At the Farnborough Air show this week: Boeing announced they took orders for 396 aeroplanes with a value of approximately 37 billion dollars US.

Airbus bagged less then a third of that with 115 planes ordered valued at 17 billion dollars US.  To be fair, 150 of the Boeing planes ordered are from one airline: United. Taking that order out, Boeing at 246 still got orders for more than double the number of planes of its European rival. The  737Max has been selling well with  firm MAX of  649 jets.  Boeing stated that  the MAX has commitments for more than 1,200 jets when non binding orders are included.

It reverses the situation at the 2011 Paris Show when Airbus sold $72 billion worth of planes, almost $50 billion more than Boeing.

In aviation, a year can make a huge difference. A year ago Virgin Australia was Virgin Blue.  They did not have A330s and they had no business class. All that changed in May, 2011 when the discount carrier became “ahem” less discount. Since then, my observation is that Virgin have continued to improve their product. Significantly, they managed to increase profits by 118 per cent last year. Not an easy feat in this industry.  Today, I review their A330 Business Class product.

Booking: 9 out of 10

Virgin Australia has a very simple and straight forward booking system at www.virginaustralia.com.au

All fare classes and levels are displayed on the one screen. Scrolling between days of travel is very easy. When booking an economy seat, they prompt you to upgrade to business class for an extra fee. I was actually upgrading to Business Class using one of my four free upgrades gained annually for being a Platinum flyer. To upgrade that way or to use frequent flyer points requires a call to the frequent flyer service centre which is a small nuisance, albiet for a great reward! Be great if you could organise the upgrade on -line.

I then offset my greenhouse gases and chose my seat. All easy!

Check In: 10 out of 10

Online check in  was also very easy with Virgin Australia. As a result, of this system, I by passed completely the check in desks at Perth airport. In fact I cannot even remember seeing the area! (I don’t, as a rule, check luggage in).

Lounge: 7 out of 10

The Perth Lounge was the one I used to visit when I flew the old Ansett Australia out of Perth. I was very pleased to see it is due for an update and I am really looking forward to seeing it when I am back in September. Be interesting to see how much like the Melbourne lounge it becomes. Staff were very welcoming.

Boarding: 8 out of 10

We started boarding a little late. The Boarding area, itself, seemed to be a little chaotic. It didn’t seem to be a very large gate area for the number of passengers milled around. People were scattered everywhere. I suspect the build up had intensified because of the late boarding.

I joined the  Business Class/Platinum/Gold priority line which had a lot of people in it.  When the announcement ewas made for priority boarding, there was a surge forward. Turns out most people had decided they would “self nominate” as Priority.   The agent magically cleared the interlopers out of the way in seconds. The guy in front of me was asked if he was priority and he shrugged his shoulders and moved out of the queue.

After all that,  I was one of the first to board. I am such a geek about planes.  While I love the Airbus A380 and A340 and think the A320 is okay, I was not initially , a fan of the 330. However, after 20 flights in the last five years (and 94 ooo kilometres) with Qantas, Cathay, Virgin, Etihad, Royal Jordanian, Singapore  and Lufthansa, I have fallen in love with the plane!  As I boarded “Cable Beach” (the first of Virgin’s A330s delivered in May, 2011, I gushed to the crew how much I loved it. We got a very warm welcome from Johnny at the door. His smile lit up the gangway. Just the right touch. He directed me left into the Business Class Cabin and my favourite seat.

On Board: 10 out of 10

Business class has 27 seats arranged 2-3-2 (behind a single 2-2-2 row at the front). My favourite Virgin Australia A330 seat is  1K  in the front row of business on the right hand side. I recently observed I think I sit on the right had inside of planes more than the left side. Whys that? Leg room is quite generous (as pictured). Pitch is 62″ between seats

The Business Class cabin was very calm and staff very welcoming. The load was very, very light with just five  seats occupied.

Each seat had headphones, and blanket. The seat has a range of reclining options but doesn’t lie flat. Virgin’s  A330s due to be delivered shortly,  are rumoured to have lie flat beds.

A welcome drink (orange juice, water and sparkling wine) came around. Menu for flight followed with newspapers next. Finally, the amenities kit was delivered.

