NASA"s first all-electric plane, the X-57 Maxwell, in its Mod IV configuration. Photo: NASA
NASA is preparing to fly its first crewed X-plane in two decades after the all-electric X-57 Maxwell was delivered this week to the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
The experimental plane, NASA’s first all-electric aircraft, was delivered by Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero) in the first of three configurations to be tested.
The initial configuration, known as Mod II, involves testing the aircraft’s cruise electric propulsion system and has seen two traditional combustion engines replaced with electric motors.
This week’s delivery will allow NASA engineers to start ground tests, followed by taxi tests and ultimately flight tests.
The overall goal of the project is to further advance the design and airworthiness processes for the emerging electric aircraft market, including urban mobility vehicles.
It seeks to demonstrate the benefits of electric propulsion in terms of efficiency, noise and emissions.
“The X-57 Mod II aircraft delivery to NASA is a significant event, marking the beginning of a new phase in this exciting electric X-plane project,” said X-57 project manager Tom Rigney.
“With the aircraft in our possession, the X-57 team will soon conduct extensive ground testing of the integrated electric propulsion system to ensure the aircraft is airworthy. We plan to rapidly share valuable lessons learned along the way as we progress toward flight testing, helping to inform the growing electric aircraft market.”
NASA’s first all-electric plane is delivered to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California in its Mod II configuration. Photo: NASA
Two other testing phases, Mods III and IV, will feature a high aspect ratio wing instead of the wider, standard wing in the Mod II phase.
NASA recently completed tests on the high aspect wing, which will allow electric cruise motors to be repositioned at the wingtips, a move that could significantly boost efficiency.
The Mod IV configuration will add 12 smaller high-lift motors to the two wing-tip cruise motors in a distributed configuration.
NASA said the X-57 team was using a “design driver” that included a 500 percent increase in cruise efficiency, zero in-flight carbon reductions and a sharp reduction in noise for communities on the ground.
United Airlines is ramping up pilot recruitment as it looks to hire more than 10,000 pilots over the next decade.
The US carrier expects almost half of its 12,500 pilots to retire in the next 10 years in a period where it is also expecting strong growth.
Airline pilots in the US must retire when they reach age 65 and their replacements face stiff training costs of up to $US80,000.
United says a new pilot program called Aviate will offer aspiring and established pilots more opportunities and the fastest path to qualifying as a first officer of any major airline program in the industry.
Those who apply for the program and are successful will receive a conditional job offer with United.
Aviate will provide coaching and development with access to United pilots and learning tools as well as the company as a whole.
They will be required to work with an Aviate regional partner for a minimum of 24 months and 2000 hours.
The airline says it is s partnering with several of its regional United Express carriers, leading universities with established aviation programs, and training centers – including Lufthansa Aviation Training – to ensure pilots have the best opportunities to enroll in the innovative program.
The Aviate United Express partners are currently Air Wisconsin, ExpressJet, Mesa Airlines and CommutAir.
“With nearly half of our 12,500 pilots retiring in the next decade, combined with a period of strong growth at our airline, United is uniquely positioned to offer pilots the opportunity to get where they want to go in their careers faster than ever,” said United senior vice president of flight operations and chief pilot Bryan Quigley.
“With the most comprehensive global route network in the industry, and the most widebodies of any North American airline, United offers unparalleled opportunity for an exceptional and exciting career as we begin to welcome hundreds of new pilots every year.”
Despite talk of autonomous aircraft, global demand for pilots is expected to remain strong.
US manufacturer Boeing estimates airlines will need 645,000 commercial pilots globally over the next decade.
Another 98,000 will be needed around the world to fly business aircraft and 61,000 to operate helicopters.
Pilot demand will be largest in the Asia-Pacific region at 266,000 followed by North America at 212,000.
The biggest peacetime repatriation in UK history ends on October 6 but the Thomas Cook airlift has already established itself as a logistical exercise as massive as the mountain after which it is named.
The shock collapse of historic British travel firm Thomas Cook triggered “Operation Matterhorn” on September 23.
Counting the 5000 people due to be repatriated on 25 flights On Thursday, less than 10 percent of the estimated 150,000 holidaymakers stranded overseas by the collapse were yet to come home.
