Posted by Seth on September 24, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports | 
“Oh, you again.”
Probably not the way most folks want to be greeted when boarding a plane. For me this morning, however, it was just another JetBlue flight attendant who I had previously had the pleasure of flying with during the All You Can Jet month and one who remembered me. Good to see you again, too, Michael.
This is also my first AYCJ flight where I’ve been acutely aware of just how many others on the pass are on the flight. There were a number of AYCJ conversations going on in the cabin during boarding. Hearing “Where else have you been?” is a pretty good indicator on that front. The flight attendants took a quick poll just prior to departure, asking all the AYCJ folks to raise their hand. I counted roughly 20. A solid showing.
A bunch of us chatted during and after the flight about going to watch the planes land at Maho Beach but there was nothing definitive. At the rental car office the couple sitting behind me happened to show up on the shuttle after mine. We all started chatting with the guy behind the counter about plane spotting and I mentioned that the KLM MD-11 was due in about an hour hence. The other couple was nearly as excited as I was (he was much more than she) and we drove over to Sunset Bar, had a couple Carib beers and watched the planes land.
It. Was. Awesome!
I also confirmed that an Air France A340 is due in tomorrow afternoon shortly before my flight leaves so I’ll be back at the bar to catch that arrival, too.
I’m staying on the French side of the island, right on Orient Bay Beach. Quite nice, though it is clearly off-season and a bit quiet. That’s actually probably a good thing for me.This was sunset from the bar on the beach:
Yeah…life doesn’t particularly suck at all right now.
Posted by Seth on April 26, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Los Angeles International Airport is a bit quirky. It is pretty much smack in the middle of town, but it is also an enormous facility that sees an incredible range of aircraft passing through on a daily basis. There are almost as many Embraer E-120s (tiny prop planes) as there are Boeing 747-400s. And there are the Qantas Airbus A380s, too. Indeed, if it is flying in the western world odds are it passes through LAX at some point during the day.
Did I mention that it is pretty much in the middle of town? The airport is wonderfully accessible and there are two prime spots where folks so inclined can hang out and watch the planes come and go. One is on the south side of the airport, up on Imperial Hill. That position is elevated and built out with benches and such to accommodate the folks watching the planes. The other location is on the northeast corner of the field. It is a small grassy park area immediately adjacent to the Parking Spot Sepulveda location and an In-n-Out franchise. I like the views from Imperial Hill, but the snacks at the In-n-Out location are better so that’s usually where I end up when I’m in town. Plus, you can take the Parking Spot shuttle (tip a couple bucks!) and drop in for a visit during a layover of 3-4 hours.
This past Sunday morning the park had a whole bunch of folks out and about. Families with kids running around whooping and hollering as the 747s came in around noon (mostly the adults, actually) and otherwise running around and having a good time. Plus, a Double Double meal is a great breakfast to follow up a night of drinking.
Without further ado, a few photos from the collection I shot on Sunday morning…
The KLM 747 did a go-around on Sunday morning, passing way high over the field on its first approach. This is from the second time around.
China Airlines was the fourth of the 747s I saw on this morning.
Singapore Air’s 747-400, with vapor trails coming off the trailing edge of the flaps.
Walk across the street from the park and you’re directly under the approach path, in the midst of all the orange towers with the lights on them. They help frame the photos nicely…
A United Airlines A320 about to touch down.
I think the KLM 747 might be speeding.
The Qantas A380 arriving as seen from my hotel room Friday morning.
A bunch more photos can be seen here.
Related Posts
Tags: A380, Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Flying, KLM, Los Angeles, Photos, Qantas, Singapore Air, United
Posted by Seth on July 29, 2008 under Uncategorized |
British Airways has announced their intention to merge with OneWorld alliance partner Iberia in an all-stock swap. This isn’t the first time that merger rumors have come up between this pair, but it looks like it might actually have legs this time. Last time they were discussing merger possibilities, back in November ‘07, BA walked away after Iberia saw some significant local investment within Spain drive the price up.
The route maps are rather complimentary across the two, which is good, and they can certainly save a lot of money by reducing overlap in their administrative functions and in some of their fleet maintenance facilities.
It remains to be seen whether this merger will involve the Iberia brand being subsumed into the BA brand or if they will continue to operate both brands, similar to the KLM/Air France arrangement. Unless they plan a serious overhaul of the service and amenities it would probably make sense to keep Iberia apart from BA to ensure that the BA brand keeps what cache it has.
