Delta’s fallen in love with Cincinnati once again, rekindling a flame that all but died in the wake of the airline’s merger with Northwest Airlines when it “de-hubbed” Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
These days Delta refers to Cincinnati as a “focus city,” one worthy of more flights to more places but not quite hubbish.
Over the past couple of years Delta has been steadily re-building CVG, growing the airport to 82 peak-day departures to 36 destinations—including nonstop service to Paris Charles De Gaulle.
The latest additions: a daily CRJ-700 nonstop to Austin come May 1 and nonstop service to Phoenix, which gets off the ground November 4.
After establishing a strong Cincinnati hub in the pre-Northwest days, Delta cut CVG flights significantly when it merged.
The calculus was that Detroit and Minneapolis would be the airline’s mid-continent hubs, that there wasn’t a place for three full-blown hubs in that part of the country.
Memphis suffered a similar fate in the south. Northwest’s Memphis hub lay a too-close 330 miles to Delta’s megahub in Atlanta.
Of late, Delta’s been on a bit of a mission to rekindle the favor of local travelers in the Ohio River Valley city of Cincinnati. It seems to be working.
“CVG is pleased to see Delta grow its business at CVG,” says Candace McGraw, the airport’s chief executive officer. “Delta experienced local passenger growth of more than 10 percent in 2017 and has increased their passenger volume at CVG for 27 consecutive months.”
In the wake of the Northwest merger, Delta operates nine domestic hubs: Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
The latter, Seattle (SEA), is the airline’s latest hub. The scenario in the Pacific Northwest powerhouse pits Delta against hometown Alaska Airlines in what some believe to be a move to eventually spark a merger with Alaska.
A Qantas decision not to spend more on fleet renewal may backfire if it needs to replace ageing planes at the same time it resumes paying company tax, a new report has warned.
Despite the fanfare surrounding delivery of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the report by S& P Global Ratings notes that investment by Qantas in new aircraft has remained subdued in recent years as it returned capital to shareholders.
This has seen the average fleet age of the Qantas fleet rise to just below 10 years, putting it behind its Asian peers but still ahead of US carriers.
S&P estimates the airline in mid-2017 had almost 12,500 seats more than 14 years old — the equivalent of 72 Boeing 737-800s or 53 Boeing 787-9s.
The ratings agency said the airline’s most recent guidance indicated aircraft investment would not grow until the year ending June 30, 2020, “at which point a sizeable funding task potentially looms”.
“Since its financial turnaround in fiscal 2015, Qantas has used surplus capital to fund shareholder returns rather than to grow invested capital,” S&P credit analyst Graeme Ferguson said. “We do not view this as sustainable.”
Qantas has not paid company tax since 2011, despite record profitability, and S&P believes tax losses carried forward could see this situation remain until 2020.
This could see Qantas could face the need to spend a sizeable amount on aircraft at an inopportune time, Mr Ferguson said..
“That’s because the airline’s investment in new aircraft may coincide with the resumption of company tax payments,” he said. “Moreover, Qantas’ financial framework limits the extent to which investments can be debt-funded, and the Qantas Sales Act may complicate the airline’s access to equity.”
The report found Virgin Australia’s younger fleet meant it was better able to take a limited “capital holiday” and put off fleet investment.
“Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd.’s fleet is young by domestic and global standards and we believe it can afford to take a limited capital holiday without becoming uncompetitive, Mr Ferguson said. “We believe any cash windfall will importantly help Virgin to become more self-sufficient financially.”
Australia’s major carriers have settled into a duopoly and S&P noted the industry profit pool remained at record highs, with neither airline looking to restart the profit-draining capacity war that ended in May, 2014.
It said the sector had benefitted from disciplined capacity growth, structurally lower fuel prices, less adversarial industrial relations and a stable macroeconomic environment.
These tailwinds were likely to remain even if rising Australian dollar-denominated fuel prices and increased international competition had to the potential to remove “some of the earnings gloss”.
But the analysts warned the Australian aviation industry’s current high barriers to entry were not impregnable.
