Website: http://www.qatarairways.com/
Website: http://www.qatarairways.com/
American Airlines, another big A300 operator, is also expected to retire the last of its A300s this year on August 24th. Those of you who have yet to fly on an A300 (myself included) might want to look at booking tickets before it's too late...
Spring Airlines wants the standing-only flights as a way to cope with capacity issues - it can't get a hold of new planes quickly enough to keep up with passenger demand. According to Spring Airlines President Wang Zhengua, the idea for the flights was proposed by Chinese vice premier Zhang Dejiang: "He suggested that, for a lower price, passengers should be able to get on a plane like catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water, but very convenient." Wang also says that airline has been told by Airbus that the idea was safe, so "once the government approves it formally, we'll try it."
Apparently the tickets that require you to stand in the aisle would be 20% cheaper. I'm not sure whether the entire aircraft would be standing-only, or if it's just additional standing in the aisle. But this might be a novel, if somewhat uncomfortable, way of dealing with the problem of undercapacity - that is, if it gets regulatory approval, as the Chinese aviation authorities still require that passengers are seated for takeoff and landing. Maybe Vice Premier Zhang can do something about it, but in the meantime, let's not give Ryanair's Michael O'Leary any ideas...
Fuel conservation (do airlines have electric-powered ground vehicles? do they frequently wash their engines, which improve their efficiency? do they have winglets on their fleet?)
Alternative fuel types (such as biofuels)
In-flight recycling (after all, all of those cans have to go somewhere)
'Green' food options in flight (listed by Greentopia as 'organic, local, natural, or fair trade')
'Green' buildings and terminals
Carbon offsets available for purchase
Fleet age (not necessarily a perfect indicator of how 'green' an airline is, but generally speaking, the younger the airplane, the more fuel-efficient it is)And the results:
Virgin America
Continental
Horizon
jetBlue
Southwest
Northwest
Delta
American
United
US Airways
The verdict of the 16.2 million travellers who voted in the latest Skytrax survey of airlines is that New Zealand is served by the best airlines in the world.
For instance, the winner of the title of Airline of the Year for 2009 is Cathay Pacific, which has been flying into Auckland since 1983, and also won the top award in 2003 and 2005. It's pretty hard to disagree with that high rating because, in my experience, Cathay has never failed to deliver.
Of the top 10 airlines in the competition, eight fly here, namely: Singapore Airlines (2nd), Asiana Airlines (3rd), Emirates (5), Qantas (6), our own national carrier Air New Zealand (8), Malaysia Airlines (9) and Thai Airways (10). I've never flown Asiana but I have tried the others and they're all airlines I'd be happy to use again.
Perhaps more importantly, for the mass of us who travel steerage, the best economy classes in the world are provided by Asiana, Air NZ, Singapore and Malaysia (plus Qatar Airways, which doesn't fly here).
I'm sure opinions on this will differ but, in my experience, economy class travel has improved in the past couple of years after going through a period where it was purely a matter of cramming in as many people as possible. And I do think Air NZ has done particularly well in improving the economy experience.
The awards also indicate that if you can stretch your wallet to flying premium economy, then Air NZ is the best bet in this part of the world, having taken third place globally.
Or, if you can go even further and manage business class, then Singapore and Air NZ rate as the best around here.
The Skytrax survey also named Jetstar as the fourth best economy airline in the world, Malaysia as having the best cabin staff, Emirates provided the best inflight entertainment, Qantas was judged the best airline in Australasia and Air Tahiti Nui as the best airline in the Pacific, while Star Alliance was named the best airline alliance.
JetBlue, being able to remain union less since its inception in 2000 has allowed them to keep costs low and compete better against other airlines who have unions.
Although unions can surely help with securing competitive wages and benefits for employees, it seems that sometimes in the dire situations the airlines are in, they look out for more of their own interests and not the overall big picture of the airlines. If employees feel they can get what they want without having to form a union — that is probably a good thing!
It seems the pilot had been overworked, drinking alcohol, and not trained well on the Boeing’s altitude indicator as he should. All Boeing 737 flights have been suspended until additional training can be had by the pilots.
After the crash Aeroflot severed links with Aeroflot-Nord and required they remove all the company branding — probably a very smart move considering what happened.
Flight 3407, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, crashed at about 10pm on February 12th. It crashed into some houses, killing a 61-year old man who was home at the time and all 48 people (44 passengers, 4 crew) that were aboard the plane.
