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The shortest commercial flight I've ever made

It was last week, courtesy of Easyjet...

When our flight from London Gatwick was about to land at Barcelona-El Prat, the pilot went on air to say that the runway where we were expecting to land had been temporarily closed and that, in view of the fact that we only had fuel for 20 more minutes of flight, we were diverting to Reus airport, 100 miles south of Barcelona, in order to refuel.

And so we did. The interesting part is that we then were to fly from Reus to Barcelona. I had flown short flights in general aviation aircraft before, but this is ceertainly the shortest distance I have flown in a commercial jet aircraft: it took about 15 minutes for the Easyjet A319 to cover the 100 miles that separate Reus and Barcelona airports...

Some curiosities from this experience:

-Upon arrival I noticed that our flight appeared twice on Barcelona airports flight information displays in the arrivals area and both with the same flight number: one for the original one from Gatwick and another one listed as coming from Reus.

-We could enjoy the safety instructions demonstration twice (even if no one exited the aircraft). I know this is standard practice but I found ita bit surreal.

-We were at Reus for longer than expected because the flight plan had to be provided to the pilots in paper and it seems there was no one ready to print it out at that time of the night at Reus airport (which is quite a small airport that gets only a handful of Ryanair flights at this time of the year). I guess this situation will not be hapenning a few years from now, when everyone is using iPads (I ignore if some regulations will need to change to adapt to the new paperless reality too).

This was my shortest commercial flight so far, but might not be the last, I know there are some scheduled flights out there that are even shorter than this, in the Caribbean and also in places like the Orkney Islands, that hold the record to the shortest regular commercial flight in the World!

Allplane in the media

A bit of blatant self-promotion here, I know, but it is nice to see one's work picked up by industry peers, particularly when we are talking about some heavy-weights of online journalism!

My picture of a Thai Airways' Airbus A380 crew sleeping quarters was re-published on the front cover of popular American technology site Gizmodo.

And my article about Vueling's recent expansion was picked up by online travel magazine Skift.

No need to say readership figures went through the roof with all this extra exposure!

Enjoy the read!

Aviation videos (III): landing at small island airports

One of things I am wondering is how Felix Baumgartner managed to land at exactly the right spot from so high up...because landing can really be an art, be it because of adverse weather conditions or because the the airport is in a "challenging" location...and some of the most challenging airports are located in small islands, where it can often be difficult to find enough flat land to be able to build a runway. Have a look at these islands airports to see what I mean...!

Madeira
In this video you will see several aircraft landing in cross-winds at Madeira airport, a landing streep embedded between a steep hill and the sea. I found particularly interesting the landing of Air Berlin aircraft from minute 9 of the video!



Vagar, Faroe Islands
The interesting here is the shape of the runway, that is not exactly flat, but adapts to the curvature of the terrain (this airport, built by the British during WWII is possibly worth a blog post of its own!)


Saba, Netherlands Antilles
If Madeira's airport looks challenging, what to say of Saba's!

Another amazing BBC video documentary: "How to build a Jumbo Engine"

The BBC is such a great source of aviation documentaries!

After having posted videos about a British Airways Boeing 747 refitting and the history of early British commercial aviation, I have just discovered this other great piece about how Rolls-Royce makes its Trent engines.

On this video you will be able to see not only most of the engine-making process at Rolls-Royce Derby factory (and understand the complexity and sophistication of a jet engine and why there are so few companies in the World able to make them!) but also the workings of the engine's manufacturer supply chain and the massive importance it has for the UK's industrial economy.

 Enjoy!

Thai Airways' first A380 (& III): getting onboard

And, finally, the A380 was delivered to Thai Airways in a ceremony with Thai dances and the speeches...

And the Sun was shinning, which makes the A380 look a lot better!

And we got onboard, which was quite an experience, because I manage to see some parts of the aicraft that are normally out of bounds, such as the cockpit and the crew rest areas!

First class

First class toilet

First class lounge

Business class

Economy class

An old friend seen from the window: the Concorde!

The crew rest area, a part of the aircraft usually off-limits (an A380 has a crew of 23!)

The cockpit (it takes only one month of training for the pilots to transition from A340 to A380!)

Thai Airways' first A380 (II): outside the aircraft

After visiting the A380 assembly plant, our group headed towards the Airbus Delivery Center, where Thai Airways was going to take delivery of the aircraft the following day.

And there she was...waiting for us! we did not get onboard, but could walk all around and below it!

Ah! and we later got to enjoy some great Thai food at a chateau nearby...but this is not a topic for this blog :-)

Thai Airways' first A380 (I): visit to the Airbus factory

I attended my first aircraft delivery ceremony this week and I also had the chance to visit an aircraft factory for the first time in my life. Both experiences were simply amazing!