“If an extended capital holiday leaves incumbent carriers with an old and uncompetitive domestic fleet, the door could be left ajar for a new entrant,’’ they said. “We are not there yet, not even close, but these longer-term trends are worth monitoring.”
Qantas has confirmed it expects to start paying tax again soon.
But it denied that it was facing problems funding aircraft acquisitions, saying its balance sheet was “as stong as it has ever been”, its debt levels were towards the bottom of the target range and it had a flexible aircraft order book.
“Around 60 per cent of our existing aircraft are debt free and our recent aircraft purchases have been in cash because our business is performing strongly,” it said.
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was taken off a Southwest flight for speaking Arabic. Screengrab: CNN
A Muslim student kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for speaking Arabic during a phone conversation has sued the US carrier for discrimination.
A lawsuit filed in the US District Court alleges Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, an Iraqi refugee who is an American citizen, was thrown off the plane after talking to his uncle in Baghdad in Arabic while waiting for the airline to complete boarding.
Makhzoomi, at the time a public policy student at the University of Californa Berkeley, was telling his uncle he had just met and had dinner with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
“Shortly after taking his seat, Mr. Makhzoomi was approached by a Southwest Airlines official and local law enforcement officers, removed from the plane, interrogated, searched, publicly humiliated, and denied further travel on the airline,’’ said the lawsuit, filed with the assistance of Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“Southwest Airlines discriminated against and wrongfully removed Mr. Makhzoomi from his flight for no reason other than for speaking in his native language.
“In doing so, the airline, by and through its agents and employees, intentionally violated Mr. Makhzoomi’s civil rights.”
The lawsuit alleges a Southwest employee admonished Makhzoomi for talking in Arabic and asked about the conversation.
Makhzoomi explained he was talking to his uncle to his uncle about the conference to which the agent allegedly replied: “Why are you talking in Arabic? You know the environment is very dangerous”.
He was removed from the plane and made to stand in a corner for 45 minutes before being “aggressively patted down and invasively searched in front of a crowd of onlookers and half a dozen police officers, including a K-9 unit”.
He was subsequently interrogated by the FBI before being cleared after hours of questioning.
The complaint said an FBI officer told him: “Well, I think you’re done with Southwest. Next time you are flying, don’t use your phone, just sit there, and I advise you to apologize to Southwest.”
Southwest refunded the man’s ticket but refused to book him on another flight.
“Southwest Airlines removed Mr. Makhzoomi from a flight and turned him in to local and federal law enforcement for no reason other than his spoken language,” said Zahra Billoo, CAIR-SFBA executive director. “What Mr. Makhzoomi experienced is the essence of religious profiling, and every Muslim airline passenger’s worst nightmare.”
Southwest told CNN in 2016 its staff investigated “potentially threatening comments” made by Makhzoomi.
“We wouldn’t remove a passenger from a flight without a collaborative decision rooted in established procedures,” the airline said at the time. “Southwest neither condones nor tolerates discrimination of any kind. Our company could not survive if we believed otherwise.”
Shocked United Airlines passengers have shared video of an exposed engine on a Boeing 777 flying from San Francisco to Honolulu.
The pilots of United Flight 1175 called for an emergency landing after the engine cowling was ripped off as the plane approached Honolulu.
Photos and videos posted on social media show debris falling away from the shaking B777-200 engine. It is not clear whether the engine itself was compromised or whether the damage was confined to the cowling.
The plane, which is capable of flying on one engine, made a safe landing at its destination.
“Our pilots followed all necessary protocols to safely land the aircraft,” United said in a statement.
“The aircraft taxied to the gate and passengers deplaned normally.”
The airliner was equipped with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) PW4077 engines and was delivered to United in 1996.
The incident comes after a series of problems involving Rolls-Royce engines in Boeing 787s and Airbus A330s.
Problems with the durability of turbine and compressor blades on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines powering the 787 have grounded a number of the high-tech aircraft. The issue has prompted Rolls to redesign the components.
More recently, troubles with P&W’s new fuel-efficient geared turbofan (GTF) engine led the European Aviation Safety Agency to issue an emergency air worthiness directive warning of potential dual shutdown on GTF-powered A320neos.
