Posted by Seth on October 30, 2009 under News | 
Air France took delivery of their first Airbus A380 this morning with an inaugural flight from Hamburg to Paris. The carrier is the first European operator of the type and the fourth globally. The promo photos certainly make it look pretty, but there are some scary realities that come with it. The plane is expected to begin transatlantic operations at the end of November on the New York – Paris route.
The Air France configuration is, by about 15%, the most densely packed of the seating layouts seen to date. Sure, it could be worse – Emirates has suggested an all-coach configuration for some regional flights – but this is the most packed the plane has shown up thus far. And despite claims that Premium Economy is the best money maker for airlines Air France has chosen to not add that cabin of service to the plane. It is hard to tell if that is a comment on the value of that cabin on flights or something else, but it is an interesting development, especially considering that they already have a similar product, Alize, on several of their aircraft.
Either way it is always nice to see new planes entering service. One of these days I’ll manage to fly on one of the A380s. And next week I get to visit the assembly line and see where they’re made!
(Photo from FlightGlobal/TwitPic)
Posted by Seth on August 5, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I was reading one of Lucky’s posts over at One Mile at a Time and started thinking about the concept of the “3 Perfect Days” series from United. The few times I’ve flown on United I’ve actually looked forward to reading those articles, and in a few instances they actually were about places I was head on that trip or an upcoming one. Considering how infrequently I fly UA I found that pretty coincidental.
Lucky’s post got me thinking about the fact that I’m a hit-and-run tourist. No, I don’t go around crashing cars into pedestrians (though I do have a spotty driving record overseas). But when I head out to see a place, spending more than two or three nights in one place seems strange to me. I actually had only one limitation put on my honeymoon itinerary planning – no single night cities. I managed to plan it that way (for the most part) and we had a great trip, but I still like the shorter stays and getting to see more places.
Could we have spent more time in Bangkok? Maybe. But I don’t think that we would have enjoyed our additional time more than the initial three nights there. Ditto for our two nights in Paris. Though I’m sure we could’ve continued to eat the great food, the other aspects of the touristing there weren’t so great. And I actually felt that more than one night in Venice was too much, each of the three times I’ve been there, so there are times the hit-and-run approach makes sense.
I’ve also been to plenty of places that I want to go back to, where the 2-3 nights isn’t enough. But even for those places I’m not sure I’d stay too much longer on subsequent visits. I like getting my exposure to the places a little bit at a time, and circling back later to see more. Of course, you run the risk of circling back later to find out that the sight you wanted to spend more time at is gone, but I look at those situations as an opportunity to find something new to see.
And there are certainly plenty of new (to me) things to see out there in the world.
Posted by Seth on August 2, 2008 under Uncategorized |
The BA subsidiary OpenSkies announced last week that they will launch their second route, New York – Amsterdam on October 15, 2008. And they’ll be doing so with 18 fewer seats on their planes. When they launched their service earlier this year they had Business, Premium Economy and Economy seating. They’ve decided that the demand for the Premium Economy product is high enough that they will be pulling out the regular Economy seats and replacing them with more Premium seats.
So apparently now the all premium cabin airline is back again, this time with two classes of service that are both premium, just one more premium than the other.
Also, this move means that OpenSkies will be operating from both of the main European hubs for the Air France/KLM conglomerate. I guess it is payback for Air France going after the London – Los Angeles route.
Posted by Seth on July 2, 2008 under Uncategorized |
And then there were none.
After a flurry of all-business transatlantic airlines sprouted up over the past few years the last surviving member of the group, L’Avion, has agreed to a buyout from British Airways. The operational assets, including planes and airport slots from L’Avion will be merged into the OpenSkies subsidiary. This effectively gets OpenSkies a strong toe-hold at Paris’s Orly airport and adds a couple more 757s to the fleet. It should allow for additional growth of the OpenSkies route map as planned and previously announced.
I’m reasonable certain that the planes will switch to the OpenSkies config of Business, Premium Economy and Economy, which should also help them remain solvent, something the all-Biz carriers couldn’t do.
Posted by Seth on June 20, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I’ve posted about the new BA subsidiary OpenSkies previously. They’re looking to start flights from a number of European cities to New York to take advantage of the recent Open Skies treaty. They launched their service this week with their JFK-Paris Orly route.
And now they’re looking to boost bookings on the flights, offering 2-4-1 deals for travel this summer in the Business and Premium Economy cabins. You have to book using a special code available from this page. Both passengers have to be on the same flights, the free ticket still has to pay $100+ in taxes/fees and the free seat doesn’t earn points, but it is still a nice way to sample the new product a little cheaper than otherwise.
Happy flying.
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 May 28, 2008 under Uncategorized |
One of my favorite bits of travel is the different dining habits/customs of our destination. When in Spain, dinner is nice and late, following an early round of tapas. Italy has a similar evening/night split for snacks and dining. In Asia, dining on the roadside was very common, either a grab-and-go snack from a vendor or sitting at tiny plastic tables in tiny plastic chairs on the sidewalk in Saigon, slurping up pho while trying not to break anything. I love these experiences, partly for the food and partly because we get to see the culture of those places not just from the displays in a museum.
So I was particularly saddened yesterday walking to the subway on my way home from work. It was about 7:30pm and I passed a family walking cross-town. They were headed east from the Times Square area, seemingly back towards their hotel. Laden with the requisite shopping bags I noticed one in the mix that was rather disappointing – leftovers from The Olive Garden. So at 7:30 they were done with dinner, and it was an Olive Garden dinner.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t hate the Olive Garden. I like the salad and bread sticks (or I did last time I had them, which was probably 8 years ago), and I’m sure that there are places where it is the best option for “Italian” food that is available. But it pains me to see folks choosing that over one of the dozens of local places that are available in NYC that provide a better meal and a much more realistic view of dining in the city.
