The aircraft combines the best features of the current 777 with a longer and wider internal fuselage, new engine and the composite wing design from the Boeing 787.
It also features 20 per cent larger windows and has lower pressurization altitude to reduce jet lag.
The 777-9X seats more than 400 passengers, depending on an airline’s configuration choices.
With a range of more than 8,200 nautical miles (15,185 km), the aircraft will have the lowest operating cost per seat of any commercial aircraft says, Boeing.
The second member of the family, the 777-8X, will be the most flexible jet in the world claims Boeing. The aircraft will seat 350 passengers and offer a range capability of more than 9,300 nautical miles (17,220 km).
Airlines are always hunting for ways to improve on-time performance and Air New Zealand is hoping artificial intelligence will help it do just that.
A key way of improving punctuality is through aircraft turn times — the time between a plane stopping at a gate and pushing back — and the airline is hoping to see significant benefits from a trial of a computer vision artificial intelligence system
It is teaming with start-up Assaia Apron AI and Auckland Airport to test computer vision AI-equipped cameras that can capture key aircraft turn activities and predict future operational needs.
It will work with the AI-based system through 2020 before analyzing its impact to assess its value to the business.
The Kiwi carrier is one of the first airlines in the world to use the Assaia technology, which monitors a complex process involving more than 50 activities.
These range from disembarkation and baggage handling to cabin cleaning, airworthiness inspections, catering and restocking.
OTP is particularly important to business travelers but aircraft turn time also involves the cleanliness, safety and efficiency of flights.
The airline says the AI system allows staff to monitor what happens during a turn and provides them with real-time alerts and predictive analysis to help them better manage operations.
A screenshot of the system. Image; AirNZ
“For each flight, there is a precise timeline associated with each activity to get the plane turned – understanding what is happening at each of these points enables us to proactively manage them,’’ says Air New Zealand operational performance program manager Marianita Willis.
“The technology enables additional data points to be collected in a real-time situation, offering a bird’s eye view which helps us get the necessary equipment and people in place.”
This means that trends can be identified to predict future challenges and resolve them before they become a problem.
Willis says Air New Zealand’s recent airline-wide efforts have contributed to improvements across Air New Zealand’s networks in every key metric of on-time performance.
“We’re entering an exciting new era of operations, where data is increasingly leading our decision making and, with this, we are seeing the culmination of efforts right across the business to deliver a new level of excellence for our customers,” she says.
Particles of the MERS coronavirus that affected the MIddle East. Photo: NIAD
The Chinese city of Wuhan is shutting off public transport, including the airport, as authorities attempt to contain a new virus in a strategy that mirrors a Hollywood script.
The airport and train stations, as well as bus, subway and ferry networks, will be closed Thursday in amove the World Health Organization has said will not control the coronavirus outbreak and minimize its spread internationally.
The WHO’s emergency committee will meet again Thursday to discuss whether to declare a global emergency over the virus.
Inbound screening of flights from affected areas has now been introduced at airports in countries such as the US, the UK and Australia as well as airports across Asia.
Officials had been warning people in Wuhan not to travel but the decision, on the eve of the busy Chinese New Year travel period, shuts down all but private travel.
The Chinese national health commission has banned the sale of poultry in Wuhan, banned poultry and wild animals from entering the city and canceled public activities during the New Year holiday.
Figures are changing constantly but the latest reports say the death toll has climbed to 17 and there are now 500 confirmed cases of the disease.
The virus has already been detected in other parts of China, the US, Thailand, Japan and South Korea. However, a suspected Australian case tested negative.
The 2019-nCoV virus is believed to have originated in a seafood market in Wuhan that sold animals illegally.
There are fears the virus is mutating and that it could spread more easily than first thought.
China’s Centre for Disease Control said Wednesday the virus was spread mainly through the respiratory tract and that there was “a possibility of viral mutation and further spread of the disease”.
But it does not seem as deadly as the SARS virus that killed hundreds of people in the early 2000s.
Opportunities for the disease to spread beyond China are now much greater as Chinese airlines have aggressively expanded international operations since the 2003 SARS outbreak and outbound tourism has grown substantially.
