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Showing posts from January, 2023

Brief Summary of the Airbus Electric Airplanes

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  (courtesy:https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/zero-emission-journey/electric-flight ) The search for the right fuel for airplanes which is commercially and technically viable has been going on for many decades. There was a long standing understanding among the innovators that the fossil-based fuels are not going to last forever and alternatives need to be found. Airbus, one of the foremost aircraft manufacturers of the world has been working on different types of fuels which can be used for powering the commercial planes of future. Electric powered planes are one of these initiatives. Airbus has been working on this technology for a long time . Let us have check out the progress made by the company in developing these airplanes over the years. The first major breakthrough was in the year 2010 when it developed CriCri. This was a cute little airplane with four-engines that was fully electric. In the very next year, the company, riding high on its achievement, decides to get int...

Why Booking Cheap Flights Online Has Its Own Benefits?

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Whenever you have to book flight tickets, you have the option of doing so offline or online. Broadly, these are the two ways of making a flight reservation. Within the offline method, you can make use of the phone call or even pay a visit to the airline or agency office to do the needful. Offline booking requires active interaction with the flight agent, whereas doing so online you are on your own. For people experienced in online medium, this is a cakewalk. However, for the first timers, there is some hesitancy in using it. This makes them reach out the phone since it provides a convenient way out. Another reason why people are not able to make use of the online medium is that they are not very confident about their ability to enter their own details correctly or provide the required documents. They would love someone to take this headache on their behalf and they just get to travel without hassles. Most of the time these kinds of issues are with the elderly people or those who are ...

Pregnant Women Carriage Policies of US Airlines

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  United Airlines: Before 36th week- No certificate needed In or after 36th week- Certificate from obstetrician needed Dated within three days (72 hours) of your flight departure Delta Airlines No certificate needed. If flying after 8th month, doc needs to be checked.  American Airlines Domestic flights- not allowed to fly within 7 days of departure time of flight. International flights- If due date is within 4 weeks of scheduled departure time of flight, then doctor's certificate is needed.This shall not be more than 48 hrs old. jetBlue If delivery date is within 7 days, then not allowed to fly without doctor certificate.It shall not be more than 72 hrs old.  Southwest Airlines Not allowed beginning 38th week of pregnancy. Doctoral consultation is recommended. Alaska Airlines Allows air travel but requires passenger to consult doctor before flying Hawaiian Airlines The condition is to seek doctor's certificate is travel has to happen within 7 days pre- and post- pregnanc...

Why Look For Open Jaw Flights For Best Fares?

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  Open Jaw flights are a variation of the multi-city flights with a key difference that there is a flight involved in every sector of travel in case of multi-city flights whereas there can be other modes of transportation involved in between the journey in case of the Open Jaw flights. Let us consider an example to understand this clearly. Flight from point A to point B and from thereon to point C is an example of the multi-city flight, whereas flight from point A to Point B and moving on bus to point C and from point C to come to point D is an example of the Open Jaw flight . Basically, in an open jaw flight, you do not come back to the home station by travelling on a reverse course. You may from a different city. People do consider this type of flight booking as per their convenience, avoiding wastage of time or saving more money during the course of journey. These provide cheap domestic flights since these are considered to be cheaper than the two one-way tickets, just as in ...

Carrying Smart Bags In Airplanes

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  What is a Smart bag? Let us first understand what a smart bag is. It is not theusual cabin or check-in baggage which is normally carried in the airplanes. Rather, it is a bag with a battery. IATA defines a smart bag as “a luggage that contains a battery used to power itself or to recharge other devices”. So, basically it is the in-built battery which comes along with the smart bag which makes it ‘smart’. Due to this inherent powering capability, a smart bag can be used for many other features that are associated with power. Important Features of Smart Bags ·          Tracking - It can be tracked using GPS, GPRS, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. ·          Charging Devices- Due to inbuilt power of power-bank and presence of ports, it is possible to charge a number of other devices as well. ·          In-built scales- Some laptops have inbuilt scales which shows h...

Save Millions Per Plane Using Additive Manufacturing

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Demand for air travel is increasing and will continue to do so in future. Sensing this, airline companies are placing orders for more airplanes to augment their capacities to meet this demand. When an airplane is made, it is not just the plane, but also the components which have to be manufactured as spares. The aircraft manufacturers have their kitty full with these orders for many years. The production process plays a very critical role in defining the cost of a plane. Any change in the production process, which could reduce the time of manufacturing, damage to environment and minimize wastages, will not only meet the demand well in time, but also be able to reduce the costs. Additive manufacturing concepts, based on the 3-D printing technology, is reshaping the airplane manufacturing industry. Let’s examine this in detail. 1.        On-demand faster production- With the help of 3-D printing technology, you have the ability to produce airplanes much fas...

Airline Pricing Algorithm Works on ‘Maximize Profit” Objective for Every Flight

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  Airlines price their tickets dynamically, based on an algorithm which seeks to bring out the best price of a ticket at a point of time considering that the airline has to maximize its profit. That is the ultimate goal of the algorithm. In going about this task, the algorithm seeks to balance the price of ticket and the number of seats in a flight. The price influenced by current demand, number of seats available and the time at which booking is done. A complex interplay of these and certain other factors is considered for bringing out the best price of a plane ticket. We can briefly discuss some of the special case scenarios and try to understand how does the algorithm operate to gain maximum price in these situations? Bumping-Offloading of Passengers The term ‘ bumping ’ refers to deplaning or not allowing passengers to board an airplane in case the plane is overbooked against their wish. The ones who volunteer to off-load on their own are offered vouchers or incentives f...

How Practical Is It To Book Cheap Flights in Advance?

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  It has often been told to the people that the best way to book cheap flights is to book in advance of the travel date.   Often people have a conflict over whether the last minute booking is good or the advance booking. Some people would like to wait till the end to see if the airline drops the price or not. However, due to the inherent problems associated with this way of booking, the next best course is to book in advance. While the literature does say that advance reservations are cheap, it does not say with conviction how much early it shall be done. You would find varying recommendations from different sources. Some would say about 10 days, some would like this to happen 3 weeks before while few others will like it to be done 3 to 6 months in advance. This leaves the reader confused about the best time frame for ticket booking. But, is it really practical for the people to predict way in advance about when they are going to travel? By account of most of the people, ...