Chloe Greenbank

Currently on a world tour visiting prospective airline customers, Embraer’s EMB-195 E2 Profit Hunter touched down at London Oxford Airport on Monday 16 March. The striking black and gold inspired Lion design drawing admiring crowds as it landed on the 1,552m runway, showcasing its unique characteristics to land on a short runway.

The aircraft has already stopped at Hydrabad Airport in India and Dubai World Central Airport, UAE. It arrived in London on 16 March having taken off from Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus (taking off just before the country closed the airport for international arrivals) and will be heading to Cape Verde on 19 March.

The Profit Hunter is the largest commercial airliner ever to land at the Oxford hub, which during late 2010 was a temporary home to an Embraer Lineage 1000 (a VIP version of the EJ-190 commercial variant).

James Dillon-Godfray, London Oxford’s Head of Business Development, stated: “We are delighted to welcome this stunning commercial aircraft to Oxford. It shows the extraordinary field performance of this family of jets.”

The twin engined, single aisle, fly by wire, state of the art Embraer E190-E2 with its high-aspect ratio wings, is the largest variant of Embraer’s family of upgraded E-Jets, delivering lower operating costs, significantly reduced emissions and noise levels. The Pratt & Whitney PW1900G geared fan powered aircraft features Honeywell Primus Epic avionics and a new flight management system.

“Tech Lion” is the latest of the specially painted jets that form Embraer’s E2 demo series, which includes a tiger, an eagle, and a Great White shark.

The Airport Operator’s Association (AOA) has warned that UK airports may face closure if the government doesn’t intervene.

“Governments across the world are supporting their national aviation industries, as many parts of the global travel industry have come to a halt,” said Karen Dee, CEO of the AOA, commenting on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. “As some airlines call on the UK Government to act similarly, we are clear that airports will shut down in weeks unless urgent action is taken to support the industry.

“The UK’s airports are critical national infrastructure, fulfilling a vital public service, and are on the frontline of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is essential that airport businesses remain operating and are able to weather this storm, so that they can provide the connectivity which drives growth, employment and prosperity after the crisis has abated.

“With travel bans proliferating and passengers unwilling to fly, traffic through airports has plummeted. UK airports are taking immediate and drastic action to cut costs and are scaling back investments in light of the situation. Due to the fixed costs of operating airports, the government will need to provide additional support.

“The government must step in to see airports across the four home nations through the current crisis, and make an unequivocal commitment to doing whatever it takes to sustain the UK aviation industry.”

Among other measures the AOA suggests that the government should be ready to provide or organise emergency financing as a measure of last resort. It also suggests that business rates and other government rates and taxes on airports should be suspended and that there should also be a deferral of payments of all VAT, corporation tax and other taxes for the duration of global flight restrictions.

“For the sake of the UK economy it is essential for the UK Government to catch-up to its peers across the continent and provide support to the sector and the wider economy through financing, guarantees, grants and tax relief.

Dee concluded by underlining that, “To help kick-start aviation again once the pandemic is retreating, the government should suspend Air Passenger Duty for six months.”

Due to the development of the ongoing coronavirus crisis and its impact on the global aviation sector, airBaltic has made a decision to temporarily decrease its overall capacity by a further 30% and to temporarily reduce its fleet to a total of 22 operating aircraft between March 29 and May 31, 2020. The move will see the airline cancel more than 2,000 flights.

“The health and safety of our employees and the public is airBaltic’s highest priority,” said Martin Gauss,airBaltic’s CEO. “The situation is changing very quickly, and we are forced to make some hard but necessary decisions. For now, we have reduced the capacity and cancelled flights, unfortunately we have to temporally reduce our team as the scale of operation is decreasing significantly. These are temporary measures during the crisis, and we need to be ready to get back on our growth path once the situation improves.”

In line with network adjustments, airBaltic is also having to temporarily reduce the number of its employees by up to 400. The company will seek voluntary solutions, unpaid leave, non-extension of probation time and termination.

However, the airline was also quick to point out that it has a well-developed crisis plan. Since 28 February, an action group C19AG has been established at the company, which regularly evaluates the latest situation to ensure it takes the necessary measures.

