Good news if you’re trapped in a long pencil plane that’s going over the pond or going trans-continental.

United Airlines have confirmed they have rolled out Economy Plus seating on all it’s ex Continental Boeing 757-200′s.

For those new to United, Economy Plus gives you more legroom in the Economy cabin with varying degrees of space – from a derisory 3″ extra on a 747 to an extra 6″ on the 757′s.

The reconfiguration makes the aircraft into the following:

• 16 full-flat Business First seats,
• 45 Economy Plus seats
• 108 Economy seats

The 41 refitted birds will ply trade between  on routes from :

• Newark International Airport (NJ) to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Lima, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Manchester, Oslo, Paris, Shannon, Stockholm and Stuttgart,
• Washington Dulles International and Amsterdam and Paris.

You’ll also find them occasionally on domestic runs (for example EWR-LAX), so check your aircraft type before you book and hit the confirm button.

Whilst extra legroom is always welcome on these birds, it’s more of the shoulder room that is more important – especially if the plane is fully loaded (as I found out on the Denver trip in December – 3 across in a 757 down the back is not what I’d call a “pleasant” experience….)

It appears that the Hungarian carrier Malev appears to be in a precarious state, with Hungary taking steps to restructure the company – by passing a decree to protect the Malev from bankruptcy proceedings.

Malev – one of the bigger occupiers of Budapest International Airport – was ordered to repay the state aid lent to it by order of the European Commission.

The decree was signed by the prime minister to protect the airline, and it allows a government body to run any liquidation procedure started against the company and handle its assets.

Malev employs over 2600, but has been suffering losses to the tune of 24.6 Billion Hungarian Florints in 2010, and it seems to be running low on working cash.

It seems the dominoes are lining up this year for airline failures (with Spanair being the first this year). Is Malev next? Or will BMI fall if the IAG takeover doesn’t go ahead. Certainly the more basket case of the airline, the more chance it’s going either taken over or in the pages of history.

For now, all Malev flights are operating – but don’t be surprised if bigger issues appear along the line…

It seems yet another low cost Asian carrier is going to have a go at trying to launch a Long Haul Low Cost Carrier.

Cebu Pacific (most recently famous for their in-air safety demo to Lady GaGa’s “Let’s Dance”) is to launch a service, operating up to eight Airbus A330-300′s.

They plan to operate to low-cost services to Australia, the Middle East, parts of Europe and the USA, with aims of lowering fares by 35%, increasing access for the home nation nationals and offering direct flights.

Cebu Pacific is an Airbus operator at current with the airline operating Airbus A319′s and Airbus A320 on Domestic, Short Haul and Regional hops in their current sphere of operations. The new plan will bring them into full competition with Philippine Airlines locally, and with Qantas’s Jetstar, Air Asia X and Singapore Airline’s new airline – Scoot.

Will this work for Cebu Pacific? I’m not honestly sure. Whilst there is still a lot of LCC space up for grabs in the Asia-Pacific region, running them on Ultra Long Haul Routes (such as Europe) has proven fruitless for Air Asia X (who instead are running LCC services in the Asia-Pacific-Australia region in a slightly better way). Even Scoot is starting up with Sydney as as a starting point, and looking to Europe later. And then operating to the USA… I’m not sure anyone has tried it (or got approval to run an LCC from Asia to the USA) – yet.

One to watch, but this isn’t adding up in my head..

And for those who have forgotten the antics of Cebu Pacific’s Safety Demo, it’s below

News from New Zealand and Air New Zealand with Rob Fyfe resigning from the carrier – to leave at the end of the year.

Rob Fyfe joined the airline in 2005, and has done his best to keep the airline afloat in troubling times. He is resigning from Air New Zealand to allow the airline’s s “talented and capable” executives the room to realise their full potential  according to him.

In quotes, Rob Fyfe said:

“After almost a decade at Air New Zealand, I am an Air New Zealander to the core and I live and breathe Air New Zealand every day. At the same time I’m very conscious that I am surrounded by many very talented and capable executives and if they are to grow and realise their full potential I have to create the space to allow them to do so” 

Air New Zealand shares took a dive by 1.1% to NZ$0.90 on the news. This is a bit of bad news to the New Zealand government who are considering a partial sale of the stock it owns in the airline to reduce its holding to just over 50%.

Rob Fyfe is an interesting character, and hasn’t been afraid to do the odd publicity stunt, appear in adverts or even in the Air New Zealand own adverts – and has been through the ups and downs that is about right for the industry.

Who takes over the mantle has yet to be announced, but there’s a tiny bit of a rock star’s position that has to be filled.

It seems all has got better with Amadeus, with a posting on their blog released:

Amadeus can now confirm that all airline systems are restored. Some travel agency customers may continue to experience service disruption which we are investigating. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

A quick check of CheckmyTrip.com is running a bit slow, whilst the classic version is working at a reasonable speed. The Amadeus apps also appear to be functioning too.

I’d give it till tomorrow before using these tools in anger though…

It seems there are a few issues with Amadeus at the moment (the booking engine used by some airlines).

Using the CheckmyTrip.com interface, after entering a valid PNR/Surname, you’re normally able to examine your itineraries and such.

Alas, The database seems broken at the moment, so it’s not available via this interface. Which rather annoying if your airline uses Amadeus (eg, British Airways, Lufthansa, BMI, etc etc etc etc etc.)

Aren’t you glad you kept a paper copy of your travel?

