The worlds best Flight Search Engine to seek cheap tickets and convenient routes

The Internet is awash with Flights Search and Flight Comparison websites. In the grand scheme of things they are all a much of a muchness. This is however one undisputed leader of the pack "SkyScanner" 

Skyscanner in essence is the worlds leading Flight Search site for Independent Travellers, which provides instant online comparisons for literally millions of flights on over a 1000 airlines inlcuing Low cost and Scheduled, in addition to Car Rental and Hotels (all be it second place).

The key difference is that Skyscanner's flexible Search options make it possible to browse prices across a whole month, or even a year ahead. This Travellers to secure the best deals in advance. Moreover, SkyScanner does not get involved in the Booking, so after the right Search has been done it links to book direct with the Airline or Travel Wholesaler, to ensure the lowest price, with no extra fees added.

SkyScanner has been in travel business for over 10 years and employs more than 30 different nationalities from their offices in Edinburgh and Singapore. The Website boasts over 25 million visitors every month who use SkyScanner to seek flights in more than 25 different languages. 

Give it a try and click this link or the below Banner

Cheap flights and their principles - Why are they so cheap?

There are several low cost airlines around the world. However, all differ in their service and what they offer but many of them are following specific principles in order to lower their costs and gain money.

For all those wondering why some airlines are cheaper than others, we present you some of their key principles and we explain how do they manage to offer cheap flight tickets to travelers.

• Standardized fleet: This might include lower training, lower maintenance costs, purchasing many aircrafts in order to achieve a discount.
• Another key principle is to keep only the essential features. Some of these might be reclining seats, pilot auto-throttle and frequent flyer schemes.
• They prefer to use secondary airports that cost less, in order to decrease their landing fees.
• Many low-cost airlines prefer to have many flights per day in order to be as less time on the ground as possible and pay lower airport charges.
• They also achieve to reduce their costs by not having calling centers and are only operating internet websites, where someone can book and customize a flight.
• Also online check in does not only help passengers to save time but at the same time helps companies to reduce the cost of operating desks at the airport.
• Most of these low-cost airlines impose baggage charges. Fewer bags mean faster loading of aircraft. On the other hand, extra luggage means extra revenue.
• Their staff is trained to do multiple jobs. For example, a cabin crew can also engage with checking tickets at the gate or cleaning the aircraft.
• Hedge fuel costs: With no doubt, fuel is expensive thus, they buy it in advance when it is cheaper.
• Extra features and services are charged: Some of them include on-board services, reserved seating, extra baggage, headphones, pillows etc.
• They do not use reserved seating or they just split people in groups. If any passengers want to get a ‘’good’’ seat, they pay an extra amount and they are boarded before others.
• A large number of airlines of this category charge for last minute baggage check-in.
• They are trying to reduce the weight of the aircraft through several tactics. Some of them are less baggage, very little extra fuel etc. 

Also we present you some interesting facts about low-cost airlines:

• easyJet was the first company who started charging for coffee.
• The cheaper the ticket, the less likely it is you'll be flying at a time of day that suits you.
• Ryanair is expecting to carry more than 81,5 million passengers this year.

How much would you pay to escape from a screaming Baby in-flight?

We have all been there; in your hand the perfect Boarding Card with a decent seat, a great airline to serve you, but when you get to the seat a crying Baby right next to you or several crying babies all around you! Now my life has turned the other way round, as I am the apologetic parent taking care fot he crying baby, what else can you do?

Well, finally airlines are beginning to listen! A Budget airline called Scoot is now offering passengers the option to upgrade their seats to a dedicated a "Quiet Zone" where crying babies and children are banned.

Scoot, is the low cost wing of Singapore Airlines and now offers customers the option of a peaceful flight for the cost of around $15 USD. The promise is focussed on exclusivity and privacy. here away under 12 year olds are banned from the first 7 rows of its economy 41-seat section.

Moreover, each seat in the quiet zone, comes with extra leg room; up to 35 inches in fact, which is 4 more inches than a standard economy seat.

