airline - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Big drone on campus: UPS gets US government okay for drone airline

  The fledgling unit is immediately doubling the number of drone flights it does for its flagship customer, Raleigh, North Carolina's WakeMed Health & Hospitals.

• Queenstown Airport aims to provide ‘unrivalled airport experience’ with ICT upgrade

  ‘Our ultimate vision is for passengers to simply walk through the airport unencumbered’

• Air New Zealand trialling drone aircraft inspections

  ​Air New Zealand is using drones to inspect difficult to reach parts of its aircraft during maintenance stops.

• New Airbus CEO charts modernisation path under leaner management

  'We will utilise new digital technologies to optimise our industrial system,' says new CEO Guillaume Faury

• Jennifer Sepull is new Air NZ chief digital officer

  Starts role on May 1

• Air New Zealand joins Unisys cargo portal services

  Expands cargo bookings around the world through cloud-based e-booking portal
  

• Air New Zealand signs contract for Inmarsat’s broadband service

  GX Aviation to provide connectivity for long and short-haul fleets by 2017
  

• Movers and shakers: Air New Zealand appoints Intuit exec as chief digital officer

  Avi Golan to take on newly created role in January

• CIO Julia Raue to leave Air New Zealand

  Will stay at Air New Zealand until November and has yet to decide on her next role.

• CEO-plus

  For Rob Fyfe, innovation and risk management go hand in hand, and he shares how this was demonstrated during his term as CIO and then chief executive at Air New Zealand.
  

• Apple flies into Qantas lounges

  Qantas has announced plans to kit out its club members' lounges at airports across the country exclusively with Apple technology before the end of the year.
  The agreement with Apple is an attempt by the airline to set itself apart from market rival Virgin Blue by aligning with the consumer electronics giant's popular technology.

• JetStar launches SMS boarding pass in NZ

  Budget airline JetStar has selected this country as the launch market for its recently developed SMS boarding pass technology.
  Customers can now board their flight using the unique SMS boarding system through their mobile phone via a standard text message when travelling between Auckland and Christchurch, extending to Wellington and Queenstown services in coming weeks.

• Qantas flies high with new IBM deal

  Qantas has finalised the details of a new seven-year outsourcing deal with IBM for technology program delivery work, which is understood to be worth about A$200 million.
  The IBM contract is part of a broader program of cost cutting at the airline known as Q Future, in which Qantas is aiming to save $1.5 billion over the next three years. The savings include $500 million in the present financial year, including $100 million from information technology changes.

• Flying kangaroo lowers its wheels

  Airlines feel a downturn faster than most businesses and for Qantas, 2009 has already been a very tough year. Passenger numbers fell 2.7 per cent across the Qantas group in March compared with 2008.
  The carrier announced in April that as a result of what it described as a "rapid and significant deterioration of trading conditions", it was revising down its full-year profit forecast from about A$500 million to somewhere between $100 million and $200 million.

• Qantas ditches CIO in executive reshuffle

  Qantas has decided it no longer needs a chief information officer and ditched Jamila Gordon after just over a year in the role.
  Ms Gordon was laid off Friday as part of a senior management reshuffle announced by chief executive Alan Joyce last week.