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Today (Friday 13-4-12) QANTAS created aviation history in Australia by operating a commercial bio fuel flight into Adelaide Airport. The A330 Airbus had one engine running on a 50/50 blend of conventional *Jet-A1 (kerosine) and the new bio fuel (recycled cooking oil). Capt. Philip Davenport had some very positive things to say about the new fuel as seen in the following video.
Although this flight used one engine on conventional fuel it was the data collected when comparing the two fuels that was interesting. Apparently, there was a 1-2% reduced fuel flow on the engine being run on the bio fuel which meant for a given thrust level, the aircraft consumed slightly less fuel. Considering that and A330 Airbus carries up to 88,000 litres at full load a 1% saving can be quite significant. Especially across a whole fleet.
The only thing that will possibly delay the wide-scale introducion of bio fuels is the cost to produce it is higher than normal fuel at the current time. The benefits are lower emissions and an increased efficiency for the aircraft.
5DME will be following the bio fuel story to see if wider fuel replacement is possible or in the pipline. For instance, to replace AVGAS which is the fuel used by piston engine aircraft.
Emirates has again identified Adelaide as the frontrunner for its next Australian port, although the carrier stressed there were no immediate plans to launch flights.
Speaking ahead of Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, Richard Jewsbury, senior vice president commercial operations Far East and Australasia, admitted the Gulf carrier had been looking at new points in Australia.
“Adelaide is probably the leading candidate at the moment, but there are other options that we’re looking at,” he said. “But there is no firm timeline planned. It will be driven by aircraft availability and market dynamics.”
Emirates recently upgraded the aircraft on its Perth route to a Boeing 777-300, added a third Sydney flight last year and will deploy the A380 to Auckland from October.
It currently operates 70 flights a week between Australia and Dubai with 28 weekly flights across the Tasman.
However, Jewsbury dismissed the prospect of operating trans-Pacific services.
“We were created to support Dubai. Our growth model is very much focused on expanding our portfolio out of Dubai,” he said. “Remote flights, whilst we have an interest in doing them, are a little more challenging.”
He highlighted the growth potential in South America and Asia, explaining the carrier was committed to maintaining a balanced global network.
The carrier commenced services to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires earlier this year, and will fly to Ho Chi Minh from June.
Meanwhile, Jewsbury suggested Sydney Airport’s curfew, which the carrier came under fire for breaching in January, needed to take into account evolving aircraft technology.
“Aircraft are far more environmentally efficient and far quieter today than they were 10 to 15 years ago,” he said, referring to the carrier’s A380.
Always a lot of talk...Emirates to Adelaide can't wait enough. There are people booking fly/cruise packages that require them to fly interstate for flights with Emirates. Wouldn't be such a big deal if they'd be packaged with the others coming to Adelaide. We seem to get the rough deal.
Cheers
Confucius say: Dumb man climb tree to get cherry, wise man spread limbs.
It's old, expensive and could you imagine trying to fit all the luggage on there. And what about the residents along Sir Donald Bradman Drive?, I'm sure they wont be supportive of a monorail right infront of their houses.
There was talk of a possible monorail before the tramline extension, thankfully that was squashed fast. Trams are more suited to Adelaide.
Guys, this thread is about newsworthy airport and airline news not about monorail and tram links to the airport.
That belongs in the Visions thread.
ADELAIDE SINGAPORE LONDON BERLIN AMSTERDAM PARIS TOKYO AUCKLAND DOHA DUBLIN HONG KONG BANGKOK REYKJAVIK ROME MADRID BUDAPEST COPENHAGEN ZURICH BRUSSELS VIENNA PRAGUE STOCKHOLM LUXEMBOURG BRATISLAVA NASSAU DUBAI BAHRAIN KUALA LUMPUR HELSINKI GENEVA
Anyone who has ever flown cathay will know how much they currently suck.
those seats?
They are the worst, i've flown to Europe and back with Cathay, and those seats are really quite painful. I think it's the first time on a plane where i've stood for about 4-5 hours in the galley just eating from the snack bar and chatting with friends i was travelling with and the cabin crew.