Elsewhere in the industry, another low cost airline "AirAsia" (voted the worlds best Budget airline with a hub in Malaysia) also prevented babies from appearing in certain sections of its planes.

Additionally Malaysia Airlines banned babies generally from 1st Class cabins in its Airbus A380's and its Boeing 747 1st Class cabins as a result of written complaints from repeat passengers concerning noise from babies and children alike.

Why is Airline food such an anti climax?

In the event you are reading this article and share the view that airline food seems to always be bland and completely tasteless, new research demonstrates that the specific type noise which fills the cabin air actually affects our taste buds. The impact is to reduce our sensitivity to salty/savory and sweet food.

Interestingly NASA supplies its astronauts with strong foods, due to the fact that whilst in flight they are not able to sense the taste of food in the same way as on planet earth. The answer again leads to this special kind of noise.

The actual research experiment conducted by the journal Food Quality and preferences featured 48 blind-folded volunteers, which were fed salty food like ordinary crisps in addition to sweet foods such as biscuits, whilst they listened to silence or a special noise through headphones.

Each volunteer was tasked to rate the each food sampled for flavor and enjoyment.

The overriding conclusion was that the evidence points to this effect being down to where the attention lies. For example if the background noise is loud it may draw ones attention to it and away from the food.

Results also demonstrated that the background simulated air-borne noise led to the conclusion that they were rated as less salty or less sweet by the volunteer tasters. Moreover, they were also perceived as more crunchy.

So there you have it, the truth about Airline food! Perhaps the Low Cost Airlines got it right after all, by not forcing us to eat with inclusive food. One certainly has to question the logic of so called 5 star Airlines, claiming a superior quality of food, as they cannot provide the right environment to eat it. Therefore the food in Forst Class and Business may all be hype after all.

At Perpetual Traveller Overseas we suggest that you focus your attention in-flight on a good book instead, a decent Movie, a play on the i-pad or stimulating conversation with the person next to you!

Free Flight Tickets Were Given out by United Airlines

You ever wanted to have free holidays? 

United Airlines started offering flight tickets at the price of... $0!. Of course this was a mistake that was corrected by the airlines but till that time, several customers had the opportunity to book flights at zero cost.

At the same time, the airline company can not estimate how many free tickets were given out.
The specific tickets were sold last Thursday through its online booking system and what is more, many of them were for destinations such as Hawaii.

However despite the mistake, the company executives decided to let the lucky passengers who had managed to book tickets to travel for free!

Qatar Airways Offers Convenient Flight Rates to Top Destinations!

Perpetual Travellers, here is your chance to fly with the prestigious Qatar Airways and still have your savings under the mattress!

Qatar Airways is back with a great selection of offers for 3 days only, valid until the 4th of August. 

Take advantage of these fantastic deals to destinations in the Far East, Sri Lanka and Australia.

For those who wish to spoil themselves a little bit more, this time the Special Offer is extended to the luxury Business Class. 

Find all the top destinations included here 

or

Book Here

Best Worldwide Airlines!

Based on a research brought to us by BusinessInsider, we are now able to let you know the best worldwide Airlines!

The research took into consideration the in-flight experience based on ratings for seat comfort, in-flight entertainment, cabin cleanliness and condition, quality of meals served, and service efficiency and time of departure and arrival! So, the results have been the following!

1. Singapore Airlines
As the rankings show, Singapore Airlines offers far and away the world's best economy experience.
Employees are trained to treat everyone with care and respect, and that makes all the difference.
Add in the fact that Singapore Airlines scored 100 for seat comfort, cabin cleanliness, and in-flight entertainment, and it's easy to see why it's number one.

2. Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines got perfect scores for seat comfort and service efficiency. It even banned children in some areas of its planes, though economy travelers will still risk having their seat backs kicked by toddlers.
Its main hub is located in Kuala Lumpur, and it operates flights all around the region.

3. Virgin America
Virgin America scored a 90 for its in-flight entertainment, and made Apple fans happy last year when it named one if its airplanes "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish," in honor of Steve Jobs.
It mainly operates long-haul flights from the east coast to the west coast of the U.S.

