Posts from ‘Airlines In The News’
AirAsia Seats Are Good To Go
This post was written by David Derrick, Director of Product Development at AirTreks.
There’s exciting news at AirTreks. We’ve just signed a partnership with AirAsia, the leader of low-cost, short-haul flights throughout South East Asia allowing us to use their extensive route network and bargain fares to get you around like never before.
AirAsia revolutionized flying in Southeast Asia by offering reliable service at unheard of prices to and from their hub in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They have been expanding their routes and destinations steadily. At present they have four airlines under their brand; AirAsia (Malaysia), Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia and now AirAsiaX and they’ve added hubs in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu and Singapore allowing for nonstop flights to all sorts of interesting places. Among the most useful to our passengers are Bangkok to Bali, Bali to Perth, Hong Kong to Borneo, Chiang Mai to Phuket, as well as long haul flights like Melbourne and Gold Coast Australia to Kuala Lumpur, London to Kuala Lumpur.
Ever wonder what it takes to change the livery of a Boeing 747? After seeing some of the crazy dressings they give some planes I certainly have. Well, Virgin Atlantic has gone into the hangar and filmed one of their 747s getting a fancy new look and done it it in time-lapse so you can see just what it takes to complete this prodigious feat, hours boiled down to a minute and a half.
Take a look – the dance is quite poetic if you think about it.
After its foundation in Santiago, Chile in 1929, LAN was known as LanChile, the country’s flag carrier. In 2004 the carrier re-branded its image and brought domestic subsidiaries in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador under the LAN name to form South America’s largest airline network. Since then, LAN has grown into a world class carrier with membership in the One World Alliance.
Thai Airways is betting it has consumer grade food and will be offering it as public fare. In the coming weeks they are to start selling their in-flight meals at the deliciously named Puff & Pie Bakery shops in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai, Thailand. According to their marketing director Kasem Sriprapakara Thai Airways will be the first airline to sell food on the consumer market, promoting a line of seven ready-made curry sauces including green curry, Massaman and Penang.
He also said the target market was “the business traveler who enjoy Thai Airways food in-flight but have no time to cook at home,” declaring the taste is “almost the same” as similar food available in restaurants. He said, “I’m sure you cannot recognize the difference.”
It seems that the airline has initiated the campaign to help bring in ancillary revenue in the wake of losses caused by the political situation in Bangkok, which must be high for an airline to turn to food to help its bottom line.
But Thai Airways has a history of quality, be it in the air or on the ground, and is one of the only airlines that could get away with this idea. Please don’t ask me to buy a United Airlines Salisbury steak from Safeway. That’s where I draw the line.
Tell us, would you buy airplane food if you saw it for sale in a store or supermarket?
Image credit: jetalone
Yesterday Skytrax announced this year’s winners of the illustrious title of “Airline of the Year”. This is the big one for the airlines, the airline industry’s most prestigious prize throughout the year.
And the winner is….*drumroll*…. Asiana Airlines! Asiana was selected as the winner of the 2010 Airline of the Year award , with Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways taking second and third place respectively.
The final top 10 airlines of 2010 are:
Malaysia Airlines will be the first carrier in Asia to offer in-flight mobile phone and data services to their passengers. The airline has teamed up with AeroMobile to allow your mobile device to safely send and receive voice calls, text messages and emails during the flight without affecting the plane’s navigational or communication instruments.
The system was installed on Boeing 777-200 planes and tested extensively on flights from Malaysia to Europe, Australia, Africa and Japan among other regional routes.
Users will be billed at international roaming rates set by their regular service providers. Cabin crews on these flights are being trained to advise overly chatty passengers to “be mindful” of other passengers especially at certain times during long-haul and night flights.
We’ll see how that works for them, but it looks as if the phone use option is well on its way to being adapted industry-wide, regardless of your personal preference about the matter. Emirates and Qantas have already jumped on board.
Airline Route Map drawn by Jim Liu
Emirates Airlines has a route map that would make Ferdinand Magellan cry for mercy. With service to 102 destinations in 60 countries on nearly every continent already Emirates gets a nod for not discriminating.
With this in mind, Emirates has recently announced 4 new destinations to their route map: Tokyo, Prague, Amsterdam and Madrid.
While currently serving 19 destinations in Europe, the three new additions make it even easier to get close to where you’re going on an Emirates plane.
Japan, on the other hand, has been a black hole for Emirates, with Osaka being their only choice. Adding the capital will solidify their service to the Asian nation.
Also coming September 1, 2010, Dakar, Senegal.
If you’re flying from the United States you’ll still have to pass through Dubai to get anywhere, so Emirates may not always be your best option, but for sheer diversity of destinations they’re hard to hold a candle to.
Speak to your travel consultant for more info on how to travel on Emirates.
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.
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