As a kid, I first started plane spotting when I flew through the airports of  in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I became expert by the age of six at picking out all of the different tails of airlines. The bright colours of Braniff, the dignified blue of Pan Am, the proud speedbird of BOAC,  the Kangaroo of Qantas and the blue and white S of Sabena all were recognisable instantly. Fast forward forty years, and most of those airlines are gone.

As an adult, I still like looking at those tails and dream both about the carrier and it service and the exotic destinations it connects.   I promise I am not obsessive about my plane spotting.  I don’t make many special trips to the airport, just to watch planes!  I am noticing that while I see more planes at most airports, I am seeing fewer and fewer airlines.

A few years ago, a friend of mine Tony (see earlier post on how he got me into Flightmemory) and I tipped that the number of carriers globally would fall to a dozen or so with a small number of regional carriers. We saw national lines would get blurred, that fewer governments would be able or willing to prop carriers up and economics would force consolidation. Tony passed away a few years ago. He would be amazed at how quickly our predictions are indeed happening. Air France-KLM (2004), Lufthansa-Austrian-Swiss (2007-8), Delta-Northwest (2008), British-Iberia (2011), and United-Continental (2012). Now American and USAir are talking.

European airlines seem to be consolidating into seven major airline groups listed here in order of number of passengers carried:

1. Germany’s Lufthansa (who own Austrian, Germanwings, SWISS, Lauda, 45% of Brussels and 16% of Us Carrier JetBlue)- they made €820m in 2011 but lost money on British Midland who they are offloading. Thei subsiudary Austrian is under major pressure
2. Ryanair- made  €401m and are aiming to double passenger numbers in a decade
3. Air France-KLM (who are closing in on ownership of Alitalia) lost €353 million
4. EasyJet - increased  pre tex profits in 2011 to €303 ($362m £248m)
5. International Airlines Group ( British Airways and  Iberia) who doubled operating profits to €485 million
6. Turkish Airlines (winner of best European airline in 2011) was profitable and aims to be one of the 12 airlines in the world
7. Air Berlin  ( now 29% owned by Etihad) and the newest One World member reported a net loss of €271.8m ($322m; £205m). I am curious as to how much Etihad will decide to end up owning

The remaning independent airlines in Europe seem to be increasingly limping toward bankruptcy or absorption: Poland’s LOT, Portugal’s TAP, Hungary’s Wizzair,  Ireland’s Aer Lingus, Slovenia’s Adria airlines, JAT Yugoslav and Czech Airlines all cannot last more than another couple of years.

Spain’s Vueling and Air Europa are now in a much stronger position with the collapse of Star Alliance member Spanair. It makes logical sense to me that Vueling consider Star Alliance membership. Their competitors Iberia are in One World and Air Europa are in Skyteam. Eventually Vueling and Air Europa will have to join the consolidation dance.

Across in Scandinavia,  SAS Group has had four years of losses. Finnair is under enormous pressure after losing €87.5 million 2011 and is looking at outsourciing European flights to a new low cost joint venture.  Meanwhile low cost carrier Norwegian has ordered 222 new planes: 100 737 Neos, 22 737-800s and 100 new  A320neos.

I can’t see SAS, and Norwegian both surviving. One will have to give and the weaker one is SAS. Takeover by Lufthansa or Air France?

 I think Finnair will merge or be taken over. Possible candidates? IAG group? JAL? SAS?

Icelandair who has pegged its strategy on funnelling traffic through Iceland between the US and Europe must choose a new plane to replace its entire fleet of ageing 757s. They could remain a small regional player but more likely will be absorbed by someone else.

The British Airways/Iberia International Airlines Group is considering a possible stake in One World partner Japan Airlines when it has its IPO in September. It would seem to me that Qantas (which BA used to have a stake in) would also be a possible candidate for investment from IAG. Is it further possible that One World could move from airline alliance to airline? Eg One World Airlines combing all or most of their members?

How far will consolidation go? Will we end up with but three airline groupings in Europe all affiliated to an alliance ? And a couple of regional carriers?

Whatever it means, there will be fewer tails at airports to spot. Lets hope the mega-airlines keep the smaller brand names for a while on their planes.