4. Asiana Airlines
Formerly known as Seoul Airlines, Asiana Airlines's hub is at Incheon International Airport, just outside the South Korean capital.
In 2012, it was named "Best Overall Airline In The World" by Business Traveler, but it comes in at number four on our list.

5. Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways earned perfect scores for seat comfort and service efficiency, and it offers free booze on international flights.
It operates a hub-and-spoke network of routes, and the Qatari government owns 50% of the airline.

6. Ana Airlines
ANA is Japan's largest airline, and the operator of the two Boeing Dreamliner planes whose battery systems failed in January, leading to the grounding of the jet.
The carrier did not receive a perfect score in any category, but its consistent high rankings earned it the number four spot on the list.

7. Garuda Indonesia
Garuda Indonesia got its highest score with a near-perfect 90 for seat comfort.
However, after it was deemed "unsafe," Garuda was banned from flying in European Union airspace between 2007 and 2009.
The majority of its destinations are in Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

8. Silk Air
Silk Air scored highly in all categories except in-flight entertainment, where it got 60.
As the subsidiary of Singapore Airlines that operates shorter flights, its passengers aren't likely to care too much, especially since free alcohol is offered on international flights.

9. Korean Airlines
Korean Air, which flies to destinations in all six inhabited continents, had consistent ratings across all the categories, not scoring very high or very low in any.
Despite the fact that it owns a farm on which it raises its beef, its food scored a 70.

10. Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand had high rankings but its overall score was brought down by its mediocre reliability.
With an ad campaign that capitalizes on the popularity of the film The Hobbit, it offers service to Australia, the South Pacific, Asia, Europe, and North America.

The worlds best Flight Search Engine to seek cheap tickets and convenient routes

The Internet is awash with Flights Search and Flight Comparison websites. In the grand scheme of things they are all a much of a muchness. This is however one undisputed leader of the pack "SkyScanner" 

Skyscanner in essence is the worlds leading Flight Search site for Independent Travellers, which provides instant online comparisons for literally millions of flights on over a 1000 airlines inlcuing Low cost and Scheduled, in addition to Car Rental and Hotels (all be it second place).

The key difference is that Skyscanner’s flexible Search options make it possible to browse prices across a whole month, or even a year ahead. This Travellers to secure the best deals in advance. Moreover, SkyScanner does not get involved in the Booking, so after the right Search has been done it links to book direct with the Airline or Travel Wholesaler, to ensure the lowest price, with no extra fees added.

SkyScanner has been in travel business for over 10 years and employs more than 30 different nationalities from their offices in Edinburgh and Singapore. The Website boasts over 25 million visitors every month who use SkyScanner to seek flights in more than 25 different languages. 

Give it a try and click this link or the below Banner

Manned Cloud: A flying hotel

The Manned Cloud is a very ambitious plan regarding a flying luxury hotel. According to the designer, Jean-Marie Massaud, people will be able to discover the miracle of flying over the clouds once again and realise how beautiful the Earth is from up there. The whale-shaped hotel will offer quick flights to many countries across the world.

The hotel will have a capacity of 40 guests and will have a crew of 15 people. The designer stated that the trip will be like a cruise on the sky, giving guests the opportunity to live their dream, crossing clouds and enjoying magnificent views.

Which airline is next to go bust?

The most recent airlines to go bust were the Spanish Budget Carrier "Spanair" and the Hungarian National airline "Malev". The question is now, who will be next?

In the case of Malev, the 66 year old Hungarian national flag carrier was actually forced to stop flying, following the fact that the Hungarian government were prevented by the EU in financing the struggling airline. This resulted in a significant number of job losses in Hungry at the time and serves as a chilling reminder of the EU’s strict financial policy.

The Spanish airline, Spanair, left thousands of passengers stranded as talks to save the struggling airline finally broke down on the 27th of January 2012.

