Alaska Airlines

[Graham Harrison]

In Air Transport World this month (well February 2011) they are handing out
their "Annual Airline Industry Achievement Awards". Alaska get the award
for "Airline Technology Leadership".

There is no doubt in my mind that AS have been very technically literate
over the years what with head-up displays and RNP approaches and they're
being aggressive at things like kiosks (mind you, when I tried to pay for
baggage with my UK credit card last year the system didn't like it!).

Anyway, one of the items mentioned this year reads "The carrier's commitment
to technology encompasses adopting environmentally friendly items such as
mobile ground-based air units for cabin venting, cooling and heating to
replace APU use". Excuse me? I can remember those trucks (in fact I still
see them in some places) back when I started travelling by air in the 50s.
They've never gone away so what's so special about them that they warrant
part of an award? The claim is "It estimates that the units will result in
annual savings of about $2.6 million and more than 1.1 million gal of fuel".

What goes around....
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[JF Mezei]

Post by Graham Harrison
Anyway, one of the items mentioned this year reads "The carrier's commitment
to technology encompasses adopting environmentally friendly items such as
mobile ground-based air units for cabin venting, cooling and heating to
replace APU use". Excuse me?

I've not heard the full story on this.

When you consider Alaska's roots, this announcement could have meaning
if it concerned remote airports where their aircraft would run on APUs
for the whole time they are on the ground.

Large airports often have building supplied air and power, you can see
the flexible ducting under the jetway. Others will have mobile units.

However, perhaps Alaska had chosen to keep on APU power in order to
reduce turn around time ? Is that possible ? (and the announcement would
therefore signify a change if they decide to hook up to existing ground
based power/air.

Are there airports that have rules against aircraft remaining on APU
power for too long ?


The 787 may be an interesting beast on this. I take it that plugging in
"air" wouldn't be necessary because they could use just electric input
to power the aircraft's air conditioning system ?
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