The World Is Ready for Obama
I am just back from Manchester England, where it was wall-to-wall Obama, every day, just before the elections. Travelers will benefit greatly from the new regime, people overseas were just plain as sick of George Bush as we were.
The two men are so fundamentally different, the world has breathed a great breath of optimism. I expect that even in countries that were formerly hostile to the US things will be warmer. I’ll give my theory a run for its money when I travel to Tehran, Iran on November 23 with a delegation of tourism officials, to take a short tour of the country and hopefully meet with some local Iranians. I have read so much about Iran, I can’t wait to actually step into the country and learn about it first hand.
Lufthansa LOWERS Fuel Surcharge
What goes up often doesn’t usually come down. But today on ETN I read that German airline Lufthansa has reduced its fuel surcharge as a result of the dramatic fall in crude oil prices we’ve seen in the past few weeks.
The airline was charging a 30 euro surcharge to European flights and a whopping 97 euros for long-haul routes. Now they’ve sliced three and five euros off each, which applies to all tickets purchased after October 20.
Too bad if you’re already holding the tickets, but it seems that at least one airline is going in the right direction. Wish I could get a break on the home heating oil I bought for $4.09 a gallon!
Embraer Moves into Connecticut to Fix Jets
If you think of which aspect of airline travel is growing, you have to think regional jets. More and more airlines have downsized to smaller jets made by two companies–Embraer, of Brazil, and Bombardier, of Canada. Instead of flying 737s many of the majors have downsized to 50 or 100-seat regional jets made by these two manufacturers.
There was bright news at Bradley Airport recently when Embraer announced plans to open a new $10 million Northeast service center at the airport. The 48,000 square foot facility opened last month near the New England Air Museum. More than 60 good paying jobs in airplane repair will be created with the opening.
The company has big expansion plans, rolling out their own line of executive jets called Phenom and Legacy. More than 23,000 employees around the world are employed by Embraer, which was founded in 1969 by the government but then privatized.
Too Many Flights, All Taking Off at the Same Time
Most airlines these days have moved to a new generation of much smaller jets, since it’s cheaper to fly them and they would prefer to have more flights going to more places with fewer passengers. The problem is that all these new flights have caused huge back-ups at major hubs like JFK and LaGuardia. Taking off last month for a trip to the Alps, we taxiied out to the runway at JFK and the pilot announced that there were sixty, yes, sixty planes waiting ahead of us to take off. It was 50 plus minutes before we got off the ground.
The little jets are part of this problem, since if you had larger planes with more people in them, you’d have fewer aircraft waiting to take off. The ripple effect from one delay at LaGuardia spills over to Chicago, then to Los Angeles, and throw in a storm of two and you have delays, delays delays.
The FAA wants to limit the number of flights leaving from JFK and LaGuardia every hour, so that there are fewer backups, but the airlines have resisted. They say that passengers won’t fly unless there are convenient nighttime flights, and so the runway isn’t busy some times of the day but packed at others.
Some time soon the hammer will come down and there will have to be changes, since there are just too many airliners taxiing up to the runways every day. Stay tuned, either the FAA or the airilnes will win.
Smaller Cities Losing Air Service
The Wall St. Journal reports sad news for many cities, who are losing air service or facing drastic cutbacks as airlines face higher costs and lower revenues
“Vacation destinations such as San Juan, Honolulu, Las Vegas and Orlando are all scheduled for big cuts in flights this fall. So are smaller cities dependent on small jets, like Savannah, Ga.; Pensacola, Fla.; Tucson, Ariz.; and small hub cities like Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Tiny cities dependent on turboprop planes, many of which are being taken out of service, also will suffer. Thirty-six airports that had commercial airline service last year won’t have it this fall, according to OAG. The largest in terms of air service is Bullhead City, Ariz., which averaged 329 seats a day last November. Another 29 small airports will lose more than half their service.
Many large cities hit with capacity cuts of 15 percent or more are Southwest Airlines-heavy airports: Ontario, Calif.; Kansas City, Mo.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Orange County, Calif.; Spokane, Wash.; Reno, Nev.; Tulsa, Okla.; Hartford, Conn.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Las Vegas; and San Jose, Calif. Chicago’s Midway Airport, where Southwest dominates, will lose 17 percent of its seats in November, while Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where fares are generally higher, will see an 11 percent loss in service.”
Photo Contest with Cash Prizes
Send your best shot to Costco and win a $2500 Costco gift card. There’s a second prize of a $1500 gift card. Here is the release from the company. The contest started July 1 and ends September 30, 2008.
“Do you know beauty when you see it? The exotic? A scene that shows life at its best? Take a picture that captures the moment and maybe you can be a Costco International Photo Contest winner.
You don’t have to be a professional photographer, just somone with a good eye and a camera. Submitting your entry is easy, and the rewards are enticing. Don’t wait. Start clicking away, now!
For online entries adn additional information, go to www.costcophotocontest.com
First prize $2500 Gift Card
Second Prize $1500 Gift Card
Third Prize $500 Gift Card