easyJet’s Carolyn McCall at the Aviation Club

Founded in 1990, the Aviation Club of the United Kingdom welcomed its first lady airline CEO last week, Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of easyJet.  Miss McCall, formerly with The Guardian, and now nearly two years into the job, gave a well-received speech, very much selling easyJet, “the UK’s largest airline.”

In response to a question from AERBT she said that the airline had no plans to operate into Heathrow.  “It’s too expensive,” she said, and then asked if any slots were available.

She announced that the Luton-based carrier would become the first airline to trial electric green taxiing system by Safran and Honeywell.  The system will compete with “WheelTug” being developed in conjunction with El Al. 

Due to the high frequency and short sector lengths of easyJet’s operations, around 4% of total fuel consumed annually is used when the airline’s aircraft are taxiing.  easyJet’s aircraft average 20 minutes of taxi time per flight – the equivalent of 3.5 million miles a year.

The first operational trials are expected to start in 2013.  This will help establish whether the estimated savings can be realised and also quantify other benefits.  easyJet will also assist in establishing the airline standard operational procedures for aircraft equipped with the system. www.easyjet.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum