“Our” 747-8i Heads For Home

by | May 1, 2012 | Airlines | 0 comments

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courtesy: Chris Sloan

Lufthansa’s first 747-8i, D-ABYA, left Paine Field in Everett, Washington today and headed for home in Frankfurt.

Following a brief ceremony attended by executives from Lufthansa, Boeing and various suppliers, executives from both companies boarded the aircraft and took off for Frankfurt where the aircraft will arrive on May 2 where it will be welcomed with a special celebration.

From there, she’ll head to Technik HQ in Hamburg to have the finishing touches put on her before entering passenger service on June 1.

Guess who’s going to be there ;).

The Press Release From Lufthansa:

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East Meadow, NY, May 1, 2012 – Today Lufthansa officially received delivery of the first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental passenger aircraft. Lufthansa is the first airline to operate Boeing’s new Jumbo jet, which is one of the carrier’s flagship aircraft, marking yet another milestone in the more than half century partnership between the two industry leaders. The official handover took place during a ceremony at Boeing’s Everett, WA, facility outside of Seattle, where Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines; Pat Shanahan, senior vice president, Airplane Programs, Boeing Commercial Airplanes and more than 100 company executives, employees, media and local dignitaries gathered to celebrate the momentous occasion.

“We are excited and thrilled to welcome the 747-8 Intercontinental to our fleet. With its lower noise, lower fuel burn and lower emissions, the 747-8 Intercontinental will help us meet our strategy of environmental protection and sustainability, underpinned by investment in innovation. And our passengers will love the new interior, which includes our all-new full-flat business-class cabin,” said Carsten Spohr.

Later today, the new aircraft will be flown to Lufthansa’s Frankfurt base, where it will be prepared to enter service in just one month, on June 1st. The inaugural route will be Frankfurt (FRA) to Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport (IAD) with flight LH 418/419. Later this year, Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, New Delhi and Bangalore will be added to the route network.

“We are very proud and pleased that Lufthansa is the airline launch customer for the 747-8 Intercontinental,” said Boeing’s Pat Shanahan. “Lufthansa has been a trusted partner for many years and has contributed greatly to making the 747 a truly beloved airplane around the world. We are excited for Lufthansa’s passengers to experience the incredible new Intercontinental — it is truly a Queen of the Skies for the 21st Century.”

Lufthansa currently has 20 Boeing 747-8s on order and is expected to take delivery of five more this year. “This investment by Lufthansa is a significant contribution to U.S. exports, bolstering our National Export Initiative and sustaining U.S. jobs in innovation and manufacturing by showcasing the excellence of The Boeing Company as a global leader in aerospace. I applaud this vital and successful partnership,” said Francisco J. Sanchez, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.

The Boeing 747-8 is a brand new aircraft designed on the well-tested base of the 747-400. It features new state-of-the-art wings with improved aerodynamics and raked wing tips; new fuel-efficient, U.S.-manufactured GEnx-2B engines that contribute to a reduction in fuel burn, emissions and noise and thus give airlines the lowest operating costs and best economics of any large passenger airplane; and fly-by-wire technology.

The aircraft generates a 30 percent smaller noise footprint than the 747-400 and brings double-digit improvements in fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions per passenger, making it one of the industry’s most fuel-efficient aircraft and key to Lufthansa’s commitment to sustainable reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The 747-8 fuselage is 250 feet 2 inches long, which is 18 feet 4 inches longer than the 747-400. Lufthansa will operate the 747-8 with a configuration of 362 seats (8 First Class, 92 Business Class and 262 Economy Class). The stretch also provides Lufthansa with 26 percent more cargo volume.

Brand new Business Class product with innovative “V” seating concept
The aircraft interior includes a new curved, upswept architecture that gives passengers a greater feeling of space and comfort, while adding more room for personal belongings. In addition, passengers of the Lufthansa 747-8 Intercontinental will enjoy the carrier’s most up-to-date cabins in all three classes, and will be among the first to experience the airline’s new Business Class product, including a completely redesigned seat that meets the comfort and privacy desires expressed by customers during an extensive research process. At the push of a button, the seat converts to a full-flat, horizontal sleeping surface measuring 6’6” in length (1.98 m). Ergonomically improved cushioning ensures a high degree of comfort in a sitting or horizontal position, and adjustable armrests provide more space in the shoulder area when lying down.

Another unique attribute of the new Business Class cabin is the innovative seating arrangement in the form of a “V” whereby two neighboring seats are angled towards one another along a central axis. This solution enables Lufthansa to fulfill one of the main wishes expressed by customers – to sit or lie facing the direction of travel, while at the same time enjoy virtually double the distance between two neighboring seats at shoulder level, which now gives Business Class passengers greater privacy and more personal living space.