That was number was almost twice that of the previous biggest peacetime repatriation after the 2017 collapse of Monarch Airlines.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has been responsible for the airlift and said it flew back 127,000 travelers in the first 10 days of the operation on more than 600 flights.
To do that, it used more than 130 aircraft including a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A380 superjumbo.
About 94 percent of those repatriated flew back on the same day as their canceled Thomas Cook flight.
“The CAA continues to work around the clock to deliver our two-week flying program to bring more than 150,000 people back to the UK,’’ UK CAA chief Richard Moriarty said Thursday.
“ At the same time, we are focussed on refunding the 360,000 ATOL protected future bookings as quickly as possible.
“With just four days until the end of our flight program and 19,000 people left to bring back to the UK, we are beginning to combine more Thomas Cook flights into single CAA flights.
“We are sorry that, for some passengers, this means they will not arrive at the UK airport they had originally booked to return to. For these flights, the CAA will be on hand when they land to help them with their onward journeys.”
The collapse of Thomas Cook has also damaged the tourism sector in destinations the company served.
Spain is preparing a 300-million euro plan to shore up tourist spots affected by the collapse.
This includes cutting taxes for airlines flying to the Balearic and Canary Islands, which have been particularly hard hit by the Thomas cook failure.
The death of the ailing 178-year old company came after lengthy talks to broker a deal to save it.
The company had secured a £900m ($US1.12m) rescue deal led by major shareholder Fosun in August but was unable to meet a recent demand from bankers to raise a further £200m in contingency funding.
Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Frankhauser said in a statement after the collapse that management had worked exhaustively to resolve the outstanding issues.
“Although a deal had been largely agreed, an additional facility requested in the last few days of negotiations presented a challenge that ultimately proved insurmountable,” he said
Delta Air Lines is boosting its already feature-rich app to expand auto check-in to international flights and as well as give passengers a handle on security wait times in some markets.
The US carrier this week released the latest version of its Fly Delta app with color-coding specific to the fare purchased.
Each fare —basic economy, main cabin, Delta Comfort +, Delta Premium Select/First Class and Delta One — is assigned a color to act as a visual cue that mirrors those screens and signs at the gate during boarding.
Branded colors are a new feature of the latest version of the Fly Delta app. Image; Delta
The aim is to make the boarding process easier and help passengers recognize when it’s time to get on the plane.
New features on the way later this year include auto check-in for international flights, integrated security wait times in select markets and pre-select meals for Delta One and domestic First Class customers.
Eligible customers traveling internationally will be checked in automatically 24 hours prior to scheduled departure.
They will then receive an e-mail alert or push notification and be able to open the app, add or confirm their passport information and their boarding pass will be ready to go.
The airline is also testing integrated security wait times to help customers find the shortest security line.
This is already being tested out of Seattle and New York-LaGuardia and allows passengers to compare various checkpoint times.
TSA wait times are under test in Seattle and New York.
Also coming is the ability for Delta One and domestic First Class customers to pre-select their meals on the app.
Passengers can already do this by e-mail but expanding it to the app will allow them to select meals 21 days in advance and also for others traveling under the same reservation.
Customers who don’t do this will get a reminder email as the departure date moves closer that will take them to the “Trip Overview” screen to browse the menu.
The airline says that more than two million passengers have pre-selected meals since the program began in 2018.
Other features included in the latest release include an Integrated “message us” tool that connects to alive Delta representative, a carbon offset calculator and bag tracking.
There’s also handy information about Delta Sky Club locations and the airline’s fleet.
The US carrier also announced this week it had moved from Terminal 1 to the new Satellite Terminal (S1) at Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
This co-locates it with partner China Eastern to create a better connection for customers.
Passengers check-in at Terminal 1 and take a round-the-clock mass transit system to S1 where Delta One, Skymiles Diamond, Platinum and Gold Medallion members can use China Eastern’s new VIP lounges.
The airline’s flights now have gate access, putting an end to remote parking.
They will also not be able to redeem Mileage Plan points for travel on American’s domestic or international flights.
International flights on American Airlines booked before October 2, 2,019, will still be eligible to earn Alaska miles but that will only happen on flights booked after this date unless travel is completed by February 29, 2020.
American AAdvantage members trying to redeem miles on a flight operated by Alaska face similar prospects.
Mileage Plan members will still be able to earn miles on eligible American domestic flights to select destinations in the US Midwest and the eastern US and Canada.
