itravelnet.com Travel Blog

Check out this amazing animated representation of every airline in the world in the air over a 24 hour period.



If you can't see the video view it here:
World Air Traffic in 24 hours

Labels: airlines

This post has moved to Iraqi Airways - Still open for business.

Labels: airlines, casablanca, morocco

Ryanair 1 Pound Sale - no other taxes, fees or charges to pay.



Airlines might be dropping off like flies due to high oil prices and the global credit crunch, just don't tell Ryanair that. The Irish low cost airline is having a 1 pound seat sale. That one British Pound will get you a one way fare with no other taxes, fees or charges to pay.

Booking Period: Wed 10th Sep 08 - Sun 14th Sep 08
Travel Period: Tue 23rd Sep 08 - Fri 31st Oct 08
Applicable Days: Mon - Thurs & Sat (subject to availability)
Blackout Period: 17th Oct '08 - 03rd Nov '08 to/from Edinburgh / Glasgow (Prestwick) 24th Oct '08 - 03rd Nov '08 to/from UK / Ireland
Notes on this fare: All Holidays, School Breaks and Major Sporting Events are excluded from this offer

From London (Stansted)
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Alghero (Sardinia) 1.00
Angouleme (Cognac) 1.00
Belfast (City) 1.00
Bologna 1.00
Bologna (Forli) 1.00
Bratislava (Vienna) 1.00
Bremen 1.00
Bydgoszcz 1.00
Cork 1.00
Derry 1.00
Dinard 1.00
Dublin 1.00
Dusseldorf (Weeze) 1.00
Eindhoven 1.00
Frankfurt (Hahn) 1.00
Gdansk 1.00
Glasgow (Prestwick) 1.00
Grenoble Lyon 1.00
Hamburg (Luebeck) 1.00
Karlsruhe-Baden 1.00
Katowice 1.00
Kerry 1.00
Knock-IrelandWest 1.00
La Rochelle 1.00
Linz 1.00
Madrid 1.00
Marseille Provence MP2 1.00
Milan (Orio al Serio) 1.00
Montpellier 1.00
Nantes (Brittany) 1.00
Newquay 1.00
Oslo (Torp) 1.00
Palma Mallorca 1.00
Perpignan 1.00
Poitiers 1.00
Poznan 1.00
Pula (Istria)(Croatia) 1.00
Rimini 1.00
Rodez 1.00
Santander 1.00
Shannon 1.00
Stockholm (Vasteras) 1.00
Szczecin 1.00
Toulon St. Tropez 1.00
Tours Loire Valley 1.00
Valladolid 1.00
Zaragoza (Pyrenees) 1.00
Zweibrucken 1.00

From London (Luton)
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Barcelona (Girona) 1.00
Beziers Cap d'Agde 1.00
Brest Brittany 1.00
Dublin 1.00
Kerry 1.00
Milan (Bergamo) 1.00
Nimes 1.00
Rzeszow 1.00
Shannon 1.00
Szczecin 1.00

From Birmingham
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Biarritz 1.00
Billund 1.00
Bologna 1.00
Bologna (Forli) 1.00
Bratislava (Vienna) 1.00
Derry 1.00
Dinard 1.00
Dublin 1.00
Dusseldorf (Weeze) 1.00
Frankfurt (Hahn) 1.00
Gdansk 1.00
Katowice 1.00
Krakow 1.00
Marseille Provence MP2 1.00
Oslo (Torp) 1.00
Perpignan 1.00
Pisa (Florence) 1.00
Poitiers 1.00
Prague 1.00
Shannon 1.00
Stockholm 1.00
Szczecin 1.00
Trieste 1.00

From Liverpool
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Belfast (City) 1.00
Bydgoszcz 1.00
Cork 1.00
Derry 1.00
Dublin 1.00
Gdansk 1.00
Knock-IrelandWest 1.00
Krakow 1.00
Milan (Bergamo) 1.00
Nantes (Brittany) 1.00
Nimes 1.00
Shannon 1.00
Stockholm 1.00
Szczecin 1.00
Wroclaw 1.00

