SIA injects S$400m more capital into Scoot

Singapore Airlines is injecting an additional S$400 million of capital into its budget long-haul unit Scoot.

This was announced in a stock exchange filing on Friday.

SIA said it has subscribed for an additional 400,000,000 fully-paid ordinary shares in Scoot at S$1.00 each.

This additional investment follows a review of Scoot's capital structure and the funding it needs for the acquisition of new planes.

Scoot is buying 20 new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to facilitate its ongoing expansion in the region.

The first of these planes will arrive in November.

Six of the new aircraft are expected to replace Scoot's existing Boeing 777 fleet by the middle of next year.

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Self-service check-ins, bag drops on trial at Changi Airport

Travellers departing from Changi Airport can now check in and deposit their bags with Jetstar Asia via self-service kiosks, according to Changi Airport Group (CAG).

The airport operator said in a statement on Friday (May 30) it is currently trialling a number of self-service functions – check in, bag tagging and bag drop – with Jetstar as its airline partner. The trial is ongoing and will run until August 2014, it added.

Two bag drop units and four check-in kiosks have been fitted alongside the Jetstar check-in counters in Terminal 1, and passengers on selected flights will be able to use these self-service options.

Findings from the ongoing trial will be used to assess improvements and adjustments needed for the various systems, while feedback from passengers will also be sought to finetune operations and processes to achieve better user experience, the company said.

The pilot is part of CAG's Fast and Seamless Travel at Changi (FAST@Changi) programme, as the company looks to improve productivity and operational efficiency using technology.

"The implementation of FAST@Changi is in line with a wider global push towards increasing automation at airports to improve producitivity and efficiency, while providing passengers with greater flexibility and convenience," said Mr Tan Lye Teck, Executive Vice President of Airport Management at CAG.

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Malaysia Airlines union urges CEO to resign

Malaysia Airlines' workers' union called on Thursday for the struggling carrier's top managers to step down, piling further pressure on the beleaguered company with the fate of Flight MH370 still unknown almost three months on.

The union will urge the government not to renew the contract of MAS chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, believed to be expiring in September, said the union's executive secretary Jabbarullah Kadir.

Two other senior managers should also resign to revive the loss-making state-controlled national carrier's fortunes, he added.

"Their business plan to turn around the airline hasn't worked. For us they totally failed to carry out their duty," Jabbarullah said.

He said the union had rallied behind MAS over the jet that vanished flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 carrying 239 people but that staff morale was "very low" over the carrier's poor financial performance.

The influential union represents about half of Malaysia Airlines' 19,500 worldwide employees and was instrumental in blocking a tie-up with rival budget carrier AirAsia three years ago.

Malaysia Airlines said earlier this month that MH370's disappearance had had a "dramatic impact" on earnings.

The carrier has struggled amid intense competition, losing $1.3 billion over the past three years before the impact of MH370 is taken into account.

For this year's first quarter the airline posted a net loss of 443 million ringgit ($137 million).

It was the fifth straight quarter loss and the worst since the fourth quarter of 2011 when it recorded a net loss of 1.28 billion ringgit.

No trace of MH370 has been found despite an extensive search in the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed to have come down.

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AirAsia India to debut on June 12

Asia's largest budget carrier AirAsia will start flying in India from June 12 with a new no-frills airline, its group chief executive said on Thursday.

Malaysia-based AirAsia won approval from India's regulators in March last year to set up the airline in a joint venture with the giant Tata group and entrepreneur Arun Bhatia's Telstra Tradeplace.

"Very very proud to announce AirAsia India open for sale tomorrow. Wow. First flight June 12th," AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said in a tweet.

The low-cost joint venture won an operating permit earlier this month, clearing the final regulatory hurdle and paving the way for more intense competition in an industry in which many of the existing airlines are bleeding money.

The new venture is the first by a foreign airline since India relaxed foreign investment rules in 2012 allowing overseas carriers to take up to a 49-per cent stake in domestic firms.

AirAsia owns 49 per cent, the Tata group 30 per cent and Telstra the balance of 21 per cent.

The budget carrier, which has promised to offer some of the cheapest airfares, will begin ticket sales on Friday.

Low-cost carriers already dominate Indian skies with a near 65 per cent market share, but their fortunes have faded due to aggressive fare rivalry, a slowing economy, high fuel prices and airport charges.

Fernandes, a former record industry executive, took over insolvent AirAsia in 2001 and turned it into one of the aviation sector's biggest success stories.

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Nine new destinations for SIA under proposed codeshare with JetBlue

Passengers flying on Singapore Airlines to the United States could soon have access to nine new destinations there, under a proposed bilateral codeshare agreement with JetBlue Airways.

An application has been filed with the US Department of Transportation. If approved, it would give SIA passengers access to Jacksonville, Tampa and West Palm Beach in Florida, New Orleans in Lousiana, Portland in Maine, Austin in Texas, as well as Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse in New York.

JetBlue passengers would get access to five new cities in Europe and Asia, including Frankfurt, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.

SIA says the partnership is testament to its continuous efforts to expand its network and provide passengers with more seamless travel options.

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Week 60: PPL Flight School Week 29 - The Final Flight

Monday
I started off the week with a flight scheduled with an instructor that is known to be the best in the school. I am so looking forward to this day and I wasn't disappointed. Flight was at 1415hrs with pretty gusty strong winds blowing in a relatively headwind direction on the runway.

Not knowing which IF route he wants me to plan, I've planned three different routes and asked him to choose. Surprisingly, he's so nice he actually asked me which one I'd prefer to do. This is the first time an instructor is so flexible to my planning! And so, I chose the one which I will get to try out the real VOR, which coincidentally is also the longest route, fitting my need to clock more hours.

After some amendments to my flight plan, we set off in cloudy conditions, with the occasional sun ray peeking through the clouds. The flight to the destination was long, about 1.3hrs to be exact. Along the way, he taught me how to handle both IFR and VFR traffic radio calls as well as the usual chart briefs and WQADCAPS checks. I had to make inbound radio calls to notify VFR traffic in the vicinity, which was something new to me.

Upon reaching the VOR station, I had a try with it for the first time in real life. There was so much work to do when wind factor is present unlike in the sims. My sector entry and holding pattern was fine, but on descend and turning into final approach, I busted the minimum turn upon turn and was told that it's not the right way to do it.

On missed approached, I tracked back to base in a very long way back, cutting through Melbourne controlled airspace which I had to request for clearance. It was already starting to get dark by now, and there were patches of heavy rain along the way where I was flying through rainy clouds. At the meantime, my instructor was talking to me about the areas I was flying through. The interesting facts as well as the histories.

It was a very enjoyable flight back even though it was a long long way. By the time I was doing a RNAV approach to base, it was so dark that I had to switch on my nav lights. The runway had also lit up and it was wet with an earlier downpour.

My RNAV approach was so spot on that he commented that I was like the auto-pilot. Haha, well I guess the conditions were so good that it was easy to have a neat descend right to the runway. By the time I was tying down the aircraft, it was already nightfall and temperatures have started dropping to below 10'C.

