Lion Air’s slogan is “We make people fly”. On Saturday 13th April, the airline did not quite live up to their promise ditching a 737-800 and 101 passengers and seven crew into the sea. All survived -22 with injuries. The plane is a write-off. Lion Air began flying in Indonesia in 2000. They commenced with one plane. Lion Air now connects 36 Indonesia cities plus destinations Singapore, Malaysian destinations and Ho Ch Minh in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Their website says their fleet consists of 15 737-800s, 16 MD90s, ten 737-400s and two 737-300s. Not sure how the 737-800 fits in?…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for April 2013.
787 to fly from May 31
United Airlines has scheduled a 787 flight from Houston to Denver on May 31. Seats are available for sale. It is planning to resume international 787 flights on June 10, from Denver to Tokyo. United stated they will make more schedule changes when they know that the plane has been cleared to fly. Over at Qatar Airways, their CEO announced their 787 fleet will be flying before May 31 with the Wall Street Journal claiming that Qatar is planning to have four of their five 787s in service by April 30. ANA (All Nippon) CEO…
Kingfisher cannot be cut
The decline of Kingfisher has been a saga that has gone on for almost two years. The airline gave India the most luxurious flying experience with a five star rating. Since then the airline has undergone a slow death by a 1000 cuts: ts bank accounts were frozen by the tax authorities in late 2011 International routes were closed in April 2012 they lost One World membership one month before it was meant to assume it in 2012 their operating license was suspended in October 2012 the revocation of it’s international flying rights by the Indian…
Aussie Capital Captivates
What is the Capital of Australia? a) Auckland b) Melbourne c) Canberra d) Sydney An unusual aspect of the Australian constitution is that it specified a brand new capital was to be created. The result was Australia’s largest inland city: Canberra. That’s right folks: the capital of Australia is not Sydney! After searching for a site for a city, the surveyors and politicians determined that one of the coldest places in Australia was perfect for the new capital because “<;The history of the world shows that cold climates have produced the greatest geniuses..Not sure how…
Airline kills James Dean … the cat
“The demise of James Dean is indeed sad and tragic….Jet Airways sincerely regrets the accidental demise of a pet cat” These are the words on Facebook of Jet Airways, an Indian airline following one of their employees running over a cat the airline was transporting from Delhi to Singapore on flight 9W18 on March 23. James Dean, the cat escaped from his cage while it was on the tarmac and was struck by a trolley train moments after. The cat’s owner has posted an obitury and discussion over her experiences. These include her feelings when the airline refused her to see the…
Armavia absents itself
Twice I have noted that Armenia’s national airline has been rumoured to be on the edge of bankruptcy. Last year, their owner threatened to bankrupt the airline unless Russia’s Vnukovo (Moscow) reduced fees. On March 29, 2013 the carrier finally collapsed with debts of: $US5 million owed to Zvartnots International Airport $US22 million to VTB bank $US1.5 million to Vnukovo airport. The airline is the third Armenian carrier to go after Armenian Airlines collapsed in 2003 and Armeninan International merged with Armavia in 2005. In the post bankruptcy discussions, the collapse was blamed on poor…
iDotto Audio Guides
The idea of wandering around a city listening to an audio tour does not excite me. Until now. iDotto is an intriguing app for the future of travel guiding. It is an audio guide that “accompanies” its users around a city and gives them a personalised guided tour. With a guide book, you usually have to follow a set route, or turn to a particular page. With IDotto, you download, whack in your headphones, walk where you want to and listen.”iDotto doesn’t give you orders, or impose an itinerary. It goes with you and tells you about what you are looking at. After all, it…
787 in weeks???
On Friday, “line number 86,” a Boeing-owned 787 Dreamliner built for LOT Polish Airlines took off for a test flight to “demonstrate that the new battery system performs as intended during normal and non-normal flight conditions.” This was the second test flight of the aeroplane since Boeing unveiled its improvements designed to circumvent the potentially disastrous on board lithium-ion battery fires. The company said its fixes address more than 80 possible causes. “Possible Causes” because no one -Boeing, regulators, airlines knows what caused the fires. The jet, carrying test equipment, nine crew and two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials, took off from the Boeing…
Qantas/Emirates: Positive, Negative, Alternative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJmj_KgH_x8 With a spectacular flyover Sydney by two Airbus A380s, the Qantas/Emirates “partnership” was officially “birthed” a week ago. Announced in July, 2012, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce claimed this was the most important deal in the 92 year history of the airline. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission gave final approval for the alliance after deciding that the deal will not lead to negative effects for passengers. It however, rejected Qantas’ argument that its international operations face a ”terminal decline” without the Emirates alliance. There are lots of pluses for Qantas passengers but I have yet to…
In Samoa your weight counts
It is hard to know if it is an April Fools Day prank but Samoa Air has announced a new fare calculation based on passengers weight. The airline’s Chief Executive, Chris Langton, told Radio Australia this week that the policy is proving successful.The airline began flying in 2012 and introduced the pricing policy in January, 2013. I tried it out booking a fare from Pago Pago, the main city of American Samoa to Asau which is situated on the north west coast of Savai’i island in Samoa. The total for the fare was 380 Tala for…
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