Qatar Airways has won the annual SkyTrax airline award for the best Economy Class in the world, which means a lot in these tough economic times when passengers are increasingly moving to the back of the plane from the front.


Qatar Airways recently revamped its Economy Class meal service using a more environment friendly, upmarket, appetising and stylish way.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar clearly has his priorities well targeted, summing up his airline's approach

“Most airlines invest heavily in developing their premium cabins and, while we continue to do this, Qatar Airways strives to innovate in Economy Class ensuring our high standards are maintained and passenger expectations are exceeded worldwide.”

Etihad Airways won the prize for the best Business Class, narrowly beating Singapore Airlines, who won the prize for best First Class. Virgin Atlantic won the prize for best Premium Economy Class, a high in demand travel class nowadays

Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates won the top five spots for "Airline of the Year 2009" respectively.

View the full results here.

Virgin Blue’s international airline V Australia and Delta Air Lines have negotiated and signed an Australia-U.S. interline agreement on the networks of each carrier and across the trans-Pacific route.

An interline agreement allows the partner airlines to carry passengers or freight on behalf of each other and also enables luggage to be checked through.

Effective immediately, the agreement allows travellers to purchase a single ticket from their Travel Agent, V Australia or Delta for travel between the U.S. and Australia on either carrier.

The agreement leverage's each airlines' domestic connectivity strength. Virgin Blue has domestic connectivity to all major cities in Australia while Delta has extensive domestic services to virtually every city in the United States. This agreement competes head-on with the One World Qantas American Airlines pairing.

V Australia commenced flights between Los Angeles and Sydney on February 27, 2009, and is planning direct flights from Los Angeles to Brisbane on April 8, 2009 and to Melbourne in September 2009.

Delta is expected to commence daily non-stop services on the Sydney - Los Angeles route from July 1, 2009.

In a space of just two days, Mumbai airport authorities received a dual shock.

Virgin Atlantic is suspending its London Mumbai service from May 3rd, while Finnair will suspend its Helsinki Mumbai service by mid May.

Clearly the economic woes are playing havoc. The Mumbai London route has excess capacity with British Airways, Jet Airways, and Kingfisher Airlines operating non-stops, and Emirates operating five daily flights via Dubai. Finnair though, is still targeting flights to Chennai and/or Bangalore, to capture the tech industry traffic.

Virgin group Chairman Richard Branson went around the world in 8 days showcasing his airline's world coverage with the launch of V Australia's flights to the United States. Virgin is the only airline group that offers a traveller the ability to circumnavigate the world on one airline brand.

He documented the events with a video blog and we can see the flair, pomp and showmanship he is renowned for, and there is no taking away from the peak Virgin has achieved today, considering its humble start with a second-hand Boeing 747 25 years ago.

Virgin Group's new V Australia, the long haul airline of Virgin Blue, took delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER.

The plane livery as delivered

The livery at the time of the order

The airplane, delivered by Boeing to International Lease Finance Corp. and leased to V Australia, is one of seven leased and purchased 777-300ERs V Australia will deploy on trans-Pacific and other routes.

The 6th February, Boeing Field ceremony included Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group Chief Executive Brett Godfrey, ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven F. Udvar-Hazy and senior Boeing officials.

V Australia will launch Sydney-Los Angeles non-stop service on Feb. 27, building to daily flights by March 20; and Brisbane-Los Angeles flights begin April 8, after more deliveries of the ordered planes are effected.

V Australia's 777-3GZ(ER) construction number 35302, is powered the GE90-115B, is registered VH-VOZ, and will carry 361 passengers in business, premium economy and economy classes, with advanced in-flight entertainment options.

Boeing is especially pleased, for VH-VOZ is the first 777 sold to an Australian carrier.

VH-VOZ will land in Australia on February 9th.

"I know it looks like a baaji but it’s in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you’ll be fascinated to hear that it wasn't custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top."

I am still doubled over with laughter after reading this complaint letter from a passenger on Virgin's Mumbai to London Heathrow flight in December 2008.

