Do you know airline and aircraft in each of these photos? Prove it!
It is that time again folks: Ultimate Airline Livery Challenge time!
For those of you who have not played before, this is how it goes down:
I show you a few 100à—100 images (no, you can not see bigger versions) of airlines and it is your job to tell me #1 what airline the image belongs to and #2 what kind of airplane is it? I don’t need to know exact model, but basic (ie ’œBoeing 777’³ vs ’œBoeing 777-300ER’).
DO NOT leave your answers in the comments (people can cheat that way), email me your answers to da***@ai*************.com (do not worry, I am doing nothing with your email, but writing you back).
Those of you who get all eight airlines and aircraft correct will get a shout out on the blog (with a link to a page of your choice) and I will even mail you some AirlineReporter.com stickers if you are up for it.
I am pretty sure this one is a bit easier than others I have done previously, but I have learned that it is hard to tell until you folks start giving me feedback.
I will announce the answers sometime on Saturday the 28th. Previously, I have always given exact times, but rarely post right at that time, so I am just going with “sometime” on Saturday this time.
You are always more than welcome to leave in the comments which ones were the most difficult.
GOOD LUCK!
Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300ER at LAX.
AIR NEW ZEALAND PREMIUM ECONOMY REVIEW BASICS
Airline: Air New Zealand
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (ZK-OKM)
Departed: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Arrived: London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR)
Stops: Non-stop flight
Class: Premium Economy
Seat: 23A (window)
Length: 9.5 hours
Cheers: The product is great and those New Zealand accents — have to love them.
Jeers: Argh, why does my elbow keep pausing my movie?
Bottom Line: Having the word “economy” in the name seems inappropriate; it is anything but economy.
The outer seats in Premium Economy point towards the windows, giving extra privacy. I had the window seat.
THE FULL PREMIUM ECONOMY REVIEW
I recently had the opportunity to take a flight from Los Angelas International Airport (LAX) to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) in Air New Zealand’s Premium Economy (note: the airline covered my airfare and I paid the taxes).
Say what? How can I fly from an American city to a foreign city on Air New Zealand? It is because of the Fifth Freedom of the Air, which allows Air New Zealand to operate their flight from Auckland to London, via LAX. Most people probably do not think about taking Air New Zealand to London, but they are a unique option that I wanted to check out.
This was my first Air New Zealand flight — kind of. I actually flew on the exact same plane earlier, when it was brand spanking new. ZK-OKM was Air New Zealand’s first Boeing 777-300ER and I was able to hitch a ride on part of the delivery flight from Paine Field (PAE) to LAX. Since it wasn’t a real revenue flight with standard service (and only 2.5hrs long), I was looking forward to checking out the full product on a much longer flight.
With the outer seat angled a bit towards the window, it makes looking outside a breeze. Taking off from LAX (and yes, I had permission to take this photo below 10,000 feet).
When I first toured the airline’s 777-300ER, I had a hard time placing exactly what Premium Economy was. To me, it looked like something one would find in a long-haul business class.
Air New Zealand has had Premium economy on their 777-200s, but this product is very different. On the -200, it is your standard economy seat, in a 3-3-3 layout with some extra recline and seat-pitch. Not bad, but the new Premium Economy is in a whole other league.
Not only are the seats in a 2-2-2 layout, they don’t face forward. The first question you have to ask yourself when booking your ticket is if you want to interact with the person next to you or not. If you want to talk, dine or even snuggle with your seatmate, you probably want to go for the inner-space seats, located in the middle of the plane. Even though the seats are slightly tilted away from each other, they easily allow people to interact if desired.
The Premium Economy is in a 2-2-2 layout. The outer seats give better privacy than the inner seats.
If you are on your own or want some additional privacy, then getting a seat in the outer-space is for you. Each seat is tilted towards the window and gives more of a sense of privacy.
Having my seat tilted towards the window made taking off even a better experience than usual. It was a little weird at first orienting myself when I was tilted, but after a few minutes, I didn’t even notice anymore.
Since the seat in front is not directly centered, the video screen and tray table popped out and slid over for easier usability. I had plenty of room to work on my large laptop, while watching a movie.
The in-flight entertainment system was good enough and when browsing through the eight pages of movies, I found quite a few that I was interested in seeing. The system was quite slick, having a favorite list, that I could add what I wanted to watch later, so I wouldn’t forget what I wanted to watch.
Dang you remote! Why do you have to get in my way? The round silver thing above the remote is a pop out LED light.
The main downside of the product was the location of the remote — which was right by my left elbow. I ended up hitting it more than once, causing issues with my viewing experience. I unlatched the remote and let it hang, so I wouldn’t hit it anymore — problem solved.
The remote is not really needed, since the you can do everything (except use the keyboard, turn on your light or call a flight attendant) via the touch screen.
When will the lights dim? When will I get my next meal? This screen will tell you.