I have flown 842 times. In that time, one child has kept me irritated for an entire flight. As he bounced up and down the seats with his oblivious mother staring at her video screen, an exasperated fellow passenger asked if she had brought anything for her child to do. She looked up and shrugged her shoulders, saying “No” and went back to watching  her screen. A few babies have disturbed my takeoffs and landings but not enough for me to want children removed from my aeroplane. Most I have met on board have been well behaved or in awe or both. On the other hand, adult passengers that talk loudly on night flights, recline their seats, pack the luggage racks badly, keep the light on on night flights, abuse the flight attendants, dirty the lavatories, or step on my feet when walking across the emergency exits, annoy me more. Besides, for the first 15 flights of my life,  I was a child under 12.

So I was very interested in Malaysian Airline’s announcement  last Wednesday that children and infants under the age of 12 will be banned from the upper decks of their new Airbus A380 as well as the plane’s First Class.

The announcement overshadowed almost every other detail of the new Airbus services. The first plane due for delivery in June will start flying Kuala Lumpur daily into London in July. The second one will double the London capacity. KL- Sydney will follow from 25 September, 2012 as flights MH123/122 replacing the Boeing 747-400 aircraft currently serving the route. This means four airlines will be flying A380s into Sydney  and four into London (Emirates, Qantas, Singapore currently operate the plane at those two airports).

The Malaysian A380  has a brand new livery of blue and metal colours (pictured). No decision has been made as to whether the colours will be rolled out to the whole fleet. I really like the livery. The colour represents a new era as they join One World and fight to keep their five star Skytrax rating which is “under review”. (If Skytrax downgrades them, then that means with the loss of Kingfisher’s status, there will be five carrying the 5 star moniker compared with seven last year).

Malaysian’s Airbus A380 will have 494 seats compared with:

• Korean: 407  (my report here)
• Qantas: 450 (not reviewed)
• Singapore: 409/471 (not reviewed)
• Emirates: 489/517 (Three airlines A380s compared)
• China Southern: 506 (not flown yet)
• Air France: 516/538 (Reviewed January, 2012)
• Lufthansa: 526 (Review posted October last year)

There was talk of having four classes with a seat count of 503. Instead, Malaysian has dropped premium Economy and  increased the business cabin on the upper deck.  Seven of the seats are reserved for crew giving the plane 487 seats. 420 of these seats are economy, Business and First Class. On the lower deck are 350 Economy seats and the  eight kid free First class seats. The child proofed upper deck will have 66 Business and 70 economy seats.

First-class pitch will be 85 inches. The seats will flatten out to a full 87-inches. In flight entertainment screens are  23-inch. Business class: 74-inch pitch and full flat bed seats each measuring 72 inches in length  with individual 17-inch IFE screens. Economy-class seats will have a 32 inch pitch and an 18 inch seat width with 10.6-inch individual screens. Every seat on board will have a USB port.  AC electrical outlets Ports will be installed at every Business and First seat and shared with every two seats in Economy.

Now for the child ban. Malaysian have instructed travel agents that their booking system will not allow passengers under 12 in First class, or the upper deck. This is hot on the heels of a 2010 US survey identified that nearly 60% of travellers want airlines to create a family-only section on flights. This was a consequence of a confidential settlement between Qantas and a 67-year-old American passenger who sued the airline after a 3-year-old screamed on her flight. Further,  most  survey respondents said they wished to sit as far away from young children as possible. Those who support banning kids, point out that the chance of a small child or baby being disruptive is far greater than that of any other traveller. Those against point out that children likely to fly Business are usually behaved. plus it means all parents seeking to fly Malaysian will have to fly Economy.

So is this policy Wacky or Wise.? What do you think?

In August, the A380 celebrated its third Birthday of flying, Last week,  I flew my fourth A38o airline: Lufthansa, the German flag carrier. My earlier A380 flights have been with Qantas, Singapore and Emirates.

Booking

I was determined to fly on the Lufthansa A380 so I searched for the flight at Lufthansa.com to find it was much more expensive than I planned. I then found United was selling seats on the exact same Lufthansa flight for substantially cheaper than the Lufthansa price!

After confirmation of my booking, my next task was seat selection. Lufthansa’s website works very well and allows you to easily retrieve your booking and search for seats. I wandered around the cabin, however, trying to find a seat that would accommodate my long legs. Alas, there were none. I checked the website every day.

Then one magic day, I found Seat 76K was open. I immediately grabbed it. This in my opinion is the best seat on Lufthansa’s A380. Row 75 is officially exit row with more leg room. As you can see from the seatguru.com diagram,  there Seat 76K and 76A do not have a seat in front of them! This gives you massive leg room but you don’t get people standing on your toes as they congregate for the lavatory.

