Airport – Page 27 – Take off with Natarajan

Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet Yesterday…. Hostel cum Hotel on Ground Today !!!!

September 4, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

Aviation fans are in for a treat as a 450-seater jumbo jet has been converted into a unique hotel – letting guests sleep on a Boeing 747.

The unique Jumbo Stay hostel has a selection of 27 cabins to choose from, with some en-suite and all with Wi-Fi and flatscreen TVs.

For frequent flyers it might not exactly be their cup of tea, in fact far from it, but for aeroplane enthusiasts, it could be the next big buzz.
Jumbo Stay: For those who have never had a Jumbo experience, they can now book a cheap night in a converted jet in Sweden for as little as £42 a night

Jumbo Stay: For those who have never had a Jumbo experience, they can now book a cheap night in a converted jet in Sweden for as little as £42 a night

Guests can even stay in the luxurious cockpit suite, which has panoramic views of the airport in Arlanda, near Stockholm, Sweden
.

The plane – which now remains grounded – can also be used for conferences and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for guests to come and visit.

The owner and the man behind Jumbo Stay is Swedish business man Oscar Divs, who bought the 1976 Boeing 747-200 and converted it into the hostel.

The grounded Boeing 747 is now a fixed hostel at Arlanda airport, near Stockholm, where gusts can even pay to stay in the cockpit suite

The rooms are all kitted out with flatscreen TVs, WiFi and en-suites

Unusual: The unique Jumbo Stay hostel has a selection of 27 cabins to choose from with rooms having elevated views of the airport

The 1976 Jumbo is now a fixed hostel feature at the Arlanda airport near Stockholm, in Sweden

Open for business: The 1976 Jumbo is now a fixed hostel feature at the Arlanda airport near Stockholm, in Sweden

Oscar said: ‘I was getting ready to expand my hostel business in 2006 when I heard about an old wreck of an aircraft for sale at Arlanda.

‘Since I had for a long time wanted to establish my business at Arlanda I didn’t hesitate for a second when this opportunity struck.’

The airplane, a decommissioned jumbo jet built in 1976, was last operated by Transjet, a Swedish airline that went bankrupt in 2002

The unique style of accommodation is likely to appeal to aviation enthusiasts, but perhaps not frequent flyers

Mr Divs said the opportunity to buy the Jumbo came at exactly the right time: 'Since I had for a long time wanted to establish my business at Arlanda I didn't hesitate for a second when this opportunity struck'

Cosy: Guests have the same hotel luxuries as standard accommodation, including en-suites, flatscreen TVs and WiFi

Guests have a hefty flight of stairs to climb if they want to stay in the Jumbo, climbing to entrances either at the front or the back of the plane

The prices at the Jumbo hostel range from 50 euros – around £42 – for a shared single sex dorm to almost 200 euros – £170 – a night for the exclusive pilot’s suite.

The airplane, a decommissioned jumbo jet built in 1976, was last operated by Transjet, a Swedish airline that went bankrupt in 2002.

Guests will recognise the jet as one of the most popular planes for holiday travel, and the owner promises guest will have an experience like no other in this novelty hostel.
Transformation: Much work has gone into converting the decommissioned Jumbo from a passenger plane to a comfortable hostel with places to kick back and relax

Transformation: Much work has gone into converting the decommissioned Jumbo from a passenger plane to a comfortable hostel with places to kick back and relax

Some parts of the aeroplane still resemble the traditional Boeing 747 interior

source:::: mailonline.com UK

natarajan

Golden Age Of AirTravel…. Thro ” The Lense of a Flight Attendant !!!

August 24, 2013Natarajan1 Comment

A Lebanese photographer who worked as a flight attendant for nearly ten years has documented the behind-the-scenes life of air crew.
Lucien Samaha’s love affair with aircraft started when he was a young boy. His father and uncles worked for an airline and he spent the first ten years of his life flying first class to spend time with his family.
Samaha, who always carried a camera with him, has recently exhibited a selection of the 600 plus images he took during his time flying with TWA.

