Japan to home-grow new jet

by Abha Malpani on

It is said that a country’s aviation industry is not complete unless it can produce its own aircraft — hence the importance of “home-grown” jets. I have to add here that that is the most blah term given to a domestically manufactured plane that strengthens the nation’s economy and technological prowess, but hey who am I to make judgment?

Japan announced today that it would have its first home-grown passenger aircraft ready by 2013 and has a $1 billion plan in place. The 70-90 seater planes will be “grown” by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and will target the short/medium-haul regional market. According to AP: this will be the first nationally funded, “made in Japan” passenger aircraft in three decades.

Surprisingly, China beat Japan to it by unveiling their first home-grown jet in December last year.

Everyone is now charging for extra bags. Get used to it.

by Grant Martin on

If you’ve been following airline industry news over the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard news about many American carriers creating new fees for multiple checked bags. If your favorite hometown airline hasn’t started doing it yet, don’t hold your breath, it’s probably on the way.

These changes are too bad for American passengers, but long overdue, I’m afraid. Airlines have been struggling to cope with staggeringly high oil and operational costs over the last few years, all while maintaining competitive and fair prices. Their competition has cut so deep into the bottom line that carriers are now faced with two options: raise ticket prices or implement extra fees.

What currently drives the majority of the airline ticket market, however, is overwhelming demand for budget tickets — regardless of the carrier, class of service or amenities. Raising the bar on ticket prices thus runs the risk of losing large swaths of passengers with each increase.

So the airlines are forced to nickel and dime their regular passengers with extra fees along the way. This includes several in-flight amenities such as headphones or television that have already been integrated into many routes to extra baggage fees, which are unrolling this week.

Where to after that? It wouldn’t surprise me if airlines soon unilaterally started charging for all beverages, preferred seating, peanuts, wheelchair room or overweight passengers. Anything to keep the bottom line in its current place.

As the prevailing trend over the last few years dictates though, most of these changes won’t have any effect on the the frequent and business travelers. In addition to extra baggage fees being waived, most elite members are allowed an additional bag that they can bring along for free. Loyalty pays off, I suppose.

For now, make sure you keep an extra twenty with you when you’re on the road — if you want an extra shred of comfort, food or alcohol on board you’re going to have to pay for it. But as you’re handing your five dollars over for a dried up tuna sandwich on white bread and six ounces of gin, ask yourself, would you rather pay for your oil with your plane ticket or your in-flight privileges?

I don’t know about you, but I would rather save my money upfront, pack light and starve.

Plane strikes dog at Bangalore airport, skids off runway.

by Grant Martin on

Enough namby pambying about how Heathrow’s T5 has fallen short of all expectations and fostered disappointment worldwide. In the grand scheme of things, Britain, you’ve got things pretty nice. London Heathrow is one of the heaviest trafficked airports in the world — T5, the largest indoor structure, and once they get it working correctly the security and logistics should be among the most efficient in the world.

Still complaining? Try commuting out of India’s Bangalore airport instead. Their airport has become so overrun with stray dogs that a Kingfisher Airways flight nailed one during take-off this week, destroying the landing gear and sending it careening off the runway.

Four people were hurt and the airplane is a complete mess, while we can only assume that the dog is in worse condition.

So next time you’re fired up because the Airport Starbucks put 2% instead of skim in your extra-skinny-non-fat-mocha-latte with an extra shot of espresso, two shots of almond and extra foam, put yourself in perspective. Your aircraft and airline could be much, much worse.

Get better service being stuck on the London Eye than on an airplane

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s an observation by Mike Nezza at The Lede. Although, it was ruled by a federal court that airlines don’t need to provide passengers with comforts if they are detained while sitting in an airplane, passengers stuck on London’s gigantic Ferris wheel, the London Eye don’t have to worry about such trifles.

Just like Abha reported in her post, if you get stuck on the London Eye, you’ll get blankets, water, glucose tablets and a toilet. If you get stuck on an airplane, according to the law, you are not guaranteed water, a working toilet or fresh air. On the London Eye, you’ll also get a terrific view of London if you’re close to the top. On an airplane, if you look out a window, there’s the tarmac—maybe other airplanes, a runway or a building or two.

But, perhaps one might rather be stuck on the ground than up in the air. Those at the bottom of the London Eye may have been allowed to get off. If you’re out on a runway, there you are, and are, and are, and are.

Passing the time on your long flight

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Unless you’re like Gadling blogger Grant, who might have been genetically engineered by Boeing, it’s inevitable you’re going to get bored on a flight sooner or later. This is especially true on transcontinental flights, where you’re guaranteed to be stuck inside your cylindrical prison for at least 6 hours if not longer. No matter how many awful in-flight movies, magazines and episodes of The Wire on your iPod you have to amuse yourself, you can still expect to get bored eventually.

For the gaming-obsessed bloggers at Joystiq, the tedium of these long flights is just an opportunity to invent some creative ways to pass the time. If you’re desperate to hold back the boredom (or just cannot sleep on planes like me) consider the following (questionable) game suggestions:

  • BING! – This game only requires a bag of airline pretzels or snack mix. Start with three pretzels and set the rest to the side as the “house.” Each round bet one, two or three pretzels on which side of the airplane cabin will be first to ring their flight attendant call button. If you guess right, take as many pretzels as you bet from the house. If you lose, put the pretzels back. Keep playing until you’ve either won or lost all the pretzels from the middle.
  • In-flight Catalog Scavenger Hunt – As one Joystiq commenter suggests, compete against a friend to find the most ridiculous items from the in-flight catalog. The person to find the item with highest cost-to-uselessness ratio wins. Keep your eyes peeled for the remote control dragonfly.
  • Cellphone standoff – As the plane begins to land, try to guess the number of cellphones that will be turned on/make noise between the moment the wheels touch the ground to when the seatbelt light is turned off.

We don’t necessarily suggest playing these games unless you’re desperate, but with flight delays and long waits on the tarmac all but standard these days, it’s always good to have a few backup options. What do you do to amuse yourself on long flights?