Other fairly recent casualties over the past few years were Zoom, Silverjet, XL and FlyGlobespan, all of which demonstrate that the problem is not new. In fact it was non other the chief executive of British Airways who stated in 2008 that 30 more airlines will go bankrupt, so we surely can expect more.

The bookies favorite is Monarch. Other prime candidates are reported to be...

• Regional UK carrier FlyBe
• The Polish carrier Wizz Air
• The Finnish flag carrier Finnair
• National carrier Cyprus Airways
• Aer Arann

We welcome comments and suggestions from all PT readers.

Ryanair set to charge passengers extra taxes on prepaid Spanish flights

Ryanair recently sent an email to already booked and confirmed passengers travelling to and from Spain, which read something like this... 

RYANAIR LETTER

Dear Customer,

The Spanish 2012 budget was passed into law on Saturday 30 June, as a result all airlines are obliged, with effect from 1 July onwards to collect increased Spanish airport departure taxes from all passengers booked on flights after that date.

It appears that the increased Spanish airport departure tax may also apply retrospectively to customers who booked flights before the 2nd July 2012 and are travelling from the 1st July onwards.

In accordance with Ryanair's General Terms and Conditions of Travel (Article 4.2.2) we hereby advise passengers that we may be forced to debit passengers for the increased airport departure tax imposed by the Spanish government for all flights departing from Spain which were booked before the 2nd July 2012 for travel from the 1st July 2012 onwards.

Once the Spanish authorities confirm whether the increased airport departure tax applies retrospectively (as set out above), Ryanair will notify passengers by email of the additional charges applicable to their pre 2nd July booking. Passengers not wishing to accept the additional tax will have the option to cancel their flight and receive a full refund.

N.B. All new flight bookings departing from Spanish airports made on or after the 2nd July are not affected by this retrospective clause as the increased departure tax has already been included in the purchased flight price.

Ryanair Holdings plc (Company No. 249885) / Ryanair Ltd. (Company No. 104547).
Registered in the Republic of Ireland. With registered address Corporate Head Office, Dublin Airport, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

END OF LETTER

The obvious questions that arise from this are...

1. Can an airline charged already paid and confirmed passengers more money for a flight than what was already agreed and paid, despite the small print?
2. What damage will this do to Spanish Tourism? In other words, perhaps the authorities will gain some more taxes, but the country may well lose a number of Tourists at the same time, which is their main economy. 

We encorage all the feedback from Perpetual Traveller readers.

TweetAFlight: Pay for Airline Tickets Using Twitter

A revolutionary new product that enables passengers to pay for their flight using their twitter account has been unveiled by the aerospace social media consultancy firm, The Travel Strategist. 17 months in the making, the product is expected be a game changer for the industry.

Read more...

Satellite-Guided Airport Landing Trials

June 2012 sees the start of an innovative new airport landing trial programme at Seattle-Tacoma International.

Spearheaded by Alaska Airlines, it involves advanced satellite technology and it's designed to enable airliners to carry out more fuel-efficient and timely landings.

For over 70 years, radar navigation has been a feature of air travel and it's allowed ATC workers to plot the state of the skies, around an airport, on a regularly-updated basis. These updates, though, occur at a rate of ten per minute, whereas the satellite-based system works constantly.

Once in place at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, it'll permit aircraft approaches to be made at a constant angle of descent, rather than the staggered path followed at present.

Satellite Landing Trials
The technology behind the Alaska Airlines' satellite landing trials isn't brand new but it will be making its debut outside Alaska and, to boot, will be used at a major airport for the first time.

Data published by the US FAA highlights the impact that the introduction of satellite-guided airport landings could have. Over the coming 20 years, it says, there'll be a twofold increase in the number of US-based airliners and, by 2024, annual US domestic passenger levels will hit the one billion mark.

It's the largest airports that are expected to bear the brunt of these increases, although the majority are already operating at near-maximum capacity. However, with satellite-guided landing systems in place, airports could ramp up this capacity ceiling without having to lay down additional runways and taxiways, since there'd be more hourly aircraft takeoffs and landings.

