Albert Aviation

For many years, aircraft manufacturers and suppliers in the upstream of the aviation supply chain enjoy higher protection due to technical barriers, and the level of competition in the industry is much lower compared to the lower end of the supply chain. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a large-scale blow to the demand side of air transportation, making it difficult for aircraft manufacturers and suppliers to escape.

Since February, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world. As the closest link in the aviation industry chain to public travel needs, airlines bear the brunt. As the air transport markets of various countries are shut down like dominoes, an unprecedented large-scale grounding of the global fleet is taking place. According to Cirium’s updated data on April 17, 64% of the world’s 26,000 aircraft in service are grounded. As can be seen from industry figures, the current A330, A340 and B787 series grounding ratios of the wide-body aircraft have reached 90%, and due to the busy cargo aircraft, the B777 grounding ratio is slightly lower, about 75%. Also, more than half of the A320 and B737 series of narrow-body aircraft are grounded. Due to the possible deep damage to the global economy caused by the pandemic, the depression is expected to last longer, and it is difficult for air travel to recover as before in a short period.

-Airbus-

At present, the damage to Airbus’ commercial aircraft orders has begun to appear, and the aircraft delivery volume has also been greatly affected by the pandemic. In the first quarter of this year, Airbus cancelled 66 aircraft orders, with a net increase of 290 orders and a monthly average net increase of 97, which was higher than last year’s monthly net orders for 66 aircraft. Net orders include 248 A320neo, 42 A220 and 4 A350, while cancelled orders include 29 A320neo, 16 A220, 17 A350 and 34 A330neo. However, if we only look at the March data, Airbus received a total of 60 gross aircraft orders, while 39 aircraft orders were cancelled, and the net order volume was only 21, far below the average of 66 aircraft per month last year.

In terms of delivery, Airbus originally planned to deliver 880 aircraft in 2020, slightly higher than the 863 aircraft delivered in 2019. However, in the first quarter, Airbus delivered a total of 122 aircraft, including 31 in January, 55 in February, and 36 in March. The three consecutive months of delivery were lower than the average of 72 in 2019. Delivery level. The aircraft delivered included 91 A320neo, 14 A350, 8 A220, 5 A320ceo, and two A330ceo and A330neo each. In late March, Airbus’s factories in France and Spain were shut down due to the pandemic. Airbus’ original production and delivery plans were disrupted. At the end of March, it announced the cancellation of the original 2020 production plan and delivery plan. Aviation analyst Sandy Morris predicts that Airbus’ delivery this year will likely drop to 650, and it may drop to 600 in 2021.

Deliveries

Cancellations

Net Orders

Backlog

A220

8

-16

42

529

A320ceo

5

0

0

61

A320neo

91

-29

248

6159

A330ceo

2

0

0

36

A330neo

2

-4

-4

287

A350

14

-17

4

569

A380

0

0

0

9

Total

122

-66

290

7650

As of March 31, Airbus had 7,650 reserve orders, including 6,220 A320, 529 A220, 323 A330, 569 A350XWB and 9 A380, this is still a positive increase compared to 7,482 reserve orders at the end of 2019. After the outbreak, due to tightened airline funding and declining travel demand, the market’s demand for new aircraft will also decline, and the number of new orders is expected to decrease significantly. The current situation may be just the beginning.

Although the impact of the pandemic is not very obvious from the perspective of the number of aircraft orders, the market will remain pessimistic after the pandemic has become a consensus in the industry. Aircraft demand is expected to shrink in the future. To this e...

Air France has begun service resumption plans if confinement is lifted. France currently expects to resume flights on May 11, and Air France plans to begin resuming domestic flights between Nice, Toulouse and Marseille on this day. On the premise of border reopening of the destination country, Air France is aiming to resume 30% of flights in July.

