Carry on: Korean's A380s, Accor's Delhi hotels, Lufthansa strike and more

Korean plans third A380 to Europe
New Zealanders travelling to London via Seoul Incheon on Korean Air will have an Airbus A380 on the second leg to London Heathrow (LHR) from March 27 next year. The superjumbo will replace the B777-300ER that currently flies the daily route.

It is third time lucky for LHR as two earlier decisions to deploy the superjumbo fell through. Instead, Paris Charles de Gaulle was the first European airport of choice. The same happened again but this time the nod went to Frankfurt.

Korean Air has the lowest seat count of any A380 operator. Its 407 seats are spread over first, business and economy, while the interior is roomier than other A380s that accommodate another 100 passengers or more.

Airbus signs big order with Korea
Airbus has formally signed deals with South Korea's two largest airlines for the delivery of 55 single-aisle A321neo (new engine option) aircraft. The contracts, negotiated earlier in the year, were signed to coincide with a visit to Seoul by French President Francois Hollande.

Korean Air will get 30 aircraft, worth around $US3.7 billion at list prices. It also took options on 20 more. Asiana contracted for 25 for around $US3.1 billion. Both carriers says the new aircraft will help meet rising regional passenger demand, especially on China routes.

Accor opens complex at Delhi airport
Accor Hotels has opened two new hotels in New Delhi Aerocity, close to Delhi International airport. The Pullman New Delhi Aerocity and Novotel New Delhi Aerocity have a combined 670 rooms and offer easy access to the business hubs of Gurgaon and New Delhi.

The Pullman is the brand's 100th globally and was designed by Meriem Hall, a Singapore-based designer. The hotels have one of Delhi National Capital Region's largest convention spaces, spread over more than 3720sq m with a pillar-less ballroom measuring 1180sq m. Accor now has seven brands in India, with over 30 hotels in total.

Malaysia’s new business class
Malaysia Airlines unveiled its new A330-300 business class seats at this week’s World Travel Market in London. They will be introduced in April 2016 and all 27-seater cabins will be fitted with the new configuration by September. The lie-flat seats come with increased working space and 90% of all seats have direct aisle access due to the 1-2-1 and 1-2-2 seat layout. Each seat is equipped with a Panasonic 16-inch touch screen inflight entertainment system.

Lufthansa cabin crew to strike
Lufthansa’s cabin crew union UFO says its are on strike until next Friday, November 13, after last-ditch attempts at solving a dispute over pension issues failed.
The union had given Lufthansa a deadline of 4pm on Thursday to address a list of demands related to the company’s retirement system for cabin crew after talks between the two parties had broken down.

Lufthansa and UFO have been negotiating for about two years over a number of labour issues, as Lufthansa seeks to cut costs in its fight against competition from budget carriers. A previous attempt to solve the dispute via mediation failed earlier this year.

Passenger traffic rises in September
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) says global passenger traffic showed solid demand growth in September for domestic and international traffic.

Total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 7.3% compared with the year-ago period, slightly above the 7.1% growth achieved in August. September capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased 6.6% and load factor rose 0.5 percentage points to 80.7%.

“The demand for air travel in September was robust – even with the economic slowdown in some key emerging markets such as China. The industry seems set for a positive end to 2015, Iata director-general and chief executive Tony Tyler says,.

New route of the week
China Eastern has opens reservation for planned Shanghai Pu Dong-Brisbane route, which due to start on January16, 2016. The Skyteam member will operate this route three times a week with Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

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