Emirates to Send the A380 to Manchester

If you're an airport, getting service from a new aircraft is kind of a big deal - especially if you spent millions of dollars upgrading your airport to handle the new aircraft. And that just happened to Manchester this week with Emirates announcing that it would bring the A380 to Manchester with daily service to Dubai. The A380 will replace one of the two 777-300ERs currently flying on the route. The airline says this is a big step since Manchester "will become the world's first regional airport to have a regular A380 service"

Airport chief Andrew Cornish said:

Emirates' decision to operate daily A380 services between Manchester and Dubai represents an historic moment for this airport and the region that we serve. We have invested close to £10 million (AED 54.8 million) in upgrading the airfield and terminal, both to accommodate the aircraft itself and to create a fitting environment for Emirates' customers, whether it is at check-in, using the airline’s executive lounge or at the gate area.

Definitely exciting news for Manchester, here, especially because Emirates is keeping the same number of frequencies, as the A380 has been used to eliminate service in the past. For example, Singapore Airlines replaced its two 777 flights to Zurich with one A380 flight.

You can read more here.

Can We Have a TSA Head? Please?

Recently, President Obama's latest nominee for the head of the Transportation Security Administration, Major General Robert Harding decided to withdraw himself from consideration after questions arose about  a security company that he launched after he retired from the Army. This comes two months after Obama's first nominee withdrew as well.

Can we please have a TSA leader? I'd also like to point out that we're in one of the worst possible times for this situation. Think about it - had we had a leader at the TSA, would the response to the Chirstmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 been any different? Most likely! Not to mention, the TSA is in the midst of an ambitious plan of rolling out body scanners around the country.

Of course, there is still someone managing the whole organization - Gale Rossides is the acting Administrator of TSA. But the key word here is "acting." She's taking care of the daily needs of the organization. This industry needs someone who was nominated by the President who can make reforms and major policy changes as needed. But it's also needed for the current TSA employees who are looking for a strong leader to get behind.

Hopefully we'll have a TSA leader before President Obama is halfway done with his term.

Heathrow Employee to Sue Over Body Scanner Comment

Well, I, mean, the fact that it took a month for something like this to happen might be better than some expected...

An airport employee at London's Terminal 5, Jo Margetson, is suing her employer, BAA, the operator of the airport. Why, do you ask? Margetson accidentally stepped into one of Heathrow's shiny new body scanning machines installed after the failed bombing attempt of Northwest Airlines flight 253 around Christmas last year, and one of her co-workers decided to snap a photo of her, and make an, er, lewd comment.

So, the co-worker that was responsible for taking the picture has been issued a harassment warning and, naturally, has a chance of having his future as an airport scanner being negatively affected.

But herin lies the problems with body scanners - they're a sensitive issue. And issues like this one at Heathrow is probably why the TSA has the agents who will be monitoring the body scanners will be in a separate area. But still, to make this new technology work without enraging the traveling public, TSA and other security agencies need to be as professional as possible.

Skytrax Announces World’s Best Airports

Skytrax just released the results of its annual airport survey, and its a report that's always looked at carefully since the results are based on the surveying of millions of travelers. The comprehensive survey covers a whole bunch of areas from the availability of public transportation to the quality of children's play areas.

The winner this year was Singapore's Changi airport, last year's second place winner. Last year's top airport, Seoul Incheon, slipped to number two. New entrants into the top ten were Beijing Capital (moving from 17th to 8th) and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (moving up six places to 10th place).

But what's also interesting is how different regions are represented in the results. The top three airports (Singapore, Seoul Incheon, Hong Kong) are all in Asia. Not one North American airport made the top ten - Vancouver came in at number eleven, though. The only American airport to make the top 25 airports was San Francisco at number twenty. Maybe that's a sign that this country's airports can get moving on improvements.

You can see the news release here. Eventually Skytrax will be posting some more detailed results, but if you want the full report you'll need to shell out $460.

Luftansa’s New Munich Lounge Includes Beer Garden

Earlier this week, Lufthansa opened a refurbished business-class lounge in Munich's Terminal 2. Of course, you'll find all of the usual great amenities: eighteen workstations (some of which have computers), two showers, six bars, TV room, and Wi-Fi. But the lounge also includes what the airline calls "a Bavarian first." From the press release:

In cooperation with Munich's Franziskaner brewery, Lufthansa passengers will enjoy draught beer tapped from the barrel and Bavarian pretzels while relaxing at traditional beer tables overlooking the scenic, Bavarian Alps.

