News and notes from around the interweb:
- Croatia’s tourism board wants you to waste your time by visiting
- Unserved route of the week: New York – Budapest
- FlyDubai FZ811 from Dubai to Abha spotted 2 missiles oncoming from the direction of Abha’s military air base.. The aircraft landed safely. These were presumably fired by Saudi Arabia to take out scuds launched from Yemen. I’ll be taking flyDubai for the first time shortly. In light of MH17 being shot down by a missile, commercial aircraft traveling through conflict zones is a scary thing.
- Overview of changes to the Choice Privileges program
- Amex’s management shakeups and $1 billion in cost cuts. Will it be enough to save CEO Ken Chennault’s job?
- Malaysia Airlines – which hasn’t found a buyer for its A380s – appears poised to keep the planes and add economy plus rather than premium economy at the rear of the upper deck.
- Saudia is the latest operator of Boeing 787s. Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines has ordered Airbus A350-900s which they see operating on US routes.
- “Nearly every big U.S. airline plans to apply for Cuba flights” because, presumably, they want to light money on fire.
I’ve wondered for years why there’s no NYC-Budapest flight. Of course, there isn’t a lot of USA-Eastern Europe service in general. Budapest is a pretty large city, almost 2 million people. I guess there’s not enough business travel demand to sustain these flights — although you might think that an airline would try some seasonal service. US Airways, and now American, does have several seasonal routes to Europe from Philly.
I am not certain the USA airlines will be “lighting money on fire” by flying to Cuba. Oh, sure, there will probably be a bit of “irrational exuberance” to start, but this is a real business with real demand — as opposed to, for example. flying folks from the USA to Doha (which can only exist with massive gov’t subsidies). American Airlines alone has operated 1200 charter flights to Cuba annually. That’s a real business. I do wonder if they’ll make less money now with (ironically) free-market competition. Charter flights from Miami to Havana often go for $450 roundtrip. The scheduled flights will cost much less.
We operate regularly in that region of Saudi Arabia and to/from Yemen. There is a complex monitoring and clearance system in place to ensure the safety of civilian aircraft operating there which is co-ordinated by the coalition forces led by the Saudi military. There are only selected routes available that are kept clear from all military activity and as long as aircraft stick to those, the chances of any conflict with military actions are significantly reduced. Both the Saudis and the Houthis respect this (we fly into Sanaa mostly which is controlled by the Houthis and there is a lot of co-ordination between them and the Saudis to permit civilian aircraft to fly between the two countries, despite the conflict).
W0641/15 NOTAMR W0479/15
Q) OEJD/QRTCA/IV/BO /W /000/999/
A) OEJD B) 1512220635 C) 1603232359
E) SCATANA ACT IN THE SOUTH JEDDAH FIR IN AN AREA BOUNDED BY THE
FLW COORD:
191821N0385644E-232402N0500019E-190000N0520000E-184720N0504700E-
183700N0490700E-181000N0481100E-172700N0473600E-170700N0472800E-
165700N0471100E-165700N0470000E-171700N0464500E-171400N0462200E-
171500N0460600E-172000N0452400E-172600N0451300E-172600N0443900E-
172420N0443400E-172600N0442800E-172600N0442158E
THEN FLW THE SAUDI ARABIA AND REPUBLIC OF YEMEN INTL BDRY IN
ACCORDANCE WITH JEDDAH TREATY TO THE COAST LINE
BDRY TO 162414N0424619E-162414N0420900E-161724N0414700E-
160000N0420000E-154700N0415230E-153955N0413947E-160000N0410000E
F) SFC G) UNL
A0957/15 NOTAMR A0691/15
Q) OEJD/QARCA/IV/BO /E /160/250/
A) OEJD B) 1512220626 C) 1603232359
E) ATS ROUTES ARE AVBL WI THE ACT SCATANA AREA FM/TO.
OEAB:SHALL RTE VIA:
1-M999 ABKAR V38 ABH FL160 TO FL250, CROSS 20NM FM/TO ABH FL160 OR
ABOVE VICE VERSA.
2-V33 ABH FL160 TO FL240,CROSS 20NM FM/TO ABH FL160 OR ABOVE VICE
VERSA.
3-ABH B544 QUN B544 JDW FL160 TO FL240.
OEGN:SHALL RTE VIA:
1-M999 ABKAR V38 ABH FL160 TO FL250, ABH V40 GIZ FL160 TO FL190,
CROSS 20NM FM/TO GIZ FL160 OR ABOVE VISE
VERSA.
2-V33 ABH FL160 TO FL240 V40 GIZ FL160 TO FL190,CROSS 20NM FM/TO GIZ
FL160 OR ABOVE VICE VERSA.
3-GIZ V40 ABH FL160 TO FL190,ABH B544 QUN B544 JDW FL160 TO FL240.
OENG:SHALL RTE VIA:
1-UL425/V31 WDR G667 NEJ.
2-G667 NEJ
FL160 TO FL190 AT SCATANA AREA, CROSS 20NM FM/TO NEJ FL160 OR
ABOVE.VICE VERSA
OESH:SHALL RTE VIA:
1-UL425/V31 WDR V32 SHA.
2-G667 WDR V32 SHA
FL160 TO FL190 AT SCATANA AREA,CROSS 20NM FM/TO SHA FL160 OR
ABOVE.VICE VERSA.
OEBA:SHALL RTE VIA:
1-UL425/V31 BHA FL160 TO FL190 AT SCATANA AREA, CROSS 20NM FM/TO
BHA FL160 OR ABOVE.VICE VERSA. .
2-V33 KUMUL FL160 TO FL 240 V46 BHA.FL160 TO FL190,CROSS 20NM FM/TO
BHA FL160 OR ABOVE VICE VERSA.
OEBH:SHALL RTE VIA:
1-UL425/V31 BSH FL160 TO FL190 AT SCATANA AREA CROSS 20NM FM/TO
BSH FL160 OR ABOVE VICE VERSA. .
2-V33 BSH FL160 TO FL240 CROSS 20NM FM/TO BSH FL160 OR ABOVE VICE
VERSA.
OEWD:SHALL RTE VIA:
1-UL425/V31 WDR.
2-G667 WDR.
FL160 TO FL190 AT SCATANA AREA,CROSS 20NM FM/TO WDR FL160 OR ABOVE
VICE VERSA.
F) FL160 G) FL250