PAL-Principal Airlines (Aerolinea Principal de Chile) Boeing 737-236 CC-CZO (msn 22030) SCL, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Copyright Photo: Alvaro Romero.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/269adff/#/gallery/pal-principal-airlines/pal-principal-737-200-cc-czo-09-tko-scl-ar-lr-904236/

 

MASwings ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) F-WWEX (9M-MWB) (msn 856) TLS, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

MASwings (Miri) will display its latest ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhi bition (Lima 2009) from December 1-5.

News link:

thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/30/nation/5206794&sec=nation

Copyright Photo: Guillaume Besnard.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/269a273/#/gallery/maswings/maswings-atr-72-500-f-wwex-07-apr-tls-glb-lr-904235/

Nigerian Eagle Airlines has signed a network wide codeshare and interline agreement with Ethiopian Airlines. The airlines signed a technical service agreement (TSA) in August 2009.

Nigerian Eagle also has a codeshare and interline agreement with Kenya Airways.

Arik Air uploaded schedules for a new four weekly Abuja-Accra-Dakar/Banjul service (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday). Flights should begin this week, but no formal announcement has been made yet.

The airline also aims at commencing flights to the new Akwa Ibom International Airport, Uyo.

Just went last night to see this at the Ritzy with a talk afterwards by Paul King (the director) and and Ed hogg who plays Stephen in the film.

I thought the script was very bad but the artistic direction was awesome. The majority of it was a variety of different animations from stop frame to motion tracking. Paul King was interested in travelling and what one sees and does while on holiday. In the film the main character Stephen is very precautions and makes sure they attend all the things recommended in the guide book (meaning going to all sorts of dull museums). This directly links to my research into travel and holidays and how the tourism industry has created this whole structure and plan to traveling based on myths. Its a lie to say that to Travel is to go somewhere.

Look at Xavier de Maistre and his book ‘Voyage autour de ma chambre’ a travel writing parody from 1794 where he locks himself in his room for 6 weeks and explores every inch of space as if on a adventure.

Its made me ask these questions. When do you know your on Holiday? how long before travel becomes a journey? With the increase of instant fast travelling over vast distances how important is the place in recognizing that you are abroad? Could i take you anywhere if i simulated the whole journey? would you believe me?

Copyright Photo: Brian Peters. N596AS stopped at Tucson with the special decal.

Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) on November 17 at its its SEA base unveiled “Apolo One” with a photo decal image of U.S. speed skater Apolo Ohno applied to its Boeing 737-890 N596AS (msn 35688).

The company has also created a website to follow Apolo’s activities leading up to and including the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

Link:

www.followapolo.com/photos/24?fbid=GHEDq8T6gW8

With the approaching winter, travel freaks will look forward to enjoying the holiday at an exotic destination and come back rejuvenated! Visiting long distances requires that you plan beforehand, at least a month or two or three ahead, so that you get the best hotel deals and cheap airline tickets. Collect information about the destinations that you are planning to visit including those that would satiate your shopping spree. To save time, air travel is the option chosen by many, as the difference in air tickets and railway tickets is not much within the country. But for an international trip, air travel is the best option, even if it turns expensive.

There are a number of travel portals like Wakanow.com where one can book cheap flights tickets in addition to getting the best hotel deals or a holiday package. Flying to and from London to Lagos or other exotic locations in Africa like Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone is more convenient and cost-effective with Bellview Airline. The Lagos based Bellview Airline operates from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. Booking hotels after scanning the best hotel deals and booking cheap flights for Bellview Airline is easy at Wakanow.

Qatar Airways Boeing 777-2DZ LR A7-BBC (msn 36015) IAD, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough.

Please click on photo or link below for a full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/2693cf0/#/gallery/qatar-airways/qatar-777-200lr-a7-bbc-06-apr-iad-bm-lr-904234/

(c) Petr Bokuvka

Two Czech Airlines aircraft were involved in what authorities call a “near collision” incident on July 11, the Novinky.cz news server writes, citing the final report on this incident.

An Airbus A319 en route from Oslo, Norway was ordered by ATC to descend to FL160 but the captain descended to FL150. According to the daily the F/O noticed the inconsistency and voiced his objection but was overruled by the captain. The other aircraft involved was an ATR-42 returning to Prague from Berlin, Germany.