Fears about the spread of SARS had a big impact on airlines in 2002-03 as skittish travelers, particularly in Asia, canceled their travel plans.
Those worries are again surfacing and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific is allowing flight attendants to wear surgical masks on all routes after workers accused the airline of violating their rights by limiting the masks to routes to China.
However, the International Air Transport Association said it was too soon to gauge the impact of the outbreak.
IATA said it was closely monitoring developments and was actively enagaged with the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control.
It noted that the WHO was advising against any travel restrictions on China “based on the information currently available on this event”.
“In case of symptoms suggestive to respiratory illness before, during or after travel, travelers are encouraged to seek medical attention and share travel history with their health care providerr,” it said.
According to the US CDC, Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that generally circulate among animals such as camels, cats and bats.
In rare circumstances, animal coronaviruses can evolve and infect people and then spread between people, such as was the case SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Ironically, the 747 wasn’t supposed to carry passengers for very many years as the world looked to supersonic travel with the Boeing SST and the Concorde.
Boeing has now sold 1,568 747s and it’s still in production with the latest model still turning heads.
Giving life to the aircraft that changed the world was a challenge that brought the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing, the then biggest engine builder Pratt, and Whitney and the legendary Pan Am to their knees.
In the late 60s, Boeing’s resources were stretched to the absolute limit as its engineers grappled with the complexities of its US government-sponsored 2707 supersonic transport, which was eventually scrapped by Congress on May 20, 1971, despite commitments for 115 from 25 airlines.
At the time the 747 was considered only an interim solution before the world’s air routes were taken over by supersonics but fortunately, Boeing had appointed Joe Sutter, a brilliant young designer, to the project and he was to father the classic of the jet age.
Joe Sutter in front of the first 747. Credit Boeing Historical Archives colourized by Benoit Vienne
Mr. Sutter was extremely modest on this role.
“I was the only qualified person available. All the smart guys, Maynard Pennell, Bill Cook, Bob Withington, and many others were tied up on the SST, while Jack Steiner was heading the 737 programs,” Mr. Sutter said in a 2009 interview with the author.
The 747 was designed at the outset to be a freighter as everyone thought the 747 would be relegated to cargo routes.
“That’s what Boeing’s marketing people thought; they estimated we’d probably sell 50 or so 747s for passenger use,” said Mr. Sutter.
The 747 was a mass travel dream of Pan American World Airways founder Juan Trippe and Boeing chief Bill Allen.
Boeing’s Bill Allen (Left) and Pan Am’s Juan Trippe. Credit Boeing Historical Archives colorized by Benoit Vienne
Mr Trippe had started mass travel in 1948 when he introduced economy class onto 70 seat DC-4s.
But the 747 was far, far bigger. It would carry over 350 – almost double the Boeing 707 – and would slash fares.
It is impossible to find anyone who recalls if there was a definitive business plan for the 747. But traffic was booming for the airline industry which had enjoyed growth of 15 percent a year through the early 1960s as passengers flocked to jet aircraft.
Mr. Trippe was a man on a mission.
He wanted to make travel affordable for everyone and he believed that the 747 with the new high bypass turbofan engine could do just that.
Pan Am ordered 25 but most airlines were terrified of the jumbo’s size. Qantas ordered 4, British Airways 6, while many airlines just ordered 2 or 3 just to stay in the jumbo race.
However, the trickle of orders wasn’t the major problem it was the 747’s weight.
Initially, it was to weigh 250,000kg but this leaped to 322,000kgs by the time it flew because of design changes impacting range, altitude, speed, and fuel burn. A solution, to run the engines at higher temperatures to give more thrust, was found and within six months of entering service, the jumbo was performing at acceptable levels.
Despite the many problems encountered in its manufacture, the birth of the 747 was an amazing feat. Pan Am took delivery of its first aircraft just 3-and-a-half years after its order was placed and that included a 10-month flight-test program.
Because the 747 was so big airlines splashed out with lounges. There was the upper deck lounge and many had lounges at the back of economy class. However a Boeing proposal for a lower deck lounge – called the Tiger Lounge, because of the fabric design used in the mock-up never made it.