Satellite-Guided Landings
There'll also be potential fuel savings for airlines and, drawing on the example of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the FAA highlights how significant these could be. If equipped with the satellite-guided landing system, Hartsfield-Jackson would be able to launch ten additional takeoffs every single hour. It would also give, to all the carriers that use it, a combined annual fuel reduction of almost three million gallons.

The Alaska Airlines sat-guided landing system's been in operation in Alaska for over 15 years and while that's come at cost, the savings produced have offset this to a large extent.

Airport International will revisit the sat-enabled airport landing technology trials in future News coverage.

Source: Airport International

CAA data shows improved punctuality performance at the 10 major UK airports

Interesting data recently released by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (known as CAA) demonstrates that from the months October to December 2011 the overall on-time performance (defined as the proportion of flights arriving or departing early or up to 15 mins late) of scheduled flights at the 10 UK airports monitored was 80%. This is a notable 12% higher than in the 4th quarter of 2010. The average delay across all scheduled flights monitored was 11 mins, which is a fall of 10 mins compared with to the same period in back in 2010. 

Within the 4th quarter of 2011, the punctuality of 319,000 scheduled and 13,000 charter passenger flights was measured at 10 airports. This represents a 3.2% increase in scheduled flights and a 6.9% decrease in charter flights, compared with the final quarter of 2010. Here below is a summary of the results in bullet form:

• In the 4th quarter of 2011, 80% of scheduled flights were "on-time". This is up from 68% in the 4th quarter of 2010. 
• The average delay also fell from 21 mins to just 11 mins. Here a notable punctuality improvement was seen at all 10 airports monitored . 
• These results, together with other punctuality improvements in previous quarters, mean that over the whole of 2011, 80% of scheduled flights were on-time; up from 73% in 2010.

Iain Osborne, the CAA Group Director for Regulatory Policy, commented as follows...

“We welcome the marked improvements this year, which have a significant impact on the passenger experience of air travel. 2010 punctuality performance was poor, and although some of the improvement can be explained by the lack of significant weather-related disruption, airlines can also be congratulated for operational performance improvements which have also played a part. 2011 also saw the first increase in passenger numbers for four years. If this trend continues, airlines and airports will need to carefully balance growth with targeted investment if they are to secure continued improvements in passenger service.”
Scheduled Flights
On-time performance (defined as early to 15 mins late) for scheduled flights at London airports increased by 13% to 80% and the average delay fell by 10 mins to 11 mins, between the last quarter of 2010 and the same period of 2011. here below are some specific results...

• The biggest increase in on-time performance was seen at Stansted that saw it increase by 16 percentage points to 85%. 
• Gatwick and Luton had the biggest reductions in average delay (12 minutes). 
• Heathrow’s on-time performance increased by 12 percentage points and its average delay fell by 9 mins. 
• London City’s on-time performance rose by 7% and its average delay fell by 6 mins.

Overall, on-time performance for scheduled flights at regional airports improved by 9% and the average delay fell by 9 mins in the 4th quarter of 2011 compared with 2010 (same period). In terms of the average delay here are some more facts:

• A fall of 7 mins at Manchester.
• A fall of 8 mins at Edinburgh.
• A fall of 9 mins at Glasgow.
• A fall of 11 mins at Birmingham.
• A fall of 13 mins at Newcastle.

Charter Flights
The proportion of on-time charter flights increased by 10% to 73%, in the 4th quarter of 2011 compared with the same period of 2010. The average delay across all charter flights monitored in the 4th quarter of 2011 was 21 mins, a considerable improvement from the average delay of 38 mins recorded in the 4th quarter of 2010. This improvement in charter punctuality performance was of similar magnitude at London and Regional airports.

Destinations with most passengers
Among the 75 scheduled international destinations with the most passengers in the last quarter of 2011, flights to and from Larnaca (Cyprus) recorded the worst on-time performance of 63% and the highest average delay of 21 mins.

Flights to and from Rotterdam achieved the best punctuality with and on-time performance of 92%, and flights to and from Berlin (Shonefeld) achieved the lowest average delay of 6 mins.