Terrific! I found the fixed shell seats perfectly fine to sit in on the way to Japan last year, but absolutely useless when I wanted to recline and get some sleep on the red-eye back to Adelaide...
Splashmo wrote:Terrific! I found the fixed shell seats perfectly fine to sit in on the way to Japan last year, but absolutely useless when I wanted to recline and get some sleep on the red-eye back to Adelaide...
Likewise. I flew to Japan only a month ago with the same issues.
Mildura airport will have direct flights to four cities across three states from early July, after an expansion of services was announced by a regional airline.
It's already regional Victoria's busiest hub for air transport, but Mildura aiport currently offers services to just one centre: Melbourne.
As of July 9 traffic to Mildura will significantly increase, as services open to three states and flights will take passengers from Mildura to Adelaide, Sydney and Broken Hill, on top of the existing services to Melbourne.
The changes will allow people to travel from Broken Hill to Melbourne, with Mildura to be a stop-over where more passengers are expected to join the service.
There will be twice-daily return flights to Broken Hill, and once-a-day return services to Adelaide and Sydney.
The Singapore-based regional airline REX will operate the flights, after forming a partnership with the Mildura Airport and the Broken Hill City Council.
The move comes as a surprise after REX announced earlier this month it was axing Riverina services between Melbourne and Griffith, and has been warning for the past year about the impact of the carbon tax, and the lack of Government support for regional airlines.
Other airlines have previously operated services to Adelaide and Sydney and failed, but the airport manager Peter O'Donnell says he's confident there's demand.
"We know that at least ten per cent of our passengers out of Mildura end up in Sydney," says Mr O'Donnell.
ADELAIDE SINGAPORE LONDON BERLIN AMSTERDAM PARIS TOKYO AUCKLAND DOHA DUBLIN HONG KONG BANGKOK REYKJAVIK ROME MADRID BUDAPEST COPENHAGEN ZURICH BRUSSELS VIENNA PRAGUE STOCKHOLM LUXEMBOURG BRATISLAVA NASSAU DUBAI BAHRAIN KUALA LUMPUR HELSINKI GENEVA
The reason why the ADL-Mildura route failed twice for two airline companies is because one went into receivership and other charged double or triple the price of the Mildura-MEL service. There's definitely demand, and am so glad to hear about REX. They are far more better than the likes of O'Connor and Sharp.
Additional Jetstar sevices through Adelaide. This a day after large cuts to services through ports in the NT.
... Jetstar will boost its services on the key routes even further, adding 21 return flights between Sydney and Melbourne from August 16, seven extra services each between Sydney and Adelaide, Sydney and Ballina-Byron and Sydney and the Gold Coast.
In addition three returns services will be added between Adelaide and the Gold Coast and four between Newcastle and the Gold Coast....
Jetstar will add:
21 return services per week between Sydney and Melbourne from 16 August 2012 Seven return services per week between Sydney and Adelaide from 15 November 2012
Seven return services per week between Sydney and Ballina-Byron from 18 April 2013
Seven return services per week between Sydney and the Gold Coast from 18 April 2013 Three return services per week between Adelaide and the Gold Coast from 18 April 2013
Four return services per week between Newcastle and the Gold Coast from 18 April 2013
ADELAIDE SINGAPORE LONDON BERLIN AMSTERDAM PARIS TOKYO AUCKLAND DOHA DUBLIN HONG KONG BANGKOK REYKJAVIK ROME MADRID BUDAPEST COPENHAGEN ZURICH BRUSSELS VIENNA PRAGUE STOCKHOLM LUXEMBOURG BRATISLAVA NASSAU DUBAI BAHRAIN KUALA LUMPUR HELSINKI GENEVA
Would be nice if they could time the new gold coast services to connect to the flights to Japan.
At the moment there is no cheap way of getting from Adelaide to Japan, jetstar is impractical due to requirement to spend the night in cairns or the gold coast.
