NICHOLAS IONIDES reports on the all-business-class phenomenon and the latest aviation updates from across the region

It’s all BUSINESS

PHOTOS: SINGAPORE AIRLINES, ANA AIRWAYS (TOP)

SEEN ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON TRANS-atlantic routes between Europe and the US until recently, all-business-class operations are now making their way to the Asia Paci?c.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced that it will be retrofitting the cabins of its five Airbus A340-500s that operate non-stop from Singapore to LA and New York Newark to all-business, citing stronger demand for that class of service.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been operating all-business-class services between Tokyo and Mumbai since September 2007 using a specially configured Boeing 737-700ER.


Open for business only, on
ANA’s Tokyo– Mumbai route

Lufthansa is also set to launch all-business services to Pune, India from Frankfurt on 1 July 2008. Flights will be operated by partner PrivatAir.

Will the trend catch on further? Perhaps, but most observers believe it will be in a limited manner if it does. These are clearly niche operations, and if the European and North American examples are anything to go by, it’s unlikely there will be an explosion in demand for such flights anytime soon.

Over the past two-and-a-half years, four all-premium transatlantic operators have launched: US-based Eos and MaxJet; France-based L’Avion and UK-based SilverJet. But it hasn’t been smooth flying: MaxJet failed late in 2007; Eos followed in April this year and SilverJet entered administration in May 2008. (As CONNECT went to press, an investment firm had failed in its bid to buy SilverJet and the airline’s workforce was laid off.)

But this is not scaring off other start-ups; BA is planning premium operations to the US and a Scottish start-up airline is looking to launch all-business operations between Aberdeen and Houston.


Soon-to-be-retro?tted
Singapore Airlines A340-500
takes to the skies

All-premium is not an entirely new concept; Geneva-based PrivatAir has been operating such services for Lufthansa, KLM and Swiss International Airlines for several years. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s Kayala Airlines operates limited services within the region.

Here in the Asia Paci?c there has already been one failed experiment. Late in 2005, OzJet, an Australian domestic all-business-class airline, launched using Boeing 737-200s.

It began with scheduled services on domestic routes, but suspended those operations after just over three months on the back of hefty losses, turning instead to charter operations.

But this is not putting SIA off. Its A340-500s that operate the longest scheduled air routes in the world, Singapore-Los Angeles and Singapore-Newark, currently seat 181 passengers in business and executive economy classes, but in the coming months the executive economy will go and the cabins will each have 100 business class seats.

“The peak demand for the non-stop flights is from our business-class customers,” says SIA’s executive vice president, marketing and regions, Huang Cheng Eng.

By late September 2008, all five of its aircraft flying the super-long-haul routes will have the same upgraded product as SIA’s Airbus A380s and Boeing 777-300ERs. However, these do come at a cost premium of about 10-20% more than the one-stop flights that the airline also operates.

Those who want cheaper business-class tickets on SIA or still want to fly economy between Singapore and Los Angeles can do so via Tokyo Narita or Taipei, though the airline plans to drop its Taipei-Los Angeles services on 1 October. To New York, travellers can take SIA via Frankfurt.

ANA, meanwhile, has dubbed its Tokyo-Mumbai premium service Business Jet, and says it has been a success so far. Could they extend this model to other routes in the future? ANA is not ruling it out. There may also be more announcements from other carriers in the months to come.

FlyBio


Biofuels – a sustainable
alternative for aircraft?

It’s still many years away, but in the future aircraft may be powered by biofuels. Recently a Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 747-400 conducted a test flight in part using biofuel, with no modifications required to the aircraft or engine. Airbus also conducted test flights using alternative fuels and more demonstration flights are planned by aircraft and engine manufacturers in partnership with airlines, in line with the aviation industry’s publicly stated goal of reducing carbon emissions.

Air New Zealand, Boeing and Rolls-Royce plan to conduct a biofuel demonstration ?ight later this year to help accelerate the development of alternative fuels such as algae for use in commercial aviation. Boeing says: “Our near-term goal in this pioneering effort is to identify sustainable alternative bio-jet fuel sources for the planes that are ?ying today.”


Terminal to plane
in a golf cart, at
Changi’s JetQuay JAL goes premium in Singapore

 

Changi Airport’s CIP (Commercially Important Persons) terminal (managed by JetQuay) signed its first comprehensive arrangement with an airline in May 2008 to facilitate airport services for Japan Airlines’ premium passengers. With a private driveway, direct kerbside access, short check-in close-out times, facilitated baggage handling, no queues, meeting rooms, spa and gym, the CIP is designed to mirror service levels at fine hotels.

Barry Nassberg, EVP & COO for Worldwide Flight Services, a majority shareholder in JetQuay, explains that, “Premium customers are no longer content with the traditional features of separate check-in desks and a lounge pass… Increasingly, the trend is for airlines to offer premium customers a separate terminal with luxurious facilities.” www.jetquay.com.sg

High security

Qantas Airways is trialling “new age” security screening technology that could eventually replace the traditional pat-down search.

US-based L-3 Communications makes the ProVision Portal, which uses millimetre waves to scan the body and identify concealed objects. Resembling a phone booth, a visual outline image of the passenger is created indicating any foreign objects.

Some US airports are also trialling the technology, which has sparked some controversy. Supporters say they have taken steps to ease privacy concerns, however, as the face is unrecognisable and “sensitive areas” of the body are blurred.

Qantas security head, Geoffrey Askew, says: “It’s our intention to have this technology in active use at selected screening points in the nottoo-distant future.”


TRAVEL TIP

"When ?ying in business class on the A380, go for a bulkhead seat as this means you don’t have to lie at an angle when you are in the bed position"

Who: Craig Constable, Global Account Director, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

 

Thank you for the music

The next time you’re skybound you may be able to connect your Apple iPod music and video players to the aircraft’s in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.

Car stereo makers began offering the capability some years ago and Panasonic Avionics has now incorporated it into the new-generation aircraft IFE systems. Using an integrated cable, passengers can connect their iPod and charge their batteries while enjoying the music.

Singapore Airlines claimed in May to have become the first airline to offer iPod connectivity, on the first of their five all-business-class Airbus A340-500s. Other models will be updated in the future.

United Airlines late last year announced plans for the same offering and was due to have introduced it soon after SIA. Air New Zealand recently announced similar plans and Apple has said that several other airlines are also considering introducing the service.