There are all sorts of impressive statistics for commercial airliners, cost per available seat mile, cost per block hour, how many hours of flight per incident, how many operators fly a specific aircraft, types of variants of aircraft … but sometimes its difficult to put all these numbers into perspective. First the basics, the Boeing…
During a time of revolution, foreign military intervention, no fly zones, economic sanctions and the senseless killing of those who simply want their voice to be heard it may be hard to find the silver lining in anything, especially a story on airlines … but in Libya there is the potential for a stronger national…
This past Sunday evening, as the sun was setting over Frankfurt Airport, I had the opportunity to wander freely around a Lufthansa Airbus A380-800 at a Lufthansa Technik hanger as a guest of the airline. Yesterday I wrote about the A380’s three classes of cabins and what passengers can expect on board … today, it’s…
Recently I wrote about Syrian Air, an airline faced with sanctions from the United States, pondering its next aircraft purchase, and is exploration of the Tupolev TU-204 as a possible aircraft to replace its aging fleets. While Syrian Air turns toward Russia for its fleet, an Iran Air subsidiary, another airline dealing the challenges of…
Syrian Air is seeking to expand its fleet … but it has a problem … it can’t source effective aircraft for its fleet. Since the United States imposed sanctions on Syria in 2004, and transactions with the Commercial Bank of Syria, Syrian Air has been unable to have access to new modern ‘western’ aircraft.’ Syrian…
This past April Aeroflot, the Russian national flag carrier, announced it was considering launching a low cost carrier (LCC), as it takes over six smaller state-owned airlines in Russia. Aeroflot’s low cost carrier announcement was lost among the stories related to Aeroflot taking over multiple smaller Russian airlines and the Russian government meddling in the…
Saudi Arabian Airlines is the latest airline to launch in-flight wifi connectivity and allow passengers to utilize their mobile phones while in flight … and it signals Saudi Arabian Airlines‘ potential march toward the forefront of Gulf State carriers. While I have largely stopped writing about airlines installing wifi on flights due to the rapid…
The saga of Mexicana Airlines is complex and can be frustrating for those involved with the airline and passengers who have been impacted by the airline ceasing its flight operations, as I recently wrote about here – Mexicana Says Goodbye With Its Future Up In The Air. Recently there have been some interesting movements within…
Mexicana, formally known as Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, has a storied history. The airline founded in 1921 is not only the oldest operating airline in Mexico, but also the oldest airline in The Americas, one of the oldest airlines in the world to continue flying under its original name … and the oldest airline in…
Russian flag carrier Aeroflot struggles at times to keep up with the times. Aeroflot has made considerable strides in some areas, such as introducing a modern Airbus fleet with an average age of less than three years old and an order for 22 Boeing 787-800 aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2016. As Aeroflot is…
