Economy Class & Beyond

Airplane Art – Austrian Airlines A320

04/08/2013 by Kevincm

It's Sunday again, so it must be time for some more airplane art. This week, it's an Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 waking up after a nights sleep at Zurich Airport, awaiting its next duty, in a cold winter's morning. The image is clickable if you want to see a larger version – and yes you can keep them for your desktops! More airplane art next week! … [Read more...]

Safety Video Saturday – TAM

03/08/2013 by Kevincm

It's Saturday again, and after a while (and with good reason not to run this... as there have been two major incidents recently that have demonstrated this better than muggins posting a video), it's time to put your seat into the upright position, stow your tray table and foot rest, ensuring the area by your feet is clear as we go to this week's safety video. This week, it's … [Read more...]

Want to fly the BA A380 to Frankfurt? Be careful!

03/08/2013 by Kevincm

British Airways has flown its first Airbus A380 commercially, and is beginning to operate the plane between London Heathrow T5 and Frankfurt am Main Airport T2. For a great review on the new A380, check out ContinentalClub's blog post at http://blog.continentalclub.co.uk/flights/british-airways-airbus-a380-first-commercial-flight-video/ Typically, they will be operating … [Read more...]

Thai Airways prepares to introduce double A380’s on Bangkok to Tokyo route…

02/08/2013 by Kevincm

Thai Airways is preparing to shift its 2/3's of its Bangkok to Tokyo services to us Airbus A380's a good month and a bit earlier, with a new start date of 27th October 2013 (instead of 1st December). The new time-table looks like this: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi - Tokyo Narita TG676 DEPART BKK 08:00 ARRIVE NRT 15:50 A380 TG640 DEPART BKK 22:35 ARRIVE NRT 06:15+1 A380 … [Read more...]

Etihad buys into JAT, rebrands it Air Serbia.

02/08/2013 by Kevincm

It seems Etihad has pushed a major step into Europe, with the announcement that they are buying a 49% stake in JAT Airways. As part of the sale, JAT Airways will re-brand as Air Serbia. Both the Serbian Etihad will pump in US$40 Million as a loan, converted into equity, and a US$60 million load to help renews the Air Serbia fleet. Air Serbia will match these numbers. … [Read more...]

Turkish Airlines expands its fleet again – more A330’s on the way.

01/08/2013 by Kevincm

Turkish Airlines have expanded their Airbus A330 fleet, with three options it holds with Airbus SAS to be converted into aircraft. These planes will be built as the capacity optimised A330-300. When delivered between 2015 and 2016, this will bring the cadre up to 33 A330-300's along with 8 (1 of which is wet leased) Airbus A330-200's (the range optimised version). Turkish … [Read more...]

Diamond Club member in the South West Pacific (Australia/NZ)? MAJOR CHANGES AHEAD.

31/07/2013 by Kevincm

For those of you in the South West Pacific area (Australia and New Zealand) who were BMI Diamond Club card holders, you've been in the cold waiting when you could unfreeze you destination miles and use them. Well there's good news... and bad news as accounts are now unfrozen. There's three options on the table for you: If you're an existing BA Executive Club member … [Read more...]

BA Reduces frequencies to Johannesburg, A380 confirmed to operate 6 days a week

31/07/2013 by Kevincm

As some have noted, British Airways will be introducing their new Airbus A380 on the London - Johannesburg run from February 2014 onwards. This will now have an impact, as BA will be reducing the number of flights from 30th March 2014. The new timetable for that route looks something like this: London to Johannesburg BA055 DEPART LHR 19:10 ARRIVE JNB 06:55+1 BA057 DEPART … [Read more...]

Flight number OZ214 retired

30/07/2013 by Kevincm

One of the traditions after a major incident is that after a while, the flight numbers related to that incident can be retired by the airline in question. It seems Asiana Airlines is to retire the OZ214/213 pair operating between Seoul Inchon and San Francisco, that was related in the San Francisco crash earlier this month. From the 12th August, these flights will be … [Read more...]

ANA adds more 777-300ER’s to boost it’s long haul fleet, takes a loss…

30/07/2013 by Kevincm

All Nippon Airlines is to bolster its long haul fleet, by adding a further three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to its fleet. The three aircraft will added to the feet from 2015 as more slots come up for grabs at Tokyo Narita and Haneda airports, allowing more routes to be operated. In addition, ANA Cargo will take on a 767-300F (Freighter) to cope with extra … [Read more...]