So how was last week? This week I am back with Etihad up to the Middle East. Am wondering what they will do with my Platinum card (last time I flew them I was Gold). In Melbourne (where I am starting my journey from), they use the Air New Zealand lounge which is a very nice one. Safe travels to you!
Airline News (Friday)
Category Archives for Airline News (Friday).
Qantas Shrinking Growth
In response to an 83 per cent fall in its first-half net profit to $A42 million to December 31 and as a part of a half a billion dollar cost cutting measure. Qantas is pulling out of two more routes in May and cutting 500 jobs in catering, engineering and heavy maintenance. The sectors being lost are: Auckland, New Zealand (AKL) to Los Angeles, USA (LAX) QF25 and 26 Singapore (SIN) to Mumbai (India) (BOM) QF 50 and 51 These cuts are in addition to the previously announced withdrawals in March from the Hong Kong-London…
Air Australia Grounded- Shock! Not.
When I blogged about Australia’s newest airline in January, I was not convinced it was a viable proposition. So many start ups have tried in Australia and failed/disappeared (East-West, Compass I, Compass II, Impulse, for example). More recently, we have seen Tiger Airways Australia in trouble. Australia is a tough aviation market in a tough aviation world. Already in 2012, three airlines have collapsed including Malev that I blogged about last week. Air Australia is the world’s fourth airline to be grounded this year. On the morning of February 17, Air Australia, after less than three months of operations, ran…
Tuesday Trip Report: My last Malév flight
With the collapse of Malév this seems like the only time to post about my last Malev flight in July 2009 – 2.5 years ago from Rome to Budapest. Booking: 10 out of 10 My ticket was actually booked in conjunction with a Cathay Pacific fare (Malév were part of the One World alliance). I travelled to Budapest from Australia via Hong Kong and Roma. From my visits to Malév ‘s website, I found it to be streamlined, straightforward and effective. Check In: 7 out of 10 Signposting for the Malév check in at Rome’s Leonardo Da…
Malév Over Budapest
In doing some research about failed Hungarian carrier Malév, I came across this amazing video. On August 20, 2006 a Malév 737 followed by a Sky Europe plane flew at a low altitude over Budapest, Hungary. This ten minute video has some stunning view of this beautiful city. The two planes then flew side by side. I assume it was done for the sixtieth anniversay of the founding of the successor to Malév. Ironically, both airlines are gone now.
This Week: 13-19 February, 2012
I am in Bangkok, Wellington, Palmerston North, Auckland and Melbourne this week. 8005 miles (12 808 km) to be flown with four airlines: Air New Zealand, British Airways, Qantas and Virgin Australia. Trivia: I will fly my 820th flight of my life! I will also have my 40th Air New Zealand flight! Where are you this week? Hope its a great one!
Malév Malaise- Hungary’s flag carrier demise
After several horror years of airline failures globally, 2011 was a relatively quiet year with only a small number of airline names vanishing. 2012 has already been busy, however, with the collapse of Spanair and Cirrus in January. This week I was sad to see the collapse of Malév, the Hungarian flag carrier. The airline has been on the edge of collapse for years. Shutdown was triggered by a European Commission order to repay €300 million in “illegal” government subsidies and forced when Tel Aviv and Dublin airports grounded two of Malév’s jets. On closure day, 30 000 passengers were stranded. The airline had…
Spanair no more
The end came quickly for Spanair and her people.- very quickly. History Established in 1986 as a charter airline by Scandinavian airlines with a Spanish travel company, Spanair began scheduled international flights in 1991 followed by Spanish domestic flights in 1994. Membership of Star Alliance came in 2003. Skytrax rated them a 3 star airline. Spanair struggled to make money and in June, 2007, SAS announced it would sell most of its 94 per cent shareholding. SAS failed to find a buyer, however, and finally sold 83.1 per cent for a euro to the government of the Catalonia region in Spain in January, 2009. This region gave the…
Etihad World #1 Airline
Etihad, the Abu Dhabi based airline has won for the third year in a row the award of World’s Leading Airline 2011. Check out of the video of the awards. The award was previously won by Singapore in 2008. Prior to that British Airways had gained the award every year from 1994 to 2007 with the exception of 2003 when Virgin Atlantic won. Other winners are listed here: http://www.worldtravelawards.com/winners2011-1 They included Qatar Airways for leading Business Class and Cathay Pacific Airways obtaining Leading Economy Class. No US airline got an award except for American Airlines for their…
United delays International 787 expansion
Following the grounding of one of United’s six 787s for an electrical generator failure on 4th December, the airline has delayed sthe deployment of the 787 on some routes out of Houston Intercontinental. The services are to Lagos which will start in “late January” instead of 3 January, London due now on 1 March instead of 4 February Amsterdam on 24 February instead of 23 February United still plans to begin flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai Pudong on 30 March, and Denver and Tokyo Narita on 31 March. The airline said “By delaying the…
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