Posted by Seth on May 30, 2008 under Uncategorized |
The last operating all-premium carrier on the NYC-London route, SilverJet, has ceased operations as of this morning due to an inability to raise additional financing. They had actually announced that they’d reached terms with a group in UAE to provide them with some cash, but when they went to draw on the loan last week the money didn’t show up.
From the announcement on their web site:
Your belief in us was shared by our investors – but regrettably, due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to unlock the finance that we needed. As a result, we are very sad to announce that from 30 May 2008, we will cease operations and we are no longer able to honour flight reservations.
And so now all three premium carriers on the NYC-LON route have shut down. The only carrier still operating as an independent in that market is L’Avion which operates a NYC-Paris flight. And before you write off the concept of an all-premium flight operation, it is worth considering that there are some routes that seem to support it just fine. KLM operates Houston-Amsterdam on a 737 in an all-Biz config (contracted service provided by PrivatAir). Singapore Air has converted their A340-500s to all-Biz seats for the SIN-EWR route. Lufthansa has a
similar arrangement to KLM, with PrivatAir operating some flights for them as well. In the Lufthansa case they have actually used the PrivatAir operation to break in some new routes, upgrading them to full-size planes with normal seating arrangements once they have proven the demand. That makes me think that the demand issue is more one of the carriers and the routes, not the business model.
Considering how saturated the NYC-LON market is in seats – thousands daily, many of which are big and comfy – and that the corporate contracts drive more of the business than individual flying, I’m not all that surprised that these carriers struggled. Ironically, choosing less popular routes might have actually let them be successful, as would operating smaller or more efficient planes (like PrivatAir).
Posted by Seth on April 15, 2008 under News |
Next time you’re sitting on a plane and wondering just how much money the airline is bringing in based on the flight, remember to consider the cargo. Often overlooked, the cargo operations on some routes can actually cover the costs of flying the plane, with passengers brought along just for incremental revenue rather than the other way around.
Since launching their service between Atlanta and Shanghai two weeks ago, Delta has reported over $1MM in cargo revenue on the route, including one flight with $120,000 in cargo fees. That is enough to pay the fuel bill for the flight even without a single passenger on board.
KLM operates several of their 747s in a “combi” configuration, trading out ~150 seats on the the main deck for cargo. And Alaska Air is known for the heavy salmon loads that they carry during peak season. The largest cargo shipper in the USA? Probably the US Postal Service, which uses commercial airplanes for almost all of their first class mail conveyance.
Anyways, as people continue talking about the cost of doing business and fuel and whatnot, just remember that the cargo plays a big role in whether routes or even airlines are profitable.
Posted by Seth on March 25, 2008 under News |
Somewhat as expected, the Alitalia buyout by Air France/KLM is struggling to move forward in the face of significant opposition from Italian politicians and labor unions. The presumptive incoming Prime Minister has called the deal on the table an “arrogant French offer” and the unions have been protesting plans to outsource maintenance and other ground services tasks. Some of the protests have turned ugly, resulting in police conflicts.
In other words, as predicted, the unions are going to scuttle the whole deal, even though it is probably the only way the carrier can survive. It remains to be seen how long the government will continue to lose 1MM euro daily on the carrier, but chances of another savior beyond the AF offer are pretty slim.
What happens when that fails is harder to figure out. Either AirOne comes up with a bid, which seems unlikely to me based on the fact that the bank says they haven’t been, or the government continues to fund the company as it falls apart. The government won’t be able to effect the turnaround that the company needs.
Posted by Seth on March 16, 2008 under News |
While most of the merger mania in the airline industry has been focused recently on the Delta-Northwest discussions. But on the other side of the pond Alitalia has been the focus of some heated discussions as they try to dig themselves out of an incredibly deep hole. They’re currently losing over a million Euros a day, and the Italian government has been trying to sell them off for over a year now. Today Air France/KLM announced that they’ve reached an agreement to make the deal. The Alitalia name will be kept, but the airline will be scaled back significantly, including the shutdown of the Milan hub.
Of course, much like the other merger discussions this one will depend on the unions agree to the plans that AF/KLM have for the carrier, including the shuttering of Milan as a hub. That will include a lot of jobs lost as part of the restructuring, and the unions are unlikely to be happy with that. Only time will tell whether they can make it happen, but I can’t imagine that the Italian unions are going to be happy with the coming job losses.
