Posts from ‘Airlines In The News’
All Nippon 747 decked out in Pokeman livery
To the delight of women everywhere, All Nippon Airlines (ANA) will be the first airline to officially take a stance on the timeless toilet seat versus gender controversy.
According to an March 1st ANA press release:
Following numerous requests from passengers for this service, one women-only lavatory will be designated in the passenger cabin….and will be available for use by women passengers [only].
After nearly years of speculation it was finally announced today that Air New Zealand (yes, New Zealand again) will be giving the people exactly what they want, a good night’s sleep. The seats in their 777s are to be
adaptable so that people can stretch out from window to aisle.
Coined “the Skycouch” the genius is in its simplicity: flip-out extensions to the seat bottom and movable armrests. These features can set up a bed of sorts that allow for two people to lie down side-by-side, for one person to have ample flopping space or for a family to play games and actually enjoy a long flight for a change.
As you probably know, there was an attempted terrorist attack on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit over the holiday.
A Nigerian man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to use a powder and liquid concoction to set off an explosion near the end of the flight but was subdued by some angry passengers that rightly deemed him to be threatening to their otherwise pleasant holiday flight.
In case you missed it, there was some big news in the airline biz yesterday. The first flight of Boeing’s new 787 happened out in rainy Western Washington to cheers and no small amount of relief. To cut to the chase, it was a success! The flight, shortened by the aforementioned bad weather, departed from Boeing’s assembly plant near Everett, Washington at 10:30 am, did some circuit maneuvers over the Strait of Juan De Fuca and landed 3 hours later at Boeing Field just south of Seattle. See some highlights of the flight (click the “webcast” link at the top).
Talk about negotiating power. Cabin crews at British Airways voted today to go ahead with an insanely timed walkout that would effectively grind airline operations to a halt over the year’s busiest travel season, the Christmas and New Years holiday. British Airways has said up to a million passengers could be affected by the strike, expected to begin on Dec 22 and last for 12 days, through to Jan 2.
BA’s management has been wrangling with Unite, the trade union that represents 13,500 British Airways flight attendants, on how best to handle proposed job cuts, pay freezes and other contract obligations. They’ve yet to come to an agreement.
There’s been a lot of to-do over the last couple years about Airbus’s new A-380, the world’s largest passenger airplane. Since Airbus is headquartered in France, I suppose it’s fitting that Air France should get on board and outfit some of these planes with their signature tricolore.
Air France marks the first superjumbo to depart from Europe, taking off at 1:30pm from Paris Charles de Gaulle on Friday heading to JFK with 380 passengers on board. As with Singapore Airlines’ inaugural A-380 flight, the ticketed passengers’ fares for this flight were auctioned off and donated to charity, generating $450,00 for the Air France Foundation, an organization that helps children in difficulty
A lot of news has come out of the gulf region’s airline industry of late. In the past ten years, four separate high-quality airlines have come out of that part of the world and are all vying for the title of number one. While Emirates has a business model that pretty much puts the others to shame, there’s several national carriers that are headquartered in that area doing what they do very well.
On Sept 13th Continental Airlines made a major shift in their allegiance and became the 25th member of the Star Alliance network of airlines.
This marks the first time a major airline has moved from one alliance to another. Continental was a compliant member of Sky Team (the alliance that brings you Delta, Air France and Northwest) for over five years before officially leaving on Oct 24th.
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It’s official. Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier of Indonesia, is now reinstating its service to Europe. This comes as big news for the airline after being plagued by the demons of an EU blacklisting for the past two years. While only a small fraction of their business came from the 
Europe route, a blacklist can be a severe stigma to overcome in the court of public opinion, often having dramatic effects on an airline’s success.
After 2007 and a resolution by the EU Air Safety Committee, no Indonesian carrier has been allowed to land at a European airport due to poor aircraft maintenance standards, no doubt stemming from two crashes by the country’s airlines early that year. But recent updates to their fleet and an overhaul of their operations, the airline is resuming their service.
If you’ve been reading this blog you’ll know I’m not a big fan of airline fees. The act of reducing prices only to increase the number of fees attached to it is (I feel) simply criminal. So with this in mind you can understand my position about the new $10 “peak travel” surcharge several airlines are now adding: I’m against it.
American Airlines, the biggest “fee-devil”, instituted the surcharge on Sept 23 for travel on the 13 days around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, and also certain holidays in March and April of 2010. Since then several of their competitors jumped on the bandwagon.
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