Hawaiian chooses 787-9 Dreamliners for longer routesHawaiian Airlines has selected the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner as its flagship plane for medium to long-haul flights, meaning Australia is likely eventually to see Hawaiian’s new planes fly in.

The 787 Dreamliner is now the fastest selling twin-aisle airliner in Boeing’s history.

Hawaiian, famous for its in-flight ambience and its generous baggage allowance, intends to purchase 10 B787-9 jets valued at USD 2.82 billion at list prices. Hawaiian also has purchase rights for 10 additional 787s.

The B787-9 is the longer version of the Dreamliner, the type Qantas is now receiving and which the Australian carrier will use to mount non-stop flights between Perth and London later this month.

There’s no doubt about the aircraft’s range. The B787-9 can carry about 290 passengers on flights of about 7635 nautical miles (14,140 km), while using 20% less fuel and emitting 20% fewer emissions than the planes it replaces.

Hawaiian, which has steadily grown its award-winning service connecting the Hawaiian Islands with Asia and North America, had been conducting an extensive evaluation of its aircraft requirements.

“The Dreamliner’s operational efficiency and

superior guest experience make it the best aircraft for modernizing our fleet in 2021 and beyond,” said Peter Ingram, president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian Airlines.

“Its expanded seat capacity and extended range will allows us to expand within our current route network and offer new destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Hawaiian expects to receive the first of its new Dreamliners in the first quarter of 2021. The Honolulu-based airline has selected the General Electric GEnx engine to power the new planes.

The 787-9 features a spacious wide-body

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cabin with extra-large windows. The innovative composite airframe will allow Hawaiian to pressurise Dreamliner cabins at far lower altitude, creating a more comfortable in-cabin atmosphere. Additional features include a quiet cabin, dimmable LED window shades, and larger overhead luggage bins.

Hawaiian currently operates a mainline fleet of 54 aircraft: 24 Airbus A330-200 and 8 Boeing 767 wide-body aircraft, 2 A321neo and 20 717 narrow-body aircraft. The company selected the 787-9 as part of a competitive bid process that also included the Airbus A330-900.

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UK report: Virgin Atlantic to resume Australia routeVirgin Atlantic will start flying to Australia again, four years after axing its route to Sydney, according to chief executive Craig Kreeger quoted in the UK media.

London’s Daily Express reported Kreeger saying Virgin Atlantic would once again fly from London to Melbourne and Sydney via Hong Kong or Los Angeles, code-sharing with sister airline Virgin Australia.

Whether that means Virgin Atlantic will use its own aircraft on the route was unclear. Earlier this month, Virgin Australia announced plans to launch daily return flights between Sydney and Hong Kong from around the middle of this year.

Virgin Atlantic’s decision in 2014 to drop

the Sydney Hong Kong route came as a thunderbolt and left British Airways as the last major European carrier to fly to Australia using “its own metal” – as the airline industry puts it.

Subject to authorisation, Virgin Australia plans to operate daily return services between Sydney and Hong Kong with Airbus A330-200 aircraft, featuring ‘The Business’, which has been named the world’s best Business Class for two consecutive years by global ratings agency, AirlineRatings.com.

Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, unveiled plans last week to offer three different types of economy fares as part of a major investment program costing about AUD 533 million.The changes will see Premium Economy rebranded as Premium and an option

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called Economy Delight introduced, offering passengers 34 inches of legroom compared to the standard 31 inches – plus advance seat assignment and priority boarding.

At the other end of the economy spectrum, Virgin will also introduce Economy Light, an inflexible low-cost fare that will give passengers a pre-assigned seat and allow no checked-in luggage. Economy Light tickets will be non-refundable and passengers will not be able to change dates.

The current Standard Economy fare will be restyled as Economy Classic, the Express reported.

Roll out the chocolate! Sydney wins Golden TicketSydney has won a major bid to exclusively host the Australian premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a new musical based on the beloved novel by Roald Dahl, NSW Minister for Tourism and Major Events Adam Marshall announced today.

The premiere production will open at the Capitol Theatre in 2019 and has been secured exclusively for Sydney by the NSW Government.

“Securing a major event like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a huge coup for NSW, drawing visitors from far and wide and boosting the State’s visitor economy,” Marshall said.

“Musicals are a major driver of tourism – more than 76,000 overnight visitors are expected to travel to Sydney for the Australian premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, generating an estimated $37 million in visitor spend.

“The popularity of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is enduring and we’re

thrilled to secure the Australian premiere of the latest stage adaptation exclusively for NSW.”

