Second Hand Champaign From Emirates

A video showing an Emirates airline steward pouring champagne from a glass back into a bottle went viral this week. The very short video was filmed by a passenger on board the Airbus A380 and was shared via social media, with well over a million views.

The action was captured accidentally at the very start of the video which was a gentle sweep through the cabin.  Watch it here.....

No comment yet from Emirates, but just be aware your bubbly inflight might well be second-hand and left overs from the boarding welcome drink.

EasyJet to Relaunch as a European Airline in Brexit Backlash

The UK's largest budget airline, EasyJet is to set up a new airline based in Vienna, Austria to relaunch the airline after UK leaves the European Union.

According to current regulation an airline must have an air operator certificate in an EU member country to allow it to continue flying between any EU member states. Therefore, if the regulations stay the same as they are now, Easyjet want a new EU based airline to continue to operate their current schedules without interruption.

Tourist killed by jet blast at St Maarten

A tourist has been killed after being knocked over by jet blasts at an St Maarten where the runway is just yards from a road and the beach on the tiny sunshine isle.

The tourist who is reported to be a 57-year-old from New Zealand, had been standing by the fence at the end of the runway at Princess Juliana Airport on the island of St Maarten. She was watching the plane take off when she was knocked down by the jet blast and hit her head sustaining serious head injuries. She was taken to hospital, where it was later announced that she had died.  

St Maarten's is known throughout the world as one of the most exciting airports for plane spotters and thrill seekers as the runway is so close to the narrow road and thin beach. 

There are many signs along the beach and airport perimeter fence that warn of the dangers of the jet wash or blast from the aircraft. However, thrill seekers often loop their hands through the wire fence and feel the full force of a departing aircraft.  

Monarch Launch Auctions For Extra Legroom Seats

Legroom....what legroom?

Passengers using budget airline Monarch will now be able to bid against each other if they are wanting to get a seat with extra legroom.

The airline launched two new features for passengers this week, one called the ‘extra comfort seat’ and the other ‘bid for extra legroom’ feature.

It will see customers battling it out online for extra spaces or upgraded seats making more money for the budget airline and increasing frustration for those unsuccessful in their bidding.

Customers will be able to purchase as many as two extra seats on flights, with the company claiming the policy will allow customers to “treat themselves to something better”.  Yet the cost of buying the extra seats is lightly to be one and a half times higher than the retail price.

Air Canada Shares Up Despite Record Complaint Levels

Air Canada shares were at their highest in more than 10 years on Thursday after the country's largest airline said analyst forecasts had significantly underestimated one of its earnings benchmarks.

Shares in the Montreal-based airline peaked at $19.06 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange rose. In later trading, they were up 7.38 per cent or $1.28 at $18.62.  This is despite the airline receiving a record level of complaints over the last two quarters.  Staff at a data centre in India say upon instruction they 'loose' 1 in four complaints.

United Airlines Sells Seat Twice.....

Another episode of greedy behaviour from United Airlines left a Hawaiian mother having to hold her 2 year-old son in her lap for the entire three hour flight, despite paying nearly $1,000 for his seat.

This latest money grabbing incident happened last week when the airline sold her son’s seat to a standby passenger on the last leg of their trip from Honolulu to Boston.

"We had both our tickets scanned, we both went on board no problem," Shirley Yamauchi, told local TV station. Then a man approached them and showed he had the same seat number, 24A, as the boy.

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New Routes For Monarch

Monarch is celebrating the launch of four new routes from Birmingham Airport – The UK airline now flies to Valencia in Spain, Split in Croatia, Naples in Italy and Rhodes in Greece from the midlands airport.

It has become the only airline and holiday company to take passengers from Birmingham to Valencia and Split.




David Winstanley, Chief Operating Officer at Birmingham Airport, and Ian Chambers, Chief Commercial Officer at Monarch, cut the paella cake

737 Max for Norwegian

Norwegian took delivery of two new Boeing 737 Maxes on Thursday at a handover ceremony in Seattle. The first of the jets took off for Oslo at about 1:45 p.m. local time.

The deliveries were the first of the type to Norwegian Air, which has a total of 110 737 Maxes on order. The carrier expects to take four more of the jets – all the Max-8 variant – by the end of 2017.

Norwegian becomes just the second airline in the world get Boeing’s new 737 Max model. And, sometime next month, the airline will become the first to put the jet into regular service in the United States. 

"It’s a major milestone,” Norwegian founder and CEO Bjørn Kjos said about taking the new 737 Max at delivery ceremony in Seattle on Thursday. 

Air Namibia is Second Best Regional African Airline

According to Skytrax, Air Namibia is the second-best regional airline in Africa. 

The Skytrax World Airline Awards are very prestigious and highly regarded in the airline industry. They are often referred to as “the Oscars of the aviation industry,” and are a global benchmark of airline excellence. Travellers across the globe take part each year in the world's airline passenger satisfaction survey to decide the winners.

Air Namibia's general manager for commercial services, Xavier Masule, was ecstatic upon receiving the news.

Bird Strike Forces AirAsia X Emergency Landing

Passengers on an AirAsia X flight say they saw sparks coming from an engine after a suspected bird strike led to their plane being grounded in Brisbane last night.

The incident occurred shortly after the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight took off from the Gold Coast about 10:20pm, with the plane flying for another hour before landing safely in Brisbane.
The plane switched course to Brisbane an hour after take-off.

"Two bird remains were found on the runway," the airline said in a statement.

Eric Lim, a passenger who posted images and video of the plane on social media, said the right engine was struck.  "Successive sparks 'boom, boom, boom' went off," Mr Lim posted on Facebook.

BA Cabin Crew Strike But Passengers Get An Upgrade

British Airways cabin crew based at the UK's busiest airport have launched a 16 day strike in a long-running dispute over pay.

Members of Unite in the so-called mixed fleet - those who have joined the airline since 2010 - walked out from midnight at Heathrow Airport amid union claims that they are on "poverty pay".

VivaColumbia Wants Standing Room Only on Flights

Budget airline VivaColombia is considering plans to remove all seats from its planes and make passengers stand.

They hope the move will drive down fares by allowing them to squeeze more passengers into each flight, opening up air travel to working class Colombians and budget holidaymakers.

It's a Yes For Flybondi

Argentina's transportation ministry authorized low-cost airline FB Lineas Aereas, known commercially as Flybondi, to operate domestic and international flights, according to a notice published Thursday in the country's official gazette.

With the resolution, all five airlines that received a preliminary go-ahead in February from the civil aviation authority to operate in Latin America's No. 3 economy have now been granted final permission. American Jet, Alas del Sur and Andes Lineas Aereas were cleared in March.

Small Plane Crashes on US Freeway

A small plane crash-landed on a freeway in Orange County, California, on Friday morning, critically injuring two people on board and snarling traffic on a major north-south artery through the area, authorities said.

The fiery crash was captured on cell-phone video by a driver and broadcast on local KABC-TV. It showed the twin-engine Cessna 310 as it passed low over the northbound side of the San Diego (405) freeway in southern California before slamming into the ground on the southbound lanes.