I learnt there are ten crew aboard the plane, when I presented the staff with chocolate eggs for Easter (I  appreciated the team working at Easter for me and they liked the eggs!).

Economy was much fuller. The economy class cabin of 251 seats is set up in a  2-4-2 configuration with a few rows of 2-3-2. Each seat has its own seat-back video screen for in-flight entertainment. Standard seat pitch is  31″ with 33″ at the bulkheads.

Safety Briefing- 7 out of 10

Virgin has a cute video showing all safety features. Great video but I like to have more involvement from the Flight Attendants during the safety briefing. After all, I will be relying on them and not a video if I ever have to evacuate a plane quickly.

Takeoff: 10 out of 10

We paused at the runway for a few seconds as the two engines got louder. We started slowly,  very slowly.  Airbuses always seem to be slow beasts to launch into the air unlike the Boeings that thunder into the sky. As we moved down the runway with the Perth International terminal on the right, the front wheels lifted and we were aloft. The ride on the runway was actually quite rough – of course one feels it more up the front! Is the runway overdue for some maintenance- or are the fly in- fly out operations that take 1000s of people every week through the airport to mining sites and oil rigs throughout the state taking their toll?

Perth can be very windy and bouncy in climb but we had none of that. The suburbs flashed past and then we were crossing the dry farmlands , ironically re-tracking the same route,  I had taken a few days earlier to Esperance. (see  Trip Report April 10). The seatbelt was switched off very soon after takeoff.

The Flight: 10 out of 10

The crew brought around hot towels soon after take off. Adam, my cabin attendant introduced himself and asked for drinks and menu orders. After, he addressed me as Mr Cowling,  I asked him to call me by first name. The guy sitting in 3K asked the same thing. I noticed the crew on the 737 going over did not address us by name. Is this an A330 thing or inconsistent Virgin service?

I ordered  ”The Australian” Cocktail designed by Chef Luke Mangan. Adam served it  with a selection of mixed hot nuts (pictured).

We had a very smooth flight across Australia. We had some light turbulence 35 minutes into flight (almost at the town of Esperance ). This was nothing to be excited about. The seat belt sign stayed off.

Meals: 10 out of 10

I was very hungry so enjoyed lunch immensely (I had eaten sparingly in the lounge). There were two choices of starters, three main courses and two desserts. I started with  Prosciutto and char grilled vegetables with bread, dukkah and olive oil. I accompanied it with sparkling water. The other option was a mildly curried pumpkin and coconut soup. Mildly curried always makes me nervous. The Proscuiutto was superb.

For the main dish, I went for braised duck served with chorizo. I was very, very happy with my choice. It was accompanied with a delicious white wine (which I cannot remember now..must have enjoyed it a lot!)

I am afraid I was a bit of a pig with dessert having both the coconut custard with lychees, strawberries and pineapple and the Australian cheese selection (King Island Blue, Jindi double cream and Heidi Gruyere)!

Entertainment: 8 out of 1o

The A330 In-flight Entertainment System in all classes includes six channels of movies, nine channels of TV and music videos, and audio entertainment. I found the selection okay.

Landing: 10 out of 10

Before landing, I had another of the delicious cocktails. We were given another hot towel which was lovely. A perfect ending to an almost perfect flight.

We touched down smoothly and I sadly farewelled the crew!

The Verdict

My rating: Overall 92% (4.6 out of 5)- my overall rating of Virgin Blue flights: 4.6 (based on 19 flights)

Skytrax Rating of Virgin Australia: 4 star

Positives:   Service, Meals, Seat, Cabin Crew, Welcome Aboard, website

Negatives: No option on website to upgrade

Would I fly them again?  Yes. Yes.Yes.

My last trip Report: April 10:  Skywest  Perth (PER) to Esperance (EPR)  Fokker

As a very frequent flyer with 752 take offs and 752 landings now, I am particularly keen to keep the number of my landings the same as the number of take offs. Any investigations, therefore, into plane crashes interest me.  Call me morbid or possessing an active self preservation interest?

