London

Tag Archives for London.

19 hour marathon will be longest Flight

If you can bear a 19 hour non stop flight, then the Qantas announcement of a non stop flight between Perth, Australia and London, England from 2017 might excite you.  Using a Boeing 787-9 two pairs of pilots and a spare cabin crew would allow the aeroplane to make the 14,000 kilometre (9009 mile) journey in 19 hours. At the moment, Perth-London can be reached with one stop via Cathay Pacific, Emirates,  Etihad, Malaysian, Qatar and Singapore. The new service to London would have an early evening departure from Perth, reaching London, the next day by noon. Even…

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Don’t be pound foolish

This old English saying comes from the early 17th Century. It describes a person who is thrifty (or miserly) with small amounts of their money, but wasteful with larger amounts. Travelling I see plenty of people guilty of this! I used to work with a very wise man called Tom. He taught me the value of valuing my time and money.  He noted that his predecessor used to drive across town two hours and back to save the $10 delivery fee on a particular supply. Tom noted it was costing the company $35 to save that $10. Tom noted…

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Where you will find the Concorde

As mentioned yesterday, it is 11 years since Concorde last flew. Sadly, the closest I have ever got to Concorde was at the Seattle air museum, Heathrow airport and CDG airport in Paris. I have the germ of an idea of going to visit all of the remaining Concordes around the world. As most are in the UK and France, that should not be too hard! Adding Barbados in, is a little trickier. 001:F-WTSS Prototype – flew 1969 to 1973  Museum of Air and Space, Le Bourget, France 002 – flew 1969 to 1976:  Fleet Air Arm Museum,…

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The Top Ten views from the air

What would you consider to be the ten best views from the air? British Airways asked their pilots who fly 180 routes globally to nominate their top ten: Northern Lights- I’d love to see them! Central London – Approach into Heathrow (I wonder how much that is about BA pilots coming home?) Mont Blanc – Pisa Sydney Harbour – on departure from Sydney, Australia Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and bay – San Francisco Greenland – North Atlantic flights Venetian canals – Venice, Italy Cape Town, Table Mountain, South Africa Dubrovnik, Croatia Mount Fuji The survey…

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Paris -New York in Business for 30% less- LaCompagnie

Fuel prices must be down because people are launching all business class airlines again. I blogged about London based Odyssey airlines last month. (Still unsure if they have a chance or not).  At a Manhattan news conference last Tuesday, LaCompagnie was launched. The company has raised approximately $US41 million) from investors and is the brainchild of a former executive of India’s Jet Airways Peter Luethi and Frantz Yvelin, the founder of a previous all business class airline L’AVION. L’AVION operated between Orly Airport, Paris and Newark in the USA from 3 January 2007 to 2 July 2008 when it was taken over…

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Etihad unveils flying hotel!

I am most envious of those who got to fly to Abu Dhabi to see the launch of flag-carrier Etihad’s A380 last week! The feature that has grabbed the world is the creation of “The Residence”. This announcement of these features have trumped Korea’s on board duty free shop and Emirate’s First Class showers! The 11 square metre (125 sq ft) Residence will be located at the front of the Upper deck and consists of three rooms: a living room, bedroom with double bed, and private bathroom with shower. Both living room and bedroom feature…

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Will Business Class only Odyssey survive?

In Homer’s ancient tale The Odyssey, there are a few themes. One of them is about hospitality and the other is about Perseverance. London City-based startup Odyssey Airlines is attempting a model that has failed many times, despite its predecessors offering the best in hospitality. Odyssey hopes to be a business only carrier that makes it through! Odyssey has raised five million dollars through Crowdcube, a crowdfunding platform and other funding sources. The airline plans to launch flights in 2016 from London City to an unspecified airport in New York. Once the carrier is up…

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Trip Report: Air France to London City

My 920th flight was also my first  flight into London City. As a result of this flight, I have now flown into and/or out of every one of London’s five airports. The other are: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead and Luton.  London City Airport was opened in 1987 after six years of planning and construction. The airport is located within the newly developed Docklands precinct of London (11 km: 6.9 miles) from the City of London. In 2011, the Airport served nearly 3 million passengers. Booking: 9 out of 10 This flight was operated as an Air France service by its subsidiary CityJet.…

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Spanish Shakeup for IAG

IAG CEO Willie Walsh has thrown down a challenge following  nine months of losses at Iberia and a 25% fall in third quarter profit for the group. This week he said:  “We want Iberia to be strong and successful. For too long the narrow self-interest of the few has damaged the long-term future for the many. We will not hesitate to take necessary steps to protect the interests of our shareholders.” It looks like Iberia is going through the same medicine that British Airways went through two years ago.  The immediate changes are: Iberia capacity will be…

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