While in Paris we had a fabulous dinner at a great little restaurant. My wife claims that it is the best meal she’s ever had, and she’s probably right. But our 8:30pm seating had us in with all the other Americans, though we were at least on the later side of that group. Only as we finished up dining did we see some locals start to trickle in around 10pm. The meal was delicious, but I cannot help but think we got shorted a bit on the experience because of the timing. And I think that this family drew the same short straw with their dinner last night, too.
Maybe it is just because I’m obsessed with food, but I think that making the leap to the local dining culture is as important as anything else you do on a trip. And in New York that means no Olive Garden. Oh, and no licking your fingers in India. That’s a good way to end up on the couch/in the bathroom for two days until the Cipro kicks in, but that’s a whole different story…
Posted by Seth on May 20, 2008 under Uncategorized |
OpenSkies, the British Airways subsidiary focusing on non-UK flights from the USA has received approval from the US Department of Transportation to begin selling tickets on their planned flights between New York’s JFK airport and Paris’s Orly. They also reiterated their plans to add Brussels and Milan, Amsterdam and Frankfurt to their portfolio as they grow out their routes.
OpenSkies/BA is the first carrier to go after the recent Open Skies treaty negotiated between the US and EU. All the other new traffic has been destined to London’s Heathrow from US-based carriers. And while I get that some people see Heathrow as a “premier” airport for connections and/or travel to London, I don’t see the value in adding another 2000 daily seats there, which is basically what has happened. There are a ton of other cities that can benefit from service and connections, and OpenSkies seems to be the only carrier making a go of it. They’ve also established a code-share agreement with L’Avion, a French all-business class carrier in order to obtain the slots at Paris’s Orly airport. So it looks like they really are moving forward, despite the threat of strikes from BA’s pilot’s union over the new group operating on a different contract and pay scale.
Time will tell, but things are continuing to move forward, despite the threat of strikes and record fuel prices. The folks at BA must really think they’ve got it figured out with this plan.
Posted by Seth on April 26, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Eos, the all premium carrier that many expected to actually survive, has declared bankruptcy and halted all service effective immediately. Their last flights will operate today, April 27, and even then only a limited service. The post on their website includes most of the details:
Our unique relationship makes it all the more difficult to share with you the news that Eos has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. On April 26, 2008, we plan to operate Flight 6 (8:30pm) from JFK to STN. On April 27, 2008, we plan to operate Flights 3 (1:00pm) and 7 (6:30pm) from STN to JFK. Flight 5 from STN to JFK and all flights from JFK to STN on April 27, 2008 are canceled. We will cease operations entirely after April 27, 2008.
This announcement is particularly regrettable since we have achieved so much, including having a term sheet in hand for additional financing. Clearly, even in today’s challenging economic and credit environment, investors believe in Eos. Unfortunately, some issues arose that prevented the parties from moving forward
It seems that the money that they were expecting didn’t come through for some reason, and that the carrier cannot continue operations at this point. This leaves SilverJet and L’Avion as the last two players in the all premium TATL market. SilverJet also has their London – Dubai route, and L’Avion flies from Paris instead of London, but that doesn’t guarantee too much these days.
Oh, and if you are a member of their frequent flier program or an AmEx Platinum or Centurion cardholder looking to redeem a reward ticket on Eos, that ain’t happening either. Bummer.
Posted by Seth on March 30, 2008 under News |
The first flights operating under the recently negotiated Open Skies treaty between the EEC and the United States landed in England this morning, including a Continental 777-200 from Newark, the first flight to land under the agreement.
Many observers are predicting that the agreement will result in a ton of new flights being offered by a lot of different carriers. But since the treaty was signed only one route has been announced, other than flights to London’s Heathrow. American carriers – including US Air, Continental and Northwest – along with British Airways and Air France have all announced additional service for Heathrow to the USA. In addition, BA has announced the launch of their new subsidiary, OpenSkies, to fly from Paris to New York. So this revolutionary new treaty has resulted in basically a flooding of one airport with new service. Yeah, Heathrow is the center of the travel universe, even more so than New York’s JFK or Tokyo’s Narita, but I still am waiting to see more benefits from this treaty other than more flights to London. And considering how much the US-based airlines are paying for the slots at Heathrow (CO reportedly paid $209MM for their 4 pairs), it is hard to believe that they can really drive profit from the slots; it’ll take a LOT of paid traffic in the pointy end of the plane to make up that much of an investment.
On the plus side, this should make things super-cheap for folks in London to fly over to the USA and take advantage of the incredibly weak dollar, though they still have to pay GBP40-80 in departure taxes (~$80-160) at a minimum, the flights are just not cheap no matter what.
Tags: Air France, American Airlines, Boeing, British Airways, Continental, London, New York, NorthWest, OpenSkies, Paris, US Air
Posted by Seth on February 21, 2008 under Uncategorized |
OpenSkies, the British Airways subsidiary focused on connecting mostly premium passengers between non-London markets and the USA has announced that their first market will be Paris – New York. They’ve applied for the appropriate route authorities, which should pretty much be a rubber stamp at this point, hasn’t decided which Paris airport to use and will use JFK in New York.
Like many things in life, however, this is subject to change, particularly since the BA pilots are threatening to strike over the plans to staff the subsidiary with lower paid crews than regular BA flights. While they may just be idle threats for now, the union has voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing the strike, though no date has been set. BA challenges the union’s stance, suggesting that a few hundred new pilot positions will be opening up in the London bases of the carrier, though that seems to be insufficient to assuage the pilots anger at this point. Good times.