Airbus said Friday it was assessing the situation with the US engine manufacturer and had informed customers after the issue affecting the high pressure aft hub was identified.
The airframe manufacturer said 113 P&W-powered A320neo family aircraft were flying with 18 customers.
Pratt and Whitney said the problem related to the knife edge seal in the engines and was limited to “a suppopulation of engines’”.
The EASA directive called for aircraft with two affected engines to be grounded so that one could be changed out and suspended extended range twin operations (ETOPS) for aircraft with affected engines.
Operators affected by the problem include Indigo Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines , LATAM, Air China, Sichaun Airlines and Lufthansa.
Qantas has unveiled a stunning new color scheme for its latest Boeing 787 to honor indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians at Seattle today.
This is the fifth design in Qantas’ flying art series, which started more than 20 years ago, and is the second flying art aircraft currently in service with the carrier and the only one dedicated to international flights.
The unique livery reflects the long, rich history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and is in keeping with the airline’s commitment to championing reconciliation and promoting the best of Australia to the world.
The latest design has been conceptualized by leading Indigenous owned design studio Balarinji, which has developed all of the flying art aircraft.
The Qantas indigenous livery being applied in the Boeing paint shop
The new livery features the work of the late Northern Territory artist and senior Anmatyerre woman, Emily Kame Kngwarreye*. It is based on her 1991 painting, Yam Dreaming and has been adapted for the aircraft by leading Indigenous owned design studio Balarinji.
The artwork depicts the culturally significant yam plant, an important symbol in Emily’s Dreaming stories and a staple food source in her home region of Utopia, 230km north-east of Alice Springs. The aircraft itself will be named Emily Kame Kngwarreye in tribute to the artist.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the striking artwork is intended to encourage more people to explore the Indigenous elements that form part of ‘the Spirit of Australia’.
“As the national carrier, we’re thrilled to showcase another piece of Indigenous culture on one of our aircraft and to reiterate our ongoing commitment to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
A team of more than 60 graphic designers, engineers and painters at Boeing’s Seattle facility worked with Balarinji to install the design onto the aircraft, taking more than ten days to complete. There are close to 5000 dots on the aircraft
“It’s a beautiful, bold artwork and so we hope it catches people’s eye and sparks a conversation about our country’s dynamic Indigenous culture,” said Mr. Joyce.
Managing Director of Balarinji Ros Moriarty said the design studio was honored to continue its 20-year partnership with Qantas to support the place of Aboriginal design in Australia’s global identity.
“It’s been a privilege to work with the brilliant imagery of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Born in 1910, she began painting only in later life, completing more than 3000 exceptional works up until her death at 86 years of age. Her work embodies her cultural and spiritual connections to her country,” said Ms. Moriarty.
With the fourth 787, Qantas will be finally ready for its special London-Perth-Melbourne-Los Angeles route.
The four 787s will only fly that route.
The other Qantas designs were;
Qantas Indigenous designs Wunala Dreaming (background) and Nalanji Dreaming at Sydney Airport.
Wunala Dreaming
Inspired by the natural colors of Australia, Wunala Dreaming of the Yanyuwa people from the Gulf of Carpentaria, celebrated the reproduction of all living things in the continuing harmony of nature’s seasons. This artwork was carried on two different B747-400 aircraft (VH-OJB 1994-2003, and VH-OEJ 2003 – 2011).
Nalanji Dreaming
Nalanji, meaning ‘Our Place’, was a celebration of the balance and harmony of nature in Australia and reflected the lush color palette of tropical Australia. This artwork appeared on a Qantas 747-300 (VH-EBU) from 1995 until the aircraft was retired in 2005.
Qantas’s indigenous design Yananyi Dreaming
Yananyi Dreaming
Using vibrant colors, Yananyi Dreaming by Rene Kulitja depicted the dramatic landscape surrounding Uluru. Pathways lead to the symbol of Uluru which was illustrated as both a physical form and as an abstract representation of concentric circles. Yananyi Dreaming was illustrated on a 737aircraft (VH-VXB) in 2002.
