Brand-new Air Italy 737 MAX 8 looking sharp – Photo: Air Italy
This past Friday, Air Italy received their first 737 MAX 8 aircraft at a delivery ceremony at Paine Field in Everett, WA. Dignitaries from Air Italy were joined by his Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, Group CEO for Qatar Airways. In July of 2016, Qatar Airways agreed to purchase a 49% stake in the airline (known previously as Meridiana), with the brand being re-launched as Air Italy in March 2018. As with any event involving Mr. Al Baker, this was a fancy affair, and included a few priceless soundbites.
When the Air Italy brand launched earlier this year, they announced their goal to disrupt the Italian market, and create a ’œcredible alternative’ for Italians. From their home base of Milan’“Malpensa Airport, Air Italy intends to offer both short- and long-haul routes. The airline will shortly be launching flights to the United States, with a daily service to New York (begins 6/1) and four-times-per-week service to Miami (starts 6/8). The next planned long-haul destinations for Air Italy are Bangkok and Mumbai, with service start dates yet to be announced.
A Delta A350 departs DTW, Delta’s primary airport for the plane type – Photo: © Andrew Poure
If you’re like me, you’ve been biding your time waiting for the perfect opportunity to fly the Airbus A350. AirlineReporter is written for AvGeeks, by AvGeeks, after all. With United continually deferring deliveries, and American’s recent Dreamliner-over-A350 switcheroo, I must confess, I didn’t have high hopes for checking this long-sought line item off of my increasingly more lengthy to-do list anytime soon. Enter the Delta A350 and the need to re-position a brand-new flagship from one hub to another. Click through, friends, you’ll want to be on this flight.
The TriStar Experience L-1011. A STEM experience like no other awaits.
8:30 AM, it’s a frigid spring morning. Three yellow school buses pull up to the curb of Kansas City International Airport’s Terminal A. This isn’t a rare sight; local schools often send sport and academic teams on trips to compete. But this day is different. The buses, filled to capacity with girls age 10-13, come to a stop outside a shuttered airport terminal which for years has not seen passenger traffic. These young minds would indeed be boarding a plane for a multi-hour experience, but the goal was not to travel. Instead, today’s visit to the airport is to learn about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) through hands-on experiences aboard an ultra-rare, airworthy L-1011 wide-body aircraft.
RELATED: THE RARE LOCKHEED L-1011 TRISTAR RETURNS TO THE SKIES ONCE MORE
The plane, which last served as a mobile hospital, arrived in Kansas City, MO last year thanks to TriStar Experience, a local non-profit. The organization seeks out rare planes, with the goal of inspiring the next generation to seek STEM and aviation careers. Readers may recall this is the same organization which rescued and restored TWA’s Wings of Pride plane which is currently on display in partnership with the TWA Museum at the Downtown Kansas City Airport.
Inside the airplane-hospital turned STEM lab. Amazingly roomy!
RELATED: TWA WINGS OF PRIDE PAINT BAY TIME-LAPSE AND TRISTAR UPDATES
Meet the competitors! – Photos: Manu Venkat | AirlineReporter
Reviewing airlines is fun. But ranking them is even better! I got to review five Star Alliance premium cabins in 2017, and in the spirit of a little healthy competition I wanted to consider how they stacked up against each other. Our contenders are a Taiwanese AvGeek favorite with a penchant for Hello Kitty, a legacy U.S. carrier with a knack for being in the news, one of South Korea’s largest long-haul airlines, Scandinavia’s hometown favorite, and a company that’s looking to become the dominant Middle Eastern airline.
The routes we flew – GCMap.com
Read on as we rank United Airlines, EVA Air, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Asiana Airlines across a range of categories including lounges, seat design, dining experience, service, amenities, and in-flight entertainment. By the end, we’ll see if any of our contenders can rise to the level of champion!
Taken in Hamburg at Lufthansa Technik. It sort of has that generic “get a job” vibe to it. That’s my balding head chilling on the couch.
I am often asked ’œHow do I get an airline job?’
Luckily, I have some background in this area. I worked as a career counselor at the University of Washington for about five years (go Dawgs), I currently recruit for a $3 billion company in the greater Seattle area, and I have talked to hundreds of airline insiders over the last decade. Through my experiences I have learned a few things (at least I’d like to think so) about getting airline jobs. I also get to see the same mistakes over and over and “omg are you kidding me” over again. I decided to combine my worlds a bit here and give some advice on how to get an airline job (in reality, this advice works for most other jobs as well).
To be clear, these are my personal opinions and thoughts on jobs. Not those of any airline, nor my current or previous employers. These are overarching and for sure will not work for all companies, positions, and people. I like to think I am more right than wrong, but look forward to seeing your ideas and opinions in the comments. I love giving job advice and talking about airlines, so this story could easily go over 10,000 words. Do not worry, I kept it under 2,500 (Editor’s note – it’s 2,566) and I was able to hit all the major pieces.
When looking for a job, always assume that competition will be fierce. Let’s say there are 200 applicants that applied and the hiring manager only wants to phone interview eight. That is not always easy, since there are likely going to be more than eight qualified applicants and 192 people that need to be rejected. This is where small details matter. If a hiring manager has a hard time finding information on your application or you make a few minor errors — you can quickly end up with the 192. Do not be one of them! This is really about quality vs quantity and my advice might be some tough love, but I want you to get that airline job!
