Naim

I initially thot this was a joke, really. Cramped space, and ppl making cell-phone calls some more? Get me out, pls! .ny +++ The New York Times April 25, 2006 One Day, That Economy Ticket May Buy You a Place to Stand By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT The airlines have come up with a new answer to an old question: How many passengers can be squeezed into economy class? A lot more, it turns out, especially if an idea still in the early stage should catch on: standing-room-only "seats." Airbus has been quietly pitching the standing-room-only option to Asian carriers, though none have agreed to it yet. Passengers in the standing section would be propped against a padded backboard, held in place with a harness, according to experts who have seen a proposal. But even short of that option, carriers have been slipping another row or two of seats into coach by exploiting stronger, lighter materials developed by seat manufacturers that allow for slimmer seatbacks. The thinner seats theoretically could be used to give passengers more legroom but, in practice, the airlines have been keeping the amount of space between rows the same, to accommodate additional rows. The result is an additional 6 seats on a typical Boeing 737, for a total of 156, and as many as 12 new seats on a Boeing 757, for a total of 200. That such things are even being considered is a result of several factors. High fuel costs, for example, are making it difficult for carriers to turn a profit. The new seat technology alone, when used to add more places for passengers, can add millions in additional annual revenue. The new designs also reduce a seat's weight by up to 15 pounds, helping to hold down fuel consumption. A typical seat in economy class now weighs 74 to 82 pounds. "There is clearly pressure on carriers to make the total passenger count as efficient as possible," said Howard Guy, a director for Design Q, a seating design consultant in England. "After all, the fewer seats that are put on board, the more expensive the seat price becomes. It's basic math." Even as the airlines are slimming the seatbacks in coach, they are installing seats as thick and heavy as ever in first and business class — and going to great lengths to promote them. That is because each passenger in such a seat can generate several times the revenue of a coach traveler. At the front of the cabin, the emphasis is on comfort and amenities like sophisticated entertainment systems. Some of the new seats even feature in-seat electronic massagers. And, of course, the airlines have installed lie-flat seats for their premium passengers on international routes. Seating specialists say that all the publicity airlines devote to their premium seats diverts attention from what is happening in the back of the plane. In the main cabin, they say, manufacturers are under intense pressure to create more efficient seats. "We make the seats thinner," said Alexander Pozzi, the director for research and development at Weber Aircraft, a seat manufacturer in Gainesville, Tex. "The airlines keep pitching them closer and closer together. We just try to make them as comfortable as we can." There is one bit of good news in the thinner seats for coach class: They offer slightly more room between the armrests because the electronics are being moved to the seatbacks. One of the first to use the thinner seats in coach was American Airlines, which refitted its economy-class section seven years ago with an early version made by the German manufacturer Recaro. "Those seats were indeed thinner than the ones they replaced, allowing more knee and legroom," Tim Smith, a spokesman for American, said. American actually removed two rows in coach, adding about two inches of legroom, when it installed the new seats. It promoted the change with a campaign called "More Room Throughout Coach." But two years later, to cut costs, American slid the seats closer together and ended its "More Room" program without fanfare. When the changes were completed last year, American said its "density modification program" had added five more seats to the economy-class section of its MD-80 narrow-body aircraft and brought the total seat count to 120 in the back of the plane. A document on an internal American Airlines Web site, which was briefly accessible to the public last week, estimated that the program would generate an additional $60 million a year for its MD-80 fleet. United Airlines has also used the earlier-generation thin seats. But it held open the possibility that once its current seat stock needs to be replaced, it might try to squeeze in more seats. "We're always looking at options," Brandon Borrman, a spokesman, said. Airlines can only do so much with