In Global Travel Media’s excellent recent “What Might The Future of Aviation Look Like” webinar, [you can view it here CLICK HERE] aviation specialist, Joe Cusmano of Stray Nomad neatly summed up the Australian home grown international aviation scene saying , “Qantas has folded up the sheets, put them in the drawer and closed the drawer”, with his comments appearing to be endorsed by the panel of experts.
In the meantime as also discussed in the webinar, other airlines globally are showing the leadership, which appears would be nice if QANTAS did, with a report in Arabian Business saying that amid the coronavirus crisis, the national airline of the UAE, Abu Dhabi based carrier Etihad has been at the forefront of testing technologies to help make flying safer for passengers.
The Arabian Business report says that Etihad’s innovations include a small handheld ultraviolet wand being tested by US plane giant Boeing and Etihad Airways, which could help airlines combat the threat of coronavirus, with the wand one of four technologies being tested in the Boeing ecoDemonstrator program and can disinfect a flight deck in under 15 minutes.
Doug Christensen, Boeing technical fellow and ecoDemonstrator program technical leader said, “This is a faster and more efficient way of disinfecting when compared to what is available in the market today – it is time saving and cost saving.” “Also, we are talking about delicate electronics and so this technology minimises the usage of liquid around them”.
He added, “Etihad was the first airline that tested this system on their aircraft and they have been a big part of the development of bringing it to commercial operators,” with the idea behind the ecoDemonstrator programs is to test potential technologies for the aviation industry to adopt in the future”.
Mike Sinnet, Boeing vice president said, “The whole idea is that we can innovate quickly and learn by doing and discovering things quickly.” “It allows us to accelerate the path of getting the technology into the practical service in a beneficial way for both the environment and safety”.
The ecoDemonstrator program has just completed its seventh run, in partnership with Etihad, using the 787-10 Dreamliner as a testbed for the first time, building on the “eco-partnership” which Etihad and Boeing signed back in November 2019 with also after having acquired its first 787 back in 2014, Etihad Airways is planning to beef up its fleet of 787-10s.
Paul Kear, senior vice president technical at Etihad Airways said, “We will be up to 40 787s by the end of this year and we have another 11 aircraft in the pipeline with some of those being delivered in 2021, making us one of the biggest 787 operators in the world.”
He added, “Because of the current situation, we planned the entire flight program virtually, which means bringing together engineers, equipment, tests and hardware together from across the world to the airplane and do so in an environment that is safe in terms of social distancing.
He also says that apart from the on-board disinfection, three other technologies were tested during the program, with all ecoDemonstrator test flights using a 50/50 blend of sustainable and traditional aviation fuel to lower CO2 emissions by 75 percent over its life cycle, adding, “This shows the industry the capabilities that are out there to produce that level of fuel”.
He added, “In partnership with NASA, acoustic research was also carried out to measure noise levels created by an aircraft, with more than 200 microphones placed on the fuselage with a further 1,000 plus microphones on the ground, with different manoeuvres and configurations then tested.”
Christensen said, “The testing that we did will be used to develop our tools and our procedures as we look at designing and developing our next new aircraft product.
In addition, Arabian Business reports that a new system which works in a similar way to the navigation apps most people have on their phones was also tested to optimise flight routes, simplifying the process for course changes due to weather and traffic and minimises holding times before landing, aiming to enhance safety and pilot and air traffic controller workload while also saving time and fuel and lowering CO2 emissions. This testing included 17 re-routings during two transcontinental flights across the United States.
So, what is our Aussie home grown “national” carrier QANTAS doing?
Nothing, or at least nothing that they are telling the world about, except justifying Alan Joyce’s $23 plus million pay package!
So, some may say why didn’t you call them and ask and perhaps I should, but quite frankly I really did not want to speak with a QANTAS communications or PR person!
So, QANTAS here is an open invitation for you to tell Global Travel Media readers and subscribers what you are doing during this shutdown of your international operations to prepare your aircraft, flights and processes for you valued customers, with Etihad a good example of what they are doing.
QANTAS the floor is yours!
A report by John Alwyn-Jones including a report from Arabian Business News.
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“A Fabulous Round-Up on air industry talents in one bucket! Well-done an top marks for keeping it all focused. I especially like the notion that each speaker did not run over the very same runway as the panellist before them. Lets hope our local talent at QANTAS comes to the table to chat!. Again, well done… Kindly, do more of them!”