However, those flights will need to have an AS flight number and must be marketed by Alaska.
Some things will not change.
Mileage Plan members will still be able to access 50 American Admirals Club lounges worldwide when traveling on an Alaska or American flight.
Base miles earned and class of services bonuses on eligible American-operated flights will also count to Alaska elite status.
It will also be business as usual for other airline partners, including oneworld members British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, JAL (Japan Airlines), LATAM and Qantas
The Seattle-based airline said it the changes were necessary because it was now in a different position to when it first kicked off its partnership with American 20 years ago.
“Back then, we flew just 18.6 million passengers compared to the 46 million passengers we flew in 2018,’ it said in an FAQ.
“ We’re now the fifth largest airline in the United States and can now fly more people where they want to go when they want to go there. As we’ve grown and the industry has evolved, the structure of our partnership needed to evolve as well.”
Flight attendants parade vintage uniforms to celebrate 50 years of international flying. Photo: KAL.
Korean Air has celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first international service with a special flight featuring flight attendants in vintage uniforms.
The flight from Seoul Incheon airport to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam followed a special event in which the Korean carrier gave out gifts and special commemorative cookies.
The flight, KE 683, featured a special video showcasing the route 50 years ago as well as a parade by flight attendants demonstrating the changes in uniform design over five decades.
The plane also sported the 50th-anniversary emblem for the flight and was accompanied by former flight attendants.
The carrier was established on March 1, 1969, when Hanjin Corporation was given the right to operate the previously government-run Korean Air Lines.
The first route was part of a more ambitious plan to gradually extend its Southeast Asia routes to Europe through the Middle East but also to boost national pride by opening a route to the US.
The route linking Seoul to what was then Saigon had been in the pipeline since the Korean Air Lines days and there had been other international routes under government ownership.
But Ho Chi Minh was the first route to be established by the fledgling Korean Air.
The Vietnamese government was lukewarm about the service because it did not have reciprocal rights that allowed its airlines to fly to Seoul.
These doubts were overcome by representations from a Hanjin executive based in Vietnam and the Korean ambassador.
From there, the airline continued to grow rapidly and became the first Korean carrier to start a regular service to the US with a Seoul-Tokyo -Los Angeles freight route in 1971.
In April 1972, the airline began fully-fledged passenger service to the Americas, with its Seoul-Tokyo-Honolulu-LA route.
Today, the SkyTeam alliance partner operates international routes to 111 cities in 43 countries and more than 460 flights a day across its network.
Australia’s competition watchdog has become the latest organization to back Virgin Australia in its battle against Qantas to gain a scarce landing and take-off slot at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission joined tourism authorities in backing Virgin’s push to be allocated one of two daily slots available to Australian carriers.
Australia’s No. 2 carrier proposes to start nonstop Brisbane-Haneda flights using an A330-200 from March 29.
Virgin would also enter into a partnership in Japan with All Nippon Airways (ANA) to create a passenger feed for its new flights.
Qantas is seeking both slots and has questioned its competitor’s ability to sustain services on the routes.
The submission to the International Air Services Commission by the ACCC adds to support for Virgin by Tourism Australia, Brisbane Airport and Queensland’s Department of Innovation and Tourism Industry Development (DITID).
It said it considered allocating the airlines one slot each would promote competition “to a much greater extent” than handing both to Qantas.
“The ACCC considers that allocating one frequency to each of Virgin Australia and Qantas would facilitate greater competition between Virgin Australia and Qantas, and other foreign carriers, on routes between Australia and Japan (including Brisbane and Tokyo),’’ the ACCC said.
“Virgin Australia does not currently operate flights to Japan in its own right, so Virgin Australia commencing flights on any route to Japan would naturally enable it to be a more effective competitor than at present.”
The Queensland DITID said Brisbane had seen no new capacity from Japan since Qantas started Tokyo-Narita services in July 2015.
It that time, it noted, Sydney’s capacity from Japan had been boosted by a daily ANA Tokyo-Narita service and Melbourne capacity had been increased through new daily services to Narita from both Qantas and Japan Airlines.
However, the submission referenced a bigger A330-300 rather than A330-200 mentioned in Virgin’s application when it talked about freight capacity.