The 747 gleams in the Seattle sun
The spacious age, however, was short-lived with airlines responding to a demand for cheaper and cheaper travel in the late 1970s by adding more seats.
There have been many variants of the superjet. The upper deck was stretched for the -300 model and a modified wing and bigger engines added for the longer range -400 version.
The 747 was also shrunk for the SP (Special Performance) model that was the first aircraft to be able to cross the South Pacific from the US to Australia non-stop.
Finally, the 747 itself was stretched to create the 747-8, which features wing changes and 787 engines.
Today the 747 is still the Queen of the Skies to many and for billions of passengers, it is the plane that enabled them to see the world.
Outgoing United Airlines chief executive Oscar Munoz is leaving the carrier in good shape for his successor after posting a $US3 billion net profit in 2019 and declaring the future “has never been brighter”.
The good financial result came after a strong fourth quarter that exceeded analysts’ expectations and saw the airline reach an earnings per share target a year ahead of schedule.
United had set itself a target in January 2018 of achieving adjusted diluted earnings per share of $US11 to $US13 by 2020. It hit $US12.05 in 2019, up 32 percent versus 2018.
The full-year results included adjusted pre-tax earnings $US3.9 billion with a corresponding margin of 9 percent, an increase of 2.6 points versus 2018.
Munoz described 2019 as a great year for United and said he expected the airline’s full-year pre-tax margin growth to be the highest among its competitors.
“When I look at United’s fundamental strength, I could not be prouder of what we’ve accomplished in such a short time,’’ he said in the results announcement.
“This is the New United we set out to build more than four years ago. As we embark on a new year and decade, I believe the outlook for United’s future has never been brighter.”
The US giant has been one of the airlines affected by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX fleet but it did not reveal how much the issue had cost it.
With 14 MAX aircraft on the ground and another 16 due to be delivered this year, United will be in the queue of airlines talking about compensation.
Boeing revealed Tuesday that it now estimates the MAX will not return to scheduled service until mid-2020.
However, United did record an impairment charge of $US90 million associated with its Hong Kong routes, which were affected by political turmoil in the city.
The airline’s operations also hit a high point in 2019, with new records set for revenue passengers and mainline departures.
More than 40.3 million people flew on the carrier with a domestic passenger load factor of 83.8 percent and an international figure of 80.8 percent. There were almost 800,000 mainline departures.
It also claimed the crown from direct competitors for on-time departures from its Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles hubs.
Customer experience improvements included its ConnectionSaver tool to help customers connect between its flights, Mileage Plus points that no longer expire and free live DIRECTTV on more than 200 Boeing 737s.
It also rolled out new lounges, including a new Polaris lounge in Los Angeles, and added more than 1600 Polaris business class and United First seats to almost 250 aircraft.
The US giant launched 11 new international routes in 2019 and 54 domestic routes as it took delivery of 49 aircraft, including eight Boeing 787-10s that made it the world’s first carrier to operate all three Dreamliner models.
Wreckage from the downed 737. Photo: Office of the Ukrainian president.
Iranian authorities have admitted they cannot download the black boxes from a Ukrainian Boeing 737 brought down by a missile strike but appear to be balking at sending the recorders overseas.
A second preliminary report issued by the Civil Aviation organization of Iran this week identified the surface-to-air missiles that were fired at the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 as Russian-made TOR-M1s.
But the report stopped short of concluding the missiles brought down the plane with 176 people on board on January 8, saying only it is investigating their impact on the accident.
The Iranian military has admitted firing the missiles and footage on social media purports to show them striking the Boeing 737-800 less than 30 seconds apart.
The report also reveals Iranian investigators have been unable to read the flight data and cockpit voice recorders because they are too advanced.
The Boeing 737-800 was delivered in 2016 and would have had the latest digital recorders.
The report said authorities took the unusual move of asking for equipment from France’s BEA and the US National Transportation Safety Board but there had so far been no positive response.
Ukraine and Canada are pressuring the Iranian investigators to release the recorders and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed concern about delays in analyzing them.
Canada is pressing Iran to send the recorders to France, which has a strong track record in downloading black boxes from other countries, while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky wants them sent to Kyiv.