At present, more than 90% of Air France and KLM flights have been grounded, and the CEO group Ben Smith announced internally that the company is losing €25 million a day. Despite cost saving measures already made, Air France KLM still needs help from the French and the Netherlands’ governments to avoid bankruptcy. Ben Smith is believed to have said that the company has only enough cash to survive until early June, that is not having to refund tickets for thousands of cancelled flights.

Since Paris Orly Airport was closed at the end of March, all flights leaving or arriving in Paris have been transferred to Charles de Gaulle Airport.

According to Connexion France, from May 11 (the date of initial deconfinement measures), the airline will begin by increasing the number of flights running between Nice, Toulouse and Marseille; three major airports that have stayed open despite confinement.

From July, it is expected to increase flights from the current 5% of its usual capacity, to 30%, depending on which countries reopen their borders, both within the EU and outside it.

Ben Smith earlier intends to return to 40% service in July to the initially planned offering before the crisis, then 60% in August, before reaching 75% in the fourth quarter at best. Now it still seems to be way too ambitious even for the summer.

Currently, more than 45,000 Air France employees have been placed on the partial unemployment (“chômage partiel”) scheme announced by the government, while the airline is continuing to offer a skeleton operation between major European destinations, with a only a handful flights per week.

It is also continuing to run a handful of services between Paris and several major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Montréal, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Tokyo, in addition they are flying to three African destinations of Dakar, Cotonou and Abidjan. It has also maintained services between mainland France and some overseas territories, including Cayenne in French Guiana, Fort-de-France in Martinique, Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, and Saint-Denis in La Réunion.

Many of these flights are operating as part of a rescue repatriation programme for French citizens.

At present, European airlines have basically suspended operations between China and Europe. They have been intensively using passenger aircrafts to carry cargo goods out from China. While the Chinese airlines continue to operate part of the Sino-Europe routes in accordance with the latest “Five One” rules of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, they also continue to deliver cargo goods by passenger planes.

Finnair and Shanghai-based Juneyao Air have signed a Letter of Intent to deepen their cooperation between China and Europe subject to required regulatory approvals.

The aim is to establish a joint venture on the Helsinki – Shanghai route enabling Finnair and Juneyao Air to offer their corporate and leisure customers a seamless travel experience through a wider choice of destination, schedule and fare options via their main hubs, Helsinki Airport (HEL) and Pudong International Airport (PVG).

Joint Venture Preparation

Juneyao Airlines opened its first European destination between Shanghai and Helsinki in June 2019, thus officially extending the route network from domestic and neighbouring countries to transcontinental scope, and there are plans to open more new fifth freedom routes in Europe via Helsinki. Juneyao Air became the first Star Alliance Connecting Partner in May 2017 and has been in FFP cooperation with several Star Alliance members. In 2019, Juneyao Airlines started FFP cooperation with Finnair.

Finnair has entered the Chinese market for more than 30 years. It opened the first direct intercontinental route between Helsinki and Beijing as early as 1988. Currently, there are a total of 7 direct services in China including Beijing Capital,Beijing Daxing, Shanghai Pudong, Xi’an, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Hong Kong direct to Helsinki.

Sino-Europe Routes Awaits Market Relaunch, Juneyao Airlines Confirms Finnair Joint Venture

Lufthansa To Temporarily Retires Entire Airbus A340-600 Fleet

Cathay Pacific To Auto Renew Tiers For All Marco Polo Club Members

Flying Blue To Maintain Elite Member Status For Another 12 Months

Although the global aviation industry is currently suffering huge losses under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and has suspended most of the intercontinental flight services, it is well understood both within and beyond the industry that the current market demand is only suppressed rather than disappeared, it would be wise to use this adjustment period to prepare for the restart of the market.

“The aviation industry has encountered tough situations. Nevertheless, we consistently and optimistically trust in our emphasized China-Europe market and partnership with Finnair. We have been in comprehensive cooperation with Finnair and have obtained a mutually trustworthy and beneficial partnership with shared visions and values. Expanding the partnership enables us to accelerate further development and to serve passengers better with diversified choices and broadened network coverage.”, says Mr Yu Chengji, Executive Vice President of Juneyao Air.

