Qantas first formed on the 15th of November, 1920, 96 years ago this month. For its first 24 years, it carried only its name on the tail of its aircraft: Qantas, short for Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services. The Australian carrier adopted the flying kangaroo in 1944. The symbol was itself adapted from the Australian one penny coin. The airline has changed its symbol four times since. In 1947, with the arrival of Lockheed L749 Constellations on the Sydney to London route, a 63 hour multi-stop service known as “The Kangaroo route”. To celebrate the…
Airline News (Friday)
Category Archives for Airline News (Friday).
Etihad goes Five Star
Etihad Airways has received the Skytrax “Certified Five Star Airline Rating” after a three month audit of the airline’s global product and service by Skytrax. A few couple of things about this are interesting: This brings the number of five star airlines in the world to nine: ANA, Asiana, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Hainan, Qatar, and Singapore. Malaysia used to have a five star rating but that was lost. This means of the big Middle Eastern carriers, Qatar and Etihad are five stars and Emirates is four I am a little cynical about the rating…
Happy birthday to Cathay Pacific at 70
Few companies last seventy years in our modern world and even fewer non-government airlines have survived. Carriers in Asia have come and gone over the decades but Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) has maintained services since 24 September, 1946 from its base in tiny Hong Kong. They have survived SARS, hijackings, the handover of HK back to China and several economic crises. I fell in love with Cathay Pacific in 1971 on my birthday and today, they are my third favourite airline. I have rated its booking systems, check ins, service, meals etc and come up with…
I told you so! Kiwi Regional Folds
I have seen so many airlines come and go. Fine ideas that seemed great have resulted in so many failures. I gave Kiwi Regional Airlines six months. I am not proud to say, I was almost right. I was out by one month. The carrier closed after nine months of flying. The decision to close was made after seven months. The good news is that their plane (yes one plane), engineers and staff are being transferred to Air Chathams. The routes are gone -again. Sadly, so have their beautiful luggage tags. NZ is a very tough…
The World’s Best Airlines -My experience vs Skytrax
The annual Skytrax awards reveal last year’s best airlines as voted by passengers. The 2016 results were announced at the Farnborough Airshow this week. (One day I will get to the show!). Looking at the results, their awards are closely aligned to what I have experienced – with some minor exceptions. The Skytrax Top Ten does not dramatically change each year. It just seems to slightly rearrange! The same names have dominated the top 20 airlines continually. Of the Top ten ranked airlines, Skytrax nominated, I have flown eight. The 2016 winners are: Emirates (EK), United Arab…
Dude, Where is my 787?
As we landed in Sydney to connect to our LATAM 787 service to Auckland, we found out via at the LATAM app, that the flight was cancelled. Sure enough, the departure screens at the airport confirmed this. The good news was that we had been re-booked onto an ir New Zealand service leaving Sydney a mere 7 hours later. I love NZ Business Class- its a very solid product but… The bad news was we had specifically booked the LATAM service so we could fly on the 787! They are the only airline offering the 787 between…
21 times around the earth with Qantas -my 350th #QF Flight
Is there one airline that you have flown more than any other? I have flown on 90 different airlines. Almost one third of all my lifetime plane flights (I’ve flown 1089 times) have been with the Australian carrier, Qantas. I have just flown my 350th flight with them from Canberra, to Melbourne, Australia! Pictured here on the early morning 737-800 service. The plane on my 35oth Qantas flight itself (VH-XZG) was named Bungendore, after a small town outside Canberra. This is their 101st 737 and Boeing jetliner number 251. It was my third time on this particular…
Cool Video on the True Cost of Flying
Fascinating video on breaking down the true cost of flying. If it costs $2.50 for the fuel to fly me between DC and LA, why do the tickets cost so much? There are a lot more expenses and this video breaks them down. A hell a lot of money goes to airport costs, and taxes.The one that surprised me is how little the staff get! I like the comparison with driving. When I drive across the country, I need to consider fuel on top of the cost of the car. That makes airline fares pale in…
Thoughts and Prayers with all those affected by Egyptair 804
I offer sympathy and condolences to all those affected by the tragic loss of flight MS804 this week. May they rest in peace.
My travels with the #19 year old #StarAlliance
The Star Alliance turns 19 tomorrow, Saturday the 14th of May. The network is now an “adult” with 27 member airlines carrying almost 638 million passengers annually. This compares to SkyTeam with 20 airlines and 588 million passengers annually and Oneworld with 15 airlines and almost 513 million. Starting with just five airlines, the network has grown to include: I have flown 159 times with nine Star Alliance members for a total of 424,788km (263,951 miles), almost ten times around the earth! This represents 14% of all my flights and a third of the distance I have ever flown! The Star…
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