Hot damn – over 21,000 miles in less than four days is quite the adventure, but I signed up for it with smile. To cover the world’s two longest flights, I recently traveled from Seattle (SEA) to Los Angeles (LAX) to Singapore (SIN) to Newark (EWR) and back home again to Seattle. Lots of miles, lots of time in the air, and lots of good fun.
Although I was looking forward to a big high-end adventure, it all started with a bus ride to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, followed by an economy flight on Alaska Airlines to LAX. I felt that with each step towards Singapore I was going a bit more upscale.
Checking in at LAX – Photo: David Parker Brown | AirlineReporter.com
Getting down to LAX was easy and uneventful. I took an early flight to make sure that I had plenty of time to check out the new international terminal at LAX, but I always forget that the ticket counters do not open so early. Luckily, there were some food options that allowed me to eat before I was able to check in (have to say that the food quality at the Daily Grill was quite disappointing this trip).
I checked in and was escorted by the airline to the new Star Alliance Lounge for a tour. I was hoping to also have the time for a full tour of the new Tom Bradley International Terminal, but with the lounge and Airbus A340-500 tour, I wasn’t able to – next time.
On Sunday of this week, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos made some pretty outrageous claims about the future of his company. Specifically, he said his goal is for Amazon Prime customers to receive parcels within half an hour of purchase.
Okay, so what? Ordinarily us Airline Reporters don’t really cover matters of delivery. We’re happy to talk about FedEx, UPS, and other cargo carriers that bring goods to integration centers and then, eventually, to customers. This, right here, is the future of delivery. Point-to-point, airborne, and unmanned.
The quadrocopter is not a new concept in the door-to-door delivery world. University students have toyed with the idea for such things as pizza delivery. This is the first attempt that I would call serious.
Mr. Robert Deluce, Porter Airlines President & CEO (center) with his team after CSeries Flight Test Vehicle 1’s (FTV1) first flight on September 16, 2013.
It’s been over six months since Porter Airlinesannounced their conditional order to buy up to 30 Bombardier CS100s. In order to finalize the order, Porter needs permission from the City of Toronto to operate the CS100s at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ), and has asked for extensions to be added to both ends of the main runway at the waterfront airport. Currently, jets are not allowed to operate from YTZ, and Porter flies Bombardier Q400 turboprops from their YTZ base.
On Thursday morning, Toronto’s Deputy City Manager filed a report that analyzed Porter’s requests. Simply, it says that granting approval is premature. Among issues cited, there isn’t yet enough noise or operational performance data on the CS100; runway extension impact and noise modelling has not been completed; and there isn’t a clear direction or plan for YTZ’s expansion, and how it will be funded is in question.
In addition, the agreement banning jets at YTZ expires in 2033, and the report says that the impact of Porter’s request should be considered before this no-jet-noise agreement is extended. Overall, the report recommends that research continue, and that a new report be filed in March 2015. Thursday’s report will be considered by the City’s Executive Committee on December 5th, and depending on the outcome, by the full Council on December 16th.
All of us at AirlineReporter.com would like to wish all of those who live in a country/territory celebrating Thanksgiving today a wonderful one. By our account, the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are all celebrating thanks.
Today is also a special day for those in Albania, Chad, Congo, East Timor, Mauritania, and Oman. For the rest of you fine folks – have a wonderful Thursday!
I’d rather fly!
As many of you will be travelling this weekend and some running into difficulty with weather or airline delays, just remember what your trip would looked like over 100 years ago. Because of air travel, people are able to visit friends and family around the world for a weekend. Now, that is pretty darn cool.
2,200-room Baha Mar development in The Bahamas – Image: Baha Mar
After an amazing tour of the new Nassau Lynden Pindling International Airport, we took the brief drive to the new Baha Mar development. As I mentioned in a prior installation, Baha Mar is a massive $3.5 billion development project which, when completed, will add nearly 25% capacity to Nassau’s lodging – all of it high-end. It seeks to compete not only with the “destination” resort on The Bahamas (Atlantis) but with the likes of Las Vegas.
The complex is a massive undertaking, with thousands of workers on-site and the majority of the project is financially backed by Chinese investors. Included in the development is a giant casino, high-end restaurants, a Jack Nicklaus golf course, and many other luxury touches.