In fact, airline alliance is a closer way of cooperation between airlines. The two sides further bind the market and revenue links on the basis of code sharing, which can fully maximise the interests of both parties under the conditions of resource constraints.

“Despite these immensely challenging times for our industry, we at Finnair remain steadfast in our belief and commitment to China as a key market and to Juneyao Air as a key partner. Over the last year we have built up a close and mutually beneficial partnership with Juneyao Air. Taking the important step to evolve this into a deeper cooperation focused on our Shanghai and Helsinki hubs will allow us to not only serve our current customers even better, but also to lay a platform for further growth in the future, once the aviation market starts to normalise”, says Ole Orver, Chief Commercial Officer at Finnair.

Air rights and foothold

Shanghai has always been Finnair’s most ...

In the process of the next 2-3 months, Lufthansa will temporarily decommission their entire fleet of 17 Airbus A340-600s. The oldest three A340-600s, with averaging age over 16.4 years, has already been flown to their graveyard at Teruel in northeastern Spain. These aircraft will be taking out of regular operating schedules for at least the next 12 to 18 months. A decision on the possible reactivation of a maximum of ten aircraft in the future will be taken at a later stage, which means, most of these aircrafts will be scrapped into parts.

The first three A340-600s already stored at Teruel are amongst the oldest of the 17 aircrafts. Lufthansa’s A340-600s used to have two types of seat configurations although now they have all been configured to one singular one, with 8 first class, 44 business class, 32 premium economy and 213 economy seats. What’s so special about this aircraft type in Lufthansa’s fleet is that passengers have to go downstairs to use the toilets. You may find the illustration on the seat map below with their older seat configuration of F8 C56 W32 Y189.

Leverkusen, with registration number D-AIHE, was named after professional football club Bayer 04 based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The aircraft was first delivered on Jan 2004, which currently is 16.4 years old and was withdrawn from service on 18th March 2020 and is now stored at TEV.

Lübeck, with registration number D-AIHF, was named after the northern German city distinguished by Brick Gothic architecture. The aircraft was first delivered on Feb 2004, which currently is 16.3 years old and was withdrawn from service on 17th February 2020.

D-AIHC, was named Essen after the city in western Germany with a rich historical heritage trail of coal mining and steel production until February 2018, during 2003 to October 2008, Essen was painted with the special Star Alliance livery.

The aircraft was first leased on Dec 2003, which currently is 16.5 years old and was withdrawn from service on 4th April 2020.

All three aircrafts is now stored at TEV, Teruel, Spain since 14th April. Teruel Airport is located between Zaragoza and Valencia in the northeast of Spain. With around 240 days of sunshine a year and little rainfall, the region is particularly suitable for parked aircraft.

REG

DELIVERED

REMARK

NAME

AGE

D-AIHB

Nov 2003

Stored

Bremerhaven

16.5 Years

D-AIHC

Dec 2003

Stored TEV, lsd

16.5 Years

D-AIHD

Dec 2003

Stored, lsd

16.4 Years

D-AIHE

Jan 2004

Stored TEV

Leverkusen

16.4 Years

D-AIHF

Feb 2004

Stored TEV

Lübeck

16.3 Years

D-AIHH

Mar 2004

Stored

Wiesbaden

16.2 Years

D-AIHI

Apr 2004

Stored

Mönchengladbach

16.2 Years

D-AIHK

May 2004

Stored

Mainz

16 Years

D-AIHL

May 2004

Stored

16 Years

D-AIHP

Nov 2006

Stored

13.4 Years

D-AIHT

Apr 2008

Stored

12 Years

D-AIHU

May 2008

Stored

11.9 Years

D-AIHV

Mar 2008

Stored

12.1 Years

D-AIHW

Dec 2008

Stored

11.4 Years

D-AIHX

Feb 2009

Stored

11.2 Years

D-AIHY

Mar 2009

Stored

11.1 Years

D-AIHZ

May 2009

Stored, lsd

Leipzig

11 Years

At the end of their useful lives, Lufthansa aircrafts will be dismantled for parts in the dry climate of Teruel, like engines or cockpit computers, are often still in good shape for re-use in other aircraft after careful inspection and certification.

