the lowe down
march 2007
great airlines do rise again…
great airlines, unlike the more unfortunate Pan Am’s, Sabenas, and Swissair’s of the world, those great pioneering carriers of the 20th century, in fact do rise again from the ashes of bad management and industry shifts……
…it has just been announced that GOL Airlines, Brazil’s #2 carrier has purchased the nearly defunct carrier Varig (airline code, rg) for less than $300 million dollars.
As one of the world’s oldest airlines, varig has lucrative rights to major airline markets in Europe and the usa, giving gol, once it decides on the preferred longhaul aircraft, (currently rumored to be either 767’s or 777’s) direct access to these routes. It is a similar move made by united and American when they snapped up ailing twa’s and pan am’s pacific and European routes….
who knows if the carrier will rejoin star alliance, or whether gol will paint over the varig and cover them all in that awful orange livery that currently covers their 737’s…it is good news, and cabin crew on recent varig flights were pleased with the response (though pan am crews were equally happy in the months before delta pulled the plug on good ole pa, sending it into the annals of history……
Only time, and the fickle whims of overpaid industry executives, will tell…..
And speaking of great airlines, earlier this month the world’s biggest passenger airliner, still beleagured with delays related to internal wiring, landed in new york, carrying passengers in excess of 550 people; all were airbus or Lufthansa staff. The flight was to test a fully operational jet, with galleys, inflight entertainment, and lavatories all tested throughout the flight to see if they could handle the crowd.
San Francisco airport, which has been a380 ready for years, was snubbed in favor of los angeles, who received the 2nd flight of the jet. Despite being late in preparing for the jet, lax is thought to be one of the first airports to be served. San Francisco had other good news this month, with the step towards approval for virgin America, the new low cost carrier backed by virgin uk, and is aimed for takeoff later this year, using sfo airport as the headquarters, which will start to slice into the profits of united airlines who has numerous flights that will probably be gutted by the new carrier’s routes, run by the media hungry Richard branson…..
And speaking of media hungry, celebrity adoptions roll on to saigon, where angelina jolie was in the southeast asian country again recently, to pick up her latest addition to her growing brood: a 3 year old vietnamese boy. Though she regrets the media spotlight put upon the child, the boy himself is almost guaranteed celebrity status for his entire life, at least at the C level: whatever he achieves in life, he will forever be paparazzi fodder; probably be an author of a tell all book, slamming his mother; or worse, be a cast member on some awful celebrity show…….