APEX Editor's Blog

For most airline loyalty programmes the only way to be a member is to be a person. Some recent news stories have highlighted how musical instruments (that require a seat!) can be thrown out of programmes or how points are not transferable upon death. United Airlines, however, is bucking the trend and changing its rules: small [...]

After Delta Air Lines caused a major stir in the passenger experience community earlier this year with plans to configure its new Boeing 737-900ERs with smaller modular lavatories, Boeing’s rival Airbus is now marketing its own “Smart-Lav” to narrowbody aircraft operators. The concept behind the B/E Aerospace-designed lav featured on Delta’s narrowbodies is to make [...]

IATA’s previous management team consisted of failed airline executives looking for “a cosy three- or four-year” stint before retirement, and the organisation had become irrelevant. These are just a couple of the points made by former IATA chief executive and director general Giovanni Bisignani during an interview with the APEX editor’s blog ahead of the [...]

DUBAI: How does one go about making the world’s largest airliner, the Airbus A380, look small? Park it at the new Concourse A at Dubai International Airport, which was designed to handle the giant aircraft and all the high-end passengers who will fly in its premium cabins. Earlier this year Emirates and Dubai International Airport [...]

NEW YORK: With the Boeing 787 once again airborne Qatar Airways confirms it is continuing its discussions with Boeing over compensation for the protracted grounding of the Dreamliner due to problems with the twinjet’s lithium ion battery. Speaking to the APEX editor’s blog today in New York – where Qatar Airways announced a new partnership [...]

Picture this. You’re viewing content on a seat-back entertainment screen. A slick advertisement pops up for BMW’s latest luxury sport utility vehicle. You’re intrigued. The ad beckons you to upload your mobile telephone number so that a BMW representative can call you immediately and arrange for the car to be waiting for you at your [...]

Airline managers are becoming much more rational and disciplined when it comes to capacity, according to International Airlines Group (IAG) chief executive Willie Walsh, who also notes that his group has no further acquisition plans in the short to medium term following its recent takeover of Spanish carrier Vueling. Walsh made the comments during a [...]

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution fades into China’s history, the current connectivity revolution is helping to accelerate this incredible country’s extraordinary commercial development. The pace of this transformation is breathtaking, with the number of internet users in China almost quadrupling since 2006, soaring to over 564 million users by the end of 2012. Moreover, China’s [...]

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a colourful way of describing the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). “NextGen is the transformation of how airplanes traverse the sky,” says the agency, and represents “a new era of flight”. But creating a new era of flight, which entails transitioning from a decades old ground-based system [...]

People with reduced mobility (PRMs) are accustomed to filling out complicated forms to inform airlines of their needs in advance of flying so that they can be assisted through the airport and onto their aircraft. Many are put off travelling altogether because of the lack of consistency and communication between the airline and the airport, which sometimes [...]