not historic but Airbus do run tours around the facility at Hamburg – did the tour a couple of years ago and it is very interesting – we actually were allowed inside one that was being finished.

more and more airlines realise that lower fares are probably more important now than in the past – just look at how Easyjet / Ryanair to name 2 have expanded over the last 5 years. Also there is a trend in the more traditional airlines to go with a low cost option – BMI and Aer Lingus for example.

Point to point over short haul is going to increase as more people wish to travel from a local airport to major holiday destinations such as Spain etc.

The hub / spoke system operated by the major US carriers works well in that it allows people from many different starting points to collect and be redistributed efficiently to different destinations that would possibly not support point to point services. This also allows better use of limited airspace and airport capacity. Can you imagine how busy the USA would become if point to point was the norm. The only major problem with the hub system is that if there is a problem it does affect a lot of flight / people.

Europe has ‘hubs’ but these tend to be the capital cities with secondary cities having their own route networks without the need to change planes at the ‘hub’. Flights to the USA can go from 4 uk cities other than London.

As for the A380 / 747 there is still a reuirement for the high capacity / long haul routes (or short haul in the case of Japan) + there is no direct replacement for the 747 other than the 787 which as yet still a ‘paper aicraft’

which is why the CAP is there is the first place to protect the less efficient farming industry of France – french unions are still a powerful force and any attempt to reduce the amount they get will be met with much resistance – am sure we all remember the sight of british lorries being burnt because they were carrying cheaper lamb / there is also the case of BSE – british beef was declared safe by the eu a year or more before the french lifted their own ban again to protect their own agriculture.

If the rebate has to go then so be it but not without a drastic overhaul of CAP – even after the rebate we still pay in more than france – if they want solidarity then at least discuss reform – politics is a give and take process – unfortunately the french and CAP it is all take.

Air British Columbia operated both at one time – (late 80’s) as I was lucky enough to fly on one from Vancouver to Seattle.

Kev35,

hope you do not mind me commenting but they do look a bit dark (could be my monitor though) Not sure what you use to ‘tweak’ pictures but the levels function in photoshop would certainly be worth exploring