Airline and Aviation Blog

''Boarding'' Contest!

2010-07-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

Hey, mates! Little contest again.
Reward : 2.00$

Don't want to speak much! So there are simple rules:

Scan any boarding pass you have and upload it to any image hosting (You can blur your name, surname if you like. There's no restrictions about flight date. The Boarding Pass can even be 5 years old)
Add Airline and Aviation Blog to favorites on facebook
Email you Facebook name, Paypal email and scanned boarding pass to - airlinesblog@gmail.com

That's all. You will get you prize directly to your PayPal account.

Emirates A330-200 Pilot incapacitation

2010-07-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

An Emirates Airlines Airbus A330-200 was performing flight (EK901) from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Amman (Jordan) with 237 passengers on board. Aircraft was enroute about 1 hour into the flight when the first officer became ill and promted the captain to turn around and return for a safe landing in Dubai about 150 minutes after departure. After successful landing, the first officer was taken to a local hospital.

The flight was reestablished. Airbus took off again about 1 hour later and reached Amman with a total delay of 4 hours.

source: Avherald

Delta Airlines : New flight Nagoya-Honolulu

2010-07-05T00:46:00.000-07:00

Delta Air Lines will serve new daily flights from Nagoya (Japan) to Honolulu on December 22, 2010. The flights will be operated with Boeing 767-300 aircraft with 216 seats - 35 Business seats and 181 seats for Economy class.

Currently Delta Airlines operates flights from Nagoya to Detroit, Manila, Saipan and Guam.

The airline also has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requesting permission to start new nonstop service between Tokyo and the Pacific island of Palau. The proposed flights would operate 4 times weekly beginning in December, 2010. It would be the only scheduled nonstop service between Japan and Palau.

Standing seats for Ryanair flights?

2010-07-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Low-cost airline Ryanair has a plan for standing seats on its planes, but airline experts say it will never happen. Why does the budget carrier come up with far-fetched schemes which often don't come to pass?

A standing room only ticket is, traditionally, dirt-cheap. So it's easy to see why this idea appeals to both a no-frills carrier and its bargain-hungry customers.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary - fond of speculating publicly about outlandish money-saving schemes - says his airline is considering vertical seats akin to bar stools with seatbelts. Despite talk of safety testing and tickets selling for £4 or less, aviation experts say such plans are pie in the sky.

It's not the first time the airline has floated the standing seats idea, or indeed come up with headline grabbing schemes which fail to materialise.

source: BBC News

airBaltic: More Destinations in Winter

2010-07-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Latvian national airline airBaltic plans to serve more destinations in the next winter season and offer additional flights, to improve connections for travellers flying via North Hub Riga to and from over 70 destinations in Europe, CIS and the Middle East.

Tero Taskila, Chief Commercial Officer of airBaltic: "In 2009, airBaltic made record profit, because we focused on attractive prices and good connections via Riga. For the coming winter, we will make it even better. Compared to last winter, fourteen new destinations are added to our route network. Flight frequencies are increased on more than twenty routes, greatly improving connections via Riga to and from Europe, CIS and the Middle East."

Comparing to the schedule of the previous winter season, airBaltic plans to offer new flights this year from North Hub Riga to Kittila, Vaasa, Rovaniemi, Kuusamo in Finland, Amman (Jordan), Beirut (Lebanon), Arkhangelsk (Russia), Athens (Greece), Belgrade (Serbia), Lulea and Umea (Sweden), Madrid (Spain). The airline also will operate two new direct flights – one from the Estonian capital of Tallinn to Stockholm, and the other one from the Finnish city of Oulu to Stockholm (Sweden).

In addition, airBaltic plans to increase flight frequency on several compared to the previous winter season. More flights will be operated to Bergen (daily), Stavanger (daily), Billund (4 times weekly), Aalesund (3 times weekly), Brussels (18 times weekly), Dublin (4 times weekly), Dushanbe (3 times weekly), Gothenburg (5 times weekly), Geneva (daily), Hamburg (daily), Kaliningrad (13 times weekly), Chisinau (5 times weekly), London (9 times weekly), Tashkent (3 times weekly), Tbilisi (5 times weekly), Oulu (daily), Tel Aviv (5 times weekly), Tromso (3 times weekly), Vaasa (daily), Umea (daily), Venice (5 times weekly), Vienna (6 times weekly), Zurich (6 times weekly).

