
Sweden switched to driving on the right side of the road in 1967. This was the result on the first morning

Malaysia Airlines creates a stir with its latest promotion. Picture Simon Cross Source: News Corp Australia
MALAYSIA airlines has been slammed for its latest tweet that promotes its end of year specials. The tweet was criticised for its poor choice of words, which read, “Want to go somewhere, but don’t know where?”
Critics say the tweet was insensitive, following a devastating year for the airline that saw them lose two planes resulting in the deaths of hundreds of passengers.
Flight MH370 disappeared between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing on 8 March with 230 passengers on-board including 6 Australians. The plane is still missing.
Flight MH17 was shot down four months later by rebels over the Ukraine killing all 298 of its passengers. It
MH370 and MH17 where are we now?
Want to go somewhere, but don’t know where? Our Year-End Specials might just help! #keepflyinghttp://t.co/aHt4yRykzd pic.twitter.com/k6hEOZb42s
— Malaysia Airlines (@MAS) November 27, 2014
Twitter users responded to the airline’s tweet with astonishment criticising its poor choice of words.
The airline has run into controversy before with another inappropriate promotion earlier in the year that asked Australian and New Zealand travellers to enter a competition named, “My Ultimate Bucket List.”
Malaysia Airlines released the following statement regarding the incident.
“A recent tweet posted regarding our Year-End Specials was intended to inspire travelers during this holiday period to explore destinations and deals Malaysia Airlines is offering. Unfortunately, it unintentionally caused offence to some, and we have since removed the tweet.”
SOURCE:::: news.com.au
Natarajan
It’s the final week for our Aviation History Month articles, and this week we are looking at airlines between 1980 and 2000.

1989 saw a Qantas Boeing 747, fly non-stop from London to Sydney, setting a world record for a four engine jet, after having flown 11,000 miles in 20 hours. During the first half of the 1990’s, the industry suffered world recession, and in 1991, international passenger numbers dropped for the first time. The financial difficulties were aggravated by airlines over-ordering aircraft in the boom years of the late 1980s.
However, in 1993, The 1,000th Boeing 747 came off the production line 26 years after the first 747 was built. By 1997, all EU airlines were given unlimited rights to serve airports in other member states after the European Commission approved new regulations to liberalise air travel within the EU.
Virgin Atlantic
On June 22, 1984, the airline launched its inaugural flight from London Gatwick to Newark, consisting mainly of celebrities and media. The airline celebrated its 1,000,000thpassenger only 4 years afterwards, and in 1999, Richard Branson sold a 49% stake in the company to Singapore Airlines, which was later acquired by Delta Airlines.

Virgin Atlantic inaugural flight, 1984 [Image by Virgin Atlantic]
Emirates
The airline commenced operations on October 25, 1985, departing Dubai International Airport for Karachi in Pakistan. The airline began operations to Karachi, New Delhi and Bombay using Airbus A300 and Boeing 737 leased aircraft from Pakistan International Airlines. In 1992, the airline became the first to install video entertainment systems in all of its classes throughout its fleet, and in 1995 when the airline celebrated its tenth birthday; it could already boast 34 locations in the Middle East, Far East and Europe.

Emirates inaugural flight 1985. [Image by Gulf News]
Ryanair
The airline was established in 1985 with a share capital of £1 and 25 employees, using only a 15-seater Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante aircraft. By 1990, Ryanair dropped its Business Class product and closed the Frequent Flyer Club, to re-launch as Europe’s first low fares airline, using only Boeing 737 aircraft. 1992 saw more than one million passengers carried in a year for the first time. The airline stopped serving meals and served only snacks instead, leading to the birth of the ‘peanut airline’.

Ryanair ATR 42-300. [Image by airliners.net]
Air China
Air China was established in 1988 after the Chinese Government decided to split the operating divisions of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) into six separate airlines, including Air China. The carrier was given chief responsibility for intercontinental flights, and took over the CAAC’s long haul aircraft and routes, including its Boeing 747s, 767s and 707s. In 2001, Air China acquired China Southwest Airlines following a merger plan.

Air China A340
Jet Airways
Jet Airways was incorporated in 1993 as an air taxi operator with a fleet of four leased Boeing 737-300 aircraft from Malaysia Airlines. The operator became a scheduled airline in 1995, after the Air Corporations Act was abolished, and began its first international operation in March 2004, from Chennai to Colombo.

Jet Airways A340, 2005, with 1993-2007 livery. [Image by Adrian Pingstone
SOURCE:::: Poppy Marello in http://www.routesonline.com
Natarajan
Poppy Marello,
Digital Content Executive, Routesonline …..It’s the penultimate week for our Aviation History Months articles, and this week we’re looking at airlines that began operation from 1960 – 1980.

The sixties saw a number of aviation records, with A Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan making the first non-stop flight from England to Australia on June 21, 1961. Boeing rolled out its first Boeing 727 airline on November 27, 1962, Concorde flew for the first time on March 2, 1969 and of course, on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed the first men on the moon.
The seventies saw a 24-hour worldwide strike in 1972 calling for tighter security after the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA) accused governments of failing to take action to halt air piracy. In September 1972, the 1,000th Boeing 727 is sold, a sales record for airliners. The Space Shuttle ‘Enterprise’ makes its first test flight after detaching from a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
Thai Airways
The airline was founded in 1960 as a joint venture between Thailand’s domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company (TAC) and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). On 14 May 1997, THAI, along with Lufthansa, Air Canada, SAS, and United Airlines, founded the world’s first and largest airline alliance, Star Alliance.