Check in: 7 out of 10

Check in was as efficient as you would expect with a German airline. I was surprised though when the check in clerk offered to move me to a “better seat”. The better seat turned out to be an aisle seat slightly closer to the front door. I explained I wanted seat 76K because of the leg room and she assured me that t had no extra leg room. Having established that she wasn’t giving me an upgrade,  I made sure she left me in my chosen seat! That lack of knowledge was a surprise and could make all he difference on a very long flight.

I gave Emirates (EK) 10/10, Qantas   (QF) 9/10 and Singapore (SQ) 8/10 for my A380 journeys with them

Boarding: 7 out of 10

The line through security was long and a little chaotic.

Boarding, while pretty straightforward felt a little chaotic. When I reached my row, I found a small war was on between the passengers in rows 75 and 76 over bin space. There were many harsh words being exchanged. I quickly deposited my bags in Row 73 and sat down (I later moved them to Row 76). The passengers next to me seemed very unhappy when I arrived (I think they hoped to nab my seat!). I said hello and attempted to be friendly but got very quickly rebuffed. Later 75H moved to the bulklhead and 75J moved into 75H, giving us a spare seat between us. We didn’t talk for the rest of the flight and she ignored my farewell.

Cabin crew seemed very friendly but very passive. None appeared to be offering passengers help in finding seats or putting luggage away.

EK: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 7/10

 On Board: 7 out of 10

Lufthansa have some of the meanest seats in Economy. They give passengers a seat which is a mere 17″ wide and has 31″ pitch between the seats. Compare this to Singapore who offer 19″ wide by 32″ pitch on their A380.  I heard a lot of  mumblings and grumblings about the seats, as passengers boarded. I have decided that 18″ by 32″ is a minimum I can tolerate in Economy when not sitting in an exit row.  My Lufthansa A380 had been recently named “Wien” in a  ceremony in Vienna on August 22, 2011. Interior colour scheme was fresh and very pleasant. The plane was almost totally full

EK: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 8/10

Takeoff: 10 out of 10

We were delayed leaving the gate because, as the captain advised us,  tail winds across the Atlantic would get us to Frankfurt before the 6am curfew. We waited at the gate and then at the tarmac before moving to the runway for a perfect takeoff.

The sensations involved in an A380 take off are amazing. Takeoff feels all too smooth, all too quiet, all too slow, all  too gentle to allow this monster double decker plane filled with 400 people is going to escape earth’s gravity.  Then you glance across at airport fence and realise that the plane is in fact rocketing along. With a small twitch of the wings, the truly magnificent machine leaves the ground. A sharp right hand turn had the plane heading for Long Island. We climbed smoothly and steadily. One of the best aspects of Lufthansa, is that like Emirates, you can watch your take off from a tail mounted camera. An A380 takeoff always reminds me why I love this plane-it was made to fly.

Take off was followed by the distribution of hot towels by the crew. Small gesture but so appreciated. Thanks Lufthansa. They repeated the hot towels the next morning before breakfast. Why don’t other airlines still do this?

Meals: 8.5 out of 10

I chose a Teriyaki chicken with rice for my dinner and to my amazement it was perfect. The chicken’s flavour was great. The accompanying  salad and bread roll were both fresh. Breakfast the next morning while simple was delicious. Where Lufthansa disappointed meal-wise, was a lack of snacks or fruit available through the night in the galley. Other airlines do better. Lufthansa had plenty of drinks on hand in the galley through the night though.

EK: 10/10, QF: 7/10,  SQ 9/10

Entertainment: 7 out of 10

The entertainment system consistes of a personal VOD unit with a 10″ screen. At most seats, the unit is seat back. In my set and at the exit row seats, the screen is folded out of the way for takeoff and landing (I watched the tail camera on my neighbouring screen). The system itself works logically and smoothly but I found that the TV options were limited. There are 35 TV shows built in plus 18 movies. I find it hard to watch movies  on a plane so usually focus on TV shows. I ran out of ones I found interesting very quickly eg there was one solitary episode of Modern Family, that I had seen twice before. If I was flying Lufthansa multiple times in a month, I would be bored very quickly. Also I could not get the games to work on the system as it kept asking for a games controller. I didn’t pursue that any further but it seemed odd that games are offerred that cannot be played. Headset provided by the airline was so comfortable, I actually used it! EK: 8/10 , QF 9/10 and SQ 10/10

Landing: 10 out of 10

We landed early into a Frankfurt dawn with a perfect touchdown.

