It certainly seems to be near. The Dutch government has OK’ed it and the French government sure ain’t gonna mind AF taking over a profitable airline. Apparently Berlusconi also wants a share of the honour (surprise surprise) and wants AZ to have a say as well.

Dutch unions are not thrilled at the idea and that is probably what is keeping it up. The government also wants some guarantees I believe. Mostly relating to employment and the future of Schiphol as a main hub.

If this deals goes through there will be some interesting questions:

* Ownership: will KLM still be KLM, or AF-Nord? Can KLM still make important decissions?
* Airports: Will AF, being the largest of the two/three, try to get all long-haul (=profitable) flights at CDG leaving AMS and Malpensa with the undesirable lot? This is a serious fear here!
* Corporate culture: the French are a bunch of strikers whereas the Dutch are a bunch of talkers (taking it very roughly, don’t be insulted please).
* Unions: in France the unions are extremely strong and powerful (see strikes) whereas the Dutch ones are a bit more tempered.
* Fleet: AF and AZ are big users of the A320series. AZ will replace their MD-80s in a few years and will likely get additional Airbusses. Where does that leave KLM/HV with the comparatively small B737NG fleet?
* Livery: Will there be a (special) SKYteam livery like with the STAR alliance?

Its gonna be interesting to see what will happen. One local paper (Metro I believe) has written a very small editorial in the finance section and they seem to think the announcement could be made tomorrow!

NICE!

Make me wanna go back to London! And I will! The 23th I arrive and the 25th I will leave! If now everyone will stay home at the Concorde farewell, I might be able to shoot some nice pictures! Otherwise its just backs of people like I had at Farnborough ’02. 😀

The yellow is quite “in-you-face”, may be a left-over from Buzz.

I quite like the idea of having the safety cards in front of you. Some people may not like it since it makes “borrowing” the cards impossible. In case of an emergency you don’t have to go looking for the card. You know it is never there when you need it!

One question though: won’t this scare of the nervous flyers? It would be a constant reminder of the doom they expect! On the plus side, even the most stubborn traveller won’t be able to miss them!

The answers have already been posted! You cheater!

http://www.keypublishing.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16022

Thanks for those answers, maybe a bit early (for me anyway).

*****************

I must admit I am baffled. I would never have guessed most of them. The first one I would never have said Gulf Air, I was more inclined to say TNT.

I don’t even recognise the Blenheim in the normal pic, let alone the edited one! Should brush up on my knowledge of oldies!

The Harrier, well now I have seen it I can vaguely recognise it, Still a tough call, I like the F8 Crusader better! 😉

The only one I was sure I would have was the Orion, only problem was that I thought it was a BAe-748! Doh! The blade of the #1 prop probably should have given it away I suppose.

The Tornado is still unrecognisable. Will probably stay so for ever!

I actually considered the A-10 before deciding for the SU-27 (series).

*****************

Are you going to do something like this again (please, PLEASE, PLEASE). If so, give it a few days more!

And one question, how many responses where there?

I guess I just didn’t have anything better.

That’s a bad excuse, you did have something better… 😎 😉 😀

All I know is that it is not necessary for both the main and the nose gear to be on the ground for the trust reversers to be deployed. I have seen this on many planes including the A340 (pic), B767, B737 and more.

I would not be surprised if the reverser on the A340 pictured was already deployed when you see the pic. Just look at the angle of attack!

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=121526