The letter is accompanied by photographic evidence to show Richard Branson exactly what the dishes referred to in the letter actually looked like.

The letter as published by The Daily Telegraph

Dear Mr Branson

REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008

I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit.

Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation.

Image 1

Look at this Richard. Just look at it: [see image 1, above].

I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the desert?

Image 2

You don’t get to a position like yours Richard with anything less than a generous sprinkling of observational power so I KNOW you will have spotted the tomato next to the two yellow shafts of sponge on the left. Yes, it’s next to the sponge shaft without the green paste. That’s got to be the clue hasn’t it. No sane person would serve a desert with a tomato would they. Well answer me this Richard, what sort of animal would serve a desert with peas in: [see image 2, above].

I know it looks like a baaji but it’s in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you’ll be fascinated to hear that it wasn't custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top. It’s only redeeming feature was that it managed to be so alien to my palette that it took away the taste of the curry emanating from our miscellaneous central cuboid of beige matter. Perhaps the meal on the left might be the desert after all.

Anyway, this is all irrelevant at the moment. I was raised strictly but neatly by my parents and if they knew I had started desert before the main course, a sponge shaft would be the least of my worries. So lets peel back the tin-foil on the main dish and see what’s on offer.

I’ll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it’s Christmas morning and you’re sat their with your final present to open. It’s a big one, and you know what it is. It’s that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about.

Image 3

Only you open the present and it’s not in there. It’s your hamster Richard. It’s your hamster in the box and it’s not breathing. That’s how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this: [see image 3, above].

Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking it’s more of that Baaji custard. I admit I thought the same too, but no. It’s mustard Richard. MUSTARD. More mustard than any man could consume in a month. On the left we have a piece of broccoli and some peppers in a brown glue-like oil and on the right the chef had prepared some mashed potato. The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird.

Once it was regurgitated it was clearly then blended and mixed with a bit of mustard. Everybody likes a bit of mustard Richard.

Image 4

By now I was actually starting to feel a little hypoglycaemic. I needed a sugar hit. Luckily there was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it’s baffling presentation: [see image 4, above].

It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn’t want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above.

I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was relax but obviously I had to sit with that mess in front of me for half an hour. I swear the sponge shafts moved at one point.

Image 5

Once cleared, I decided to relax with a bit of your world-famous onboard entertainment. I switched it on: [see image 5, above].

Image 6

I apologise for the quality of the photo, it’s just it was incredibly hard to capture Boris Johnson’s face through the flickering white lines running up and down the screen. Perhaps it would be better on another channel: [see image 6, above].

Is that Ray Liotta? A question I found myself asking over and over again throughout the gruelling half-hour I attempted to watch the film like this. After that I switched off. I’d had enough. I was the hungriest I’d been in my adult life and I had a splitting headache from squinting at a crackling screen.

Image 7

My only option was to simply stare at the seat in front and wait for either food, or sleep. Neither came for an incredibly long time. But when it did it surpassed my wildest expectations: [see image 7, above].

Yes! It’s another crime-scene cookie. Only this time you dunk it in the white stuff.

Richard…. What is that white stuff? It looked like it was going to be yoghurt. It finally dawned on me what it was after staring at it. It was a mixture between the Baaji custard and the Mustard sauce. It reminded me of my first week at university. I had overheard that you could make a drink by mixing vodka and refreshers. I lied to my new friends and told them I’d done it loads of times. When I attempted to make the drink in a big bowl it formed a cheese Richard, a cheese. That cheese looked a lot like your baaji-mustard.

So that was that Richard. I didn’t eat a bloody thing. My only question is: How can you live like this? I can’t imagine what dinner round your house is like, it must be like something out of a nature documentary.

As I said at the start I love your brand, I really do. It’s just a shame such a simple thing could bring it crashing to it’s knees and begging for sustenance.

