An American Eagle CRJ200 taxiing at LAX, with an Embraer 175 following – Photo: John Nguyen | AirlineReporter
Let’s face it… the 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 isn’t very popular. At all. You’ll find countless articles and blogs about how much flyers dread flying in it, and how all-around terrible the experience was. Complaints were numerous: claustrophobic cabin, tiny overhead bins that fit only the smallest of carry-on bags, no first class, inoperable lavatories, and so on. This wasn’t limited to just one airline either; CR2s are found in the regional fleets for most of the major U.S. airlines. Coincidentally, many of them are operated under contract by the same regional carrier, SkyWest Airlines.
Does the CR2 deserve its bum rap? Maybe, maybe not (but probably). For some passengers, however, there is hope just over the horizon…
Entrance to the new Qantas First Lounge – Photo: Blaine Nickeson | AirlineReporter
Recently, Qantas opened a new lounge in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The Qantas First Lounge serves first class passengers from Qantas, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Japan Airlines, along with oneworld Emerald and Qantas’ own top-tier elites. As such, it is a good-sized lounge.
Beautiful bar in the Qantas First Lounge – Photo: Blaine Nickeson | AirlineReporter
I had a long layover in Los Angeles as part of my trip to Santiago with LAN Airlines to check out business class on their 787-8 Dreamliner, so we were able to arrange with Qantas to visit their new lounge and experience what it had to offer. It didn’t disappoint.
This is a classic promotional video for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) done back in 1970. Nothing like having some cheesy 1970s music while being able to look at retro airliners and LAX.
There are many great aircraft that come and go from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) everyday. This video, made from our friend SpeedbirdHD, is a great combination of aircraft from an All Blacks 777 to a Lufthansa 747-8I.
What better way to start a new flight to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) than with a video from SpeedbirdHD?
On March 31st, Saudi Arabian Airlines (aka Saudia) started service between Riyadh and LAX using a Boeing 777-300ER. The aircraft, which was only five months old, is configured with 24 seats in First Class, 36 in Business, and 245 in Guest Class (aka economy).
The flight will operate three times per week on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The flight will originate in Riyadh (RUH) with a stop over in Jeddah (JED) before continuing to LAX.
’œSaudia’s inaugural flight to Los Angeles is a manifestation of our continued efforts to expand our global reach to better service our valued customers,’ according to Chief Executive Officer and Director General Designate, Mr. Abdulaziz Alhazmi. ’œThe services to LAX, following our launch to Toronto, Canada in October last year and the resumption of our flights to Manchester, UK, are just some of the components of this initiative to claim our rightful place among the world`s leading carriers.’
LAX is already a melting pot of different airline liveries, but it is always great to add another.