It appears at this point the plane lost forward momentum and came down flat on its belly. Some indicators are pointing to icing that was reported before the crash.
Even though ice could turn out to be the main factor of this, the Dash 8 is well known to handle the ice well and ability to get through almost anything. From what is reported now, it seems this accident happened very quickly, giving very little opprotunity for the pilots to save the doomed plane.
My thoughts go out to the families of those affected by this tragic loss.
They have had delays from parts, production “glitches” and of course that 2-month strike. Then add to all of that the global economic downturn and people flying less, creating a smaller demand for new aircraft like the 787. Although the demand might be smaller, Boeing still has 878 orders from 57 different customers.
He took the short flight from New York to Boston and after be determined it was all an honest mistake, he was allowed to return to New York. No word if he will be one of many people newly unemployed.
Imagine for a moment you are on a flight from LA to Honolulu for a nice little scuba diving vacation. You are in the middle of your in-flight movie wasting the time away. Then your seatmate stands up next to you and…well…starts to urinate on you. Then you push him to get him to stop, but he keeps going.
I wish this was a crazy fictional story, but this happened to a 66-year old woman on Continental flight 3. A 28-year old, well intoxicated gentlemen (well I guess not so much of a gentlemen) either couldn’t make it to the bathroom or didn’t care. Some-what luckily there was an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms agent behind this incident and was able to restrain the man.
He has now been sentenced to 3 weeks in prison and six months of probation after wards. This kind of story makes sitting next to a snoring person not too hard to handle!
Upon landing, the landing gear collapsed and caused quite a mess.
Since then, the aircraft has been kept intact while investigating the accident. Even though the investigation is not completed, permission has been given for the airframe to be “broken up” and “sent for recycling.”
It is quite interesting to think what will happen to the airframe and in what future products it might end up in.
It is estimated that about 1,600 have been infected and about 149 deaths in Mexico, and airlines don’t want to put people out for wanting to cancel or change their flights. The airlines that are offerring no change fees (with some restrictions of course):
- United Airlines- American Airlines- Mexicana Airlines- Continental Airlines- US Airways- Air Canada
Hopefully this will all be over soon!
Delta, in a rare showing, is now doing the opposite — and at a good time nonetheless! They are no longer outsourcing their reservation call center to India and will be moving the jobs back to the US.
There will still be call centers in Jamaica and South Africa, but staffing would most likely be reduced there as well in the future.
When Delta outsourced their call centers to India in 2002, they estimated saving $25million per year, which is nothing to sneeze at.
However, customers made it clear they weren’t happy with the service they received from the call centers in India. “The customer acceptance of call centers in foreign countries is low, and our customers are not shy about letting us have that feedback,” said Richard Anderson, Chief Executire of Delta Airlines.
I would imagine the number of reservation calls has greatly decreased since 2002, with most people choosing to reserve tickets online.
No matter what you think about this topic, putting anything with “blood” on the side of a plane is not going to go over well. PETA wanted to put the ads on flights between the US and Canada in time for the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.
In February, US Airways also turned down an ad for PETA where they wanted to go after KFC for the way their treat their chickens.
Although in these hard economic times, it is hard for any airline to turn away extra money, I think US Airways probably made a smart decision.
However, other airlines are sticking to their fees with bringing millions more in in revenue. In fact more airlines are increasing and adding new fees.
Alaksa Airlines just announced they will start charging fees and US Airways will charge $5 extra if a passenger doesn’t pre-pay for baggage fees.
Personally, I understand the fees. I mean the airlines are hurting and people are willing to pay for them. However, it has become nearly impossible to do a true cost
Yes! Another good story that could have turned much worse. A Boeing 777 lost an engine shortly after take off at Sea-Tac airport in Seattle, WA. Asiana Flight 271 took off heading to South Korea with 179 passengers and 16 crew.
Then, something none of us want to hear and see — a few loud explosions and flames coming out of the left engine. At this time, it is not known what happened, but we will be keeping a close eye on this story
Southwest Airlines will now charge $25 for an unaccompanied minor and $25 for overweight or a third piece of luggage. They will also allow pets to fly and will charge a “pet fare” of $75. Up until last fall Southwest did not post a loss in 17 years, but it has had to post losses for the past three quarters, mostly due to their locked in fuel prices.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly stated, “We truly believe in setting the right customer expectation and not charging for those amenities that a customer would ‘expect’ to get for free.” He also points out that all other major airlines in the US already charge these fees.
