28 July, 2017

Ryanair Boss Earns £8k A Day

As passengers have to pay a small fortune to sit together on one of his aircraft, Michael O'Leary, the Ryanair Chief Executive gets paid almost £8000 a day to sit in his seat!

Yes, the boss of the budget irish airline took home earnings of €3.26million last year, that's £2.92million,  which calculates at approximately €8,931 / £7,987 per day.  The figures released  atis week revealed he got an increase of £89,000 from last year.  But it's not just his wages that are soaring, so to are complains to the airline. 

End of the line for the A380?

Hot news from Airbus.....The aircraft manufacturer is slowing down the production rate of its super jumbo the double decked A380 even more.   The future of vast aircraft looks even more bleak after the European aircraft company confirmed it was cutting production to just 8 air frames in 2019. 

Virgin Atlantic Bargain Basement Sell Off


Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is flogging off a major stake in the airline Virgin Atlantic at bargain basement prices to Air France-KLM and existing investor Delta Air Lines.

Air France-KLM is to buy 31 percent of Virgin Atlantic for £220m.  The Virgin Group will hang on to just 20 percent of the troubled trans-Atlantic airline, they will also continue to chairman the company.

27 July, 2017

Avianca Ends Flights to Venezuela

Colombian airline Avianca confirmed today (Thursday) that it will stop flying to and from Venezuela as of today due to the complicated and dangerous situation in the neighboring country.

The airline had initially planned to suspend flights during the middle of August, however  "Due to operational and security limitations in recent hours, Avianca has been forced to suspend its operations from Thursday, and not from 16th Aug as previously scheduled," the airline rushed to say in a statement today.

Big Losses for Etihad


Massive losses are announced for the premier airline Etihad.  It announced it lost $1.87 billion in 2016, siting "one-off impairment charges and fuel hedging losses" as the main reasons for the massive loss, and 2017 may well be worse!

New - Birmingham to New York and Boston.....

   
United Airlines announced last week that its Birmingham to New York route would end in October this year, leaving England’s populous city without a direct route to the US for the first time in over 20 years.

However, like a bolt from the blue, a special new lifeline was offered when another airline announced it would fly not one, but two new routes from Birmingham across the pond.  This new aviation saviour  will fly a daily service to Newark and a four-times weekly service to Boston.

But who is this new entrant into the UK - America trans-Atlantic carrier club.  It's an airline you most probably have never heard of,   they are called  Primera Air,  a little-known low-cost carrier.  They will launch their routes from Birmingham in May 2018 and London Stansted in April 2018.   

20 July, 2017

Joon - The Air France 'Youth' Brand Budget Airline

The Air France-KLM Group will start flights this autumn of  'Joon' its low fare budget airline, that will go all out to target millennial customers. 

Joon - previously talked about under the code-name 'Boost' plans to operate mainly medium-haul services from Paris,  Charles de Gaulle airport, then towards the end of next year it may venture into the long-haul market place. 

Singapore Review Nuts Policy

An allergy scare involving a three-year-old toddler has prompted Singapore Airlines to review the serving of nuts on board its flights.

Marcus Daley suffered a severe allergic reaction after passengers around him opened their snack packets of peanuts.  He went into anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition which can be triggered by food including peanuts and shellfish.  He was travelling with his parents to Melbourne after a holiday in Thailand.

17 July, 2017

Burst tyre on take-off for Air Canada Rouge at Gatwick

Travellers at the UK#s second busiest and the world's busiest single runway airport are facing travel chaos after an Air Canada Rouge aircrafts tyre burst as it left the runway at the start of a transatlantic flight.



Flights are using Gatwick's main taxiway 1 as a back-up or 'emergency' runway after the airport's main runway was closed following the incident involving the Toronto bound jet. 




The plane was leaving Gatwick at 1.16pm on Monday bound for Canada when its tyre suffered a blowout.  The airports managers ordered the runway closed immediately after the plane departed so that could carry out an inspection.  




The aircraft then came back to make and emergency landing after the full scale emergency procedures had been put in place.  This included all the airports fire appliances mobilized and more than a dozen ambulances dispatched to the airport.   The aircraft returned to the airport and landed safely on the runway, where it remained.  