airBaltic was acknowledged by anna.aero for the ANNIES award as the Europe's largest flag carrier by new routes, operating this summer 27 routes more than in 2009. airBaltic serves more than 70 destinations from its home base at Riga, Latvia. From each of these, airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.

source: airBaltic.com

Medical Emergency, B737 near Riga

2010-07-02T03:11:00.000-07:00

An Austrian Airlines Boeing 737-600 was performing flight OS612 from Saint Petersburg (Russia) to Vienna (Austria). Aircraft was enroute at FL380 about 60nm northeast of Riga (Latvia) when suddenly a passenger became sick and he was prompting the crew to divert to Riga. The airplane landed safely just in 15 minutes. The sick passenger was taken to a local hospital in Riga.

The airplane reached final destination - Vienna with a delay of one hour.

Austrian Airlines officialy confirmed a medical emergency on board, but asked for understanding that no further details related to the person can be provided.

source: avherald

First Mini Pre-Contest

2010-06-30T09:40:00.001-07:00

Last updated: 02/07/10

Hey, Followers! I'm really happy to see you here again!
I regret to say, but for the present, I can't announce first ''grand'' contest, because at the time, we haven't so many followers and readers yet. We haven't also Facebook Fan Page followers...
It's sadly... So please, tell your friends to join us here and also tell them about Facebook page!

So, to make things faster , I devised to make a mini pre-contest.
Here's the simpliest rules ever:

Go to Facebook and add ''Airline and Aviation Blog Fan page'' (facebook link you can find above and also in the previous posts) to favorites (click ''Like'' button)

Start a new discussion or response on FACEBOOK Fan Page OR leave a comment to one of the posts below. Please be as descriptive as possible! Discussions like: ''Hey, how are you'' or ''Boeing 747 is cool'' won't count!

Answer to a poll on the blog's sidebar

After that, send an email to airlinesblog@gmail.com with your full name and paypal email

Contest deadline - 05.07.2010

Next 8 Facebook fans will get 0.20$ directly to PayPal!

Rules are very simple. It will take just 2 minutes!
Yes, I know that prize isn't big, but also contest is super easy. Prizewinners will be announced on July 5th evening! Remember to check blog as often as possible, because soon we will announce bigger contests with bigger prizes!

Good luck!

Unruly passenger at United Airlines A319

2010-06-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

A United Airlines Airbus A319-100(N845UA) was performing flight UA428 from Las Vegas to Chicago O'Hare( USA). Aircraft was enroute at FL390 about 170nm southwest of Denver, when the crew reported about an very unruly passenger on board of Airbus and diverted to Denver for a safe landing. The ''man of mettle'' was immediately taken by police of Denver. The airplane reached primary destination - Chicago with a delay of 2.45 hours. Officials said the passenger became disruptive without going into further detail.

6 Years old Girl put on ''No-Fly'' list

2010-06-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

The parents of a 6 old girl Allysa, were notified, that their daughter was included in the no-fly list of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a terror suspect, when they traveled from Cleveland to Minneapolis. A Continental Airlines informed the parents, that their daughter, Alyssa Thomas, was listed among the Department of Homeland Security's no-fly list because she may have potential or proven links to terrorism.
Alyssa's parents could not believe that the little girl could appear on such a list. Alissa's father, Santhosh Thomas, says he's sure that's there cannot be a reason for his 6-year-old daughter Alyssa to be on the no-fly list of suspected terrorists.
After tense moments, the Thomas family was able to board the plane and travel to Minneapolis, but were advised to communicate with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve the problem.

Thomas did write a letter to the DHS. The response to the parents was that Alyssa will remain on the ''no-fly'' list and that no data could be provided on the information they have on the child or another person with the same name.
The girl's father argues that his daughter has been flying with the family since she was two months old and that she never had any problems. "In fact, the last time she traveled was when we visited Mexico in February." said she's Father.

The Transportation Security Administration says that Alyssa had not problems before because the Secure Flight Program for domestic flights just began in June.

source: digitaljournal.com

Various Aircraft and Airlines landing/take off @ St Maarten

2010-06-28T03:19:00.000-07:00

New video made by Magnus Jakobsson. Here you can watch different airline companies landing or taking off from famous Princess Juliana Airport. Proffessional pilots admit, that take off is even more harder than landing, because of mountains ahead runway. More facts and interesting information about this unique airport and island you can read some posts below.

