The New York Times Reported today:

Virgin Atlantic said Monday that it would conduct a demonstration flight next month of one of its Boeing 747 jets using biofuel — the first airborne test of a renewable fuel by a commercial jet.

Related
Dot Earth: Jumbo Jet to Fly (Partly) on Biofuel (January 14, 2008)

The airline, founded by the British billionaire Richard Branson, said a 747-400 plane would make the one hour and 20 minute journey from London Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam in late February using 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent conventional jet fuel. The test, without passengers, is part of a joint research project announced by Virgin, Boeing and the aircraft engine maker GE Aviation.

The airline declined to identify the source of the biofuel, though Paul Charles, a Virgin spokesman, said the carrier had rejected fuels derived from crops like palm oil because of the huge land area that would need to be devoted to cultivation for fuel production.

“It will be a very sustainable fuel source,” Mr. Charles said, adding that its production would not compete with food or fresh water resources.

Interestingly enough, this same story when reported at news.com.au specifically quoted an expert who said:

“Biodiesel is a complete scam because in the tropics the growing demand is causing forests to be burnt to make way for palm oil and similar crops,”

So apparently the copy of the press release they received did not include that part about rejecting crops like Palm Oil.

What I really wonder is that if the airplanes, like so many bio-diesel cars, will smell like French Fries.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Is it time to rethink the common practice of over-booking airline flights? Airline’s routinely sell more seats on a plane than they have so that they can deal with business travelers who cancel flights at the last minute. These travelers pay more for their tickets for the flexibility of travel plans. But at what cost? According to one family and a story from USA Today, being bumped for a flight caused a man’s death.

The widow of an Air France passenger is suing the airline for bumping her husband. She claims the airline’s decision to bump her husband “caused him to miss a life-saving dialysis treatment at home,” Travel Weekly (free registration) writes. Carmelita Llorera and the estate of Romiel Llorera are listed as plaintiffs in a suit Travel Weekly says was filed in San Francisco. It charges Air France with breach of contract, negligence and wrongful death.

The Llorera family had been booked on a Paris-to-San Francisco flight on Jan. 2, 2006, but were told when they arrived at the airport that they had been bumped from their flight because it was oversold. Romiel Llorera was scheduled for dialysis treatment in San Francisco the following day, and court papers say that the family “repeatedly advised” Air France agent about his need to make it to California for the treatment. “The airline booked the family on a flight the next day. He died on the flight home,” Travel Weekly writes.

Popularity: 36% [?]

According to safetravel.dot.gov:

Effective January 1, 2008, the following rules apply to the spare lithium batteries you carry with you in case the battery in a device runs low:

• Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
• You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
• You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
• Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

The following quantity limits apply to both your spare and installed batteries. The limits are expressed in grams of “equivalent lithium content.” 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours:

• Under the new rules, you can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content. All lithium ion batteries in cell phones are below 8 gram equivalent lithium content. Nearly all laptop computers also are below this quantity threshold.
• You can also bring up to two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold. Examples of two types of lithium ion batteries with equivalent lithium content over 8 grams but below 25 are shown below.
• For a lithium metal battery, whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the limit on lithium content is 2 grams of lithium metal per battery.
• Almost all consumer-type lithium metal batteries are below 2 grams of lithium metal. But if you are unsure, contact the manufacturer!

read more

Popularity: 35% [?]

TravelMole reports that :

An AAP report says that a strike by more than 1,500 Qantas engineers will remain in the wings until the new year, with the airline today offering an olive branch to the technicians’ union.

More than 1,700 aircraft engineers will walk off the job on January 9 in protest against growing casualisation of the workforce and erosion of working conditions.

Almost 90 per cent of members from the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) voted for the action following the breakdown of enterprise negotiations with the airline.

As someone who wears blue jeans to work in a Silicon Valley company “casualization” sounds like a good thing, but in Australia casualization means something else entirely:

What is casualisation?

Casualisation has two main meanings. It is often used loosely in the international
literature to refer to the spread of bad conditions of work such as employment
insecurity, irregular hours, intermittent employment, low wages and an absence of
standard employment benefits (eg Basso, 2003). In Australia, it has a slightly
narrower but more solid meaning. Because our labour markets contain a prominent
form of employment that has been given a label of �casual�, casualisation in the
Australian literature usually refers to a process whereby more and more of the
workforce is employed in these �casual� jobs.

Popularity: 39% [?]

Charlie Furnas was the first passenger on a fixed wing aircraft in 1908 when he took a flight on the Wright Brothers plane. (The Wright Brothers never flew together because they promised their father they would not). Almost 100 years later a the Airbus A380 took its first commercial flight today with somewhat more space for passengers.

The commercial flight for an A380 is a Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Sydney, Australia. The flight is configured to have 471 passengers. The passengers for this particular flight bought their tickets on an eBay auction. According to ForImmediateRelease.Net:

On board today’s flight are many of the successful bidders, as well as representatives of the world media. Some interesting facts:

• The youngest customer is a 10 month-old boy from Singapore
• The oldest is a 91 year-old man, also from Singapore, travelling with his
family. His son bought the Singapore Airlines Suites ticket for him in the charity auction;
• Mr Julian Hayward bought the first Suite on the flight, paying US$100,380
for him and a friend to travel from Singapore to Sydney;
• Among passengers is Mr Thomas Lee, from California, who was a passenger on
the world’s first Boeing 747 commercial flight between New York and London in 1970.
• Also travelling is Ms Isabelle Chu, a travel agent from Perth, who is
flying in both directions on the A380. Ms Chu flew in both directions on the first Singapore Airlines A340-500 flights between Singapore and Los Angeles, and Singapore and New York, non-stop in 2004, with just time for shower between flights. This time, she will enjoy an overnight stopover in Sydney.
• The passengers represent 35 different nationalities, with the largest group
being Australians (28%), then Singaporeans (14%), then Britons (11%) and Americans (8%). Those who have come furthest for the first flight are 4 Norwegians.
• The most common first name of passengers is David, with 11.
• The ratio of male to female passengers on board is 7:3.

The A380 could be good news for travelers as it could lower rates on certain routes, but think how many crying babies you could fit on board.

Popularity: 19% [?]