Although it might be disappointing that Southwest is adding some minor fees, I think it can be understandable in the given airline industry climate
Cuts, cuts, cuts. Airlines cutting routes, planes, and people seem to dominate the airline news. However this cut, has a little positive spin to it.
In 2008 US Airways had to let go over 1,300 positions, something no company enjoys. With declining revenues, US Airways had to make additional cuts, but didn’t want to resort to laying off additional people. Instead, the airline is asking flight attendants to volunteer to take 4 to 16 months off to allow the airline to save some cash.
The airline currently has over 6,600 flight attendants among their 33,000 employees.
I wasn’t able to find anywhere if the employees would be paid, so I contacted the kind folks over at US Airways. They stated that the leave is an “unpaid furlough”, but “flight attendants will be able to keep their flight privleges during the furlough.”
US Airways are not the only ones talking about future job cuts. Air France is looking at 3000 cuts, Delta 2000, American 1600, and on and on.
Part of me wonders how many of these cuts are needed and how many are these just an opprotunity to eliminate people at a time where it is becoming more and more accepted to lay off large numbers of hardworking people.
The hummingbird image is a tip of the hat to the republic of Trinidad and Tobago, where it is known as “the land of the hummingbird”
The driver of the construction vehicle has been placed on leave and all construction work on the runways has been suspended until the FAA has completed a full investigation of the incident.
One cannot underestimate the damage that someone on the ground can cause. From not closing a cargo door properly to driving at the wrong place at the wrong time, inattention on the ground can cost lives.
Each airline flies different aircraft, have different configurations and clientele with different baggage needs. The bill would require the TSA to enforce the rules (presumably during the security check process). Although TSA has made leaps and bounds with speeding up the security process, this could greatly slow it down. People would be having to take stuff out, trying to cram their bags through and of course having to leave the line to check in their bags and come back through.
CrankFlier points out that many low cost airlines have their “minimum size” larger than what Rep Lipinski is asking for, and legacy carriers are already meeting the requirements. The low cost carriers would have to cut what they already offer.
What is the real reason for this? I don’t see a safety issue here, I would like to see someone try to make a valid one. In fact this would decrease safety. The TSA would have to police bag-size instead of doing what they are trained and look for illegal items taken through security.
This seems like a waste of time and legislation that will really hold no benefit. If airlines want to get together to create their own standard carry-on size, that is one thing, but for the government to come in and require standardization seems unnecessary.
UPDATE: FlyWithFish.com has a great chart showing all the airlines and their bag size requirements.
Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have had a cold war going on for years, according to Sir Branson. Now he is taking advantage of British Airways’ admission of financial difficulty by urging the British government not to financially assist the legacy carrier. He states that British Airways is, “not worth much.”
Although Sir Branson might be trying to stir up trouble, British Airways is not in the best financial shape. British Airways’ CEO Willie Walsh has a self-imposed June 30 deadline which he calls, “a fight for survival.”
He recently asked all 40,000 employees to work up to four weeks without pay in an effort to keep the airline afloat.
Sir Branson, who founded the privately held Virgin Atlantic, obviously has much invested if British Airways fails. “We and others are standing by ready to take on their routes and runway slots at Heathrow if they get into serious trouble,” Sir Branson stated re-assuring the government their nation would still have a viable transportation network.
A British Airways spokes person calls Sir Branson’s comments as “fantasy.” The airline stated, “There are no talks with the Government and there will be no talks. We have opposed state aid and our position has not changed.” Both British Airways’s CEO Walsh and finance director Keith Williams have announced they will work for free during the month of July.
Even if British Airways pulls through and Branson is just in fantasy-land, it is never a good sign having an airline (or any company for that matter) asking its employees to work for free. In this economic time, nothing is impossible and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
It is Boeing’s newest jet made to be more economical and replace the aging Boeing 757 and 767’s.
The new aircraft was supposed to enter service in May 2008, but has hit a number of hurdles causing delay after delay. The aircraft had its official roll out on 07/08/07 (get it 7-8-7…cleaver), but it was just a pretty looking shell with almost no functionality (duct tape anyone?).
Delays have ranged from software issues, a strike, fasteners, contractors, supply chain and in-correct installations.