You may remember Air France 447 that was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 31 May 2009 (exactly two years ago). It plunged into the ocean off the coast of Brazil. After an almost two year search,  the black boxes belonging to the A330 have been found and investigated by France’s Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses (BEA).   I was stunned to read the reports of the situation that led to the deaths of 228 people

http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2009/06/air_france_flight_447_-_google_eart.html

Flight Global has the blow by blow final six minutes of the flight. In summary what happened was this:

1. The aircraft pitot tubes (used to determine the airspeed of an aircraft) failed and began giving false/inconsistent readings (as has always been suspected and why airlines have been replacing this type of pitot tube). The false reading was for less than a minute.
2. the autopilot and autothrust disengaged. This is undoubtedly because of the false data. As one commentator described it, at this point the plane is now similar to a  Windows PC in “fail safe” mode.  Some key safety features are shut down at this point
3. The plane began to roll to the right and the Pilot “appears to have rolled the aircraft to the left, to counter the roll to the right, he also pulled the aircraft’s nose upwards – for reasons yet to be explained (flight global)  and the plane climbed to 38,000 ft. The normal safety systems would not allow this to happen but they had been automatically Shut down
4. the stall warning was triggered and the plane stalled (BEA) but„ the inputs made by the PF were mainly nose-up (BEA). In other words, the pilot kept trying to take the plane up but “The A330′s angle of attack is too high, and the aircraft is losing the battle to sustain lift, as demonstrated by the stall alarm, yet the pilot is still keeping the nose pointing upwards – in apparent contradiction to a basic principle of flight: escaping a stall requires the nose to be pushed down, in order to regain a smooth, fast airflow over the wings.”
5. The engines are taken to full power but the resulting thrust is not enough for the heavy aircraft to have enough lift in the thin air at that altitude
6. the plane then reached an angle of over 35 degrees (probably close to 40 degrees)
7. The plane then dropped 38 000 feet (11.6km, 7 miles) in 3 min 30 secs (can you imagine how terrifying that would be to be falling a mile every 15 seconds). During this time, the A330 remained stalled. It hit the water at 200km/h

On Air France 447, all  three pilots were all very experienced. Why did they commit such a mistake? And what would stop another experienced crew making the same mistake.

Three helpful links to help reflect on this crash:

1. Brett Snyder (Cranky Flier) has a very useful commentary on the situation in which he expresses concern about the pilot errors that caused the plane to crash
2. Clive Irving in a Daily Beast news article on Flight 447′s Terrifying Four and a Half Minute Crash  notes what I have been wondering: “ there must be critical attention paid to those faulty speed gauges.  Indeed, attention should return to a report on the crash by the BEA released in November 2009. Buried in the technical details was the revelation that there was a record of at least 53 instances in which flight crews had faced control problems directly caused by the speed gauges and “13 significant events involving five airlines operating A330/340 airplanes.” Airbus itself reported 32 incidents between 2003 and 2009 that were attributable “to the possible destruction of at least two gauges by ice.” 
3. Plane crash info which gives you information on what causes plane crashes and why you should avoid commuter airlines! Pilot error represents 50% of all accidents and commuter lines generally use way less experienced pilots. The accident rate for  fatalities per million hours is almost three times greater for commuter flights than for regular mainline airlines.   

Not sure what my conclusions are yet out of this. I imagine the scenario will be repeated a few times in simulators. The question is would other pilots in the same situation repeat the same mistake and stall the craft?

From Time:

Investigators have located and recovered the memory unit of the flight data recorder of a 2009 Air France flight — a remarkable deep-sea discovery they hope will explain why the aircraft went down in a remote area of the mid-Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board.

This incident and the  7 October 2008, Qantas 72 incident where their A330 suffered a rapid loss of altitude mean I am very very keen for them to sort out the issue

25th March, 2011: Bangkok- Amman-Beirut

Royal Jordanian are the Flag Carrier for the Kingdom of Jordan, a country between Israel and Saudi Arabia.  Founded by the Jordanian king in 1963, it is now a privatized company. Royal Jordanian is the first (and only) Arab airline to join a major airline alliance being part of One World. I have now flown 8 of the 12 airlines in One World (although one of them, Mexicana Airlines  has suspended its operations and I wonder how long One World can keep saying they are a One World member).  Finnair, JAL and S7 remain for me to fly.