Team work: Crew members enjoy a mid-flight shoulder rub in 1982

Boarding pass: Pilots and flight attendants sit on the steps of the plane in Frankfurt in 1983

Light hearted: A stewardess jokes around on board a flight in 1985

‘Flight Attendants epitomized international glamor and adventure to me. Growing up, I often dreamed of becoming one,’ he said.

High life: Samaha with his father in 1958, who also worked on airlines

As his 18th birthday approached Samaha, who had studied photography in high school, realized the life of luxury he had experienced for free on board planes would end.

‘I wouldn’t be able to jaunt around the world at will, for free – something I had been used to all my life,’ he said.

‘My only solution was to follow my childhood dream and become a flight attendant.’

On his 20th birthday Samaha was hired by TWA and began studying at the Breech Training Academy. He took photographs nearly the entire time, according to Slate.

‘I was shooting everything during that time, from fashion photography in Milan to photographing on layovers … street photography around the world,’ he said.

It was a glamorous period for flying. Samaha learned how to carve chateaubriand and how to serve caviar in first class as he worked on flights from Chicago, Tel Aviv, Rome and Paris.

Samaha, a documentary photographer who was part of the launch team for Kodak’s first digital camera and explained that he often used small cameras to help his subjects feel more relaxed.

Sky’s the limit: The moon shines over this passenger jet as it waits at JFK in New York in 1982

Driving seat: A first officer sits in the cockpit of a TWA aircraft in 1978

Ground crew: Drivers in Cairo wait to meet the plane in 1982

round crew: Drivers in Cairo wait to meet the plane in 1982

‘People become relaxed with a small point-and-shoot camera, and that’s my aesthetic. I like intimacy … the smaller and quirkier the camera, the better—and I feel l can take great pictures with it,’ he said.

A collection of photos from that time, entitled The Flight Attendant Years: 1978-1986, is being shown at the Lombard Freid Gallery in New York. Many of Samaha’s former colleagues on the airlines have been invited to the gallery to view the images.

His work can also be viewed at Luciensamaha.net.

Turbo: Crew pose in one of the engines in 1978

Training camp: New recruits at the Breech Academy in 1978

Training camp: New recruits at the Breech Academy in 1978.

High jinx: Air crew celebrate Easter in Las Vegas in 1982

Arrivals: An attendant rides the shuttle bus at Cairo airport in 1983

An attendant rides the shuttle bus at Cairo airport in 1983

Going places: Samaha combined his love of air travel and photography for eight years

source::::mailonline .com uk

natarajan

“World”s Best Airport” to Double Its Capacity with New Terminal !!!

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

Airs and graces: Singapore's Changi Airport.

Singapore will build a new terminal that will double the capacity of Changi Airport in a bid to retain its edge as a regional aviation hub, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday.

Construction work will begin soon and will be completed in 12 to 15 years, Lee announced in his annual policy speech.

“T5 (Terminal 5) sounds like a terminal, but it is actually a whole airport by itself, as big as today’s Changi Airport,” said Lee.
Singapore's Changi Airport: you could spend a few weeks here and not realise you missed your flight.

SINGAPORE’S CHANGI AIRPORT

Singapore’s Changi Airport: you could spend a few weeks here and not realise you missed your flight!!!

He did not reveal the cost of the new facility, but said it would include a third runway that would double the capacity of Changi, which handled 51.2 million passengers last year.

Changi Airport, named the world’s best by Britain-based consultancy Skytrax this year, currently has three terminals with a total capacity of 66 million passengers a year.

In February it started to demolish its terminal for budget airlines to replace it with a larger facility.

The new facility, Terminal 4, will have the capacity to handle 16 million passengers a year when it opens in 2017.

In his speech late Sunday, Lee said there was growing competition from other major international airports in Southeast Asia.

He noted that Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport are planning to expand.

“The question is do we want to stay this vibrant hub of Southeast Asia, or do we want to let somebody take over our position, our business and our jobs?” Lee said.

