The 737 Next Generation Series is the most capable single aisle airliner being built today. The 737-700 has a true transcontinental capability and the 737MAX aircraft may have trans-Atlantic capability when it is defined and built.
Question: What was the range and passenger capacity of the first 737-100?
30 years ago and in August of 1981, the air traffic control union, PATCO, engaged in a strike contrary to federal law and found itself dissolved and most of its membership fired from their jobs. I still have strong memories of my own father spendings days at Braniff’s operations center trying to decide which flights would get cancelled (He was an EVP of Braniff at the time.)
Question: What famous attorney led the formation of PATCO and what presidential candidate did PATCO endorse in the 1980 election? The answer after the fold: (more…)
Just a couple of weeks ago, I realized it had been quite some time since we heard something outrageous from Michael O’Leary. Sure enough, he’s back.
This time he’s beating the drum about toilets but with a twist. O’Leary claims that they’ve proposed removing 2 of 3 toilets on its 737-800 aircraft which would permit them to seat 195 passengers instead of 189 at present. He claims it would save passengers about 5% on air fares.
Let me first point out that we’re talking about a savings of about $4.00 on an $80 one way fare. That said, I’ll admit that O’Leary is right in that price is king and having the lowest prices has been a very successful model for Ryanair.
I’ll also point out that Boeing has to get such a configuration certified for the airliner and that can be a very costly proposition.
Will O’Leary get his way? I kind of doubt it. At least with respect to the toilet proposal. Furthermore, what do you do when you have a toilet go out of service on an aircraft at remote station? Fly without? That might be asking for more trouble than it’s worth.
But he did get his way. He got you and me and the world media to pay attention to Ryanair again.
British Airways has begun a new ad campaign based on their old motto “To Fly. To Serve”. Here is a video created in support of that new campaign. Enjoy.
My wife traveled to Las Vegas last Saturday and while she isn’t a hard core airliner fan like me, she knows her stuff from hanging out with me.
While on the aircraft, she noticed a no smoking symbol sign on her seat. Right above the ashtray. Being friendly, she asked the flight attendant why on earth would that aircraft have ashtrays when smoking has been banned for 20 years.
The flight attendant’s reply?
“This airplane was built in the 1950’s and they don’t want to spend the money to update it.”
Yes, seriously. No kidding. She said that.
Tsk, tsk, Southwest. Your flight attendants ought to know better than that.
ALPA, Air Lines Pilots Association, is the central figure in the history of organizing pilots into a union. It was and remains the biggest influence on the conditions under which pilots fly.
We all know Bombardier’s 50 seat jets in the CRJ-100/200 series aircraft. The CRJ-100/200 aircraft are actually derivatives of the original Canadair Challenger business jet and Canadair is the foundation of what became Bombardier’s aerospace division.
Delta Airlines merged with Northwest Airlines in 2008 (hard to believe it’s been nearly 3 years, isn’t it?) to form what was, at that time, the World Largest Airline. That merger had some oddities to it in that the architect of the merger was Richard Anderson who, although was CEO of Delta at that time, had led Northwest in the past. Coincidentally enough, both Delta and Northwest purchased iconic airlines based west of the Mississippi in 1986.
Question: Can you name the airlines that Delta and Northwest purchased in 1986?
It is standard for airlines to have inflight magazines and many are actually quite good. Can you name the airlines associated with these magazine names:
Two airlines founded by the same man somewhat recently decided to get married. Can you name the two airlines and the man who founded both? The answer after the fold: (more…)
American Airlines has had a pretty curious fleet at times and they’ve tried out more than one dud in their fleet as well. Two such examples are the Convair CV-990 and the MD-11. Neither really worked out that well for AA.
American has also owned a variety of foreign aircraft over the years and has just announced it’s buying foreign again in the form of the Airbus A320 family.
Can you name the 4 foreign aircraft families American has previously owned? The answer after the fold: (more…)
Airlines establish call signs to identify themselves while on radio. Most airline call signs are fairly predictable. American Airlines, for instance, uses “American”. Delta Airlines uses “Delta”.
There is one New Mexican airline named New Mexico Airlines that uses “TSUNAMI”.
Two young men who were stuck at DFW airport for several hours decided to spend their time in the American Airlines terminal having fun. Wheel chair races, esclator hijinx and even sneaking a beer from one of the closed restaurants are all a part of their video. Yes, they made a video of the thing. The 2 minute video actually is well produced and edited. View it here:
