 17:45, arriving into Osaka at 12:35 the following afternoon. On the return, flights will leave Osaka at 22:25, arriving in Finnair’s Helsinki hub at 05:30 the following morning.
Top Copyright Photo: Finnair Airbus A350-941 OH-LWC (msn 020) MUC (Gunter Mayer). Image: 960315.
Finnair aircraft photo gallery:
China Airlines will fully restore daily round-trip service between Southern California’s Ontario International Airport (ONT) and Taipei beginning March 26, 2023, ONT officials announced.on
The return of daily service connecting ONT and Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) marks a major milestone in Ontario’s recovery of international air service, all of which was suspended at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly three years ago.
After suspending service in March 2020, China Airlines resumed ONT-TPE flights in June 2021, gradually increasing service levels as demand returned. The resumption of daily service occurs at the same time that China Airlines marks its five-year anniversary at ONT.
The first carrier to offer nonstop, transoceanic passenger service to ONT after its transition to local ownership, China Airlines will upgrade the aircraft operating the route from an Airbus A350-900 to a larger Boeing 777-300ER, increasing seat capacity from 306 to 358 across premium business, premium economy and economy classes. The service is also scheduled to provide customers with seamless one-stop connections to additional destinations throughout Asia.
TPE is the primary international gateway to northern Taiwan’s more than 9 million residents, while ONT is the closest and most convenient international gateway airport for more than 10 million Southern California residents in San Bernardino, Riverside, northern Orange and eastern Los Angeles counties.
Domestic air travel through ONT surpassed pre-pandemic levels in 2022, a milestone achieved by few other airports in California.
Top Copyright Photo: China Airlines Airbus A350-941 B-18901 (msn 049) (Mikado Pheasant) ONT (Michael B. Ing). Image: 944973.
China Airlines aircraft photo gallery:
Air Mauritius made this announcement about Category 5 TC Freddy:
Flights disruptions due to intense tropical cyclone Freddy – Bulletin 2
Following the latest updates from the meteorological services with regard to the sustained approach of intense tropical cyclone Freddy in our region, the following Air Mauritius flights have been cancelled.
| Date | Flight number | Routing | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 February | MK 015 | Paris CDG – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 19 February | MK 017 | Paris CDG – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 19 February | MK 053 | London Heathrow- Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 749 | Mumbai – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 014 | Mauritius – Paris CDG | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 042 | Mauritius – London Heathrow | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 218 | Mauritius – Reunion | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 219 | Reunion – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 238 | Mauritius – Reunion | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 239 | Reunion – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 646 | Mauritius – Kuala Lumpur | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 748 | Mauritius – Mumbai | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 851 | Mauritius- Johannesburg | Cancelled |
| 20 February | MK 852 | Johannesburg – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 21 February | MK 015 | Paris CDG – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 21 February | MK 053 | London Heathrow- Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 21 February | MK 647 | Kuala Lumpur – Mauritius | Cancelled |
| 21 February | MK 749 | Mumbai-Mauritius | Cancelled |
Air Mauritius wishes to inform its passengers that all its outbound flights scheduled today Sunday 19 February 2023 from SSR International Airport, Mauritius, with the exception of Rodrigues, will operate normally as follows:
| Date | Flight number | Routing | Scheduled Departure Time | Scheduled Arrival time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 February | MK 248 | Mauritius – Reunion | 22h00 | 22h50 |
| 19 February | MK 748 | Mauritius – Mumbai | 18h40 | 02h20 |
| 19 February | MK 014 | Mauritius – Paris CDG | 22h50 | 07h35 |
*All timings are in local time
Flight MK 249, Reunion-Mauritius, scheduled on Monday 20 February 2023 at 07h00 local time has been preponed to Sunday 19 February 2023. It will now operate as flight MK 1249 at 23h25 local time and is expected to arrive in Mauritius at 00h15 local time on Monday 20 February 2023.
All flights scheduled to/from Rodrigues on Monday 20 February 2023 are cancelled.
Air Mauritius is closely monitoring the situation with the authorities and will keep passengers informed of developments through its Call Centre on 207 7575, on its website at airmauritius.com and through regular communiques.
Air Mauritius regrets any inconvenience caused.
Air Mauritius currently operates direct flights to 10 destinations in Europe, India, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Indian Ocean islands. From Paris Charles De Gaulle airport, connections are offered to above 70 destinations in Europe with Air France.
From the Piper Navajo at its humble beginnings, Air Mauritius nowadays has one of the youngest and most modern fleet in the world, with the latest generation aircraft such as the Airbus A350-900 XWB and the A330-900neo.
Top Copyright Photo: Air Mauritius Airbus A350-941 3B-NBQ (msn 157) CDG (Jacques Guillem Collection). Image: 951615.
Air Mauritius aircraft photo gallery:
Virgin Atlantic Airways announced today that it will be suspending services between London Heathrow and Lahore and Islamabad.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “As we continue to ramp up our flying program in 2023, we’ve taken the opportunity to review our entire network and decided to make a few changes.”
“Following this review, it is with regret that we’ve taken the difficult decision to suspend our services between London Heathrow and Pakistan. Since commencing operations in December 2020, we have been proud to offer choice for customers travelling between London and Manchester in the UK, and Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan. During that time, we have also provided important cargo capacity, as well as delivering vital medical supplies.”
Virgin Atlantic will continue to operate services between London and Lahore until May 1, 2023 and between London and Islamabad until July 9, 2023.
Background
Top Copyright Photo: Virgin Atlantic Airways Airbus A350-1041 G-VLUX (msn 274) LHR (Keith Burton). Image: 960046.
Virgin Atlantic Airways aircraft photo gallery:
Vietnam Airlines and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the commercial collaboration between the two airlines.
The carriers will initially explore opportunities for codeshare arrangements to facilitate better connectivity between Vietnam and Singapore. This could potentially be expanded to include other destinations that SIA serves. The two airlines will also explore other areas of commercial cooperation that could offer more value and options to their customers.
Vietnam Airlines and Singapore Airlines have had a long-standing partnership for over 20 years. As international border restrictions eased in 2022, both airlines sought opportunities to expand their bilateral cooperation to provide quality service for their customers travelling between Vietnam and Singapore.
Top Copyright Photo: Vietnam Airlines Airbus A350-941 VN-A897 (msn 197) (SkyTeam) AMS (Ton Jochems). Image: 956426.
Vietnam Airlines aircraft photo gallery:
Virgin Atlantic Airways is set to become the first U.K. carrier in the SKyTeam alliance.
The carrier will join the alliance on March 2.
Top Copyright Photo: Virgin Atlantic Airways Airbus A350-1041 G-VTEA (msn 426) LHR (Wingnut). Image: 959703.
Virgin Atlantic Airways aircraft photo gallery:
Qatar Airways and Airbus are pleased to have reached an amicable and mutually agreeable settlement in relation to their legal dispute over A350 surface degradation and the grounding of A350 aircraft.
A repair project is now underway and both parties look forward to getting these aircraft safely back in the air.
The details of the settlement are confidential and the parties will now proceed to discontinue their legal claims.
The settlement agreement is not an admission of liability for either party.
This agreement will enable Qatar Airways and Airbus to move forward and work together as partners.
Top Copyright Photo: Qatar Airways Airbus A350-941 A7-ALA (msn 006) AMS (Ton Jochems). Image: 960011.
Qatar Airwasys aircraft photo gallery:
