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SriLankan Airlines in the context of the country’s financial meltdown
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Whither the national airline? With the country embroiled in a financial meltdown of unprecedented proportions, on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, Parliament confirmed Ranil Wickremesinghe as the nation’s eighth Executive President by a clear margin. One of the many challenges facing the new President is the future of the state-owned national carrier, SriLankan Airlines. A perennially…
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Concorde – a tribute
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Aviation enthusiasts have a special place in their hearts for the Anglo-French Concorde. The world’s most famous supersonic airliner with its slender fuselage, huge delta-shaped wing and drooped nose (to improve visibility during take-off and landing) all working together in gorgeous symmetry to cruise at a speed in excess of Mach 2 (twice the speed…
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The Empty Sky
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What is the post-COVID future for aviation? First – a thank you. The responses to the last few columns have been great. Perhaps people have more time to read and respond thoughtfully, now that the world has slowed down? Which brings us to the subject of this week’s piece: what will the future look like…
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Re-write the Freedoms of the Air
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A new world order? As I write this column the street outside my window is eerily quiet for a weekday morning. We too are in ‘lockdown’, and the only noise heard is a gentle sighing sound as the economy collapses. COVID-19 is proving to be a seminal event in modern history. One that will change…
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Airline Apocalypse?
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Last man standing The world has belatedly woken up to the consequences of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic now upon us. No precedents The first of my columns that raised awareness of this issue was written in early February. At that time I anticipated that the impact would be much worse than the SARS epidemic, with…
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Unknown unknowns and COVID-19
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Unknown Unknowns When Donald Rumsfeld was Defense Secretary of the USA he made famous the phrase incorporating this article’s two-word title, at a press conference in February 2002. That was just prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, and it was said in response to a question about the lack of evidence linking Iraq to…
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Air Asia X – a response to COVID19
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AirAsia Unlimited Pass – Insanity or brilliance? February 29, 2020 – ‘Leap Day’ and time for yet another promotion by the beleaguered airline industry. AirAsia X, a long-haul, low-cost carrier (LCC) based in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia, has grabbed the headlines by offering an ‘Unlimited Pass’ for a selected few of its frequent flyers. That’s…