Passenger traffic at Changi totalled 51.2 million last year, the first time in the airport’s 31-year history that the number of people passing through crossed 50 million.

As of January 1, 2013, Changi handled more than 6500 weekly scheduled flights with 110 airlines connecting Singapore to 240 cities in 60 countries.

source::::Sydney Morning Herald

natarajan

An Airline Turns Around to Pickup A Child Left Behind @Terminal !!!

August 17, 2013August 17, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

An Israeli airline – with the support of everyone on-board – turned around a plane to pick up an 11-year-old cancer patient.

All set to fly to New York August 7 to attend a camp for paediatric cancer patients, Inbar Chomsky, was taken off an El-Al Airlines flight after her passport went missing. Despite a frantic search by airline staff, passengers and the group Chomsky was travelling with, her passport was gone, flight attendants had no choice but to remove the sick girl.

Tears in their eyes, everyone said good bye to the devastated young girl after a half hour search aided by airline staff and passengers failed to turn up the girl’s passport, according to Haaretz.

She made it: A very happy Inbar Chomsky with her found passport at Camp Simcha

‘El Al sadly called her mother to tell her that Inbar’s passport was lost and that the girl, who had been fighting illness so valiantly, would not be able to fly to Camp Simcha’ Rabbi Yaakov Pinsky, director of of the Israeli branch of Chai Lifeline wrote in Yeshiva World News. ‘What a horrible experience for an 11 year old girl.’

Minutes after the doors closed and the plane taxied away from the gate, a fellow camper looking through another girl’s backpack found Chomsky’s passport and told flight attendants, according to Haaretz.

What happened next is virtually unheard of, especially post-9/11.

The plane’s pilots immediately stopped the plane, according to Haaretz, and after about 45 minutes were able to convince air traffic control to let them return to the gate to pick Chomsky up, Pinsky wrote.

Planes almost never turn around: No one could believe the plane returned to pick up Chomsky

Still overcoming her disappointment while at the gate with Elad Maimon, program director of the Israeli branch of Chai Lifeline, Chomsky and others watched in disbelief as the plane turned around, said Haaretz. ‘The flight attendants could not believe their eyes,’ Maimon told the paper. ‘They told me they had never seen such a thing.’

‘Planes rarely return to the gate after departing, read an El Al statement, continuing that ‘after consulting with El Al crew on the plane and El Al staff at the airport the decision was made and the plane returned to pick up Inbar.’

Passengers cheered and cried, wrote Pinsky, saying they shared ‘Inbar’s happiness and excitement,’ and calling it ‘one of the greatest moments’ he has ever witnessed.

source:::::mailonline.comUK

NATARAJAN

Was Airtravel More Fun In 1930s !!!!!

August 10, 2013August 10, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

Picture: Qantas

SEVENTY five years ago, there was great excitement when Qantas launched its first Short Empire Flying Boat service between Rose Bay and Singapore.

In what’s a bizarre sight to today’s flyers, passengers climbed the wings of the plane and stood on top, as the aircraft sat in the water.

How things have changed …

The fascinating image is part of a collection of historic photographs Qantas has shared on social media sites to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its original Short Empire Flying Boat service.

They provide an insight into what flying was like in the early days of commercial air travel and leave us wondering, was flying more fun – and glamorous – back then?

Sure, it took three days to fly between Sydney’s first international airport at Rose Bay, to Singapore’s Kallang Airport. But what an adventure.

There were overnight stops in Townsville, Darwin and Surabaya, Indonesia.

The planes sat on the water. Picture: Qantas Source: Supplied

The flight would have been made more bearable by the fact there were just 15 passengers on each flight, so there was plenty of room. Plus there were large windows and huge seats.

Inside the flying boat. Picture: QANTAS

The Short Empire flying boat service was replaced in 1943 by the long-range Catalina flying boat. The airline began with joy flights in 1920.

