Emirates and Alaska Airlines are now working together with a shared mileage plan.
During an Emirates press conference today held in Seattle, WA, Alaska Airlines announced a mileage partnership with the Dubai based airline. Passengers will be able to earn and redeem miles on either airline, plus miles accumulated while flying on Emirates will count towards Alaska MVP elite level program. From March 1, 2012 to May 31st Alaska will offer double miles on any Emirates flight.
“As part of our commitment to Seattle, we are launching our service by partnering with Seattle’s hometown airline to offer customers the convenience of a frequent flier partnership as well as one-stop check-in and through checked baggage,” said Nigel Page, Emirates Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations for the Americas.
As reported previously, Emirates will start non-stop service from Seattle (SEA) to Dubai (DXB) starting on March 1, 2012. The new flight will help connect the northwest to the Middle East, Africa and India. Emirates new flight (#’s EK229 and EK230) will depart daily from Seattle and Dubai and take 14.5 to 15hrs to complete. Emirates Boeing 777-300ER will we set up in a three class layout and the price for a first class suite will cost $15,279.00, while business will cost $9479.00 and economy will be around $1448.00. With Seattle having so many large companies and a decent demand for people to visit their families in the middle east and India, the airline expects their new route to do quite well.
When asked if Emirates might be interested in upgrading their 777 service to Seattle to an Airbus A380 Nigel stated, “As we build the business up we will certainty look at that.” However, he stated that they have not been in talks with the Port of Seattle about bringing the A380 to SEA. Previously, Perry Cooper with the Port of Seattle communications told AirlineReporter.com that, “We can handle the A380 in emergencies, however we do not have facilities for regular use, such as the multiple gate loading ramps, for the aircraft. At this time, if an A380 were to arrive and need to access a gate, safety guidelines would require all traffic to stop until the aircraft stopped at its gate, due to the width of taxiways and safety zones next to the runways.’
Currently, the Airbus A380 is not able to make it from Dubai to Seattle non-stop and Emirates stated that they are working with Airbus to increase the range to handle cities, like Los Angeles non-stop.
Emirates will also be starting service to Dallas starting February 2nd and has voiced interest in expanding to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. The fact the airline has so many aircraft currently on order (70 Airbus A350s, 70 Airbus A380s and 87 Boeing 777s), my guess is all these cities will be seeing Emirates service soon.
Yesterday, Southwest Airlines announced some pretty big changes for the inside of some of their Boeing 737 aircraft, which they are calling “Evolve: The New Southwest Interior.”
For the average customer, the differences probably won’t be so obvious — hence why Southwest is calling this an evolution rather than a revolution. The tones of brown and blue will be familiar, but with a closer eye, one can see the changes. From Southwest directly, here they are:
The new Southwest interior with new seats and carpeting. Photo by Southwest Airlines.
Modern Cabin Design: The new design incorporates natural, earthy tones combined with Southwest’s iconic Canyon blue and clean, aluminum accents for a more modern, fresh appeal. The redesign is inspired by Southwest’s past with a nod to the future.
Lighter and More Comfortable Seat: The redesigned low-profile seat is more durable, made of eco-friendly products, is lighter, and more comfortable.
Increased Under-Seat Space: The new design allows for more under-seat room for carryon luggage and approved pet carriers.
Customer Living Space: Reducing the recline from three inches to two inches preserves onboard personal living space while still allowing for ample seat adjustment for Customer comfort.
Seatback pockets: The new netted seatback pockets are streamlined to provide more knee room.
Headrest: The fixed-wing headrest provides better neck and head alignment with side-to-side support for sleeping.
Improved Ergonomics: The combination of the low-profile cushion and fixed wing headrestimproves ergonomics by positioning Customers “down and back” into the seat, allowing for better lumbar support, armrest alignment, and increased personal living space.
There might be less seat pitch, but there is more space. Photo by Southwest Airlines.
The new interior means that there allows Southwest to put six additional seats on each aircraft. This is due to reducing the seat pitch from 32″ to 31″, using the skinnier seats and reducing the recline from 3″ to 2″. This will allow Southwest to increase their profit, without having to add fees.
