News and notes from around the interweb:
- Another Emirates departure incident after the recent near crash on departure.
EK-524 began their takeoff roll without ATC clearance. Tower subsequently instructed EK-524 to stop. According to information EK-524 may have reached 130 KIAS when they rejected takeoff.
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer extends elite status, introduces new milestone benefits and pauses mileage expiration through at least end of 2022.
- Airlines pricing itineraries based on where a ticket is sold versus where a trip originates
- Priority Pass has Thai Airways domestic lounges in Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai
Thai Airways lounge Phuket - Air France needs billions of dollars Delta used to call capital contributions from owners ‘subsidies’ when talking about Mideast airlines, but will not do so here.
This year will be decisive for Air France-KLM, which will need to conduct a new capital increase of between EUR1 billion and EUR2 billion euros (USD1.15-2.3 billion) during 2022 to survive the continued impact of Covid-19 on air travel demand, according to internal estimates seen by the French daily Les Echos.
It will then need a further EUR4 billion to EUR6 billion (USD4.5-6.8 billion) in order to remain a leading air transport group over the long term, the newspaper reported on January 6 in a story also picked up by Reuters.
After two years of unprecedented losses and more than EUR14 billion (USD15.9 billion) in aid from the French and Dutch governments, the Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines parent will have to carry out a new capital increase to rebuild its equity and meet its commitments.
What is going on with Emirates? I know they’ve had some issues in the past, but lately they’ve had a couple of really close calls. Had one more thing gone wrong in each and we’d be talking about accidents here. All of the airlines have suffered issues with regard to struggling with personnel issues, and my guess is that EK’s handling of this problem could get a lot of people killed.
Fired all the experienced pilots and kept the younger cheaper ones.
Air France: brother can you spare a dime?
Emirates might want to augment its pilot training to include a case study of the KLM/Pan Am takeoff vs. taxiing collision of two 747s at Tenerife on March 27, 1977
Air France is in many ways run for French Bureaucrats. Many loss making routes exist only to serve them, but even more critically massive amounts of money are wasted on an exceptionally elaborate First Class that they lose money on every seat they sell and exists not for any business reason, but only so that Air France can upgrade French bureaucrats from Y Fares into an F the likes of which doesn’t exist in any airline in Europe or North America . . . a product that they make almost impossible to redeem – you must be at least Flying Blue Gold – because it doesn’t exist for Air France customers or to make money but is there only for political patrons. Notice how Air France’s KLM brand has no First Class at all – why would they, as the French bureaucracy never flies through Amsterdam?