One of the coolest things on the in-flight entertainment system is the “My Flight” menu. This really gives you an itinerary of where you are at during the flight, when you will eat and when the lights will be bright or dimmed. This was great to be able to plan out when I wanted to sleep, when service would start and even when I could order food on demand.
Salmon, bread and wine make sense for a starter, but dessert too?
The food wasn’t too shabby. For dinner I was first served smoked salmon, watercress shoots, toasted almonds and burnt orange mayonnaise. For the main meal I had a choice between lamb, cod and chicken. I went with the lamb with potatoes and minted peas.
Then for desert was raspberry almond cheesecake, but it was odd, since the dessert was put on my tray with my appetizer and remained there until I was done with my meal. Maybe it is a cultural thing?
For breakfast, I had a choice between a chicken herb sausage cheese omelet, or Belgian waffles with strawberries. Not going to lie, I had a hard time making that decision, but I decided on sleeping through the meal, which I later regretted.
This is how dark it got during the flight. Taken over northern Canada.
The seats in Premium Economy do not fully recline, but it does go back farther than economy and there is a little beanbag pillow to put your legs up.
Although the product is slick, you don’t get all the bells and whistles as Business Class — which makes sense. Both premium classes get priority ticket counter access, but only business gets access to the Koru Club Lounge. If you want to get into the lounge, you can buy a day pass for $55, which isn’t a bad deal.
From Los Angeles to London, economy class normally runs around $1200 and Premium Economy runs about $2400. Not bad considering the product one gets when upgrading.
My biggest suggestion is to change the name of this product. The old Premium Economy was just that. An economy product with a bit more leg room, but they were the same seats as economy, with the same seat layout.
The new Premium Economy is much closer to Business Class than economy and not changing the name doesn’t do the product justice. Even calling it something like “Kiwi Class” would be beneficial, because when most people fly and see a “premium economy” seat, they just think space a few inches of extra, but this product is much more than that.
MORE PHOTOS OF AIR NEW ZEALAND PREMIUM ECONOMY:
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Emirates Catering Facility in Dubai.
While visiting Dubai recently, I had the opportunity to check out the Emirates Catering Facility. It is the largest catering facility in the world and very impressive. I was asked to write up a story for APEX Editor’s Blog and wanted to share the story with you as well…
DUBAI: Many people do not stop and think about the effort it takes for an airline to prepare multiple meals for long-haul flights; it is complex operation and just one of the many aspects that airlines need to concentrate on to be successful.
The largest airline catering facility in the world is the Emirates Flight Catering in Dubai. Each day, the 50,000 sq m facility produces 110,000 meal trays. It operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and employs 6,600 people.
Continue reading the the story on the APEX Editor’s Blog and also check out all 52 photos of the facility.
Qatar Airways first Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the tarmac at the Farnborough Airshow.
At the Farnborough Air Show, Qatar Airways showed off their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to an awestruck crowd.
When presenting the aircraft, Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker stated: ’œQatar Airways has been highly anticipating the arrival of our Boeing 787 aircraft at the Farnborough Air Show, and are proud to share this milestone with the world during the unveiling of our new Dreamliner.”
Welcome on board — entering the Qatar Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the first time.
I was excited to check out this Dreamliner. I have previously been in a few of ANA’s Boeing 787s and in one of JAL’s. How would Qatar’s 787 stack up?
Although ANA’s and JAL’s products were nice, Qatar really took the interior of their 787 to the next level — especially with their Business Class product.
The Business Class seats on the aircraft are laid out in a 1-2-1 format, where the 232 economy seats are in a 3-3-3 format.
Business Class seats on the Qatar Boeing 787 is very impressive.
This is the first Dreamliner we have seen in a 3-3-3 economy set up, where the ones previously have been a 2-4-2 layout. I was actually surprised how spacious the economy cabin felt, realizing that there was an extra seat in each row. I only sat in an economy seat for about a minute and it seemed fine, but a ten hour flight might be a bit different.
Each seat has an iTouch touch remote control, which accesses over 1000 entertainment options.
The Qatar economy is set up in a 9 abreast seating, but felt roomy.
The interior was quite impressive, but seeing Qatar’s Dreamliner flying at the airshow was even more so. Historically, Boeing has not flown any of their aircraft at the airshow, so this was a special treat.
Qatar’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner takes off.
Living just minutes away from Paine Field (where the 787 is built) I have seen plenty of 787 Dreamliners flying, but never like this. The 787 looked natural flying above Farnborough, completing aggressive maneuvers, showing off. Sure, there were no Tex Johnston style rolls, but it was still inspiring none-the-less.
It looked great on the ground, but a bit better in the air.
The 787 left Farnborough early to return back to Seattle to have the final touches done before being delivered to Qatar by early September. The airline has 60 787s on order and Boeing is expecting to deliver five of them to Qatar before the end of the year.
After delivery, Qatar plans to use their first 787 flying between Doha to London Heathrow.
ADDITIONAL QATAR AIRWAYS BOEING 787 PHOTOS (even more on Flickr):
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