With a length of over 75 meters, Airbus A340-600 makes the world’s longest aircraft when it was first launched in 2001.

“Ultimately, a plane belongs in the sky, but at some point, their time is up. That’s why we go to such lengths to keep an aircraft alive, albeit in a different form, like a keychain or a piece of designer furniture.”

Marius Krämer, From old to new | Lufthansa Magazin

Earlier this month, Marco Polo Club members were given a helping hand to retain their elite membership with club points relief and benefits extension across February, March and April, and as the COVID-19 situation has evolved into a global pandemic, Cathay Pacific has updated their tier renewal policy today on their site, all Marco Polo Club members with their current tier levels due to expire between May and December 2020 will be renewed automatically for another 12 months when the normal requirement is not met. This includes all club members at Green, Silver, Gold and Diamond levels.

Marco Polo Club Tiers

“Automatic tier renewal

The COVID-19 situation has evolved into a global pandemic, and many countries have instituted travel bans and restrictions to curb its spread. This in turn has lowered demand and we have significantly reduced capacity across our passenger network.

Renewal of club tiers

Knowing this has seriously affected your ability to travel and may continue to impact your travel plans for some months to come, we are renewing the current tier level of Green, Silver, Gold and Diamond members whose membership period expires from May to December 2020 for another 12 months, even if the normal renewal requirement is not met.

Reissuing of mid-tier benefits

We will also reissue mid-tier benefits that expire between May and December 2020 for another 12 months so you can enjoy them when your travel resumes. The reissue should take 7 working days from the date of expiry.

For the ticketing arrangements and precautionary measures we’re taking, please visit the COVID-19 Information Centre.”

Marco Polo Club Diamond Membership

This is a textbook example of how a flagship full service carrier should be retaining its customers, with the continuous passenger number drop, Cathay is expecting average daily pax number remain below 1,000 throughout April.

“A potential bright point could be cargo in upcoming weeks. Cargo revenue won’t be enough to offset passenger revenue loss, but it could cushion the blow from high monthly fixed expenses, Cathay has always had one of the strongest cargo operations in the Asia-Pacific. It would make sense for them to capitalise on this leadership and continue adding cargo capacity on key routes.”

Luya You, Transport analyst at Bocom International.

Cathay Pacific B777-300ER

Cathay Pacific had cut capacity by two-fifths and they could continue to extend its April flight reductions of 96 per cent if travel restrictions remains.

Marco Polo Club Status Renewal

Frequently asked questions

What does automatic tier renewal mean?

We appreciate our members’ loyalty. By renewing their membership tier automatically – without the need to apply or have a review – we’re ensuring they can travel in the style they’re accustomed to when they resume flying.

Who is eligible for automatic tier renewal?

Green, Silver, Gold and Diamond members whose memberships expire between May and December 2020 will automatically be renewed at their current tier levels, even if they haven’t earned the club points normally required to retain their status.

When will my status be renewed?

If your membership expires between May and December 2020, your current membership status will automatically be renewed at the end of your membership year for another 12 months.

Do I need to register to renew my status?

No, we will automatically renew your status at the end of your membership year. There is no need to call the service centre.

Where can I find the end date of my membership year?

Sign in to your account and visit the Account Balance page.

If my status will automatically be renewed at my current tier, can I still move up to a higher tier if I’ve earned the required number of club points?

Yes, the normal rules for tier qualification apply.

If my status is automatically renewed, will my club points be reset to zero in the new membership year?

