Economy Class & Beyond

United Airlines plans a route to Xi’an

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Network expansion is the name of the game, with United Airlines filling for to operate a route between San Francisco and Xi'an in China. United Airlines Boeing 787 taking off, Image (c) The Boeing Company. Plans for the first Trans-Pacific service between the USA and Xi'an would call for a seasonal service to be introduced 3 times a week during the Summer 2016 season. The … [Read more...]

Lufthansa to introduce Short/Medium haul in-flight WiFi in 2016

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WiFi  (or in-flight connectivity) in planes in Europe can best be described as "patchy" at best, and "hopeless missing" at worse, with limited carriers offering WiFi connectivity aboard their planes on European routes (with Norwegian Air Shuttle operating the most planes with WiFi aboard), and other airlines making token efforts as they dip their toes into the WiFi water … [Read more...]

Birmingham New Street completes its refurbishment

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Birmingham New Street has been a bit of a joke in the past. I've called it Mordor Haptbahnhof more than once due to how dark and dingy it was. Well, things have changed a bit. In 2013, the first half of New Street was refurbished. Now, they've finished the other half of the construction work. How does it look? Well lets take a look, as I approach the station from the … [Read more...]

Airplane Art – FlyBe Bombardier Dash 8-Q400

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It's Sunday again, so it must be time for more airplane art. This week, it's taking off first thing in the morning is a FlyBe Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 departing London City Airport. FlyBe operate a fleet of 49 Bombardier Dash 8-Q400s in their fleet, operating from the from regional destinations across the UK to both domestic and European destinations. More Airplane … [Read more...]

A film about Birmingham…

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The City of Birmingham. It's 100 miles from London, and a world apart. It's also the place I like to call home. Dusk over Broad Street in Birmingham from the Hyatt Regency Birmingham - Image, Economy Class and Beyond In a lot of peoples minds, Birmingham is a concrete palace, with odd accents and more canals than Venice (it's technically correct, so there … [Read more...]

Finnair’s A350 takes to the sky, TAM’s A350 emerges from the paint shop

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As Airbus A350s begin to roll out of the factory at a slightly faster pace, two bits of A350 news happened. Firstly, the first A350 for Finnair took flight for the first time. Finnair Airbus A350-900 taking off for the first time - Image, Airbus. For this aircraft, it now enters the final stages of preparation for delivery to Finnair - including further flight tests … [Read more...]

Boeing’s 737 MAX begins to take form

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Boeing and its partners have been working towards the next generation of Boeing 737 - The Boeing 737 MAX for some while. It seems work is now progressing a fair rate, with the first frame revealed today as it enters the final assembly hall at Boeing's Renton plant. The first Boeing 737 MAX 8 in the assembly line - Image © The Boeing Company. The Boeing 737 MAX … [Read more...]

Heathrow Express now offers advanced purchase tickets… and lower pricing

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I've gone on many a rant about how much it costs to use Heathrow Express and how I don't think it's good value for money in the least. Heck, I've even mentioned some of the tips I use to reduce the cost of getting into London. Heathrow Express at Heathrow Central - Image, Economy Class and Beyond Inside the Heathrow Express in Express Class - Image, Economy Class and … [Read more...]

Korean Air to operate its Boeing 747-8i to Chicago

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For those of you following the following the spread of Boeing 747-8i services across the world, some of you might be happy to learn that Korean Air will operate services between Seoul Incheon and Chicago O'Hare International Korean Air Boeing 747-8i taking off - Image, (c) The Boeing Company. Korean Air will operate a Boeing 747-8i daily in place of the existing Boeing … [Read more...]