Qantas’s indigenous design Mendoowoorrji
Mendoowoorrji
Inspired by the work of late West Australian Aboriginal painter, Paddy Bedford, Mendoowoorrji is an interpretation of the 2005 painting ‘Medicine Pocket’ which captures the essence of Mendoowoorrji, Bedford’s mother’s country in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Mendoowoorrji was delivered to Qantas in 2013, taking over 950-man hours to complete over a five-day period. The 737-800 (VH-XZJ) remains in service with Qantas.
Smelly passengers top our list as the most annoying and inconsiderate
Who is your passenger from hell? We want to know!
An incredible 40 percent of air travelers feel a sense of air rage or serious annoyance at the inconsideration of some passengers.
So, what is your worst nightmare on a flight?
The very inconsiderate passenger reclining into your face for an entire flight or the out of control child running amok in the cabin or kicking your seat or perhaps the smelly passenger on a 15-hour flight?
The editors at AirlineRatings.com, the world’s only safety, and product rating website, have listed their 10 worst passenger types with the smelly passenger leaping into first place from our last survey, followed by seat recliner and the inconsiderate parent topping the list as the most hated.
Now we want to know what tops our reader’s nightmare list.
We have dubbed these worst three, Smellus Incredibilus, Reclinus Maximus and ParentusSlapdashii as they are almost a new species.
Reclinus Maximus is the second most annoying passengers according to our editors.
Another irritation is Armrest Grabbis who hogs the armrests and typically has become more of a problem as passengers get larger or wider at armrest level.
Chatticus Majorus makes up the top five and it seems no matter what you do if Chatticus wants to talk you are in for a long and boring trip!
Making our number six is Bladder Incredibilus who for some bizarre reason always seems to request the window seat.
Bladder not only affects the passengers in the same row but also the ones in front as he or she inevitably uses the seatbacks as a steadier.
At number seven, Carry-on Greedicus and we can’t decide if Greedicus is stupid, arrogant or just plain inconsiderate. Maybe he’s – or she is – all three.
Armrest Grabbis who hogs the armrests and typically has become more of a problem as passengers get larger or wider at armrest level.
Greedicus is typically seated in row 30 or 40 but thoughtlessly — particularly in the US — dumps the carry-on bag which is way too large and too heavy in row 2’s overhead bin, rather than carry it all the way down the back.
This, of course, causes chaos for passengers boarding after him.
Holding down number eight position is High-and-Mighticus, who is almost always bathed in self-glory. This tiresome traveler sees the overhead reading light more as a spotlight on their own special opening night stage rather than as reading aids.
You will often hear Mighticus demanding before you see him and that tone will continue all flight.
At number nine DVT – Avoidus would be funny if they were not so irritating.
A real tell-tale sign of this trait is the traveller going through their yoga or tai chi routine in the boarding lounge.
Once on board, they spend the entire trip doing arm stretches and leg raisers bumping the back of your seat or elbowing you in the head or shoulder.
Chatticus Majorus makes up the top five and it seems no matter what you do if Chatticus wants to talk you are in for a long and boring trip
The final irritating passenger is Window Hoggus who takes the window seat and immediately after take-off pulls down the window shade and goes to sleep denying fellow passengers a view.
And there is a dark side to these characters’ thoughtlessness in that it fuels air rage.
It is impossible to get accurate figures but one reliable estimate puts the air rage incidents count in the US alone as 10,000 a year.
Extrapolated across the globe the number of air rage incidents could top 40,000 a year.
Another survey of frequent flyers found that an incredible 40 percent of passengers felt a sense of rage or annoyance on a flight.
And it’s no longer just one passenger causing grief.
Qatar Airways plans to open a further 10 new routes this year as it continues to expand its network in defiance of a blockade of its home base by Gulf neighbours.
Qatar chief executive Akbar Al Baker revealed the plans Monday after the launch of airline’s latest new route to the Australian capital of Canberra and said the airline would begin revealing names from next month.