It was a superb flight with an amazingly good instructor.

Night fell by the time everything ended

Tuesday
The weather for the day didn't look good with an approaching cold front. Flight was scheduled at 1400hrs and the ILS wasn't available at the airport that I usually go to. Therefore, I planned a VFR route but flying in an IFR way.

In terms of the route, there was nothing dramatic as I didn't get to try any VOR or ILS or RNAV. However in terms of experience, it was amazingly great. With the impending bad weather coming in, there were lots of broken cumulus clouds in the sky at the altitude I was flying. Other than the clouds, there was actually much sunshine.

For the first time in all my flights so far, I barged through thick cumulus clouds, splashing water droplets onto my windscreen and creating so much turbulence that it gave my altitude and heading maintaining a big test. I was told to lower the IAS to below 105kts as that's the stated maneuver speed right on the plane's firewall.

With the airspeed reduce, I could better control the aircraft within the clouds. That was a unbelievable ride as I even went through thick grey clouds, giving my guts a test as well. Even my instructor was commenting that I was very lucky to get such "good yet bad" weather conditions to test my flying in IFR.

On return, it was the usual RNAV approach and we ended the sortie with a nice short-field landing from me.

Wednesday
Flight was scheduled at 1200hrs but the weather looked terrible since daybreak. The fog simply refused to clear and I had to delay my departure in order to wait it out. Eventually, the weather cleared enough for us to head into the skies.

To make this flight interesting, my instructor took another instructor as pax in the backseat. It was quite an experience with an added weight at the back, making the handling a little bit different. The climbing performance and balance wasn't what I was used to.

It was a short flight due to the delay, and all I did was a quick ILS approach and immediately headed back to base. My instructor was by now very satisfied with my radio calls, though the occasional mistakes were still present. I'm pretty satisfied with my own performance and that greatly boosted my confidence which was in tatters during the first few IF flights.

Thursday
It was my forth consecutive flight in four days, pushing me really hard to clock those hours. Flight was scheduled right at the start of the day at 0830hrs, which means I had to report about two hours earlier. Once again, it was an interesting flight as the aircraft assigned to me comes with autopilot function! And for the first time again, I get to try out this feature while I focused on other factors of flight.

I have to say, AP is such a saving grace when the workload piles up. I could do my radio calls, chart briefs and various checklists without having to worry about my heading and altitude. Everything seemed way easier. However, the AP got disengaged when I was doing an ILS approach, which was quite a challenged when there was a 40kts+ crosswind!! My aircraft literally approached the runway sideways.

It was fun to have tried out the AP function, something which I will be very used to in my A320 simulator training next. The end of this flight also meant that I'm left with my final sortie which will be scheduled for this Sunday.

So you thought my day has ended after an early flight. But no. I had a 2hr sim session in the noon. I was barely refreshed walking into the simulator training room. At certain point of the sim flying, I was close to falling asleep. Though the sim session was rather boring, my instructor sort of tested me on all the things I've learnt so far, as well as teaching me about SID/STAR and arching flying. A good 2hr spent learning new things, and I returned home exhausted.

Great looking weather at 0800hrs

The heavy crosswind became crazy headwind on my return leg

1730hrs, when the birds are all back

Friday
After a hectic Thursday, my Friday was an easy 1hr sim session. Did some VOR sector entry and approach, plus some ILS landing, and that's about it.

The night came and there was a mini send-off celebration for my batch as two of us were ready to return to Singapore the next day. Had some drinks, food and chats. The night ended late, with some snacks as supper in a carpark.

With the instructors at the celebration

Saturday
Another early day for me, a struggle to wake up after the celebrations of the previous night. 8am sim session for three hours. By now, flying the sims was pretty redundant as there's simply nothing much to learn. Having my flight plan keyed into the G1000 system, I set AP on and let it fly itself while I monitor everything. Did some VOR holding and approach and that's it. Spent the rest of my day recuperating and preparing for my final flight the next day.

Fog at 8am

Boring sims with the AP on

Sunday
The day was finally here; my final training flight in Ballarat. I was scheduled with a notoriously fierce instructor which I've never flown before. I was intimidated by him and had to be very careful with my every move.

Surprisingly, he turned out very nice and didn't lose any patience and temper at me. We did a very normal flight, just like any other IF sortie I've done. Sad to say, my radio calls were still not to perfection. He commented on it, but added that radio calls will get better with experience. He also corrected some of my misconceptions about ILS landing with regards to the minima and visual distance. All in all, I really learnt a lot from him.

We returned to base with still quite some time to burn, and so we started doing circuits. He demonstrated a landing on a grass runway, a thing which I never had a chance to do until now! He handed me the controls for the next landing which got me very excited. I had a try at it, but landed way too long and had to go-around instead. That was my only crack at it, a chance gifted by him on my last flight here.

The remaining time were expended with more circuit flying, watching the sun setting in the horizon with every round of circuit I flew. It was a beautiful way to end it all and I landed for one final time at close to 1700hrs. The circuit was very peaceful with me the only one flying.

I admit it was somehow an emotional flight, especially when I cut off the engine in the apron. I'm not sure if I'll ever fly a C172 again or if I'll ever fly solo again. When I closed down the aircraft with the sunset as the backdrop, I could sense a tinge of sadness in my heart. Minute by minute and hour by hour, I've at last completed the full 86hrs required of my training here.

Nice backdrop for my final flight

Last final approach into the sunset

ByeBye, I will miss you.

Craziest week I've had here, which at least one activity per day this whole week. Had this started way earlier, I would have completed my training long ago. That being said, I'm just glad that all my flight training has been done and dusted, and I completed it safely without any mishap. Right now, I'm just left with 3.5hrs of sim which will be completed tomorrow. I can see home, at last.

Singapore Airlines: Flights to Bangkok not affected

The Republic's national carrier, Singapore Airlines, said on Friday (May 23) that its flights to troubled Bangkok are operating as scheduled, but that it will continue to waive fees for refunds or rerouted trips for customers flying in or out of the Thai capital.

"Our Bangkok flights are currently operating as scheduled," the spokesperson told Channel NewsAsia, adding that "generally demand has been affected for flights to and from Bangkok in recent months".

Singapore Airlines currently operates 35 weekly services to Bangkok, which is at the epicentre of political turmoil which culminated on a military coup on Thursday.

"We have issued an advisory on our website, which states that we will be waiving administrative fees/penalties for refunds, rebooking or rerouting, for customers holding confirmed tickets issued on or before May 19, 2014, for travel to and from Bangkok, on or before May 31 2014. This also applies to redemption tickets," Singapore Airlines added.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday issued a Travel Notice calling on Singaporeans to "seriously reconsider visiting Thailand at the moment" and for those already in the country to avoid protest sites and exercise "a high degree of caution".

SOURCE

Singapore Airlines flight veers off Myanmar airport runway

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has confirmed that one of its planes veered off the runway on Wednesday (May 21) while landing at the Yangon International Airport in Myanmar.

