Economy Class & Beyond

A380 Update: Thai Airways International first A380 goes into final assembly

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Lets have some nice pretty looking aviation news, and it's from Airbus who have released a picture of the first Thai Airways International Airbus A380 entering final assembly. Image - (c) Airbus SAS 2011. Now I don't know about you, but that Purple on the tail fin does look very pretty indeed (and I do like the colour scheme they've chosen for the "re-brand"). I'll look … [Read more...]

UK Secretary of State for Transport: More Body Scanners to come

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It seems the political leaders are drinking some sort of drink to believe everything, with the Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening coming out and saying that more scanners should be deployed, a lack of opt-out (scanning to remain compulsory for those selected), and for scans that are conducted to be reviewed by machine, rather than by humans. It seems the UK … [Read more...]

Thomas Cook in trouble…

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It seems the tour operator and airline Thomas Cook is in a bit of a fiscal trouble zone, with it postponing its disclosure of the groups its full-year results to allow it time to talk to the banks over easing the money burden. Thomas Cook blames a "deterioration of trading" in parts of the business that has hit its cash and liquidity. In particular, the holiday sector in … [Read more...]

Astraeus Airlines ceases operations

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Who you might be asking? Astraeus Airlines was an airline that did a lot of wet-leasing and chartering of it's aircraft to companies that needed extra capacity (BMI Veterans would recognise this when they were flying Boeing 757's for BMI on routes). Additionally, they've flown for British Airways, Iceland Express, Thomson Airways, Thomas Cook and Iron Maiden where they flew … [Read more...]

Travelling out of Heathrow/London City today? Fog inbound – expect delays

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It seems the winter season has finally arrived, with the first major fogging of the season. 132 flights have been cancelled due to the fog today out of London Heathrow, and 44 delayed or diverted away from London City due to the fog The BBC Weather Centre as well as the Met Office predicts the fog will lift around 10:00 on Monday Morning (21st November), however with fog, … [Read more...]

SkyTeam to expand again – Xiamen Airlines to join

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News from China and SkyTeam that Xiamen Airlines is set to join the alliance, and will become a full member towards the end of 2012. In some ways this isn't surprising at all as Xiamen Airlines is  60% owned by China Southern Airlines - who also happens to be sponsoring their entry into the alliance. Xiamen Airlines currently operates a mostly China domestic programme … [Read more...]

Europe Bans Airport Body Scanners For “Health and Safety” Concerns

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Here's a big news breaking from the European Union, Forbes and The Economist. And it's to do with Nude-o-scopes - or Backscatter/Millimetre Wave Scanners. And to be blunt - the European Union is not happy about them in the least. The big line from the release it is this: In order not to risk jeopardising citizens' health and safety, only security scanners which do not … [Read more...]

Emirates upscales another service to A380 on Dubai-London run

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The shy and retiring airline that's known as Emirates has decided to upscale it's operations to London again, and have disposed of a 777 and switched it to... an A380. Flight EK29/30 from the 24th of January 2012 will go A380, adding more capacity on the run, and from the timings, perfect connection timings for some of their other Eastbound services For those interested … [Read more...]

Kingfisher – a proposed rescue?

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It seems the torrid time that Kingfisher Airlines is having is just getting worse. Kingfisher is considering proposals to cut it's debt pile by 50% - from $1.3 Billion. This involves: Selling off property Disposal of assets Modifying loans from the parent company (Kingfisher Group) Changing leasing terms on it's aircraft. Cutting non-income making routes and … [Read more...]

BMI… A bucketful of losses….

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The Telegraph has been eyeing what state BMI is in and what it could be worth.. and the losses it could be stemming. And the numbers don't make good reading.... BMI is on target to loose £145 million this year, with the liabilities that remain at a staggering £362 million. It seems that Morgan Stanley did the numbers, and it didn't turn out what they expected with the … [Read more...]

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