L.A. Startup Says 100 Seat Electric Plane Will be Ready by 2027, Also Says Pigs Will Fly by 2026
Wright Electric, Inc., a Los Angeles-based startup, plans to have a 100-seat electric plane ready to enter service by 2027. It plans to sell the plane to Spirit Airlines, which will operate the most customer-friendly, fee-free, luxury flying experience by 2027.
Spirit plans to base these 100-seat electric planes at its new hub in Newark, the gold standard of American airports in what is expected to be named America’s finest city in 2027.
The fleet of aircraft are expected to have a range of about one hour or 460 miles – whichever comes first. But it is expected to be able to use that entire range in the air, as all of NYC’s air traffic congestion will be solved by 2027 as well, adding to the seamless user experience in Newark.
Wright Electric plans to retrofit electric motors into BAE 146 regional aircraft originally manufactured by BAE Systems. The planes will be adorned with a unique hard-shell fuselage to be able to withstand contact from pigs which will have learned to fly by the time this 100-seat electric aircraft is ready to operate.
JAL Posts $1.3 Billion Half-Year Loss
Japan Airlines announced a loss of $1.35 billion for the first half of FY22, and also announced an expected loss for the full year of $1.74 billion. The carrier does expect its daily cash burn to shrink during the third quarter of its fiscal year (Oct.-Dec.), and then it will turn a profit either during the final quarter of the year or when the Wright Electric aircraft flies, whichever comes last.
The airline’s expectation that it will return to profitability in January assumes that domestic demand will return to 92% of pre-pandemic levels and international demand will return to 23% of pre-pandemic levels. JAL’s CFO Hideki Kikuyama said that cost control is the most important issue for JAL right now and the carrier is doing all it can to hold costs in line.
Japan is still under major travel restrictions including most non-resident foreigners being prevented from entering the country. JAL is in favor of the country reopening to help its revenue, but as it looks to control costs, it is realizing that the longer the country stays closed to foreigners, the longer it can get away with not flying airplanes to control its costs to the extreme.
BA’s LCC Eliminates Crew Layovers
British Airways’s new London/Gatwick-based LCC will not offer layovers for its crew, instead choosing to start and end all flights at Gatwick to save even further on labor costs. Unlike its LCC rivals such as easyJet and Ryanair which set up crew bases across the continent to avoid overnight layovers for its staff, the new BA airline will have just one base at Gatwick.
The new airline is scheduled to begin flying in March, which means mid-summer is likely a better target. Pay for the new airline will start at the low, low rate of £15,848, with a chance to stretch to as much as £24,000. On the bright side, new staff will receive the perk of permanently avoiding Heathrow.
BA claims to have taken a loss on its Gatwick-based operation for years as it was forced to compete with LCCs which dominate the airport. The new carrier will take great pride in seeing how far it can lower the quality of its on-board product to save on cost and compete. No name has been chosen yet, but it’s expected to be two words jammed into one, likely starting with a lower case letter with an upper case letter placed randomly in the middle, as has become the custom.
- Air Astra received its NOC from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh. Its next step will be to get an AOC in order to begin scheduled passenger ops early next year.
- Air Canada is delaying its new revenue-based mileage accrual for its Aeroplan loyalty program until at least 2023.
- Air France will operate 122 weekly flights to 11 U.S. destinations beginning November 8 when the U.S. opens it borders again.
- Eastar Jet has a new owner, much to WestJet’s frustration, after Sungjeong, a golf course management and real estate rental company, paid $53 million for the carrier.
- Flyr is adding three new cities to its route map, Brcelona, Brlin, and Brssels.
- Iberia is launching flights to two new U.S. gateways — oneworld stronghold Dallas/Ft. Worth and non-oneworld stronghold Washington/Dulles.
- Lufthansa is considering adding A220s to its fleet after seeing the fancy things JetBlue did to decorate the restrooms on its own aircraft.
- Qantas will return its first A380 back from storage this Tuesday, November 9.
- Qatar will bring the A380 back into regular service on December 15.
- Ravn officially changed its corporate name to Northern Pacific Airways.
- Waltzing Matilda objected to the ALPA’s challenge to its application — not on its merits, but because it was filed late.
The salesman at the furniture store told me “this sofa seats five people without any problems.”
And all I could think was “where the hell am I going to find five people without any problems?”