Boeing: 787 first flight late next month
After months of delays, Boeing’s Dreamliner is set to fly in late December.
Preparations for the flight remain on hold until validation tests on static test airframe ZY997 are finished. Even then there’s more waiting to go through while Boeing and the FAA evaluate the results and confirm the design meets the required goals.
The future of airline seating: watch this space
Aircraft interior designer Design Q is proposing a seating design called MaxCabin.
Basically, Design Q has replaced conventional seat rows with inward-facing seats on either side of the aircraft, plus two back-to-back rows down the middle.
While the look may take some getting used to, there are plenty of examples of this configuration working, says Design Q’s founder and chief designer, Howard Guy. “Seating sideways is common on other types of transport, buses, trains and even VIP jets,” he says.
Southwest Airlines’ strategy for growth is in the bag
With the legacy carriers charging fees to check even the first bag, Southwest is bucking the trend by not charging for the first checked bag. This resulted in an increase in passenger volume.
Southwest is confident its strategy is paying off. It believes about 2 percent to 3 percent of its customers are defectors from other carriers because of fees, said Kevin Krone, the carrier’s vice president of marketing, sales and distribution.
(Photo: markjhandel/Flickr Creative Commons)