Original Source: AirTransport News

LAX Terminal 6 Upgrade Opens for Alaska Airlines

Los Angeles International Airport's upgraded Terminal 6 has been unveiled to the world after a $200m+ redevelopment programme jointly implemented by the TSA (Transport Security Administration) and LAWA (Los Angeles World Airports) over the past 13 months.

LAX Terminal 6 will now be the domain of Alaska Airlines - which has also been involved in the upgrade - and the carrier's presently relocating there from Terminal 3 - its current home.

Los Angeles Terminal 6 features a host of innovations centred on an ‘airport of the future' passenger check-in concept. For passengers, it begins with an array of self-service check-in desks, at which boarding passes can be printed and checked bags can be paid for.

Moving on, there's a bag check-in station and then an advanced conveyor belt system
which, having passed through security, feeds luggage directly onto the waiting aircraft.

New LAX Terminal 6
Elsewhere, the new LAX Terminal 6 also features an energy-efficient Board Room airline lounge with reduced-consumption lighting systems, electrical outlets in place at 50 per cent of the boarding gate area seating and new hi-tech information displays.

"Alaska's Terminal 6 is an example of what can be achieved when government and private business partner", Antonio R. Villaraigosa, the Mayor of Los Angeles, explained in an Alaska Airlines press release published on 28 March 2012. He continued: "The renovation, delivered on time and under budget, is part of LA's US$4.1 billion investment in modernising LAX. In addition to dramatically improving the travel experiences of both domestic and international passengers, the Alaska Terminal 6 project also supported over 1,000 jobs in our region."

Alaska Airlines Terminal 6 Upgrade
"We want Alaska to be the easiest airline to fly on, and our new terminal in Los Angeles epitomises our mission to make travel hassle-free and seamless for our customers", the CEO and chairman of Alaska Airlines, Bill Ayer, said of the Terminal 6 upgrade. "Our new terminal provides more room for passengers to roam, swifter passage to the security checkpoint, more convenient connections to international flights and access to electrical outlets throughout our gates.

"These state-of-the art amenities remove some of the traditional barriers between air travelers and where they want to go."

Source: Airport International

Heathrow Passenger Rush Precedes Easter Strike

Heathrow Airport is braced to deal with an influx of passengers today as the UK's Easter holidays get underway.

With the Easter weekend still some days away, the UK's flagship airport is nonetheless prepared for 30 March to be the break's busiest period.

The Easter weekend itself could see luggage backlogs develop at another site, London Stansted Airport, on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Monday, after the hub's baggage workers said they'd be going on strike.

Stansted Airport Strike
The London Stansted Airport strike action's related to shift alterations imposed by Swissport Stansted which, its workers claim, could leave them up to £1,000 a year out of pocket.

In a statement, however, Swissport stressed that London Stansted's Easter weekend operations would be unaffected and that there's no prospect of disruption.

"Swissport is disappointed that the GMB trade union has decided to call industrial action. The company wants to avoid redundancies", general manager Richard Prince added in comments quoted by the BBC.

He continued: "The proposed changes to working patterns will achieve a proportion of the necessary savings we need to make to offset our decline in revenue and it means we will avoid job losses. We are not cutting peoples' pay. We are not increasing the amount of hours they work. We are asking people to spread their contractual hours over a five-day week and not a four-day week. We are keeping people in jobs." 

Easter Heathrow Passengers
Today's pre-Easter Heathrow passenger rush is expected to see the UK's largest airport handle some 220,000 travellers and, between now and 15 April, approximately 3.4 million.

Meanwhile, Gatwick Airport is predicting that 1.5 million passengers will pass through over the next two weeks. The most popular Easter holiday destination for Gatwick Airport's passengers is expected to be Dublin, with Spain's Malaga in second place and Italy's Milan coming in third


Source: Airport International

NASA’s Next-Gen Augmented Reality Cockpit Displays

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working on a pair of glasses intended for commercial airline pilots landing at severely fogged-up airports.

