Ukraine’s eighteen year old flag carrier Aerosvit became the first airline to declare bankruptcy for 2013 with debts of USD530 million and assets of USD177 million. Ukrainian International Airlines will take over a number of Aerosvit routes. Related Posts The Airlines that Vanished in 2012
Airline News (Friday)
Category Archives for Airline News (Friday).
My Top Airlines for 2012
This last year, I flew 121 times for a total distance of 331,127km (205,753 mi). This is eight and a quarter times around the earth. I was inside planes for a whopping 19 days of the year. Some airlines made my time with them a delight – and some made it not so fun. I rate each flight I take for every factor from Booking to Check-in to deplaning. and keep a tally of my rating using Flightmemory.com. The scores averaged out give me the ranking of flights, airlines and airports. I have placed my score for each airline…
The Airlines that Vanished in 2012
Twenty six airline names disappeared in 2012 – an average of two per month. Some “biggish” name carriers sadly vanished including Malev and Spanair. One of the airlines “died” and came back (Air Zimbabwe) and two more have promised a return. Some of the victims were amongst the oldest airlines in the world. An extraordinary 13 of the carriers that went were Europe based. Four African carriers went, Australia, Asia, the USA South America/Caribbean all lost two. One of my burning questions from the year’s bankruptcies is: Why do consumers get dumped? Most of the airlines gave absolutely no…
Ten Worst Airlines- 2012 [Updated]
I am often asked which airlines are best avoided. Having flown for over 3040 hours (0ver 18 weeks of my life!) with 83 airlines, there are some clear differences between the best and the worst! I rate each flight I take for every factor from Booking to Check in to deplaning. and keep a tally of my rating using Flightmemory.com. The scores averaged out give me the ranking of flights, airlines and airports. I have placed my score for each airline next to the airline name. Here is my list for of the 2012 worst airlines, starting from the…
Branson Wears Dress
Tickets will be auctioned off for charity for a special Lumpur to London Air Asia flight next May. The focus of the flight will be the sight of Virgin Atlantic owner Richard Branson wearing a female Air Asia flight attendant uniform and serving drinks. The reason for the dress is a 2010 bet between the two over which team would finish higher in a Grand Prix race. AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes Lotus team finished 10th and Virgin 12th. No doubt there will be plenty of photos! Will Branson be wearing his beard too?
Shenzhen Air joins Star Alliance -No One World for China?
Following the recent addition of Xiamen Airlines to Skyteam, Shenzhen Airlines China’s fifth largest carrier has joined the Star Alliance after 16 months of planning. Shenzen is based in the city of the same name, 1,940km from Beijing. The airline links 70 cities domestically and internationally. In 2010, the airline was involved in a scandal when it was found that about one hundred of its pilots had falsified their flying qualifications and experience. There is much speculation, as to whether all of these false pilots were successfully removed from the company. Almost all of China’s largest airlines are now locked into either Skyteam or Star Alliance. In contrast with the…
Jetstar Christmas Present-Not
On November 25, one month before Christmas, Jetstar NZ cancelled a December 23 Melbourne to Auckland flight. Jetstar very helpfully tried to accomodate the 80 passengers that were affected. Some were offered tickets on a December 26 flight, they claimed and some were offered flights one week before their original date, when people were at work. Passengers attempting to find flights at this late stage with other airlines faced an impossible prospect. Many shelled out hundreds of dollars more to get seats. Christmas in Australia and New Zealand is the biggest holiday of the year. Most shops and businesses shut down for three to…
Jetlink Jinxed by South Sudan?
Not been a terrific year for African airlines with the loss this year of Velvet Sky, Air Nigeria, 1time and on the 16th of this month the grounding of Jetlink Express of Kenya. Jetlink started operations in 2004. It employed 350 staff and operates a fleet of eight Bombardier CRJs. Jetlink, which has operated for over four years, operated scheduled Kenyan domestic flights to Kisumu, Mombasa, and Eldoret and regionally to Juba (South Sudan) and Mwanza in Tanzania. Its closure is a little unusual. In a statement, Jetlink said it had over two million US dollars in…
Air Zim flies with No Passengers
Air Zimbabwe flew an an empty 767 from Johannesburg to Harare on Monday November 12th. The plane which has seats for 203 passengers had flown in the morning to Johannesburg from Harare International with five passengers. There were nine crew aboard including two pilots, a first flight officer, an engineer and six flight attendants. This was a result of nil marketing by the airline about its resumed services after its latest grounding. Since then, the airline has launched new cheap fares offering round trips to Johannesburg for 420 US dollars .This compares to South Africa Airways 630 US Dollar return…
Xiamen Airlines joins Skyteam
Xiamen Airlines joined the SkyTeam alliance last week becoming airline number 19 in the grouping of which three others cover the area China : China Southern and China Eastern Airlines (China) and China Airlines (Taiwan) Xiamen are the fifth largest airline in China,based in Xiamen in the Fujian Province. This picture shows one flight attendant representative from 18 of skyteam airlines with three representatives from Xiamen. Left to Right- match the airline to the uniform. How many can you match? Aeroflot Aerolineas Aeromexico Air Europa Air France Alitalia China Airlines China Eastern China Southern Czech…
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