Economy Class & Beyond

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...]

Emirates go and order another 50 planes…

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Emirates have kicked off the Dubai Airshow in style, with an order from Boeing for a grand total of 50 (Yes, 50) Boeing 777-300ER's At list, the order is worth $18 Billion. Knowing Emirates, they probably got a knock-down on that price. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates states "The 777's reliability, performance and operating economics have … [Read more...]

IAG on BMI Miles – We can’t tell you anything yet…

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Simon Calder of The Independent  has been writing about the changes about British Airways and Airmiles are making with the jump to Avios. But there is one nugget of information about BMI Diamond Club and it's future if IAG complete the purchase of BMI. And here it is in completion. "At this stage, IAG has signed a letter of intent to buy BMI and it is hoped that the deal … [Read more...]

Hong Kong Airlines confirm Gatwick as their UK destination

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Yesterday, I wrote about Hong Kong Airlines starting up it's all business class service between Hong Kong and London. Well it seems Hong Kong Airlines have settled on a route and times. The planes will be heading to London Gatwick (in line with a few operators who are either new to the airport - Vietnam Airlines, Lufthansa - or have switched from Stansted in the case of … [Read more...]

FCO posts its latest “Odd requests for help”. May Induce Laughter…

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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has released it's latest list of "Odd requests for assistance. And some of these are just comedy gold. Here's a few requests the poor people at the FCO have had to handle A telephone number for Phil Collins Phoning the Sydney Consulate to ask what clothes he should pack for his holiday Asking them to sell a house in Sofia A lady … [Read more...]

Hong Kong Airlines to deploy single class business product on LON-HKG…

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Here's a good one. Hong Kong Airlines has decided to sell tickets on a new route. Nothing new you might think, except this will be a single class route between London and Hong Hong. With Business Class Seats. Tickets will go on sale in December, with flights launching in March 2012. Hong Kong Airlines plan to operate this with *three* A330-200, configured with 34 lie-flat … [Read more...]