their existing fleets to save space. The real opportunities, say seat manufacturers and design experts, are with the new generation of aircraft that are coming soon. "People hear about these new planes, and they have bowling alleys and barber shops," Michael B. Baughan, the president and chief operating officer of B/E Aerospace, a manufacturer of aircraft cabin interiors in Wellington, Fla., said with a bit of exaggeration. "But that's not how planes are delivered. On a real airline, with real routes, you have to be economically viable." Perhaps the most extraordinary example of a new jet that could accommodate features unheard of previously is the Airbus A380. There is so much available room on the superjumbo that Virgin Atlantic Airways is even considering placing a beauty salon in its premium-class section. (No final decision has been made, according to the company.) The first A380 is scheduled to be delivered later this year. With a typical configuration, the A380 will accommodate about 500 passengers. But with standing-room-only seats, the same plane could conceivably fit in 853 passengers, the maximum it would be permitted to carry. "To call it a seat would be misleading," said Volker Mellert, a physics professor at Oldenburg University in Germany, who has done research on airline seat comfort and has seen the design. If such a configuration were ever installed on an aircraft, he said, it would only be used on short-haul flights like an island-hopping route in Japan. While an Airbus spokeswoman, Mary Anne Greczyn, played down the idea that Airbus was trying to sell an aircraft that accommodated 853 passengers, the company would not specifically comment on the upright-seating proposal. There is no legal barrier to installing standing-room seats on an American airliner. The Federal Aviation Administration does not mandate that a passenger be in a sitting position for takeoffs and landings; only that the passenger be secured. Seating must comply only with the agency's rules on the width of aisles and the ability to evacuate quickly in an emergency. The Air Transport Association, the trade association for the airline industry in the United States, does not have any seat-comfort standards. Nor does it issue any recommendations to its members regarding seating configurations. The two Asian airlines seen as the most likely to buy a large plane for short-haul flights, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, are lukewarm about the Airbus plan. "Airbus had talked with us about an 800-seat configuration for domestic flights," said Rob Henderson, a spokesman for All Nippon Airways. "It does not fit with our present plans going forward." A spokesman for Japan Airlines, Geoffrey Tudor, said Airbus had presented its ideas for using the A380 on short-haul flights, but added, "We have no interest in increasing seat capacity to this level." Boeing is under similar pressure to squeeze more seats onto its newest aircraft, the midsize Boeing 787. Some airlines are planning to space the seats just 30 inches apart from front to back, or about one inch less than the current average. And rather than installing eight seats across the two aisles, which would afford passengers additional elbow room, more than half of Boeing's airline customers have opted for a nine-abreast configuration in the main cabin, said Blake Emery, a marketing director at Boeing. Even so, he said, "It will still be as comfortable as any economy-class section today." Indeed, it is possible to have it both ways: more comfortable seats that are also more compact. For example, the latest economy-class seat from B/E Aerospace, called the ICON, allows the seat bottom to move forward when the seat is reclined, so that it does not steal legroom from the passenger behind it. It also incorporates better ergonomic designs now typically found in the business-class cabin. But the ICON and similar seats can cost up to three times more than the $1,200 that a standard coach seat costs. That may make them unaffordable to all but a few international airlines that would use the seats on long-haul routes, the experts said. Some frequent fliers, asked about the slimmer seats, said they feared that the result would be tighter quarters. Some expressed concerns about sharing a cabin with even more passengers and increasing the risk of contracting a communicable disease. Others were worried about even more passengers sharing the already-tight overhead bin space. "It seems like every year there is less room for my long legs," said Bud Johnson, who is a frequent traveler for a military contractor in Scottsdale, Ariz. "I'm afraid that's going to continue." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/business...agewanted=print

