Layovers - Air Travel podcast

005 MUC - Lufthansa low cost, the ME3, Delta lost dogs, China Eastern digital butler

Episode Summary

Flight 005. Who are the Gulf airlines. Why is Lufthansa going low cost. How to win Air France upgrades on your phone. Where are Delta’s lost dogs. Which aircraft breaks the round the world record. What is the name of the largest airline in the world. Could China Eastern’s digital personal assistant answer those questions?

Episode Notes

SHOW NOTES

I. News of the week

US airlines vs the Gulf airlines, round two

U.S. Airlines vs Gulf Carriers: That Escalated Quickly — Paul Papadimitriou, Layovers

Qatar's Al Baker firmly rebukes Delta chief in subsidies row — Max Kingsley-Jones, FlightGlobal

Delta CEO apologizes for terrorist remark — Karen Walker, ATW

Emirates Boss Pushes Back on Delta's Open Skies and 9/11 Claims — Jason Clampet, Skift

U.S Airport Group Sides Against Airlines in Open Skies Battle — Marisa Garcia, Skift

The Battle Over Open Skies Forces U.S. Tourism Industry to Choose Sides — Marisa Garcia, Skift

Emirates Considers Reducing Tickets Prices — RJ321, Airliners.net

Are cabin toxic fumes a health risk?

Warning over toxic fumes in plane cabins — Andrew Gilligan, Telegraph

North Korea Air Force One

See Inside Kim Jong Un's Remodeled Air Force One — Taylor Rogoway, Jalopnik

Turkish might get two A380s

Turkish Air Said to Consider Leasing A380s From Malaysia Air — Ercan Ersoy and Andrea Rothman, Bloomberg

Gulfstream breaks world record

Gulfstream Breaks Round The World Record With Only One Fuel Stop — Chris Clarke, Jalopnik

FAI.org

Lufthansa's premium costs versus LCC

Lufthansa Proposes Legacy Growth Plan In Return For Staff Concessions — Jens Flottau, Aviation Week

Lufthansa's Eurowings agrees new pay deal with pilots — Reuters

Lufthansa's new budget airline cleared for take-off — Chris Bryant, FT ($)

EU releases report on LCC working conditions

Zero-hour pilot contracts threaten air safety, says study — Euractiv

Virgin America posts profits

Virgin America posts second consecutive full-year net profit — Aaron Karp, ATW

Delta lost dogs

Furious owners claim Delta lost their show dogs at airport — Matt Markovich, Komonews

Russia requests API

Russia to require API for all overflights — hugolover, Flyertalk

 

II. Innovation in AirTech, PaxEx and design

Air France mobile upgrade game

Air France Upgrade Challenge — AirFrance.com

The upgrade challenge: new cabins launch in Asia — Air France (video)

Air France Launches The Upgrade Challenge Social Game — Ryan Lum, Creative Guerilla Marketing

Breathometer

Breathometer ties in Uber and last-minute hotel stays for drunk — Nick Vivion, Tnooz

Airports set to impose tougher restrictions on alcohol sales in the departure lounge after number of 'air rage' incidents triples in three years — John Hutchinson, MailOnline

Anti-alcohol group calls for booze to be banned on planes following increase in mid-air incidents — Andrea Magrath, MailOnline

China Eastern introduces digital personal assistant

China Eastern Chatbot Flight Takes Off: Will "XiaoIce" Raise In-Flight Services to Unprecedented Levels? — Kai-Chin Shih, Talk Airlines

Meet XiaoIce, a Chinese chatbot that works with their version of Cortana — John Callaham, Windows Central

Microsoft XiaoIce (Chinese)

Siri in the cockpit

Honeywell tests voice-recognition technology on flight decks — Meryl Fishler, Cronkite News

Cool New Cockpit Technologies — Honeywell Aviation (video)

3D printed Rolls-Royce engine

Rolls-Royce to fly Trent XWB with largest-ever 3D-printed part — Murdo Morrison, FlightGlobal

ANA sells 747-400 parts as memorabilia

Forever 747 — ANA A-Style (Japanese)

A Concorde podcast episode

Flying the Concorde — Omega Tau, episode 166

 

III. App of the Week

OpenFlights.org

 

IV. Debate of the Week

The origins of the Gulf Airlines

The Rise of the Gulf Carriers — Ashley Kindergan, TheFinancialist

Flying High, The Improbable Rise of the Gulf Airlines — Jim Krane, Foreign Affairs

Big three Gulf airlines brush aside obstacles in pursuit of dominance — Gwyn Topham, The Guardian

The sky is the limit: has the time come for air traffic control in the GCC? — Albawaba Business

 

V. Question of the week

What is the largest airline in the world by fleet size? by Paul (after Alex told him Emirates wasn't in the Top 10)

World Airline Fleets: Top 10 Aviation Armadas with Most Airplanes — FinancesOnline

The 10 Airlines With the Biggest Fleets in the World — Rob Cowte, The Richest

 

VI. Airport of the week

MUC.
One of the most efficient airports when it comes to transit—a 30 minutes layovers is enough to catch a connecting flight, but also one of the most forward-looking when it comes to noise and pollution control. 

Official website