Blogosphere 5 Aug - 11 Aug

Gulf News web editor Adam Flinter plunges headlong into the blogosphere to find out what bloggers from the Middle East and beyond have on their minds.

Is it a bird?

Is it an elephant, is it a plane? It's a plane, of course - but not just any plane. It's the world's biggest commercial jet, which landed safe at Kennedy airport at the weekend.

Though it's as wide as a football field, the double-decker Emirates A380 made a smooth landing at Kennedy Airport on Friday following a 14-hour maiden journey from Dubai. The $320 million superjumbo jet - which can carry nearly 500 passengers. It even boasts bathrooms with showers, private first-class suites and an onboard lounge with a bartender.

Passengers lucky enough to be able to afford to fly on the super jumbo, gave it a big thumbs up. "When we got off the flight, I didn't feel like we had been on a 13-hour flight," raved Freeda Moraes, who flew with her husband, Harry. "We were quite fresh, not tired. It was quite a wonderful experience."

http://gothamnews.wordpress.com/2008/08/
03/is-it-an-elephant-is-it-a-plane-new-super
jumbo-lands-at-jfk/

Shower

Emirates got their first Airbus A380 . They have installed a spa for the first class passengers and it even includes a shower. Check out the Emirates homepage for more info and see videos and pictures at www.emirates.com. I doubt that I can afford to fly Emirates first class soon but I can dream :-) It is of course a bit ironic that they are introducing this now when the oil price has gone up so much and several other airlines are struggling. But I guess they know what they are doing

http://boards.independenttraveler.com/
showthread.php?t=13337

Mixed reviews

Hmmm, not sure what to think anymore. It certainly doesn't seem to have the "wow!" factor that SQ did when they first unveiled their A380, but I guess that's because the novelty of the A380 is starting to wear off.

Coach looks OK, nothing new there really. I think the interior colour is a bit ugly, but most would say I have zero taste in this regard. Business is interesting. The first link makes a very important point about the outer seats being better than the inner seats. What the heck is up with that? Something tells me that'll cause some small problems for Emirates, at least in terms of customer satisfaction.

First looks really nice, but that's not surprising. It's great to finally see an airline with showers, it's about time.

I wonder about the practicality of it though, how many people will actually choose to shower in the air when they could just do so on the ground with much more spacious facilities. That definitely sets a new standard in the industry, one that should be interesting to watch.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileat
atime/2008/07/29/emirates-takes-delivery-
of-first-a380-hmmm/

You should be so lucky

The world's largest passenger aircraft, fully pimped out in ultraluxury by Emirates airlines landed in New York.

What are your chances of ever riding in one of these giant Airbus A380s? Not so good, explains The Courant's Eric Gershon. The problem is that US airlines aren't buying the A380. They're not buying much of anything, as The New York Times explains, so your next trip on a US airline is unlikely to be on a new plane. The new A380s are going primarily to Asian and Middle Eastern airlines.

And most of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners, scheduled to start going into service next year, have been ordered by foreign airlines. Get used to it, Americans. The next-door neighbours got the new luxury sedan, and we're going to be driving our little beaters around for quite a while.

http://blogs.courant.com/travel_columnists_
leblanc/2008/08/the-a380-you-should-be-so
-luck.html

Fun is back into flying

It's time to inject some excitement back in flying, free up the headlines from fuel-dominated news and talk about something sensational. This news fits the bill. Emirates is introducing its new A380 on the New York Kennedy (JFK) to Dubai.

http://allaboutcheapflighttickets.blogspot.com/
2008/06/aug-1-start-for-emirates-a380-service.html

Congratulations

I just read the newspaper this morning and saw that Emirates Airlines got its first orders of the A380 today. I say what a fab accomplishment. Kudos for them. How far they have come. For the few who will be lucky enough to fly first class, there will be shower and massage facilities.

Note this as well. Each business class guest will also have their own mini bar. and a major entertainment system.

The business class will have a bar for their own use pictured below.

However, what I can't understand is why remove the footrests from economy? Are low paying passengers so unimportant to the airline? More importantly how would they cut down on the airlines carbon footprint when they are planning to carry on board 500 kg of water? Just imagine how heavy the plane is going to be at takeoff. Could this be the reason why they removed the footrests from economy?

http://theoccasionalphilosopher.wordpress.com
/2008/07/29/a380-ek-ailrines/