Did remind me of the first flight of the Concorde. Hope the A380 enjoys a comparable carreer. 😀

Well it all depends if you just go from FRA to Cologne, then the train might be the best solution.

However if you want to have some mobility while in Cologne or even go and visit DUS, then a Rent a Car is the best Option. Especially as they are dirt cheap at the moment.

You can get a VW Mutlivan / VW Sharan or Ford Galaxy (all for up to 7 passengers for only 264 Euros at sixt.de). That is from FRA to FRA with unlimited mileage. Or 2 Renault Twingos / Modus for 216 Euro.

Going by train should be between 70-130 per person Euros depending on the time of day you want to travel.

I really wonder if the majority in the UK is so careless when it comes to the airline they are flying to their holiday destinations.

In Germany they tried to make Hapag Lloyd TUI, but in the end they had to accept the Hapag Lloyd name with the TUI colors. They tried to make condor Thomas Cook, but Condor came back.

They only are based upon many comments regarding Alpha Jets in German service and why they were abandoned so quickly, where the birds are described as costly, complex a difficult to maintain.

Your info about flying characteristics, is, IMHO, very interesting. Thanks for that..

The main reason why the A-Jet went so quickly was, that it was in need of an avionics update and that it had lost its operational value (if it had any) after the end of the cold war.

It would have been to expensive to get those A-Jets up to a level in which they would have been worth to keep in service unti ltoday and still be operational viable.

(RWR, FLIR, etc. ..)

Another big one for Boeing. The better product won again.

Looks like the leading long range airplane for the next decade.