Aero Wins Best West African Airline Of The Year 2012

LAGOS: Aero, the leading e-airline in West Africa has won the Best West African Airline of the Year 2012 Award at the West African Tourism and Hospitality Awards (WATHAWARDS) held on the 30^th of November 2012, at Golden Tulip Hotel and Conference Centre, Lagos, Nigeria.

Aero’s win of the award confirms the airline’s decision to offer services in the Nigerian market to the highest international standards.

In the words of Adedayo Adesugba, the President of the Awards group, he said: “The West African Tourism and Hospitality award is formed to recognize organizations and individuals in the Tourism & Hospitality Industry, and as a platform for acknowledging and rewarding creativity among all the participants and operators within the West African region.

Commenting on the award, the Managing Director of Aero, Mr Obaro Solomon Ibru, said: “We are delighted to have won the West African Airline of the year award. We will, however, not relent in our efforts but we will continually look at new and exciting ways of meeting and even exceeding the flying expectations of Nigerians.”

Aero has grown to be one of the most reputable regional carriers in West Africa operating over 50 flights with a fleet of modern 737s and Bombardier Dash 8. The airline operates flights to major domestic destinations including Accra, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri, Owerri, Uyo, Benin, Enugu and Kano, with plans to open more routes within Nigeria.

Aero also offers reliable helicopter service solutions which cover the oil and gas industry, ad-hoc spot charters, search and rescue, aerial photography and medical evacuations. We have the capacity, skills and experience to deliver personalized services 

Germanwings to take over nearly 30 Lufthansa A320s

Lufthansa will move 52 aircraft to its low-cost subsidiary Germanwings for the planned transferral of its decentralised European network next year.

Starting 1 July, Germanwings will gradually take control of Lufthansa's continental routes outside its main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich over a two-year transitioning period.

The equipment transfer will cover 29 Airbus A319s and A320s from Lufthansa's mainline fleet and 23 Bombardier CRJ 900 regional jets. The latter are - and will continue to be - operated by Lufthansa's regional subsidiary Eurowings, however.

 

This would be around 20% of Lufthansa's passenger volume, while Germanwings is expected to generate around €1.8 billion ($2.3 billion) in revenues, roughly 10% of the mainline carrier's turnover.Germanwings fleet will thus grow to around 90 aircraft, with the number of travellers set to increase to around 16 million a year.

The group will invest around €30 million in repainting the aircraft and adapting the cabins of Lufthansa aircraft to the low-cost subsidiary.

Germanwings employs Lufthansa's slim economy class seat, which was introduced to increase capacity in the mainline carrier's European fleet two years ago.

Boeing 787's Two Days Of 'Headaches'

Airlines flying Boeing's new 787 Dreamliners need to take extra steps to ensure the planes don't have engine failures or fires because of a manufacturing fault in the fuel line, the US FAA said.

Improperly assembled parts in Boeing's newest jet could cause the planes to run out of fuel, experience "engine power loss or shutdown, or leaks on hot engine parts that could lead to a fire," the Federal Aviation Administration said in issuing a formal rule requiring US carriers to inspect the fuel systems.

The fuel issue first emerged on Tuesday, the same day a United Airlines 787 flight with 184 people aboard had to make an emergency landing due to an electrical problem.

While the combined episodes gave Boeing a painful black eye, several analysts said the issues posed little long-term risk for the plane maker, which is accelerating production and designing several new derivative jets to better compete with Airbus.

"There are an awful lot of new features, new technologies and new manufacturing techniques that have produced an enormous number of teething problems, but so far no show stoppers," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group. "We're seeing headaches, not heart attacks."

FAA Orders Boeing 787 Inspections

On the same day that one of its new 787s made an emergency landing because of a mechanical problem, Boeing said US regulators had ordered the entire fleet of 787s to be inspected for a possible fuel line problem.

The twin mechanical issues, while not necessarily uncommon, were yet another headache for Boeing, a company still working to overcome the negative perception of production problems that delayed delivery of the 787 by 3-1/2 years.

Its latest problem involved a brand new United Airlines 787 Dreamliner with 184 people aboard, which was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans due to an undefined mechanical issue.

Boeing also said on Tuesday the US Federal Aviation Administration was requiring inspections of all 787s in service to confirm that fuel line connectors had been properly installed.

China Southern Seals Airbus A330 Deal

China Southern Airlines, the country's largest carrier by fleet size, has agreed to buy 10 Airbus A330-300 aircraft for about USD$1.9 billion, to be delivered from 2014 to 2016.

The deal is the second involving Airbus and a Chinese airline since the European Union agreed on November 12 to "stop the clock" on plans to force non-EU airlines to adopt its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

China Eastern Airlines, one of the country's top three carriers, said in late November it had agreed to buy 60 Airbus A320s for about USD$5.4 billion.

Chinese airlines have been buying aircraft from Airbus and rival Boeing over the past few years as more Chinese travel.

China Southern said in a statement that the new aircraft would be funded through internal resources and loans from commercial banks and that the list price of an Airbus A330-300 aircraft was USD$188 million, though airlines usually pay a lower price.