What a difference … Picture: Qantas Source: Supplied

Waiting for takeoff. Picture: Qantas What the flight attendants used to wear. Picture: Qantas

source:::::news.com.au

natarajan

Pet Turtle Under The Cover of KFC Burger !!!

August 1, 2013Natarajan1 Comment

Turtle burger

This image from Flickr user “flaunted” shows a different take on trying to disguise a turtle as a burger.

A MAN has attempted to smuggle his “beloved” pet turtle through airport security by hiding it in a KFC burger.

On Monday, a man known only as Mr Li was flying from China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport to the capital Beijing, the South China Morning Post reported citing the Guangzhou Daily.

As Mr Li’s bag was passed through an X-ray machine, airport security officers noticed what were described as “odd protrusions” coming out of the burger which Li had packed in his bag.

“There’s no turtle in there, just a hamburger,” Mr Li said, according to the report. “There’s nothing special to see inside.”

The turtle was discovered in a subsequent inspection and Mr Li said he had only hatched the odd plan as he wanted to travel with his “beloved” turtle.

Despite his affection for the animal, Mr Li agreed to leave his pet with a friend while he was away in Beijing.
source:::::news.com.au

natarajan

What Your Flight Number Really Means !!!

July 28, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

Travellers look at the departures and arrivals board. Picture: AP

HAVE you ever glanced at your airline ticket on the way to your boarding gate, or searched for it on the departure board, only to wonder just how your flight number was decided?

It turns out that you can learn a lot about a flight from its number.

We asked airline pilot, and author of the book Cockpit Confidential and the website askthepilot.com Patrick Smith just what those numbers really mean.

Technically, a flight number is a combination of numbers and letters, usually prefaced with the carrier’s two-letter International Air Transport Association (IATA) code – the international industry trade group of airlines.

Airlines can organise them according to the importance of the routes.

“Airlines often give lower numbers to their more prestigious, long-distance routes,” Mr Smith said. “If there’s a flight 001 in an airline’s timetables, it’s the stuff of London-Sydney or Paris-New York.”

For example, Qantas is flying QF1 from Sydney-Dubai-London today.

Flight numbers also have a key planning function and are usually grouped geographically.

Mr Smith said most airlines give eastbound flights even numbers, while westbound flights get odd numbers.

Qantas told news.com.au that they give odd numbers to outbound international flights, and even numbers for inbound flights to Australia.

Qantas flight numbers between 1-399 are international flights, including codeshare. Flight numbers higher than 400 are Qantas domestic service.

Meanwhile, all trans-Pacific flights operated by airlines such as United Airlines use three-digit numbers beginning with 8, which is considered lucky in many Asian cultures. Qantas says they also try to include an 8 in its Hong Kong route flight numbers.

Airlines also avoid some unlucky numbers such as 13. For example, there is no QF13 or QF666.

As a general rule, any four-digit flight number beginning with a 3 or higher – i.e. 3493 – is usually an indication of a codeshare flight operated by a partner.

Flight numbers can survive a lot of change within the airline.

“Numbers can stay in use for many years, even as departure times and aircraft types may change,” Mr Smith said.

“In some cases they outlast airlines themselves: To this day, some of the flight numbers used by Delta on its European routes trace their origins back to Pan Am, whose European network was sold to Delta more than 20 years ago.”

But other times, they just have to be scrapped.

“After an accident, one of the first things an airline does is retire the number, out of respect.

“For example, there’s no longer a flight 11 operated by American Airlines on its Boston-Los Angeles route. Flight 11 went all the way back to the days of the Boeing 707, but its final departure was on September 11th, 2001, when it was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center.”

source::::news.com.au

natarajan

How This Traveller Flies For Free !!!!!

July 19, 2013July 19, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

You would be smiling too if you were flying for free. Picture: Amber Nolan/JetHiking.com

IMAGINE not having to deal with airport security, spend hours waiting for your flight or put up with annoying passengers. Even better, what if you never had to pay for a flight again?