Yours Sincerely

XXXX

In fairness, The Daily Telegraph, which published the letter, called Virgin's director of corporate communications

Paul Charles, Virgin’s Director of Corporate Communications, confirmed that Sir Richard Branson had telephoned the author of the letter and had thanked him for his “constructive if tongue-in-cheek” email. Mr Charles said that Virgin was sorry the passenger had not liked the in-flight meals which he said was “award-winning food which is very popular on our Indian routes.”

I must credit the capabilities of Paul Charles. Can you imagine saying that with a straight face after reading the letter? I sure cannot. Could you ?

I am sure, you have had some pretty pathetic airline food in your travels, but I am equally sure, it was not as bad as to have prompted you to write a letter of complaint as good as this one from the passenger.

Share your worst airline food experience via a comment.

Apart from Singapore Airlines, the best airline I have flown in my 4 million miles, is Virgin Atlantic.

Today, Virgin launched its 25th anniversary celebrations, with a video reflective of its irreverent yet high energy culture.

Virgin's inaugural flight was from London Gatwick to Newark (EWR) on June 22 1984, at a time when the United Kingdom was in the middle of a miner's strike. The ad features brands and icons from the period; Our Price record stores, Wimpy fast food, Rubik's cube, Asteroids video game, braces, frumpy air-mummies, braces, big hairdos and monster brick mobile phones.

"Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood was riding high in the charts, is the theme music for the ad, and should be your mood for the next 90 seconds.

Do you think Virgin is "Still red hot" as the ad claims ? As usual your comments are requested and welcomed.

In 2009, Delta Air Lines will add its first-ever daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia* effective July 1; three-times weekly service between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, Brazil* beginning May 21; and increased service between Los Angeles and New York-JFK starting March 2.

The current seven daily flights between Los Angeles and New York-JFK will increase to eight in an effort to improve connections for New York and Northeast customers on long-haul international flights via Los Angeles. Additionally, Delta customers in the Southeastern U.S. will benefit from same-plane service between Atlanta and Sydney via LA.

Delta’s focus on Los Angeles is being supported by the recently announced expanded marketing agreement between Delta and Alaska Air Group that will make the two companies preferred partners on the West Coast.

Starting July 1, 2009, DL17 will depart Los Angeles at 2240 and arrive Sydney at 0640 two days later (after crossing the international date line).

Starting July 3, 2009, DL16 will depart Sydney at 0915 and Los Angeles at 0600 the same day (time saved by crossing the international date line).

The flight is expected to be 14 hours in one direction and 13 in the other.

The Sydney service will be operated on Delta's new Boeing 777-200LR in a two class configuration, fitted Delta's latest seating including fully flat-bed seating in business class in a herringbone layout.

Currently, the route is operated by Boeing 747-400's of Qantas and United in a 3 class configuration, but United is upgrading its aircraft, and Qantas is planning to introduce the Airbus A380 super jumbo with a 4th class, premium economy, on this route. More competition also coming in the form of Virgin Australia commencing operations with a Boeing 777-300ER in a three class configuration.

With this addition of capacity, fares are bound to head south (sorry for the pun), which while good news for the passengers, is not for the airlines. Will Delta or any of the other three airlines suffer the same fate as American and Continental and withdraw ? Only time will tell.

With the Sydney flight Delta will become only U.S. airline to fly to six continents, and is good news for the SkyTeam alliance, which is severely under-represented down-under. The Sydney service adds the crucial and missing Australia-North America link for the alliance.

Delta will operate Sao Paulo with a Boeing 767-300ER, in a two class configuration.

Starting May 21, 2009, DL233 will depart Los Angeles at 2100 Tue, Thu, Sun, and arrive Sao Paulo at 1320 the next day.

Starting May 22, 2009, DL234 will depart Sao Paulo at 2225 Mon, Wed, Fri, and arrive Los Angeles at 0730 the next day.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways have announced a reduction in their fuel surcharges because of the falling price of oil.

The reductions apply on tickets purchased beginning Thursday, and the airlines are not offering refunds to customers who booked flights earlier at the higher price.