The new destinations are in addition to a slew of routes already announced for 2018 and which include Pattaya, Thailand; Penang, Malaysia; Thessaloniki and Mykonos, Greece ; and Cardiff, Wales.
Al Baker vowed last year to continue to expand Qatar’s network after Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic ties and reduced access in what he labelled an illegal and unprecedented blockade.
The 2018 expansion comes after the airline opened 11 new routes in 2017, most of them after the blockade of Qatar. It also began expanding frequencies to some of those destinations.
Qatar chief executive Akbar Al Baker. Photo: Steve Creedy
The blockade has not significantly affected the airline’s routes to Europe and Australia, where Al Baker estimates it adds 10 to 15 minutes flying time.
But it has taken its toll on the Qatar’s bottom line and he told reporters in Canberra it was poised to announce a loss.
This comes after Qatar produced its best annual results in its history in 2017 with a $US5414m profit, up 21.7 percent on the previous year.
“Qatar Airways will announce a loss because I lost mature destinations,’’ Al Baker said, noting the mature routes were being replaced with growth destinations such as Canberra that would not immediately make money.
“This is a long-term investment and a commitment,’’ he added.
However, the Qatar chief said his nation’s adversaries had failed to achieve what they wanted from the blockade – regime change – and reiterated his vow that “Qatar Airways will keep on growing, we’ll keep on expanding”.
“And the Qatari people will always stand one inch higher with pride, dignity and, of course, safeguarding our sovereignty,” he said
Qatar was launched in 1997 with five old planes with an average fleet age of more than 22 years. Under Al Baker, it has grown to be one of the world’s top airlines serving more than 150 destinations across six continents.
It now has 200 aircraft and an average fleet age of less than five years and more than 350 aircraft on order with Airbus and Boeing with a total catalogue price of $US92 billion. It will be the global launch customer of the A350-1000 when it gets the first of 37 aircraft on February 20.
New innovations include “superfast” inflight internet and Al Baker said it was developing other products “which will again be a first in the industry”.
The Qatar chief also revealed the airline was working on a variation of its impressive Qsuite to install in its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and Airbus A380 superjumbos.
The airline showcased the business class suite on its Canberra inaugural and expects to have it on the route regularly by June.
It currently has the Qsuite on 14 of its 56 Boeing 777s and it will be featured on four new aircraft to be delivered this year.
There is a retrofit program to add it to existing B777s that Al Baker said would take 18 months to complete.
But he said it would not be installed on the airlines A380s because of the curvature of the fuselage on the superjumbo’s upper deck or on its B787-9s because this would require the seat to be narrowed.
Instead, it is developing a new suite for the 787s which would have full privacy and would “not be very far away from the Qsuite” but would not allow four seats to be joined to create a “quad” family area.
“And then they will be retrofitted into the A380,’’ Al Baker said “So the A380 product will again by upgraded to full privacy.”
Al Baker believes other airlines will find it difficult to build a business class seat that is better than Qatar’s Qsuite, which rivals some airlines’ first class product.
Asked if business class seating had reached ts zenith, he said: “I really think that there will be no room anymore for improvement.
“The only improvement will be in technology, in how much you can digitise a product and how lightweight you can make it.
‘You know these seats are not very light and we always endeavour to have a product that is lighter on an aeroplane.
‘For example, the modified Qsuite that we are now looking at for our 777-X program will be at least 22 percent lighter than the current Qsuite.
“So in that way we are going to keep on improving but within the same envelope.”
He expected that other airlines would try to catch up in terms of seating but argued they would be unable to match Qatar’s culture of attention to detail and commitment by its staff.
On the airline’s plans for Canberra, Al Baker said Qatar would look at the possibility of building a five-star hotel in the city if it could get land cheaply enough.
“We see the potential for more five-star room nights and Qatar Airways would like to bring one of the top brands to Canberra if we have been given appropriate real estate,’’ he said. “But, of course, I’m not going to write a big check for that real estate.’’
Al Baker said the airline was unable to fly direct from Canberra because the runway was not long enough to allow a fully-laden Boeing 777-300ER carrying enough fuel for the long flight to Doha to take off.
