Will passengers stand for latest Ryanair stunt?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Just when you think Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary can’t come up with another way to mess with his passengers, he takes away the seats. The European low-cost carrier’s latest way to cut costs and cram more people on planes is to stick them on stools with seatbelts. According to the Daily Mail, he’s even spoken with Boeing about making this happen.

The nice expression for this, used Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara, is “vertical seating.”

But, it’s not a sure thing. The Irish Aviation Authority needs to give him the green light. Something tells me that there has to be a safety issue buried in this. There just has to be. If not, well, let them stand.

The airline estimates that it could increase passengers per flight by 30 percent with the standing room approach and at the same time cut costs by 20 percent. That’s a pretty big gap between revenue and expenses – the sort of financial upside that most airlines have been unable to figure out.

World tourism to be slower than expected this year

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The UN World Tourism Organization just changed its mind about global travel and tourism this year. I guess forecasting is easy when you can always issue a new one … as long as the previous efforts are forgotten. Well, I wish I could tell you that the UN believes we’ve turned the corner – and that travel is going to spike this year. But, it isn’t. The group has added a bit more doom and gloom to its prediction, given continued economic instability and the swine flu situation.

Worldwide, the organization predicted a 4 percent to 6 percent international tourism decline for the year – this is down from the January prediction of zero to 2 percent. The changed direction coincides with the International Monetary Fund‘s sense of the global economic situation. In January, it called for economic growth of 2 percent this year. Now, it’s predicting a fall of 1.3 percent.

For the first four months of 2009, the World Tourism Organization noted an 8 percent drop in global tourism, with only 247 international tourism arrivals. Europe‘s results were more severe than those of the world as a whole, off 10 percent. Asia was down 6 percent, and Africa and South America were up 3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Even in tough times, everybody wants to go to France, which remained the top tourism destination with 79 million arrivals. The United States moved into second place for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks, reclaiming its position from Spain.

Stay at Hotel Jules in Paris, grab free museum access

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Even with cheap flights and hotel rates, Paris can be an expensive place. But, you have to go at least once … preferably as often as possible. So, I was pretty psyched to see the new deal from the Hotel Jules, a pretty stylish place in the 9th Arrondissement. Through the end of the year, the hotel is offering two nights, daily breakfast (continental or in-room) and a two-day pass for two people that gets you access to the city’s major museums.

At only €152 ($212) a night, this is an absolute bargain. For anything less in Paris, you run the risk of staying in a real dive (please learn from my painful experience, not to mention that to which I subjected my wife on our last trip to this city).

2009 Tour de France is underway

by Kraig Becker on

The 2009 Tour de France got underway yesterday with an individual time trial through the streets of Monaco. The Prologue was a short and fast 15.5km (9.6 miles) sprint that started with a steady climb and ended with the riders screaming back down the hill towards the finish line. At the end of the day, time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara took the stage victory and the famous Yellow Jersey, while the real contenders for the race, such as Alberto Contatdor and American Levi Leipheimer, lurking just off the pace. Lance Armstrong, making his return to the Tour after a 3 year layoff, finished in 10th.

Today, the race heads out onto the road, leaving Monaco behind, with a 187km (116.1 miles) stage through southern France. The route will pass through some rolling hills, but will mostly favor the sprinters who will be competing for the Green Jersey, while the climbers will wait for the seventh stage, when the race moves away from Barcelona and into the Pyrenees, where they’ll begin their competition for the Polka Dot Jersey worn by the King of the Mountains.

Over the next three weeks the top riders in the world will compete in cyclings premiere event. In total, there will be 21 stages, covering more than 3500km (2175 miles). The race culminates on Sunday, July 26 on the Champs Elysees when the leader rides into Paris with the Yellow Jersey.

Solar powered plane to circle the globe

by Kraig Becker on

While Boeing and Airbus scramble to make larger, more luxurious planes, others are pushing the envelope in different directions, attempting to find ways to make them more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Take the Solar Impulse for instance. This plane is setting the bar high, with a plan to circumnavigate the globe completely under solar power.

The Solar Impulse is the brain child of Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss adventurer and environmentalist, who launched the project back in 2003 with the aim of promoting the use of renewable energy sources. Now, in 2009, he is closing in on that dream. His plane has a 200-foot wingspan which is lined with 12,000 photovoltaic solar cells that will draw energy from the sun to power its four engines.

Piccard unveiled the latest design for his plane on June 26th in a ceremony near Zurich. This prototype will undergo test flights in 2010, including night flights using solar power stored in batteries. In 2011 the next design of the plane will be completed, with 2012 set as the tentative start of its world tour. The fact that this plane can fly even at night is one of the the things that separates it from other solar powered aircraft in the past.

While we might be years away from solar power becoming commercially viable for flights, it is projects like these that are paving the way for the future of flight. A future that is clean and environmentally friendly.