by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 10, 2016 | Airlines, Avgeek, Cuba, Destinations, Featured |
In news released by the US DOT, it appears that we have a list of cities that will be able to fly to Cuba from the USA beginning this fall.
According to the news, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale are the initial cities on the ‘approved’ list. According to the DOT, it paves the way for 10 roundtrips to operate daily between the US and Cuba.
Approved carriers thus far include American, JetBlue, Frontier, Silver Airways, Southwest, and Sun Country.
This announcement has no bearing on charter flights that already operate to Cuba.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 8, 2016 | 747, Avgeek, Featured, Iron Maiden |
For those of you who know me (there’s maybe 8 of you), you know that I’ve been a fan of Iron Maiden for the Majority of my 44 years on this rock, going all the way back to my days in Elementary School.
Over the past few years, its been no secret that Iron Maiden has used chartered aircraft to help them get from concert to concert when they are on world-wide tour. First, it was a 757 that helped them get around the world on 3 tours that began in 2008.
Now for their most recent tour celebrating their ‘Book Of Souls’ album, the band upped their game and got their hands on a 747-400 from Air Atlanta Icelandic to help them get around even more effectively than with the 757.
Photo courtesy of Iron Maiden
The absolute best part of this? Their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, often serve as the Captain for the flights. Yes, the lead singer of one of the world’s greatest bands has a license to fly the heavies! In fact, Lufthansa featured him in an interview in their in-flight magazine back in September 2013.
Since February, the latest version of ‘Ed Force One’ has been seen around the world as the band travels on tour. There have been a lot of great photos taken of the exterior, but now, thanks to a Daily Mail feature, we have a chance to look inside, behind the scenes, one of the coolest airplanes currently in the air.
Enjoy!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 6, 2016 | Airlines, Avgeek, Featured, Industry News |
In what I would categorize under the heading of ‘What are they thinking?’, Turkey has decided in order to revive tourism to a once thriving coastal town, it would make sense to sink an Airbus A300 into the ocean in the hopes that divers would come to visit it. They also claim that it will help build a new reef for fish and corals to make home and would be the largest aircraft ever to be sunk for this purpose. The last point I won’t argue since it’s been proven that artificial reefs can work. What I do wonder is will people now flock to Kusadasi, Turkey to dive the wreck.
What used to be a favorite destination of Russians and Europeans alike, Kusadasi is struggling to stay alive. In fact, according to the RT.com article covering the event, it is suggested that Russian tourism has fallen off by as much as 81% due to sanctions, terrorism and basic distrust of each other. Also noted was the fact that dozens of hotels, restaurants, and shops have been shuttered due to the dramatic drop in tourism. Apparently the dunking of an Airbus is the best idea that the local Chamber of Commerce could come up with!
Back to the sinking of the A300….
The A300 was dismantled in Istanbul and trucked on 5 flatbeds to Kusadasi where cranes helped position the aircraft. With the aid of rafts and divers, it was lowered, complete with wings, into its final resting place 60 feet below the surface of the Aegean Sea. It is now open for business.
To see various tweets and Instagram posts showing the event, click here to be taken to the RT.com story.
Are you thinking ‘Slow News Day” ???