Many flights have been cancelled or diverted and the disruption is likely to last well into the evening. 


14 July, 2017

Air Zimbabwe Lays Off Half its Workforce

Zimbabwe's state-owned airline has laid off 200 workers, roughly half of its staff, with immediate effect.

The job losses are part of a turnaround strategy to bring struggling Air Zimbabwe back to profitability from a $300m (£230m) debt.

Last month the EU banned it from using its airspace, citing safety concerns.  There have been major changes at the national airline since President Robert Mugabe's son-in-law took over as chief operating officer last year.  Money has been hemorrhaging from the company ever since. 

Iberia fined over enforced Pregnancy tests for staff


The Spanish airline Iberia has said it will stop requiring female job candidates to take a pregnancy test after it was fined for the practice.

Labour inspectors in the Balearic Islands discovered the airline insisted on the tests, and fined it €25,000 that's around £22,000.

Second Hand Champaign From Emirates

A video showing an Emirates airline steward pouring champagne from a glass back into a bottle went viral this week. The very short video was filmed by a passenger on board the Airbus A380 and was shared via social media, with well over a million views.

The action was captured accidentally at the very start of the video which was a gentle sweep through the cabin.  Watch it here.....

No comment yet from Emirates, but just be aware your bubbly inflight might well be second-hand and left overs from the boarding welcome drink.

EasyJet to Relaunch as a European Airline in Brexit Backlash

The UK's largest budget airline, EasyJet is to set up a new airline based in Vienna, Austria to relaunch the airline after UK leaves the European Union.

According to current regulation an airline must have an air operator certificate in an EU member country to allow it to continue flying between any EU member states. Therefore, if the regulations stay the same as they are now, Easyjet want a new EU based airline to continue to operate their current schedules without interruption.

Tourist killed by jet blast at St Maarten

A tourist has been killed after being knocked over by jet blasts at an St Maarten where the runway is just yards from a road and the beach on the tiny sunshine isle.

The tourist who is reported to be a 57-year-old from New Zealand, had been standing by the fence at the end of the runway at Princess Juliana Airport on the island of St Maarten. She was watching the plane take off when she was knocked down by the jet blast and hit her head sustaining serious head injuries. She was taken to hospital, where it was later announced that she had died.  

St Maarten's is known throughout the world as one of the most exciting airports for plane spotters and thrill seekers as the runway is so close to the narrow road and thin beach. 

There are many signs along the beach and airport perimeter fence that warn of the dangers of the jet wash or blast from the aircraft. However, thrill seekers often loop their hands through the wire fence and feel the full force of a departing aircraft.  


06 July, 2017

Monarch Launch Auctions For Extra Legroom Seats

Legroom....what legroom?
Passengers using budget airline Monarch will now be able to bid against each other if they are wanting to get a seat with extra legroom.

The airline launched two new features for passengers this week, one called the ‘extra comfort seat’ and the other ‘bid for extra legroom’ feature.

It will see customers battling it out online for extra spaces or upgraded seats making more money for the budget airline and increasing frustration for those unsuccessful in their bidding.

Customers will be able to purchase as many as two extra seats on flights, with the company claiming the policy will allow customers to “treat themselves to something better”.  Yet the cost of buying the extra seats is lightly to be one and a half times higher than the retail price.


Air Canada Shares Up Despite Record Complaint Levels


Air Canada shares were at their highest in more than 10 years on Thursday after the country's largest airline said analyst forecasts had significantly underestimated one of its earnings benchmarks.

Shares in the Montreal-based airline peaked at $19.06 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange rose. In later trading, they were up 7.38 per cent or $1.28 at $18.62.  This is despite the airline receiving a record level of complaints over the last two quarters.  Staff at a data centre in India say upon instruction they 'loose' 1 in four complaints.

United Airlines Sells Seat Twice.....

Another episode of greedy behaviour from United Airlines left a Hawaiian mother having to hold her 2 year-old son in her lap for the entire three hour flight, despite paying nearly $1,000 for his seat.

