Economy Class & Beyond

Malev in more trouble

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It appears that the Hungarian carrier Malev appears to be in a precarious state, with Hungary taking steps to restructure the company - by passing a decree to protect the Malev from bankruptcy proceedings. Malev - one of the bigger occupiers of Budapest International Airport - was ordered to repay the state aid lent to it by order of the European Commission. The decree … [Read more...]

Cebu Pacific to start long haul operation

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It seems yet another low cost Asian carrier is going to have a go at trying to launch a Long Haul Low Cost Carrier. Cebu Pacific (most recently famous for their in-air safety demo to Lady GaGa's "Let's Dance") is to launch a service, operating up to eight Airbus A330-300's. They plan to operate to low-cost services to Australia, the Middle East, parts of Europe and the … [Read more...]

Rob Fyfe of Air New Zealand to go…

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News from New Zealand and Air New Zealand with Rob Fyfe resigning from the carrier - to leave at the end of the year. Rob Fyfe joined the airline in 2005, and has done his best to keep the airline afloat in troubling times. He is resigning from Air New Zealand to allow the airline's s "talented and capable" executives the room to realise their full potential  according to … [Read more...]

All back to normal with Amadeus

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It seems all has got better with Amadeus, with a posting on their blog released: Amadeus can now confirm that all airline systems are restored. Some travel agency customers may continue to experience service disruption which we are investigating. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. A quick check of CheckmyTrip.com is running a bit slow, whilst the classic … [Read more...]

Rock me Amadeus… or work at least please…?

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It seems there are a few issues with Amadeus at the moment (the booking engine used by some airlines). Using the CheckmyTrip.com interface, after entering a valid PNR/Surname, you're normally able to examine your itineraries and such. Alas, The database seems broken at the moment, so it's not available via this interface. Which rather annoying if your airline uses … [Read more...]

Emirates to re-gauge Dubai-Dublin run

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Emriates recently launched a Dubai to Dublin service, and it seems to have gone down well. Well enough that Emirates has confirmed re-gauging of the service from the currently operated Airbus A330-300 to Boeing 777-300ER thanks to the 90% load factors that have appeared to be filling the planes. The service is being switched to a three class Boeing 777-300ER, configured … [Read more...]

Airplane Art – Spanair A320

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Time for a slightly bittersweet piece of airplane art. This week, it's a SpanAir Airbus A320 parked at Barcelona El Prat Airport in May last year. As we all know, Spanair has now folded after negotiations with Qatar Airways ground to a halt on Friday 27th January. More airplane art of course next week! … [Read more...]

It’s BACK! Safety Video Saturday – United Airlines 747-400/777-200

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It's Saturday, and it's back - Safety Video Saturday returns for a month or so as I've got some new content. However, to start of with, here's the new United Safety Video for a United 747. My comments are... below.. Right. Now you've watched it, and thinking what I'm thinking... Dear United.  Which focus group let this abomination through? The seems be little … [Read more...]

Spanair – Operations cease after running out of funds

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Continuing from yesterdays breaking story that Spanair has filed for bankruptcy, more details are emerging and the impact that is rippling through the Spanish Aviation industry. To recap: Spanair were declared to be "in an emergency financial situation" on Wednesday 25th January. the airline was in talks with Qatar Airways in purchasing a stake in the airline. On Friday the … [Read more...]

Spanair – Operations Suspended

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Well this sneaked up, but apparently, Spanair has suspended all flights after failed talks with Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways was in talks to buy a stake in Spanair, but it seems those talks have collapsed according the the Catalan regional government (who owns 80.1% of the company) and SAS who own 19.9%. A rescue effort was launched on the 25 January 2011, after the … [Read more...]