RE: SABENA

I have never flown Sabena, but I find the new colours really smart and the crew uniform quite elegant and discerning.

RE: First post: Longest time on plane?

My longest were
-Madrid-Havana with Cubana Il-62 with a technical stop at Gander…endless.
-Madrid-Buenos Aires with Aerolineas B747-200. Time 12.00 hours.
-Dallas-Frankfurt on Lufthansa A340. Time 10.45 hours.
-Santiago de Compostela-Caracas on Viasa. Time 8.30 hours
-LHR-EWR on BA 747-100. Time 7.30.
-Madrid-Delhi on Royal Jordanian A310. Time 10 hours (several stops).
This makes me think, about the lack of innovation in aviation.
Planes are essentially the same since the launching of the Dc-8 or B707. No speed improvements, no new designs, everything too
standard. I don´t want to refer to transatlantic speed but speeds of 1.5 match could cut travelling times quite a lot. I think it´s really unhuman staying more than 10 hours on a plane.
Why costs are more important than innovation?.

RE: AIRBUS 3XX???

I will a success because;

-Air traffic congestion and limited slot.
-Alliances will tend to concetrate flights with code-share.
-Growing number of passangers in places like China, Japan,
..etc.
-Extra space for extra fancies. It´s clear that the times of
packed cabins with seats is over. Airlines are racking their
brains to offer things which others don´t (cabins in Virgin,
dancing floors, synagogas, lounges and so on. There´s a battle
to offer the very best). If the plane offers the same operating operating costs than a B777 or A340 with extra space I don´t see any problemn of having extra space.
-Regionalization of long haul flights, ETOPS flights are good for the USA. In Europe long haul flights departs from a limited number of airports. Many european airlines operate fully booked B747-400 and would appreciate bigger planes rather than more fecuencies (in terms of operational costs).
-Passangers like big four engines aircraft. This is trivial but may incline the preference of many people to get a A3XX flight.
-No competence in that segment. High season charter flights,
flights to Mecca, cargo options, transport of other big things…and so on.
-EADS should have good reason to launch it and having such a colossal risk.

RE: British Airways Tails

I thing the World Image was one of the most original and fantastic idea one airline ever had. Although in the UK it wasn´t popular, many european travellers liked this more cosmopolitan image. Art is never cheap or tatty. I should the artistic designs of many famous artists should be much more respected. I find totally wrong trying to make patriotism and waving the national flag to show one airline is more or less “national”. As far as I am concerned I dislike the new livery so much that I have changed to BD because, besides being a good British airline, its like a breath of fresh air. Removing the ethnic designs is a big smack to international passangers.
It´simply an oppinion
wishes