Hospitality group OTG is introducing Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology in its CIBO Express Gourmet Markets at two US airports enabling passengers and visitors to shop faster by selecting their items and walking out.

The new technology was rolled out at Newark Liberty’s Terminal C on 16 March with additional stores at the New York hub as well as LaGuardia Airport following suit.

By using Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology in these markets, busy airport travellers can quickly enter the store using their credit card, grab the items they wish to purchase, and just walk out for maximum speed and convenience.

“We’ve found that shoppers truly appreciate checkout-free retail experiences, so we’re thrilled to be working with an innovative company like OTG to bring our proven Just Walk Out technology to their airport stores,” said Dilip Kumar, Vice President, Physical Retail & Technology at Amazon.

Rick Blatstein, CEO of OTG, explained that the introduction of Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology in OTG stores is expected to revolutionise the airport experience for passengers. He added that this work with Amazon is another step in OTG’s ongoing commitment to providing a frictionless experience.

“We’re incredibly proud to be integrating Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology into the OTG airport experience,” he said. “OTG has always embraced technology as a means of optimising the airport experience so that we can give our guests their time back. By using the world’s most advanced shopping technology in our CIBO Express Gourmet Markets, we’re doing just that by putting our guests in full control of their time.”

According to OTG, its reimagined airport terminals are designed to be perfect gateways to the cities and regions they serve, integrating here-and-now technology, iconic design and locally sourced dining and market options that create a true sense of place. Reinforcing this philosophy the adoption of Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology showcases the company’s approach to leveraging advanced and innovative technologies to create a seamless airport experience and to offer its airline carrier partners terminals that travelers want to visit.

The rapid spread of the COVID-19 epidemic around the world is affecting airports around the world with the global aviation community now facing a full blown crisis.

Addressing the situation in Europe Olivier Jankovec, Director General at ACI Europe said: “For now, airports in Italy are clearly the most affected. Even before the decision to place the whole country under lock down, Italian airports were already confronted with a dramatic free fall in passenger traffic.” He added that now they are “bracing for a total collapse in air connectivity and the prospect of losing most of their revenues.”

Elsewhere in Europe, the situation for airports is rapidly deteriorating. “Airlines are drastically cutting capacity and cancelling air services as they respond to falling demand resulting from loss of confidence, changes to corporate travel policies, and governmental measures which directly or indirectly restrict mobility in their efforts to contain the spread of the virus,” he said.

ACI Europe’s initial assessment of the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the region’s airport operators show a loss of -67 million airport passengers in the first quarter of 2020 and an overall diminution of -187 million passengers for Europe’s airports in 2020. In financial terms a loss of -€1.320m in revenues in Q1 alone compared to a normal financial quarter.

The immediate cash flow pressures faced by airports has led to some adopting cost cutting measures. These include voluntary unpaid leave, recruitment freezes and the deferral of non-essential investment. Beyond the short-term impact on their financial standing, the COVID-19 epidemic could have lasting implications particularly for smaller and regional hubs, as future investments in sustainability, capacity and digitalisation all depend upon financially robust and stable businesses.

London City Airport (LCY) and Alcumus Info Exchange, a software-led risk management solutions provider, have won an operational excellence award in recognition of the airport’s ‘Permit to Work’ scheme and the contribution of technology to improving risk management in the transport sector. The award was given by independent research firm Verdantix.

The Permit to Work scheme has enabled LCY to have a clear image of the work that is taking place on site at any given moment and enabled the airport to assess and understand the potential implications on day-to-day operations, customer experience in conjunction with existing assets and infrastructure. More than 2,200 people work around the clock at the London hub.

The airport is currently undergoing a £500m development programme with eight aircraft stands, a new taxiway and brand-new passenger terminal all in the works. Normal operations will continue at the airport while the work is ongoing and the implementation of Alcumus Info Exchange’s software will provide LCY with an exact overview of which contractors are on site, where they are and will be working, the type of work taking place, how long the projects will take and the risks that are associated with the tasks and the areas that they are in.

Commenting on the partnership Caroline Maltby, Interface and Process Manager at London City Airport said: “This enabled us to work across a range of our teams and display the information they need in order to keep all our staff, contractors and stakeholders safe while on site.”