Buying a Ticket

The Royal Jordanian website (www.rj.com) is reasonably straight forward. Getting human help for an e-ticket was more interesting. There is an Australian sales office in Sydney but they referred me to a number in Jordan, who fixed up the ticket and then sent me back to the Sydney sales office! Both the Amman and Sydney offices were very friendly. I found the Sydney office a little chaotic throughout. 

Check-in: 8/10

I love airlines with online check in but found Royal Jordanian’s a little more complex than I think it needs to be. Seat selection  was easy-ish and I got my coveted emergency exit seat. Then I thought I had lost the seat because of the confusing way, RJ displayed the seat selection so I re-chose the seat, to find that I still had it. Royal Jordanian has a very good system of emailing you confirmations of regarding seats, though. 

Boarding pass collection at Bangkok airport was easy.  I was invited to use the Thai Airways Silk Lounge. I had used this last year when I had flown with Thai. What seems strange to me that Royal Jordanian a member of One World uses a Star Alliance airline’s lounge and not the Qantas/Britsh Airways lounge. Wonder what that is about? Cost? The fact they are both connected to Royalty?

Boarding: 10/10

 I boarded late so I missed seeing if the boarding process was  smooth or chaotic! I am not sure whether the announcement in the Thai lounge was at the end of the boarding process or if it was a very rapid efficient process.

The welcome from plane entrance to my seat by all of the on-board crew was very warm. It was done in English and or Arabic depending on the guesses over the passenger’s language. The crew was a diverse mix with all the males being Jordanian and all but one of the females not being Jordanian. There were two Thai flight attendants, one from Ecuador and one from somewhere in Eastern Europe. The crew were all very friendly, very attentive and very welcoming and worked well. They were definitely proud of their airline but I did not get an impression of them being an overly cohesive crew today.

On Board: 7/10

I was traveling on an Airbus A330, a 300 seat twin engined plane. I am not a huge Airbus 330 fan, The cabin looked great: clean and airy. The colour scheme is very nice. Blanket and a pillow were provided at every place it seemed. Economy aisles are quite narrow.

On reaching my coveted exit aisle seat, I found it occupied. The occupant laughed and shrugged and offered me the bulkhead seats across the aisle. I took it figuring the leg room was almost as much as the seat I had reserved. Having already been travelling for 14 hours, I was not really ready for a discussion!  The leg room difference was enough that next flight, I will demand my seat.

They have a combined Business First section which I think leans toward the business end. Looked very comfortable and spacious with lie-flat seats.

Immediately, after takeoff, cabin crew brought round refreshing towelettes (yes, yes, yes). Amenity kits which consisted of the head sets came next. No little tooth paste and brushes were provided here.

Safety:  6/10
Safety demo good and clear with crew checking belts etc very well -with one major exception. In my row at the other end was an “interesting passenger”.  He moved himself from his assigned seat to an empty bulkhead seat. He carried out shouted conversations to his friends all over the plane.  He refused to put his seat belt on for take off and landing. He refused to switch his mobile off and was texting as the plane came into land in Amman. He ordered the stewardesses around in a way that I thought was rude. Interestingly, the female attendants seemed quite unassertive with him. They did make him put his luggage out of the passage way into the luggage compartment (“but I need it close” he said). The flight attendants pretended they could not see he was not wearing his set belt and I watched them gaze at him texting and look away. If there are genuine safety issues here then, this needs to be dealt with.

My problem “friend” decided soon after dinner, that he would sleep on the floor of the bulkhead. A male Jordanian steward spent some time remonstrating with him to take his seat and he finally moved. A hour he returned to the floor and another guy curled up on the floor at the emergency exit and they stayed there for most of the flight. Qantas would have a fit!! The ride was very smooth for the whole flight which is of course, always luck! I wonder what they would have done with the floor sleepers if it had been rough?

Takeoff




We were delayed out of Bangkok because of “traffic” and the captain clearly advised us over the PA system about this delay- twice. Finally, we pushed back -over 40 minutes late.