A spokesman for the pilots’ association rushed in to say that there was no imminent danger to the people on board as both planes were equipped with TCAS. At one point the vertical separation was 200 ft and the horizontal separation was 1.12 nm – which was a violation of the rules concerning the separation minima.

Full text of the report here [in Czech].

It’s a good move.  Really. 

I was just on Star Alliance’s website today and noticed their Round the World fare calculator.  Oh to dream of a 6 month vacation, costing a paltry $26,000 in airfare (business class) to go around the world, departing from Cleveland then on to Dublin, the Johannesburg, from there Delhi, then Bangkok, then Sydney, then Vancouver.  Oh what fun it would be. 

SkyTeam seems like it may be heading down hill with the merger of Delta and Northwest.  I’ve flown both of them, before and after the merger, and I think it’s not going so well.

This is not to say that the Star Alliance members are without their problems, it just seems they are a little more manageable.  US Air and United went through their difficulties years ago, and now it seems they have managed to get past them.  On top of that United is HUGE and US Air, not so much.  Delta and Northwest are both giants.  The merger may be worse than expected, and I expect the passenger to suffer.

V Australia Airlines Boeing 777-3ZG ER VH-VOZ (msn 35302) SYD, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

V Australia Airlines (Sydney) today (November 29) launches a new route linking Los Angeles with Melbourne.

Copyright Photo: John Adlard.

Please click on photo or link below for a full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/2691ff0/#/gallery/v-australia-airlines/v-australia-777-300er-vh-voz-08-apr-syd-j4-lr-904226/

Copyright Photo: Junichi Suzuki. JA602A is pictured at Osaka (Itami) in its spectacular retrojet colors.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) (Tokyo-Haneda) as planned has introduced its 1969 “Mohican Blue”  livery retrojet on Boeing 767-381 JA602A (msn 27944).

TAP lounge entrance hall

After spending a couple of days roaming around a city where most things seemed crumbled and decayed, I was pleasantly surprised by the TAP (Portugal Air) business class lounge in Lisbon Airport. What a cool lounge – especially for a European airport where they never give much thought towards the design of their lounges. You feel like you are walking into a club when a hallway with fluorescent blue lights greet you at the entrance. The rest of the lounge is designed with modern green and red chairs and sofas with bamboo trees used as decoration against the walls. Four different kind of television channels are projected onto a white wall.

What impressed me even more was the inflight magazine that lay at the reception counter. It looked like a magazine that could sit side by side with Wallpaper or W at the bookstore instead of being an inflight magazine. Wonderful edgy pictures and articles in it. I took a copy home with me.

LOVED : The fact that this lounge was something different, in terms of design. The only other lounge that ever really impressed me in Europe was the VIP lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol. This comes second.

HATED : There was only one one restroom each for ladies and gents. The lounge was quite full during my visit so some people had to wait in line for the restroom

BEIJING, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire-Asia/ — Between 30th October to 18th November, Air China transported nearly 10,000 pilgrims to the holy meeting site of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. There are nearly 20 million Muslims in China at present and the number of pilgrims visiting Mecca has increased each year. Air China has been transporting pilgrims on charter flights to Mecca for many years.

When reader Anayah booked a ticket for her little sister to come visit her in New York, she specifically asked Delta if there would be a fee for an unaccompanied minor. They told her (twice) that since her sister was 14, there would be no fee. When Anayah's family got to the gate Delta informed them that there would be a charge of $100 each way. Anayah's mother could not afford to pay this fee and, since Delta would not allow Anayah to pay the fee in person at the ticket counter in New York, there would be an additional charge of $100 to pay by phone. The confusion caused her sister to miss her flight, and now Delta wants another fee to rebook her.

via Delta Wants $300 In Fees On A $306 Ticket – The Consumerist

Martin’s 5-year-old stepdaughter has had a very eventful holiday week. So has her family. Flying as an unaccompanied minor, she had to miss her original flight on AirTran and her family booked another at the last minute. The first reasonably priced flight available was on NWA/Delta, but her parents tell us that communication between different departments seems to have shut down–resulting in fees, hours of delays, and the child ultimately missing her flight because the airline didn’t mark down that the unaccompanied minor fee had already been paid.

