Always a lot of American Airlines' aircraft at Dallas/Forth Worth
I have flown a lot in my life, but I have never had a bag lost. I know I have been lucky. Talking to those who have been through it, I am glad I haven’t had to go through that.
Airlines have gotten better at not losing bags, but it still happens. American Airlines is testing out some pretty cool new technology to help bags get to their destinations and faster.
Each baggage vehicle has a computer screen which can tell workers flight status, gate changes and connections all in real-time. Workers also have hand-held computers to keep an eye on bags while away from the vehicle. At most airports, this is all done with paper, pencil and maybe a radio.
Right now, the technology is only being used at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Hopefully it will be rolled out to other airports and adopted by other airlines if successful. Let’s also hope this new technology can stop bags from having unknown fluids spilled on them!
Yesterday, ZA004 took to the skies over Washington state (and looks like she might have dipped down into Oregon a little bit) on her first flight. Randy Tinseth, Vice President of Marketing for Boeing points out in his blog that ZA004 is sporting the Boeing “light” livery. This livery just paints the aircraft in solid white, with a line going down the fuselage. This saves Boeing time and money, versus the full livery) and I think it looks pretty slick.
Each of the Boeing test planes have a lead pilot. Captain Heather Ross is the one in charge of ZA004 and was at the controls yesterday. She is one of ten lucky pilots who have been able to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Tinseth is expecting all six of the test planes should be airborne by the end of the second quarter.
Above is a video from KING5 showing the landing of ZA004 yesterday at Boeing Field.
This is the fourth Boeing 787 made (notated by ZA004), but only the third one to fly. The third aircraft (ZA003) is the one I was able to tour the interior previously and Boeing will be flying it shortly. Today the fourth one got to spread its wings early, taking off from Paine Field.
Brett Snyder (aka Cranky Flier) wrote up a great piece on how the airport is looking to create its own airline…well kind of. They are looking to charter some regional jets from ExpressJet to fly to Branson from Austin, Des Moines, Houston, Shreveport, and Terre Haute starting in May.
To learn more about what Branson is up to, check out CrankyFlier.com.
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 taking off from Anchorage, AK.
Airlines adding wi-fi to their fleet is nothing new. But Alaska Airlines announcing they will be adding GoGo Inflight for their Wi-Fi service is exciting since: #1 They were testing Row44 and decided to go with GoGo instead and #2 Alaska is my hometown airline (based in Seattle), I fly them often, and I love having the internet at 30,000 feet.
Alaska has been testing Row44’s satellite-based internet service for quite sometime now. Row44’s main customer is Southwest Airlines. Many thought Alaska would go with Row44 since they have flights to Hawaii and remote areas of Alaska where cell towers, needed by GoGo, do not exist.
Why is Alaska willing to forgo service on all their routes to go with GoGo? A few reasons. First GoGo equipment costs less and takes less time to install on aircraft. This would mean a lower investment at the beginning and not as much lost revenue due to aircraft not being able to fly during installation. Also GoGo is installed on many different airlines all over the US already and has proven itself as a viable service.
GoGo, attempting to get Alaska’s business, has agreed to expand its network into Alaska, however flights to Hawaii will still have no internet (but heck those passengers are going to Hawaii…nice tropical, warm Hawaii. They can deal with no internet).
To get FAA certification, one Boeing 737-800 will get GoGo installed, then the service will be installed fleet-wide.
Mary Kirby, with Flight Global’s Runway Girl, also has another opinion on this choice. She asks if Southwest and Row44 might have some arrangement in the works, which would have either delayed installation of Row44 into Alaska’s aircraft or Southwest might invest in Row44 and partly own the company. Only time will tell!
