Category Archives for Aircraft.
It’s been quite a year for Lufthansa. They banned Jews from travel in the spring and now they’ve barred a U.S. congressman because of his wheelchair. And any airline knows don’t cross Congress.
Russia’s Rostec – 92% owned by the government there – owns Irkut and the Yakovlev Design Bureau and they have a new single aisle aircraft that they say American Airlines may be flying in the next 5 to 10 years. They’ve mocked up the aircraft in American Airlines livery to show what it would look like.
The MC-21 (called the MS-21 in Russia) represents the “Main Aircraft Of The 21st Century” and was earlier known as the Yak-242.
Last summer United Airlines placed an order with Boom Aerospace for supersonic jets. Now American Airlines has placed an order, too. American claims they’ll have the biggest fleet of supersonic jets since their order is for 5 more planes than United’s.
American made a non-refundable deposit on the first 20. It’s unclear what non-refundable means: probably non-refundable in the case Boom Aerospace winds up in bankruptcy, but non-refundable if there’s never an engine for the plane?
How did I never know about this? I’ve been using SeatGuru for years, but I don’t find itearly as useful as it once was. It turns out there’s a much better source for airline seat maps.
A ‘LOPA’ is a Layout of Passenger Accommodations. It doesn’t just show seats. It’s a detailed schematic of the passenger cabin that’s drawn to scale. And there’s a site that has these for a number of airlines, both foreign and domestic.
If Delta is buying new Boeing aircraft, it necessarily means they’ve gotten a nearly unprecedented deal on the planes. With Boeing losing numerous orders as a result of delays and groundings, compounded by Russian sanctions and China’s state-controlled carriers going with Airbus narrowbodies, they’re desperate to put better numbers up on the board.
Meanwhile adding these planes to their order book will likely mean making cancellation of the program even less likely and far more costly, so Boeing’s threats to legislators and regulators – already reminiscent of Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles – ring even more hollow.
Newly certified aircraft have to have upgraded alert systems for pilots. Issues with the Boeing 737 MAX MAX that led to the Lion Air and Ethiopian crashes are, in part, addressed by mandatory new alerts for pilots that will apply to all newly-certified aircraft types. But unless the FAA agrees to exempt the Boeing 737 MAX 10 from this requirement, which they can only do by the end of 2022, Boeing’s CEO says they’ll walk away from the plane project and all of the orders it represents.
Singapore Airlines doesn’t just fly to Singapore. They have two routes that operate between the U.S. and Europe (offering continuing service to Singapore, but you can use these flights to travel on a top-notch carrier just to Europe if you wish)
Delta is about to finalize a deal for 100 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft. The possibility of the deal between the airline and aircraft manufacturer were first reported in March.
Delta is known for buying only planes from foreign manufacturers. While they have taken delivery of new Boeing aircraft from legacy orders, they haven’t placed a major Boeing order in a decade and their entire current order book over more than 220 aircraft is entirely with Airbus.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby blames high fuel prices for unprecedented increases in airfares. That’s a new tune for Kirby who argued for a doubling of airfares even in 2018.
Airfares increased 18% in April, the biggest increase for a month since the government began tracking this nearly 60 years ago. Fuel prices, though, aren’t the reason why.
Delta is known for buying only planes from foreign manufacturers. If they buy Boeing, it’s used. But proving that Boeing will sell to anyone, and Delta will buy anything if it’s cheap enough, Delta Air Lines is reportedly in talks for 100 Boeing 737-10 MAX jets in a deal that could be announced in the coming weeks.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