From Glasgow (Prestwick)
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Belfast (City) 1.00
Bournemouth 1.00
Cork 1.00
Derry 1.00
Dublin 1.00
Dusseldorf (Weeze) 1.00
Frankfurt (Hahn) 1.00
London (Stansted) 1.00
Marseille Provence MP2 1.00
Oslo (Torp) 1.00
Paris (Beauvais) 1.00
Shannon 1.00
Stockholm 1.00
Wroclaw 1.00

From Newcastle
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Dublin 1.00

From Bournemouth
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Dublin 1.00
Edinburgh 1.00
Glasgow (Prestwick) 1.00
Marseille Provence MP2 1.00
Milan (Bergamo) 1.00
Nantes (Brittany) 1.00
Paris (Beauvais) 1.00
Wroclaw 1.00

From Blackpool
Fares include taxes, fees & charges

Dublin 1.00

Ryanair.com

Labels: airlines, ryanair, travel-deals

US low cost airline JetBlue have launched a promotion selling flights on eBay. Visit their eBay Store: stores.ebay.com/JetBlueAirways

JetBlue are offering no reserve auctions on flights and packages. So far there are already plenty of bidders on all the flights listed, so I don't think you will find any bargain basement fares here. Points for JetBlue though for trying something different.

Labels: airlines, jetblue, travel-deals

Tiger Airways Singapore is 4 years old, and to celebrate they are having a S$0.04 seat sale. 100,000 seats are available for S$0.04 one way, excluding taxes and charges.

Buy between 8 Sep 08 and 14 Sep 08, or until seats sell out. Conditions apply.

Fares to/from Singapore
- Guangzhou from S$0.04
- Shenzhen from S$0.04
- Bangkok from S$0.04
- Bangalore from S$0.04
- Kuala Lumpur from S$0.04
- Chennai from S$0.04
- Padang from S$0.04
- Phuket from S$0.04
- Macau from S$0.04
- Haikou from S$0.04
- Ho Chi Minh City from S$0.04
- Hanoi from S$0.04

tigerairways.com

Labels: airlines, tiger-airways, travel-deals

Last week AirAsia had a great MEL - KUL seat sale. Now there is a sale on covering the entire AirAsia network. 1 million seats on sale for free, just pay the taxes and charges.


Booking Period: 26 Aug 2008 - 31 Aug 2008
Travel Period: 1 Apr 2009 - 31 Jul 2009

AirAsia.com

Labels: air-asia, airlines, travel-deals

UK based low cost airline bmibaby.com are having a quick fare sale - over 100,000 seats available, just pay taxes & charges.


This offer ends midnight Tuesday 19th August and is available for travel from 10th September until 11th December 2008.

fly from Birmingham Intl, Cardiff Intl, East Midlands, Manchester and Glasgow.

bmibaby.com

Labels: airlines, bmibaby, travel-deals

The Skytrax World Airline Awards is the world's most respected and recognised Airline Awards.

The worldwide survey totalled 15,442,605 respondents with over 95 different passenger nationalities participating in the survey.

The list is once again dominated by the long haul airlines of the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.

2008 Skytrax World Airline Award rankings:

1 Singapore Airlines (1)
2 Cathay Pacific (3)
3 Qantas (5)
4 Thai Airways (2)
5 Asiana Airlines (12)
6 Malaysia Airlines (6)
7 Qatar Airways (4)
8 Air New Zealand (7)
9 Emirates (9)
10 Etihad Airways (23)

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR
Singapore Airlines

BEST LOW-COST AIRLINE
easyJet

BEST CABIN STAFF
Asiana Airlines

BEST INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Emirates

BEST FIRST CLASS LOUNGE
Qantas

BEST BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE
Virgin Atlantic

BEST ECONOMY CLASS
Asiana Airlines

BEST FIRST CLASS
Cathay Pacific

BEST BUSINESS CLASS
Singapore Airlines

BEST AIRLINE : AFRICA
South African Airways

BEST AIRLINE : EUROPE
Lufthansa

BEST AIRLINE : MIDDLE EAST
Qatar Airways

BEST AIRLINE : NORTH AMERICA
Continental Airlines

BEST AIRLINE : SOUTH AMERICA
LAN

BEST AIRLINE : AUSTRALASIA
Qantas

BEST AIRLINE : ASIA
Singapore Airlines

Labels: airlines, awards

the European Commission have updated their list of airlines that are banned from flying within the EU.

