BA is taking three more Boeings 777 by early 2012, and the executives of the company are already proud to announce that the interior of the aircraft’s cabin has been completely modernised. The new in-flight entertainment system will also assure the customer satisfaction by providing 50% more choices on movies, television and music products, the representatives of BA say.

“It is the aircraft first to be fitted-out with our new ‘World Traveller’ and ‘World Traveller Plus’ cabins”, Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways, says.

The 777 delivered to the UK carrier will also feature BA’s ‘First’ and ‘Club World’ interiors.

British Airways therefore becomes the third European carrier to operate 700-300ER, after Turkish Airlines and Air France-KLM. The twin-engine jet airliner is powered by a couple of General Electric 90-115B turbofans, currently the most powerful used engines in use. The range of this lovely aircraft is 7,930 nautical miles (14,690 km).

And here’s a “making of” video of the G-STBA:

Initially a Canadian project, when funding ran short, this oddity became a US military project during the 1950′s. Due to severe instability (the aircraft looked like a hubcap and unfortunately wobbled as one might as well) when flying higher than three feet above the ground, the project was cancelled in 1961.

2. H-4 Hercules (aka. The Spruce Goose)

Ah yes, you’ve probably heard of this one. Howard Hughes’s great plans for a massive transport plane to support the war effort during WWII resulted in the creation of the H-4 Hercules. With wings longer than a football field, this mammoth aircraft did manage to take flight with Hughes himself at the controls. But longevity was not in the Goose’s future, and the behemoth was promptly stashed away in a holding hanger to be kept in flight-ready status for years. After being passed along to several homes since then, she is still on display today at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

3. Martin-Marietta X-24

So we go from mega-plane to mini-aircraft. This funky little wingless aircraft was developed as a joint effort between the US Air Force and NASA during the 60′s and 70′s to test unpowered reentry from space. The aircraft utilized vertical fins for control during its flight. While it might not look like much, this little sucker managed to reach 1036 miles per hour, and had a maximum altitude of 71,400 feet. Just goes to show you that size doesn’t always mean much when it comes to aircraft.

4. AV- 8B Harrier II

With its vertical take off and landing capabilities, the Harrier is probably the best-known and recognizable aircraft on this list. Maybe not so weird looking and interesting in concept or design, the Harrier combines the vertical abilities that its predecessors in the Tailsitter family once sought, with the technological advancements to make their dreams a reality.

A combined effort between Boeing, Rolls-Royce, and British Aerospace, the Harrier AV-8B’s first flight was in November of 1981. As the ‘Most forward deployed tactical strike aircraft in combat,’ and with the capabilities to launch AGM-84 Harpoon anti-shipping missiles, AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and AIM-7 Sparrow AAMs, this weird aircraft has the experience and firepower to back up it’s uncommon design.

5. Vought V-173 (aka. Flying Pancake)

Its nickname says it all. This propeller driven contraption with a wood and fabric frame, developed by Charles Zimmerman, was first flown on November 23, 1942. It never had much success though in the 131 hours of flight time it accumulated, and it now sits in the Smithsonian Institution’s Air Museum.

Elisa is a freelance travel writer for FrequentFlyerCreditCards.com.au where you can get airline loyalty reviews, read Australian airport guides and compare credit cards for frequent flyers.

In April, Lufthansa accused Emirates of trying to divert the airline traffic from the European country to the UAE. Lufthansa also suggested that offering more landing rights to the Emirates Airlines would mean a loss of German jobs to Dubai. Emirates argue that a bigger presence in Germany would imply more economic benefits for the country. Emirates is already supporting the German economy, since its recent order of Airbus 380 contributes directly and indirectly to tens of thousands of German workers.

Emirates accused Lufthansa of distributing the above-mentioned document not just to policy makers, but to media as well. As a reply, Dubai’s airline made its own anti-protectionist report, suggestively named: “Tearing Down the Other Wall”.

Is it already too much or the German restrictions imposed to an Arab airline might sound a bit too racist?

Source: The National.

Moreover, on the ground, four limousine buses of the same Korean Air will be skinned with different Starcraft II symbols, for the same period. Considering the fact that the planes will spend more time in the air than on the ground, this sounds like a better investment, doesn’t it?

“We’re pleased to be partnering with Korean Air, Korea’s leading airline, on this campaign. As we approach the global launch of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, this promotion represents a unique, large-scale opportunity to introduce the characters and style of the StarCraft universe to gamers throughout the world.”, says Paul Sams, COO at Blizzard Entertainment.

Here’s a making-of video for the newest livery in Korean Air’s fleet:

Indeed,while EasyJet finally ended up paying 1, 5M Euros, Ryanair’s penalties could reach  €4,5M. Throughout the process, in order to lower its costs and fees, Ryanair has been using the same strategy as easyJet, which is to take advantage of the lower protection and charges of British Law/Irish law.It seems Ryanair’s streak of bad luck is not over. Ryanair is also under investigation regarding public subsidies, an Irish Times article reported just last week end. Gerry Byrne points tells the truth about the Ryanair business model, exposing just how Ryanair gets such important financial support from publics authorities.

