My school gets a Chinese newspaper, and it caught my eye recently:
I can’t read Chinese, but that’s an article about the upcoming Chinese-built Comac C919, which is supposed to have its first flight in a few years. The aircraft will seat up 190 passengers, putting this aircraft as a competitor for the 737/A320 families and their replacements from Airbus and Boeing.
This one will be interesting to watch as air travel continues to grow in the Asia-Pacific region, which IATA predicts will overtake North America as the biggest market in the coming years. It also presents a challenge for Airbus and Boeing, as the aircraft certainly has the potential negatively affect them. This aircraft also presents an awkward situation for Airbus, as the company is now producing A320s in China.
My friend Steve sent this website to me awhile back, and it was definitely pretty, well, interesting. It’s called “Carpets for Airports,” and, as one might expect, features carpets from around the world.
Perhaps the best part, however, is the descriptions:
Dim figures struggle to make themselves seen amidst the grand abstraction of LGA. Out of the blue-grey haze indistinct apparitions appear to be marching towards the traveller, forcing us to ask such uncomfortable questions as, “What can they want?” “Why are they bending me over?” and “Was it really necessary to Taser my wife?”
Now that I think of it, I do have a picture of PVD’s carpet that I should send in. 
Flying with Fish is another great blog here on BoardingArea, and I was very happy to write a guest post for Steven, especially considering he did the same for me earlier this year. Click here for my thoughts on why airlines should listen to bloggers and how bloggers can earn respect from airlines.
I noticed that at some point during my time at NBTA, I received one of these cards in a goodie bag, I think:
It just seemed that this was an interesting thing to hand out – was the airport hoping some airline executive would notice and contact them?
Eight years ago I had a pretty normal day in sixth grade. Everything went along as usual, but my friends and I noticed teachers whispering to each other and looking sullen, but we didn’t think of it at the time…until we got home that evening to watch the horrible news reports.
The reason I mention this story is what do children know today about the events eight years ago? A good number weren’t even born yet, and more probably don’t remember much of the day. If that’s the case, what do we teach them? How do we share the feelings the whole nation shared?
Just some questions.
It’s amazing how everyone can find some form of connection to 9/11. A former boss of my father was one of the victims in the World Trade Center, and a flight attendant from American Flight 11 was a graduate of my high school.
On a very positive note, this year in Eagle Rock, New Jersey, a memorial for the 33 crew who died that day is being dedicated today. Deb Calamino, a flight attendant, made an amazing effort to make it happen – to learn more about her you can find an interview of her by The Flying Pinto here.
Meanwhile, you can find a list of the flight crews from that tragic day here. Let’s remember and honor them.
One of the best parts of conferences, I think, is the free stuff that exhibitors give out! I heard that things in that area were toned down a bit by many exhibitors because of cost, but I was still happy. Here’s some of the best stuff I found.
I just found it funny. 
Continue reading ‘NBTA: Free Stuff!’
Well, I’m now moved back in at good ol’ Bryant University. I had a great summer, but now it’s time to get back to work! I’m hoping that I should be able to keep up with daily posts along with my workload. Last year, I felt a few of my courses really helped out with my blog, and I’m hoping it’ll be the same this semester.
On another note…can you tell that this is my dorm room?
The Virgin booth at the NBTA conference was one of my favorites (more on that later), but I noticed something interesting on the back of a Virgin Blue business card that I received – the Boeing logo and “if it ain’t a Boeing, I ain’t going.”
I found this pretty interesting, considering that the airline operates both the E-170 and E-190. I’ve been told by Virgin Blue, however, that these are the old business cards.
I know – I notice completely random things. 
I was going through US Airways’ second quarter release and found this:
Relative to other U.S. legacy or big six hub and spoke carriers, our larger domestic presence means our revenues are less adversely affected by the global economic downturn.
This got me thinking to see how exposed some carriers are to international service, so I decided to divide international mainline ASMs by total mainline ASMs.
Unfortunately, the regionals screw up this comparison a bit because I can’t include them. US Airways only reports traffic for PSA and Piedmont, the two carriers it owns, and only Delta reports how much international service is provided by regional carriers. So, I could add in Continental’s regional ASMs into domestic, but that would include all of ExpressJet’s flying to Mexico.
Anyway, here’s what I found. This is data for the second quarter of this year. I found it pretty interesting that more than half of Continental’s ASMs are for international service!
Click to enlarge.
The carriers also report international traffic by region (Atlantic, Latin, and Pacifc), so I divided those numbers by total international mainline ASMs:
Three carriers – Delta, US Airways, and Continental have most of their international capacity in transatlantic markets, American has the most in Latin America, while United has most of its international ASMs in the Pacific.
It was my birthday this past weekend, and I got an awesome gift from my parents – Biscoffs! Now I can always pretend to be in an airline lounge!
Latest Comments