JUNE 2016- A350 spreads its wings
A direct competitor to Boeing’s B787 Dreamliner, the
A350 XWB (extra wide body) is a new family of aircraft
from Airbus that comes in three versions, the A350-800,
-900 and -1000. Quieter and more fuel-efficient, there are
currently 777 of them on order. Airbus delivered 15 last
year and aims to double that in 2016. Launch customer
Qatar Airways now flies the aircraft to Singapore,
Frankfurt, Munich, Philadelphia, Adelaide, Boston and
New York.
Vietnam Airlines operates the A350 from Hanoi to
Paris and Seoul, while Finnair plies it from Helsinki
to Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Hong Kong, with
Singapore scheduled for later this year. Singapore Airlines
has 67 on order itself; seven are of the ultra long-haul
variety (see trend 3), and the airline launched A350
services to Amsterdam in May this year. - Rise of Chinese airlines
China’s aviation market is booming. In terms of
passengers flown, China Southern is the third-most
popular airline globally, moving just over 100 million
people in 2014 (only Delta and Southwest trumped it).
China Eastern carried 66 million in 2014, while Air China
expected to have topped 88.5 million in 2015.
Only 5 per cent of Chinese people have passports, but
107 million outbound journeys were made in 2014, and
by 2020 that figure is expected to reach 200 million. The
volume comes not just from international flights but
the huge domestic market, which is served by 20 or so
dedicated carriers. In 2014 there were four new arrivals –
Air China Inner Mongolia, Qingdao Airlines, Ruili Airlines,
Urumqi Air; and in 2015 another four – 9 Air, Guangxi
Beibu Gulf Airlines, Jiangxi Air and Colorful Guizhou
Airlines. This year we can expect Air Guilin and Yunnan
Hongtu Airlines to begin operations.
Aircraft manufacturers anticipate the delivery of more
than 300 new planes a year to Chinese airlines over the
next 20 years. And, by 2020, China expects to have 60 new
airports (it has about 200 at the moment).
52 IInnovationFrom in-flight streaming to virtual concierges,Jenny Southanidentifies the
innovations that will be shaping your journey in the year ahead12 TRAVEL TRENDS
- Ultra long-haul flights
Airlines will be vying to fly the world’s longest and farthest
flights over the next couple of years. On March 2, Emirates
started a non-stop 17-hour, 15-minute service from Dubai
to Auckland, a distance of 14,326 kilometres, becoming
the world's longest passenger flight. The airline aims to
top this with the launch of a non-stop 17-hour, 35-minute
flight between Dubai and Panama City later this year. Next
year, Qantas hopes to go one further by flying non-stop
between Perth and London (14,469km) using the new
B787-9s it has on order. In 2018, Airbus will introduce an
ultra long-range version of the A350-900, capable of flying
more than 16,000km. Launch customer Singapore Airlines
plans to use the aircraft to resurrect its New York route and
reclaim the crown for longest flight. Boeing’s B777X, which
will come in two versions – the B777-8 (with a range of
up to 16,112km) and B777-9 (up to 14,075km) – will be
introduced by Emirates in 2020. The Gulf carrier could use
the B777-8 from Dubai to Mexico City, Santiago or Peru. - Streaming IFE
As many travellers have their own personal screens in the
form of tablets and laptops, airlines will one day be able
to do away with heavy, expensive in-flight entertainment
systems built into seat-backs. Enabling the transition,
Virgin Australia set the trend by introducing streaming
technology in 2012. Since then, early adopters have
included Israel’s El Al, which allows passengers to stream
more than 50 movies to their devices via its DreamStream
app on select B737s and B767s.
Low-cost Singaporean airline Scoot relaunched its
streaming service for the new B787 in February last
year, with access for US$11 (free in business class). In
September, Virgin America equipped ten A320s with
high-speed wifi for streaming content from Netflix
(US$4.99 for short haul, or US$17.99 for long-haul flights).