Posts from the ‘Airbus A380’ Category
Malaysia Airlines’ in-flight supervisors will use CrewTablet on iPads that are fully integrated with the airline’s operational systems and other business applications. The crew will be able to access a host of information, including weather reports, seat layouts, frequent flyer programs, flight connection information and safety manuals, with the touch or swipe of a screen.
[…]
Cabin crew can be trained and up and running in less than one hour, so they can immediately work with more flexibility and efficiency.
CrewTablet will also enable Malaysia Airlines to conduct passenger surveys using iPads, rather than paper. Survey results and feedback can be derived daily, instead of monthly, hence providing the opportunity to quickly enhance or change service delivery accordingly.
Assuming that the system is live, it can most certainly be a passenger experience enhancer in addition to saving the need for having stacks of loose paper!
Dubai-based Emirates Airline is working on a two-class configuration variant for its Airbus A380 that will enable it to add seats to the aircraft, president Tim Clark confirmed to ATW. The carrier’s current A380 version offers 517 seats in a three-class layout.
The new variant, which could enter service in 2016, would eliminate first class. The upper deck bar would remain.
The airline is still working on an exact number of seats, Clark said. He conceded that additional seats would increase the weight of the aircraft.
Venturing into unknown territory.
But isn’t that one of the specialties of Emirates? I mean, they are — and will remain — the world’s biggest operator of the A380.
Adding to further excitement, there was talk by Airbus Chief Salesman, John Leahy, about possibly configuring an 11-abreast economy cabin in the A380’s main deck.
How would you feel about that if Emirates was the first Airbus customer to adopt this? They are, after all, one of the two A380 operators in the world which has an all-economy cabin layout on the superjumbo’s main deck (the other is Lufthansa).
Bloomberg brings us another round of MAS shamelessness, directly from this year’s Farnborough Air Show:
“The double-deckers are fitted out with 420 seats in economy class, 66 in business and eight in first. The CEO said that on reflection another 20 or so seats could probably have been accommodated and that this may be addressed in any future refit.”
While the article mainly talks about their fleet renewal, Mr. Yahya is already talking about “a future refit” on their brand-spanking-new A380 aircraft.
Getting ahead of yourself there, don’t you think, Mr. CEO-of-Malaysian-Airline-System-Bhd.?
Is it purely regret of not being able to charge 20 more pax per A380 rotation?
Or, may be…
“The first-class cabin may also be moved to the top deck to avoid premium clients having to exit with coach passengers.”
The eighth airline to operate the A380, and they’re still so, so unsure…
One more nail in the coffin for this airline.
“Chief executive Alan Joyce said that by Wednesday Qantas had received about 18,000 photos from people wanting to be part of its online campaign, which flashes up faces or a montage in its television ad. A further 20,000 people had asked for their names to be put on one of its Airbus A380 aircraft…”
Obviously — it’s a chance to become famous!
“…and an app that allows people to take their picture and automatically upload it had been downloaded 5000 times.”
A free iPhone (iOS) app. Downloaded 5,000 times. Not too bad, I guess.
“Mr Joyce said the response was far bigger than the airline expected. “There’s still 15 days to go on this so I think the A380 is going to have lot of coverage of names all over it,” he said. “It’s lucky we picked a big aircraft.””
You most certainly did pick (on) it after the QF32 incident.
Oh, and if you can get past that paywall and read the full article, be warned that it’s truly a piece of (art)work. You have been warned.
UPDATE: I had a brief encounter with one of Qantas’s makeshift casting studios at a major shopping centre.
Some snaps:
Head of customer experience at Malaysia Airlines (MAS), Datuk Mohd Salleh Ahmad Tabrani, shared this quote with The Sun Daily in an article regarding their new A380 — and how it would revolutionise customer experience:
“MAS is world-renowned for cabin crew excellence.”
And slightly earlier, also in the same article:
“He said having a new aircraft was not enough to rejuvenate a new and improved flight experience and help MAS distinguish itself from its competitors.”
So going by that, if MAS is already “world-renowned for cabin crew excellence”, then why would they need new aircraft to “rejuvenate” and “distiguish” itself from its competitors, flight experience wise?
It’s very clear that MAS is banking on their new Airbus A380 aircraft product and operations as a way to (hopefully) turn around their somewhat dwindling performance.
The airline currently has one of these aircraft in operation, with another five on order. A380 destinations from its Kuala Lumpur hub currently include London-Heathrow, and will expand to Sydney and Tokyo-Narita by the end of the year, and Beijing in early 2013.
Considering how MAS also operates many other types of aircraft and routings, will all this (what I call) wishful thinking be enough to “rejuvenate” and “distinguish” themselves?
“I am confident with these changes, MAS will be the best airline in the region soon…”
We’ll see, won’t we?
UPDATE: A little bird just shared with me (a rumour) about the possibility of MAS reverting back to the original red-blue insignia on the A380’s tail — due to less-than-welcoming feedback. Wow.