“Queensland is ready to welcome additional services from Japan and I believe the Virgin Australia application will maximize the opportunity to boost tourism and trade flows between Australia and Japan,’’ DITID director-general Damien Walker said in the department’s submission.
Qantas urged the IASC to satisfy itself that Virgin meets the “reasonable capability” requirement of its policy statement.
It asked the commission to rigorously examine the extent to which Virgin was capable of obtaining licenses, permits or other approvals to operate the service and whether it could use the allocated capacity.
The bigger airline also argued it would be able to put more capacity into Haneda with an extra 16,000 seats a year, or 8 percent more than Virgin.
What do you do with an A350 intended for a subsidiary airline that no longer exists?
Air France had to answer that question with its first A350-900, which arrived this week from Airbus.
This is the first of 28 A350-900s Air France has on order, which will be delivered by 2025, and appropriately enough it’s named Toulouse.
But these aircraft were never supposed to go to Air France: they were for the airline’s former subsidiary Joon, which Air France-KLM chief executive officer Benjamin Smith reabsorbed into mainline Air France earlier this year.
Six of the A350s were destined for the sort-of-low-cost, sort-of-flying-test-lab, sort-of-nobody-knew, not-a-rooftop-bar Joon, the subject of much mockery as it lacked strategic direction.
It’s not clear whether the onboard product — including a new business class seat — will continue onto later A350s.
But for now at least, business-class features Optima from Safran Seats, the former Zodiac Aerospace.
Optima is the base product for United’s Polaris, although the latter is a highly customized version both in terms of shapes and in terms of look and feel.
I could wish for some more red accents, to be honest. Photo: Air France
This is one of the new compact, staggered business class generation of seats and improves on existing staggered products by angling away from the passenger immediately adjacent to the aisle in order to add privacy and reduce the amount of brush past disturbance.
This is a new seat for the airline and something of an upgrade for Air France, where the last set of cabins (for the A330 refit) were in a very tight 2-2-2 layout, using the Stelia Equinox derivative Elysium
Elsewhere, it uses Safran’s Cirrus in the latest cabins on its Boeing 777 and 787 widebodies.
In all, the cabin looks and feels very Air France: there’s a lot of cool-white and off-white thermoplastic, dark blue and grey for the secondary colors, and a new sort of golden beige for accents like the over shoulder third seatbelt point and the opening tab of the side storage locker.
The overall effect feels industrial-chic, if leaning a bit too much towards the ‘industrial’ side of that for my liking.
I have to say that I miss the subtle red accents from the 787 cabin (with Safran’s Cirrus seats); here it’s just the logo ribbon, and it feels like it could easily have been the gold-beige accents and perhaps some more too.
I do like the multicolored curtain, which pops in the middle with a lighter blue rather than the boring usual navy.
Further back, premium economy is in the increasingly common 2-4-2 layout for the A350, and comes from German seat maker Recaro. There’s nothing exciting here apart from a very light blue cover that one hopes has some industrial-strength stain repellent on it.
Recaro produces the premium economy seats. Photo: Air France
Economy, meanwhile, is also from Safran, in the 3-3-3 configuration that all but the lowest of low-cost carriers have taken.
Air France will initially operate its A350 on a triangle route from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Bamako in Mali and Abidjan in the Ivory Coast — both of which are some six hours from Paris — from 7 October through 8 December.
This route is particularly useful for crew familiarisation given the extra takeoff and landing on the 496nm short hop between the two West African cities.
From 27 October (one assumes the arrival date for A350 number two, named Bordeaux) will head to Toronto, while the West African aircraft seem set to swap to Cairo and Seoul from December 9th, returning to Abidjan and Bamako from February. Bangkok is added from next summer.
And that’s a rather odd set of routes: one would assume that Seoul, particularly given the connectivity from partner Korean Air, would have higher demand. Ditto Toronto given the Francophonie links between France and Canada.
This also feels like too nice an aircraft to serve Bangkok summer traffic, which isn’t exactly high-yielding.
So it’ll be fascinating to watch how the aircraft performs, if it changes routes, and how Air France integrates this ex-Joon configuration into its increasingly diverse long-haul fleet.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines celebrates its 100th birthday this month and AirlineRatings’ European correspondent Andreas Spaeth sat down for this exclusive interview with chief executive Pieter Elbers. The two discussed the airline’s longevity, current circumstances and the future.
