Air transport

With the aim of promoting Swiss cuisine on 21st November, in this A330, Swiss International Air Lines added a few light meals on the menu to their flight from Zurich to New York; and to do this, Switzerland's national airline called in one of the 50 top chefs in the world: Andreas Caminada. His name may not mean anything to you, yet the 37 year-old Swiss has three Michelin stars and 19/20 in the Gault & Millau guide.
 

Oil is very expensive, and a far cry from 2004 when a barrel of it was selling for around $40. In 2008, black gold even peaked at $180. Since then, prices have stabilized at around $130, but according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) a significant drop is on the horizon.
 

The French Ministers of Finance and Economy finally made a decision on 4th December. A major share of the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (ATB) management company owned, up to now, by the French State will be transferred to Symbiose, a Chinese-led consortium. In the end it was the 308 million Euros offered by them that finally clinched the deal.
 

Lufthansa has just announced that they will soon be offering low-cost long haul flights; a first for a traditional European company. From the winter of 2015, under the name of Eurowings, they will propose "leisure" destinations in the Indian Ocean, South Africa and Florida from Cologne and Bonn.
 

In south west France there are no more than three entities vying to acquire 49.9% of the state shares in ATB, the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport management company: Vinci Airports, Aéroports de Paris and SNC-Lavalin associated with Chinese investors. The French Minister of Finance has still not decided. But some voices are against the Sino-Canadian offer.
 

Reclaiming Business Class clientèle to its medium-haul network is the new goal Air France has set itself, after attacking that of the long haul. On 27th November, at their company headquarters at Roissy (near Paris), the Chairman and CEO presented the new Business Class cabins seats that will be provided on some of its Airbus A319’s and A320’s from next April.
 

We hear it, we repeat it, but sometimes have difficulty in believing it, and yet the numbers are there to prove it. Air travel is well and truly the safest means of transportation in the world. Between 1950 and today, the probability of a ‘plane crash is now 200 times less than what it was.
 

The US company Delta Air Lines has just finished shopping at Airbus, having bought 23 A330neo’s and 25 A350’s, all equipped with Rolls-Royce engines; the Trent 7000 for the A330neo’s and the Trent XWB for the A350’s.
 

Following the merger in January of three Air France regional airlines together under the name of "Hop!", the French national carrier has decided to accelerate the transition even further. From next summer, all Air France domestic flights within Europe, except those serving Roissy airport, will be be marketed under the brand name "Hop! Air France".
 

This year’s new Beaujolais has just arrived. Fermented for just a few weeks, this vin nouveau wine is put on sale at midnight (French time), on the third Thursday of November; and to be able to taste this vin primeur or young wine at the same time around the world, a whole logistics programme was established.
 

After the Barbie ‘plane, here's the Hello Kitty ! Images of the famous Japanese character’s whole Sanrio family have appeared on six various types of aircraft since 2011. Their recent arrival in France on the fuselage of the Taiwanese company Eva Air’s Boeing 777, was the first of three weekly flights between Paris and Taipei, capital of Taiwan. We thought you would like to come with us to say “Hello Kitty”.
 

All interested parties, such as Vinci Airports, the French Deposits and Consignments Fund, SNC-Lavalin, ADP (Paris Airports), have until noon on 31st October, as the dead line for submission of applications to acquire certain state shares in the Toulouse Blagnac Airport management company (south west France). But what are the motivations behind this state divestment ?
 

On 21st October, Air France launched its first weekly Toulouse - Paris green fuelled flights. For one year, the airline will use a kerosene compound composed of 10% biofuel produced from sugar cane fermentation and manufactured by a subsidiary of Total oil in Brazil. Thanks to the addition of this product to the original normal fossil fuel, the greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 80%.
 

October 15th was a starry night for a 5-star company in Paris, when All Nippon Airways organized a party in the Cambon Capucines pavilion, during which, the Japanese company unveiled a sneak preview of their new generation uniforms soon to be worn by some 13,000 employees.