Controversial Liveries

I've noticed something interesting in my days as an AvGeek, and that is the polarizing affect that liveries have. While there are some that most agree are good or bad, most aren't so cut and dry. Some liveries can result in totally different opinions. One person may call it great, while another will describe it as terrible. There are some, however, that are some that garner so much attention and controversy that in some cases, people lost their jobs. That's where this post comes in, where I'll be looking at what the brand designers did wrong, or in some cases, what got everybody talking.

American Airlines #newAmerican

Image courtesy of American Airlines

It's impossible to write a blog post on controversial liveries without including American Airlines' new livery. Unveiled on January 17, the new look features an overhaul on the eagle, a gray body and a billboard "American Airlines" across the side. But perhaps what was most heavily criticized by media and the average flyer alike was the tail. A very liberal interpretation of the American flag, the tail has gradient stripes instead of stars on a blue background along with only 11 stripes. While most realize the change was absolutely necessary, the tail is still a sore point for most of the aviation community.

Many were hoping that with the announcement made on February 14th of the merger with US Airways that incoming CEO Doug Parker would have the livery changed. However, Parker declined to give a definitive answer on the subject at the merger press conference and no announcement has been made regarding the livery since.

British Airways Utopia

Image courtesy of the public domain

In 1997, British Airways unveiled its new logo along with a new idea they called Utopia. The livery featured a white body with a navy blue belly beginning at the wing level. The tail however, featured one of 30 designs inspired by various countries the airline flies to. From Hong Kong to Africa, India to Romania, the tails were pieces of art. While many liked it, many also did not. Internationally, the idea recieved an overall neutral reaction, but in the UK, where British Airways' core customer vbase lies, the reaction was strongly negative.

In Britain, the new livery met strong resistance in multiple forms. Former British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher remarked with disgust, "We fly the British flag, not these awful things". Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic capitalized on the opportunity by painting the Union Jack on the tails of their aircraft under the marketing slogan of being Britain's "flag carrier", despite British Airways still legally being the flag carrier of the UK.

British Airways CEO Bob Ayling was dismissed from his position and was replaced by Rod Eddington in 2000. While not attributed only to the Utopia idea, the artsy tails were the most public and most heavily criticized decision Ayling made while CEO. In May of 2001, Eddington announced that all aircraft in the other 29 Utopia themes would be repainted in the Union Jack theme, ending a very short-lived attempt to promote Britsh Airways' brand identity abroad. The final aircraft bearing the scheme, an A320 operated by franchise partner BMed, exited the fleet in 2006.

The Week That Was

While not completely aviation related, I felt this past week had to have a post dedicated to it. The past week was such a tragic week all across America as two separate events killed a total of 18 and injured more than 300. The past week was also very newsworthy in the aviation field. This special blog post will consist of a paragraph summarizing the event along with a link to follow in order to read more on the story. Runway1R will return to its original format next week.

Bombs go off at the 116th Boston Marathon: At about 2:50 in the afternoon on Monday the fifteenth, two explosions occurred near the finish line of the 116th annual running of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring hundreds. Among the dead was an 8 year old child. The bombs are believed to have been constructed from pressure cookers, superheated to the point of bursting. All across America, tributes were paid to the city of Boston, among the most notable being the singing of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", a Boston Red Sox tradition, at major league ballparks across the country, including at Yankee Stadium, home of their rivals. The week ended with a bang when the entire Boston area was shut down and everyone was told to stay indoors after the two suspects shot a police officer at MIT and robbed a 7-Eleven. The older one, 26 year old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in the shootout and the younger one, 19 year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, escaped on foot. Dzhokhar was eventually captured after an entire day of searching house to house in Watertown, Massachusetts, west of Boston.

Activity at two US airports halted: A day after the Boston Marathon Bombings, security was heightened at airports across the US, resulting first in a ground stop at Boston Logan because of a bag not checked on a flight from Philadelphia. Two people were removed from the flight. Just fifteen minutes later, an evacuation of the central terminal at LaGuardia in New York was ordered due to a suspicious package. A few hours later, a suspicious bag was found on airport property at Dallas/Fort Worth International in Founders Plaza and a bomb squad used robots to retrieve the bag. This incident however, did not affect flights at the airport.