KLM chief Pieter Elbers. Photo: Andreas Spaeth.
AirlineRatings: What was the environment enabling KLM to become, at 100 years, the oldest airline in the world always flying under the same name?
Pieter Elbers: The Netherlands is a small country, so we always need to explore the world and look outside our own boundaries, that’s very deeply rooted in the Dutch culture. People like to work together with other cultures, so there is a very strong sentiment of connecting with others. There are three basic reasons KLM still thrives: Great staff that keeps pioneering, innovating and delivers good service. A very loyal customer base, and also the fact that the connection between staff and customers is great. There is so much pride in the company, so much energy. We are Holland’s second-largest private employer with over 35,000 employees, after food retailer Ahold Delhaize. It has been a saying at KLM for a long time that many of us have a “blue heart” or “blue blood”.
AirlineRatings: One hundred years is a long time, what stands out in KLM’s history in your opinion?
Elbers: How we built our network and partnerships is really unique, we were the first ones to put on certain long-haul flights with three or four stops, we also were pioneers in exploiting the Open Skies agreement signed in 1992 between the Netherlands and the US. KLM was the first European airline to enter a joint venture with an American carrier, in our case Northwest Airlines. What stands out in the history of KLM is that we grab opportunities and we turn them into competitive advantages. It is what we should do, we would never be the biggest or richest, so we should use opportunities.
1925: A Fokker F.VII, Rotterdam. All archival photos courtesy of KLM.
AirlineRatings: How do you exploit your anniversary for KLM’s brand building?
Elbers: “KLM 100” is a great way for internal mobilization and it really fuels the pride and enthusiasm of the people working for KLM. In March this year, we already celebrated 100 years of aviation in the Netherlands, as aircraft manufacturer Fokker, KLM and the Dutch NLR aviation institute were all founded in the same year, 1919. A brand is all about emotion and aviation is all about emotion, becoming 100 is really emphasizing our brand identity. We are proud of our history but at the same time pragmatic, business-oriented and looking forward. Since I took the CEO post in 2014 I had a mission to make KLM a healthy and fit company again and it was my objective that when KLM becomes 100, it will be striving again. We have embarked on a very ambitious investment agenda a few years ago, we have moved from about €400m annual investments to €1.3bn every year, and it’s good to show to our staff what we are investing in, why we ask for sacrifices in productivity and labor, that’s where I put in some emphasis, to show to our customers and staff what we do.
AirlineRatings: Your objective is “customer focus”, but isn’t that a no-brainer, wasn’t that the case before?
Elbers: After the financial crisis in 2008 there had been a lot of emphasis on cost reduction and being more efficient. In all that cost focus, rightfully so at the time, we made some decisions which were not helping our customer experience. Not all our aircraft had flatbeds, now they all do.
Loading flowers in 1929
AirlineRatings: Besides all the celebrations you are still involved in an internal struggle with the CEO of Air France-KLM, Ben Smith. Should you be engaging more in politics as is usual in France?
Elbers: Politics is for the politicians and I am running KLM. My focus is on the work and on the business and maybe less on politics. Of course, a company like AF/KL has its share of politics as well so I need to engage with that naturally, but I am not spending too much time on the politics part. I do my best here, I think that we are demonstrating that we do the right thing and deliver results, we take it from there.
AirlineRatings: But then the Dutch government got involved as it purchased 14 percent of the shares of Air France-KLM overnight in February, also to support you keeping your job. Why this paradigm change as the Dutch normally support free markets?
Elbers: Liberty and free markets don’t rule out government involvement. The Dutch government took the decision with the importance of Amsterdam Schiphol airport for the Dutch economy and its impact on the Dutch GDP in mind. KLM alone is a company with a turnover of €11bn and the total impact of aviation on the Dutch economy is in the range of €35bn to €40bn of spin-off effects, so the impact is enormous. With this philosophy, the government has decided to purchase these shares, after indeed a rather turbulent journey. And the point in time they did that was not chosen by accident.
Passengers board a DC-2 in 1935.
AirlineRatings: Do the internal problems of Air France-KLM mirror the current problems of the wider European Union?
Elbers: The fact that we have all these different cultures in Europe I consider to be a European asset. It’s a bit more complicated here in Europe than in the US consolidation. There is no blueprint for European consolidation, we are discovering it ourselves and Air France-KLM was the first in 2004 to sort of kick-start European consolidation, we’ve had our successes and, yes, we had our share of internal challenges.