Website: Banned Airlines

The first list includes all airlines banned from operating in Europe. The second list includes airlines which are restricted to operating in Europe under specific conditions.

List of air carriers of which all operations are subject to a ban within the EC

Democratic People Republic of Korea (DPRK)
AIR KORYO

Sudan
AIR WEST CO. LTD

Afghanistan
ARIANA AFGHAN AIRLINES

Rwanda
SILVERBACK CARGO FREIGHTERS

Angola
TAAG ANGOLA AIRLINES

Ukraine
UKRAINE CARGO AIRWAYS
UKRAINIAN MEDITERRANEAN AIRLINES
VOLARE AVIATION ENTREPRISE

Gabon
AIR SERVICES SA
AIR TOURIST (ALLEGIANCE)
NATIONALE ET REGIONALE TRANSPORT (NATIONALE)
NOUVELLE AIR AFFAIRES GABON (SN2AG)
SCD AVIATION
SKY GABON
SOLENTA AVIATION GABON

Liberia
All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Liberia.

Democratic Republic of Congo
All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Democratic Republic of Congo.

AFRICA ONE
AFRICAN AIR SERVICES COMMUTER SPRL
AIGLE AVIATION
AIR BENI
AIR BOYOMA
AIR INFINI
AIR KASAI
AIR NAVETTE
AIR TROPIQUES S.P.R.L.
BEL GLOB AIRLINES
BLUE AIRLINES
BRAVO AIR CONGO
BUSINESS AVIATION S.P.R.L.
BUTEMBO AIRLINES
CARGO BULL AVIATION
CETRACA AVIATION SERVICE
CHC STELLAVIA
COMAIR
COMPAGNIE AFRICAINE D'AVIATION (CAA)
DOREN AIR CONGO
EL SAM AIRLIFT
ESPACE AVIATION SERVICE
FILAIR
FREE AIRLINES
GALAXY INCORPORATION
GOMA EXPRESS
GOMAIR
GREAT LAKE BUSINESS COMPANY
HEWA BORA AIRWAYS (HBA)
I.T.A.B. - INTERNATIONAL TRANS AIR BUSINESS
KATANGA AIRWAYS
KIVU AIR
LIGNES AERIENNES CONGOLAISES
MALU AVIATION
MALILA AIRLIFT
MANGO AIRLINES
PIVA AIRLINES
RWAKABIKA BUSHI EXPRESS
SAFARI LOGISTICS SPRL
SAFE AIR COMPANY
SERVICES AIR
SUN AIR SERVICES
TEMBO AIR SERVICES
THOM'S AIRWAYS
TMK AIR COMMUTER
TRACEP CONGO
TRANS AIR CARGO SERVICE
TRANSPORTS AERIENS CONGOLAIS (TRACO)
VIRUNGA AIR CHARTER
WIMBI DIRA AIRWAYS
ZAABU INTERNATIONAL

Equatorial Guinea
All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Equatorial Guinea.

CRONOS AIRLINES
CEIBA INTERCONTINENTAL
EUROGUINEANA DE AVIACION Y TRANSPORTES
GENERAL WORK AVIACION
GETRA - GUINEA ECUATORIAL DE TRANSPORTES AEREOS
UTAGE - UNION DE TRANSPORT AEREO DE GUINEA ECUATORIAL

Indonesia
All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Indonesia.

AIR PACIFIC UTAMA
AIRFAST INDONESIA
ASCO NUSA AIR TRANSPORT
ASI PUDJIASTUTI
ATLAS DELTASATYA
AVIASTAR MANDIRI
BALAI KALIBRASI FASITAS PENERBANGAN
DABI AIR NUSANTARA
DERAYA AIR TAXI
DERAZONA AIR SERVICE
DIRGANTARA AIR SERVICE
EASTINDO
EKSPRES TRANSPORTASI ANTAR BENUA
GARUDA INDONESIA
GATARI AIR SERVICE
HELIZONA
INDONESIA AIR ASIA
INDONESIA AIR TRANSPORT
INTAN ANGKASA AIR SERVICE
KARTIKA AIRLINES
KURA-KURA AVIATION
LION MENTARI ARILINES
LINUS AIRWAYS
MANDALA AIRLINES
MANUNGGAL AIR SERVICE
MEGANTARA AIRLINES
MERPATI NUSANTARA
METRO BATAVIA
NATIONAL UTILITY HELICOPTER
PELITA AIR SERVICE
PENERBANGAN ANGKASA SEMESTA
PURA WISATA BARUNA
REPUBLIC EXPRES AIRLINES
RIAU AIRLINES
SAMPURNA AIR NUSANTARA
SAYAP GARUDA INDAH
SMAC
SRIWIJAYA AIR
SURVEI UDARA PENAS
TRANSWISATA PRIMA AVIATION
TRAVEL EXPRES AIRLINES
TRAVIRA UTAMA
TRI MG INTRA AIRLINES
TRI MG INTRA AIRLINES
TRIGANA AIR SERVICE
WING ABADI NUSANTARA

