General Aviation

WORLD AIRLINE AWARDS 2011

Congratulations to all winners announced on June 22nd, 2011, at Paris Air Show.

Here is a complete and accurate list of the winners, extracted from Skytrax:

BEST AIRLINES BY ONBOARD CATERING:

ECONOMY CLASS  - Thai Airways International
PREMIUM ECONOMY - Air New Zealand
BUSINESS CLASS  - Austrian Airlines
FIRST CLASS  - Etihad Airways

BEST AIRLINE BY SEATS:

FIRST CLASS - Cathay Pacific Airways
BUSINESS CLASS - Oman Air
PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS - Turkish Airlines
ECONOMY CLASS - Thai Airways International

BEST AIRLINES BY REGION:
AFRICA -South African Airways
ASIA - Singapore Airlines
CHINA - Hainan Airlines
SOUTHERN EUROPE - Turkish Airlines
NORTHERN EUROPE - Finnair
EASTERN EUROPE - Aeroflot Russian Airlines
WESTERN EUROPE - Swiss International Air Lines
AUSTRALIA / PACIFIC - Air New Zealand
MIDDLE EAST - Qatar Airways
NORTH AMERICA - Air Canada
SOUTH AMERICA - TAM Linhas Aéreas
CENTRAL AMERICA / CARIBBEAN - TACA Airlines
CENTRAL ASIA / INDIA - Kingfisher Airlines
EUROPE - Turkish Airlines
TRANSATLANTIC - Lufthansa
TRANSPACIFIC - Cathay Pacific Airways

BEST AIRLINES BY CLASSES:

FIRST CLASS - Etihad Airways
BUSINESS CLASS - Singapore Airlines
PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS - Air New Zealand
ECONOMY CLASS - Asiana Airlines

BEST LOW COST AIRLINES BY REGIONS:

NORTH AMERICA - Virgin America
SOUTH AMERICA - Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras
AUSTRALIA / PACIFIC - JetStar Airways
ASIA - AirAsia
CENTRAL ASIA / INDIA - IndiGo Airlines
EUROPE - EasyJet

BEST REGIONAL AIRLINES BY REGIONS:
ASIA - Dragonair
EUROPE - Aegean Airlines
CHINA - Tianjin Airlines
NORTH AMERICA - American Eagle Airlines
SOUTH AMERICA - TRIP Linhas Aéreas

BEST AIRLINES BY STAFF SERVICE EXCELLENCE BY REGIONS:
ASIA - ANA All Nippon Airways
AFRICA - South African Airways
AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC - V Australia
CHINA - Hainan Airlines
CENTRAL ASIA/INDIA - Kingfisher Airlines
EUROPE - Austrian Airlines
MIDDLE EAST - Oman Air
NORTH AMERICA - Virgin America
CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN - TACA Airlines
SOUTH AMERICA - TAM Linhas Aéreas

WORLD'S BESTS:
WORLD'S BEST REGIONAL AIRLINE - Dragonair
WORLD'S BEST AIRPORT SERVICES - ANA All Nippon Airways
WORLD'S BEST AIRLINE ALLIANCE - Star Alliance
WORLD'S BEST LEISURE AIRLINE - Thomson Airways
WORLD'S BEST LOW-COST AIRLINE - AirAsia
WORLD'S MOST IMPROVED AIRLINE - China Southern Airlines
WORLD'S BEST CABIN STAFF - Asiana Airlines
WORLD'S BEST INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT - Emirates
WORLD'S BEST BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE - British Airways
WORLD'S BEST FIRST CLASS LOUNGE - Qatar Airways

And Finally, this is the final top ten rankings for 2011:

1. Qatar Airways
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Asiana Airlines
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Thai Airways
6. Etihad Airways
7. Air New Zealand
8. Qantas Airways
9. Turkish Airlines
10. Emirates

Once again, Congratulations to all winners! All the best for 2012!

INNOVATIVE BOARDING PASS?

Hello dear passengers!

Have you ever observed your boarding pass every time you travel? Well, I'm a kind of person who like to see at my boarding pass and compare it with the boarding passes of other airlines.

A while ago I noticed that most of the airlines seem not to care about the design of their boarding passes. Say, there is an airline which uses only a piece of thin paper to print its black-and-white colored boarding pass! There is even one airline which hand write its flight information on the boarding pass!

So I started to take an initiative to make a design of "my dream boarding pass". In my design of the new boarding pass, I am imagining that I am travelling with GIA, flying from Jakarta to Singapore. (I'm not saying that GIA is one of the above stated airlines with their screwed boarding passes).

Take a look at my design:

Problems looking at it? Maybe because my design of boarding pass is a potrait one, instead of the common landscape page setup.

Here what it looks like when I turn by design 90 degrees:

Well, I'm not an expert user of Photoshop and so that is all what I can do. Somehow, I really hope that airlines can begin to pay an attention to their design of boarding pass, because boarding pass reflects the identity of the airline itself before the flight.

What do you guys think?

WORLD AIRLINE AWARDS 2010

SkyTrax has announced the honoured airlines in the world 2010 in Hamburg on 20th May 2010. Congratulations for Asiana Airlines for being the airline of the year 2010, ahead for Singapore Airlines in the second place and Qatar Airways in the third place.

