Can you take a guess where Air Madagascar is based? If you guessed Madagascar, pat yourself on the back. If you knew its headquarters is located in Antananarivo, Madagascar, give yourself a double pat. The airline’s official name is Socit Nationale Malgache des Transports Ariens, but goes by “Air Madagascar” for short (good thinking).
The airline was founded in 1947 using two DC-3’s and six de Havilland DH89’s. Currently it has a fleet of three ATR 42’s, two ATR 72’s, four Twin Otters, three Boeing 737’s and two Boeing 767’s. Back in 1979, the airline purchased a Boeing 747-200B, which was phased out in 1999 by the Boeing 767-300.
Air Madagascar mostly flies to destinations in Africa, but also to China, Thailand and France.
Sometimes when you see the results of a study you just want to say, “duh!” Recently Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier, banned alcohol on some of its longer flights to see if it would decrease in flight disturbances. Not to surprisingly, they did see a decrease.
The ban was only for passengers in economy seats (maybe people with more money can hold their booze better?). Since the change, Aeroflot has seen a “significant fall” in the number of alcohol-related issues (this is the “duh” part).
Due to the success, the airline is continuing to ban alcohol on flights from Moscow to Havana, Bangkok, Shanghai and the Russian cities of Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at least through the summer.
I am sort of torn with the banning of alcohol on flights. When you read about passengers going crazy on flights, 95% of the time alcohol (and/or drugs) are involved. However, flying is very stressful to a lot of people and alcohol can give passengers a certain level of comfort. Alcohol is also a big money maker for airlines. Those $5-8 you are spending on mixed drinks costs the airlines much less and losing that extra revenue would cause airlines to increase prices.
Many flight attendants I have talked to would love to see alcohol banned on flights. You can imagine, sometimes it makes grumpy passengers even more grumpy. Plus having the “I think you might have had enough, ” conversation can’t be easy.
Apolo Ohno taking a photo of his image on an Alaska Airline's Boeing 737...how surreal. Photo by me.
Back in March I blogged how you could win a trip to Hawaii for five days with Apolo Ohno on Alaska Airlines. Well, Alaska received almost 30,000 entries (one was mine) and four lucky people were selected (none of those were me, but I did get to be there…bonus). I always wonder, “does anyone ever win these things?” and sure enough they do.
Yesterday morning I got up at about 3:45am to head down to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to meet the lucky winners and of course Apolo Ohno. You know Mr. Ohno right? He is the most decorated American Winter Olympic athlete of all time and he is also a cool dude. For some, being that talented has a way of going to someone’s head, but not for Ohno. He was more than happy to take photos with fans.
I spoke with one of the winners and his guest; Kevin LaChapelle and his new fianc Whittnee Chen. Even though they have known each other for years, Kevin just proposed and Whittnee said yes. What better way to celebrate than a free trip to Hawaii, with Apolo?
Apolo after he arrived in Maui. Photo by Alaska Airlines
Kevin told me he almost missed winning this trip. He saw the email and sent it to his spam folder. He then remembered signing up for the contest and took a second look. He had won! Kevin said if Whittnee didn’t say yes to his proposal, he had many friends saying they would take her slot to Hawaii.
I was also able to interview Apolo on video about his thoughts on having his image on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737. Well, long story short, I lost the video. Lame. It was really good too. Anyhow he told me it was very surreal. He explained how much he loves Alaska Airlines and is so happy they sponsored him. The silver lining of all this, I was Tweeting my frustrations on losing the video and Apolo responded over Twitter he would like to re-do it. Now, that is awesome!
Their special flight took off from Seattle at about 8:30am yesterday and arrived in Maui in the afternoon. When they arrived, they were greeted by the Lt Governor of Hawaii, James R. “Duke” Aiona Jr, the Maui Mayor Charmain Tavares and the Maui Surf Groms.
The groms are a group of young surfers who are looking to make surfing an official Olympic sport. The group helps disadvantage kids fly around the Hawaiian islands to compete and they were all very excited to meet Ohno.
It was fun to watch them all leave, but I wish I was going with them. Oh well, at least I can blog about it.
Yesterday I headed over to the Future of Flight and designed my own airplane. You have until June 7th to design your own airplane and submit it to the Future of Flight and have it displayed. Obviously you don’t need hardcore skills, just a little imagination and some crayons work! Make me proud, submit your airplane design.