Yes, the normal rule applies – upon renewal,...

From a press update from their COVID-19 statement earlier today, Air France KLM group’s Flying Blue program will be extending elite status for their elite members whose status is expiring from March this year to February next year for another 12 months. As for basic Explorer level members, all of their points won’t expire until the the end of this year.

“Coronavirus (COVID-19) Related Updates

In challenging times like today, travelling has become more difficult due to reasons beyond your control. In these trying times, we want to remove any uncertainty you may have about your Flying Blue Elite level.

We have put the following actions in place:

We will maintain all Flying Blue Elite members with a qualification period ending between March 2020 and February 2021 for another 12 months.

We will prevent all Miles from expiring between now and the end of 2020 for all our Explorer members.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely as it evolves. We are committed to sharing details and updates with you as soon as they become available. In case you have any questions about the implications regarding your situation, please see the frequently asked questions about this topic below:

If the travel date of your Reward Ticket or Promo Reward Ticket was before 31 May, 2020.

The rebooking, reissuing, or refund of your ticket must be completed on or before 30 September, 2020.

The rebooked travel date must be before 30 November, 2020.

For trip cancellations with Reward Tickets or Promo Tickets:

Penalty fees for trip cancellations are waived.

Whether you have a Reward Ticket or Promo reward ticket, your Miles will be re-credited to your Flying Blue Member account and airport taxes on the credit card used for payment.

Ticketing fees are non refundable.

For change of travel dates with Reward Tickets or Promo Tickets:

Flights booked with Air France and KLM, you will be reissued a ticket with same route, airline and booking class.

Flights booked with other airlines partners flights or in combination with AF/KLM flights, you will be reissued a ticket with same route, airline and booking class. If we are unable to reissue a ticket with the same route, airline and booking class, we will issue a new one upon your request.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely as it evolves. We are committed to sharing details and updates with you as soon as they become available.”

How would the status extension be counted towards Platinum for life?

If you you keep current level during your next qualification period based on this special covid-19 measurements, this 12 months grace period elite status extension will count towards the 10 consecutive years needed to qualify for Platinum for life.

Everything is going very fast these days, that’s to say for the survival of many airlines.

The CEO of Air France made assumptions to the French Newspaper La Tribune a few days earlier presented that while almost the entire Air France and KLM fleet is grounded, there was still talk of ensuring a very ambitious offer in July and August, putting 70 to 80% of the long-haul seats initially planned for this summer back on before the Covid crisis, 80 to 90% on medium-haul and 65 to 75% on short-haul.

Benjamin Smith, Air France

After a minimal activity in June where only 20% of the total capacity could be insured, Ben Smith intends to return to service in July 40% of the offer initially planned before the crisis, then 60% in August, before reaching 75% in the fourth quarter at best. Which still seems terribly ambitious, at least for this summer.

Like many, the CEO of Air France-KLM plans a slow and gradual recovery.

From a press statement update from the CEO of Marriott International today, Marriott is extending Marriott Bonvoy elite membership status globally for a year. These includes all elite levels from Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium, and all the way to Ambassador.

Marriott Bonvoy

“For Our Marriott Bonvoy Members

I also want to take a moment to address our Marriott Bonvoy members. Like many of you, frequent travel is a way of life for me and most of the Marriott team. It is the way we connect, get inspired and evolve our business every day. While it is the right thing to do, it’s been hard not to be able to travel. We know that when you get back in the air and on the road, your points and status will be important to you.

Status Extension: We want you to be able to enjoy the status that you earned in 2019. With that in mind, the status you earned in 2019 will be extended to February 2022.

Points Expiration: To provide you ample time to redeem points, the expiration of points will be paused until February 2021. At that time, your points will only expire if your account has been inactive for at least 24 months.

As the days unfold, we will continue to monitor and evolve our program requirements as necessary.