The final top 10 places in the Airline of the Year were: 
1.  Asiana Airlines
2.  Singapore Airlines
3.  Qatar Airways
4.  Cathay Pacific
5.  Air New Zealand
6.  Etihad Airways
7.  Qantas Airways
8.  Emirates
9.  Thai Airways
10. Malaysia Airlines

THE 2010 AWARDS SUMMARY IS LISTED BELOW: 

Airline of the Year
WINNER: Asiana Airlines 

Best Low-Cost Airline Worldwide  
WINNER: Air Asia 

Most Improved Airline
WINNER: Garuda Indonesia 

Best Regional Airline
WINNER: Dragonair 

Best Leisure / Charter Airline
WINNER: Thomson Airways 

Best Cabin Staff
WINNER: Singapore Airlines 

Best Inflight Entertainment
WINNER: Emirates 

Best Airport Services
WINNER: Thai Airways 

Best Economy Class
WINNER: Malaysia Airlines 

Best Premium Economy Class
WINNER: Qantas 

Best Business Class
WINNER: Qatar Airways 

Best First Class
WINNER: Etihad Airways 

Best Airline : Transatlantic
WINNER: Virgin Atlantic 

Best Airline : Transpacific
WINNER: Cathay Pacific 

Best Airline : Africa 
WINNER: South African Airways 

Best Airline : Asia
WINNER: Asiana Airlines 

Best Airline : Australia/Pacific
WINNER: Air New Zealand 

Best Airline : C America/Caribbean
WINNER: TACA Airlines 

Best Airline : China
WINNER: Hainan Airlines 

Best Airline : Eastern Europe
WINNER: Malev Hiungarian Airlines 

Best Airline : Europe
WINNER: Lufthansa 

Best Airline : India/Central Asia
WINNER: Kingfisher Airlines 

Best Airline : Middle East
WINNER: Qatar Airways 

Best Airline : North America
WINNER: Air Canada 

Best Airline : Northern Europe
WINNER: Finnair 

Best Airline : South America
WINNER: LAN Airlines 

Best Airline : South East Asia
WINNER: Singapore Airlines 

Best Airline : Southern Europe
WINNER: Turkish Airlines 

Best Airline : Western Europe
WINNER: Lufthansa 

Best Airline Alliance
WINNER: Oneworld Alliance 

Best Airline Lounge - Business Class
WINNER: Virgin Atlantic 

Best Airline Lounge - First Class
WINNER: Thai Airways 

Best Airline Seat - Business Class
WINNER: Singapore Airlines 

Best Airline Seat - Economy Class
WINNER: Kingfisher Airlines 

Best Airline Seat - First Class
WINNER: Etihad Airways 

Best Airline Seat - Premium Economy Class
WINNER: Qantas Airways 

Best Low-Cost Airline Africa
WINNER: Kulula 

Best Low-Cost Airline Asia
WINNER: Air Asia 

Best Low-Cost Airline Australia/Pacific
WINNER: Virgin Blue 

Best Low-Cost Airline Europe
WINNER: Air Berlin 

Best Low-Cost Airline India
WINNER: IndiGo 

Best Low-Cost Airline Middle East
WINNER: Air Arabia 

Best Low-Cost Airline North America
WINNER: Virgin America 

Best Low-Cost Airline South America
WINNER: GOL 

Best Onboard Catering - Business Class
WINNER: Qatar Airways 

Best Onboard Catering - Economy Class
WINNER: Turkish Airlines 

Best Onboard Catering - First Class
WINNER: Etihad Airways 

Staff Service Excellence Award - Africa
WINNER: South African Airways 

Staff Service Excellence Award - Asia
WINNER: Malaysia Airlines 

Staff Service Excellence Award - Australia/Pacific
WINNER: Air New Zealand 

Staff Service Excellence Award - C America/Caribbean
WINNER: TACA Airlines 

Staff Service Excellence Award - China
WINNER: Hainan Airlines 

Staff Service Excellence Award - Europe 
WINNER: Swiss Int'l Airlines 

Staff Service Excellence Award - India/Central Asia
WINNER: Kingfisher Airlines 

Staff Service Excellence Award - Middle East
WINNER: Qatar Airways 

Staff Service Excellence Award - North America
WINNER: WestJet 

Staff Service Excellence Award - South America 
WINNER: LAN Airlines 

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Congratulations for airlines that achieved those awards. I hope all the best for next year.

P.s. Information retrieved from Skytrax's World airline award website.


BOEING 787: THE DREAM COMES TRUE
The boeing 787 Dreamliner finally made it! After two years delayed, this aircraft finally success on it's first flight from Everett to Seattle on 15th of December for 3 hours. This type of aircraft can safe 20% fuel compared to all twin engines widebodies similar to it. By using new technologies such as automatic window shades, LED lighting, larger window and quieten engine's sound, the Dreamliner is perfect and fabulous to serve medium long range routes. Currently Boeing has got order for the amount of 840 units Dreamliner and Boeing is now free to produce it and start the first delivery in the fourth quartal next year to Japanese All Nippon Airways. Believe it or not, everybody applauded after the aircraft airborne! 

Here is the first flight taking-off video, got it from Youtube:


Looks very good, ya, the next generation of flying is waiting for us!
Official website of 787's first flight:  click here


Sources: Boeing and YouTube


POLLING 1 RESULT
Well, thank you visitors for participating in the polling I made a month ago, about "What do you think is the best airline?".


The result was Singapore Airlines as the best airline and Garuda Indonesia as the runner up.


You are welcomed to participate again in the other polling i'll make soon :)