JetAmerica's Boeing 737-800
Yes, a new airline is starting up, but they have a lot of help. The airline will be based out of Newark, NJ and have most of their flights go to smaller mid-sized cities which have seen a drop in traffic from other airlines.
Some of the airports are willing to shell out a lot of money to make JetAmerica work. Lansing, MI, South Bend, ID Melbourne, FL, and Toledo, OH are paying JetAmerica with $1.4 million in grants, almost $900,000 in waived fees, and over $1 million in marketing and advertising in the first year.
John Weikle, chief executive or JetAmerica, feels this extra money will help protect the new airline from fuel price spikes which mostly caused the bankruptcy of Skybus — an airline JetAmerica is modelling themselves after.
Prices will start at $9 per seat (for the first 19 seats) and then up to $199. The standards of paying for checked bags, food, drink, etc will apply as well to the new airline.
JetAmerica will start with one leased Boeing 737-800, but hope to have four flying by July of next year.
Source: MSNBC Image: JetAmerica.com
This starts a new series where I will be interviewing people from different aspects of the airline industry. From pilots, to baggage handlers, to airline executives. If you have someone you would like to suggest for an interview or if you would be willing to be interviewed yourself, let me know!
Kras Air Tupolev Tu-154M RA-85702 is climbing into a surrealistic sky.
When creating each blog I try to find a picture that corresponds with the story. Sometimes this is an easy 10 second task, but most times it takes me a bit longer to find a picture I really enjoy and that fits well. A great number of times I end up wanting to use one Photographer, Thomas Becker through Flickr. I emailed him a few questions and here are his answers:
The Airline Blog: How does the airline photography business work?
Thomas Becker: For me it is no business. I am doing aviation photography and post processing as a hobby. If there was a chance to earn money with it, I would definitely take it!
TAB: What types of clients do you get?
TB: From time to time I get asked by different organizations or companies, if I am willing to allow them to use one or more of my photos. Up to now there was no “paid” contract.
TAB: How do you get the type of access you need to take great photos?
TB: Almost all of my photos were taken at Frankfurt Airport (FRA/EDDF). Fraport is offering a limited number of good photo positions for spotters. There is no need to get special access to restricted areas to get good shots.
TAB: What is your favorite airplane to photograph? What is your favorite airline?
TB: My favorite airplane is the Tupolev Tu-154 which is no longer in service to Frankfurt. The 747 is great, too, as this aircraft still is the most elegant in the sky. From a photographic point of view, S7 Airlines is my favorite one as they really stand out with their green livery followed by Vietnam Airlines with their beautiful deep blue and yellow paint scheme.
TAB: What is your funniest, scariest, most bizarre, or most thought-provoking experience during a photo shoot?
TB: Every photographer is looking for “special” occasions he can shoot with his camera. A lot of them could easily be caught on video like aborted take-offs, go-arounds due to a blocked runway or a runway change shortly before touchdown.
So, for me as a photographer I am looking for unusual situations like funny faces during short finals, smoking landings (usually freighters…) and power-ups (you should see a 777 powering up her engines…) as well as rarely seen aircraft like military or private jets. The most bizarre experience was an aborted take-off of a B747 due to an engine failure – the complete runway length was necessary to stop as the decision to abort was taken almost at V1.
TAB: Do you keep up with the airline industry news? Anything on your mind?
TB: I am reading a number of magazines and blogs that cover the airline industry. Additionally I am discovering Twitter as an efficient source of information.
TAB: Why airline photography?
TB: When living near a large airport like Frankfurt and doing photography with semi-professional equipment, two things come together that lead to airline photography automatically. It´s a great activity that helps developing photographic skills as well as finding the right motives. And it´s fun! Aviation still is a very special way of transportation that fascinates a lot of people. I am one of them.
TAB: Do you see the airline industry differently through the lens of the camera?
TB: One thing adds to another – I was always interested in the airline industry, and that was fueled by starting aviation photography a few years ago. With my photography, I try to show the most beautiful sides of this industry.
TAB: Anything else you would like to share?
TB: Those who are interested in airline photography should invest into a DSLR camera and a good telezoom lens and
remember: the first 10,000 photos will be your worst! 😉
TAB: I have messed with my own pics on Flickr and it can be time consuming, how do you handle the thousands you have?
TB: I have built up a work-flow within Adobe Lightroom that works very well and minimizes the amount of manual work. I am using a 24″ iMac with an additional 24″ LCD. Within Lightroom two Plugins do the work in adding geotags into the EXIF data and exporting the photos to Flickr. Jeffrey Friedl has done a great work in developing these Plugins – the latest version is able to add photos to the Flickr groups/pools upfront, so A LOT of manual work is no longer necessary.
For me tagging, geotagging and machine tags are very important as the number of photos I have posted is several thousands now. You will find my photos in a number of groups – I personally run 23 of them like “Airplanes: Nose Shots” or “Aircraft with Names”.
Flickr is so great that I cannot remember anything in my “computerized” life (that started back then in 1982 with a Commodore 64) that had a similar impact on my free time…
Please feel free to check out Thomas’ other pictures on his Flickr account.
Two Hornets from VFA-87 wait as Crash and Hanky back out of a KC-10 from the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco.
Unfortunately, many people just think of Memorial Day as a day off work (unless you are in the airline business where your work never stops), but it is much more than that. Many wonderful airline pilots start their careers as a military pilot and not all are able to make the transition to civilian life since they are killed in the line of duty.
Please take some time today and no matter what your political beliefs are or if you feel the wars we have fought and are currently are fighting are just, remember those that have died in the line of duty!
Image: Timmeh!
Air France's new Boeing 777 sporting their new livery
Back in April a few milestones happened with one plane. Boeing was able to deliver its 777th Boeing 777 and Air France was able to show off its new livery. Overall, a very minor evolution from Air France’s previous livery.
Image: alexisced73
Does Southwest Airlines giving out free drink coupons help them to acheive #1 status?
According to the Customer Service Satisfaction Index, airline passengers feel the airlines are doing a 3.2% better job in customer service compared to the year before.
Although fees are up, the numbers of passengers are down. This means less lines, fewer bumped people, and more room since you might have no one sitting in the center seat.
Southwest Airlines was #1 for customer satisfaction for the 16th year in a row with it’s highest rating ever. The biggest gainers were Delta Airlines, US Airways, and Continental who improved by margins of 6.7% to 9.7%. American Airlines saw the largest decrease (3.2%) and United Airlines ended with the lowest overall score for the year.
It will be interesting to see if the airlines can keep this positive trend going, since hopefully by next year we’ll have a strong economy and fuller planes (and lines).
Source: USA Today Image: tsmyther