United Airlines to launch nonstop flight between Singapore and San Francisco

United Airlines will introduce daily nonstop flights between Singapore’s Changi Airport and its San Francisco International Airport hub, it announced on Friday (Jan 29).

This will be the first nonstop service between Singapore and San Francisco and the only one to the US from Singapore. The Boeing 787-9 aircraft will be used for this nonstop service, it added.

Flying times will be approximately 15 hours, 30 minutes eastbound and 16 hours, 20 minutes westbound, saving customers up to four hours' journey time each way from previously available flights, the airline said.

Eastbound flights, which will start on Jun 3 subject to government approval, will depart Changi Airport at 8.45am daily, arriving at San Francisco International Airport at 9.15am the same day.

The westbound return flight will depart San Francisco at 11.25pm daily, arriving in Singapore at 6.45am two days later.

Vice President of Atlantic and Pacific Sales Marcel Fuchs said the new service will offer "unique benefits to customers travelling from Singapore not only to San Francisco but also to dozens of other cities across the Americas via our San Francisco hub".

The airline has timed the new flights to connect with destinations throughout the US, Canada and Latin America at San Francisco, providing a one-stop service between Singapore and more than 40 US cities. These 40 cities include more than 25 that do not currently have one-stop services from Singapore, it said.

With the launch of the nonstop Singapore-San Francisco service, United will terminate services between Singapore and Tokyo's Narita Airport from Jun 2. However, it will maintain its daily service between Singapore and Hong Kong.

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Qatar Airways boss accuses Delta of flying 'crap' planes

The chief of Qatar Airways on Monday denied his company receives subsidies and accused rivals Delta Air Lines of flying "crap" older planes, escalating hostilities between Gulf and American carriers.

Speaking at an arts conference in Doha, Akbar al-Baker said any money his airline receives from the state is in the form of "legitimate" equity and added his company's fleet of aircraft were much cleaner for the environment in comparison to Delta.

"I think Mr Anderson (CEO of Delta, Richard Anderson) doesn't know the difference between equity and subsidy. We never receive any subsidy," Baker said.

He was responding to claims made earlier this month by three US airlines - Delta, American and United - that Qatar, along with carriers in the United Arab Emirates have received US$42 billion in unfair subsidies to wrest business away from competitors.

Baker also accused Delta of flying "crap airplanes that are 35 years old", when talking about pollution by the aviation industry.

In contrast, Baker said Qatar Airways had an "ultra-modern fleet" and was the lowest CO2 contributor in the aviation industry.

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Joint ventures between airlines result in consumer benefits: CCS

A recent market study on the aviation industry in Singapore has found consumer benefits resulting from joint ventures between airlines.

The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) had commissioned the study, which focused on two joint ventures in particular -- the agreement between Japan Airlines and American Airlines and the one among United Airlines, Continental Airlines and All Nippon Airways.

In a statement on Tuesday, CCS noted that airline joint venture agreements are inherently anti-competitive, as they typically involve price fixing, market sharing or output limitation.

But it said there is a need to carefully assess such agreements, as they can sometimes generate substantial benefits to consumers, such as lower airfares, more choices in connectivity and better service.

When an agreement generates such benefits, CCS may grant it anti-trust immunity.

The study, which was carried out by external consultants ICF SH&E, found that the two joint ventures have resulted in higher passenger numbers and lower fares.

But the improvements were smaller than those reported in Western literature on airline joint ventures in the US and Europe.

In particular, the significant drop in passenger fares found in literature based on US flight data were not replicated in the joint ventures formed in, or operate in, Singapore and the Asia Pacific region.

Still, the agreements resulted in other benefits such as improved flight schedules and increased capacity.

CCS said to date, it has reviewed eight airline joint ventures agreements, with the consideration that any substantial lessening of competition should be carefully weighed against the extent of consumer benefits that the agreement may generate.

It said it will continue to monitor developments in the aviation market in Singapore.

More information on the study may be found at the CCS website.

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Mexican airport suspends operations due to volcano

A handful of US flights were cancelled at two Mexican airports on Friday after ash from a nearby volcano fell in central Mexico, authorities said.

Alaska Airlines voluntarily cancelled a flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City's international airport and the later trip back to California, airport spokesman Jorge Gomez told AFP. The rest of the airport, however, was operating normally.

The small airport of the central city of Puebla, located just 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Popocatepetl volcano, suspended its operations as a safety precaution "due to the abundant presence of ash," the transportation ministry said in a statement.

This forced the cancelation of six flights, including a United Airlines flights to Houston, Texas, an American Airlines trip to Dallas, Texas, and four domestic routes operated by Mexican carriers Volaris and Aeromexico, it said.

Two cargo flights were also affected, the ministry said, adding that clean up crews were deployed to pick up ash from the runway and roads.

The Popocatepetl volcano has been rumbling periodically since May, spewing huge columns of ash that prompted several US airlines to cancel dozens of flights into and out of Mexico City last week.

Last Saturday, authorities raised the alert level around the volcano to Yellow Phase III, one notch below evacuations of residents who live near the 5,452-meter-high (17,887-foot-high) "Popo," as it is locally known.

The Mexican capital is only 55 kilometres (35 miles) from the snow-capped volcano.

In its latest bulletin, the National Disaster Prevention Centre reported that the volcano had spewed steam and ash accompanied by medium intensity explosions early Friday that blew glowing rocks up to two kilometres (1.2 miles) from its crater.

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Volcanic ash is a pain in the butt for commercial aviation. It is highly damaging to jet engines and airlines will not want to risk flying in unsafe airspace. Flight cancellations will cause losses for them, but when safety is concerned, some profit will have to be compromised.

Dreamliner makes emergency landing in US

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet was forced to make an emergency landing during an internal US flight on Sunday, due to a problem with its brake system, United Airlines said in a statement.

"United flight 94 from Houston to Denver returned to Houston Sunday due to a brake indicator issue," the US carrier said.

"Following standard operating procedures, as a precautionary measure, the flight landed in emergency status. The aircraft landed safely at 11:58 a.m. C.T. and our maintenance team is conducting a review of the aircraft," the statement continued.

The flight had departed nearly three hours earlier, at 9:12 am local time (0214 GMT).

A spokeswoman for Boeing, which makes the Dreamliner, said the problem with the braking system forced the plane "back to base," without giving details of the malfunction or how long it might take to repair it.

Leach said a Boeing field service representative was on the scene in Houston to help the airline with the issue, including getting the airplane back into service and dealing with stranded passengers.

It marks the latest problem to plague Boeing's flagship plane and at least a third one in a month.

An All Nippon Airways flight on the Dreamliner was cancelled on June 12 when an engine would not start. A day earlier, a Singapore-bound flight operated by Japan Airlines had to turn back mid-flight because of a problem with the anti-icing system.

The worldwide fleet of Dreamliners was grounded for four months earlier this year when problems were discovered with its battery systems.

A global grounding order was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different planes, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.

Boeing admitted in April that despite months of testing it did not know the root cause of the problems, but rolled out modifications it said would ensure the issue did not recur.

Nevertheless, in a bid to show it was back on track after the technical issues with the jetliner, the aerospace company announced at the Paris Air Show on June 18 that it was launching a new version of the Dreamliner, with over 100 orders worth about US$30 billion.

The new-generation 787-10 is bigger than its two brothers in the fuel-efficient Dreamliner family, and Singapore Airlines and ALC were its two biggest customers on Tuesday, with 30 orders each.

United committed to buying 20 planes while British Airways will get 12 and leasing company GECAS 10.

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Another issue for the Dreamliner. Seems to be no end to it. But what matters most is that all passengers are safe.