Economy Class & Beyond

SU: Aeroflot to buy 11 A330’s, Yakov Smirnoff without Joke*

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Aeroflot is gearing up to purchase 11 new A330-300 frames, all to be delivered in 2011-13.This will increase their A330 series fleet to 20 (a mix of A330-200 and A330-300 series aircraft), which will hopefully tide them over until the A350XWB's begin delivery. For those who are still asleep, the A330 is a twin-engined widebody aircraft capable of 335 seats (2-class) or 295 … [Read more...]

AZ: Alitalia join SkyTeam TATL Combined Service Alliance.

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It seems Alitalia is slowly getting back into gear after ceeding into new ownership, with it joining the Air France, KLM and Delta Transatlantic Joint Venutre programme where airlines share transatlantic revenues and costs to run Trans Atlantic flights (or TATL flights)Alitalia being late to the party of course will have it's membership of this Joint Venture backdated to 1st … [Read more...]

Horrendously geeky: How to build a plane engine

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Whilst the BBC laughably calls this "How to build a Jumbo Jet Engine" (and they feature no 747's - the traditional jumbo jet), it actually gives a very geeky insight and the sheer work that goes into the construction of a Rolls Royce Trent Engine, some peeks at the 787 and some of the first engine parts of the A350XWB.Worth the 60 minutes it's on for.UK Users can access it from … [Read more...]

Drinks in Belfast with the BMI Board (BHX-BFS,DUB-BHX) Heading into LCC territory with BMI Baby and Aer Lingus, and a ride on the Enterprise Service.

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Drinks in Belfast with the BMI Board (BHX-BFS,DUB-BHX) Heading into LCC territory with BMI Baby and Aer Lingus, and a ride on the Enterprise Rail Service. Ok kids. Something a bit different from the usual wittering of United's food, Ghetto IFE systems and Star Alliance Carriers. This time, its travel for the sheer pleasure of it, and catching up with good people. That's … [Read more...]

Google buys ITA Software

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Now you're thinking "why the hell am I talking about Google buying yet another company?"Well this is important - as it's the engine a lot us use to get the base fares, tax breakdowns and fare comparison tools. In addition from a commercial viewpoint, it's the software that drives some airlines booking  engines (Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, Continental and US Airways) as well … [Read more...]

BD: Wha? You actually *fly* BMI? 10% off sound any good?

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For those few people who actually fly BMI, courtesy of www.vouchercodes.co.uk, there's a lovely 10% code of 10FLYBMI. Unlike previous codes, this is valid on the whole network. However as usual, you've 1) got to be quick to book it as it expires on the 01/08/10  and 2) find somewhere you want to go that BMI operate to (which is a challenge in itself) Now there are a bunch … [Read more...]

FR: Ryanair cuts capactiy at STN, Odious Little Man blames APD.

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Well, Ryanair is doing a repeat of last year, cutting services and frequencies at London Stansted, with 22 aircraft based at there for the Winter season, and 135 less servicesIn general, UK Capacity will be down 17%, with Stansted's capacity dropping by 16% over the winter months. However, as usual Ryanair goes on the attack, and a full on rant about Air Passenger Duty (APD - … [Read more...]

Coming soon: Maggots on a plane!

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It seems that life is just fun on US Airways, when a discovery of maggots halted and forced a service back to the gate. Let the video do the talking:There's a whole peice on Syracuse.com, but there can be only one word to describe this.EWWWWW!Hat tip: The Register … [Read more...]

JL/NH: JAL and ANA annoucnes it’s Haneda intentions…

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Whilst JAL isn't out of the fire when it comes to its financial troubles, it is continue to innovate with the opening up of Tokyo Haneda. And there are some interest routes opening up including:BangkokHonolulu Paris Charles De Gaulle San Francisco.SingaporeTaipei SongshanANA on the other hand has made it's move, which makes it a practical head to head on lots of them. The … [Read more...]

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