In France, Air France has already filed a complaint against Ryanair, and it is now Lufthansa’s turn to express its discontent over the Lubeck public authorities having signed a new two-year agreement with the Irish airline. The amount of subsidies however has not been published. Ryanair is currently under investigation in relation to 7 airports over what Lufthansa calls “questionable subsidies”.

Indeed, the French Labour Court may have set a precedent in the low-cost airline market. When I first reported the news, last year, fine estimations were between £200,000 and €10M. One can now ask what will happen to other airline who fail to accurately declare their workforce? Indeed, EasyJet is not the only company with French labour law violations, Ryanair is also facing important charges. The Irish budget airline is using the same principle than easyJet, taking advantage of the lower protection and charges of British Law/Irish law. Its business model does not include employment contract protection or a union. A French MP recently denunciated Ryanair model because of its “low cost” employer policy.

Using the toilet on a Ryanair flight will cost you £1 or 1 Euro and you cannot protest before having to pay, since the toilets will be coin operated. Moreover, expect to stay in line before using the toilet, since the officials of Ryanair are also planning to cut to number of on board toilets to just… one. The new rate will be introduced in the fall.

Moreover, the company intends to raise the charge for checked in luggages from £15 to £20, during summer. “We are determined to incentivise passengers to travel light this summer by increasing our checked-in baggage fees for the months of July and August only”, spokesman Stephen McNamara says.

This is clearly a “family tax”, since they are the ones that need luggages. Just imagine going on vacation with a couple of young kids and just a handbag of spare clothes. Does not sound like such a good idea, does it? Therefore, if flying on a Ryanair plane this summer, with a noisy family in the cabin, make sure to ask them if they have a checked-in bag before complaining about the situation. Why? Because they might be the ones whom you owe those low ticket fares you took advantage of.

As he explained, the company does not have employees sitting around to answer silly questions which people ask around social networks like whether it is ok to carry a bag weighing 10 kg during their travel. According to him answers to these sorts of questions can be easily found on the company website.

Ryanair Long-haul flights have \”blowjobs\” included!

In the recent world of social media there lie a lot of issues and big companies are learning fast from their mistakes which they suffered when dealing with customers through solial media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. It is mainly because of the wrong way in which the companies approach social media.

But there is a big difference with Ryanair. Everyone working in Ryanair knows exactly how to deal with this game and the company also knows how to handle the sarcastic but hilarious O’Leary and Co. one of Michael O’Leary’s Twitter streams contain non-stop insights of the continuous failings of his competitors along with the uselessness of the DAA.

According to British Airways, it succeeded to manage the workers’ walk out well on the last Saturday and Sunday. It successfully reinstated more than 26 flights that would have axed due to the prevailing strike.

As said by the chief executive Willie Walsh in a video statement, BA will definitely keep its flights running same as before. According to him, many other have come forward to make sure the BA flights do run into any sort of problems due to the strike.

On the other hand, according to the Unite around 20 per cent of the crew walked out of the work on last Sunday. As informed by the Unite’s joint leader Tony Woodley, 5 cabin crew have broken ranks and 80 other worked have reported sick. He has also appealed the BA to come to a solution soon to stop the next strike which is supposed to be held on March 27, during busy Easter holiday period. He has already appealed to the BA chairman and other influencing people in the company. According to him, the company should consider passengers first and try to negotiate with the cabin crew.

According to BA, more than 97% of the cabin crew at Gatwick has returned to work and around 50% of the crew at Heathrow have turned up. But as reported by the Unite only 300 crew members out of 2200 have restored to work.

BA has promised to make 8 long-haul flights and 18 short-haul flights operate which were supposed to get cancelled due to the strike. BA is also using its non-striking staff to offer seats leased from other carriers like Ryanair.

Government’s this rule will be in effect from the next month of April. This rule may create a fine worth of $4 million for an average Boeing 737. If a plane is on hold on the tarmac for more than 3 hours, then the fine amount per passengers will be $27,500. For international flight operators, the amount of fine will be much higher. For an example, Boeing 777 can run into a fine of $8.9 million just due to a single delayed flight.

American Airlines also informed that due to the ongoing construction at JFK, the company will be forced to cancel flights rather than being charged with these huge fines. It will mainly create problems for passengers in flights which available in limited number daily. The Federal Aviation Administration stated that JFK will suffer an average delay of 50 minutes during peak times and 29 minutes during normal hours during this runway construction. And this will last till 30^th June.

American Airlines also supported JetBlue and Delta only with one condition that they will request to all other carriers operating at JFK. As said by the company spokesperson, if the rule does not apply to all the carriers equally then it is definitely going to create confusion among consumers. On the other hand, Kate Hanni of flyersrights.org, a passenger rights advocate, has asked DOT to deny the request.