An SIA spokesperson told Channel NewsAsia that flight SQ998, an Airbus A330 that took off from Singapore and which was scheduled to land in Yangon at 9.20am on Wednesday, encountered heavy rain and veered “slightly off” the runway on landing.

There were no reports of injuries. The aircraft was towed to the gate and all passengers disembarked safely, the spokesperson said, adding that a replacement aircraft was sent to Yangon to operate the return flight.

The airport was closed for half an hour due to the incident, Xinhua news agency reported.

Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who was on the flight en route to the 23rd ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, posted on the Channel NewsAsia Facebook wall: "That was the hardest landing I've ever experienced. (The) crew was very professional, steady and reassuring."

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AirAsia's profit up 33% despite flat revenue

AirAsia saw its net profit soar by a third in the first quarter after accounting for currency gains and tax credits despite flat revenue from ticket sales, it reported on Tuesday.

Net profit for the three months ended March rose 33 per cent from a year earlier to 139.7 million ringgit ($43.4 million), in large part due to forex gains on borrowings and deferred taxation despite net operating profit sliding by 23 per cent to 126.6 million.

Revenue was flat at 1.3 billion ringgit as average fares paid by customers dropped by nine per cent although passenger volume was up four per cent.

But the budget airline giant's boss Tony Fernandes insisted its average fare was on an upward trend.

"What we see is that the consumers now prefer short-haul travels as compared to long-haul which is beneficial for our business," he said in a statement.

Looking forward, he added that AirAsia had decided to defer aircraft deliveries to 2016 onwards to take advantage of new Airbus A320neos that are 16 per cent more fuel efficient.

The airline, which now has more than 120 A320s and is one of the biggest customers for the European aircraft maker Airbus, is expecting nearly 360 new aircraft to be delivered by 2026.

For 2013, profit fell 55 per cent to 364 million ringgit compared to a year earlier.

Fierce rival Malaysia Airlines announced last week its fifth straight quarterly loss in the first three months of 2013, reeling from the March 8 disappearance of one of its Boeing 777s.

AirAsia has expanded aggressively in recent years, setting up subsidiary budget carriers in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand and plans to launch a no-frills joint venture in India.

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Week 59: PPL Flight School Week 28

Monday
Another day in the sims, I'm pretty much an expert in the G1000 by now. In a way, the sims have helped me a lot in knowing the system fairly well. I was totally dictating on what to do without much instruction from my instructor. As usual, I planned a normal flight and flew it using the GPS, doing a sector entry and a holding on my destition, ending my session with a few ILS approach landing. After the end of the session, the schedule for the next day was out, and I'm finally planned for my first instrument flight.

CAVOK day, a pity I was flying the sims instead

Tuesday
Flight was scheduled at 1200hrs, report two hours before to get my planning done. The difference with IF nav flying as compared to VFR nav is the need to be in constant contact with an ATC. Thus, the radio frequencies must be jotted down in my plan, along with the ILS/VOR frequencies.

The radio calls were overwhelming, with so much to take care of even before I left base. I managed to make some by reading off a printed guide, but I found myself having trouble to comprehend the quick messages conveyed by the ATC. Being my first IF flight, my instructor was forgiving and made most of the radio calls for me.

There were the usual checklist of CLEAR, Top of Climb, Top of Descend checks, and now there is a new list to carry out.


Weather - Tuned into the ATIS/AWIS to get weather information of the aerodrome
QNH - Setting the correct QNH for approach
Aids -ILS localiser set and tuned, morse code verified
DG/RMI - Heading and tracking all correct
Chart Brief - A full brief of the aerodrome chart
Audio - Morse code of ILS/VOR verified
Pre-landing - Checks aircraft is in landing configuration
Slow Down - Get the aircraft to a comfortable slower speed

There are a lot of things to take note of, on top of keeping your ears alert for the ATC's radar vectors to guide me into the ILS localiser. Eventually, I managed to fly the ILS approach to a good standard in turbulent conditions, made a published missed approach and flew back to base.

On base, did a sector entry and a few holdings to get myself accustomed to flying holdings with wind compensation. Lastly, I did a RNAV approach to base and landed by joining the circuit. It was a good effort for my first IF flight as commented by my instructor, but I knew my trouble was handling the radio calls from the ATC.

Wednesday
I was scheduled for flight at 1800hrs, my second night flight, which was also my second IF flight. Having done my first IF flight the day before with the same instructor, he totally threw me into the deep waters and expected me do handle everything on my own.

I was overwhelmed, made worse by the fact that it was a night flight. I was having trouble doing things properly in the dark and focused a lot on the radio calls which made my flying not up to standard. I couldn't handle the radio calls properly, I missed out my QWADCAPS check, I totally forgo the chart brief, my ILS approach was too high that I should have gone around but I continued descending.

Upon returning to base, I did a sector entry and was poor at my wind compensation for holding pattern flying. The flight ended with a RNAV straight on approach and I landed safely in the dark. It was a really poor flight to my standards. My instructor commented that I was so engrossed on Communicate, I totally neglected Aviate and Navigate. I was tasked to do more radio call practice on my own to better prepare for my next flight.

Before nightfall for my second night flight

Thursday
My third IF flight, scheduled at 1430hrs, this time round with a different instructor whom I've flown with only once. Having done my preparation work for my radio calls, I went for it. Regretfully, I radio calls were still not up to standard and I got lectured for my poor calls. He was very particular with how I worded the calls and was very unhappy with the way I conveyed my messages.

After the first few radio calls, he was fed up and took over all radio calls and left me with just the flying to handle. That moment I felt like a lost man. After all the homework I've done, I'm still not good enough. Luckily my ILS approach was fine and my holding was alright too. I thought he was in no doubt going to fail my flight.

Returned to base via RNAV approach and joined a low level circuit, and landed safely. During the post-flight brief, he printed a list of radio call procedures during departure from base. Thank god he didn't fail my flight and only asked me to polish up on my radio calls. I'm determined to iron out my radio call issue and not screw up again in my next flight.

Sunday
My last ever night flight, scheduled at 1715hrs. Initial plan was flying into Melbourne city for an ILS approach, but due to heavy traffic in the area, the plan was cancelled and I went ahead to the same aerodrome for an ILS appraoch as I've done in my previous three IF flight.

To prevent myself from conveying substandard radio calls again, I suggested my saying the radio call out loud for my instructor to verify before speaking to the ATC. This time round, I nailed it. My departure calls were good, everything went well.

CLEAR checks, QWADCAPS, chart brief and ILS approach were all to standard. Upon return to base, I did a RNAV approach and did five rounds of circuit to complete my hours. As expected, my night landings weren't very nice, the judging of height for the flare was my achilles heel. After my final landing, my instructor said "yea, I believe landing the A320 will be easier than this.". Haha, I certainly hope so!

It was a great flight which boosted my confidence, helped by me flying with a very nice instructor. The end of the flight also meant that I won't be flying the C172 at night anymore, which was kinda sad. I headed for home satisfied with my performance.

My final night flight. I'll miss it.