No problem. Why not do a bit research? Can start with these reputable sites: http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar06/3069 http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar06/3078 http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/chan...s/VIEW04136.xml http://www.technologyreview.com/read_artic...675&ch=infotech http://technocrat.net/d/2006/4/10/2277 .ny

A digital cellphone is great technology, and if you study the modulation scheme used, you would be amazed that it's actually happening. Modulation is the trick where info (i.e. your speech, your SMS, your MMS, etc) are embedded inside the radio signals for transmission thru the air. In the digital cellphone, bursts of intense energy of radio waves interlaced with info are periodically emitted (that's why if you place your cell-phone next to your TV set say, you get this staccato noise, then the video may get distorted, whenever the phone is receiving/sending stuff). Imagine you are at seat 23A or something, and some mission critical copper cable is snaking next to you inside the panel. It would be interesting to see what a cellphone does to the vital signals traveling along this cable, right? Well, what about those other gadgets you mentioned? For one thing they don't do modulation, though being electronics, they tend to emit some wayward radio waves, weak though, hence the allowance at cruising altitudes. It helps for you to understand the science behind these gizmos. .ny

Just on my recent MH KUL-DXB A332 flight. Approaching DXB, attendants hurriedly going around the cabin checking if somebody had cellphone switched on. My good friend, MH B734 captain, swears that somebody's cellphone once blanked his displays. .ny

I simply agree with this. Just unbelievable how much carry-on baggage some ppl bring on-board. Some even need help to stow theirs in the overhead bins! There's a case of a Singapore surgeon who was injured when hit in the head by an oversized suitcase which fell off. .ny +++ April 24, 2006 14:38 PM Airlines Told To Enforce Baggage Limits MELBOURNE, April 24 (Bernama) -- Businesspeople are being targeted in a crackdown on the amount of baggage carried on to planes. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is encouraging airlines to use their legal authority to limit the weight and size of baggage taken into cabins, the Australian Associated Press reports. A CASA spokesman told AAP businesspeople were the main offenders because they often did not want to wait for luggage coming out of the cargo hold at the end of a flight. "We made some observations at major airports in January and discovered that self-service check-ins which are popular with businesspeople needed to be better monitored," he said. The airports monitored were Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Melbourne. But it is not just businesspeople who are breaking the rules, with CASA reporting a tennis star wanted to take a full tennis kit into the cabin. Measuring over a metre, the bag was well over the carry-on limit but the star demanded it remained inside the cabin. He lost the argument and CASA said the incident should serve as an example to anyone planning to argue about carry-on limits. "Cabin crew are legally required to enforce the operator's carry-on baggage limits," AAP quoted the spokesman as saying. The authority has told airline staff that any passenger refusing to comply with the limit should be referred to the pilot who can issue a legal direction. "The size and weight of carry-on baggage is limited in the interests of safety," the spokesman said. "That's because if a flight encounters turbulence, or has an accident, serious damage can result from cabin baggage hurtling through the cabin," he explained. -- BERNAMA

I flew in one of their D10s in Aug '04 - SIN to NRT. Prolly my last flight ever in that magnificient machine (the trip is documented here: http://snipurl.com/pllr ). Incidentally, I first ever flight out of Malaysia was also on a D10 - a MH flight KUL-SYD way back Jan '78! .ny

Yup, spot on, Seth. But the cutest UA jet I've been in must be the ERJ-145. Three seats abreast and we once landed at IAD in the sleet! .ny

I wonder how many planes United (and its partners) operate? Btw this must be my fave UA transport: Anybody wanna guess what it is? Taken at SJO last June, discreetly with cam-phone. Flight to LAX. .ny

I just can't imagine managing 452 units of B737s. If all the planes were to fly together in formation, it'd prolly look like the Battle of Britain! .ny

