Southwest Airlines flight leaving from Las Vegas, NV
A passenger getting naked on a plane is almost becoming old news. However, I am not tired of blogging about them, so I shall continue. This week’s nudity is brought to you by a Las Vegas bound guy and was found on the Airline Biz Blog.
Southwest Airlines flight 943 left from Oakland and was heading towards Las Vegas when a male passenger exposed himself to a female passenger. That wasn’t enough for him so he decided to hit another female passenger. This was enough for the people aboard and he was restrained.
The crazy man decided this would be a good time to get completely naked and rowdy. Passengers and crew became more aggressive in their restraining and the pilot decided to return the plane back to Oakland.
Image: gTarded
Vietnam Airlines Boeing 777 being towed at Frankfurt
American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and UPS have agreed to use up to 1.5million gallons of synthetic diesel made from plant waste per year. The fuel would be used to fuel their ground service equipment at Los Angeles International Airport.
Rentech Inc. will be supplying the alternative fuel starting in 2012, made mostly from urban yard waste and clippings.
Most people only think about aircraft causing much of the pollution in air travel, but there are thousands of support vehicles at each airport that also cause harmful emissions. Rentech is currently in talks with other airlines and airports to increase the fuel’s usage.
Image: Thomas Becker
Frontier Airline aircract lined up at Denver
The airline blogosphere (and twittosphere) was abuzz when Southwest Airlines announced their bid for Frontier Airlines. Folks started talking like it was a done deal. Southwest’s bid was $170million versus Republic Airline’s $109million, it seemed there was no question who would be the victor. However, Southwest was unwilling to move forward without a labor agreement and Republic won the right to purchase Frontier Airlines.
The largest roadblock to Southwest’s victory was their plan for the integration of the Frontier pilots. Southwest wanted Frontier pilots to be at the bottom of the seniority list, while Frontier pilots wanted equal treatment and the ability to stay in Denver (where Frontier is based).
If this all goes through (the shareholders still need to give their approval), it will create a very interesting airline. Republic already serves as a regional carrier for larger airlines (AmericanConnection, Continental Express, United Express, US Airways Express and Delta Connection). This summer, they purchased Midwest to expand their fleet and routes. Knowing how Republic works, I doubt they will combine their airlines under one brand. They have already talked about moving aircraft between Midwest and Frontier, but for now, the cute animals get to stay. I am sure there will be some consolidation between the airlines to save money, but probably for most people it will look like two separate airlines.
It will be interesting to see how Frontier and Midwest grow and of course how Southwest will grow (or shrink) at Denver.
Image: BFIguy
JetBlue A320 N640JB
JetBlue announced today that passengers can now purchase an unlimited travel pass for $599.00 and fly to any of the airlines 56 destinations as much as they want from September 8th to October 8th. No blackout dates, any seat is game, you can book and change up to 3-days before departure date, AND you still get TrueBlue awards points to boot.
I normally don’t blog about an airline fare special, but I think this might be an important test. If this becomes successful, this might be something JetBlue or other airlines do more. How great would it be to pay a flat fee and fly around the country (or world) visiting different locations on the cheap?
This is not the first time an airline has done something like this. American Airlines allowed folks to pay $250,000.00 to fly free for life, however the program ended in 2004. Earlier this year Cathay Pacific offered their All Asia Pass, where travelers could get unlimited flights to selected cities over a three week period for around $1500.00. Air Canada has also played with the notion of having unlimited flights. The problems in previous attempts, is #1 having too many restrictions or #2 being too costly (the last American pass sold for $3million). It seems JetBlue might have the right formula with relatively low cost and low complexity. It is something I would seriously consider taking part in, if I had a month I could take off of work!
Image: Taurs Photographix
Blue Panorama Boeing 757-231
Blue Panorama Airlines sparked my interest this week for the livery blog, not only because of its unique name, but also its unique livery on the nose of their aircraft.
The airline was started in 1998 and is based in Rome, Italy. The airline has a fleet of 10 aircraft, including Boeing 737’s, 757’s, and 767’s. They also have one very cool looking Piaggio P-180 for short-haul flights.
Image: jacquesaero