Pussy lying between my lap and watching TV with me

A great week no doubt, with one day of sim and four flights. I don't think I've ever flown four flights in a week since I've been here. A total of 7.6hrs of flight time was clocked, which is a very good return for one week. This is probably the best week I've had by far. 11.7hrs of flight time and 9.5hrs of sim time left. I'm getting closer.

China Southern orders 80 Airbus A320 planes

China Southern Airlines, which has the biggest fleet of aircraft in China, on Friday ordered 80 medium-haul Airbus A320 planes with a list value of $7.9 billion, Airbus said.

The deal, worth a headline equivalent of 5.8 billion euros, is for 30 of the existing models of the A320 and for 50 of the more energy-efficient A320Neo planes, Airbus said.

China Southern Airlines, in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, said that it had obtained a discount from the list prices, as is usual in the airline industry.

The aircraft are to be delivered from 2016 to 2020.

China Southern Airlines already has a fleet of 249 Airbus aircraft, including five superjumbo A380 planes.

The airline, in its stock market statement, said that the latest planes ordered would increase its capacity as measured by tonnes carried per kilometre by 12.0 percent.

Airliner manufacturers, principally Airbus and its US rival Boeing, took bumper orders for new aircraft last year as airlines looked to renew their fleets after the financial crisis, and to gear up for forecast strong growth in airline traffic, particularly in emerging markets, in Asia and in China.

SOURCE

Boeing, Scoot in Dreamliner pilot training tie-up

Boeing and Scoot on Friday announced a five-year pilot training agreement to support the Singapore-based airline's fleet transition to 787 Dreamliners.

Under the agreement, Boeing Flight Services, a business unit of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, will provide 787 flight training to Scoot pilots at Boeing's Singapore training campus.

An anticipated 32 Scoot pilots will undergo training this year.

"We are proud to provide Scoot’s growing airline in a growing region with the industry's best flight training as they add the 787 to their fleet," said Sherry Carbary, vice president of Boeing Flight Services.

"Aviation opportunities or airlines and pilots are expanding rapidly in the Asia Pacific region, and we're pleased to offer a robust network of experienced instructors and training devices close to our customers across the region," she said in a statement released by Boeing on Friday.

The 2013 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook, a respected industry forecast of personnel demand, projects a requirement for 498,000 new commercial airline pilots and 556,000 new maintenance technicians to fly and maintain the new planes entering the world fleet over the next 20 years.

In Southeast Asia, 51,500 pilots and 64,700 technicians are needed to fill the gap.

Scoot chief executive officer Campbell Wilson said: "This is an exciting time for Scoot, as we expand our services throughout the Asia Pacific region, and work with Boeing for world-class flight training."

Scoot will acquire 20 Boeing 787s beginning in late 2014.

Scoot expects to take delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft on November 25.

Scoot's CEO said its pilots will test the Dreamliner in Washington first before flying it to Singapore in December.

The Dreamliner is scheduled for the Singapore-Taipei-Tokyo route.

All six of Scoot's current Boeing 777 fleet will be replaced by the Dreamliner by the middle of next year.

By March 2016, 11 Boeing 787 should be in service.

Scoot will also take delivery of nine more Dreamliners by 2019.

Wilson said: "Next year doubles our fleet size -- so it will allow us to increase frequency to some destinations, allow us to add new destinations. It's also much more fuel-efficient -- at 27 percent much more fuel-efficient per seat.

"So it allows us to fly to cities that currently we really can't economically serve, and of course that lower structure allows us to continue offering really, really good value air fares, so people can fly more often and scoot 'outta' here."

The aircraft were ordered in 2012 by parent company Singapore Airlines.

Scoot currently operates 777s on medium- and long-haul low-cost flights between Singapore and Sydney, Gold Coast, Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo, Tianjin, Shenyang, Nanjing, Qingdao, Seoul, Perth and Hong Kong.

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MH370 pushes troubled Malaysia Airlines to wider Q1 loss

Malaysia Airlines announced Thursday that its net loss widened in the first quarter as the impact of flight MH370's disappearance added to the struggling carrier's woes.

The state-controlled airline said it posted a net loss of 443 million ringgit ($137 million) for the three months ending March 31, compared to a 279 million ringgit loss in the same quarter in 2013.

The result was the airline's fifth straight quarterly loss and also the worst since the fourth quarter of 2011, when it recorded a net loss of 1.28 billion ringgit.

"The results were made worse with the impact on air travel in general following the disappearance of MH370," said Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, the airline's group chief executive.

"Operations were slowed for several weeks since early March when MH370 disappeared. Marketing activities were halted out of respect for the families of those on board the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 aircraft."

The debacle over the missing plane has compounded the problems faced by Malaysia Airlines, which had already lost a combined $1.3 billion over the past three calendar years as it founders in the face of intense industry competition.

Analysts say it faces a continued grim outlook in coming years unless it is forced to undergo aggressive reform, which has been resisted by powerful employee unions and other vested interests.

In a statement on Wednesday, the airline said "a thorough review of the business plan is being undertaken and all avenues are being explored to ensure the long-term sustainability of the company."

The carrier has undertaken a series of "turnaround" plans over the years, but each has failed to stem the tide of red ink blamed by analysts on poor management, a bloated work force, powerful unions, and industry competition.

MH370 disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard. An extensive search in the Indian Ocean has found no trace of the plane.

The incident has ravaged the carrier's worldwide image and especially hurt bookings in the lucrative and previously growing China market.

Two-thirds of those on board MH370 were Chinese and the crisis has triggered fierce criticism in China of the airline and Malaysia's government.

The airline, which is 69 per cent owned by government investment company Khazanah Nasional, said the first quarter loss was due in part to rising fuel costs.

Ahmad Jauhari said the airline must find ways to boost revenue to ensure its "future survival and sustainability in a market that is not showing any signs of letting up on competition", but he offered no specifics.

SOURCE

Scoot flight diverted to offload 3 passengers

Scoot flight TZ1 from Sydney to Singapore was diverted to Bali on Wednesday afternoon to offload three passengers.

A Scoot spokesperson said a couple required medical attention after they had allegedly fought on board.

An ambulance was waiting at Bali airport to attend to the couple.

A third person who had become intoxicated and abusive was also removed from the flight.

The pilot had deemed the passenger to be a threat to the safety of the aircraft and the other passengers.

Flight TZ1, which was originally scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 6.50pm, is now expected to arrive at 8.35pm.

SOURCE

Qantas to lay off pilots in bid to revive profits

Struggling Australian airline Qantas on Wednesday said it will make dozens of pilots redundant for the first time in 40 years as it looks to slash costs to contain massive losses.

The national carrier, which announced it would cut 5,000 jobs from its workforce in February, will call for voluntary redundancies among its Boeing 747 and 767 pilots.

A spokesman said the airline was not placing an exact number on the redundancies until the application process was complete but reports said up to 100 positions, or just under 20 per cent of the 550 pilots for both fleets, were being targeted.

Qantas has around 2,000 pilots on its books.