Everyone following the drama were hoping the Dreamliner’s would finally have its first flight on June 23, 2009 but it wasn’t meant to be. Boeing is now announcing that the newest delay, “stems from 18 points where the center wing box (11) meets the wingbox (12) on each side of the aircraft. The fix, once identified, will be installed on location. ”
A new airliner being developed and taking its first flight is a very exciting experience for anyone that follows the airline industry. It has been a long time since the Boeing 777 took its first flight (wow 1994) and I feel a personal connection to this project, since I live less than 15 miles from where the plane will take its first flight and I know people who have been working on the Dreamliner.
At this point, Boeing does not know when the first flight will happen, but check out FlightBlogger Jon Ostrower, who has minute by minute coverage of the events unfolding.
But is this really thatcrazy? I think this concept will save Ryanair money which will in turn should save passengers money. Here are some reasons I think it might be a good idea:
#1: No need for ticket counters. If you can check in at home (and be charged for it no doubt) and you can’t check in bags, why do you need a counter? Maybe one or two customer service people (that you can pay to talk to) at the airport, but this means no counter rental, staff, equipment, etc.#2: No bag carrousel needed. If there are no checked bags, there is no need to have the carrousel. Not only does this save money but saves you a lot of time not having to wait for your bag.#3: No baggage personnel. Ryanair doesn’t have to pay people to take bags on/off the flight, drive them to the airport, etc.#4: No vehicles needed to transport luggage and no gas, insurance, upkeep on those vehicles.#5: Don’t have to pay for lost luggage. People can’t lose it if they don’t check it. The airline would have no need for customer service representatives for lost baggage, and they don’t have to pay to hunt it down, ship it, or return it.#6: Reduces the need for fuel. With the plane weighing less it would take less fuel to get from point A to B.#7: It works. Take a look at Horizon Air, they give you the option for “Ala Cart Service” where passengers can put bags on a cart before entering the plane, they put the bags in the cargo hold, and have them on a cart for you when you get off. It might be more difficult with a larger plane, but the concept can work.
Although many fliers complain when changes like this occur, their memory seems to be erased when they can see how much money they can save on an airline ticket. Right or wrong, good idea or bad, I am interested to see how this works out.
What do you think? Is this a good idea? Will it work? Will Ryanair pass on their savings?
Southwest states they are working with dispatchers making sure they are fully trained and point out there will be very limited number of the international flights.
With the ever increasing competition to provide lower fares, more airlines have been looking at outsourcing their maintenance work. No matter if one thinks this is a wise move or not, it is important to make sure the people in charge of getting the planes to El Salvador are properly trained to safely get them there, even if there are no passengers on board.
Heavily based off the research for the Boeing 787 interior, the new 737 interiors will “give a better connection to the flying experience.” Passengers stepping into the new 737 will notice the soft blue lighting on the ceilings and larger window reveals, giving the sense of a larger cabin.
Along with the aesthetic benefits, the new layout employs several practical changes. The overhead bins will have more storage space and they are pivot hinged (much like the Boeing 777), allowing more head room and open space when closed. The reading light and call buttons have been redesigned to create less confusion and less unintentional calls, which will make the flight attendants happy.
The new Boeing 737 will also feature performance upgrades. Boeing is hoping to increase fuel consumption by 2% via a combination of airframe and engine improvements. 2% might not sound like much when you think about your personal automobile, but when a Boeing 737-900ER can hold over 7,800 gallons of fuel, 2% can make a huge difference.
The rear cargo door was jammed and bags could only be placed in the front cargo hold. Additionally while waiting to board their flight, passengers could overhear the de-boarding passengers talking how that they just experienced one of the worst flights ever.
Seventy-one of booked passengers didn’t want to press their luck and decided to find other options. Dave Charlton, one of the 71 talked about the passengers who de-boarded before he was supposed to get on, “People were kissing the ground and putting their hands together like they were praying. When people are getting off the plane saying ‘Don’t get on’ and we’d been told there was a fault with [the airplane], there was no way we would get on.”
An airline spokes person stated, “It is standard for all airlines to ensure cargo and passengers are evenly distributed on an aircraft and there will be times when passengers will be asked to move to the front or back of a plane. This is a routine procedure and poses no safety issue. We are disappointed that despite reassurances from the captain and crew, several passengers decided not to travel.”
Although the distribution of weight is a standard and normal procedure (I have been asked to do so on more than one flight), having a jammed door and fearful passengers is not quite normal procedure. There has been more than one flight that has dealt with cargo door issues with negative outcomes. Currently the airline is not providing any compensation and still treating the situation as the passengers are only upset they were asked to change seats.