Economy Class & Beyond

ANA Grounds its 787 fleet after an emergency landing in Japan – JAL follows.

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BREAKING:  JAL is to ground its fleet of 787 Dreamliners as well according to AFP. Well, its finally happened - the first airline who had 787's delivered have grounded their 787 fleet pending safety inspections. According to Reuters and BBC News, All Nippon Airways flight NH692 operating from Yamaguchi Ube to Tokyo's Haneda made an emergency landing at Takamatsu  after a … [Read more...]

How long to self tag a bag? 24 seconds according to LCY…

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London City Airport has a habit of being fast over anything - be it turning around a plane, quick immigration or luggage claim. Well according to their web site, they're managed to get self bagging down to a lightning 24 seconds. The service offered by London City Airport and British Airways allows passengers to print their own luggage tags at the airport. Simply visit … [Read more...]

Singapore Airlines firms up more A380’s and A350’s

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Time to turn our attention away from the Boeing 787 and turn to the other new big aircraft in the air/in development. Singapore Airlines has finalised an order with Airbus for five A380's and 20 A350-900 aircraft, with a list price of US$7.5 Billion. This will boosts the Singapore Airlines cadre of A380's to 24 aircraft - with 19 in operation at the moment. Only Emirates … [Read more...]

FAA to review Boeing 787 Dreamliners – No Groundings at present

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Well this isn't unexpected, but its been coming after some high profile news articles, with the US Federal Aviation Administration announcing they are to launch a review into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner - in particular they will be reviewing its design and construction. It's important to note at this point, the 787's that are out in the real world can still fly, and are not … [Read more...]

Kingfisher Airlines aircraft – now impounded

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For Kingfisher Airlines, it just got a lot more tougher to restart services with news that the remaining aircraft in the Kingfisher fleet have been impounded by the Indian Service Tax Department. The impounding notice states the aircraft cannont be flown outsite the airports where they are parked since the grounding of the airline. This is due to a high service tax bill that … [Read more...]

Air France goes “Mini” on some routes to combat Low Cost Carriers

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The spread of Low Cost Carriers has raised questions for some legacy carriers on how to handle them. Some set up airlines (Lufthansa and Germanwings), some operate an airline within an airline (who remembers Ted by United, Song by Delta) and some do LCC pricing inside the airline to fill extra capacity. This is the line that Air France are taking, with the introduction of … [Read more...]

50% Avios on Avios eStore Purchases in certain shops

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It seems to be that time of the year again for Avios/BA Avios eStore purchases where they're running a promotion on the UK eStore, with 50% extra Avios on the following: 50% extra Avios at the following stores until 25 January: Adidas - 4 Avios/£1 Apple Store  -2 Avios/£1 Austin Reed - 4 Avios/£1 Boden 4 - Avios/£1 Cath Kidston 4 - Avios/£1 Charles Tyrwhitt  - … [Read more...]

Boeing goes on the defensive over the 787

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It seems Boeing is going on the defensive on the 787 project, with the company stating the plane is "100% Safe to Fly". In a conference call, Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP and 787 chief project engineer Mike Sinnett spoke to reporters during a Wednesday conference call from the company. Due to the ongoing National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the JAL APU … [Read more...]

More JAL 787 problems – Fuel leak this time

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Things are going from bad to worse for JAL and their 787's, with reports today of a second 787 in an incident at Boston. A second 787 suffered a fuel leak incident at Boston, where after the plane left the gate, about 40 gallons (151 litres) of spilled fuel was found. Passengers and crew were de-planed (187 passenger, 11 crew), with no one hurt,and the plane re-entered … [Read more...]

JAL 787 Fire incident at Boston – More trouble for the Dreamliner

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It seems the 787's are starting to run into real trouble, as a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 operating a Tokyo-Narita to Boston service has suffered an a fire after landing at Boston. It seems that a battery in the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) had overheated, causing the combustion. No passengers or crew were aboard the plane at this this point when the fire occurred. Carol … [Read more...]