The airline previously said it would retire both its ageing 747 and 767 fleets as part of a plan to save A$2 billion (US$1.8 billion) over the next three years, with chief executive Alan Joyce saying the airline was facing "some of the toughest conditions" it had ever seen.

Qantas chief pilot Dick Tobiano said in an internal message that plans to accelerate the retirement of the planes meant the airline was no longer able to manage the staff surplus through leave arrangements.

"It is anticipated that exits would be staggered corresponding with network and fleet reductions," he said.

The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) said the redundancies were "regrettable" but it would work with the company to "ensure the process was managed with as little pain to individual pilots as possible".

"Obviously from AIPA's perspective it is far better to see fleet reductions managed with older pilots stepping out on their own terms, rather than younger pilots being made redundant compulsorily," AIPA president Nathan Safe said.

While the cuts could see some of Qantas's most experienced pilots leave, Safe told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he did not "have any concerns about a lack of experience resulting from this -- not at all".

"Many of the pilots who won't take the package or won't be targeted by the package are also some of our most experienced pilots."

Tobiano stressed to the pilots affected that the cuts did not reflect their contribution to Qantas but the "realities of our fleet plan and the realities we face".

Qantas has lobbied the government for support after it announced a A$235 million loss in the six months to December 31 as it grapples with competition from domestic rival Virgin Australia, which is majority-owned by state-run Singapore Airlines, Etihad and Air New Zealand.

Its plea for a debt guarantee, or a A$3 billion unsecured loan, was rejected, but the government said it would relax the Qantas Sale Act, which would remove restrictions limiting foreign ownership in the airline to 49 per cent.

The bill passed the lower house of parliament in March but has yet to reach the upper house Senate.

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Airbus reports profit leap, shares jump

Airbus Group, formerly EADS, reported on Tuesday a near doubling of quarterly net profit, a rise in sales driven by helicopters, but a fall in new orders after an exceptional performance last year.

Net profit for the quarter rose by 93.0 per cent to 439 million euros (US$604.5 million).

The price of shares in the group rose by 4.91 per cent to 51.92 euros in early trading in Paris. The overall French market as measured by the CAC 40 index was up 0.20 per cent.

The value of orders taken fell by more than half to 21.1 billion euros from 49.5 billion euros.

This reflected orders taken for 103 aircraft on a net basis, after allowing for cancellations.

That was far short of the figure of 410 in the first quarter of 2013 which was an exceptional year for aircraft manufacturers, notably Airbus and its main US rival Boeing, as airlines rushed to renew their fleets after the financial crisis and in readiness for a forecast boom in air travel, mainly in emerging economies led by countries in Asia.

Airbus has already said that it will not be able to match the 2013 figures for orders taken.

However, Airbus Group held to its forecast that orders taken this year would exceed the number of aircraft delivered, and that its operating margin would be 7.0-8.0 per cent in 2015.

In the first three months of the year the group achieved an operating margin of 5.5 per cent.

Sales revenue by the group, which builds mainly Airbus airliners but also has wide interests in the aerospace sector from making helicopters to satellite equipment, fell by 5.0 per cent in the quarter from the equivalent figure last year to 12.6 billion euros.

Meanwhile, Airbus Helicopters, formerly Eurocopter, increased its number of orders taken by half.

Airbus Helicopters also increased the number of aircraft delivered to 74 from 58, and so raised sales by 14.0 per cent.

The Airbus Defence and Space division, grouping the two activities formerly known as Astrium and Cassidian, held new orders at about the previous level.

The group said that the overall performance meant that earnings per share had doubled from 28 euro cents to 56 cents.

Chief executive Tom Enders said that the group was holding to its forecasts but still had much to do by the end of the year, with the emphasis being on applying restructuring programmes.

The company is due to put its new A350 airliner into service by the end of the year. This aircraft is a long-haul plane with a fuselage made of composite materials.

The group changed its name to Airbus Group at the beginning of this year in a major refocusing of activities after a failed attempt to merger with British group BAE Systems.

It is now restructuring its defence and space activities to face increased international competition at a time of cuts in defence budgets by governments in the West.

At stock brokers Aurel BG in Paris, analysts said that Airbus had published solid results with sales exceeding expectations. They noted that the group had fallen behind Boeing in recent months but remained confident.

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Boeing, Embraer to open joint biofuel research centre

US aerospace giant Boeing and Brazil's Embraer said on Monday they will open a joint research centre in Brazil to develop a sustainable biofuel for the aviation industry.

The research "will focus on technologies that address gaps in a supply chain for sustainable aviation biofuel in Brazil, such as feedstock production and processing technologies," the companies said in a statement.

When produced in sustainable ways, aviation biofuels, made from renewable resources such as plants, significantly reduce carbon emissions.

The two companies estimated aviation biofuel emits 50 to 80 percent less carbon through its lifecycle than petroleum jet fuel.

Globally, more than 1,500 passenger flights using biofuel have been conducted since the fuel was approved for use in 2011, they noted.

The research centre will be located in Sao Jose dos Campos, an industrial and research hub in southeastern Brazil where Embraer is based.

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Week 58: PPL Flight School Week 27

Tuesday
Yet another flight got cancelled on Monday due to the crap weather, it's getting really really frustrating. Good thing that the next day I got planned for a 2hr sim session. Recalling my mistakes in my previous sim, I refined my concept of sector entry and got accustomed to holding as well as landing in ILS.

VOR interception and tracking, plus RNAV approach and keying in the flight plan in the G1000 system. I learned a lot from this lesson on how to fly a true IF flight. It was a good 2hr spent in the sim.

Wednesday
Scheduled for two sim session each lasting for an hour. This time round, I did everything on my own, from flight planning to sector entry to precision approach. Totally getting the hang of it, my instructor didn't even have to teach or correct me anything. It was a good feeling after the session ended.

Thursday
I've never flown so much sims since I came here, and today I'm once again scheduled for another 2hr sim. Running out of things to learn, I requested for a full dry run of an IF flight, along with radio calls simulated by my instructor. It wasn't easy, having to learn a new form of communication with the ATC after being in CTAF aerodromes all these while.

I fumbled, just like how I did when I first tried the radio calls on CTAF. But it wasn't that bad, and it was a good start. I have a clearer picture of how an IF flight will be flown, just waiting for the scheduler to plan me for my flight.

Friday
After a long seven days of not touching the aircraft, I was finally planned for a flight; a very special one. Flight time was 1915hrs, that means no more sunlight. My syllabus included 6hrs of night flight consisting of 2hrs of circuit and 4hrs of instrument navigation flight.

The night was really cold and the winds were rather crazy. There was a cold front approaching and I was so worried that the flight won't go ahead again. Luckily, the weather held up and I took off an hour earlier. It was very hard to adapt to night conditions with such limited light. It was close to pitch dark outside and I had to rely on my instruments as well as the limited lighting on the runway to fly the circuit properly.

The lightings were in such a way that only the perimeters of the runway is lighted. There is no centre line lightings, and that makes it harder to aim for the centre line. I was instead lining up on approach to the papi lights by intuition. The first landing was demonstrated by my instructor, and I was flabbergasted at how high it looked when the flaring was being commenced.