I asked how much it was and she calmly replied that there would be a $100 fee to pay the $100 fee. $200 total. When I asked what the fee was for, she said it was a “transfer fee” to another department that could take the payment. At that point I broke the Cardinal Rule of Dealing with Customer Service Reps and I asked her if we were going to have phone sex for the $100. My wife sensed the hopes of any solution plummet to the floor and she angrily ripped the phone out of my hand and began to apologize for my comment and asking to speak with the supervisor. The agent insisted that there was nothing a supervisor could do, and she was right.

via Delta Airlines: You Need To Pay A Fee To Pay This Fee – The Consumerist.

Pan tu nie stał, meaning You Were Not Standing Here, is a Polish design blog created by sociologist Justyna Burzyńska and graphic designer Maciej Lebiedowicz, who are heavily inspired by vintage Polish designs from the 1930s onward. But that’s not all: they also have a shop by the same name, which features clothing, home decor, accessories, and paper products. Oh, and did I mention that they ROCK?

Just look:

All of the beautifully vibrant and inspiring images above are borrowed from their blog, which you can access (along with their shop) HERE.

Avient Aviation McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (F) Z-BAV (msn 48408) SIN (crashed November 28, 2009), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Copyright Photo: Kok Chwee (K.C.) Sim.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information on this tragic crash and other photos of the company:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/2688ca2/#/gallery/crashed-aircraft/avient-md-11f-z-bav-05-apr-sin-kc-lr-904223/

Malaysian low cost carrier AirAsia is set to expand its route network with the introduction of new routes from its Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu hubs. The airline has launched flights between the Malaysian capital and the Indian cities of Kochi, Kolkata and Trivandrum, while Kota Kinabalu will be connected to Taipei early next year.

Kuala Lumpur-Kochi

Operating daily, flight AK 203 departs Kuala Lumpur at 1450 hrs, arriving in Kochi at 1630 hrs. The aircraft returns as flight AK 204 at 1700 hrs, landing back at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 2350 hrs.

Kuala Lumpur-Kolkata

Flight AK 323 departs Kuala Lumpur at 1430 hrs, arriving in Kolkata at 1550 hrs. The return flight, AK 324, takes off from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at 1635 hrs, landing at Kuala Lumpur at 2255 hrs.

Kuala Lumpur-Trivandrum

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, flight AK 295 departs Kuala Lumpur at 0620 hrs, arriving in Trivandrum at 0750 hrs. The return flight, AK 296, takes off from Trivandrum at 0830 hrs, landing back at 1500 hrs into Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

On Tuesdays and Sundays, the outbound flight departs 1 hour earlier at 0520 hrs, landing in Trivandrum at 0650 hrs. The inbound flight will take off from the Indian city at 0740 hrs for a 1410 hrs arrival back in Malaysia.

Kota Kinabalu-Taipei

Beginning 15 January 2010, AirAsia will serve Taipei from Kota Kinabalu in the East Malaysian state of Sabah. Flight AK 6318 departs daily at 0600 hrs, arriving in Taipei at 0920 hrs. The return flight, AK 6319, takes off from Taoyuan International Airport at 0950 hrs, landing back in Kota Kinabalu International Airport at 1310 hrs.

All flights will be operated by AirAsia’s Airbus A320 aircraft configured with 180 Economy Class seats. With the new services, AirAsia now serves 4 cities in India while connecting Taipei to Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.

For more information, visit www.airasia.com.

The NY Times had his annual article about air travel and airport congestions on the week leading to Thanksgiving. (“Seeking Deals, Holiday Fliers Get Early Start”, NY Times, November 2009).

The day before Thanksgiving is “known” to be the busiest day in air travel. The article reports that this year, the delays started even before

But the long lines and frayed nerves actually started last week, as many penny-pinching travelers booked earlier, and less expensive, flights.  As a result, what used to be a quick holiday trip home is now stretching to a week or more.

