Economy Class & Beyond

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...]

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...]