This is truly awesome! .ny +++ April 21, 2006 10:05 AM Southwest Airlines Converts Options To Orders For 79 Boeing 737s KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (Bernama) -- Boeing and Southwest Airlines said the airline converted options into orders for 79 Next-Generation 737-700s, bringing the airline's total past and future Boeing orders for 737-700s to 370 airplanes. Airplanes covered by the converted options will be delivered between 2007 and 2012 in a deal worth approximately US$4.5 billion at list prices, Boeing said in a statement issued from Seattle Thursday. Southwest now has 140 undelivered 737s on order from Boeing. Southwest, the first and one of the world's most successful low-cost carriers, operates an all-Boeing fleet of 452 737s, including seven airplanes delivered so far this year. "Southwest Airlines and the 737 are one of commercial aviation's greatest success stories," said Alan Mulally, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO. "Southwest's continued choice of the 737 validates our shared view that passengers want affordable, comfortable nonstop service to where they want to go, when they want to go there." "The 737 has contributed to Southwest's success through double-digit utilization rates, low fuel consumption, low maintenance costs and quick turnaround times," Mulally said. "This exercise of options will facilitate our growth plans into the next decade," said Laura Wright, Southwest's chief financial officer. "The 737 is an efficient airplane and it will help us bring more low fares to millions of customers." In February, Southwest took delivery of the 5,000th Boeing 737. Later this summer, Southwest is slated to receive Boeing's 2,000th Next-Generation 737. Boeing has sold more than 6,200 737s to carriers worldwide. On June 18, 1971, Southwest took to the skies with three Boeing-financed 737-200s. Since then the carrier has been the launch customer for the 737-300, the 737-500 and the 737-700 models. With this order, sales of Next-Generation 737 airplanes (-600, -700, -800, -900, -900ER) have eclipsed sales of the Classic 737 airplane family. The number of Next-Generation 737s sold totals 3,162, compared with 3,132 Classic 737s sold. As of March 31, 2006, Boeing Commercial Airplanes had 1,177 unfilled orders for the 737 with a value of about $75 billion at list prices. -- BERNAMA

The story I posted above says: So there you go. .ny

I have to agree with this. I've been in too many decrepit 737-200. .ny +++ U.S. proposes age limits for commercial aircraft Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:14 AM IST By John Crawley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. aviation regulators proposed for the first time on Tuesday operating limits for commercial aircraft to help avoid the most serious age-related metal fatigue cracks and other damage. The change would exceed long-standing regulations on aging aircraft, mainly concerning maintenance, and apply to thousands of airliners already in service and those on the drawing board, a draft Federal Aviation Administration rule showed. It could take months -- or even years -- for the agency to adopt a final rule. Manufacturers would work with the FAA to establish operating limits based on thousands of takeoffs and landings. The FAA estimates the cost to industry at $360 million over 20 years. Plane makers like Boeing Co. and Europe's Airbus would incur about 10 percent of this, while airlines and other operators would pay the rest. But regulators say airlines would save hundreds of millions of dollars on maintenance and other expenses. The proposal covers planes like the workhorse McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series, first popular in the early 1980s and still flown domestically, and the newest Boeing 777, a wide-body that flies premium international service. The rule would also apply to next-generation aircraft like Boeing's 787 and the superjumbo Airbus A380. It took several years to conclude an operating limit was necessary. The proposal comes as the average age of many planes in the U.S. fleet is on the way down. Nevertheless, the FAA concluded that "all airplanes in the fleet are susceptible" to the most serious kind of fatigue. Currently, manufacturers must determine an expected service life for an airliner, and for new designs, they must show that serious fatigue damage will not occur. But there is no rule that restricts or prohibits operation once a plane exceeds its estimated service life and fatigue becomes a greater concern. Boeing says its planes are built to be commercially viable for 25 years but airlines can fly them longer if they satisfy airworthiness regulations. Commercial planes are generally made of aluminum and include fiberglass and some carbon-based composites. Most big planes, except very new ones, have some minor fatigue cracking that is caused by expansion and contraction of the fuselage during changes in cabin pressure and repaired during maintenance. "As long as it's monitored carefully that's perfectly safe," said Charles Eastlake, an aerospace engineering expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Serious problems arise when tiny cracks -- often too small to be detected during an inspection -- begin to multiply. "These cracks could grow together very rapidly so that failure could occur before another inspection is performed to detect them," the FAA said. Cracks can occur in an aircraft's skin or on structural parts like frames and spread to different areas. Fatigue issues received closer attention in 1988 when a section of upper fuselage on an Aloha Airlines 737 peeled away during flight. One flight attendant was sucked out of the aircraft while in flight, before the plane landed safely. As a result the FAA stepped up fatigue inspections, corrosion prevention, and repairs on older planes to reduce the number of repetitive checks. However, none of the programs address the most serious type of fatigue damage. +++

Not bad for Korean Air. Used to have a dismal safety record. See HERE and HERE. I wonder how AirAsia fares in the punctuality stake. .ny +++ http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/htm...00604190019.asp Most punctual airlines Korean Air Co. and Asiana Airlines Co. were named as the most punctual aircraft operators in the world last year, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said yesterday. The two domestic airliners took the top spots in five out of nine passenger aircraft categories in the schedule reliability reports released by plane manufacturers Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS. Korean Air was the most punctual in running the Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777 and Airbus 330. The nation's No.1 airliner also ranked second (Boeing 737, Airbus 360) and third (Boeing 747) in three other model categories. Asiana Airlines topped the lists for Boeing 767 and Boeing 737. Schedule reliability is measured by the percentage of flights that left within 15 minutes after the scheduled departure time, excluding delays due to airport and weather conditions. Korean Air, which was also named as the most reliable operator of B747-400, B777 and B737-800/900 for the five years to 2005, runs 118 aircrafts. Asiana has 61. Separately, the nation's third airliner Jeju Air Co. is preparing to begin regular flight service in June. The joint venture between Aekyung Group and the provincial government of Jeju recently decided to offer one-way tickets from Seoul to Jeju Island at 59,100 won, about 30 percent cheaper than the two national airliners. Jeju Air plans to run four domestic flights linking the resort island of Jeju: Seoul-Jeju, Seoul-Busan, Jeju-Busan and Seoul-Yangyang. The budget airline said it will minimize drink and newspaper services to cut costs and come up with an exceptional uniform design for its flight attendants. (sophie@heraldm.com) By Kim So-hyun 2006.04.19

At last some news on the 747-8. Below some pics of 787 and 747-8 models I took at LIMA '05. The flexed wings look real sexy. Click thumbs for biggies. === Friday, April 14, 2006 747-8 model turning heads Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines showing keen interest in plane By JAMES WALLACE P-I AEROSPACE REPORTER JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Although The Boeing Co. has yet to announce a customer for the passenger version of its planned 747-8, two key airlines in Europe and Asia are seriously considering the plane. Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines both operate older 747-400s, and the newer model would make a good fit in their respective long-haul fleets, executives of both airlines said in interviews. The two airlines also are considering Boeing's 787, although the chief executive of Lufthansa said he is most interested in the 787-10, a stretch version that Boeing only recently said it will develop. Chew Choon Seng, chief executive of Singapore Airlines, and Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chief executive of Lufthansa, talked with the Seattle P-I about their plans to order new widebody jets from either Boeing or Airbus. Their airlines are members of the Star Alliance, which on Monday welcomed its 18th member, South African Airways, during a ceremony here at the Johannesburg airport. The chief executives of the international airlines that make up the Star Alliance attended the event, as well as one last Friday in Zurich, Switzerland, in which Swiss International Airlines officially joined the alliance as the 17th member. The upcoming decision by Singapore Airlines to buy what could be as many as 50 widebody jets will be one of this year's most important orders for either Airbus or Boeing. Chew said the Singapore Airlines board will meet in early May to consider a possible widebody order. "At that time, they will evaluate the situation and if the numbers fall the right way, I suppose the board will give management the mandate to proceed," he said. The airline has been evaluating Boeing's 787 for nearly two years, but delayed a decision on ordering the plane until it had time to study the proposed A350 from Airbus. The A350 will have a redesigned wing as well as the more efficient engines being developed for the 787. But the plane is still a derivative of the A330 with the same fuselage. Steven Udvar-Hazy, the well-regarded chief executive of International Lease Finance Corp., one of the largest customers for both Boeing and Airbus, recently said Airbus should have come up with an all-new A350 to challenge the 787. Chew said he generally agreed with that assessment. "The 787 is a good clean-sheet design," he said. "Since they have given the A350 a new wing, new engines and new tail, they should go ahead with a new fuselage," he said. Even so, Chew said his airline is still considering the A350 as an option to the 787. "The A350 as it now stands is not without its attractions," he said, "particularly if the price advantage over the 787 can be significant enough." In response to comments from Chew and Hazy, Airbus said this week that it continues to look at ways to make the A350 even better. Boeing is also pitching the 747-8 to Singapore Airlines, as well as additional 777s. The airline is already the world's largest operator of the 777, but Boeing is keen to sell Chew the 777-200LR, which just entered passenger service as the world's longest-range commercial jetliner. "It is in the running," Chew said of the 777-200LR. Singapore Airlines has five A340-500s from Airbus on its 18-hour non-stop flights between Los Angeles and Singapore and New York and Singapore. The 777-200LR likely would replace them on those routes. The A340-500 is a four-engine design that has fallen out of favor with many airlines because of the high price of fuel. Last year, Boeing's twin-engine 777 clobbered the A340 in sales. "With the price of oil today, a twin definitely has long-haul advantages," Chew said. In addition to the 777-200LR, Chew said, Singapore Airlines is seriously considering the passenger version of the 747-8. It will be the first-ever stretch of the 747 and is due to enter service in 2009. Boeing launched development of the 747-8 last year with orders for the freighter but has yet to land a customer for the passenger model, which will have about 35 more seats than the 420-seat 747-400. The 747-8 will have a more efficient wing as well as the new fuel-efficient engines under development for the 787. The 747-8 also will have more range than the 747-400. "The size of the 747-8 will find a place in our future fleet, but the economics and the numbers have to be right," Chew said of the ongoing evaluation. Singapore Airlines once operated a fleet of about 40 747-400 passenger planes, but that is down to about 28. The airline has also ordered the 555-passenger A380 from Airbus, and will be the first airline to take delivery of the double-deck giant later this year. The A380 is about six months late, but Chew said Airbus has told him the first plane should be delivered by the end of November, allowing it to be in service before the end of the year. Lufthansa is also a customer for the A380 and, like Singapore, is considering the 747-8. Mayrhuber, Lufthansa's CEO, described the 747-8 as "an attractive" plane. "We are seriously considering it." Lufthansa has two ways of growing its widebody operations, he said. It can use A380s and Airbus A340-600s, or it can swap out older 747-400s for the bigger 747-8. "We can trend in both directions," he said. A decision could come before the end of the year. Lufthansa had long urged Boeing to develop a bigger 747. In response, Boeing offered airlines a bigger 747 in the late 1990s but it would have used the same engines as the current 747-400. The project was killed when airlines did not order the plane, mainly because the price tag was too high. Rather than expensive design changes, the new 787 engines are driving much of the efficiency gains in the 747-8 so it can be offered to airlines at a much more competitive price than that previous stretch version of the 747. Lufthansa is also considering the 787 and A350. But Mayrhuber said he is only interested in the bigger 787. "The minimum for us would be the 787-9. Even better would be the 787-10," he said. That plane would seat upwards of 300 passengers and is likely to become a replacement for older 777-200s. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/266659_boeing14.html

I see them do it all the time. Last was on my recent DXB trip. .ny

Got into KWI on time last night from DXB. From KUL, MH156 (9M-MKX) arrived DXB on schedule yesterday morning and had a 5-hr layover there. DXB airport is OK, but still some way to go to be on par with SIN. Anyway construction still in progress. The EK DXB-KWI sector was with B772 (forgot reg.) and was packed. I hear there are 8 daily flights DXB-KWI, all normally packed. EK in-flight service was excellent (crew mainly foreigners - the chief purser had strong American twang, on the PA, so did 1st officer), and the IFE was the best I'd seen. No wonder they kept winning awards! Otherwise Kuwait looks a rather bland city. Highways from airport like in southern Calif, such as driving south-east from SFO along I-101. But weather has been nice. [Pics when I get to KL] .ny

Roger, boss. My next mission is the Gulf states: MH156 KUL-DXB 090406 A332 EK857 DXB-KWI 090406 A332 QR139 KWI-DOH 110406 B772 QR100 DOH-DXB 120406 A321 MH161 DXB-KUL 130406 A332 Wish me luck! .ny Traffic has been bad, even for SQ. My 4/4/06 KUL-AMD on SQ442 had only 100+ ppl. The return trip 7/34/06 SQ443 had about 150 ppl. All in huge B772. .ny

Ach so, danke schoen! Now my li'l brain is at peace! .ny

Today, at Gate F31, I'm greeted by this A380 blurb. Btw, that's 9V-SRJ (as SQ110) for KUL. Settling down in my seat I notice a rather high aerobridge. Note the 772 wing and the BI A319. Close-up below. Is this meant for A380? .ny

I was at Ahmedabad airport last nite catching SQ443 back to SIN, and spotted these items. MH office to the right (next to SQ), just opposite the check-in counters. I saw somebody entering the office. Poor chap. The sudden death of MH179. I imagine some poor folks booked on MH179 were on the SQ flight last nite. Sorry for low quality of pics. Discretely taken using cam-phone lah. Indian airports are sticky about cameras. Very high security. Last nite alone we had to go through some 10 checks before entering the plane! Used to be worse. .ny

Today my SQ flight took off from R20L at Changi and made a tight left turn to make a circuit over SIN. Then I noticed there was a third runway on the left side of 20L (pls click thumb below for full pic). What's this 3rd runway for? .ny

I guess earnest MH restructuring is under way now. Btw, am off to AMD tomorrow, but since MH does not do KUL-AMD anymore I have to use SQ (and pile up my Star Alliance mileage ). Quick trip to India: KUL-SIN-AMD 040406 SQ113/SQ442 B772/B772 AMD-BOM-PNQ 050406 9W322/9W202 B737/B738 PNQ-BOM-AMD 050406 9W102/9W323 B738/B737 AMD-SIN-KUL 070406 SQ443/SQ110 B722/B722 Looking fwd to Jet Airways 737-700 and 737-800. .ny +++ April 03, 2006 19:53 PM MAS Announces Changes In Organisation Structure KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airlines (MAS), currently in its business turnaround plan, Monday announced a number of changes in its organisation structure and appointments effective April 1, 2006. Senior general manager in the managing director's office, Mohd Izani Ashari, will take on the role of SGM turnaround management office (TMO) which was previously known as project management office, MAS said in a statement. He will continue to report directly to managing director-cum-chief executive officer, Idris Jala. Under Mohd Izani's leadership, the TMO will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of the national carrier's business turnaround plan (BTP). This includes guiding, coordinating, tracking and managing the change aspects of the business turnaround, and at the same time providing in-house consultancy services to any business divisions requiring assistance, the airline said. MAS also announced that Effendi Abdul Rahman will join the airline on April 10, 2006, as senior general manager, human resources. He will be responsible for stepping up the airline's human resource agenda in line with the BTP's strategy of "Unleashing Talents and Capabilities". His main tasks include streamlining the company's existing workforce while revamping the human resource function to deliver a structured succession planning and an intensified performance management approach to reward top-performing employees. Effendi has worked for five years with Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd where he held the position of human resource director. He also held other management roles at other organisations such as Texas Instruments, Northern Waste Industries, Proton and Time Telecommunications. MAS said chief information officer Marzida Mohd Noor will concentrate on group information technology with a key focus being support on the implementation of the Passenger Service System (PSS). The airline also said that a transition management unit has been established in the commercial division to lead the charge on the critical and urgent issues around domestic restructuring. Dr Amin Khan, formerly MAS regional manager for China, takes on the role of senior general manager, transition management. He will also be the implementation owner of PSS. Phang Pow Ing from the Kuala Lumpur head office replaced Amin as the regional manager for China. MAS said to ensure internal and external communications efforts are maximised, a number of related functions have now been consolidated under Indira Nair, senior general manager, communications. In addition to the corporate communications unit, Indira also takes charge of the advertising, promotions and branding unit. In another appointment, Yazid Mohamed takes on the role of assistant general manager, Golden Holidays, and will play a key role in turning it into a significant retail business as well as capturing the meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition market. According to the airline, expanded growth in both these areas will enhance its route profitability. Recognising the need to grow corporate accounts, Raja Nordiana will take the lead on corporate sales, in addition to the Enrich programme, the national carrier said. The customer services department under Mohd Nadziruddin Mohd Basri in the operations division has been renamed airport and inflight operations to reflect the expanded scope of responsibilities now under his purview. -- BERNAMA

Follow-up story. +++ BusinessWeek MARCH 30, 2006 Europe By Carol Matlack The Escalating Woes at Airbus Just when things were going so well for the European plane maker, two major customers demand costly redesigns. The likely winner: Boeing Airbus, struggling to gain altitude against a couple of archrival Boeing's (BA ) hot-selling models, has hit two major patches of turbulence in the past few days. On Mar. 28, the European planemaker's biggest customer, the International Lease Finance Corp., a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of American International Group (AIG ), called for a top-to-bottom redesign of the A350, the plane Airbus plans to launch as a rival to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. ... read more here: http://snipurl.com/og92

Follow-up. +++ Belfast Telegraph Home > News > Northwest Edition Don't sack Derry flight fiasco pilot By Sarah Brett 30 March 2006 A red-faced pilot who landed a Ryanair flight at an Army base by mistake should not face the sack, union chiefs said today. Meanwhile, the findings of the Government investigation into the incident which saw a passenger jet land on a military airfield in Co Derry will not be released for at least two months. The Air Accident Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport will conduct interviews with the pilot and his five crew and examine equipment, including recordings of the conversation between air traffic control in City of Derry airport and the pilot. Flight 9884 from Liverpool, an Eirjet plane flown on behalf of Ryanair, landed six miles away at Ballykelly army base at 2.40pm yesterday with 39 bemused passengers on board. Ryanair quickly laid blame at the feet of Eirjet and its pilot. "The incident arose as a result of an error by the Eirjet pilot who mistakenly believed he was on a visual approach to City of Derry Airport," the company's statement read. Captain Mervyn Granshaw, chairman of the British Airlines Pilots' Association (BALPA), said lessons needed to be learnt. "Clearly this is a very worrying issue. I ultimately hope that the airline operator does not summarily dismiss these people because we do need to learn. "We have a fragile no- blame, open safety reporting culture. "We recognise in aviation that human beings are fallible, from simple things like putting teabags in a milk jug to the other end of the spectrum of landing at the wrong runway. There are human failings." City of Derry Airport manager, Seamus Devine, echoed BALPA's calls and called for leniency for the embarrassed pilot. "He was very embarrassed as anyone would be," he said. "I was embarrassed and there was nothing I could have done about it. The aviation industry is a non- blame industry in every facet. If we ever get to the stage when we scapegoat someone then the whole industry from a safety point of view will be seriously damaged." Concerns were also raised today about the lack of fire cover at Ballykelly, a legal requirement at all commercial airports. Mr Devine said: "We can't get into what ifs. The (pilot) behaved very professionally. He did not attempt to take off again and all the passengers disembarked safely onto a coach to take them to City of Derry." No emergency landing was required. Helicopters and light aircraft are the only air traffic at the base. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said it was "probably the first time since the Second World War that a fixed wing plane of that size has touched down in Ballykelly". The Ballykelly blunder is not the first time a plane's flight path has gone awry in Northern Ireland. In 1989, Dan Air flight 141 from Newcastle landed on a private runway five miles away from Belfast International Airport. None of the 29 passengers were injured in the incident, which was described by the Civil Aviation Authority as "highly unusual".

Amazing! For the RyanAir story the airfields are only 8.5min by car apart (as one reporter showed on telly), so very close to each other. Can't say the same for WMKF and WMSA. .ny