Our nose wheel left the ground and we seemed to move down the runway for a long time with the plane’s nose in the air and rear wheels on the runway before lifting off into the Bangkok post midnight sky.

Meals: 8/10

There was  no written menu provided for the trip. 

Dinner was promptly and efficiently served with 3 main courses offered:

1. beef and rice

2. chicken and vegetables

3. shrimp (prawns) and rice

I chose the beef dish which was delicious but the staff did no mention to me that it was spicy hot. This did not bother me but for some fliers, it may be a shock! Also on the meal tray were a bread roll, excellent fresh salad, crackers, a camberbert spread, water and a chocolate dessert (which I did not eat).

After such a nice dinner, breakfast the next morning,  was a little disappointing but perfect adequate. The roll was a little stale and the croissant was cold. I assumed they would have heated it. I was also surprised at how western,  the breakfast was. No Fetta or Olives, for example. The cheese spread and jam were excellent and the fruit was very fresh and very refreshing. Fascinatingly, the provision of Australian Berri Orange juice.


Royal Jordanian had water available in the galley but no food/snacks through the flight.   They did give me a nice cup of assorted nuts  without me asking for them) as I attempted to watch the Narnia Dawn Treader movie. They made it clear as they gave me the snack, that I was very welcome to order any drinks at any time. I did not observe them passing through the cabin offering water through the night (something Qantas do well on long haul flights).

On my short connecting flight from Amman to Beirut, I was stunned to be served a very delicious sandwich and drink. There were no choices with the drinks and no coffee served but I was impressed (as always) with the hospitality.

Entertainment: 8/10

The reason for not appreciating the Narnia movie (mentioned above) was nothing to with the brilliant Royal Jordanian entertainment system. I just hated this movie adaption of my favourite Narnia book).  The system itself works very well. The interface is excellent and works smoothly with good menus.

I thought selection was limited. Not enough for a nine hour flight. Only one 30 minute Arab music video, for example?Likewise, only  3.5 hours of comedy in total (including 4 eprisodes of the offce and one of Molly and Max- iw atched them all). I tend not to like watching movies on planes. Here is where I catch up on TV!

The headphones provided were okay.

Arrival: 6/10

Every passenger was given a survey form and envelope to send back to Royal Jordanian. The survey asked about aspects of Royal Jordanian service. I documented my concerns re the safety over My Seatbelt man. I was interested they asked no questions about their food.

Landing was pretty well right on time at 516am (scheduled 515am). Not bad after a 40 minute delay. It was one of the smoothest landings I have ever had in my life.  

We were warmly farewelled from the plane by the crew. That part of the arrival would have given RJ 10/10. The next part of the experience let them down.

On arrival in Amman, I attempted to switch to the earlier flight (6am) to Beirut which I had been told might be possible by the Royal Jordanian booking office in Sydney. “Flight departed sir”. I was told. “I see it still on the screens”. “No sir”. 

As I walked away from the counter, I heard them calling the flight!   I popped into the Royal Jordanian Crown lounge for my five hour wait for my connecting flight to Beirut. It is the biggest lounge in the whole of the Middle East.

Lounge Staff: “sorry sir , you are too early . You can only use the lounge 3 hours before your flight”.

He then explained there was a transit bus that would take me too a neaby transit hotel for a rest. I followed his directions and ended up unable to find the counter he was referring me to. I asked someone else who pointed me in the opposite direction and alas still no transit counter was there either! So I sat in an airport cafe using the wifi from the Crown Lounge. I will do an Amman airport report soon! I found the 3 hour rule interesting -anyone else encountered this with a lounge?

Overall Assessment: 76% (53/70)

For me, Royal Jordanian is way better than any American Carrier but not quite as good as Cathay, Singapore, Qantas or Air New Zealand and not near Emirates levels. I found them about the same or a little better than British Airways which would put them in my Top Ten airlines- so far. I have three more flights with them!  The difference being that BA seem to be declining and Royal Jordanian give an impression of improving. Their major selling points are their warm hospitality,  new aircaft and membership of One World (Frequent flyer points/status credits, Lounge access and World wide connections).