Virgin Atlantic will become the first airline to fly non-stop from London to Australia after buying 43 new, fuel-efficient aircraft from Boeing.
Sir Richard Branson, the airline’s chairman, announced the US$8 billion ($9.6 billion) order for up to 43 787 Dreamliners. They will allow Virgin to launch super-longhaul flights to Perth and later to Sydney and Melbourne.
The 787 is the most fuel-efficient commercial aircraft built to date, making the 17-hour flight to Australia economically viable for the first time. Virgin is also planning to launch a 16-hour direct flight to Hawaii once it takes delivery of the 787s in 2011.
Qantas considered launching a non-stop service last year using 777s, but it abandoned the idea because the increased fuel required would cut revenues.
Sir Richard announced the 787 order in Chicago, the home of Boeing, after the introduction of a Virgin Atlantic service to the American city.
He billed the order as a step towards making aviation “greener”, as the 787s will burn 27 per cent less fuel than the Airbus A340s they will replace.
Virgin is also launching a partnership with Boeing to develop other eco-friendly measures intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft. The partnership is a response to criticism from environmentalists that airlines are increasing their contribution to climate change at a time when other industries are seeking to cut emissions.
Aviation is growing so rapidly that, despite the introduction of new, more efficient aircraft such as the 787, the industry’s share of global CO2 production is forecast to rise from 2 to 3 per cent now to 5 to 6 per cent.
Virgin, Boeing and General Electric, which makes engines, are working to develop a bio-fuel capable of powering an aircraft. They plan to use a Virgin 747 jumbo next year to demonstrate that fuels made from organic matter can power a jet aircraft.
Virgin and Boeing are also working on a system of towing aircraft to “starting grids” near the head of a runway to cut the amount of time that engines are running on the ground.
This system is being tested at Heathrow, Gatwick and San Francisco airports.
Sir Richard said yesterday that towing aircraft to the runway would cut CO2 emissions on the ground by 50 per cent.
“We all have the responsibility to reduce our carbon footprint and doing nothing should not be an option for any airline,” he said.
By: Pembo330 - 27th April 2007 at 12:22
I’m not a big believer in the man-made global warming debate so I love to get involved in this “political” discussion (I believe this is a political issue rather than a science one I’m afraid).
Anyway, this bio-fuels idea. All good in that the fuel would come from a sustainable source whilst oil is a finite resource. However, the amount of fertile land to generate bio-fuel crops is apparently huge, such that if bio-fuels become a mass-market product, there is talk of us using land to grow fuel instead of land to grow food. All interesting….
P.S. I work in the oil industry and I’m now getting told than Saudi’s reserves are 250 years and a new field in Iraq could potentially have another 250 years worth of reserves. That’s 500 years. I was always told at school there would be no oil by 2010! Don’t believe everything you read or hear.
Sorry if this is partly a thread hijack….
By: steve rowell - 27th April 2007 at 10:04
Personally I would rather stop somewhere in Asia for a bit of variety!
Unless you can afford to travel first or business class… Eighteen hours is a long haul cramped in the confines of the economy section of airliner
By: A380FWOW - 26th April 2007 at 23:53
Dont forget that the additional purchase rights are used by the airlines to generate bigger discounts on the aircraft that they really want.
By: rdc1000 - 26th April 2007 at 22:30
PS they have only order 15 new
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with an option on a further 8 aircraft,James
Yes, but they have purchase rights on a further 20, taking the total to the 43 shown. When promoting orders such as this it is typical to show the maximum scope of the order, it looks more impressive.
By: LGKR - 26th April 2007 at 19:13
indeed so.
Easyiest way to check if your on a leased aircraft is the GINFO database or when your board the aircraft by the front left hand door there should be a little sign saying who operates the aircraft.
So for example easyjets 737s are all leased so there sign should say this aircraft is owned by ABC leasing on behalf of easyjet.
I don’t believe they do, never noticed anything on the twenty or so times I’ve travelled on an EZY 73G…
Those “operated by” rules I think apply to aircraft which are wetleased for long periods of time. If you look on airliners.net or somewhere similar there are loads of examples flying around, search for the bmi A321’s that Air 2000 used to lease summer only for flights from EMA and the likes..
By: lukeylad - 26th April 2007 at 18:58
Not only that, but it is easier for an airline to give an aircraft back to a leasing company, rather than being lumbered with having to sell it directly themselves.
indeed so.
Easyiest way to check if your on a leased aircraft is the GINFO database or when your board the aircraft by the front left hand door there should be a little sign saying who operates the aircraft.
So for example easyjets 737s are all leased so there sign should say this aircraft is owned by ABC leasing on behalf of easyjet.
By: cloud_9 - 26th April 2007 at 15:26
Nope most of them leased. its cheaper.
Not only that, but it is easier for an airline to give an aircraft back to a leasing company, rather than being lumbered with having to sell it directly themselves.
By: lukeylad - 26th April 2007 at 13:39
Oh right never knew that, Thought VS owned all there aircraft.
JAmes
Nope most of them leased. its cheaper.
By: Manston Airport - 26th April 2007 at 13:36
You have to remeber mate that most of Virgins aircraft are leased they dont own them so really they can get rid of the A340 when ever they want.
Oh right never knew that, Thought VS owned all there aircraft.
JAmes
By: lukeylad - 26th April 2007 at 13:12
They say its replacing the A340-300’s it cant replace the 600’s yet can they?:confused:
James
You have to remeber mate that most of Virgins aircraft are leased they dont own them so really they can get rid of the A340 when ever they want.
By: Manston Airport - 26th April 2007 at 13:06
He billed the order as a step towards making aviation “greener”, as the 787s will burn 27 per cent less fuel than the Airbus A340s they will replace.
They say its replacing the A340-300’s it cant replace the 600’s yet can they?:confused: PS they have only order 15 new
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with an option on a further 8 aircraft,
James
By: jethro15 - 26th April 2007 at 12:23
Virgin Atlantic will become the first airline to fly non-stop from London to Australia
Wonder if that will spur Apple on into developing longer lasting batteries for their ipods?………:)
By: andrewm - 26th April 2007 at 12:15
Personally I would rather stop somewhere in Asia for a bit of variety!
By: JohnSwitzer - 26th April 2007 at 11:55
Interesting… I guess Sir Richard Branson will be instructing his technicians to hastily remove the 4 engines for 4 long haul graphics from his A340s and B747s 😉
Regards
John
By: KabirT - 26th April 2007 at 09:45
cheers Steve… very interested about the bio-fuel project.
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April 26, 2007 at 7:53 am