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Andrea Crisp: March 2007 Archives

A380 touches down in Munich

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The behemoth Airbus A380 has touched down on German soil for the first time, landing at Munich Airport yesterday before departing back to its Toulouse base 5 hours later.

Michael Kerkloh, chief executive at Munich Airport, was naturally effusive: "This is a great day for Munich Airport. We are proud to be hosting a visit by the world's most advanced and largest passenger aircraft."

Ryanair's blonde stunners

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RyanairW200.jpgFrom the tabloid school of shameless self-promotion comes Ryanair's latest marketing effort. To celebrate the beginning of European Summer Time, Ryanair is offering fares of £9.99 (about $20) on all destinations across Europe.

And how better to promote this offer than with a picture of scantily clad "blonde stunners" on the tarmac in front of a Boeing 737-800.

God love them. Here they are in next to nothing at London Stansted, just as snow retreats from British shores.

As the press release enthuses: "They've got their bikinis, their cocktails and their beach towels, and they're all set to find the sun this summer." Hang on, though. There's no grasshopper or gin sling in their glasses - they're empty.

And look closely at the aircraft and you'll see people are actually boarding it, with no regard for the stunners. Looks like it's business as usual for Ryanair - they wouldn't let their phenomenal 30-minute turnaround time drop, even for this photo shoot.
You've got to hand it to the models though. They are certainly convincing - they almost look happy.

Young and cheap: Singapore's low-cost terminal

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Happy birthday to Singapore's Budget Terminal, which has just turned one. Hip hip hooray! More than 1.36 million passengers have passed through its doors in the past 12 months, with the average number of passengers handled per month up 80%.

Two low-cost carriers serve the terminal: state-backed Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific Air.

As these low-cost carriers continue to expand, so does passenger traffic at the low-cost terminal. Tiger dominates the terminal, operating 250 of the 276 total number of flights weekly.

"The healthy progress made by the Budget Terminal today is testimony that the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore had made a right decision to build a customised terminal to meet the operational requirements of low-cost carriers," says Mr Wong Woon Liong (pictured), director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

The budget theme extended to celebrations of the anniversary, with passengers and invited guests entertained with a live shopping game, as well as singers from Project Superstar and Singapore's largest travel board game in Singapore. The picture shows CAAS director general, Mr Wong Woon Liong (4th from right), celebrating the Budget Terminal's first birthday with Singapore's Project Superstar winners, Daren Tan and Lydia Tan, and airport staff.

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Etihad zooms into Formula 1

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Etihad-SpykerW200.jpgJames Hogan has barely got his feet under the desk at Abu Dhabi government-owned Etihad Airways, and already he's splashing the cash. Hogan has just signed a three-year deal for sponsorship of the Spyker Formula One Grand Prix racing team in Melbourne.

But there is more to this deal than meets the eye. The Mubadala Development Company, which is wholly owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi, owns a 17% stake in Spyker. And Abu Dhabi property development company Aldar, which is also controlled by Mubadala, will also be a main sponsor of the Spyker team.
There is nothing like self-promotion.

According to Hogan, the deal is intended to raise consumer awareness of Etihad ahead of Abu Dhabi hosting a Grand Prix for the first time in 2009.

Best kept secrets - WIN

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CG-%26-EscapesW200.jpgWhen you're visiting a new city, surely the best person to show you around is someone who visits regularly. And who'd be better travelled than airline crew? That's the thinking behind two new travel guides put together by the travel crew and pilots from Scandinavian Airlines, SAS Braathens, Spanair, Blue 1 and Air Baltic.

The first, The Crew Guide Escapes, gives locations, hotels and restaurants from around the world that are off the beaten track. With section headings like Room with a View, Sand in Your Toes, Inner Calm, Get Out of Town, Poetry in Motion and Look After Yourself, it's a joy to read, and not just on this particularly grey London day.

The carbon emissions debate is gathering ground in Europe with Lufthansa pledging to introduce a voluntary emissions surcharge on tickets to fight global warming.

But the subtleties of when and how the surcharge is to be implemented are yet to be decided. And a quick call to the Lufthansa press office did little to enlighten us. Reading between the lines, it almost seems as if Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber mentioned it in passing to German magazine Der Spiegel and journalists from around the world have been picking up on it ever since.

The surcharge, which Lufthansa stressed was "voluntary", will be introduced over the course of this year, but as yet there is "no fixed date" for its implementation. Lufthansa's press office believed it would be in the form of a link to an organisation which specialises in offsetting carbon emissions.

Lufthansa says the surcharge is a result of passengers asking what they can do to reduce their carbon emissions, but "is is only one thing in Lufthansa's whole programme. Our biggest interest is in what we can do to reduce emissions, like investing in more modern fuel-efficient aircraft."

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