The public can track the progression of the 747-8 into Lufthansa’s service via a dedicated 747-8 micro site that showcases product features along with 3-D models of the aircraft and interactive games.

Own An Airbus? Trade It In For A Boeing

by | May 1, 2012 | Airlines, Industry News | 3 comments

I came across an interesting story today that discussed a recent transaction where Boeing has agreed to accept 5 China Eastern Airbus A340 as a trade-in towards a $6 billion deal that has China Eastern buying 20 Boeing 777’s. At the same time, Airbus will be taking back the other half of the A340 fleet in trade towards the purchase of 15 new A330s.

In the cutthroat business of airliner sales, it is extremely rare for a manufacturer to take in trade-ins of competitor aircraft. No doubt Boeing will want to get these Airbuses off it’s “lot” as soon as possible. You can probably get yourself a good deal.

The Reuters Article:

(Reuters) – Boeing (BA.N) may soon be looking for buyers for long-range passenger jets built by arch-rival Airbus (EAD.PA) under a rare trade-in deal with China’s third largest airline that underscores all-out competition between the planemakers.

The U.S. planemaker has agreed to buy half of China Eastern’s (600115.SS) (0670.HK) fleet of 10 Airbus A340 jets as part of a $6 billion deal to sell 20 Boeing 777s to the airline, the Shanghai carrier said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

Airbus has itself agreed to take back the other half of China Eastern’s A340 fleet as part of a separate deal to sell 15 A330 jets, but faces likely delays in getting the deal done due to a row between China and Europe over emissions.

The two deals lift a veil on an obscure corner of the jetliner industry, where planes are traded in like used cars.

Just like car dealerships, the world’s dominant aircraft manufacturers sometimes offer to take back their old models when trying to persuade airlines to upgrade to the latest models, in an industry with $100 billion in annual new sales.

But experts agree it is unusual for aircraft to cross over the barrier separating Airbus and Boeing in their combative duopoly, and when they do it stokes up emotions on both sides.

“It sometimes happens but it is not their preferred route at all,” said Karl Bruenjes, managing director of UK-based RPK Capital Management, a specialist in second-hand aircraft.

The deal echoes a move by Boeing to buy A340s from Singapore Airlines in the mid-1990s including some still in assembly. Back then, the aim was to support a blockbuster sale of 777s. When delivery came there was a brief spat over whether Airbus would support the A340s, according to people familiar with the deal.

The subsequent trading spawned a joke inside Boeing headquarters that Boeing had placed more A340s than Airbus that year — a source of irritation for Airbus that may be repeated if Boeing quickly sells the jets it plans to buy this time.

Airbus halted production of the slow-selling A340 last year.

In 1984, according to industry sources and web databases, Boeing bought a handful of brand-new Airbus A310 models assigned to Kuwait Airways to allow the airline to take Boeings instead.

In the European camp, in 2008 Air Algerie told the United States that Airbus had offered to buy its entire Boeing fleet to prise open a key Boeing client, according to an unconfirmed account in a cable marked “sensitive” and released by Wikileaks.

Airbus said its policy was not to buy Boeing airplanes.

“It is very rare in this industry that someone buys their competitor’s aircraft. We do not do it,” sales chief John Leahy told Reuters.

Boeing said it did not comment on specific transactions, but a spokesman added: “In general it is fair to say that at times we do take airplanes in trade, including occasionally non-Boeing airplanes, as part of our orders transactions.”

DIFFICULT SECOND-HAND MARKET

The A340 entered service boasting “four engines for long haul” in 1993, shortly before the 777 ushered in an era of two engines for all but the biggest aircraft or the longest routes.

While the 777 enjoyed record sales last year, Airbus decided to halt production of the A340, which was outsold four to one.

China Eastern’s A340 fleet includes five A340-600s, until recently the world’s longest jetliner and still relatively young at an average age of 8.3 years.

According to UK consultancy Ascend, the notional market value of these jets, which are due to be sold to Boeing, is $55 million each, but some dealers called the figure optimistic.

“The A340 is a difficult market and they will be competing with the manufacturer,” Bruenjes said, noting that Airbus already has nine A340s on its own list of trade-ins for sale.

“The value will mainly be in the engines, not so much the airframe. An existing operator might be interested in getting some at cheap prices, but we wouldn’t pay more than $30 million each, and that’s if we looked at them at all,” Bruenjes said.

Airbus faces an even tougher task if gets the green light from Beijing, since its half of the proposed A340 fleet trade-in is older at roughly 15 years and the model has less range.

