Happy New Year

Dear Reader, thank you very much for reading Airtravelstuff.com in 2010. We wish you a Happy New Year and look forward seeing you on our blog in the coming year!

Spanair hands out X-mas gifts to passengers

Most people don't like waiting for their luggage at the baggage belt. See how Spanair puts a smile on people's faces by delivering personalized christmas gifts after arrival of a late evening flight from Barcelona to Las Palmas on December 24th. Certainly some good PR for the airline.

Bamboo wheelchair to expedite security screening for handicapped

Japan Airlines (JAL) plans to introduce wheelchairs made from bamboo in 2 airports in 2011. The new wheelchairs should stop triggering alarms when passing through the metaldetectors expediting the screening process for handicapped passengers. Each wheelchair which is completely metal free, hand crafted and takes about  1 month to build the The Telegraph. reports.

Air New Zealand receives Boeing 777-300ER with cuddle class

NZ's new economy-class "cuddle" seat

Air New Zealand took delivery this week of their first Boeing 777-300ER at Boeing's facility in Seattle. The new  B777 will feature the Skycouch  as well as the premium economy space seat. The interactive inflight entertainment system will allow passengers to order food and drinks through their personal TV screen. Wine tasting in one of the galleys and story telling for children in another one are just 2 of the new innovative features aboard NZ's latest airplane.Read the full story here

US airlines collect over $900 million in baggage fees between July and September

Thats 23% more compared to the same period in 2010. Over the 1st nine month in 2010 US carriers brought in $2.6 billion. The biggest profiteer was Delta with $1.6 billion collected in fees. Full story

Israel's pilots refuse to take english test

(Source: Haaretz.com) The country's pilots are refusing to take an English test - and may lose their international flight licenses as a result. The International Civilian Aviation Organization is demanding that pilots take an English test, due to the large number of accidents or near accidents caused by communication problems. Full story here

Below an example of severe language problems between JFK Tower and Air China:

Swiss Private Aviation faces grounding?

“after months of intensive investigations and negotiations the board of the Swiss Private Aviation has to consider to liquidate the company” writes Peter Koch, CEO of the Swiss subsidiary to its staff in a circular. SPA started 3 years ago and currently operates 7 airplanes. The project, was initaly initiated by the former Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber .

Since its founding, the company faced a difficult economic environment. The 2009 economic crisis has exacerbated the situation considerably. The current 61 employees would remain employed where possible within the Swiss group or in the Lufthansa Group. For all other concerned, individual solutions were developed through a social plan. 

Air France receives 200th Boeing Airplane

Courtesy of Boeing

Boeing and Air France celebrated on Wednesday the 200th direct delivery of a Boeing jetliner – a 777-300ER (extended range. With more deliveries in Summer 2011 Air France will be the world’s largest operator of Boeing 777. Pictured here is the new Air France 777-300ER taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash.

Continental Boeing 777 flat-bed BusinessFirst seats

Courtesy of Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines announced that all of its Boeing 777 long-haul, international flights now feature new flat-bed seats in its BusinessFirst cabin. CO currently operates the 777-200 on international routes between EWR and Beijing, Delhi, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London/Heathrow, Mumbai, Shanghai, Tel Aviv and Tokyo Narita, and between Houston and London Heathrow and Tokyo Narita. Customers flying to international destinations on CO 777s are now assured a flat-bed seat.

The flat-bed seats made their operational debut in November 2009 and are also being installed on CO’s fleet of Boeing 757-200 aircraft. CO will begin retrofitting substantially all of its Boeing 767 aircraft with BusinessFirst flat-bed seats in 2011.

Impressive time laps video on United's new livery

Enjoy the 2 minute time laps on the new paint job getting done.

United Airlines from worst to first

DietDetective.com has issued the 2010 Airline Food Survey, rating the healthiness of foods for eight American airlines.

DietDetective.com's editor, Charles Stuart Platkin said in a statement:  "This year United provided the 'healthiest" choices in the sky, while Continental had a fall from grace, US Airways received the lowest rating, and Virgin America and Delta were the least cooperative (and also received a low health rating)."

The new Choice Menu on United with 3 new snackboxes along with a selection of breakfast items, salads, sandwiches & snacks boosted their rating to #1 compared to the year before when UA was last.

Detailed survey results including nutrition facts on meals and snacks tested: Here  

What is the world's best airline?

US based Zagat Survey has published it's annual airline ranking containing 16 US and 74 international carriers. The international top scorers are Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Emirates. Among US carriers Continental is the winner for its premium service product on domestic routes. According to survey results the best economy class experience is found on Jet Blue.Only 2 European carriers are found among the top five of the carriers surveyed. British Airways came in 3rd for best inflight entertainment international and Lufthansa/Swiss is on the 4th place in the category top frequent flier programs.
Zagat also took into account surveyors comments that according to their lawyers are too strong to put in their printed publication. Here some of our favorites: "My bags get better service, but they pay extra", "At least they haven't killed me yet" and "The only difference between economy and business classes is a shrimp on your salad".

Read more outtakes that put a smile on your face here. For detailed survey results click here