Are these the new liveries of Frontier and Southwest?
Today might go down as “Airline Livery Leak Day.” It appears that the new liveries of both Frontier and Southwest Airlines have leaked on the internet today, which shows that it is hard to hide things from social media.
Southwest Airlines has a media event set up at their headquarters for this Monday and Tuesday, where they have been promoting a big announcement. Similarly, Frontier Airlines has scheduled a media event for Tuesday morning, giving big hints of a livery update. But it appears that the big surprise for both might have been ruined.
The Frontier Airlines’ image shows an evolution of their livery with a retro “F,” but keeping the familiar animals on the tail. Whereas the Southwest livery maintains the same colors, but is more revolutionary in its design.
Turning leather seat covers into soccer balls; part of Southwest’s new LUV Seat program – Photo: Southwest Airlines
When you think about recycling in the aviation industry, most folks think of the aircraft that are scrapped and recycled. Some airlines will recycle the cans and cups onboard that get used, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. However, what about something on a different scale? Two programs have been launched this year that take different approaches to using up leftover materials and recycling them into something useful – something that will help people, not just the company’s bottom line.
In July of this year, Southwest Airlines launched their ’œLUV Seat’ program, or as the motto puts it ’œRepurpose with a Purpose’. Labeled more as “re-purposing” than “recycling”, the program is designed to take the leftover leather from Southwest seat refurbishments and turn them into usable goods.
The first of those materials is heading to Africa, where seat leather will be turned into soccer balls, shoes, and other items. They don’t call it “recycling” – they call it “up-cycling”. Turning unwanted items into higher value products.
A PBY with lots of potential located at KSFM
This story was written by Michael Lothrop for AirlineReporter…
Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport (KSFM) is a municipally-owned airport located in Sanford, Maine. It is home to a fixed wing flight school, rotary wing flight school, a school specializing in ATP licenses, as well as a full host of FBO services. There is also an excellent diner to facilitate the infamous ’œ$100 hamburger’.
KSFM was originally a Naval Auxiliary Airfield during World War II, built at the same time as three others in the state. It has also been the host to Presidential aircraft, as both Bush administrations were keen to visit Kennbunkport.
It’s only fitting that an old Navy airfield would play host to an old Navy plane. Every now and then, one can get a glimpse of a hulking amphibious aircraft tied down on the far side of the field. I was fortunate enough to be put in touch with the private concern who owns this magnificent aircraft, and was granted an interview about the PBY Catalina. Here are some questions and answers from that session:
A TAM Airbus A330 and A320 get worked on at the MRO
The location of TAM Airlines’ Maintenance Operation Center (called “MRO” for Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) is in a unique location. It is not found at a major airport or even within a large city. It is located about three hours (by car) northwest of Sao Paulo (GRU) in the middle of farm land.
The facility used to be a tractor factory, with a runway built next to it to fly in the company’s parts. Turns out building your own airport and flying in parts, rather than shipping them via road, was not the best business decision and the tractor company went out of business.
TAM’s maintenance facility is located about 15 miles from Sao Carlos
TAM saw this as a great opportunity to purchase the land and open their MRO. Large facilities already existed and, more importantly, a runway. So just over a decade ago, TAM opened up their MRO about 15 minutes north of Sao Carlos, a town of around 220,000. I was recently invited to check out the facility, and it was a semi-adventure just getting there.
Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 at JFK – Photo: David Parker Brown | AirlineReporter
Delta Air Lines recently upgraded their Economy Comfort cabin for trancontiental flights from New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. I recently had a trip from JFK to SEA and decided to give the upgrade a shot.
The big changes? The addition of pillows, blankets, sleep kits, Luvo snack wraps, free adult beverages, and frozen yogurt bars.
“Delta continues to invest in Economy Comfort with upgraded amenities for customers when they fly one of our transcontinental routes from New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle,” said Jeff Robertson, Vice President ’“ Product Development, Sky Clubs and Marketing Communications. “Adding pillows and blankets for comfort as well as Luvo wraps and mid-flight snack offerings improves the travel experience for our premium economy customers so they arrive at their destination rested and refreshed.”
These come with the standard upgrades that all Economy Comfort seats give passengers: up to 4″ additional legroom and ideal location for boarding/de-planing.
The big question – is $100 worth the additional extras you get with Economy Comfort? Although I was quite tired during this flight (this was the fourth and final leg of a four day, 15,000 mile journey), I was willing to find out.