I went to Toulouse to cover the delivery of Thai Airway's first Airbus A380. The Thai carrier has 6 of them on order as it goes ahead with its fleet renewal plan, that wil see all of its Boeing 747s phased out in a period of 5 years from now.

So I went to Toulouse as part of a group of journalists covering the event, not only from industry and trade journals, but also from Thai general media, many of whom had flown to France for the occasion. And it is here that I would like to take the chance to thank both Airbus and Thai Airways for the great organization and hospitality during the visit.

Once at Airbus' facilities we got an overview of the Airbus A380 programme and of Thai Airway's plans for their A380's deployment. The press tour included also a visit to the A380 assembly plant, an amazing building that we were told is the largest single-roof industrial building in Europe, it had been built on a greenfield site in 2004 with the sole purpose of assembling the largest aircraft of the Airbus family.

One of the things that I found most amazing is that far from a noisy and buzzing factory floor, as I was expecting, the factory is a actually a quite place, but not because of lack of activity, during our visit work was going on simultaneously on several airframes, but because the orderly and highly automated way the work is done. For those of you interested in seeing how an Airbus A380 is made, here are some pictures I took during the factory tour. In the next post I will narrate our encounter with Thai's first A380.

The A380's fuselage sections are assembled in Toulouse...

...although the components are being shipped from all over Europe

the nose

the wings

the tail

An A380 being readied for Emirates

the landing gear

View from inside the Airbus factory

Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies: a great BBC documentary about the start of the commercial jet era

I hope you will enjoy this documentary as much as I did. "Jet! When Britian Ruled the Skies", recently aired on the BBC, tells the story of post-war commercial aviation in Britain and the development of the first jet airliners. An era that was full of hope and promise for the British aviation industry...Absolutely recommended!

(Note: the BBC iPlayer is not available in all countries outside the UK, but luckily, someone has already uploaded it on Youtube so you can enjoy it wherever you are)

Best aviation and airline books for the summer

Many of us take advantage of the summer holidays to slow down a bit and catch up with readings. Although it is not the most prolific literary genre out there, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a short list of books about the airline business that I have enjoyed and can recommend.

I actually have a longer list of aviation and airline books I would like to read as soon as I find the time, so hopefully I will be able to update this list soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one!

 
1) Flying Off Course: Airline economics and marketing, 4th Edition
by Rigas Doganis

This is the latest, updated, edition of what is, by all accounts, the book I would recommend for anyone willing to understand the basics of the airline business. If you know of any other book that fulfills this mission better, please let me know!

Ryanair: How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe
by Siobhan Creaton

This is a short book that explains the roots of Ryanair, the role of Michael O'Leary in completely revamping the business model of what used to be a struggling small Irish airline to make it Europe's low cost champion. Besides the purely airline-related part of the story, it also provides a vivid picture of the personality of the Irish airline's larger-than-life CEO.

EasyJet: The Story of Britain's Biggest Low-cost Airline
by Lois Jones

This book is similar to the previous one, although maybe less focused on the caracther of Stelios than the Ryanair book is about O'Leary. It makes an interesting read not only for aviation enthusiasts but also for anyone interested in reading case studies of how marketing and operational innovation can disrupt industries.

Overall I must say that, although these books are a nice read, I was expecting to find many more high quality books about such a fascinating industry. If you have any suggestions, do not hesitate to share them here!

Loving my job!

An eclectic mix of work companions

The new Allplane Blog is here!

Those of you that were already regular visitors of the Allplane Blog must have noticed the scope of the change. Yes, after some months in the net, operating with a very basic template and configuration that delivered less than optimal upload speeds, the time has come to unveil the new design of the Allplane Blog!

But the change is not merely aesthetic, besides the new functionalities that have also been added and the enhanced connectivity with other blogs and social media platforms, this is just the first step in the project to make of Allplane a much more rounded and comprehensive platform for all those in love with the world of commercial aviation and air travel.

Watch this space!

Presenting Alexander Apostolides, new guest writer reporting on the airline industry in Southeast Europe

When I recently started this blog the plan was to share with the readers interesting airline and aviation stories from around the world. One of the areas where interesting things are happening in this sector is South Eastern Europe, that occupies the strategic space between the traditional large airline markets of Western Europe and the emerging airline hubs in the Middle East. In what regards the airline and aviation sector this is definitely a part of the World I would keep on the radar. With this aim, Alex Apostolides is joining this project as guest writer, reporting on the airline business in his native Cyprus and the whole surrounding region. I give him a warm welcome to this blog and I hope you will enjoy his posts.