About Princess Juliana Airport

Boeing 757-200 hit by lightning

2010-06-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Incident above Canada. Boeing 757-200, Astraeus airlines, registration G-STRX was performing a flight 5W-483 from Keflavik, Iceland to Winnipeg, Canada. Airplane was on approach to Winnipeg when the aircraft was suddenly hit by lightning. The crew continued for a safe landing on runway 13.
Flight inspection after landing revealed lightly damage to a door.

Pilot detained in Brazil for showing underwear

2010-06-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

Funny story from sunny Brazil. A pilot, who works for United Airlines, was detained at the international airport Rio De Janeiro after lowering his pants during a standart security check, police said Saturday.
Michael D. Slynn (49) was asked to remove his belt and shoes as part of a routine security screening. In response, pilot laughed hard at security guards and brazen-faced lowered his pants to ankles, said a police spokesman.
Slynn was detained in the friday's afternoon, but released shortly and allowed to fly back to Washington, D.C., after signing a document promising to appear before a judge the next time he arrives in Brazil.
Federal Police Chief Rafael Andreatta was quoted by the Internet site of the Brazilian newspaper as saying the pilot "did not respect security rules and made fun of officers."
It was not the first time an american pilot has gotten into trouble for allegedly responding inappropriately to Brazil's airport security measures.
In 2004, another American Airlines pilot Dale Robin Hersh was fined $13,000 for allegedly giving the finger as he was being photographed at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport. The photograph was among entry requirements for U.S. citizens implemented by Brazil at the time in response to similar rules in the United States.
Police accused Hersh of showing contempt for authorities and took him to a federal courthouse. Hersh agreed to a prosecutor's offer to pay a fine in exchange for no charges being filed against him.

source:Associated Press Writer Sophia Tareen

First Contest Soon...!

2010-06-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hey! I'm glad to announce that 1st contest - cooming soon. Actually I already contrived it.

All you know how hard it's to get traffic to blogs... So I want to ask for a support! Please invite your friends to join! Please enter a facebook page and join it! Also spend some time to vote for a blog toplists, which are located on the bottom of the blog. Let's make the blog viral together!
Thank you for any help and support!

1st contest will be announced short after we get ~15 Facebook and active Blog followers .

Also I want to remind, that there will be prizes for winners of the contests.

FACEBOOK PAGE

New Airport in Berlin - 2012

2010-06-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

The new airport in capital of Germany Berlin will open in June 2012. It's seven months later than previously announced.

Officials said that new security demands for Berlin's new Brandernburg International airport had changed the opening date from October 30 to June 3.
Klaus Wowereit (Berlin Mayor) said: ''It would have been too risky to ignore the new security measures just to open the airport on time.''

The new airport is being built on the compound of Schoenefeld airport, southeast of Berlin. Once it is finished, 25 million passengers will be expected annually.
Tegel airport, which is currently Berlin's busiest and also one of the busiest airports in Europe, will then be closed.

Princess Juliana International Airport @ St Maarten Island

2010-06-25T01:59:00.000-07:00

You may have already heard about Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) - awesome airport located in the Dutch sector of the Island of St Martin in the Caribbean. The airport was started as a airplace for military aircrafts in 1942. In 1943, it converted to a civilian airport. There were several upgrades and remodelings. In 1964 main airport was relocated and a new terminal and control tower was built. The facilities were upraded once more in 1985 and 2001. Passenger traffic to St Martin increased several times, so Princess Juliana International Airport was heavily modernized and reorganized.

What's so interesting and extraordinarily in this airport?

Because of awesome and difficult landing. Runway on this airport is just 2,180m long (7,407ft). Although, the ''big'' planes are landing here - B747, B757, A340... So, can you imagine altitude on the landing? In fact the departure for pilots is more difficult than the approach, because pilots required to avoid mountains in the departure path.
Incoming airplanes approach the island on short runway 10 flying very low over the famous Maho Beach. At any other airport aircraft fly at the same altitude at that point in the approach. Pictures and videos of low-flying airplanes were published in several news magazines, portals, social websites worldwide in early 2000 and looked so unreal that some were rated it as fakes. The thrilling approaches and excellent way to shoot images made the Princess Juliana airport one of the world's favorite places for planespotters and tourists.