Night flying is definitely full of different sort of challenges. The following circuits were flown by me with some crappy landings due to a combination of rustiness, inexperience as well as the gusty conditions of 33kts headwind. The city lights though limited, were beautiful enough for me to admire while flying.

The amount of focus needed is way more than during the day. It felt great no doubt, with the peace and stars, and I can't wait to fly the remaining 4hrs of night flying.

View of city from 4000ft

It was a cold gusty 10'C night

Definitely wasn't easy in those gusty winds

It was a good week considering the amount of sim hours clocked. That's one less thing to worry about when nearing the end of my 86hrs syllabus flight time. However, I'm still having a massive 19hrs of flight time remaining. Remaining sim time has been greatly reduced to 12.5hrs.

SIA to launch premium economy class in 2015

Singapore Airlines will launch a premium economy class in the second half of next year.

SIA’s CEO Goh Choon Phong made the announcement at the carrier's fourth quarter and full year earnings briefing on Friday.

The move comes as SIA responds to intense competition in the full service airline space.

SIA is aiming to sell more tickets to a wider group of customers.

The new premium economy class is targeted at business and leisure travellers wanting more legroom than is available in traditional economy class.

SIA had previously said that there were no plans to introduce that category of seats.

Mr Goh said: “A decision was taken last year, having gotten the latest review and also feedback from customers, etcetera -- that we think it's time for us to introduce the premium economy.

“So a lot of work has since been done between then and now, and we're now able to say that we are looking at introducing it in the second half of next year.

“You can rest assured that when we set our mind to do something, it will be done well. And we will, of course, announce the product as it becomes more available, because we're still in the process of finalising some of the details."

No details were given, but analysts said rival carrier Cathay Pacific could serve as inspiration.

The premium economy class accounts for up to 15 per cent of seats on Cathay, and each seat costs double of that in economy.

Paul Yong, vice president of Equity Research at DBS Vickers, said: "We think that they should have done it earlier, but better late than never.

“And the rationale behind it really is that this segment has seen significant acceptance from consumers. We've seen that Cathay Pacific actually introduced this product in the middle of 2012, and seems to have been quite successful."

At its full year results briefing, SIA also spoke on how it plans to meet rising challenges in the airline industry.

It is sticking to its multi-brand strategy, and intends to step out of its home base to set up hubs with joint venture partners Tata Sons and Nok Air in New Delhi and Bangkok, respectively.

Greg Waldron, Asia Managing Editor of Flightglobal, said: "With its use of budget carriers, the SIA group has been able to maintain 50 per cent capacity share out of Changi Airport since the last 10 years. So they've been very successful in defending their capacity at their key hub airport.

“The problem is, I think there have been some issues retaining profitability from this move to Tigerair, from moving people to Scoot. I think that's been an issue for them."

At the same time, SIA will invest US$325 million to upgrade 19 planes -- roughly a fifth of its fleet size.

Those new cabin products, such as new seats, are already available on flights to London and Tokyo.

But once the upgrade is completed, one could soon be flying to places like Hong Kong, Sydney, and San Franscisco on them.

The same 19 planes will also be fitted with the premium economy class seats.

The new cabin class will be first rolled out on SIA's Boeing 777-300ERs, followed by its Airbus A380s, and A350s.

The carrier reported its fourth quarter and full year earnings on Thursday.

For its fiscal fourth quarter ended in March, SIA posted a net profit of S$27 million, down 60 per cent from the same period a year ago.

For the full year ended on March 31, it booked a net profit of S$359.5 million -- a drop of 5.4 per cent from a year ago.

In trade on Friday, SIA's shares closed 0.4 per cent lower at S$10.21.

SOURCE

SIA plane turns back mid-flight due to cargo door alert

A Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Hong Kong was forced to turned back to Singapore on Friday after pilots received a warning about a problem with a cargo door, the flag-carrier said.

The Airbus A380 superjumbo, carrying 263 passengers, left Changi Airport just after 1pm (0500 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong at about 5pm.

Flight SQ866 landed safely at Changi Airport at 2.20pm.

Passengers were then transferred to a replacement flight to Hong Kong, which took off at 5pm.

"The Airbus A380 Flight SQ866 from Singapore to Hong Kong returned to Changi Airport this afternoon as a result of a cockpit warning relating to a cargo door," a Singapore Airlines (SIA) spokesman said.

"SIA engineers are currently troubleshooting to find out the cause of why the warning came on," he added.

SQ866 is a daily flight from Singapore to Hong Kong that usually departs at 1pm.

Singapore Airlines has 19 A380s with five others on order, operating on routes from Singapore to various destinations including Hong Kong, Frankfurt, London and Los Angeles.

In January, one of the airline's A380 fleet was forced to make an emergency landing in Azerbaijan after suffering a drop in cabin pressure. The flag-carrier subsequently said its investigation into the incident was focusing on a main deck door that appeared to have suffered a leak.

More than 120 A380s are in operation worldwide following the launch of the Airbus flagship superjumbo in 2007.

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Air France unveils luxury first-class seat

Air France unveiled its new first-class section in Shanghai on Wednesday, fuelling an international luxury-seating race to win over Asia's rising number of high fliers.

The airline's "haute couture" suite will feature a seat that reclines into a bed stretching 2.01 metres long and 77 centimetres across (6 ft 7 ins and 30 inches) -- one of the most spacious in the world.

A total of 76 of the seats will be fitted into the airline's 19 Boeing 777-300 jets at a cost of 50 million euros (US$70 million), the company said as it showed off the new offering in an expenses-paid trip for journalists to China's commercial hub.

"In 2012, we made a promise to identify which products (we needed to improve) to push Air France up into the ranks of the major airlines," said the company's CEO, Frederic Gagey. "Those 50 million euros were needed to propel Air France to the top of those companies."

"It's our clients who will judge the product. We are extremely proud of the result and extremely confident. The improvement in the range affects all of our classes and not only first," he said.

Air travel in Asia is set to take off as growing middle classes take to the skies, prompting increasing competition for well-heeled passengers, and industry expert Didier Brechemier, of the Roland Berger Strategy consultancy, said that "first class is a tool in terms of image".

The launch came days after the Emirati airline Etihad revealed a first-class sofa that converts into a bed extending 2.04 metres long and 66 centimetres wide, which will go into Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 planes.

Singapore Airlines currently boasts the most spacious first-class seat, which it revealed in July last year at 2.08 metres by 90 centimetres.

First class occupies just a sliver of the air-travel market, with Air France's 52,000 such customers a year representing an occupancy rate of 38 percent, 0.3 percent of total long-haul passengers and 1.8 percent of long-haul revenue, said Bruno Matheu, head of Air France's passenger business.

But with return ticket prices averaging 9,000 euros (US$12,500) across the company's network the luxury seats are highly profitable and he said they "generate more revenue than if we filled that space with economy or business-class seats".