The wonders of travel prep never cease…

Update

Amadeus has provided a statement at http://www.amadeus.com/blog/30/01/statement-from-amadeus-it-group/

Amadeus can confirm that some airlines are experiencing difficulties with our systems. We regret any delay and inconvenience caused and are fully investigating this issue.

We will provide a further update on this blog at 6 p.m. CET.

Update 2

More from Amadeus in a complete lack of information statement

Amadeus systems are in the process of recovering from the earlier disruption. We regret any inconvenience and delay this may have caused and will aim to issue a further update in one hour’s time.

To put it blunt… Unimpressive…

More later…

Emriates recently launched a Dubai to Dublin service, and it seems to have gone down well.

Well enough that Emirates has confirmed re-gauging of the service from the currently operated Airbus A330-300 to Boeing 777-300ER thanks to the 90% load factors that have appeared to be filling the planes.

The service is being switched to a three class Boeing 777-300ER, configured with 12 First, 42 Business, and 304 economy class seats.

The uprated service commences on 1st July 2012, operating the current schedule, subject to minor variations on arrival at departure time at Dublin.

And if Emriates have a real hit on their hands like they say, I’d expect it to be going double-daily soon enough.

Time for a slightly bittersweet piece of airplane art. This week, it’s a SpanAir Airbus A320 parked at Barcelona El Prat Airport in May last year.

As we all know, Spanair has now folded after negotiations with Qatar Airways ground to a halt on Friday 27th January.

More airplane art of course next week!

It’s Saturday, and it’s back – Safety Video Saturday returns for a month or so as I’ve got some new content.

However, to start of with, here’s the new United Safety Video for a United 747. My comments are… below..

Right. Now you’ve watched it, and thinking what I’m thinking…

Dear United. 

Which focus group let this abomination through?

The seems be little flare in this video in comparison to the old United Safety Videos – or Continental ones for that matter. Whilst the content of it basically the same as before, this new video isn’t engaging as the previous Contiental or United Videos.

At least it’s shot on a plane (compared to the Matrix style of the old United videos). The person who use fisheye lenses/fast pans and out of focus effect needs taking to one side as it’s distracting as hell.

Oh, and the person who worked on mixing the Rhapsody in Blue with whatever they’ve concuted should also be taken out and put behind a 747′s engine at take off power.

And deep joy. There are different Jeff Smiek intros. Here’s the Boeing 777-200 intro.

I’ll let you all work out if this is a change I like….

Continuing from yesterdays breaking story that Spanair has filed for bankruptcy, more details are emerging and the impact that is rippling through the Spanish Aviation industry.

To recap: Spanair were declared to be “in an emergency financial situation” on Wednesday 25th January. the airline was in talks with Qatar Airways in purchasing a stake in the airline. On Friday the Qatar Airways walked away from the negotiations.

With the state Spanair case in – seemingly out of cash, the two shareholders – The Catalan Government and SAS pulled the plug.

Spanair state

“Faced with the lack of financial visibility for the coming months, the company has decided to cease its operations as a measure of caution and safety”

On Friday 27th 22:00CET, All Spanair flights were suspeneded.

Estimates of over 22,000 passengers are stranded this weekend with the best part of 380flightsto fly during the weekend, with Iberia, Vueling, Easyjet and Ryanair now trying to get passenger to their destinations.

Madrid’s Barajas airport and Barcelona’s El Prat have had special lunges set up to try and handle the stranded Spanair passenger to attempt to get them rebooked.

Over the 3 days following the collapse, the Catalan Government, Spanair and various carriers have agreed emergency fares:

• Domestic flights and Balearic Islands: 60 euros.
• Flights to the Canary Islands: 90 euros
• International flights: $ 100

If you were due to travel on Spanair after Monday should consult their travel insurance or ticket issuers to find out what to do next.

Meanwhile SAS is facing a 1.7 BILLON SEK (US$250 million) write down with the collaspe of the airline. With the Catalan government constrained how much more it could put in due to the fincial bailout rules, it sems there are no winners at all this time.

Spanair itself has failed to make a profit since 2007.

Thus ends another airline with a slightly non sensible model, and a loss of a link for those who rely on the airline who now have to rely on other carriers to step into the breech.

Well this sneaked up, but apparently, Spanair has suspended all flights after failed talks with Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways was in talks to buy a stake in Spanair, but it seems those talks have collapsed according the the Catalan regional government (who owns 80.1% of the company) and SAS who own 19.9%.

A rescue effort was launched on the 25 January 2011, after the company was deemed to be in an “Emergency Financial Situation”. The Catalonian government approved a €10.5 million loan plan in order to save it.

The Ministry of Development also published a statement requiring Spanair to “fulfill its obligations with passengers” adding it was coordinating “alternative transport.”

The Catalan government said the “current economic climate” and “European legislation concerning competition” made it impossible for it to continue financing the small carrier whose hub is Barcelona airport.

The Spanair website has gone black – not a good sign at all.

The collapse of Spanair leaves 3,161 employees hunting for new posts sadly. Spanair itself was a member of Star Alliance.

If you’re due to travel with Spanair, I’d be finding new routes now and be rebooking as needed.

*BREAKING* – Spanair notice of intent is now out. English translation at http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spanair.com%2Fes_pos%2Fes_ES%2Fportal%2FError%2FPage404

Spanair, in coordination with the Government, has reached an agreement, with Vueling, Iberia and Air Europa for those passengers who purchase a ticket and fly over the next three days have a special rate.

The price of tickets, depending on the destination will be:

• Domestic flights and Balearic Islands: 60 euros.
• Flights to the Canary Islands: 90 euros
• International flights: $ 100