Ascend’s market value for those five A340-300 jets is $15 million each, but Bruenjes estimated a seller would be lucky to get much more than the value of the engines — some $4 million.

The A340 averaged $250 million new at list prices before it was taken out of production. In practice jetmakers take trade-ins to facilitate new sales rather than make extensive profits.

Airbus says a future jet, the carbon-composite A350-1000, will leapfrog the 777 and wrest back one of the most lucrative parts of the global airliner market from Boeing. Pending that jet’s arrival in 2017, the smaller A330 is selling well and the 777 is said to compete on occasions with the much larger A380.

Boeing is considering revamping the 777 to protect its grip on the 300-400 seat market and try to pre-empt the challenge from the A350-1000, which is still trying to establish momentum.

When No REALLY Means Yes……

by | May 1, 2012 | Airlines | 7 comments

Yes, its a tacky euphemism but it certainly has applied lately to what you see on United’s MileagePlus award seat availability as it pertains to First Class seats on Lufthansa flights from the USA.

I have several Lufthansa bookings coming up over the next few months and I approached each booking with the same philosophy: Get what you need at first, then you can go back and get what you want later. Especially since United’s website has a habit of showing inventory that may or may not be real. If you see something, and its “real”, TAKE IT!!

This approach worked last year and so far this year I have had success finding the seats I really want. Two examples come from calls to United last night:

Scenario 1:

My wife and I are flying to Istanbul and London later this week for my Wife’s birthday. I had booked our seats last October starting with the important legs: Anywhere, USA to Anywhere, Germany and Anywhere, Germany to Anywhere, USA. In this case, anywhere turned out to be Chicago to Dusseldorf and Frankfurt to Detroit. At the time it was the easy option to book 2 First Class Seats. Building the rest of the trip to IST then to LHR was the easy piece. Using the concept of putting the big rocks in the jar first, making it easier to fit all the little rocks into the jar later. Ultimately our itinerary was GRR-ORD-DUS-FRA-IST-MUC-LHR-FRA-DTW.

Tonight, I wanted to tweak our itinerary to eliminate the Dusseldorf-Frankfurt leg which would ultimately let us get to Istanbul nearly 4 hours earlier than our original plan. I looked on United’s site for availability and lo and behold a search came back with 2 First Class seats available from Chicago to Frankfurt, in my favorite aircraft, the 747-400 (until next month when I fly on the 747-8i back from FRA!). I call United’s MileagePlus desk and ask for help with switching out our Chicago-Dusseldorf flight, the helpful Honolulu based rep contradicted the website and said that only 1 seat was available. After chatting with him for a minute or 2 about how I found the 2 seats, I asked him if he can help with with a “Long Sell” or “Hard Sell” request and call Lufthansa directly to have them issue United another seat. He was surprised that a civilian would know such terminology but agreed why not, there was nothing to lose. He took my phone number and credit card info (in case taxes changed) and said he would call me as soon as he had an answer. 45 minutes later, the phone rings and he admitted his surprise, Lufthansa released another seat and he was able to swap out our ORD-DUS flight and replace it with ORD-FRA, additionally, he said his Lufthansa counterpart took the liberty to move up our FRA-IST flight to an earlier one, getting us into IST in time for lunch, instead of dinner.

Scenario 2:

On the same phone call, after confirming the details of the changes to our trip, I told him I was having the same problem finding a first class seat for another trip to Germany in late May. After explaining that I needed 1 First Class seat for myself and that the website showed inventory but would not let me book, he suggested he try Lufthansa again to see if they can’t release another. Guess what….45 minutes later, a phone call and another ticket booked that the website had offered, but would not let you book yourself. The United agent went on to say this technique is like having a new toy to play with and he’ll be using it where ever he can. I volunteered another route I needed in the near future, and he’ll call me tomorrow with the result since he was near the end of his shift.

The way I look at it, I just helped all of us have one more person at MileagePlus who is capable of thinking outside the computer screen.

So the moral of the story???

If you see Lufthansa First Class availability, but you can not book it yourself due to a website error during the booking process, dial your MileagePlus Elite phone number late in the day (eastern time) to have a better chance of talking to someone in the Honolulu service center. Why Honolulu? because they’re simply the best that UA has to offer. I have called them several times over the past few months and they have been nothing short of brilliant. They been able to do things that UA’s other call centers could not do.

If you see Lufthansa availability in your search results, it almost is certainly available, but you may need United to give Lufthansa a nudge to release it. Suggest to the agent to speak with his operations area regarding placing a long sell request call to Lufthansa. If the agent is willing (and thats the key), you’ll most likely find yourself in the seat you want. If they’re not willing, politely say good bye and call back in a few minutes. Ultimately you will find someone capable and willing to help you.