RE: Imagine if you actually had to pay for that airline food.

Yeah,

Airtours were going to charge us £10-£15 each for meals on our 10 hour flights but then threw them in for free as we were spending a great deal of cash on a two week holiday.

RE: London – Prague flights

CSA Czech Airlines have totalled £106.00 and flights are operated using a 737-400 on both legs to and from London Heathrow.

RE: Brighton Pier is falling down

A bit of Lottery money wouldn’t go amiss here. Too much money is given away to winners of the lottery, most of which could not spend their winnings. A mere £30million will be just a tiny dent in Camelot’s pocket.

RE: Airbus Versus Boeing

I think most believe Airbus are the stronger of the two, but no way are Boeing just going to let the A380 dominate the industry. They will have an idea tucked away up their sleeve… somewhere!

RE: Airbus Versus Boeing

This argument comes up frequently.

With Airbus releasing the A380 (A3XX) and Boeing planning to release the Sonic Cruiser which has now been scrapped, there was never any real competition.

Boeing manufacture the most successful commercial jet of all time, the 737, and after over 30 years of the aircraft, it’s still going strong with orders constantly rolling in. Also the 747, arguably the most popular and successful long haul aircraft of all time. Used by most major airlines on their longest routes. Not forgetting the 767, the aircraft which in recent years has been the most common aircraft to cross the atlantic.

Airbus have just begun production of what they hope to be a successful project – The A380. I’ve never been too keen on the idea of a double decker plane flying above me for a number of reasons, mainly for safety reasons of those on board and those on the ground. Such a large aircraft could cause a huge number of fatalities. If an aircraft of this size crashed in a heavily populated city in the world e.g. London, hundreds more would be killed on the ground.

You could compare the aviation industry and aircraft design to the mobile phone market for example: Nokia have recently released a whole batch of mobile phones with cameras, colour screens and more and those who purchased such phones as the 3330 beforehand are suddenly left with a phone which is no longer the latest model. Surely, designing too many aircraft is going to be the same sort of situation. Whereas Boeing have merely enhanced older aircraft and passed them off as new, they are still the same, leaving airlines happy and feeling as if they have the “in” aircraft.

The Airbus A319 is a nice 125 seater (?) short haul jet which was once the smallest made by the manufacturer. Airlines buy it and next comes the A318 which holds 100 (?). An airline which wanted a 100 seater Airbus aircraft could once only have the A319 which seated 25 more than they needed. Now the A318 comes along and they feel they have a rather old model.

I think Boeing have so far been the stronger of the two, but who knows what the future holds for the battle of the two top manufacturers. Both have aircraft which compete against each other:

737 vs A319/A320
747 vs A340 and soon to be A380
757 vs A321
767/777 vs A330

The Sonice Cruiser idea being scrapped was a good decision. As I said last time this topic cropped up, there isn’t such great demand for hi-speed air travel. Only 2 airlines operate Concorde and the Tu-144 idea never really took off. This decision has probably saved them a great deal of money which can be spent on a design which will be a strong competitor for the A380.

But who’s stronger? Wait til 2006 and we’ll see..! 😉

RE: I am back from Argentina. Some pics

Some good pics and also a good report. You’re like an old scrooge not appreciating the airline’s attempt at being Christmassy!! 😛

Good read none-the-less.

RE: OK, so what did Santa bring?

I got 2 pairs of socks, a portable CD player which is actually faulty and has to be exchanged, two ties, four shirts (because I like to look smart from time to time), some rather expensive fragrances (because I like to smell nice from time to time as well) i.e. Yves Saint Laurent, Paco Robanne etc and the car is going to be paid for by my parents in the New Year. They say it would have been in my stocking but because I don’t want a white car or a Corsa, they say it’s taking time.

I’m not being fussy. My mum has a Corsa, my sister has a Corsa and now they want me to have one? Surely it’s going to look completely ridiculous having three of the damn things outside the house!!