The airline had calculated the runway length would need to be minimum 4300m, he said.
Asked whether he would like to see non-stop Canberra-Doha flights, he said: “Why not? We will look at every opportunity we have to fly direct because Qatar Airways’ strategy is always to fly point-to-point directly without going through busy or congested hubs anywhere in the network.’’
This is only Canberra Airport’s second international service and the first coming from as far away as the Middle East.
Airport boss Stephen Byron said the question of lengthening the runway could be addressed as part of the airport’s long-term master planning.
Steve Creedy travelled to Canberra as a guest of Qatar Airways.
One of two business class cabins featuring Qsuites aboard a Qatar Boeing 777-300ER. Photo: Steve Creedy
Gulf carrier Qatar has been plugging its Qsuite as the bright star of premium travel, touting its patented design as closer to some competitors’ first class than traditional business class.
Fly it and you’ll quickly discover this is one case where reality reflects the hype.
Qsuite is spacious, private, well designed and packed with features aimed at making travel at the pointy end more comfortable and productive.
It is a genuine suite featuring a sliding privacy door and enough room to sprawl out comfortably, feet on the ottoman, without having to worry about swapping things around to make space.
Combine it with Qatar’s top-notch service, food and in-flight entertainment and the Doha-based airline clearly has a winner.
The two business class cabins on Boeing 777-300ERs featuring the Qsuite come in a one-two-one configuration with suites facing towards both the front and the rear of the plane. This means those who dislike travelling backwards should be judicious in their seat choice.
In our case, Seat 11B was a forward-facing left-hand window seat with two windows affording good outside views on the airline’s inaugural flight from Doha to Canberra via Sydney. It used the flight to showcase the flagship product before moving the new daily service to a different business class seat.
Qsuites are expected to return to the route on a regular basis from June as the airline receives new aircraft fitted with the seat and retrofits others.
So what to expect on a Qatar B777-300ER equipped with Qsuites?
Expect a good start to your journey: there’s no fighting for overhead locker space here with plenty of room in the spacious stowbins. Watch your head though, they’re low.
It’s then just a case of settling in.
The big screen in the Qsuites. Photo: Steve Creedy
The suite is dominated by a giant, 21.5-inch high definition touch screen that is both crisp and responsive.
It is complemented by a pair of decent noise-cancelling headphones to give a superior cinematic experience.
And there’s plenty to choose from: the latest version of Qatar’s Oryx system has some 3000 options and a good selection of movies that can be accessed by genre and include the latest Hollywood blockbusters.
The system is simple and intuitive when using the touch screen to navigate the big selection of games, music and information.
There was no wi-fi on our flight but Qatar is in the process of introducing it.
At 21.5 inches across, the seat is not the widest in the sky but there’s no feeling of being cramped.
There’s sufficient room between the sculpted privacy screen on one side of the seat and wide open space on the other.
Storage is not a problem either.
A generous secure storage compartment underneath the big padded armrest next to the seat holds the headphones and water and features a small bridge to hold smaller items such as glasses.
A generous storage compartment holds the headphones, magazines and water while allowing you to store your own gear. Photo: Steve Creedy
A wide countertop is big enough to cope with magazines, menu, s spare pillows and other bits and pieces. Underneath is a lit shelf for parking laptops and tablets.
Initially, it didn’t look as if there was anywhere for shoes but there’s space next to the seat where they fit in snugly and are out of the way.
Seat controls are handily located and self-explanatory, except for the light switch. This looks as though it should control the overhead light but in fact for the lighting in the laptop shelf.
Variable seat controls allow you to recline or move the seat forwards and backward and adjust lumbar support. There are four presets: lie flat, fully upright, take-off and recline.
There’s also a do not disturb button that turns red when engaged and is white when not. That’s handy if you accidentally turn it on and do want to interact with cabin crew.
Options for charging devices include an illuminated USB port and a power point. A second USB port and a HDMI connection are around the corner.
The control console is easily accessible in the upright and recline positions but there is also a tethered touchscreen pad which hosts the main light and flight attendant call buttons.
This is difficult to access with the table fully deployed so get it out before eating if you think you may use it.
