I have flown Turkish Airlines six times in the past six weeks. They are a member of the Star Alliance (along with United, US Air, Singapore, Lufthansa and others). The Alliance slogan is: “The Way the Earth connects”. Upon booking, I called Turkish Airlines, and asked them to enter my United number into the Turkish Reservations system attached to my flight bookings. When checking in online, I found my number was absent from the system, so I re0entered it. At the airport, check in counter, I found (again) my United number was absent from my booking. When…
Thomson 787
Thomson airlines, the European launch customer for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, have been running a competition to name their first plane using the hashtag: #nameourplane This is a clever way to get publicity for their first 787 which will arrive in early 2013 with services starting 1st May, 2013. Another three are expected to be delivered in 2013, three more in 2014 and one in 2015. This will give the carrier eight of these planes. The ‘Thomson 787 will carry 291 passengers, which is more cozier than any other carrier so far. This compares with Ethiopian’s 270, United’s 219…
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…
Incredible Istanbul
For the last few years, every year a friend of mine, Paul and I, have an extended long weekend in a new city. The rule is that the city must be new for both of us. i.e. we have never been to that city before. As a result we have been to Reykjavik (iceland), Madrid (Spain), Berlin (Germany), and Southampton, UK. We usually travel sans partners and use the time to explore, catch up and eat! This year we chose Istanbul, an immense metropolis of 13 million people which has been home to people for…
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…
Aer Lingus: Budapest to Dublin (updated)
Background Aer Lingus is the flag carrier and second biggest airline in Ireland. Operating since 1936, its name an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Aer Loingeas means “air fleet” . A lot has changed for Aer Lingus in the last six years not the least being the Irish economic situation. The government reduced its 85 per cent stake to 25 percent through a listing on the Stock Exchange in 2006. Ryanair, arch rival and biggest Irish airline has now picked up close to 30 percent and attempted three takeover bids in five years.Abu Dhabi-based and owned Etihad…
Main Airline Fees
Once upon a time, an airline ticket guaranteed you a seat, the ability to take a bag with you and to schlep one onto the plane. With the flight came a meal, drinks and some sort of entertainment. In the modern world, people want to pay as little as possible so airlines began stripping out some of the options they used to include in an effort to reduce the base fare we pay. Then airlines began selling back to us what we used to expect for free. It seems to me there are six major types…
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…
Qatar 787 -at last!
One hundred passengers joined Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker for the delivery flight of their 787 from Seattle to Doha on November 17. I am in no way envious! Qatar are the Middle Eastern launch customer for the 787 having ordered 60 of the planes – 30 firm with options for 30 more. Qatar is rated a five star airline and has been nominated airline of the year twice by Skytrax. They are the newest entrant to One World. I have yet to fly them. Qatar Airways had refused to take delivery of the first five of their 787s…
Time ran out for 1time
In September, commenting on South Africa’s only truly independent airline going into bankruptcy protection to reorganise, I asked the question “will 1time run out of time and become another lost carrier in 2012?” On November 2nd, CEO Blacky Komani announced that the “1Time board, together with business rescue practitioners, decided to suspend services with effect this afternoon“. Planes in the air at the time flew back to the Johannesburg base. All other scheduled flights remained grounded. South African banks promised their Credit Card customers full refunds for any tickets bought using their cards. The National Consumer Commission began investigating claims that 1time…
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