My ratings:
80% (4 out of 5) – My average rating for all my Lufthansa  flights is 4.8 over seven years-so its a little lower than their usual standard. Out of all of my A380 flights, Lufthansa scored the lowest- just. EK: 92%, QF: 87%, SQ: 83%

Positives:  Great meals, the good website, ease of check in

Negatives: Lack of sufficient on-board entertainment,  lack of snacks overnight, cabin crew not so customer focussed and that tiny, teeny economy seat.

Would I fly them again? Yes, especially on an A380 but only if I can get seat 76A or 76K

On Tuesday13th September,  Lufthansa named A380 D-AIMF “Zurich“, after the Swiss city which is hub for the Lufthansa owned SWISS airline.  This particular A380 was the sixth in the Lufthansa fleet and has been flying for them since April this year.

While the plane is named Zurich, there is no suggestion of it moving from its Frankfurt base to the Swiss city. Passengers will have to fly from Zurich to Frankfurt to connect with Lufthansa to its A380 destinations  (Beijing, Miami, New York,

Only a couple of weeks for my Lufthansa A380 flight, which will be my fourth A380 carrier (already flown Emirates, Qantas and Singapore)

Korean Air took delivery of its first A380. The only 380 in the world to feature all business class upstairs, a duty free lounge and an in-flight luxury lounge for business and First customers with bar, sofas and TV.

 Their pilots are getting assessed. The Korean government aviation authority will approve the massive plane and then the sixth airline in the world will start flying between  Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo-Narita on June 17. Flights to USA and Europe will follow.

I hope to fly Korean’s A380 in October. That will be my fourth airline A380 experience. I have flown Emirates, Qantas and Singapore. I compared my experiences on those airlines in this post. Yet to do Lufthansa and Air France’s versions. Will aim for November for those services to catch up.

Check out the Korean A380 website for lots of pictures and graphics.

How many people really care what aeroplane they are in? I do care -cos I sit in a 100 planes a year! These planes are my favourites: 

• Boeing 767 (flown 102 times)
• Boeing 717 (flown 18 times)
• Boeing 747 (83 times for 660 000km)
• Boeing 777 (alas only 7 times)
• CRJ 700 (a mere 10 times)
• Airbus 340  (8 times)
• Airbus 380 (now 3 times)

The plane I am in love with is the A380, the world’s largest passenger plane. First flew it with Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Sydney last November. Then I travelled on the Qantas one in June from Los Angeles to Sydney (blog post here) This week’s adventure on the mega Jumbo was with Emirates, the airline of Dubai on their service from Auckland to Sydney. Today I compare the flying experience between these three airlines. Sadly only in Economy. Sponsorship is welcomed to try the First Class product with all of them!

Passenger Reactions

I was curious to see the reactions from my approximately 500 fellow as they  filed past the plane. Just five of us stopped and took photographs of the 569 tonne monster (pictured)

Forty or fifty gazed, pointed and chatted displaying an excitement about flying the 22 wheeled Double Decker aluminum “Super Jumbo” aeroplane.

Some were more nonchalant, glancing at the plane as they headed to the Boarding gate

A very large number were clearly caught up in the excitement of the journey – just happy to be travelling. The type of plane seemed irrelevant in this situation. We had two large groups -a large Kiwi young rugby player contingent and a Chinese tour group on board.

A few slipped nervously on board, obviously dreading the three hours inside the 73m (239ft) long metal tube. Can you believe the the Wright brothers first flight was only 37 metres (120 feet) long. In other words this plane is almost twice as long as humanity’s first ever powered flight. One would love to see their faces if they ever came face to face with this plane.

Emirates check in was astoundingly efficient considering there were three flights departing Auckland in a short time period -one to Brisbane, (B777), one to Melbourne (A340) and the A380 flight to Sydney. This means a potential check in number of a 1000 passengers. Plentiful desks and hired contractors directing passenger traffic made the experience easy . From queue to boarding pass was less than six minutes. This matched the Qantas check in and faster than the one at Singapore Airlines.


Check in:
Emirates (EQ) 10/10
Qantas   (QF) 9/10
Singapore (SQ) 8/10

Boarding
Boarding was also efficient -and fast. The welcome aboard by the on board crew was astounding. While the Qantas welcome on the A380 had been up to the usually Qantas friendliness,  I generally find the Singapore Airlines “welcome aboards” a little false and forced. With Emirates the ethnically diverse crew members greeted you in a way that seemed personal, unique and genuine.  It may not seem much but this contact reminds the passenger that they are special and are involved in the special experience of flying. I know many Airlines have reduced flight to that of a bus to the detriment of the flying experience I believe.