The Qsuite’s control are easy to access and use. Photo: Steve Creedy
The table itself slides underneath the IFE monitor and is easy to use. It is in a fixed position when fully deployed but will still slide in and out when partially extended to allow you to leave the seat. It doubles as a drinks holder when stowed.
The privacy door is manual and is easily pulled shut or opened. The seats are designed so travellers cannot see each other even with the door open unless they stand up.
Food and wine on Qatar are up there with the best and the presentation on the two flights involved in this exercise was restaurant standard. It’s an on-demand system for ordering but Qatar’s attentive and personable cabin crew regularly asked if anything was needed.
Getting fed is simply a question of selecting what you want from the a la carte menu and ordering it it when you want.
Ditto for drinks.
The airline offers a choice of a brut or a rose Landon champagne as well as a selection of wines from around the globe and top-shelf spirits.
The trip to Canberra began with breakfast and the Emmental cheese omelette with chicken patty Lyonnaise potatoes, roasted tomato and chestnut mushrooms looked and tasted great. A small electronic candle in a basket was a nice touch.
Breakfast on the Qatar flight. Photo: Steve Creedy.
Other choices included smoked halibut and mackerel rillettes with a horseradish dressing and a traditional Arabic breakfast.
There’s also a snack menu which on the Canberra inaugural included prawn cocktail crostini, duck spring rolls and a blue cheese croquette with pear chutney.
Dinner kicked off with dill marinated prawns with smoked salmon followed by Arabic spiced chicken with cinnamon spiced sauce, rice with minced lamb and golden roasted onions. It was washed down with a Laroche 2015 Chablis Premier Cru and followed by 15-year-old Glenfiddich.
Qsuite’s fully flat bed is 79 inches long and comes with a fitted mattress and two pillows.
The footwell is nicely proportioned so that even size 14 feet fit comfortably in the recline position.
A unique feature of Qsuite is centre seats that can be transformed into a double cabin with a double bed or a space for four people called a “quad”. This allows families or other groups to socialise and dine together.
Two cabins Qsuites can be joined to make a double bed. Photo: Qatar.
The bed was roomy enough for a big guy . and generally comfortable.
The armrest drops down to accommodate people with wide shoulders who sleep on their back and there’s wriggle room for the more than 50 per cent who sleep on their side and for whom the two pillows are very welcome.
For this tall traveller, the seat’s headrest introduced a noticeable bump around shoulder blade level that the mattress did not completely smooth over. But that’s what pillows are for and they allowed a work-around.
Two air vents meant a good air flow and gave some individual temperature control.
Qatar supplies business class passengers with sleepwear from London’s The White company and a handsome amenities kit with socks, eye shades, earplugs and Castello Monte Vibiano products such as moisturiser.
Razors and toothbrushes are available in the four well-proportioned lavatories serving the business class cabins. Time spent waiting for the loo was minimal, even during the peak pre-landing period.
In all, the more than two years of research spent to arrive at Qsuite were well spent.
Qatar has moved the bar higher in the ongoing race to re-invent business class with this quality product.
Steve Creedy travelled to Doha as a guest of Qatar Airways.
Aviation-Safety.net reported that Flight 6W703 took off from runway 14R at Domodedovo Airport at 14:21 hours local time (11:21 UTC). The last contact on flight tracking website Flightradar24 was 14:27 hours.
Flightradar 24 data on the AN-148 that is believed to have crashed.
According to Aviation Herald, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed flight 6W-703 crashed and was found near the village of Stepanovskoye in Ramensky district. Rescue forces including helicopters were dispatched on site.
It added that the Ministry reported that one of the black boxes has been found and was recovered.
Russia’s Interregional Transport Prosecution Office opened a criminal investigation into the crash verifying compliance with legislation, in particular, technical maintenance and dispatch of the aircraft.
BELOW: CCTV vision of crash impact
Saratov Airlines is based at Saratov Tsentralny Airport.
It was founded in 1931 and was part of Aeroflot.
Until 2013 it operated as Saravia.
