ATW Podcasts

ICAO and pollution plus tired pilots

November 2, 2009

Perry Flint shares his thoughts on the forthcoming meeting in Copenhagen how will commercial aviation be treated? The industry is hammered more than other forms of transportation. Perry points out that it appears the vociferous anti-aviation movement has its primary source in the United Kingdom. We then go on to discuss the recent events where planes landed on a taxiway and this was followed up by a plane overshooting its destination. These events come in cycles and it may be that we are going through an event prone cycle. But there are issues like the fact that regional airlines in the USA now account for about half the movements something Perry feels needs to be looked into by the authorities because the regulations may need to be revised.

Green Shoots? Maybe not.

October 8, 2009

Perry Flint is Editorial Director at Air Transport World and joins us each month to discuss a topic facing commercial aviation. This month it is the much mentioned green shoots some airline managers have been talking about. Perry doesn't see green shoots. In fact he sees some fundamental issues airlines need to be thinking about, not least of which is the rise in digital communications.

Passenger Rights?

September 8, 2009

Today we spoke with ATW's Editorial Director Perry Flint about passenger rights - in light on the flights that seem to imprison people for hours on end. Perry explains that it looks like the industry will end up facing regulation on this because it appears airlines cannot seem to fix this. We then briefly spoke about the WTO findings - while few people have seen the 1,000 page document, it seems time has moved on and it is probably a Pyrrhic victory.

Cash for Clunkers and other thoughts

August 4, 2009

The latest fad that seems to be working is the "Cash for Clunkers" program to get people to replace older gas inefficient cars for newer more efficient ones. Perry Flint, Editorial Director at ATW, talks about how this program would be helpful to the travel industry. We then go on to discuss the Frontier deal - how will this impact Republic and Southwest. Finally we talk about the fluctuations of oil prices.

Pilot Fatigue

This is a subject that never seems to fade. The recent Colgan crash brought the matter to the front burner once again. It is a perennial problem the airlines need to cut costs, crew need their jobs and somewhere in between compromises occur. We have two podcasts discussing the subject, hearing what pilots and a sleep expert have to say.

Click here for Part 2.

The downturn and premium travel

June 30, 2009

ATW's Perry Flint talks about the current downturn and provides some intriguing insight. Has air travel changed forever? Has the premium travel sector shrunk forever? Has it gone the way of the three martini lunch and the personal assistant? We might be in the midst of a fundamental shift in air travel and the implications for the industry are far reaching.

Eco-Aviation

June 3, 2009

ATW's Perry Flint reports on their recent Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington DC (held in conjunction with Leeham & CO). Perry talks about the news from Air New Zealand - a biofuel experiment that went very well plus its use of ASPIRE to save fuel on its trans-Pac flights. There was also news from Rolls Royce and their open rotor engine. The EU carbon issue is also mentioned - the impact of the policy on non-EU airlines is an issue that is about the start airlines already hard pressed between low fares and rising fuel prices.

TROUBLED TIMES: Putting the economic environment in perspective

All around the world, airlines are bracing for what many are warning will be the deepest economic recession in nearly three decades. Fuel prices have fallen dramatically, but not enough to offset the anticipated drop in revenue.

Audio podcast available of this event.

Aircraft Electrical Power Systems - Charged with Opportunities

December 22, 2008
Balaji Srimoolanathan, Program Manager for Aerospace and Defence, Frost & Sullivan in India has produced a fascinating report on the "more electric airplane". You can see a summary at iag-inc.com/articles/aeps.pdf. As this chart shows, aircraft are increasingly becoming "electric". Balaji's research suggests that this is the future of aviation. His mention of fuel cells to be used by aircraft is fascinating - think of where this could go.