Thai Airways, 1960s [Image by Thai Airways]
Royal Jordanian
The airline was established under the name ‘Alia’ in December 1963, after King Hussain’s eldest daughter, Princess Alia bint Al Hussein. The national carrier for Jordan joined the jet age in 1970 when it phased out its Fokker F-27s and ordered Boeing 707 aircraft, and in that year, services were initiated to Madrid, Copenhagen and Karachi.

The third Caravelle delivered to Royal Jordanian, 1966. [Image by Royal Jordanian]
Transavia Airlines
In 1966, the airline was established as ‘Transavia Holland’, until 1986 when the name was changed to ‘Transavia Airlines’. The newly branded operator became the first airline to take advantage of the world’s first open skies agreement signed between the UK and Dutch governments, operating its route between Amsterdam and London Gatwick from October 26, 1986.

Boeing 737, 1986, just before the name change. [Image by airliners.net]
SOURCE:::: http://www.routesonline.com
Natarajan
British Airways
The airline was established on 31 March 1974, upon the dissolution of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA). The airline jointly inaugurated the world’s first passenger supersonic services to Bahrain using Concorde G-BOAA aircraft, alongside Air France’s operation to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar in January 1976. In March 1979, the new Boeing 757 aircraft was launched with orders for 19 from British Airways and 21 from Eastern (USA).

British Airways Lockheed L1011 TriStar 200 G-BHBN, 1974 [Image by British Airways]
Air Berlin
The airline was founded as Air Berlin USA in July 1978 by PanAm captain, Kim Lundgren, and was originally headquartered in Oregon, United States to operate charter flights on behalf of German tour operators from Berlin Tegel Airport. On 28 April 1979, the first airberlin jet took off from Berlin to Palma de Mallorca. During most of the 1980s, Air Berlin USA operated only a single 737-200. The airline was sole in 1991 when it changed its name to the current ‘Air Berlin’.

Air Berlin USA Boeing 707, 1979 [Image by Air Berlin]
Read on to know what we all did as Indian kids.

Cuz mitti mein nai khela toh kya khela.



Cuz galli was our cricket stadium

and hoped to become Shaktiman as a grown up or meet him some day.







Say this as soon as you’re angry or annoyed with your friend. And no there was nothing like pinky promise, the above sign meant katti.



To let the feeling sink in. Yes school is starting tomorrow.

These are the things we all did as Indian kids and man how we loved every single minute of it.
Cheers to those times ![]()
SOURCE:::: http://www.storypick.com
Natarajan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday shared with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott and U.S. President Barack Obama the fascinating story of Walter Burley Griffin the well-known American architect who designed Australian capital Canberra and buried in Lucknow.
Griffin, who died on February 11, 1937 at the age of 61 years, was a landscape architect who hailed from the U.S. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia’s capital city and has been credited with the development of the L-shaped floor plan, the carport and an innovative use of reinforced concrete.
Influenced by the Chicago-based Prairie School, Griffin developed a unique modern style. He worked in partnership with his wife Marion Mahony Griffin.
Griffin came to India in 1935 to design a library for the Lucknow University. He stayed on to design several other buildings in Lucknow, including the headquarters of the famed daily, The Pioneer, for which he also regularly wrote. However, he passed away in 1937 before completing most of his assignments and was buried in Lucknow.
Keywords: Walter Burly Griffin, Canberra, Lucknow University
SOURCE::: http://www.thehindu.com
Natarajan
I came to live in Chennai 14 years ago with Rs. 40,000 of my father’s hard-earned money, which remained concealed throughout the train journey in a special pocket sewn onto my vest by my mother (at that time, electronic transfer of money was unheard of and ATMs were almost non-existent).
I was aware that landlords in Chennai usually demand 10 months’ rent in advance; and I had no one to turn to except my father, who nursed an unexplained fondness for the city and was happy to help his son settle down there.
It took me about 10 days to find a house to my liking. By then the bundle of notes had thinned down to almost half. But fortunately for me, the landlord asked for only five months’ rent as deposit. With whatever little money was left after paying the broker, I bought a mattress and a pillow and — on February 1, 2001 — moved into Kamakoti Flats on Murugesan Street in T. Nagar. I formally became a resident of Chennai, with an address of my own.
Kamakoti Flats has been my home ever since. This piece, needless to say, is being written in the building, in the same silence of the night that gave me company for 14 years. But by the time it appears in print, I would have moved out to another street nearby. The ‘packers and movers’ arrive tomorrow morning.
I am suddenly facing an identity crisis. Countless articles may have appeared under my byline; my name may appear on the spines of three books; but my identity is invalid without an ‘address proof’. For nearly every basic requirement in life — from opening a bank account to buying life insurance to getting a phone connection, not to mention applying for a loan — you need to prove that you reside in a certain address; and now that I am moving out of the address that had served as the proof of my identity for 14 years, I will have to start from scratch.
And all this while, I toiled night after night, believing that I was building an identity for myself.
Keywords: Writer’s block column, life in Chennai
SOURCE:::: BISHWANATH GHOSH in http://www.thehindu.com
Natarajan