In the thick of competition

TOULOUSE — Finally, I made it this time. This was courtesy of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) invitation to select Filipino journalists to witness the delivery of the first of its Airbus A330 under its new refleeting program.

My first trip here in Toulouse last year got aborted. I was among several Filipino journalists who were invited by AirAsia to pick up their newest Airbus plane acquisition. We were all packed and ready to go, with Schengen visas and all. But at the last moment, the trip was scuttled. We were told the reason had something to do with delivery schedule.

The city of Toulouse is located in southwestern France. It is the fourth largest city in France, after Paris, Marseille and Lyon. It is regarded as the center of aviation and spaceflight in the past 20 years where Airbus has its headquarters. The Airbus headquarters is a short drive away from Toulouse-Blagnac International Airport’s passenger terminal.

In fact, Airbus is considered the biggest employer in Toulouse. According to latest records, more than 35,000 of the inner city’s 400,000 citizens are employed in the civil aviation or space industries.

To prepare myself for this trip to one of the world’s biggest aircraft-makers, I googled to learn about Airbus before we go to its head office and main plant where these huge planes are made and assembled.

The Airbus company estimates nearly 11,500 people are employed at their facilities in the Toulouse area. The final assembly lines are located here for the A320 Family, A330, A380 and A350 XWB (extra-wide body).

The A320 Family is produced in two Airbus assembly lines in Europe: the one here in Toulouse, and the other in Hamburg, Germany. Toulouse is home to the initial assembly line, building A320s. Hamburg has responsibility for the A318, A319 and A321.

Of this total, nearly 4,500 people are employed at Airbus headquarters complex here in Toulouse. The company’s customer services department is based here with Airbus’ top officials from its president & chief executive officer and to the executive committee members who all hold office here.

Activities in the Toulouse region also include flight and ground testing of aircraft, as well as Airbus research, design and development. One of the three major worldwide Airbus training centers also is based at Toulouse. 

We used to send our pilots for their advanced Airbus training here in Toulouse. But major flying schools in the Philippines have acquired already the latest Airbus simulators being used here. So we’re updated in terms of equipment for the training of pilots who are most in demand right now.

From its Press Centre, I gathered the following information. Worldwide orders and deliveries as of August this year showed total orders stood at 13,214 with total deliveries of 8,024. Currently, in operation now are 7,401 Airbus planes of various makes and sizes.

The Airbus’ 8,000th overall delivery occurred in August with an A320 provided to the Indonesian operation of AirAsia. This handover was particularly symbolic, as AirAsia is the A320 Family’s largest customer — having ordered a total of 475 A320s over the years.

Also included in the month’s 47 deliveries was Philippine Airlines’ first A321 acquired last August 17 under the new management now of the country’s flag carrier, San Miguel Corp. (SMC). As for Airbus, this was the 54th A321 they delivered this year to its growing list of airlines customers all over the world.

But the newest one that PAL is picking up here from Toulouse is the A330. This jetliner currently has a range of up to 5,570 nautical miles while carrying 300 passengers in a typical two-cabin arrangement, seating 36 in first or business class at a 60-inch seat pitch, and 264 in economy at 32-inch pitch. 

However, as I gathered, PAL is using its newly acquired Boeing 777 for its Manila-London inaugural flight on November 4. This was after the European Union (EU) lifted the restrictions against the Philippines. PAL is re-establishing its presence in the European travel market ironically with this American-made aircraft.

In the meantime, the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has yet to rule on the Philippines being restored to its Category 1 status to allow more flights of our carriers like PAL to and from the US.

While still covering Malacañang Palace, I had the opportunity to join former President Fidel Ramos in his first state visit to the United States where one of our major itineraries was a plant tour of Boeing in Everett in Seattle. Since it was just a short visit, we were shown a video of how a Boeing plane is assembled in quick-paced movie reel. But in real time, it takes a lot of man-hours from a simple screw to the biggest part until the entire plane is fully assembled.  

I was surprised though to learn that Airbus has also put up a facility in Tianjin in China. Tianjin is Airbus’ first assembly facility located outside Europe, resulting from a joint venture involving Airbus with a Chinese consortium comprising the Tianjin Free Trade Zone (TJFTZ) and China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC). Tianjin assembles A319s and A320s.   

Joining this growing network of Airbus will be a new A320 Family production facility in Mobile, Alabama in the US where they will build A319, A320 and A321 jetliners beginning in 2015. 

As of end August, a total of 394 Airbus jetliners had been provided to 83 customers during 2013. This represents an eight percent increase from the January-August period in 2012, Airbus noted. Taking into account the month’s order and delivery activity, Airbus’ backlog stood at 5,190 aircraft at the end of August.

More than 12,000 aircraft are due to retire from operation within the next 20 years. Airbus claims it is addressing the need to manage these aircraft in an environmentally responsible way.

In its Twitter account, Airbus posted this poser: “Can you guess how many new aircraft are needed by 2032? We’ll be  revealing our predictions in our global market forecast next week.”

This should be something interesting with PAL’s aggressive refleeting program under the stewarship of Ramon Ang to bring our flag carrier in the thick of competition.