Explosion in Texas kills 14 and injures hundreds: In the small town of West, Texas, ironically located in the eastern portion of the state, a fertilizer plant caught fire and exploded on Wednesday night, killing 14 and injuring nearly 200. Most of the victims killed in the explosion were first responders called in to fight the blaze and were still close to the building when it exploded. Amateur video emerged showing an already considerable sized blaze when suddenly, the building turned into an enormous fireball accompanied by a very loud bang.

American Airlines suffers computer failure: Tuesday, while the rest of the world was dealing with the aftermath of the bombings in Boston, American Airlines suffered a problem connecting to their reservations computer system. This eventually lead to a company wide ground stop; if people can't check in, they can't fly. The airline was forced to cancel more than 500 flights between it and its regional affiliate, American Eagle. The flight stoppage lasted approximately four hours before American was able to reconnect to its reservation system. The next day, the airline added new one off flights on the most heavily affected routes, including a 777 between Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth.

FAA clears 787 Dreamliner to fly: Three months and three days after the FAA issued the grounding of all Boeing 787s nationwide due to problems with the plane's electrical system, the regulatory agency lifted the ban on the Dreamliner and approved the modifications Boeing made this past Friday, April 19th. While this does mean the plane can fly, it does not mean it will reenter commercial service instantly. The airlines must refit their battery and electrical system, instructions for which Boeing must provide. Also, ANA, the largest operator of the jet says it wants to run at least 200 tests before putting the plane back in commercial service.

Sequestration to hit aviation industry: As expected, congress could not come to an agreement to stop the furloughs of thousands of FAA employees, including those who operate control towers at major airports. While we've known for a while that sequestration would affect air travel by closing towers at smaller airports and causing delays at larger ones, the effects have begun to kick in. Delays of more than an hour have already been reported in Los Angeles and New York, with more expected to come over the coming days. NYCAviation has published some tips to help you avoid and/or get through agonizing delays.

JetBlue of the Midwest

For a while now, I've had an idea for an airline in my head. Until I can think of a better name, I just call it the "JetBlue of the Midwest". There really isn't anything else to call it, because that's essentially what it is. Whenever I look at JetBlue's route map, I notice fights all across the Northeast, flights to Florida, the Caribbean, and California. But there seems to be something missing. Something big is missing, looming large, despite being flown over daily on multiple flights. The Midwest is missing, and it's noticeable. JetBlue has tried many times in the past to enter the region but they always seem to fail somehow. In fact, just recently, the airline had to pull it's twice daily Pittsburgh to New York JFK because the route was underperforming, leaving the only Midwestern destination with flights to JFK being Chicago's O'Hare.

I'm not bashing the airline at all, in fact just the opposite here. Every time I read about the founding of JetBlue, I think to myself how that's a great way to start and run an airline. Focusing on your people and culture will in turn be a great benefit to your product. I just think that by marketing itself as "New York's Hometown Airline" and being such a common name in Northeast air travel, the airline is restricting itself. Culturally and economically, cities like Detroit, Cleveland, St Louis and even Pittsburgh are more linked to Chicago than New York City. In the Midwest, life moves at a much slower pace. Northeasterners have a much more fast paced, go-go-go type of mindset and are also much more socially liberal, as opposed to Midwesterners, who will take the time to get to know someone they're talking to and are much more socially conservative. While the Midwest may not play host to as many large cities as the Northeast, it has many more otherwise important cities. Chicago is the heart of the Midwest, probably more so than New York is for the Northeast.

That's where the JetBlue of the Midwest comes in. There are many analogies to be made between the real JetBlue and this new airline. JetBlue set up its primary hub in the heart of the Northeast: New York. Comparatively, the JetBlue of the Midwest would use the heart of the Midwest as its hub. Before JetBlue came to fruition, fares from New York City to cities in Upstate New York were sky high. Similarly, fares between Chicago and other cities in the Midwest such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Minneapolis are also through the roof. JetBlue has made its living flying from the Northeast to Florida, utilizing two hubs on both ends in Boston and New York/JFK in the Northeast and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida. On the other hand, this airline would fly between the Midwest and Florida with Chicago/O'Hare and St Louis in the Midwest and Fort Myers (RSW) and Tampa in Florida.

Etihad Inaugurates Daily Service to Abu Dhabi

Two Sundays ago, as most were getting ready for Easter dinner, Etihad Airways inaugurated its long awaited (at least for me) daily service between Washington Dulles and Abu Dhabi, making the airline the fourth middle eastern carrier to serve Dulles and the third to fly there on a daily basis. The route will be served by a A340-500, making the flight the third A340 to fly to the airport daily as of today.