The seats are made with eco-friendly materials and are designed to last longer, reducing replacement costs. Each seat weighs six pounds less than their predecessor, meaning real fuel savings for Southwest Airlines. The new carpet, which is made out of recycled materials, is put in by squares where a section can easily be replaced instead of taking out the whole carpet.
“We are preparing now for our next 40 years with a fleet modernization plan that includes the new interior, the Boeing 737-800 which is scheduled to come online beginning in March this year, and the 737 MAX, which is expected to join the Southwest fleet in 2017,” said Bob Jordan, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. “The evolutionary changes we’re making with the new interior uphold our low-cost roots and historic focus on Customer Service. The cabin upgrade also allows us to create significant revenue opportunities without adding unwanted fees.”
Southwest plans to update all their newer Boeing 737-700s and also AirTran’s 737s and 717s. They have not stated if they will update their older classic 737s, but my guess is that they will not. It would be unlikely, since they recently announced an order 150 new Boeing 737MAX aircraft.
You might want to make sure that the kids are out of the room when looking at this livery — it is not pretty. A while back I put on Twitter that I think the worst liveries I have covered were Air Do and Air Midwest. I asked people if they had any that might be worse and @BrunetJohn stepped up with Dubrovnik Airlines.
For a livery to get on a plane, there have to be multiple people that approve it. I mean it costs the same amount of money to paint a good livery or bad one — which always makes me wonder how liveries like this every see the light of day.
Sure, the concept of putting a pretty photo to show where you fly is not a bad idea (and it is pretty — close up shot). However, this looks more like it was designed in Microsoft Word than almost any livery I have seen.
The word “airline” doesn’t even match up with the name and is oddly next to that picture. On the left side of the plane, it is no better with the name being oddly close to the picture.
According to Flight Global, the airline suspended operations on October 23, 2011. There is a possibility they could come back into service and I wish them the best — I only ask to think about going with a new livery.
There have been many times where I have dis-liked a livery and some of you have dis-agreed with me. Can anyone disagree with this one?
On January 14th, JA805A was used on the 787’s first regularly scheduled international flight from Haneda (HND) to Beijing (PEK). JA805A is ANA’s first 787 to have their international interior configuration with new staggered business class seating. ANA’s fourth 787 Dreamliner (JA807A) was delivered and flown to Tokyo on January 13th and most likely will be used on the Handeda (HND) to Frankfurt (FRA) route that ANA expects to start on January 21, 2012.
Here are some photos showing JA805A and JA806A’s new livery and interior:
ANA Boeing 787 (JA805A) departing Haneda Rwy34R as ANA1255 in the morning of 14 Jan 2012. Photo by Runway21R.
First scheduled international flight of 787 Dreamliner (JA805A) from Haneda (HND) to Beijing (PEK) on January 14, 2012. Photo by Kentaro Iemoto.
ANA Boeing 787 (JA805A) departing Haneda Rwy34R as ANA1255 in the morning of 14 Jan 2012. Photo by Runway21R.
First scheduled international flight of 787 Dreamliner (JA805A) from Haneda (HND) to Beijing (PEK) on January 14, 2012. Photo by Kentaro Iemoto.
ANA JA806A parked at Paine Field on December 27, 2012. Photo by James Polivka.
ANA's configuration for long haul service. Image from ANA.
Taken in February 2011 inside the Boeing Factory, this 777-300ER is the 24th 777 for Qatar.
So how long does it take Boeing to build a 777? That was a question emailed to me by reader Ron Thomas and I realized I did not know. I posed the question to Boeing on how long it takes for a 777 to be built and out of the factory, how long it takes to be painted and then how much longer before actually being delivered to a customer. I decided to share the answers.
Of course depending on the paint job and possible issues, these numbers can change, but this is based on the average build for a 777:
From first part to out of the Boeing factory in Everett: 49 days
Time in the paint booth: 4 additional days
Flights and testing: About 30 additional days
Total from first part to delivery: About 83 days — less than three months.
That truly is beyond impressive and if you have ever taken a tour of the Boeing factory, you know that they make it look so easy.