This latest money grabbing incident happened last week when the airline sold her son’s seat to a standby passenger on the last leg of their trip from Honolulu to Boston.

"We had both our tickets scanned, we both went on board no problem," Shirley Yamauchi, told local TV station. Then a man approached them and showed he had the same seat number, 24A, as the boy.

05 July, 2017

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04 July, 2017

New Routes For Monarch

Monarch is celebrating the launch of four new routes from Birmingham Airport – The UK airline now flies to Valencia in Spain, Split in Croatia, Naples in Italy and Rhodes in Greece from the midlands airport.

It has become the only airline and holiday company to take passengers from Birmingham to Valencia and Split.




David Winstanley, Chief Operating Officer at Birmingham Airport, and Ian Chambers, Chief Commercial Officer at Monarch, cut the paella cake

737 Max for Norwegian

Norwegian took delivery of two new Boeing 737 Maxes on Thursday at a handover ceremony in Seattle. The first of the jets took off for Oslo at about 1:45 p.m. local time.



The deliveries were the first of the type to Norwegian Air, which has a total of 110 737 Maxes on order. The carrier expects to take four more of the jets – all the Max-8 variant – by the end of 2017.

Norwegian becomes just the second airline in the world get Boeing’s new 737 Max model. And, sometime next month, the airline will become the first to put the jet into regular service in the United States. 


"It’s a major milestone,” Norwegian founder and CEO Bjørn Kjos said about taking the new 737 Max at delivery ceremony in Seattle on Thursday. 




Air Namibia is Second Best Regional African Airline


According to Skytrax, Air Namibia is the second-best regional airline in Africa. 


The Skytrax World Airline Awards are very prestigious and highly regarded in the airline industry. They are often referred to as “the Oscars of the aviation industry,” and are a global benchmark of airline excellence. Travellers across the globe take part each year in the world's airline passenger satisfaction survey to decide the winners.

Air Namibia's general manager for commercial services, Xavier Masule, was ecstatic upon receiving the news.

Bird Strike Forces AirAsia X Emergency Landing

Passengers on an AirAsia X flight say they saw sparks coming from an engine after a suspected bird strike led to their plane being grounded in Brisbane last night.

The incident occurred shortly after the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight took off from the Gold Coast about 10:20pm, with the plane flying for another hour before landing safely in Brisbane.
The plane switched course to Brisbane an hour after take-off.

"Two bird remains were found on the runway," the airline said in a statement.

Eric Lim, a passenger who posted images and video of the plane on social media, said the right engine was struck.  "Successive sparks 'boom, boom, boom' went off," Mr Lim posted on Facebook.

01 July, 2017

BA Cabin Crew Strike But Passengers Get An Upgrade

British Airways cabin crew based at the UK's busiest airport have launched a 16 day strike in a long-running dispute over pay.

Members of Unite in the so-called mixed fleet - those who have joined the airline since 2010 - walked out from midnight at Heathrow Airport amid union claims that they are on "poverty pay".

VivaColumbia Wants Standing Room Only on Flights

Budget airline VivaColombia is considering plans to remove all seats from its planes and make passengers stand.

They hope the move will drive down fares by allowing them to squeeze more passengers into each flight, opening up air travel to working class Colombians and budget holidaymakers.

It's a Yes For Flybondi

Argentina's transportation ministry authorized low-cost airline FB Lineas Aereas, known commercially as Flybondi, to operate domestic and international flights, according to a notice published Thursday in the country's official gazette.

With the resolution, all five airlines that received a preliminary go-ahead in February from the civil aviation authority to operate in Latin America's No. 3 economy have now been granted final permission. American Jet, Alas del Sur and Andes Lineas Aereas were cleared in March.

Small Plane Crashes on US Freeway

A small plane crash-landed on a freeway in Orange County, California, on Friday morning, critically injuring two people on board and snarling traffic on a major north-south artery through the area, authorities said.

The fiery crash was captured on cell-phone video by a driver and broadcast on local KABC-TV. It showed the twin-engine Cessna 310 as it passed low over the northbound side of the San Diego (405) freeway in southern California before slamming into the ground on the southbound lanes.

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