John Frost, managing director of Gordon Frost Organisation said, “Sydney has a huge treat in store next summer, and it’s a magical concoction ready to satisfy any sweet tooth looking for a golden ticket.”

“Filmgoers fell in love with Roald Dahl’s bewitching tale in the 1971 film with Gene Wilder, and again in the 2005 film with Johnny Depp,” Frost continued.

“Now we can be enchanted by the story once again on stage. I’m thrilled to bring this captivating production to Australia for the first time. I fell in love with Charlie and Willy Wonka on Broadway last year, and can’t wait to share it with Australian audiences.”

The musical is based on the 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, with book by David Greig, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Songs from the original film including Pure Imagination, The Candy Man and I’ve Got a Golden Ticket feature alongside a new score from the songwriters of the musical Hairspray.

Airlines move to price seats on personal informationCall it the ultimate in yield management – a world where every airline seat is priced according to the occupier’s personal profile, gathered through their online browsing habits and their potential worth to the airline.

The process is called dynamic pricing and airlines are moving towards it fast, according to reports from the UK. A number of different technologies, including facial recognition and the gathering of information, ranging from browsing habits to age and salary, is coalescing, with the ultimate goal being to offer passengers a unique, personalised price for each seat.

A recent article in Britain’s Daily Telegraph quoted a white paper on pricing written by the Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO), which counts British Airways, Delta and KLM among its 430 airline customers.

“The introduction of a Dynamic Pricing Engine will allow an airline to take a base published fare that has already been calculated based on journey characteristics and broad segmentation, and further adjust the fare after evaluating details about the travellers and current market conditions.”

The Telegraph quoted John McBride, director of product management for PROS, a software provider that works with airlines including Lufthansa, Emirates and Southwest, saying several operators have already introduced dynamic pricing on some ticket searches. “2018 will be a very phenomenal year in terms of traction,” he told Travel Weekly. “Based on our backlogs of projects, there will be a handful of large carriers that move toward dynamic pricing.”

One question is whether dynamic pricing would breach consumer laws. Some call it “fare discrimination”. Airlines do something similar already through yield management but that is collective, not individually targeted.

Internet browsing provides a trove of

information and new, smarter algorithms make it very difficult to stay untracked as you move about the web.

Facebook can now recognise you in photos without your having to bother tagging yourself. Many other companies are working on facial recognition. Mobile applications can reveal where users are any time of day.

Just a week or so ago, Facebook advised users:Hi, we’re always working to make Facebook better, so we’re adding more ways to use face recognition besides just suggesting tags. For example, face recognition technology can do things like: • Find photos you’re in but haven’t been tagged• Help protect you from strangers using your photo• Tell people with visual impairments who’s in your photo or video

You control face recognition. This setting is on, but you can turn it off any time, which applies to features we may add later. -The Facebook Team

Tech site Gizmodo has pointed out that so many websites and third-party services use Facebook technologies, from Like buttons to login options, “that Facebook has a pretty good idea of what you’re up to when you’re not actually on Facebook”. In some cases people can revoke permissions in settings, but most don’t bother.

Third-party apps are constantly analysing and using data as well. By combining data on online purchases and location with records provided by marketing partners from various sources, social media channels can assess someone’s approximate financial worth.

The latest step, experts say, consists of building individual profiles so that third parties like airlines can base prices on them.

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New Tigerair slim seatsTIGERAIR Australia has unveiled new slimline leather seats for its fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, each with new features including additional storage pockets and built-in holders for travellers’ tablets or phones.

The carrier says the installation of the new-design seats (pictured) will allow it to add an extra six seats in the cabin “without compromising crew and customer comfort”.

The airline will also offer new inflight entertainment courtesy of its partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Fox Networks, soon to be available across Tigerair’s entire fleet of A320 and B737 planes.

The announcements coincide with the introduction of a new winter menu of inflight options.

The Zeppelin Times 4CRB Travel ShowSaturday 31 March, 10am on 89.3FM

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Princess Aus recordPRINCESS Cruises is aiming to carry more Australian travellers than ever before during a record deployment in local waters over the 2019-20 cruise season.

With the release of its new Australasian program, the line announced it would offer more than 900 cruise days over the summer period, more than any previous year.

Five ships will serve itineraries from Sydney, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland,

spearheaded by the maiden arrival of the 3,080-guest Ruby Princess and the second return season of the 3,560-guest Majestic Princess.

The line will offer 141 days’ deployment from Fremantle and its first int’l round-trip voyages from Adelaide.

Bookings open for Elite Princess guests at 9am on Wed 18 Apr and at 9am the following day for other customers.