Kyrgyzstan
All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of the Kyrgyz Republic.

AIR MANAS
ARTIK AVIA
ASIA ALPHA AIRWAYS
AVIA TRAFFIC COMPANY
BISTAIR-FEZ BISHKEK
CLICK AIRWAYS
DAMES
EASTOK AVIA ESEN AIR
GOLDEN RULE AIRLINES
ITEK AIR
KYRGYZ TRANS AVIA
KYRGYZSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN AIRLINES
MAX AVIA
OHS AVIA
S GROUP AVIATION
SKY GATE INTERNATIONAL AVIATION
SKY WAY AIR
TENIR AIRLINES
TRAST AERO
VALOR AIR

Sierra Leone
All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Sierra Leone.

AIR RUM, LTD
BELLVIEW AIRLINES (S/L) LTD
DESTINY AIR SERVICES, LTD
HEAVYLIFT CARGO
ORANGE AIR SIERRA LEONE LTD
PARAMOUNT AIRLINES, LTD
SEVEN FOUR EIGHT AIR SERVICES LTD
TEEBAH AIRWAYS

Swaziland
All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Swaziland.

AERO AFRICA (PTY) LTD
JET AFRICA SWAZILAND
ROYAL SWAZI NATIONAL AIRWAYS CORPORATION
SCAN AIR CHARTER, LTD
SWAZI EXPRESS AIRWAYS
SWAZILAND AIRLINK

Air carriers of which operations are subject to operational restrictions within the EC

Republic of Gabon
AFRIJET
GABON AIRLINES

Bangladesh
AIR BANGLADESH

Comoros
AIR SERVICE COMORES

Labels: airlines, europe

Premium Class Airlines (or business class only airlines) haven't fared well in the recent surge of oil prices. While three airlines have gone bust in the last 6 months, there are still Premium Class Airlines in operation.

This is the state of the Premium Class Airline sector:

Closed

Maxjet, based at Washington Dulles International Airport, ceased operations on Christmas eve 2007.


Eos Airlines, based at JFK New York, ceased operations in April 2008.



Silverjet, based at London Luton, ceased operations in May 2008.


Still Operating

L'Avion operate flights from their Paris Orly base to New York Newark. They also operate a codeshare service with British Airways subsidiary OpenSkies


PrivatAir provide scheduled services operated on behalf of Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines and KLM.


Proposed

These are tough times to be launching a new airline, let alone a Premium Class Airline, but there are two new airlines on the horizon.

ArabJet is a proposed premium class airline based in Dubai, and is due to commence operations in 2009.


Premjet is a start-up based at London Luton in the UK. Premjet has a different model to previous premium class airlines in that it plans to service the leisure market rather than the business market. It will fly from Luton and Manchester to Toulon (France), Faro (Portugal), Palma - Mallorca and Malaga (Spain).

References: Premium Class Airlines

Labels: airlines, arabjet, eos-airlines, lavion, maxjet, premjet, privatair, silverjet

This post has moved to Airlines on Twitter.

Labels: airlines, twitter

There are countless airline industry and airline fan blogs online, but not much in the way of blogs from the actual airlines.

I am compiling a list of official Airline Blogs and this is the list so far:

AirAsia
blog.airasia.com

American Airlines
aaconversation.blogspot.com (closed)

Delta Air Lines
blog.delta.com

OpenSkies
blog.flyopenskies.com

Southwest
blogsouthwest.com/blogsw

If you are from an airline or know of an official airline blog that isn't on the list please leave a comment.

