Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand flew its
first RNP (required navigation performance)-enabled flight from Sydney
to Queenstown, New Zealand on 18 October, becoming the first Airbus
operator in the world to have an entire A320 fleet equipped and
certificated for RNP. RNP will enable specially trained pilots to fly
safely to much lower altitudes with a more precise and efficient
descent path into this terrain-constrained airport, saving fuel and
emissions and helping reduce the impact of bad weather on services. The
airline has fitted the new technology on to its fleet of 13 A320s,
which operate across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
Hong Kong Express,
Hong Kong Airlines
Hong Kong Airlines has
retrenched some pilots and flight attendants and unveiled a plan to
focus on medium-haul services using widebodies and let sister carrier
Hong Kong Express focus on short-haul. Hong Kong Airlines says in a
statement that in 2009, possibly as early as the middle of that year,
it will introduce its first Airbus A330 and launch services to
Australia and the Middle East. It is says it will be "reducing the
number of Boeing 737-800 narrowbody aircraft currently in use as we
introduce A330 widebody aircraft into service progressively" but Hong
Kong Express will be adding 737-800s.
Qantas Airways
Qantas Airways' has
confirmed that its inaugural Airbus A380 commercial flight from
Melbourne to Los Angeles participated in a carbon emissions reduction
program called Aspire, a joint initiative of the US FAA and Australia
and New Zealand's air navigation service providers. The Oneworld
carrier conducted the inaugural flight on the 20 October and in a
statement today it says the commercial flight was able to save
thousands of kilograms of carbon emissions under the Airservices
Australia and the Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions
(Aspire).
New
Qantas A380,
State-of-the-Art Innovation Meets Sophisticated Design.
Australia's Qantas
Airways has put its first Airbus A380 into commercial service,
becoming the third operator of the ultra-large type. The Oneworld
alliance carrier says its first commercial A380 flight departed
Melbourne at 11:15 today and the aircraft is scheduled to land in Los
Angeles at 07:30 where it will be met by dignitaries and celebrities.
Qantas took delivery of its first A380 last month and had been using it
since then for staff training. Following the inauguration of
Melbourne-Los Angeles services today, it will from 24 October operate
the aircraft on some of its Sydney-Los Angeles services and from
January will use it for some of its services to London via Singapore.
ZZ
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