Sound too good to be true? Not for this woman.

Meet US travel writer Amber Nolan. After years of corporate work, Amber went backpacking around South America and vowed never to be chained to her desk again.

Amber came up with a radical plan for her life which involved taking the hitchhiking concept to a whole new level … in the skies. She decided to fly to all 50 US states, for free.

So she set up a website called JetHiking.com and began researching her idea. It wasn’t long before she was contacted by a private pilot in New York, who loved her plan and helped get her started.

Amber hitchhiked on her first plane in July last year, flying from Rochester, New York, to Nashville, Tennesse. Since then she’s made it to 31 states, and she won’t stop until she’s flown to them all.

So how does she manage to get pilots to fly her for free?

Amber gets in touch with the pilots of private jets and light aircraft who are planning an upcoming trip and asks to join them. She has to be completely flexible on the destination, date, and time.

“I find most pilots enjoy sharing their passion for aviation with people,” Amber told news.com.au. “They are adventurers too, and want to help be a part of my project so I can reach my goal. They think it’s a cool idea.”

Travelling on smaller planes has its upsides. She even gets to fly them sometimes.

“I always associate travelling on planes with commercial airlines. I think a lot of people do. Long lines, security scans, being miserable in general,” Amber said.

“Also, hitchhiking this way offers an opportunity to see the country from a different perspective that you will not find if you fly commercial airlines.

“We can do a lot of low flying and really see the landscape. Yesterday, I flew up the Hudson River parallel to the New York City skyline at about 1100 feet (335 metres) – just over the bridges and next to the Statue of Liberty.

“On the way to Georgia, I was able to experience some aerobatic rolls in the plane, and often the pilots will let me fly a little to practice – I want to get my license. On a seaplane, we can land on a small lake in the middle of nowhere.

“And when I land at some of these smaller airports, I feel like I am time-travelling to a ‘romantic era’ of aviation.”

Among the states she’s flown to are California, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Maine and Florida.

What about the challenges?

“It isn’t easy and there is a lot of waiting involved,” Amber warns. “I can’t really plan much since I often have no idea where I’m heading to next, and flights get cancelled all the time for weather (or anything really).

“I’ll land in an area and have to find a place to stay on a shoestring budget. The airports are often far away from any public transportation, so getting to and from the airport is challenging and there’s often a lot of walking.

“I have to be totally flexible to just roll with whatever comes my way, and I often rely on the kindness of strangers.”

Amber has made it to 31 US states already. Picture: Amber Nolan/JetHiking.com

Amber has made it to 31 US states already. Picture: Amber Nolan/JetHiking.comWhen she needs a place to sleep she uses the website couchsurfing.com and stays with pilots and their families and friends. Sometimes she’ll stay in a hotel if she’s “really stuck”.

Her next stop is Maryland and New Jersey, followed by Alaska. She still works as a freelance travel writer, earning enough money – along with her savings – to keep her going during her trips.

Amber is also considering taking her “jethiking” international, and is writing a book.

source:::::news.com.au.

natarajan

Success Story Of Turkish Airlines with Simple Planning !!!

July 17, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

Turkish Airlines is dominating in its field.

turkish airlines cartoon

In an industry where making money is insanely hard, the airline’s operating profit nearly tripled in 2012 (after dropping in 2010 and 2011).

One of the world’s fastest growing airlines, it’s adding destinations and buying planes at a rapid pace.

And it’s collecting tons of awards, including the Skytrax award for “Best Airline in Europe,” announced at the Paris Air Show in June.

In an interview, Turkish Airlines CEO Dr. Temel Kotil said his company excels by offering top of the line service, but also benefits from its geographical position.

“We are in the center,” he explained, which makes it easy to connect growing markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East with established areas like Europe.

It helps that passenger numbers in Turkey alone are up 16.7% year-over-year — a rate topped only by Indonesia (18.2%) and Thailand (17.7%), according to new stats from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Asked how the carrier plans to continue that pace of growth, Kotil said it was focused on adding destinations. Turkish Airlines already reaches more than 230 airports in 103 countries. Since May 20, it has issued ten different press releases announcing new destinations.