Labels: airlines

OpenSkies is a subsidiary airline of British Airways that has been set up to take advantage of the Open Skies agreement between the US and Europe.

The Open Skies agreement began in March and Air France have fired the first salvo into BA's Heathrow heartland with flights now operating from London to Los Angeles.

With airlines outside of Britain looking to operate flights from Heathrow, BA will compete with Continental European airlines with OpenSkies flights operating from European cities.

As well as operating from Paris, OpenSkies plan to expand services to other European cities including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan and Rome.

OpenSkies Website

OpenSkies begin flights on June 19 between New York JFK and Paris Orly, and the website is now taking bookings. It is a beautiful looking website for an airline site. It's not cluttered like, say, Ryanair (which looks more like someones Myspace.com page), and it has a soft font in the web 2.0 style. It even has a blog.

Making a booking is simple enough as well, (though how hard could it be seeing they only have two destinations at the moment).

I tried out the booking facility to see how it works and, most importantly, check out the fares. I scrolled through many dates and already the restricted economy fares have sold out.

I found an economy fare for $285 before tax, but that disappeared before I got to the booking stage. I did find two fares for $315.50 each way before tax.







The total fare for New York Paris return was for $745.03.

I then compared this fare with flights on the same date found on comparison site Kayak.com.

For the same airports (JFK - ORY) the OpenSkies flight also shows up (as a British Airways flight). Searching for flights from all New York and Paris airports shows only one cheaper flight (with Air India).





So price wise OpenSkies is competitive. We wait for June for flight reviews.

Labels: airlines, new york, open skies, openskies, paris

Qantas will be the second airline to receive the much delayed Airbus A380 superjumbo. Launch customer Singapore Airlines had their first A380 delivered in October 2007, and have since received four. Qantas will not receive their first A380 until a year later in October 2008.

The exact date hasn't been released, but it has been reported that the debut route will be from Melbourne to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile photos of the Qantas A380 being prepared can be seen in this photo gallery.

Labels: a380, airlines, qantas, travel news

Australia and US

When booking international flights from Australia it is not uncommon to see the ridiculous situation of flights to London being cheaper than flights to Los Angeles.

This currently stands because only two airlines, Qantas and United, are allowed to operate direct flights between the US and Australia.

This is set to change with the Open Skies Accord that was agreed between Australia and the US. V Australia will commence flights between the two nations in December, which has already prompted fare reductions from Qantas.

Australia and Europe

The next frontier is for an open skies agreement between Australia and the EU. Talks have already begun for an Open-sky pact with the EU.

There are currently no European airlines operating flights to Australia. No Continental European I should say. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic still fly to Sydney. The obvious cultural ties keeping British long haul services active. Austrian Airlines was the last Continental European airline to fly to Australia, ceasing operations in 2007.

Further reading on the Flight of the European airlines.

I recently saw a reminder of European airline presence in Australia with a JAT Yugoslav model aeroplane, like you used to see in travel agents, at a second hand shop.


An open skies agreement may not bring back the European airlines to Australian skies anyway. The big Asian and Middle Eastern airlines are better suited to operating between the two lands, and the European airlines only need to fly to an Asian hub and partner with an alliance airline from there.

An open skies agreement between Australia and the EU would benefit Qantas, who plan to operate Jetstar services to Athens and Rome.

Labels: airlines, australia, europe, usa

The typical low cost airline operates on a point-to-point basis. Costs are kept down as there are no bags to check through to another flight, and no waiting for connections due to delayed flights.

Some of the low cost airline networks have become so big though that passengers independently book multi leg flights to get to where they want to go as it still works out cheaper than booking through a scheduled airline.

There is the risk that if your first flight is delayed and you miss the connection you will lose your second flight, but if you are savings hundreds of £/€/$'s, it is a gamble I know many take.

Tigers Airways offers the ability to booking two flights in the one booking session with their Flight Combo service. This is a great idea as it saves you having to work out if both flights you need are available and you save an extra booking fee.