The lounge is located in gate area G, the Schengen departures area, opposite gate G28. Lufthansa sent me some great images, which can be found below. This lounge looks great!

TSA Mulls Using Cell Phone Data for Secuirty Wait Times

One of the more interesting stories from yesterday was a new project from the TSA to calculate security wait times. If you recall, the agency did put security wait times on its website, but it was taken down. For awhile now, the tool has been "under construction," with the TSA saying it was "working to make the tool more user friendly."

Well, apparently the TSA has been working with Purdue University in a trial program to calculate wait times using data from cell phones or other electronic devices. Some of them automatically broadcast their serial number every 15-20 seconds. Readers were installed at the entrances and exits for checkpoints, and then the time spent in the checkpoint was calculated.

On one hand, having accurate security wait times is very useful for travelers, especially when trying to figure out a good time to leave for the airport. But there are very valid concerns about privacy here. Right now, only partial serial numbers are recorded, but some privacy experts are concerned that it could be changed.

Anyway, the work with Purdue was only done in Indianapolis, and the program is still in the very early stages, so we'll have to see how it pans out. But what do you think - is this convenient or a violation of civil liberties?

It’s Not Easy Being CVG

Well, CVG doesn't have the same ring as "green," but you get the picture.

The airport, long dominated by Delta's hub operation, has historically had some of the highest fares in the country. While that's certainly not fun, the perk for the airport and the community is that Delta provided nonstop flights across the country that would not be able to stand on their own if it weren't for the connecting traffic that is created by having a hub there.

But lately the airport has seen the other side of those tradeoffs. Cincinnati service has been cut significantly ever since Delta and Northwest announced their merger, CVG has seen many cuts in service as the two airlines integrate their two route networks (having a large hub in Detroit is not good for CVG). In fact, the airport is seeing half of the capacity from Delta that it had at this time two years ago. But the average fare has dropped over 38% from 2006 to $367 . That's still higher than average, but it's much better than the $600-level fares seen in 2008.

And of course, if Delta is cutting the number of flights, it needs less employees at CVG, and it just announced 840 job cuts last week.

So, what do you think? What's more important? Low fares, or a large number of nonstops?

A Handy Promo Code from Aircell

Just think about it - a year ago, inflight internet was still a brand new thing, and it's now all over the country. Both AirTran and Virgin America have it across their fleets, while it can also be found on American, United, and Delta.

Anyway, Aircell (the company that provides the service) just sent me a promotional code for usage next time you want to use inflight Wi-Fi provided by its Gogo service. It's centered around the current NCAA tournament, which makes sense because usage was up as much as 39% during last year's tournament.

Using the code (27805864fbm), you can save $5 off a Gogo 30-day pass on American or Delta (it's only good on one airline), so it will cost $24.95 instead of the usual $29.95. If that sounds like a lot, it's not. If you buy Wi-Fi on two flights each over three hours, that will cost $25.90, so the 30-day pass already pays for itself!

Once again, the code is: 27805864fbm. You can find more information about Gogo here.

SFO Wants You to Avoid “The Bad Airport”

Last week, I wrote on how Edmonton has launched an ad campaign that attempts to convince travelers to avoid using Calgary airport as much as possible. Well, now we've seen San Francisco do something similar, with a new ad that encourages fliers to avoid "the bad airport." That airport is never mentioned, though most have assume that it refers to LAX.

Tip of the hat to Flying with Fish.

Continental Moving In Detroit

Similar to its recent move in Denver, Continental has announced that it will be consolidating its operations at Detroit's Metro Airport next week on Wednesday, March 24. The airline currently resides in the McNamara terminal, which made sense when the airline was a member of Skyteam and was partnered with Northwest and Delta. Other Skyteam carriers use this terminal as well.

But since November it has been a member of the Star Alliance, so it is moving to the North Terminal, where Continental will share its home with United, US Airways, and Air Canada, which makes a whole lot of sense.

Unfortunately, that means Continental fliers will miss out on Detroit's awesome walkway in the McNamara terminal:

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