Economy Class & Beyond

Rob Fyfe of Air New Zealand to go…

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News from New Zealand and Air New Zealand with Rob Fyfe resigning from the carrier - to leave at the end of the year. Rob Fyfe joined the airline in 2005, and has done his best to keep the airline afloat in troubling times. He is resigning from Air New Zealand to allow the airline's s "talented and capable" executives the room to realise their full potential  according to … [Read more...]

All back to normal with Amadeus

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It seems all has got better with Amadeus, with a posting on their blog released: Amadeus can now confirm that all airline systems are restored. Some travel agency customers may continue to experience service disruption which we are investigating. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. A quick check of CheckmyTrip.com is running a bit slow, whilst the classic … [Read more...]

Rock me Amadeus… or work at least please…?

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It seems there are a few issues with Amadeus at the moment (the booking engine used by some airlines). Using the CheckmyTrip.com interface, after entering a valid PNR/Surname, you're normally able to examine your itineraries and such. Alas, The database seems broken at the moment, so it's not available via this interface. Which rather annoying if your airline uses … [Read more...]

Emirates to re-gauge Dubai-Dublin run

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Emriates recently launched a Dubai to Dublin service, and it seems to have gone down well. Well enough that Emirates has confirmed re-gauging of the service from the currently operated Airbus A330-300 to Boeing 777-300ER thanks to the 90% load factors that have appeared to be filling the planes. The service is being switched to a three class Boeing 777-300ER, configured … [Read more...]

Spanair – Operations cease after running out of funds

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Continuing from yesterdays breaking story that Spanair has filed for bankruptcy, more details are emerging and the impact that is rippling through the Spanish Aviation industry. To recap: Spanair were declared to be "in an emergency financial situation" on Wednesday 25th January. the airline was in talks with Qatar Airways in purchasing a stake in the airline. On Friday the … [Read more...]

Spanair – Operations Suspended

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Well this sneaked up, but apparently, Spanair has suspended all flights after failed talks with Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways was in talks to buy a stake in Spanair, but it seems those talks have collapsed according the the Catalan regional government (who owns 80.1% of the company) and SAS who own 19.9%. A rescue effort was launched on the 25 January 2011, after the … [Read more...]

The sting in the tAAil – American Airlines 777-300ER

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So all the buzz has been about American Airlines launching a new Business class product with a 1-2-1 business product which admittedly, does look lovely. However, like everything there is a sting in the tail - enough for me to avoid these birds if I ever fly American Airlines. And it's down the back. Ignoring the obvious of a very nice IFE screen, power at seat, … [Read more...]

Alitalia plans to merge with two other airlines

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The Cranky Flyer's favourite target - Alitalia -  has made a tentative agreement to merge with two other Italian operators Blue Panorama and Wind Jet. Now those of you scratching your head will probably have never heard of these airlines. There's probably good reasons for that as Blue Panorama is a charter outfit operating a small fleet of Boeing 767's, Boeing 757's and … [Read more...]

Norwegian Air Shuttle splashes the cash – orders a lot of birds….

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Well it seems someone has a few pennies to spend, with Norwegian Air Shuttle opening its wallets to both Boeing and Airbus. From Boeing,  Norwegian has placed a firm order for Boeing 737-MAX's (737-8MAX variant) and 22 Boeing 737-800's. Meanwhile not to leave Airbus out in the cold, it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with them for 100 A320NEO's. In addition, … [Read more...]