On the Tiger Airways network possible combination examples include:

Melbourne - Darwin - Singapore
Darwin - Singapore - Chennai
Perth - Singapore - Ho Chi Minh City

Passengers need to be aware that this is still a point-to-point service so connections are not guaranteed. Tiger Airways conditions of carriage state:

We are strictly a point-to-point carrier and shall not be responsible to you for any connecting flights.

A European airline that offers multi leg bookings is Air Berlin. Their destination map show where you can fly to (although it doesn't indicate that it is a connecting flight until you are at the booking stage).





I would like to see such booking facilities on other low cost airlines with large networks, like Ryanair and easyJet in Europe. Low cost airline flyers are savvy enough to know that you must reclaim baggage and check in again on the next flight.

With oil prices going through the roof and airlines feeling the pressure of fuel prices, connecting flights through hubs may become more viable for low cost airlines rather than operating so many point-to-point services.

Labels: airlines, low cost airlines

The Airbus A380 could soon have the option of being fitted out with male urinals. On long haul 747 flights there is always a long queue down the aisle at breakfast time, so this is a good idea for A380's that will eventually be carrying over 600 passengers.

With the space they save by using urinals they can then the water savings for showers.



Male Urinal for A380. Photo from DASELL Cabin Interior

Labels: airlines, public-toilet

Oasis Hong Kong may have gone under last week but there is still a budget long haul airline making a go of it in Asia. Malaysian airline Air Asia have released a sale fare for its Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur route for 169 Aussie dollars, including taxes.



Air Asia are awaiting delivery of more aircraft so they expand their network. They propose to expand in Australia to Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle and Melbourne (Avalon). To Europe possible destinations include London (Stansted), Manchester, Prague and Moscow. This could mean sale fares that sees $1000 AUD return flights from Australia to Europe.

Labels: air-asia, airlines

Hong Kong budget airline Oasis abruptly stopped flying Wednesday, leaving passengers stranded in Hong Kong, London and Vancouver. Passengers who have been caught out have been forced to make their own arrangements home. What a hassle that would be. They have been given phone numbers of other airlines to arrange return flights.



I took an Oasis flight last year from London to Hong Kong. It was their price that got me to fly with them. It seems now though that the long haul low cost airline concept might be doomed with spiralling fuel prices. Jet fuel prices nearly doubled in the 18 months that Oasis was operating. Such increases are proving difficult enough for established airlines, let alone newly started airlines.

Labels: airlines, hong-kong, oasis-hong-kong

This post has moved to Flight Review: Tiger Airways - Singapore to Melbourne.

Labels: airlines, australia, darwin, flight-review, melbourne, singapore, tiger-airways

Good news for Australian travellers (and American travelers) looking for flights between the US and Australia.

Australia's newest international Airline, V Australia, has announced daily direct Sydney-Los Angeles flights as its inaugural trans-Pacific route when it takes to the skies from 15 December 2008.

Fares are on sale now from $999 AUD return, inclusive of taxes and charges of approximately $415 AUD.

The airline has also announced that Northwest Airlines will offer codeshare flights across the United States and Canada.

V Australia, part of the Virgin Group, will be the first Australian airline (subject to regulatory approval) to offer an alternative to Qantas on the trans-Pacific route, which is possible now after the Open Skies Accord between Australia and the US that was agreed to last month.

Labels: airlines, australia, usa, v-australia

This post has moved to Flight Review: Jetstar - Melbourne to Bangkok.

Labels: airlines, bangkok, flight-review, jetstar, melbourne

This post has moved to MEL-SYD: The fourth busiest air route in the world.

Labels: airlines, australia, melbourne, sydney

The New Kangaroo Route - London to Sydney with Low Cost Airlines

Low cost airlines have now covered just about every short haul route possible and are now looking at inter-continental long haul flights. It will soon be possible to fly from the UK to Australia one stop, just like the traditional scheduled airlines.

Of course you don't have to fly to Australia in one stop. There are so many low cost carriers along the way that it is possible to break to trip up into multi stops like you would on a round the world ticket.

Flying like this though won't necessarily mean that your flight will be cheaper. And because most low cost airlines aren't in the booking systems of travel agents or online booking engines you have to do all the flight segment research yourself. For someone like me though that is half the fun.

If you are trying to fly straight through it's advisable to leave enough time between connecting flights. If one flight is late and you miss the next you will not just be able to get on the next flight like on a scheduled service. If you are trying to go straight through then one or two stops would be the most managable. Anything over that and you are better off enjoying the city you have flown to.