The article claims that due to the economic situation people are willing to travel early (or late) in order to avoid congestion in the airports during the busiest days of the year.  But is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving really the busiest day… or has it even been the busiest day in recent history. According the CBS News’s article (“Holiday Travel Myths Exposed”, November 2009), it is not. It is not even close to being the busiest

In reality, the day before Thanksgiving is not the busiest day of the year,” said Roger Dow of the U.S. Travel Association., In fact, according to official government data, when it comes to the number of airline flights, today doesn’t even rank among the top 25 busiest days.

Last year, there were 220 days with more flights than the day before Thanksgiving.  Basically, it’s a myth, which is fostered by multiple parties: the media (who else – otherwise what will the NY Times do with their annual article about airport congestion before Thanksgiving), the airlines (who can charge a premium for flights on a day with no unusual demand), and us (who still have memories of long delays).

The simple explanation for the diminishing number of flights is that customers are strategic in choosing when to travel, and given that everybody “knows” these are the busiest days, a smart customer will avoid them (and thus airlines reduce the number of flights). My colleagues Prof. Marty Lariviere  (who blogs here), and Prof. Jan Van Mieghem have a very interesting paper about customers choosing, strategically, when to be served (Strategically Seeking Service: How Competition Can Generate Poisson Arrivals). The fact that the “busiest” day of the year is only the 220^th busiest of a specific year, is very much in line with their predictions.  The good news is that, we all benefit from that:

Mr. Dillman said the bargain-hunting Thanksgiving travelers actually increased the airline’s chances of running a smoother operation.

Eurowings BAe (Avro) 146-200 D-AJET (Lufthansa Regional) NUE, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Eurowings (Nuremberg) is gradually replacing its BAe 146-200 and 146-300 fleet with newer Bombardier CRJ900s. On Thursday (November 26) the company said goodbye at the Nuremberg base to its long-time BAe 146-200 D-AJET (msn E2201) known in the company as “A-JET”. This picture is taken on the ramp at NUE picturing D-AJET heading to runway 28 for its delivery flight to Star Peru (Lima). The aircraft was flying to Keflavik via Glasgow that day. After an overnight crew rest stop, the second day would see the aircraft flying via Kangerlussuaq (Greenland) and Iqaluit (Canada) for a second overnight stop at Montreal (Trudeau). The third day the airliner was due to stop at Orlando, continuing on to San José (Costa Rica). The last phase of the delivery flight is planned to go via Chiclayo (Peru) onward to the Lima base with a planned arrival date of November 29, 2009. Note the HF antenna on the top fuselage for communications over the North Atlantic. After being delivered on March 20, 1995 the dependable airliner operated for over 14 years with Eurowings. It is pictured in the Lufthansa Regional 2003 colors.

Copyright Photo: Gunter Mayer.

Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing 737-73V N385DF (msn 30236) SEN, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Aerolineas Argentinas (Buenos Aires) has now taken delivery of ex-easyJet Boeing 737-73V G-EZJB (msn 30236). The airliner is pictured departing from Southend as N385DF on November 27.

Copyright Photo: Keith Burton.

Copyright Photo: Eddy Gual/www.air72.com. The new MD-11F is pictured at Miami as N408SH before it was delivered as Z-BAV on November 20, 2009.

Avient Aviation (Harare) took delivery on November 20, 2009 of its first McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (F) freighter registered Z-BAV (msn 48408, ex N408SH/PR-LGD). Today (November 28) the ex-VARIG airliner caught on fire on takeoff tragically crashed at Shanghai (Pu Dong). Three (of seven) American crew members died in the crash. The aircraft is destroyed.

News links:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34177650/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/27/china.plane.crash/index.html

N971AT, originally uploaded by bwione.

AirTran Airways (Orlando and Atlanta) will start weekend only nonstop service between Des Moines and Orlando starting on March 6, 2010 with Boeing 717s.

Press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/AirTran-Airways-Introduces-prnews-2212434732.html?x=0&.v=1

Copyright Photo: bwione.

A now rare shot of AirTran’s Boeing 717-2BD N971AT (msn 55032) with the image of race car driver (and model) Danica Patrick landing on runway 33L at Baltimore/Washington (BWI). Note the “AirTranica” special titles (now gone).