We’ve heard from many of you asking how you can help. Through Marriott Bonvoy’s Giving Platform, you can donate your Marriott Bonvoy points to relief organizations that are active in COVID-19 responses around the world and that Marriott is also supporting, including the American Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF and World Central Kitchen.

Thank you for being a member of our loyalty program or simply for staying with us – we consider you a part of the extended Marriott family. We will travel again, and we can’t wait to welcome you back.

Until that day comes, stay well.

Arne M. Sorenson

President and Chief Executive Officer”

Our Continued Efforts: We Will Travel Again

This is wonderful news after the extension policy was released for the Greater China region earlier this year, now Marriott has stated that they will come back with more updates for those who would like to qualify for elite status this year regarding how they would adjust the elite qualifying requirements.

Reservation flexibility in this period still applies til June 30, 2020 as updated as follows:

“For Our Customers

We remain committed to ensuring our customers experience flexibility during these challenging times, so we have further extended our cancellation policy and I wanted to give you an update on those changes.

For guests with existing reservations for any future arrival date, including reservations with pre-paid rates that are typically more restrictive, we will allow full changes or cancellation without a charge up to 24 hours prior to arrival, as long as the change or cancellation is made by June 30, 2020. Please note that any changes to existing reservations will be subject to availability and any rate differences.

For guests making new reservations for any future arrival date, including reservations with pre-paid rates, between March 13 and June 30, 2020, we will allow the reservation to be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival date.

Please continue to visit our website for the most up-to-date information.”

As the situation around novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve, Hilton are doing everything they can to provide flexibility for all guests and their Hilton Honors members, this includes all guests may cancel non-refundable reservations at no charge and also extending status for their members based in the great China region, today they have (finally) came out with a new policy that all Hilton Honors members with status will enjoy status extension from one or two years.

Regarding Hilton Honors Points and Status (March 25, 2020)

Hilton Honors is aware of that earning and using points is not possible for many of their members right now, so a number of adjustments are being made to help members maintain their status and points for the remainder of 2020.

For 2019 Status Extension

All members whose 2019 status was scheduled to be downgraded on March 31, 2020—whether it’s Diamond, Gold or Silver—will automatically receive an extension through March 31, 2021.

For 2020 Status Extension

Hilton Honors is extending 2020 member status through March 31, 2022. This means status members will continue to enjoy all the Diamond, Gold or Silver benefits you have access to today for the next 24 months.

Regarding Points Extension

Hilton Honors will pause the expiration of all Points scheduled to expire from now til December 31, 2020.

Regarding Weekend Night Rewards Earned on Eligible Hilton Credit Cards

Hilton Honors have extended the expiration date of all unexpired Weekend Night Rewards as of March 11, 2020, and all new ones issued until August 30, 2020, through the end of next summer (August 31, 2021).

Regarding Hilton Honors Experiences

Hilton Honors are monitoring all active Experiences to ensure the safety of our members and provide maximum flexibility. For more information as it relates to event cancellations and Point refunds, you may find more info by visiting their FAQs page.

The Norwegian government on the 19th March agreed to save struggling airlines in the country with a loan guarantee of NOK 6 billion. Norwegian aviation is in crisis as a result of the COVID-19 virus outbreak. SAS, Norwegian and Widerøe have all canceled thousands of departures and laid off over 18,000 employees. The loan guarantees come with a number of conditions and are distributed to airlines as follows:

Norwegian can access 3 billion

SAS 1.5 billion

Other companies NOK 1.5 billion

However, the former managing director of SAS – Eivind Roald, whose current position is an adviser to Altor Equity Partners shared an interesting post 18th March on Dagens Næringsliv, a Norwegian newspaper specialising in business news, which suggested on the possibility of a consolidated Nordic airline bloc that can potentially prevent future business cycle downturns which could require government bailouts again.

The former SAS director envisioned a new Nordic airline group – NAP(Nordic Airline Platform), which should include Icelandair, SAS, Finnair and Norwegian, ” [...] at least parts of Norwegian.” said by Eivind Roald.