Here is a list of some route options to fly from London to Australia I have put together using only low cost airlines. Some stop over cities arrive in one city and depart from another city close by (eg Sharjah - Dubai and Hong Kong - Macau). Overland options (eg fly into Mumbai, out of Chennai) aren't included as there are so many possibilities.

One Stop

London (LGW) (Ferry to Macau) Macau (MFM)

to to

Hong Kong (HKG) Sydney (SYD)

Oasis Hong Kong (no longer operatiing) Viva Macau

These options for Macau are planned for 2008:

Macau (MFM)

to

Melbourne (AVV)

Viva Macau

These options for Kuala Lumpur are planned for 2008:

London (STN) Kuala Lumpur (KUL)

to to

Kuala Lumpur (KUL) Melbourne (AVV)

AirAsia AirAsia

Two Stops

London (STN) Dusseldorf (DUS) Bangkok (BKK)	to to to	Dusseldorf Weeze (NRN) Bangkok (BKK) Melbourne (MEL)	Ryanair Air Berlin Jetstar
London (STN) Dusseldorf (DUS) Phuket (HKT)	to to to	Dusseldorf (DUS) Phuket (HKT) Sydney (SYD)	Air Berlin Air Berlin Jetstar
London (STN) Munich (MUC) Bangkok (BKK)	to to to	Munich (MUC) Bangkok (BKK) Melbourne (MEL)	Air Berlin Air Berlin Jetstar

Three Stops

London Luton (LTN) Larnaca (LCA) Dubai (DXB) Kuala Lumpur (KUL)

to to to to

Larnaca (LCA) Dubai (DXB) Kuala Lumpur (KUL) Sydney (SYD)

Thomsonfly Jazeera Airways Air-India Express Jetstar

Four Stops

London (LTN) Istanbul (SAW) Dubai (DXB) Kochi (COK) Singapore (SIN)	to to to to to	Istanbul (SAW) Sharjah (SAH) Kochi (COK) Singapore (SIN) Perth (PER)	easyJet Air Arabia Jazeera Airways Tiger Airways Tiger Airways
London Stansted (STN) Larnaca (LCA) Kuwait (KWI) Mumbai (BOM) Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	to to to to to	Larnaca (LCA) Kuwait (KWI) Mumbai (BOM) Kuala Lumpur (KUL) Gold Coast (OOL)	Thomsonfly Jazeera Airways Jazeera Airways Air India Express AirAsia
London (LGW) Prague (PRG) Dubai (DXB) Mumbai (BOM) Bangkok (BKK)	to to to to to	Prague (PRG) Dubai (DXB) Mumbai (BOM) Bangkok (BKK) Melbourne (MEL)	easyJet Smartwings Jazeera Airways Air India Express Jetstar

I have only covered the kangaroo Route for the list, but it is possible to fly around the world using low cost airlines. If you have you flown from the UK to Australia or around the world on low cost airlines, or have made up some other possible itineraries, leave a comment.

Labels: airlines, australia, kangaroo route, london, low cost airlines, round the world, uk

This post has moved to Air spray on flights to Australia.

Labels: air spray, airlines, australia

This post has moved to Flight Review: Viva Macau - Macau to Sydney.

Labels: airlines, flight-review, macau, sydney, viva-macau

This post has moved to Oasis Hong Kong - London to Hong Kong.

Labels: airlines, airport, gatwick, hong-kong, london, oasis-hong-kong

Here is a refreshingly different take on the usually dry airline safety video from Virgin America.



Virgin America Safety Video

Labels: airlines, virgin-america

There is talk of introducing technology that will allow mobile phones to operate inflight. Britain's Telegraph have been running a petition to Say "no" to in-flight mobile phones. To add your name to the petition, follow this link:
Say "no" to in-flight mobile phones

Labels: airlines, mobile-phones

This post has moved to Call to prayer - in the air.

Labels: airlines, emirates, religion

Labels: airlines, airport, amsterdam, klm, netherlands, schiphol

This post has moved to More Hahn than Frankfurt.

Labels: airlines, frankfurt, frankfurt-hahn-airport, germany, ryanair