Passenger Transportation Blog

Dubai is one of the nicest places with many luxurious buildings in the city, such as nice hotels and artificial islands. This airport handles mostly transfer passengers as it is a hub between Europe and Asia.

I arrived the airport at 4am and it was already filled with people. The airport was nice, but not as luxurious as I thought it would be. It is supposed to be the largest airport terminal in the world so it took me 30 mins to walk from one end to another end.

The greatest perk is that if you are a transfer passenger with more than 4 hours of layover at the airport, you get to access their Transfer Passenger Lounge for free. You’ll find all kinds of food and drinks which you can get as much as you want!

Good experience, and Emirates is a great airline too!

I’m going on a long trip to Paris, and on my way I stopped by Beijing Capital International Airport. The airport is very nice, with lots of amenities, but to be honest, it’s quite empty. There are many workers working there and manyvof them are doing nothing. They keep cleaning  washrooms that nobody uses.

The airport seems too big despite it has over 73 million passengers recorded last year.

Air Asia, the biggest low cost carrier in Asia, recently signed a contract to buy 200+ A320-neo. They made such a giant deal because they are planning to expand rapidly in the future, especially when the China market opens up, there will be a huge opportunity.

Why is Air Asia successful? One of the main factors is that the company is trying to cut costs. For example, in the address by the Air Asia X CEO at the 15th Air Transportation Research Society in Sydney, Australia, Azran Osman-Rani explained that normal airlines have a set schedule for each route. That is, the 8am flight will always be 8am everyday. Air Asia is not using that model. They have different schedule every day to maximize the utilization of the aircrafts. This will reduce parking charge at airports as many of them only offer two to three hours for free.

Furthermore, by not using the boarding bridge at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal, the company further saves unnecessary costs.

This is how airlines survive in the polarized industry.

This is how frequent flyer program keeps customers using their airlines over and over again.

United Airlines Customer Tom Stuker to Fly 10 Millionth Mile This Saturday – MarketWatch.

Here’s more proof for a fierce competition with the low cost airline, Virgin Australia.

Qantas today announced a new domestic fare structure providing customers with greater simplicity, flexibility and further Qantas Frequent Flyer benefits when travelling with Qantas. The changes apply across the domestic mainline and regional networks.
Qantas Group Executive Commercial, Mr Rob Gurney said the new fare structure would be implemented for tickets booked from Thursday 7 July 2011.
“We have listened to feedback from our customers and are committed to ensuring our customers have access to a range of user-friendly and flexible fare options,” Mr Gurney said.
“The previous four economy fare families have been reduced to three and now include Red eDeal, Flexi Saver and Fully Flexible fares.
“Regardless of which fare type you book for Qantas domestic travel we offer a meal or refreshment, inflight entertainment (except on QantasLink services) and a checked baggage allowance of one piece of luggage up to 23 kilograms.
Qantas Domestic Fares
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Red eDeal –the lowest year-round fares we offer providing the best value for mon
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Flexi Saver – fares offering a greater range of flexibility and cho
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Fully Flexible – fares offering complete flexibility with full refund opt
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Business – our full premium fare, which provides additional baggage allowances, Neil Perry designed menus, Business class Frequent Flyer points earn and access to dedicated Businelounges in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra dom
“Qantas remains committed to ensuring it is best for business and accordingly we are very pleased to be making these changes to strengthen our domestic and regional offering” Mr Gurney said.
Qantas Frequent Flyer CEO Mr Simon Hickey said further enhancements have also been made to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program as part of the domestic fare restructure, providing even greater benefits for the program’s 7.8 million members.
“From 7 July 2011, all Qantas Domestic Economy fares, now including Red eDeals, will be eligible for Domestic Flight Upgrade Awards to Business using Qantas Frequent Flyer points, where available.” Mr Hickey said.
“In addition all flexible domestic fares will be classed as ‘Economy’ resulting in improved Status credit earn and upgrade rates for members on more fares.
“When buying one of these new fares for a service operated by Qantas, our members are guaranteed to continue earning at least 1000 points on even the shortest flight or most affordable ticket.
“The Qantas Frequent Flyer program is also set to roll out more exciting changes for members over the coming months. For example, in late 2011 we plan to roll out a smoother, more convenient points upgrade request and notification process, including SMS confirmation of upgrades.
“We are committed to providing better value for our members and to keep evolving our product to ensure the program remains at the forefront of loyalty offerings around the world.”

Air Transport News.