British Airways is reducing the charge on World Traveler (economy) class flights of nine hours or longer from £96 ($147) to £66 ($101). For first class and business class passengers on those long-haul flights, the surcharge will be reduced by £30 to £85 ($130)

Surcharges on domestic and European flights are being cut by 25 percent, British Airways said.

Virgin also cut its surcharge on long-haul economy flights in line with British Airways £66, and other reductions were similar to BA's moves.

While airlines have seen one of their biggest expenses, fuel, come down in price, they are still struggling to find demand as the world's major economies contract, and tis the season of industry consolidation.

British Airways on Tuesday said it's holding merger talks with Australian national carrier and fellow OneWorld alliance partner, Qantas Airways, in a deal that could combine two of the world's best-known international carriers.

British Airways, in a brief statement, said

In response to recent media speculation, British Airways Plc confirms that it is exploring a potential merger with Qantas Airways Limited via a dual-listed company structure.

The discussions between British Airways and Iberia are continuing.

There is no guarantee that any transaction will be forthcoming and a further announcement will be made in due course, if appropriate.

British Airways shares shot up 12.1% in London. Qantas shares ended 4.3% lower in Sydney.
Iberia shares added 5.3% in Madrid.

British Airway possessed a 25% stake in the early 1990s which it sold in 2004. The British Airways talks with Iberia have languished because of Iberia's concerns about the U.K. airline's pension liabilities.

British Airways has been a very busy airline lately. In addition to the Qantas and Iberia negotiations, it is seeking antitrust immunity, from U.S. and European regulators, on its proposed partnership with American Airlines for which it is seeking. A proposal vehemently opposed by arch rival Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin has a presence in Australia in the form of low cost carrier, Virgin Blue. It will be interesting to see how the rivalry will carry over down under.

Like in the United States, Australia limits foreign ownership of domestic carriers. But the BBC was reporting that that may change:

It [the merger statement] follows indications from the Australian government earlier in the day that it may be prepared to relax the rules on foreign ownership.

Under current Australian law, Qantas must be at least 51% Australian-owned.

Any individual foreign airline can only own up to 25% of it and only a total of 35% may be owned by foreign airlines.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese proposed earlier on Tuesday that the rules be changed so that while 51% must still be Australian-owned, the remaining 49% may be owned by a single foreign airline.

The Australian government recently released a key industry blueprint that would cap foreign ownership at 49% in a bid to keep Singapore Airlines out of the lucrative U.S-to-Australia route.

The possible BA-Qantas link-up occurs as the industry consolidates. Delta has recently merged with Northwest, and on Monday, Ryanair Holdings launched a fresh offer for fellow Irish carrier Aer Lingus, which was rejected by the Aer Lingus board.

The Air France-KLM combine have shown the aviation industry how to combine functions while maintaining separate brands.

Air traffic control is one of, if not, the most stressful job in the world. Air traffic control officers (ATCOs) have to be constantly on the alert, even when pilots make a mistake. We as passengers never hear of their deeds, only of their mis-deeds. In a tribute to ATCOs around the world, I present a collection of videos and audios.

We begin with a happy ATCO at JFK airport in New York.

Humour is always a good stress buster, and mothers-in-law appear to be a globally common source of pain, as this conversation between a JFK ATCO and a Virgin Atlantic flight demonstrates.

About a year ago, there was extreme commotion in the Indian skies with ATCOs bitterly complaining about the expatriate pilots, and their lack of English language skills, the universally accepted language of the skies. This audio exchange between Air China 981 and JFK ATC demonstrates the language problem.

Sometimes it is the accent or idioms of the ATCO that pilots do not understand. Given the busy conditions at most airports, it leads to confusion, then irritation, and anger, as we hear in this conversation between Etihad 503 (UAE), Asiana 222 (Korea) and a JFK ATCO.

And then there are times, where pilots really screw up and need to be rescued, as this re-creation of a scary incident at Providence, Rhode Island.

And as a closing, I am sure you too will feel sorry for this JFK ATCO, who is having a really bad day in the office.

So please take some time, and send a thank you letter to the ATCOs at your local airport.