AirlineRatings: Do you think your recently launched “Fly Responsibly” campaign will enhance the currently often negative image of flying?
Elbers: The current image of aviation is a bit dualistic and almost contradictory if you wish. On one hand, 2018 was a record year here in the Netherlands of people boarding an aircraft, people want to fly and do still fly. And yet there is quite a lot of attention on the environmental side. It’s almost a contradiction – everyone wants to fly, but the acceptance of flying in society is declining.
1954: A Convair 240 at Schiphol.
AirlineRatings: What is your core goal with this campaign?
Elbers: We would like people to be considerate about flying, so if you fly, choose airlines that have a focus on sustainability. And think about CO2 offsetting programs, a lot of companies have approached us after the campaign started, wanting to work with us. We have already seen a gradual increase in CO2 compensation by passengers and also airlines not having a program wanting to work with us. I have seen statements of Lufthansa’s CEO Carsten Spohr and also IAG, which are similar to what we are doing. We got a lot of positive reactions. Sustainability is, like safety, not something to compete on. It is something to join hands and join forces, the more initiatives are taken the better, I welcome the initiatives by Lufthansa and IAG. If we find a better way to have biofuels or synthetic fuels, which have a lower CO2 footprint, I am happy to go that way.
AirlineRatings: But don’t you have a credibility problem, as critics pointed out, with your five daily ultra-short flights between Amsterdam and Brussels?
Elbers: This is almost a cynical reaction. The way how to optimize slots is a business trade-off, we do that anyway, we don’t need to have this campaign to do that. If the train connections were better I would stop flying to Brussels tomorrow. We work with the governments and the train operators to see that the number of stops is being reduced, that’s what it’s all about. We are flying to Brussels for our connecting passengers, and if there is any way to replace that by trains like Air France is running trains from Paris to Brussels, we would do exactly the same. It needs to be operated like a real connection, in terms of baggage handling and tickets.
AirlineRatings: Where do you see KLM in ten years from now?
Elbers: In ten years we will have made the next steps in our fleet renewal program and the next steps in the digitalization of our customer experience, using more AI for more personalized services. The combination of using technology to deliver better service and still have great human interaction is very important I think. The way how staff here helps customers, that will remain ten years from now.
Superheroes ruled among the 16 million passengers Emirates carried over the northern summer as Marvel Studio and DC Universe produced the top picks on the airline’s formidable ICE entertainment system.
Marvel’s “Captain America” took the top spot in June while “Alita: Battle Angel” triumphed in July and “Avengers: End Game” was the most-watched move in August.
ICE offers up to 1500 movies and as many as 4500 channels and the airline adds about 100 new movies a month.
Emirates allows customers to browse its expansive entertainment catalog and create personal playlists ahead of their flight.
Once onboard, they can sync the playlist to their seats.
The airline said more than 40,000 unique playlists were created by travelers with each including at least one movie. One in six customers added a TV show to their personal playlist.
Bollywood movies are the most popular non-English language films on board and most viewers opted for the “New Movies” category to watch hits such as “A Star is Born” and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Disney Classics proved the next most popular film category and give passengers a choice of 50 films stretching back to the 1951 classic “Alice in Wonderland”.
This was followed by Bollywood films.
Topping the TV category Was the HBO blockbuster “Chernobyl” while a 2011 documentary about a pride of lions and family of cheetahs, “African Cats”, was the most-watched documentary.
The Emirates fleet is now wi-fi capable with the airline offering 20MB of complimentary data and two hours of unlimited texting.
The airline said more than 1 million passengers logged in to wi-fi and over 40 percent of travelers chose the unlimited free text messaging option.
Wif-fi was most popular on flights to North America with passengers going to Houston consuming the most data onboard when compared to the rest of the network.
The most viewed live Tv channel was sport 24 and the airline is currently screening the Rugby World Cup live on more than 175 aircraft.
October blockbusters include “Spider-Man: Far from Home”, “Toy Story 4” and he Beatles-inspired film “Yesterday”.
Emirates also recently brought its A380 to Cairo for the first time in a flight designed to demonstrate Cairo’s airport’s readiness for the superjumbo
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