Announced more than a year ago in late February 2012, the service was originally intended to be introduced as the only direct service between Washington and the middle east, but Emirates announced its intention to fly to the city and was able to launch its service in mid-September. The inbound flight operates as EY 131 arriving at Dulles at 5:30 pm and departs as EY 130 at 10:30 pm.

The flight makes Washington the fourth North American destination for the airline. According to James Hogan, President and CEO of Etihad, both government and corporate customers on both sides of the Atlantic have indicated that the capital-to-capital route would support daily service. Etihad is also opening a $6.8 million premium lounge in Concourse A for it's Diamond First and Pearl Business Class travellers.

The press release failed to mention any comments from Etihad on potential competition with fellow UAE-based carrier Emirates, which opened it's route late last year.

Dulles Summer Schedule Changes

The start of the summer schedule started yesterday, and United has a lot of flight changes. While Newark and Houston are getting many of the changes, Dulles will be getting schedule changes as well. Washington's schedule changes are as follows:

• From August 27 to October 25, UA946/UA947 between Washington Dulles and Amsterdam will be operated by a former Continental 757 instead of typically operating United 2-class 767-300ER
• From March 30 to June 5, UA950/UA951 between Washington Dulles and Brussels will be operated by a former Continental 767-400ER instead of typically operating United 3-class 777-200ER
• United's summer operation reduces frequency on route between Washington Dulles and Frankfurt am Main from 3 daily in summer of 2012 to 2 daily effective March 31
• Effective starting March 31, UA922/UA923 operated by a United 767-300ER between Washington Dulles and London Heathrow will become UA004/UA005 and be operated by a former Continental 757
• Effective starting April 26, United introduces a 4th daily service between Washington Dulles and London Heathrow operated as UA130/131 with former Continental 757
• From March 31 to June 5 UA902/UA903 between Washington Dulles and Munich operated by a United 3-class 777-200ER will be replaced by a United 2-class 767-300ER. From June 6, it will be operated by a former Continental 767-400ER
• Effective March 31, UA966/UA967 between Washington Dulles and Rome Fiumicino a United 3-class 767-300ER replaces the 777-200ER currently operating, except from June 6 to August 26 when it will be operated by a former Continental 767-400ER
• From March 31 to August 26 UA936/UA937 between Washington Dulles and Zurich will be operated by United 2-class 767-300ER replaces former Continental 767-400ER
• From August 13 to August 27, UA145 to Honolulu will change flight numbers to UA523 and be operated by a United 3-class 777-200, replacing former Continental 767-400ER

United is also launching new services to North and Central America this summer:

• Starting May 1, UA6096 and UA6181/UA6152 will operate between Washington Dulles and Grand Rapids twice daily operated by an ERJ-145
• Starting April 13, UA1606/UA1658 will operate between Washington Dulles and Guatemala City once weekly on Saturdays to be operated by a 737-800
• Starting April 13, UA1180/UA1623 will operate between Washington Dulles and San Jose, Costa Rica once weekly on Saturdays to be operated by a 737-800
• United last operated this route from February 13 2004 to September 5 2005, initially operated daily service but later reduced to 3 weekly
• From June 8 to August 25, UA1686 will operate between Washington Dulles and Vancouver twice a week on Saturdays and Sundays
• United last operated this route from June 5 2006 to August 31 2008, with up to daily service

Other international airlines also have updates regarding Dulles for their summer schedules as well. International airlines have the following schedule changes for their summer service:

Saudia

• Starting March 31, service between Jeddah and Washington Dulles increases from 3 times to 4 times a week, flying as SV035/SV036 on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays and as SV033/SV034 on Thursdays. all four flights will be operated by a 777-200LR

Aeroflot

• From March 31 to May 30, service between Moscow Sheremetyevo and Washington Dulles increases from once a week on Thursdays to twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Afterward, service will increase again to three times a week on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Boeing 767-300ER will continue to operate.

Lufthansa

• Starting May 12, service between Frankfurt and Washington Dulles increases to daily from 5 times a week, flying as LH418/LH419 and operated by a 747-8I

Icelandair

• Starting June 10, service between Reykjavik and Washington Dulles increases from 6 times a week to daily

Thank you to RoutesOnline and AirlineRoute for providing the information in this post. Also, thank you to Boarding Area blog "Point me to the Plane" for information regarding the IAD to HNL change specifically.