A translation posted by The Aviation Herald shows the aircraft took off from Imam Khomeini Airport at 6:12 am local time and was handed off to Tehran Mehrabad radar which cleared to it to climb to 26,000ft and head to a waypoint called PAROT.
An air traffic controller saw that the jet had disappeared from his screen at 6:18 am and called the aircraft without receiving a response.
The last received altitude was 8100ft and the last secondary radar signal was received at 6:15 am.
Primary radar indicated the aircraft tried to turn right, possibly trying to head back to the airport, just before the return was lost at 6:18 am.
Indonesian carrier Citilink touches down at Melbourne Avalon Airport on January 25 optimistic it can reach its target of filling at least 70 percent of seats on its new daily Bali service.
The Garuda Indonesia offshoot already operates Perth-Bali flights and will fly its first service to Australia’s eastern states using a 178-seat A320neo.
It is the second overseas carrier after AirAsia X to operate from Avalon, about 50kms from the center of Melbourne.
The international services were made possible after the airport opened its international terminal 14 months ago as an alternative to Melbourne’s main airport at Tullamarine.
Vietnamese carrier VietJet Air also announced last year that it planned to operate four times weekly direct flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Avalon in the second half of 2020.
Citilink’s A320neo will depart Melbourne Avalon at 12:50 pm daily with the return service landing at 8:50 am.
Announcing the new service earlier this month, Citilink chief executive Juliandra said he believed the Avalon service would provide more options for Victorians wanting to visit Bali as well as for people heading to Melbourne from Bali.
He noted Australia accounted for the second-highest number of visitors in 2019 and said he was optimistic the route would reach its target seat load factor of 70 percent.
Avalon chief executive Justin Giddings said Bali was the airport’s most requested holiday destination and one it had been pursuing for some time.
“It’s an honor to introduce this airline to the region, and make Bali more accessible for Melbourne, Geelong and Regional Victoria in particular,’’ he said.
“We’re certain the flights will be hugely successful.”
Citilink was established in 2001 as a low-cost shuttle service between Indonesian cities and expanded in 2012 to become an independent business entity.
The airline serves 30 destinations in Indonesia with a fleet of 57 aircraft as well as Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Kunming in China, Penang in Malaysia and Dili in East Timor.
It appears to have shelved plans to launch long-haul flights to Frankfurt.
Avalon is outside the Victorian regional city of Geelong and about 45 minutes away from the center of Melbourne, depending on traffic. A Skybus service connects the two.
US Health officials have expanded screening for a new SARS-like virus to another two major hub airports after identifying the first case on American soil.
Screening for the coronavirus will start at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport in the coming days.
Passengers heading to the US from the Chinese city of Wuhan, identified as the source of the 2019-nCoV outbreak, are also being issued with new tickets to route them through one of the five screening hubs.
Screening is already in force at Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York JFK, as well as airports throughout Asia. Australian health officials announced Tuesday screening would be introduced in Sydney.
The expanded US screening comes as a man in Washington state developed symptoms after returning from the region around Wuhan.
The outbreak has hit hundreds of people in China, killing at least six, and isolated cases have been also been reported in Thailand, Japan and South Korea. Health authorities in Australia are also investigating a possible case.
The virus is related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that rocked the airline industry in the early 2000s but does not appear to be as deadly.
There is evidence it can be transmitted between humans and symptoms include fever and possibly coughing, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath. In some cases, it can develop into pneumonia.
The Washington victim returned to the US on January 15, two days before the screening began at Los Angeles, JFK New York and San Francisco airports, and did not have symptoms at the time.
Health care workers are trying to identify who came in contact with the infected traveler and will monitor fellow passengers for symptoms.
The World Health Organization is due to meet to decide whether to declare the outbreak a global public health emergency but officials in the US and Australia say they currently believe the risk to the general populace is low.
However, they note that information about the virus is thin and the situation is evolving rapidly.
China has vowed to curb the disease but is facing a peak travel period this week as millions travel for Chinese New Year.
There are also more opportunities for the disease to spread overseas as Chinese airlines have aggressively expanded international operations since the 2003 SARS outbreak and outbound tourism has grown substantially.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that generally circulate among animals such as camels, cats and bats.