” I read with amazement that some are advocating that the Norwegian state should buy shares in Norwegian in order to save the company. It is important to maintain the infrastructure was used as an argument.

Eight years ago, I sat on the SAS Group Management during the crisis in 2012. We received a clear message from all Norwegian politicians that it was not appropriate to invest one krone in SAS. If SAS were to go bankrupt, Norwegian could help maintain the infrastructure until new competition is established, it was said as a political point of view.

Now obviously this is different.

Norwegian is an international airline group which is built by a Norwegian and is headquartered in Norway. Thanks to Norway’s development and tough competition, SAS has actually survived – and all of us who have worked at SAS should thank Norwegian for putting pressure on renewing SAS.

On the other hand, there is not a good enough answer to save Norwegian in the structure the company has today. Norway’s owners and board of directors, well-praised by the Norwegian financial industry, have taken quite conscious risk through major expansion in recent years, with the result that the company has high debt and low earnings.

The company is an international group with a significant number of employees outside Norway, and most flights outside Norway’s borders. The question we then have to ask is whether it is right then to use the Norwegian taxpayers’ money to buy an international airline that primarily has its air operations in Europe and between Europe and the US.

Norwegian politicians have a responsibility to maintain the infrastructure in Norway. Airplanes are part of the infrastructure for an elongated country like Norway, no matter what some politicians may think. Competition is another important principle politicians must ensure. Today, both of these conditions require us to rethink.

The short-term solution is most likely to give all airlines – Norwegian, SAS and Widerøe – a credit access, it is only breathing aid in a difficult time. The situation should be used to look at a more long-term fundamental solution for all aviation, not only in Norway but throughout the Nordic region.

We are five small countries with four airlines of some decent size. Norwegian politicians should now approach their Nordic counterparts and take the initiative to establish a new Nordic aviation group.

The company should be structured as a holding company – Nordic Airline Platform – NAP. The Group should be established on the same principle as IAG (International Airline Group – which owns, among others, British Airways, Iberia and others) and listed on the Nordic stock exchanges.

These should be included in NAP: Icelandair, SAS, Finnair and Norwegian – at least parts of Norwegian.

NAP can be owned 51 percent by the Nordic states and 49 pe...

Air France today announced its new creative space design partner for their newly built Air France Lounge in terminal 2F at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku from the Parisian space design studio Jouin Manku will be working with Air France to design the future lounge in Terminal 2F at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, which will be ready to welcome the airline’s Business and Flying Blue Elite Plus customers at the end of 2020. This lounge will be serving Air France customers departing on or connecting to a medium-haul flight within the Schengen area or a domestic flight.

As a result of new constructions aimed at developing the best transfer conditions and easing the already overcrowding issues at Terminal 2F with the Paris Aéroport, the new 3500 sq. m. space of the new Air France lounge will be located at the centre of the two boarding areas which make up Terminal 2F. It will play a full part in the new airport design to create a more streamlined and comfortable lounge visit experience.

This prestigious collaboration with Jouin Manku goes hand in hand with Air France’s tradition of regularly calling on the best designers and architects of its time.

“We are delighted to include Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku in the incredible history that Air France has had with design since its creation. Following Charlotte Perriand, Andrée Putman and more recently Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance and Mathieu Lehanneur, a new creative stage is opening up to us. By creating an iconic new lounge, the Jouin Manku studio will enhance the very French notion of hospitality, combining pleasure and poetry.”

Catherine Villar, SVP Customer Experience at Air France.

“We are very proud to be embarking on this new project alongside Air France. With this new lounge, we wish to offer the airline’s customers a real moment suspended in time before take-off. At the heart of the lounge, a “runway view”, a huge curved window with a view of the sky, will reinforce the impression of being in a bubble of serenity at the heart of the airport. We have designed an intuitive space that every customer can enjoy, whatever the time of day.”

Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku