Gulfstream’s $500 million expansion of Savannah, GA headquarters to create 1,000 jobs

by Darren Murph on

According to many pundits, the so-called recession that gripped the world in 2009 is far from “over,” but we’ve been noticing steady signs of recovery in the travel industry over the course of 2010. While consumers and businesspeople alike are still pinching pennies and thinking twice as hard about where their funds are going, more and more bodies are moving about, particularly by plane. Gulfstream, which maintains a headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, seems more convinced than ever that we’re on the rebound, and it’s announcing today a huge investment that’ll better position it “to meet future demand for business-jet aircraft and support services.”

The spend? $500 million over the next seven years, and that’ll buy significant expansion of its Savannah plant as well as around 1,000 full-time Gulfstream Aerospace jobs (a hike of about 15 percent from its current level of 5,500 employees). According to Savannah Now, those positions will include production specialists, engineers, and support technicians. Needless to say, quite a few folks in the Peach State are celebrating the news, with Gov. Sonny Perdue being one of many on hand today for the announcement. Moreover, the expansion will result in new facilities at the northwest quadrant of the Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport.

Gulfstream suggests that the investment will also help it meet a growing demand for large-cabin aircraft, with large chunks of the cash used to build production plants for G650 (“Like a G6!”) and G250 jets, as well as maintenance capacity for all of the models that the company manufactures. Unsurprisingly, we’re hearing that the bulk of that demand is coming from international clients (Asia Pacific, specifically), but the company seems bound and determined to keep its roots in the south.

We know Gulfstream doesn’t speak for the entire aviation industry, but it’s definitely good to see a major player like this making such a tremendous investment in the future of air travel. Here’s hoping it’s just the beginning of a beautiful turnaround.

[Via Twitter (@mksteele)]

Daily Pampering: Year-round yachting at Radisson Royal Moscow

by Melanie Nayer on

Feel like taking the yacht for a ride through the ice? Not a problem, if you’re in Moscow.

The Radisson Royal Moscow just introduced a fleet of specially commissioned river yachts now equipped with ice breakers — just so that winter travelers can still see the [snow-capped] sights while in Russia.

The yachts provide year-round, private cruises along the Moskva River, where guests can take in the likes of the Kremlin, Christ the Savior Cathedral, etc. River yachts can also be reserved for private parties and events, vodka likely on board.

To celebrate the arrival of the new yacht, the Radisson Royal Moscow is offering a new holiday package that includes a spin around the waters:

  • Two nights in a Superior Room, with upgrade to Deluxe pending availability
  • Daily Super Breakfast Buffet for two in Veranda Restaurant
  • Two-hour private sightseeing cruise on the Moskva River in the hotel’s custom river yachts
  • Access to the Royal Wellness Club and its Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool
  • Festive Sunday Brunch in Veranda Restaurant
  • Early check-in and late check-out, pending availability
  • In-room holiday welcome gift

Rates start at RUB 10,400 per night (approximately $350), based on double occupancy and the package is good through Jan. 16, 2011.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Win a Marmot Variant jacket with Polartec

by Mike Barish on

Not everyone dreads the arrival of winter. Here at Gadling, we actually get pretty excited about seeing our breath, making the most of snow days and sipping hot toddies. That’s because we understand that there are two keys to enjoying winter. First, dress appropriately. A good coat goes a long way towards getting you to embrace some chilly air. Second, take advantage of all the fun activities that winter has to offer. Why hunker down indoors until Easter when you can get outside for a snowball fight, ice skate on a local pond or simply take a walk on a clear winter day? Hot cocoa always tastes better after some time spent outside. So, to help you dress the part and stay active all winter, we’re giving away a Marmot Variant jacket with Polartec Power Stretch.

The Marmot Variant jacket is perfect for people who want to be on the move even when the temperatures begin to dip. It keeps your core warm while the Polartec Power Stretch allows for full range of motion. Whether you’re walking to class, snowshoeing through the woods or simply cleaning off your snowed-in car, the Marmot Variant will keep you warm and comfortable.

We have one men’s medium in “Vapor Blue/Black” to give away to a very lucky Gadling reader. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below sharing your favorite outdoor winter memory. Maybe you built a massive snow fort. Perhaps you raced your sled down the highest hill in town. Or, if you’re like my grandfather, you just had to walk five miles to and from school barefoot (uphill both ways, of course).

Whatever it is, just tell us your favorite winter activity memory in a comment on this post and we’ll select one respondent at random to win the Marmot Variant jacket with Polartec Power Stretch.

  • The comment must be left before Friday, November 19 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
  • The winner will receive a Vapor Blue/Black Marmot Variant jacket in a men’s medium (valued at $140).
  • Click here for complete Official Rules.
  • Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, including the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.

Fed up passengers demand child-free flights

by Scott Carmichael on

The New York Times devoted some of its coverage to another of those always controversial airline topics – children on planes.

Once again, passengers are apparently voicing their concerns about children in the cabin, and some of them propose to outfit planes with a child-free zone.

The article even mentions a frequent flier from Boston who has started a Facebook group called “Airlines Should Have Kid-Free Flights”.

Stories like this pop up at least once every six months, and the passengers they talk to have very little understanding of kids or the aviation industry.

When the Boston based frequent flier sat behind a screaming child on a flight from LA to the UK, he said:

“The parents were not doing a thing to stop it,” he said. “They were just sort of weakly smiling and giggling like, ‘Oh, what can you do?’ But give them a pacifier, do something to make them stop.”

This is the solution that comes from all people who either don’t have kids, or don’t understand them. Pacifiers only work on children that are used to using them, and even with one, the cabin pressure may be too great to stop annoying them. But of course, “do something to make them stop” is something these people think the parents didn’t try themselves.

In all my flying, I’ve come across plenty of screaming babies – and it is not fun, but I’ve come across more pompous frequent fliers who irritate me more than babies. Babies eventually get tired and fall asleep, but the loud business traveler is one that never knows when to shut up.

The concept of creating a child-free zone on the plane is another that will never work – simply because airlines are hurting enough as it is. Sure, there may be a niche airline that considers creating special seating areas for families, but the investment and ticketing challenges may prove to be too great for it to ever be a success.

Of course, a lot of these complaining passengers fail to realize that there is already a (virtually) child free zone on the plane – the business and first class cabins. Instead of demanding that parents do something about their kids, people who don’t like the sound of a crying baby should just pony up the cash and sit up front. Alternatively, bring some ear plugs and noise canceling headphones.

What are your thoughts?

%Poll-55758%

[Photo courtesy of: Online Photography Course]

ICE!: Behind the scenes at Gaylord Hotels’ holiday exhibit

by Leigh Caldwell on

Each holiday season, the four Gaylord Hotels in the United States import about 100 master ice carvers from Harbin, China’s Winter Festival to carve elaborate, life-size exhibits for the resorts.

I recently got to peek behind the curtain and watch the artists at work at the Gaylord Palms Resort near Orlando, Florida.

The ICE! exhibits are a wonder to walk through, with room out of room full of sculptures where everything – even walls and stairs – are made out of ice.

ICE! gets its start months before the exhibit premieres in November, with a theme and technical drawings to plan the exhibit. The carvers start their work about 30 days before ICE! opens.

Bringing in the ice is a logistical feat in itself. Each sculpture starts as a 400-pound ice block trucked to Orlando from Adel, Georgia. The timing of the ice’s arrival is carefully planned because all of the colors in the exhibit are added when the ice is frozen and not on-site.

Larry Walter, one of the show’s on-site producers, said two to four trucks of ice are delivered each day, with largely clear and white ice being delivered at the beginning of the process and the colored ice coming to add the finishing touches later.

The artists start the carving with chain saws to shape the ice. Fine detail work is done with small chisels and other hand tools.

%Gallery-107414%
All this work happens in rooms at the hotel’s convention center that are chilled to 9 degrees Farenheit. Visitors to the exhibit are loaned parkas to walk through.

This year’s ICE! exhibit at the Gaylord Palms has the theme “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The rooms are set up as if you are walking through the poem. The whole thing is lit and musically scored like a show.

Once the exhibit opens, most of the artists return to China. But a team of about 10 stays behind at each resort to do touch-up work and be on call to take care of any mishaps. Walter said guests usually can’t resist touching the sculptures, and things do wind up breaking off from time to time.

The other Gaylord hotels have different ICE! themes. The Gaylord National near Washington, D.C. has “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” The Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee has “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.” And “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is the theme at the Gaylord Texan near Dallas, Texas.

There are a couple of popular features that make their way into each ICE! exhibit, regardless of the theme. There’s always a “slide room” with ice slides for kids (and some adventurous parents) to play on. And ICE! always ends with a life-size Nativity, done completely in crystal clear ice.

The ICE! exhibits all open in mid-November. You can save a few bucks on tickets if you buy them online in advance at the Gaylord Hotels Web site.

Here’s a video look at my behind-the-scenes visit to ICE!:

I asked Walter what happens to the sculptures after the exhibit closes in early January. He said everything is bull-dozed, crushed and moved out to an area of the resort’s parking lot to melt, which usually takes just two days in Florida.