European Aircraft Industry: Air-France-KLM Seeks To Delay A380 Deliveries

Airbus A380

Air France-KLM said it is in talks with Airbus about postponing deliveries of the next A380s it has on order by several months as it tries to rein in spending and reduce debt.

The Franco-Dutch carrier operates a fleet of eight A380s, after taking delivery of two more last year, and has a further four on order.

"Discussions are still in progress with Airbus to define new dates regarding deliveries of the next A380s still on order," Air France-KLM said in its latest annual registration document.

Air France-KLM is seeking to return to profit and cut debt by EUR€2 billion (USD$2.6 billion) by the end of 2014 after being battered by high fuel costs, a worsening cargo business and tough competition from Gulf and low-cost carriers.

Read more: Air-France-KLM Seeks To Delay A380 Deliveries

Aircraft Industry: Airbus first A350 to fly gets its wing tip 'feathers'

Airbus A350

Sticking to the old rule that you never interrupt a rival when they making all the wrong noises Airbus has been rather quiet about the A350 lately.


But its Twitter feed did flash up this photo of the wing tip fences or feathers as have been sometimes called  being fitted to what looks like the first of the new wide body twin jets that will fly at the start of its test and certification program sometime before early June.

There now seems to be a reasonable prospect of the A350-900 entering service by the end of next year, which should if things turn around on the Dreamliner program, be about the same time the first of extended fuselage 787-9s are also delivered.

he new Airbus model is specified to be slightly larger in passenger seating but similar in range to the second version of the Boeing 787. Singapore Airlines was the first carrier to order both A350s and 787-9s but has now doubled its order for the former and punted the latter to its Scoot low cost subsidiary.

Air France KLM has also ordered both types, the Air France brand taking A350-900s in 2018 and the KLM brand starting with 787-9s in 2016, although the company that owns both airlines said that in due course each would fly each type across their networks.

Read more: Airbus first A350 to fly gets its wing tip 'feathers' | Plane Talking

Airline Industry: Air France-KLM tightens belt amid sector gloom

Air France unveiled a management reorganization as part of broader efforts to return to profit, as a key rival underscored the industry’s problems with a warning that a sustained recovery may not arrive for six years.

Air France, the French network of Franco-Dutch group Air France-KLM, said it would restructure itself into eight businesses starting from January 1, 2013.

No new jobs cuts were announced as a result of the overhaul, which is designed to support an existing restructuring plan calling for 5,000 lay-offs company-wide. Air France-KLM shares rose 2.8 per cent earlier in anticipation of the latest organisational moves.

Read more: Air France tightens belt amid sector gloom | GulfNews.com

Was Air France Captain With a Woman When Flight 447 Was in Trouble?

In the final chaotic moments before Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, it took the captain of the aircraft, who was on a scheduled break, more than a minute to return to the cockpit, despite his two co-pilots’ frantic calls for help, black box recordings showed.

Although it was never revealed what delayed Capt. Marc Dubois, two independent sources told ABC News that the 58-year-old veteran Air France pilot was traveling socially with an off-duty Air France flight attendant named Veronique Gaignard.

Jean-Paul Troadec, the director of BEA, the French authority conducting the investigation into the Flight 447 crash, told ABC News that Gaignard was not part of their investigation because the agency was “not interested” in the “private life of the pilot.” Troadec added that he did not think Dubois’s alleged relations with Gaignard aboard the plane would have played a role in the accident.

According to the tapes, First Officer Cedric Bonin, a 32-year-old pilot who had fewer than 5,000 flight hours under his belt, was at the controls but had never been in this situation before at high altitude. Bonin made the fatal mistake of pulling the plane’s nose up, which caused it to go into a deep stall.
Within seconds, the plane was plummeting about 120 miles an hour in the dark, belly first, with the nose slightly elevated.

“It seems that the pilots did not understand the situation and they were not aware that they had stalled,” Troadec said.




Read more: Was Air France Captain With a Woman When Flight 447 Was in Trouble? - ABC News