What's Happened So Far

We're just one week away from Etihad opening a brand new direct route between Washington Dulles and Abu Dhabi, but that's not the only thing going on at the airport. In the first 13 weeks of 2013, a lot has gone on here at Dulles, such as:

After a 6 week absence starting in mid-January, Air France's A380 returned on March 1st, operating as AFR54 between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Washington Dulles, the same flight number it flew previously. The flight was operated primarily by a 777-300ER and sometimes a 777-200 in the A380's absence.

On January 30th, Brussels Airlines announced their second transcontinental destination will be to Washington Dulles. Using their partnership with United, who operates a major hub here, the airline intends to reach out to destinations across the US. The route will begin June 18th and will be flown 5 times a week by an A330 with fully lie flat beds in business class and ergonomic economy class seats.

On February 1st, Emirates' Washington to Dubai flight was upgraded from a 777-200LR to a 777-300ER, boosting the route's capacity from nearly 100 seats from 266 to around 360. The route, operating as UAE231, opened in September of 2012 operated by a 777-200LR.

[UNCONFIRMED] While it is unknown whether there is any truth to this rumor, British Airways is rumored to begin flying its 787s to Dulles by the end of the year with flights beginning as early as July 16th, should no further problems occur with the aircraft or its delivery schedule. I must stress that this is only a rumor, and that it should be taken with a grain of salt.

The 787 Grounding and What it Means for Dulles

As anybody reading this blog knows, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been grounded worldwide for the past seven weeks as a result of an incident of an uncontained battery fire on a Japan Airlines flight. As of this writing, most airlines affected have signaled their distrust in a quick solution by canceling flights out May and beyond. Boeing proposed a containment fix to the problem in late February, but, other than the FAA, various regulatory agencies around the world have yet to clear the plane to fly.

While Washington was the inaugural destination for international service for Ethiopian, as of January 16, when the 787 was grounded, Dulles did not have any 787 service. Ethiopian has been flying a 777-200LR since mid-December, so there is no immediate impact to the airport or to its routes. However, United operates a hub out of Dulles and could potentially open routes out of Dulles, and the fleet grounding could push back the introduction of these new routes.

Overall, the grounding of the 787 will have a much greater affect on mid-sized airports and airlines than it will have on a major international airport such as Washington Dulles. Airports such as San Jose International and San Diego International had recently inaugurated 787 service on All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines respectively to Tokyo and were relying heavily on the traffic and revenue the 787 would bring. Airlines such as United were relying on a strong performance by the 787 on routes such as Denver to Tokyo and Houston to Lagos, but no routes out of Dulles have been announced. Other airlines, LOT Polish in particular, will be especially suffering after counting on the 787 to save them on its Warsaw to Chicago route. Larger airports with flights by foreign airlines such as Chicago O'Hare with LOT Polish, Los Angeles International with LAN Chile, and Washington Dulles with Ethiopian will have little impact, especially considering the flights have been replaced with comparable aircraft.

Just Wondering

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day I became an AvGeek. On the morning of March 11th a year ago I had no interest in aviation whatsoever. Planes were just a fact of my life living under the approach path of Dulles airport's runway 1R that I had learned to ignore. I didn't care about liveries or aircraft types or airlines, until that afternoon. I just happened to look up as what I now know to be a United 777 passed overhead and wondered to myself where that flight came from. So I downloaded planefinder and a whole world opened up for me. Thousands of flights all over the world instantly at my fingertips. And so an interest that would eventually turn into a passion was born.

I should probably have introduced myself. I'm Jonathan Holt, a 16 year old AvGeek living under the final approach path of Washington Dulles' runway 1R who happens to want to start his own airline. Jet noise has been a part of my life since the day I was born, so much so that I wouldn't hear a thing if a plane passed overhead, I was so used to the noise. When I discovered planefinder, not only did it reveal a whole new world and a new interest, but also a whole new niche community, that I've now snuggled myself into nicely. Whether it be on twitter or blogs, I'm always interacting and soaking up as much information as I can. But I'm still learning.

Therefore, on the one year anniversary of the day I discovered the wonders of aviation, I will be starting a blog myself to disseminate information myself, rather than just soak up postings of others. The purpose of this blog is to not only express my opinions on whatever may be going on across the industry, but also to keep the world updated on what's going on at the international airport at the political center of the free world, Washington Dulles International.