Boarding/Welcome aboard: EQ: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 7/10




On Board
My seat was 81K. This seat together with 81A and 68A and 68K  are the best seats on the Emirates plane. Located in the emergency exit, they have no seat in front of them. Thank you to my friend Brett for this tip. 
On this plane I had two very fun women sitting next to me in my row -thanks for a great flight! 
A gentleman seated a row in front of me was a different story. When I arrived at the seat, I found the very large luggage bin a disaster area with bags badly packed and a couple trying to shove lots of bags on top of the other bags in the bin. The couple were oblivious to contents or fragility. I suggested to them, we repack which they accepted. The repacking was a success! We got all the bags into the luggage bin including mine. I made sure that small bags were on top of big ones. As I did this, I asked who owned a blue bag that had been in danger of being squashed under an avalanche of duty free. I wanted to get the owners permission before I moved it. The owner, seated in 80J, who had been watching this activity  yelled at me threatening me if I damaged his bag in any way, he would be very angry. I pointed out to him, I was saving his bag and that a polite thank you would have been better. He looked at me and was suddenly chastened when he realised he was out of line. He didnt say much for the flight.Safety Brief

Pre -flight inspections by crew were through and efficient. Safety briefing is only done over the TV monitors with the crew standing by. I prefer the way Qantas engages their cabin staff in the safety brief. To me it lends an air of seriousness –that the airline really knows its safety stuff.

Safety Inspections and Briefing: EQ: 7/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 8/10

The Cabin Experience
Takeoff on the A380 is incredible. Firstly it is so quiet! There seems to be no dramatic roar  as the plane moves down the runway. Then the plane seems to simply glide up. The 380 feels like it wants to fly and is simply going back into the atmosphere where it belongs.


It is 40 years since the original jumbo started flying. The advances in air technology since then have been amazing. The A380 is a massive improvement over the 747. For example the A380 produces 50% less cabin noise than the currently flying 747 models and has greater cabin air pressure which makes travel more pleasant. The windows are larger. The bins are larger. The cabin is wider and higher. And of course more people can be flown for less fuel.While Emirates has two versions of the A380: One with 516 seats and one with 489seats. However, Air France crams in 538 people into its A380 in three classes. Lufthansa reduces that to 526. Singapore has opted for 471 seats and Qantas has only 450. NB The overall capacity of the plane is 853 passengers. One airline has said it will aim of 840 seats when it gets its A380 (Air Austral). Ryanair would probably aim for 1000! The feel of all three A380s I have been on has been of incredible spaciousness.

The Lavatories on the Emirates are real class with wood panelling and nice moisturisers etc! Tip: use the ones in the front of the plane. Most people seem to congregate down the back of the plane.


Cabin atmosphere and feel: EQ: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 8/10

On Board Entertainment System:
I found the Emirates ICE entertainment to be clunky and slow to navigate compared to their counterparts on Qantas and Singapore.
One of the groovy features with Emirates, however, is the cameras they have built into the nose and tail of the pane which allow you to watch takeoff and landing from any direction -although the woman next to me and I decided : ”it would be not a nice sight to watch your plane crash“. 


Entertainment System:
Emirates ICE: 7/10 plus 1 for the camera 8/10
Qantas iQ: 9/10,  
Singapore Krisworld: 10/10

Meal

The Emirates meal was amazing. In a world where airline meals in Economy have declined or diappeared, Emirates seems to believe that giving a quality product may attract repeat business! Starting with a Prawn (shrimp) cocktail, this was followed by a main dish of lamb and pasta, a bread roll, cheese & crackers, a chocolate cake dessert and a small chocolate square filled the spot. Contrary to a popular mythology,  Emirates is not a dry airline on most sectors, so wine was available with dinner. (Flying into Iran and Saudi Arabia would be a very different matter).


 Meal: EQ: 10/10, QF: 7/10,  SQ 9/10

The Verdict
Our landing into Sydney was bumpy (we had been forewarned) with rain, wind and low clouds. We felt very secure in our seats as the plane bounced through the cloudbursts.

My seatmates and I decided that the Emirates Airbus A380 is worth going out of the way for. So my A380 Ratings out of a possible 60:
 #1 Emirates  92%
#2 Qantas      87%  (check out the blog post)
#3 Singapore  83%
(Although I suspect if I was in first class, then I think Singapore’s private suites might be the winner!) 
In July I complied my list of Top 21 Airlines I have flown. When I revise the list, guess who will be the new number one?!


Thanks to my fun seatmates, Emirates and the cabin crew for a great trip