Matthew I totally agree with you there, She’ll be around a while yet as she should be. But I still think its time we saw a totally new “Big Ship” from Boeing. Or even licence production of the A380????

I still stand by my own beliefs on the LoCo system which I have held for many years. Its all based on a “floor of glass”such as unrealistic and unsustainable cheap fuel prices, unfair and anti-competative user rates and subsidies at airports (including Stansted!) why should these same “sweet deals” landing and airport user fees offered to RYR and others not apply to full service carriers? ie Strasbourg! The so called commitment to”serving our customers” much touted by Ryanair did’nt last long once the subsidy had gone did it? I also doubt very much that these carriers pay a realistic rate for the aircraft that they operate, but that may turn out to be a long term problem for the manufacturers to face. The LoCo sectors mentality that somehow they should be exempt from the same consumer protection laws at last being implemented by the EU on behalf of the passenger beggars belief! This is long overdue. As I have said in earlier postings, when the day comes that the likes of Ryanair, Easyjet etc are competing on an equal playing field to the full service carriers AND delivering the same consistant standards of service that they do, along with the same long haul operations that our full service airlines provide then my hat will go off to them. Sadly I don’t see me raising that hat anytime soon

Nice pics…..good variety, like the airborne stuff.. thanks.

Luke, Until 2yrs ago I worked for a long time at Stansted Airport and our company used to often take on work experience people for 2 to 3 weeks, so it can be done. I don’t know if new regs on security might now rule this kind of thing out. Suggest looking at your nearest commercial (or private) airfield and seeing whats about. Our company was usually contacted by local schools and colleges with a view to placing people with us, maybe this would be a good way to start. At least three people that I can remember ended up joining us full time a bit later on from their work experience time. Good Luck mate….aviation is a good career!

Stunnung pics Ren!………You can almost see the headlines on that guys Irish Times in the 4th window on the EI 146! More anytime please!

Although I am not a pilot I did spend 20 yrs in the Traffic/Ops Load Control sector which obviously involved working closely with flight deck crew and I can only base my opinions on my own experiences during that time vis-a-vis this topic. Sadly as pointed out by some the airline industry is a bean counters paradise and therefore based on that premise even more reason I would think for Boeing to re think its strategy, as I don’t see the reign of the bean counter ending anytime soon. The days of the “Pilots Aeroplane” may sadly be behind us…….It would be grand to be proved wrong on that!

I have to disagree Steve, based on what pilot friends tell me Airbus products in most areas are superior to the Boeing ones. On scrutinising most airlines reasons for selecting the Airbus over Boeing its usually the technical and performance details that seem to dictate the choice. Take the selection recently by the Bhutan carrier Druk Air, until now a 146 operator, who stated that for the restricted nature of their capitals airport the A320 sports a far greater technical and performance/payload capability than the 737. And just wait until the A380 gets here! As for the “great deals” that you mention, I’m fairly sure that Boeing do some of those too………Ryanair for example.
Boeing may well be about to do the “Airbus thing” and begin designing a whole new and technologically fresh range of designs just as AI did all those years ago. You can only go on stretching and tweeking 60s designs for so long and I think that the current new orders and delivery tables show Boeing that for a whole swathe of their range the writings on the wall!