Last night “my airline” was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy.
Today, the unions got together and signed a deal with the company, cutting pensions, increasing work hours per 7 days for the cabin crews and cutting wages for the most senior pilots.
But they did it because they want their company to move on. Into the future.
I’m not saying the company’s future looks very bright, because there are still some very tough economical challenges ahead. But this was definitely a step in the right direction, and the SAS employees deserve every bit of honor in an attempt to save their company.
Europe does not have the Chapter 11 bankruptcy-protection like the US does. But in a sense, what SAS is going through now is restructuring, which is essentially what Ch.11 is all about.
Times are changing in the airline industry. We all need to realize that things are not as golden as it was in the earlier days of flying.
We need to be adaptable to change, but never let it compromise safety.
Cecilie
Now time for the pictures from the Visitor Terrace located on the upper level of Terminal 2 (just take the sky train from Terminal 1 and you’re there) It is accessible for anyone, you don’t need a boarding pass or anything to go there. Tickets are €5 for adults and €3 for students and children. You will have to pass through a security check so I wouldn’t recommend going there with baggage you intend to check in, just because the security check will take a lot longer…
Once you’re cleared, you have access to, I would imagine, an area that measures about 150 x 10 meters. It’s huuuge. And the view is spectacular. I let the photos speak for them selves… 🙂
Starting the photo series with this overview shot from the visitor’s terrace. Lufthansa A380, B747-400 and one Etihad A330-200
Condor (German branch of Thomas Cook) 767
Two Condor 767, one is holding short of 25C
Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 – I’m lucky enough (or old enough) to have flown on this plane as a passenger. Legendary aircraft!
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER
SAS MD-81 (SE-DMB) just arrived from Copenhagen as SK675
TAM 777 pushing back
Emirates Cargo 777 landing on 25L, Korean Air Cargo 747 and British Airways A319 taxiing to 25C, Condor 767 parked at the remote stand
Aeroflot, United, Lufthansa, US Airways and Delta Air Lines
United Boeing 767-400 with the Star Alliance paint scheme, just arrived from Houston, TX (I think?)
Lots of exotic birds in Frankfurt, including this 777 from Vietnam Airlines
Head-on with a Cathay Pacific 747
Kuwait Airways A340-300
Delta pushing back, destination possibly New York-JFK?
Delta 767 meets ANA 787
Needless to say my heart was beating so fast when I saw the 787 taxiing towards me, because they started putting some heavies to runway 18 for take off, instead of 25C that I was looking at. But it came towards me and my trip’s goal was fulfilled 🙂
787 take off roll – the sound of it was amazing, and to see it lift towards the skies was incredible. One day, 787, I will PIC you!
Beacon-shot!
That’s all I have from the Visitor’s Terrace. After the 787 took off, I went to the Lufthansa Senator lounge by the A-gates, took a shower, had lunch and waited for my Copenhagen-bound flight with SAS later that afternoon. More on that later 🙂
I’m back from a wonderful trip to Frankfurt am Main, Germany. My intention with the trip was to fly a lot and spend time at various airports around Europe.
The trip started 06.00 am August 8, the day after my birthday. Good thing I hadn’t spend the whole night partying. Instead, I got a good nights sleep before my flights.
I was driven to the local airport, KRS/ENCN, Kjevik in Kristiansand by my dad 🙂 It’s not a very big airport, just one runway and not very busy. Some daily flights to Oslo, and some other Norwegian cities, as well as a Widerøe flight to Copenhagen and a KLM Cityhopper to Amsterdamm. In addition, there are some charter flights throughout the year to various tourist destinations in Europe.
SK208 to Oslo was my flight and was operated by SAS and a WiFi equipped Boeing 737-800. We took off before schedule and landed almost 20 minutes early. I was served a light breakfast meal during this flight.
In Oslo, I had a good 3 hours until my flight to Frankfurt. That time was spent in the Scandinavian Lounge in the international terminal, having some more breakfast (that little roll I was served on the plane wasn’t much) and surfing the web on my iPad. After a while, a friend of mine texted me, saying he was also in Oslo airport, so I went out of the lounge, met him and brought him back in with me into the lounge, because I can bring one guest with my Star Alliance gold card (if the guest is flying SAS, Widerøe or partner, or a Star Alliance member the same day, which he was)
LN-TUJ, my plane to Frankfurt
Notice anything special with the runway markings in Norway? 🙂
Boarding was announced, and I walked to the gate. No upgrade this time, but the two seats next to me were unoccupied which was nice. This flight, SK4755 was operated by a Boeing 737-700 with retrofitted winglets which look amazing on that aircraft if you ask me 🙂 SAS intra-european economy is a pretty boring experience, free coffee and tea, but other than that you have to purchase food and snacks from their “CloudShop” I went for the cranberry muffin (30 NOK = 5 USD) to go with my free cup of tea.
We landed early in Frankfurt on runway 25L, and we had to taxi all the way around the departure end of runway 25C, where I witnessed the Boeing 747-8i taking off! WOW! What a start to my trip to this busy airport.
This is all I have for you tonight! More pictures will be uploaded soon and I will also include some text on what it was like for me to watch the 787 take off for the very first time.
Cecilie
Source
Okay, where do I start?
The captain wasn’t sure if they had hit the 767, turned out a passenger warned the cabin crew about it, and they passed the message along to the flight deck. They thought they didn’t hit it and decided to continue on to their destination. The American 767 departed with a damaged horizontal stabilizer, which could have ended in disaster. Ryanair took off right behind it, with a damaged winglet.
I still find it weird how much damage the 767 received, when the winglet only has a few scratches?
American Airlines 767-300 (N366AA) damaged elevator. Picture taken in JFK after a safe landing.
Damaged winglet on the Ryanair 737-800 (EI-EKB)
I will not speculate too much. Never the less, this incident will not be the last incident we’ll see. Good thing this ended good for the passengers and crew on both airliners.
And by the way, I’m not trying to trash talk about this particular airline. This has to do with safety in general. I don’t care if it’s Lufthansa, SAS or Ryanair. Safety always has to come first, no matter how cost-cutting your company might be….
Flying is a passion.
To defy gravity in a way we only have been doing it for a little over a century is very exciting.
Traveling brings back such fond memories from my childhood, flying to countries far, far away.
But one thing is certain; it never mattered where we traveled
as long as we traveled together.
Cecilie Larsen 