Although not directly airline news, I feel this falls under “future airline news” since who knows, boarding a plane (or spaceship?) might just be as easy and cheap as it is now to fly (hopefully they won’t charge for peanuts).
Anyhow, Virgin Galactic has shown to the world (and galaxy?) what White Knight Two “Eve” Mothership will look like (hmm maybe pick a name?). This aircraft would take SpaceShip2 up to about 48,000 feet before it takes the six wealthy folks 300,000 feet in only 90 seconds.
For a mere $200,000 you can book your seat to fly into space. Even though going to the ends of Earth for $200k might not seem like a good deal to most people, I think it is great since it will pave the way for private space exploration. There are enough wealthy people to support this — 100 have already paid full price and another 170 have put down deposits.
THANKS BEN FOR THE TIP!
Source: The Washington Post Image: The Washington Post
British Airways has announced that it is going to merge with long-time partner Iberia. Even though both airlines will keep separate identities (for now) they will still have a combined 450 aircraft and over 250 destinations.
This comes as no surprise as more and more airlines are looking to merge and save money and resources. Even though the BA chief executive Willie Walsh says it is “far too early” to say if any jobs will be lost, it is most likely the new combined airline will need to cut jobs to help save on costs.
Source: The Press Association Original Image: Thomas Becker
The CEO of JetBlue has decided to lower his salary from $500,000 to $250,000 for the remainder of the year due to the worsening airline economy. They have also put a hold on route expansions and receiving new aircraft.
Even though $250,000 per year can still go quite far and it is only for 6 months or so, I think it does show a lot when a CEO is willing to suffer a little bit with the rest of their employees.
Source: The Guardian Image: Flyian
Emirates Airbus A380
Emirates Airlines received its first Airbus A380 in Hamburg, Germany today. It will be the first of five delivered before March 31, 2010. The airline has a total of 58 A380’s on order (not to mention 60 other aircraft). This aircraft will be on the Dubai to New York route, which will be the first A380 to have a route going into the US.
Source: xinhuanet Image: xinhuanet
Last summer Northwest airlines cancelled about 100 flights, causing much understood frustration from ticket holders. This earned them quite a bit of bad press and a few upset pilots. This summer, the airline is running much better, some days even running 100% on-time.
Northwest had to work with the pilots union and change it scheduling, but it wants to be known as a reliable airline. Part of the changes allows the pilots to bid for 80hrs instead of the old 88-90hrs. The negotiation also allowed 150% pay for any hours over 80.
With airlines cutting everything from flights to free peanuts, having delayed or cancelled flights just makes flying that less desirable. Cheers to Northwest for being able to bring a little positively to the current flying environment.
Source: Star Tribune Image: Points1