SOURCE

Tigerair appoints new Group CEO

Tiger Airways Holdings has announced the resignation of its CEO, Mr Koay Peng Yen, effective May 12 and the appointment on the same day of Mr Lee Lik Hsin as CEO.

In a statement, the company's board noted Mr Koay's contribution to the growth and development of the group.

"He nurtured the management team, introduced a sense of purpose to the organisation, and managed its external investments in accordance with the rapidly changing circumstances of the industry," the statement said.

During his tenure, the Tigerair Group "endeavoured to improve the fortunes" of its overseas units -- Tigerair Australia, Tigerair Philippines and Tigerair Mandala, it added.

However, "turbulence in those markets hampered fledgling carriers from establishing a decisive hold".

Consequently, Tigerair sold 60 per cent of its Australian unit to Virgin Australia, withdrew entirely from Tigerair Philippines and curbed the network of Tigerair Mandala.

"Tigerair Singapore, which had been growing at the rate of 30 per cent in the past three years, hit turbulence when the market sagged in mid-2013 through the imbalance of capacity and demand," the statement said.

"Nonetheless by the time of Mr Koay's departure, Tigerair Singapore had started the process of consolidating its services in preparation for a decisive turnaround in its prospects.

"Throughout his 21 months in Tigerair Group, Mr Koay applied his extraordinary vigour, talent and passion to the tasks at hand.

"The Board thanks him for his stewardship of the Group at a very difficult time in its history, and wishes him well.

"Mr Koay will serve as an Advisor to the Board and remain as a Non-Executive Board Director until the Annual General Meeting on 31 July."

The incoming CEO, Mr Lee, has "served with distinction" on the Tigerair board as a representative of SIA, the major shareholder, the statement said.

"He has been tested in demanding assignments during his 20-year career in SIA.

"He brings with him a wealth of experience at the senior level in the airline industry."

SOURCE

Europe aviation agency urges extending black box life

Europe's aviation safety watchdog called on Tuesday for the transmission time of tracking beacons fitted onto black box flight recorders to be extended from 30 to 90 days, a reform that may have made it easier to find the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

The aircraft disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board, and an intense search for the plane has been scaled back after coming up with nothing despite an air and sea hunt over 4.64 million square kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean.

Part of the problem is that the batteries to the beacons fitted onto the so-called "black box" cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder -- which are crucial in locating a plane and determining what caused it to crash -- have died, making the search even more difficult.

In a statement, the European Aviation Safety Agency urged "the extension of the transmission time of underwater locating devices (ULD) fitted on flight recorders from 30 days to 90 days".

The agency suggested that all large planes flying over oceans be equipped with a new type of ULD with a longer locating range.

The minimum recording duration of cockpit voice recorders installed on new large planes should also be increased to 20 hours from the current two hours, it added.

"The tragic flight of Malaysia Airlines MH370 demonstrates that safety can never be taken for granted," said Patrick Ky, EASA's director.

"The proposed changes are expected to increase safety by facilitating the recovery of information by safety investigation authorities."

The recommendations need to be adopted by the European Commission, and will apply to all planes and helicopters registered in the 32 EASA member states.

Australia on Monday hosted a meeting in Canberra with the transport ministers of Malaysia and China to determine the way forward in the hunt for the missing plane, which will focus on an intensified undersea search.

China is involved because two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, while the plane is believed to have gone down in Australia's search and rescue territory.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss admitted the hunt will take time, with the ocean bed in the prospective search zone several kilometres deep and largely unmapped, meaning specialist sonar equipment and other autonomous vehicles are needed.

He said a tender process would start soon to acquire them, but it would likely be two months before the equipment was actually in the water, while more oceanographic mapping was required to better understand where they would be looking.

A submersible Bluefin-21 has been scouring the seabed in an area where undersea transmissions were detected, believed to have come from the plane's black box flight recorders before the batteries died.

It will soon be joined by a dedicated team of vessels from Australia, Malaysia and China. An Australian P-3 Orion jet will also be available to follow up any leads.

SOURCE

Qatar Airways 100% state-owned after ex-PM buyout

Qatar Airways has become 100-per cent state-owned after the government bought out private investors, including a former prime minister, its chief executive Akbar Al-Baker said on Monday.

Al-Baker said the acquisition took place last year, shortly after a political shake-up in which Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem was removed from the post of prime minister.

The airline became "100-per cent government-owned at the end of July" when 50 per cent of the company was purchased from the investors including Sheikh Hamad, Al-Baker told reporters in Dubai.

"It was not only Hamad bin Jassem; there were other shareholders," he said at the Arabian Travel Market.

He declined to comment on the motives for the buyout and said he did not know how much the ex-premier, who was relieved of his post when emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani abdicated unexpectedly in favour of his son Sheikh Tamim in June 2013, had received for his stake.

Qatar Airways, he said, would start revealing its results now that the carrier was government owned.

"I don't think the government has any issues for us to start announcing our profits" following the buyout, he said. "Once our last financial year audit is complete, we will say how much money we've made."

Al-Baker did not give details of Qatar Airways' results but said the company was "very efficiently run".

During Sheikh Hamad's reign, Qatar adopted an ambitious foreign policy, until last year's unexpected political shake-up.

Qatar Airways, along with Dubai's Emirates and Abu Dhabi's Etihad, have snatched a sizable share of the long-haul travel sector, turning their home cities into major hub on the routes to Asia and Australasia.

The three are major clients of aircraft manufacturers, with extensive lists of orders from Boeing and Airbus.

Al-Baker said the recent soft opening of Doha's new airport should allow the carrier to expand unhindered, noting "growth was blocked by the capacity of the current airport" in Doha.

He added the much-delayed Hamad International Airport, which opened last week, has an annual capacity to handle 30 million passengers which can be pushed to 45 million passengers if needed.

The new international airport, built at a cost of $15.5 billion (11 billion euros) and named after the former emir, welcomed its first commercial flight on Wednesday.

It had originally been scheduled to open last April, but the date was pushed back after it failed to meet new security standards.

Initially, the facility will only be open to 10 airlines with other carriers, including Qatar Airways, expected to use it from May 27.

Al-Baker also complained of airspace congestion in the Gulf region, saying limiting space for commercial carriers in favour of military use is "not conducive" to the aviation sector.

Major Gulf carriers are trying with governments and regulators "to open more air space to commercial flights," he said.

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Week 57: PPL Flight School Week 26

Wednesday
Flight got cancelled on Tuesday due to thunderstorm in the area. As winter creeps in, the cold fronts are really a pain in the butt. Their arrival always render all flights planned as useless. Nobody gets to fly the whole day, or a few days.

So I started my week with a 2-hour sim session doing sector entry for holding pattern. It was quite a shocker to me as the mass brief was back in February and even then I had trouble grasping the whole concept of it. After a short recap with my instructor, I managed to understand the whole idea of it and went ahead with the flying in the sim.

It wasn't easy, flying and reading off the charts. Eveything happens very quickly and I found myself quite overwhelmed for the first few sector entries. By the end of the lesson, I was still a little unsure of how things are done, which made me kind of unhappy. I went back home and consulted some of my batch mates. With their patient teaching, I managed to clear up my doubts, which was quite a relief for me. Hopefully I can do better the next time round.