Turkish Airlines CEO Dr. Temel Kotil has big plans for growth.

“Of course we’ll keep on growing,” Kotil said, suggesting the addition of another 100 locations in the next decade, or less. “We are very aggressive in going different places.”

Along with more destinations come more airplanes. Today, the carrier has 228 aircraft in its employ — “still not enough,” Kotil said.

That will nearly double by 2020, to 415 planes, according to Kotil. The current fleet is mostly narrowbody (single aisle) aircraft, and the airline would consider ordering bigger, more advanced aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350, which tout fuel efficiency as a key feature.

While Kotil acknowledged the high cost of fuel (which accounted for 33% of global airline operating costs in 2012), he said that adding capacity to meet demand is more important for now than buying more economical planes.

“It’s okay whatever you have,” he said.
source :::::businessinsider.com

” ஓ அதைத்தானே Stratosphere என்று சொல்வது ” !!!

July 7, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

மொழி ஆராய்ச்சியில் எடுத்தாலும் அப்படித்தான் பெரியவா பேசும் ஆங்கிலம் மிகவும் கடினமாக உயர்ந்ததாக இருக்கும்.

அகராதியைப் புரட்டாமல் அர்த்தம் தெரியாது.நூறு வருடத்துக்கு முன்பே அவர் கான்வென்டில் படித்தவர்.ஆகவே அற்புதமாக ஆங்கிலத்தில் உரையாடுவார்.

ஒரு முறை விமான நிலையத்தைக் காண, பெரியவா மீனம்பாக்கம் சென்றார். எல்லா இடங்களையும் பார்வையிட்டபின் இன்ஜினீயரிங் செக்ஷன் வந்தது. அங்குள்ளவற்றை ஒருவர் விவரிக்கப் பிரயத்தனப்பட்டார். அவருக்கு தமிழில் சரளமாகப் பேச வரவில்லை

ஆனால் பெரியவாளுக்குத் தமிழில் சொல்லாவிட்டால் புரியாதே என்று நினைத்தார். தெரிந்தவரை சொல்லிக் கொண்டிருந்தவரைப் பெரியவா, “பிளேன் மேலே பறக்கும்போது காதைத் துளைக்கும்படியா ஒரு சத்தம் வரதே அது கேட்டுண்டேதான் இருக்குமா? என்று கேட்க “ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட லெவல் வரைதான் கேட்கும். அதற்கு மேலே போயிட்டா
விமானச் சத்தம் கேட்காது!” என்றார். அந்தப் பொறியாளர்.

“ஓ! அதைத்தானே Stratosphere-னு சொல்லுவா!” என்று பெரியவர் சொல்ல…பொறியாளருக்குத் தூக்கிவாரிப்போட்டது.

‘இத்தனை நேரம் தமிழ் வார்த்தைகளையே தேடிக் கொண்டிருந்தேனே.. இவருக்கு போயா ஆங்கிலம் தெரியாது என்று நினைத்தேன்!’ என்று வெட்கினார்.

இப்படித்தான் அடிக்கடி உத்தியோகம் மாறுகிற ஒருவர் வந்தார்.

“இப்போ எதில் இருக்கே?” என்று கேட்கிறார் பெரியவர்.

அவருக்குப் புரியணுமேன்னு நினைச்சு மிகவும் கஷ்டப்பட்டு, “அந்தக் கணக்கு போடற யந்திரத்துக்கு பேப்பர் தரும் வேலை!” என்றார்.

“Computer Stationery-தானே நீ சொன்னது?” என்று பெரியவர் அவர் சங்கடத்தைத் தவிர்க்கிறார்.எந்த மொழியை எடுத்துக்கொண்டாலும் அதில் ஆழங்கால் கண்டவராயிற்றே.
source::::: http://www.periva.proboards.com