What's Going On - Flight Wisdom

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Ryanair has made another bid for Irish competitor, Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus is preparing its defense plan and wishes to remain independent.
Continental announced it has completed installation of an Audio/Video on demand system on its fleet of 757-200s aircraft, with the last two reentering service by December 23rd. These aircraft are used primarily on transatlantic service from Newark Liberty Airport. The system includes AC power ports at all seats, and up to 25 movies, 25 TV shows, and 50 CDs of music. Continental is slowly converting the bulk of its fleet to have some form of in flight entertainment.
Continental Airlines will also be launching nonstop daily service from Houston to Frankfurt, Germany effective November 1st of next year. The service will be operated by 767-200 aircraft, and will be the fourth international service offered out of Houston, following London, Paris, and Amsterdam
Boeing is set to annouce additional delays to the 787 Dreamliner after it assesses the damages caused by a two-month machinist strike and a number of other delays. The first test flight likely will not happen till next year, with first deliveries in 2010, two years behind schedule. Some supply and delays are attributed to Boeing’s decision to outsource most of the production.
Despite this, Continental revealed some of its plans for Dreamliner seating design. One of the special features on the 787 is the large windows, which are bigger than those on any commercial jet flying today. They plan to modify the standard design of seats to be oriented more toward the larger windows, which use electrochromatic glass to tint themselves as opposed to windowshades.
JetBlue is increasing its presence in Ft. Lauderdale by adding two new international routes. It intends to offer nonstop service to Santo Domingo in the Domincan Republic, and Cancun, Mexico. The Dominican service will be operated by an Airbus 320, while the Cancun service will be operated by the smaller Embraer 190. JetBlue is the third largest carrier at Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport with up to 46 daily departures and service to thirteen cities in the United States in addition to its Carribbean service.
Allegiant Airlines doesn’t always end up on our desk, as their routes often start with little fanfare, but earlier this week, the Cranky Flier pointed out that they have announced they will be serving Punta Gorda, an airport that inaugurated its commercial service with the now dead Skybus. So we thought we’d see what they were up to.
- Service from Charlotte County Airport in Punta Gorda, FL to Greenville/Spartenburg S.C.(on Thursday and Sunday) beginning March 5th and to Knoxville, TN(Monday and Friday) beginning March 6th.
- Service from Owensboro, Kentucky to Orlando-Sanford on Wednesdays and Saturdays beginning February 18th
- Service from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Orlando-Sanford(Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday) and St. Petersburg-Clearwater(Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) beginning February 3rd.
- It will move its operations in the Bay Area from San Francisco International Airport to Oakland on February 2nd. It serves the Bay Area from Bellingham, Washington twice weekly on Monday and Friday.
The FAA gave the green light to deploy satellite tracking systems nationwide, replacing the current radar-based approach. It is ten-times more accurate then the system it will replace. Initial systems are being developed in Juneau AK, Louisville KY, the Gulf of Mexico, and Philadelphia and should be completed by the end of 2010.

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