Thursday
Finally, a flight that went ahead after five days of not flying. The weather is getting really cold, even at 1400hrs which my flight was scheduled at. It was a normal IF flight with me under the hood while doing a simple navigation using the G1000 flight plan system.

I was be taught on how to set things up for an IF navigational flight, the things I need to check, what to look out for and how to do things correctly. Under the hood, I flew to two checkpoints using the navaids. At the final checkpoint before returning to base, I did some ADF interception Inbound and Outbound, as well as some holding.

ADF is way harder to gauage than VOR as the needle is constantly moving, at times confusing me on which is the correct direction to turn. I had to try a few times to do it correctly, and that drew out some comments from my instructor on my lack of preparation. It's not good to hear that.

The holdings were done in non-perfect conditions unlike in the sims. In real life, I had to counter winds to fly the holding pattern correctly. It wasn't easy, even if you know what to do. 1sec/kt increase or decrease per minute of holding. For tailwind, decrease the timing and for headwind, otherwise.

It was a good learning flight, and it is not as easy as the simulator I've been flying.

Saturday
My flight on Friday was cancelled again due to weather, my second one in the week. It's simply too frustrating to see my hours creeping so damn slowly after passing my PPL test. Flying once per week is just way too slow in progression.

Early morning at 0900hrs, I was schedule for a short 1-hour sim doing some ADF/VOR interception and tracking. It wasn't something new to me, but I guess I can always use the session to hone my skills on how accurately I can fly towards the navaids.

The one hour passed by fairly quickly and that summed up my week on a low note.

Sim session is useful in getting to know how to use the G1000

Praying for the weather to stay reasonable 

It's been 26 weeks, effectively marking my stay here at half a year mark. I believe it will be another six weeks before I can finish up my remaining hours.

Thai AirAsia X upbeat on prospects in Thai market

Thai AirAsia X Co Ltd is upbeat on prospects in the Thai aviation market and is looking to serve 200,000 travellers in the first year of its operation.

Its chief executive officer Nadda Buranasiri said the new low-cost budget airline would be flying into three Asian destinations from June 17, while planning to add China to its routes next year.

"You will see a spiderweb of AirAsia's expanding network once we start operations. That will make potential travellers in Asean have a greater choice of travel destinations," he added.

Thai AirAsia X started operations on April 22 and will commence direct flights at the Dong Mueang International Airport on June 17 to South Korea's Incheon International Airport.

The airline will also commence direct flights on its Japan routes a month later and it involves the Narita and Kansai International Airports.

Thai AirAsia X is a 48.9 per cent subsidiary of AirAsia Bhd.

Nadda said Thailand's consumer behaviour had changed following the entry of low-cost airlines such as Thai AirAsia into the country's travel market 10 years ago.

"Online bookings are normal in the life of younger travellers compared to a decade ago when people travelled to other destinations, even within the country, via packaged tours," he added.

He noted that Thai AirAsia X would be focusing on brand building in the first year of its operations before expanding its routes and fleet.

It will operate two leased A330-300 wide-body aircraft to the three destinations.

The aircraft are considered new with two ranging from about five to six years old.

Nadda said Thai AirAsia X is allocating between US$8 million and US$10 million as capital expenditure towards maintaining the aircraft.

Looking ahead, the airline is cautiously optimistic of the future and in respect of expansion plans, against the backdrop of the political, social and economic situation in Thailand.

"Right now, it looks very promising. It also depends very much on the situation in time.

But we are prepared to add more aircraft if the signs are good," said Nadda.

"We see a lot of people coming from China to Thailand. At the same time, Thai travellers like to explore more of China. So, we are looking to add the country to our routes," he said.

SOURCE

Young flyers finally earn their wings

Forty students from the Singapore Youth Flying Club have earned their wings.

Quek Zhi Hao from Raffles Institution won two awards -- Best in Flying and Best in Ground School.

He said: "Probably the most gruelling part of the the past year has been the final handling test. It was about three hours long, and it consists of three different parts. one is the practical flying part, the other two parts are ground-based. And so the preparation, as well as the actual test itself were both tough."

At the Aviation Awards and Private Pilot Licence Wings presentation ceremony on Saturday morning, 40 students from various junior colleges and polytechnics graduated with the coveted Private Pilot Licence (PPL).

They had to sit for various tests, complete one-year of theory and practical examinations and go on to take a flight test before they are certified to fly a four-seater Diamond Star plane.

All 40 of them have applied to join the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) as pilot trainees, including Carmen Lum, who is the only girl among them.

She said: "The Youth Flying Club has many guys and it is a rare opportunity for a girl to be able to come in. It's definitely a very rewarding experience, although it's very challenging... juggling between school and youth flying club -- one challenge was time management."

SOURCE

Loss-making Tigerair seeks turnaround by clipping own wings

Tigerair is grounding eight planes and cutting unprofitable flights in an unprecedented move to turn its loss-making business around.

Battered by bruising competition, which has pushed the carrier into its biggest loss ever, Tiger-air will park the planes - about 15 per cent of its total fleet - until the end of March next year.

The decision to downsize comes about two months after the airline cancelled an order for nine single-aisle planes that were due to arrive this year and next.

There are just too many flights serving the region and not enough demand to fill seats, said group chief executive officer Koay Peng Yen during a media tele-conference following the release of Tigerair's financial results yesterday.

SOURCE

French union calls off potentially-damaging pilots' strike

A potentially-damaging French pilots' strike has been called off at the last minute, the union organising the work stoppage said Friday, just days after Air France warned it risked hampering the airline's painstaking recovery.

The strike from May 3 to 30, which was called by the country's main SNPL pilots' union, would have seen pilots stop work at specific times every day, which Air France said would severely disrupt its medium- and long-haul flights.

On Friday, SNPL head Yves Deshayes said the union had decided to call off the strike "on the basis of (government) proposals" after representatives met with Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier -- a move welcomed by Air France chief Frederic Gagey.

The pilots had planned to protest against a law stipulating that those who strike must declare their intention to do so 48 hours before the start of a work stoppage.

The regulation was put in place to give airlines more time to warn passengers about flight disruptions, but the SNPL says it actually allows them to hire temporary replacement pilots from other European countries.

"The government recognised for the first time that these practices were not acceptable," Deshayes told reporters Friday, adding the government had made "a strong commitment" on looking to modify the law, although "no guarantees" had been given to the union.

Earlier this week, Air France chief Gagey had warned that the strike -- which had nothing to do with the airline itself -- was "taking place at a crucial time in Air France's recovery".

After six years of financial losses that led to radical cost-cutting measures including thousands of job cuts, the airline is aiming to generate a positive operating income this year -- a target it said could have been damaged by the strike.

On Friday, Gagey welcomed the cancellation of the strike, saying it was "excellent news for Air France clients and employees".

"Air France can now devote all its energy to pursuing its recovery."

SOURCE