Carry On: News for business travellers

Airbus delivers China-built Sharket A320
China Eastern Airlines has taken delivery of the first Sharklet-equipped A320 assembled at the Airbus Delivery Centre in Tianjin. Sharklets are fuel saving wing-tip devices. The A320, powered by IAE V2500 engines, features a two class cabin, seating 158 passengers with eight in business class and 150 in economy. The A320 made its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Dalian on May 18. Airbus’ Tianjin operation has delivered 126 aircraft since June 2009 and it plans to deliver 46 aircraft in total in 2013.

Air NZ turns on Melbourne kiosks...
Air New Zealand passengers departing from Melbourne can now scan their machine-readable passports at a kiosk that issues a boarding pass and bag tags in about 90 seconds. to complete. The airline says since the new service was introduced this week more than 80% of customers have opted to use them. Chief operations officer Bruce Parton says the 14 check-in kiosks eliminate the need to queue.

...and signals Dreamliner route
Having dropped Osaka from its Japan schedule, Air New Zealand is stepping up its Tokyo Narita service to daily from March 30 next year. The airline will operate Boeing 777-200ER aircraft on the route but this will be switched to the stretched Dreamliner variant 787-9 during 2014. Meanwhile, Air New Zealand has expanded its codeshare agreement with Korea’s Asiana Airlines to cover the Japan service. Asiana will operate the Tokyo-Seoul Incheon leg.

Jetstar’s 787s start coming together
The first of Jetstar’s three 787-8s due for delivery by the end of the year will arrive in late September but so far there’s no word on what routes will use them. International destinations such as Honolulu, Phuket and Tokyo, which now use Airbus A330 aircraft, have been mentioned. A wild card might be Jetstar’s Auckland-Singapore service. Parts of the 787s are being made in Melbourne at Boeing Aerostructures’ advanced composite manufacturing facility. The moveable trailing edge components for the Dreamliner’s trademark swept wings are being shipped to Seattle to be fitted to the first aircraft as it moves through final assembly. They make up about 4% of the aircraft. The Qantas Group has firm orders for 14 787-8s with a further 50 787-8 and 787-9 options and purchase rights available from 2016.

Singapore to upgrade cabins
Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) upgraded cabins are slated for September but chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong has ruled out introducing a premium economy class. "When we think the time is right, we will do it but it's not quite that time yet," he told the Straits Times. The new business class seats have been designed by James Park Associates. They will be fitted to SIA’s new Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A350 aircraft, as well as being retrofitted to the Airbus A380 superjumbos.

Emirates boost Colombo service
Three more flights a week will be added to the Dubai-Colombo route from June 30, Emirates says. They will operate on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, increasing the number of flights to four each day on those days and take the total number of weekly Emirates flights serving the Sri Lankan capital to 31. Emirates offers direct connections with Colombo in each direction with its four daily New Zealand flights.