The augmented reality-themed glasses feature an HUD (Heads-Up Display) that projects an overlay of the airport's runway and general layout, to aid pilots maintain safe control of commercial aircraft when airport conditions are at their worst.

While the idea of embedding augmented reality (AR) directly into pilots' glasses is new, the marriage of AR and aviation is already well-established.

Augmented Reality Cockpit Displays
This next-generation augmented reality pilot display technology is under development at NASA's Virginia-based Langley Research Center and the administration's presently seeking to collaborate with an external partner to bring the concept to commercial life.

Heads-Up Displays were initially confined to just two commercial aircraft designs - the Boeing 737 NG (New Generation) series and the Brazilian Embraer 190. Now, however, there's a wealth of types equipped with them including the Airbus A318 and the brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, on which they're standard.

These HUDs form part of the cockpit layout and involve flight data placed on top of the view to the outside world.

Next-Gen Cockpit Displays
NASA's next-gen cockpit display glasses go one stage further by putting the overlaid data right in front of a pilot and making it more interactive: when the pilot moves his head, the data moves around accordingly. So, with the glasses on, a pilot can be presented with key landing information - direction, altitude and speed, for example - while remaining focused on the approaching runway.

Since the aircraft landing glasses are almost entirely autonomous, they could be used regardless of the systems already integrated into an airliner's cockpit, so there'd be no need to retrofit much in the way of new components into existing cockpit layouts.

NASA's work in this area forms one part of its much wider Synthetic Vision programme, which aims to give commercial aircraft pilots new flight tools and, ultimately, to relocate many of the cockpit's flight data dials directly into the pilot's field of view.

Airport International will present further coverage of the NASA Synthetic Vision programme in future News Items.

Source: Airport International

FAA Studies Aircraft Passenger Electronic Device Use

The US FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is looking into implementing rules that would allow airline passengers to use electronic gadgets while aircraft are arriving at or departing the world's airports.

Presently, there's legislation in place that allows all carriers to put specific types of personal music players, tablets and the like through trials to ensure they're safely compatible with the electrical systems on board commercial aircraft.

However, the sheer volume of electronic gadgets on the market, combined with the impracticality of expansive test programmes, has limited the number of airlines who've actually done this to a small handful.

Aircraft Electronic Device Tests
The FAA's therefore moving to initiate discussions between dominant airline groups, the manufacturers of these Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) and other parties to, potentially, get these aircraft electronic device use tests underway.

At present, PEDs can't be used by passengers onboard commercial aircraft at heights of 10,000 feet or below. If this changes, however, such devices could be allowed to remain in operations throughout the takeoff and landing phases of commercial air travel.

"With the advent of new and evolving electronic technology, and because the airlines have not conducted the testing necessary to approve the use of new devices, the FAA is taking a fresh look at the use of personal electronic devices, other than cell phones, on aircraft", the FAA's Laura J. Brown explained, in a statement.

FAA Passenger Device Studies
The results of any trials that are staged from these FAA passenger device studies could be closely followed in the US - a nation where, as per data published by Forrester Research, no less than 60 million iPads are forecast to have been sold by the end of this year.

Referring, in a press release, to the interest in this programme likely to be shown by consumers, the FAA has nonetheless confirmed that ‘no changes will be made until we are certain they will not impact safety and security.'

Image copyright ‘aschaeffer'/sxc.hu - reproduced with grateful thanks

Source: Airport International

Airline passengers bound for the UK were stranded in India and asked for extra cash for fuel

Airlines have already begun charging for food, drinks, seat assignments and baggage. Now one is demanding that passengers cough up extra cash for fuel.
Hundreds of passengers traveling from India to Britain were stranded Thursday in Amritsar, India, by the charter airline Comtel, which was asking them to kick in money to cover the cost of fuel and fees.
Passengers will not be allowed to leave for Britain unless they pay 10,000 rupees (about $200) each, Bhupinder Kandra, the airline's majority shareholder, told the BB

Tour operator Thomas Cook in financial trouble

Industry analysts and anxious travelers expressed fears Tuesday for the survival of Britain's venerable tour operator Thomas Cook, after the company, which took more than 22 million people on holidays in the latest year, revealed its financial problems had worsened.