In rare circumstances, animal coronaviruses can evolve and infect people and then spread between people, such as was the case SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
“When person-to-person spread has occurred with SARS and MERS, it is thought to happen via respiratory droplets with close contacts, similar to how influenza and other respiratory pathogens spread,” the CDC said.
“The situation with regard to 2019-nCoV is still unclear. While severe illness, including illness resulting in several deaths, has been reported in China, other patients have had milder illness and been discharged.”
Boeing has publicly fallen into line with its airline customers and now estimates the 737 MAX will not return to the skies until mid-2020.
The new estimate means that the plane will have been grounded for more than a year, prompting the US manufacturer to suspend production and costing it billions of dollars.
Boeing reiterated that the decision about lifting the grounding would be made by the US Federal Aviation Administration and other regulators.
“However, in order to help our customers and suppliers plan their operations, we periodically provide them with our best estimate of when regulators will begin to authorize the ungrounding of the 737 MAX,’’ the planemaker said in a statement released Tuesday US time.
“We are informing our customers and suppliers that we are currently estimating that the ungrounding of the 737 MAX will begin during mid-2020.
“This updated estimate is informed by our experience to date with the certification process.
“ It is subject to our ongoing attempts to address known schedule risks and further developments that may arise in connection with the certification process.
“It also accounts for the rigorous scrutiny that regulatory authorities are rightly applying at every step of their review of the 737 MAX’s flight control system and the Joint Operations Evaluation Board process which determines pilot training requirements.”
The conservative estimate is a turnround for Boeing, which had raised the ire of the FAA under former CEO Dennis Muilenburg for a string of optimistic claims about the plane’s return to the skies.
The MAX fleet was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people and were linked to new flight control software in the plane.
Boeing has since updated the software but has experienced a series of setbacks in getting the plane recertified.
The delay in getting the plane back into the air means lost revenue, a mounting airline compensation bill and a possible downgrade of Boeing’s credit rating.
It has also rippled through the company’s supply chain and prompted thousands of lay-offs.
US media reported this week that the company is in talks with banks to secure a loan of $US10 billion or more with several financial institutions already committed as contributors.
The company’s US customers for the MAX — United, Southwest and American — had already taken the plane out of their schedules until June.
Southwest joined the other two airlines last week and took the MAX out of its schedule until June 6.
The airlines are doing this to reduce last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruptions to customers but it means they are operating with a reduced fleet.
Other airlines, such as Europe’s Ryanair, have had to postpone expansion plans and say the delay is affecting growth.
The Boeing statement came as a new software glitch was recently uncovered on the MAX.
The problem was with a software power-up monitoring function that operates when the aircraft or system power-up.
The function verifies certain system monitors are operating correctly to ensure no latent fault is present in the system or function being monitored and signals the need for maintenance if there is.
One of the monitors did not initiate correctly at power up during a technical review. The review was towards the end of the formal development process and before the software package was finalized.
Boeing said it was making necessary updates and working with the FAA on the problem.
The company has been conducting taxi tests over the past few days in preparation for the first flight which is almost 9-months overdue because of issues with its GE9X engines.
Boeing’s 777X, WH001, recently came out of the paint hangar and has been prepared for the first flight, over the past three weeks.
Upgraded GE9X engines were installed in December.
The upgrade incorporates improvements to fix durability problems that were unearthed late in the engine test program last summer.
The issue, centred on the stator vanes in the compressor and forced Boeing to delay the start of flight tests of the 777-9 from July 2019 to early 2020.
Deliveries of the Boeing 777X are delayed till early 2021.
The aircraft combines the best features of the current 777 with a longer and wider internal fuselage, new engine and the composite wing design from the Boeing 787.
It also features 20 per cent larger windows and has lower pressurization altitude to reduce jet lag.
The 777-9X seats more than 400 passengers, depending on an airline’s configuration choices.
With a range of more than 8,200 nautical miles (15,185 km), the aircraft will have the lowest operating cost per seat of any commercial aircraft says, Boeing.
The second member of the family, the 777-8X, will be the most flexible jet in the world claims Boeing. The aircraft will seat 350 passengers and offer a range capability of more than 9,300 nautical miles (17,220 km).
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