In December 2013, Saratov Airlines, became the first Russian operator of Embraer E-Jets, with the arrival of two Embraer 195 114-seat aircraft.
In October 2015, Russian authorities sanctioned Saratov Airlines after a violation of security rules and suspend its rights to operate international flights for six months.
It operates mainly between Russian cities but also has destinations in Armenia and Georgia.
The AN-148 and its larger brother the AN-158 have not enjoyed sales success with only 59 ordered since 2005.
Part of the problem has been while the aircraft is built in Ukraine, most parts come from Russia.
There has been one other crash of an AN-148 in 2011 where 6 died on a pilot training mission.
Passengers insist on taking their carry-on baggage during an evacuation
Airfares would have to triple if aviation regulators were to re-certify aircraft to the reality of recent chaotic passenger evacuations.
The evacuation of the burning American Airlines Boeing 767 at Chicago airport in 2016 was a carbon copy of the accidents over the past few years with most passengers carrying their baggage with them.
Now the US crash investigator the NTSB has warned that something needs to be done about passengers taking their bags off in an emergency.
In its report on the Chicago crash, it has said that the US regulator the FAA has “not yet acted on a 2009 safety recommendation to revise related guidance (issued in 1988) to reflect the most recent industry knowledge on the subject based on research and lessons learned from relevant accidents and incidents.
“In addition, the FAA has not yet established a multidisciplinary working group, in response to a 2016 recommendation, to develop best practices to resolve recurring evacuation-related issues. It is time for the FAA to emphasize the importance of ensuring that flight and cabin crew communications can facilitate safe and effective decision-making and action during emergency situations,” the NTSB said.
Passengers walk away from the American Airlines Chicago accident carrying their bags. If this trend continues airfares will have to rise as airlines will be forced to reduce the numbers of seats. Credit NTSB
Passengers are risking their lives, and those of fellow passengers, with the obsession of taking cabin baggage with them in an emergency.
Aircraft are certified on the basis of all passengers off in 90 seconds with half the exits out of use.
The stark reality is it takes three times longer – and sometimes more – with passengers slowing the process by grabbing bags.
In the evacuation certification tests, the “passengers” are aircraft manufacturer employees who know the drill and they have no baggage.
If regulators were to re-certify the long-range Boeing 777 to the reality of what actually happens, the 550 exit limit aircraft would have to be recertified to just 183 passengers – half its typical load.
But for smaller aircraft such as the widely used A320 – and Boeing 737 – which has an exit limit of 195 and a typical configuration of 180 mostly economy passengers the impact would be devastating with a new limit of just 65.
That would mean a tripling of airfares to make the aircraft economically viable.
The impact on the industry and the world economy would be devastating but something needs to be done before hundreds die in an aircraft evacuation.
And authorities are already stirring. Last year after a British Airways incident at Las Vegas the highly respected British Civil Aviation Authority issued a blunt warning to its airlines: Stop passengers taking their hand luggage off with them in an emergency evacuation!
This is how passengers evacuated in the Airbus A380 certification test.
The airline industry needs to take decisive action, perhaps by locking overhead lockers for takeoff and landing, to prevent passengers taking their baggage with them after a plane crash.
Or an extreme measure would be to ban carry-on baggage other than a small bag such as a backpack.
It is sobering to consider that it quite often takes 40 minutes to board a plane because of passenger/ baggage congestion.
Not only does taking your baggage dramatically slow the process, there’s a distinct possibility that the bags with protruding metal parts will snag and then deflate the escape slides — rendering them useless.
And in the scramble to get overstuffed bags out of lockers, passengers may be knocked out and the aisle blocked for precious seconds.
There is also the very real prospect of passengers jumping on to the escape slide with their bag and knocking themselves or another passenger out, or even killing them.
Duty-free alcohol is even more lethal because if the bottle breaks there is flammable liquid everywhere, not to mention broken glass.
In a related development, passengers in these disasters are turning them into social media events by taking video and pictures and then trying to be the first to upload the images to Facebook or Twitter.
Tragically, it will take a disastrous evacuation with multiple deaths for the industry to act.
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