Shares in Europe's second-largest tour operator lost three-fourths of their already depressed value after the company said it was seeking new agreements with its main creditors, barely a month after announcing it had negotiated new funding arrangements to carry it through the slow winter months. The company insisted flights would leave as usual and that it was taking new bookings, but Britons who have bought holidays through the firm were worried.

Jamila Juma-Ware, 27, who has booked a holiday at Spain's Tenerife island in the next three weeks for herself and her mother, said she was "praying it's going to be all right ... but I'm not confident." Several small British travel firms have gone under since the global economic crisis hit in 2008, but Thomas Cook is an industry giant and a fixture of Britain's main streets.

"There are a lot of small independent travel agents around here, but I said I'd rather just book it through someone like Thomas Cook because they're big and there's more of a guarantee they won't go bust," Juma-Ware said. "And then this week this happens." Thomas Cook is, like many airlines and tour operators, suffering from weak consumer demand as Europe's financial crisis has people worried about their jobs.

Unrest in Egypt and in Tunisia _ normally the top winter destination for French travelers _ flooding in Bangkok and disappointing sales in Russia have all added to the pressure on the company. Analysts said the financial troubles could scare away customers, darkening the company's prospects.

"Legitimate questions will be asked as to whether Thomas Cook can survive long-term," said James Hollins, analyst at Evolution Securities. He added that he believes the company could pull through on the strength of businesses outside Britain, but "a more flexible financial structure and massive turnaround are required."

Thomas Cook Group PLC shares were down almost 75 percent at 10.41 pence in afternoon trading in London. On July 1, shares had closed at 134.5 pence. Thomas Cook was due to report annual earnings for 2010-11 on Thursday, but it has put that off indefinitely "as a result of deterioration of trading in some areas of the business, and of its cash and liquidity position since its year end."

Sam Weihagen, Thomas Cook's interim chief executive, insisted it was business as usual: "Flights are leaving on schedule, shops are open and we're taking bookings."

Weihagen said people who book package holidays will be protected by the Air Travel Organizers' Licensing insurance program which is funded by contributions from travel companies. However, those who book only flights are advised to buy their own travel insurance. The group has previously announced plans to reduce its fleet of 41 aircraft to 35, and it hopes to raise 200 million pounds ($312 million) by selling assets, including its stake in Britain's part-privatized air traffic control service.

Wyn Ellis, analyst at Numis Securities, said Thomas Cook's announcement could frighten new customers and alarm suppliers. The company, he said, "faces a difficult near-term future which could lead to significant loss of market share."

The news of the company's problems upset some prospective travelers near its shop in the St. James neighborhood of London on Tuesday. Tony Wright, 64, said he's had "nothing but good experiences" with the brand and would not hesitate to use Thomas Cook again. "We were devastated to hear the news this morning and we hope it's not as bad as it sounds," he said.

Others were disappointed the airfares had not dropped.On Tuesday, Simon Ash visited the branch hopeful that the combination of the company's financial woes and a lack of tourist interest in Egypt because of rioting there could help him find a cheap ticket to Cairo _ but he could not find one. "The prices they're giving me are not as good as the ones I'm finding on the Internet," he said.

Thomas Cook takes its name from the cabinetmaker Thomas Cook, who had a flash of inspiration while walking to a temperance meeting in 1841 to use the railways to help promote abstinence from alcohol. Cook's first venture was to charter a train which carried about 500 passengers in open coaches on a 12-mile round trip."Thus was struck the keynote of my excursions, and the social idea grew up on me," Cook later recorded.He organized more trips for temperance societies and Sunday schools. He took his business a step further in 1845 by arranging a trip to Liverpool, which included a 60-page booklet in the price of the ticket.

The International Exhibition in Paris in 1855 inspired Cook to organize a trip to the continent. Ten years later, he was organizing railway tours in North America.