Ryanair Boeing 737-800 (EI-EKK) at Boeing Field before being delivered to Ryanair
Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is known for saying crazy things. Standing seats, paid toilets and more recently flying with only one pilot. This bizarre approach gets him and Ryanair a lot of free publicity. It is a genius way to do things, because it works.
Well O’Leary recently said some very interesting things that was reported by The Guardian and he isn’t getting much attention. It is odd because this is some of O’Leary’s craziest stuff ever: he wants Ryanair to improve in quality.
He told the Guardian that he feels Ryanair is maturing and with growth, they need a new strategy and a new leader. O’Leary feels that the airline needs to talk more about what they can offer versus being the cheapest airline at all costs.
Whoa! What? Does that mean no more crazy rants? Well don’t get too excited, because even though he says he should leave, he also says he won’t leave until the airline doubles in size.
O’Leary stated, “When we are twice the size we are now, at around 400 aircraft, then the growth rate slows down to 2% or 3% per year. The shareholders will want a return. You will need a different management then. We won’t need my dog and pony show, which is about generating publicity. Every company has to move from being the high-growth Robin Hood.”
Well, at least he knows his shenanigans is just a show.
Ryanair has already been moving into larger airports and away from their small airport game plan. They say they want to bring up their image, but I am almost thinking they just want to bring up the price of a ticket and increase their profit.
Love Ryanair or hate them, they have a model that works. They can do almost whatever they want because they charge so little? Why change something that works? If they move out of the crazy realm, I am sure other airlines would be more than happy to step up.
Image: Drewski2112
Boeing's mock up of what the CST-100 will most likely look like. Photo from Boeing.
The Boeing Company has been making things that go into space for quite some time now. Earlier in the week, they announced plans to possibly start sending normal Joe-Schmos into space…for a price.
Boeing and Space Adventures have created a memorandum of agreement regarding the marketing the transportation of passengers on commercial flight board the Boeing Crew Space Transportation-100 (or CST-100) to low Earth orbit.
Boeing plans to use the CST-100 to transport crews to the International Space Station, but will also provide room for private individuals, companies and pretty much anyone who isn’t NASA to hitch a ride.
Boeing and Space Adventures have not yet set a price per seat for spaceflight participants, but will do so when full-scale development is under way. Boeing continues to advance its design for the CST-100 spacecraft under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Space Act Agreement. The spacecraft, which can carry seven people, will be able to fly on multiple launch vehicles and is expected to be operational by 2015.
“We are excited about the potential to offer flights on Boeing’s spacecraft,” said Eric Anderson, co-founder and chairman of Space Adventures. “With our customer experience and Boeing’s heritage in human spaceflight, our goal is not only to benefit the individuals who fly to space, but also to help make the resources of space available to the commercial sector by bringing the value from space back to Earth.”
At this point there is no cost set up for these flights, but don’t expect them to be cheap.
In my opinion this is awesome. Virgin Galactic is already well on their way to start space tourism and getting a big company like Boeing involved will just up the stakes and create competition.
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Oasis Hong Kong Airlines Boeing 747-400 ( B-LFC) at Vancouver
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines used five Boeing 747-400’s to provide low-cost service from Hong Kong to London and Vancouver, but it didn’t work out for them.
The problems they encountered during the first flight, should have been weary. The airline’s first flight back in October 2006 had its fly-over rights pulled by Russia just an hour before take off. This caused the flight to be delayed for 24 hours…not a good start.
The airline’s low fares were popular, but they weren’t enough to cover their costs. In April 2008, the airline went under.
One of the cool things about it going under is there are quite a few cool pictures of four of the Boeing 747-400’s hanging out together.
The livery is nothing too special, but I think it works. Big writing with the name going down the side of the aircraft and the tail looks like a party.
Image: SteveWilcox
Don't blame the airline for when things happen out of their control!
Consumer advocate Chris Elliott recently wrote a blog stating, “Airlines should refund tickets for cancellation, death, disease and other unfortunate circumstances.” I very much respect Elliott’s work, but him being a consumer advocate and me being an airline advocate, we are going to disagree.
Elliott cites a survey where 88% of passengers said they should get a full refund if their next of kin dies, 80% said they should get a refund if they had a communicable disease and 33% said they should if they can’t make it to the airport for reasons beyond their control.
Now, don’t get me wrong, having any of these things happen to you bites (probably the death and disease thing bites more than being late). But how are any of these the fault of the airline? They aren’t.
Airlines give you a choice. Would you like to buy a refundable ticket for a higher price or a non-refundable for cheaper? It is a gamble. What are the chances someone close to you will pass away? That you will get really sick? Or a jack-knifed truck will make you miss your plane? If you think these and other reasons could make you miss your flight, then get the refundable ticket. If you like to take risk and want to save a few bucks, then get the refundable…easy enough. If you lose your gamble, so be it.
I have lost quite a bit of money to the airlines for deaths, illness, a hurricane and just changes of plans. Each one of those where bad situations, but I didn’t expect the airline to refund my money for issues out of their control. I was able to redeem at least some of my money on each ticket. Most airlines will give you credit for future travel with-in a year, for a fee ($25-$100 or so). I know I made the decision to get a non-refundable ticket, took the risk, and I win most times. Over all, it has been very beneficial getting non-refundable tickets over refundable.
There is also a bigger picture here. Airlines are not charities. They need to make a profit to exist and fly us all over the world. If they start offering refunds for incidents that are not their fault, that means all fares go up. Do you want to pay more for your ticket because someone can’t make it to the airport on time? No thanks!
In 2009 there were 711,000,000 passengers that flew in the US. How many of those do you think had a death in the family, got sick or missed their airplane? Even a very small percentage still means big money for airlines.
Now, this is not to say that if airlines mess up and it is their fault you don’t make your flight, you should get taken care of. However, there are already rules in place to protect you when it is the airline’s fault.
What do you think? Should airlines refund more tickets? Should there be a third option for life changing events?
It is too dark and rainy to get a good photo of my plane today. But this is the Delta 767 that took me to Atlanta last year.
Back at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. I was looking forward to seeing the new body scanners here, but there weren’t any in my security line…I am going to have to look into that.
I am on my way to Atlanta, GA to hang out with Delta Air Lines for the day. I am going to check out how they operate and talk to some folks to find out what their game plan is for the future.
Delta is currently the largest airline in the world. How does such a large airline manage 160 million passengers per year, 354 destinations in 65 countries, 75,000 employees and a fleet of more than 725 aircraft ranging from 34 passenger Saab 340B to the 403 passenger Boeing 747-400? I am not quite sure, but I am sure as heck excited to find out.
Today, I will be flying on a Boeing 767-300 and I have the privilege of testing out Delta’s domestic first class. This is great, since last year I flew on the exact same route in economy.
Do you have any questions for Delta you would like answered? Leave them in the comments or email me at da***@ai*************.com and I will see what I can do.
UPDATE: I couldn’t see the reg number at the gate, but now know it is N136DL. Airliners.net has some pics of her in the old Delta livery.