Despite the big difficulties in approach, there have been no records of major incidents and crashes at the airport, though ALM Flight 980 crashed about 30 miles from St. Croix on 1970, after several unsuccessful landing attempts at Juliana airport.

In year 2007, the world's most notable airport handled 1,647,824 passengers and 103,650 aircraft movements. This airport are serving famous airline companys : Air Canada, Air France, American Airlines, American Eagle, Delta Air Lines, KLM, US Airways, WestJet and many others...

Wallpapers

2010-06-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Bored of your old background? I'm sure you will find something for your desktop. Choose between 273 wallpapers!
Wallpaper size : 800x600 - 7085x3780
Many widescreen wallpapers!

78 MB
Download via RapidShare
Download via DepositFiles
Download via HotFile

Airline and Aviation Blog Facebook page

2010-06-24T08:10:00.001-07:00

Hey there! I'm happy to announce that Airline and Aviation Blog now has a Facebook page! Please check and become a fan, because there you will find necessary information about blog news and competitions! Also there you will be able to read winners of contests. Thank you for your support!

Number of airBaltic passengers grows by 29% in May 2010

2010-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

airBaltic - Latvian airline carried overall 295,809 passengers in May 2010 (from Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn), representing 29% increase comparing with the May in 2009, when airBaltic transported total of 229,475 passengers. This year, the number of passengers at the base of airBaltic in Riga has increased by 25% compared to the same period last year.

During the first five months of 2010, airBaltic transported a total of 1,131,503 passengers, or 19% more than during the same period in 2009, when the total number of passengers was 947,180.

In May, airBaltic operated 5,381 flights, or 41% more than in May 2009 when airBaltic operated 3,825 flights. Between January and the end of May, the airline provided 21,156 flights in all.

The airline’s load factor, which represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of available seats, in May 2010 was at a level of 69%, or 3% points more than in May 2009. During the first five months of 2010 airline’s load factor was at a level of 64%, or 1% point more than in the same period in 2009.

The 15-minute flight punctuality indicator for airBaltic was at a level of 88.6% in May 2010. This means that more than 88 of every 100 airBaltic flights in May departed at the planned time or with a delay of no more than 15 minutes.

source: airBaltic.com

Alitalia A330-200 @ Boston on Juny 15th 2010

2010-06-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

An Alitalia airplane Airbus A330-200, performing flight from Boston(USA) to Rome(Italy) (AZ-615) with 244 passengers and 14 crew, total 258, was in the initial climb out of Boston's runway 15R when the crew reported that their left hand engine (CF6) had failed. The crew levelled off at 2000 feet, shut down and secured the engine and returned to Boston. The airplane landed safely on runway 15R 20 minutes after departure from Boston's airport, fire engines reported smoke from the aircraft, the airplane came to a stop on the intersection runway 15R/runway 09 and shut down on the runway. Fire engines then reported the left hand engine on fire. Boston Airport closed all runways. 5 minutes later the fire chief reported the fire extinguished. The passengers disembarked via mobile stairs and were bussed to the terminal.

About 10 minutes after touch down Boston Airport began to resume flights.

Passengers told that they heard several bangs shortly after takeoff. The captain announced that they were experiencing engine trouble due to a bird strike.

The Italian "Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo" (ANSV, National Agency for Flight Safety) reported late Jun 22nd, that the flight data recorder was analysed by the NTSB. The NTSB subsequently aborted the investigation reporting, that the engine has not been subject to failure, over-speed or over-temperature, so that no risk for flight safety existed.

source: avherald

Welcome to Airline and Aviation Blog!

2010-06-24T03:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Airline and Aviation Blog! I'm really happy to see you there. Airlines and aviation stuff are my biggest hobbies. This blog will give you multifarious information about events in the air. There you can surf and read about several airlines accidents, crashes, reports and much more! Feel free to visit the blog every day, because I promise to update it as much as possible.

!!! ATTENTION !!!

Every month there will be a little contest with prizes! Everyone will be able to participate!
All you need to do - check the blog every day for new announcements!
Category of prizes:

Cash prizes
Gifts (stickers, tatoos, magnets)
Free advert place for a month
And lots of other things!

Thank you very much for visiting!
Also feel free to contact with me. E-mail, facebook and skype contacts you can find in the sidebar!