After 20 year absence, first international airline(Turkish) Lands in Mogadishu

THE first long-distance international commercial airliner in some two decades to fly to Somalia's war-torn capital landed on its maiden flight at Mogadishu airport today.

The Turkish Airlines flight, with a high level delegation from Ankara led by Turkish deputy prime minister Bekir Bosdag, was welcomed on landing in the anarchic seaside capital by Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

"Today is big day for Somalia - Turkish Airlines made its first official flight to Somalia," said Somali government official Abdisalam Mohamud, adding that top leaders welcomed the flight to "commemorate the big event".

Several Somali airlines, including Kenya-based African Express, fly into Somalia from neighbouring nations, but Turkish Airlines' proposed twice-weekly flights are the first commercial flights from outside the region.

"The deputy prime minister of Turkey has officially opened the operations of the international carrier," Mohamud added.

Somalia has had no effective government since 1991 and in recent years al-Qaeda-allied Shabaab insurgents and other groups have taken an increasing hold on large parts of the country.

Security was tightened in Mogadishu ahead of the plane's arrival, with the main roads in neighbourhoods around the airport blocked by gangs of heavily armed policemen.

"Security is a major issue in Mogadishu so we are trying our best to assure that things go smoothly," said Somali police commander, Colonel Mohamed Adan.

"We are very happy to see this country gradually gaining international attention, a step on the road towards development," Adan added.

The airline's arrival was welcomed by Mogadishu residents, who said they hoped it would make it easier for relatives in the large Somali diaspora scattered around the world to come home to visit.

"Everybody is talking about Turkish Airlines," said Hidig Ali, a resident of Mogadishu. "This is a big deal, as it can help many people outside the country to come back and see their homeland and family."

"Turkish Airlines will encourage other international carriers to realize they, too, can operate in Somalia. It really is a major step towards development and we are happy today with Turkey," said Shamso Agey, another resident. 

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90-an, Era Sejuta Keindahan Dalam Hidupku

Posting ini adalah posting paling Out Of Topic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bagi anda yang lahir tahun pertengahan tahun 80-an kebawah pasti merindukan tahun2 90-an kan??? Bagi saya pribadi, tahun2 itu adalah era paling indah dalam hidup, dimana teknologi dan modernisasi belum merusak manusia. Saya akan cerita masa kecil saya, sebagai pembanding kenapa saya lebih suka dan pengin banget kembali ke era itu, bukan semata-mata karena motif nostalgia pribadi tapi emang secara logika-pun tahun2 itu adalah tahun yang indah.

Cerita dimulai pada tahun 1993 dimana listrik mulai masuk desa, tower2 sutet, tiang2 listrik dalam proses pembangunan. Inilah awal mulai hilangnya keindahan2 di desa saya. Sebelum ada listrik, masyarakat memakai teplok sebagai penerang rumah, TV masih hitam putih yang ditenagai oleh sebuah aki-yang tiap bulan harus di-charge. Bayangkan, nuansa pada masa itu!!!rumah terasa damai dengan penerangan cahaya teplok,anak2 dan remaja/pemuda-pemudi tiap malam membawa obor ke langgar-mushola-, santri putri berkerudung dengan tangan kanan memeluk alat sholat dan tangan kiri memegang obor, santri putra dengan peci khas jaman dulu serta sarung dekilnya ,menjadi pemandangan tiap malam. Jam 9 malam sudah sunyi, hanya tinggal suara jangkrik dan kodok kampung yang bernyanyi serta suara lirih orang mengaji . Gak ada suara TV dengan acara2 gak penting seperti sekarang!!suara musik gak jelas!!suara sepeda motor ngebut!! pokoknya adem. 

Anak2 SD, SMP atau SMA berangkat  dan sekolah dengan berjalan kaki melintasi jalanan yang rindang dengan pohon2 hijau dan tak takut terserempet mobil gila seperti sekarang, malah kadang kita lebih memilih lewat jalan pedesaan, dengan pemandangan indah dan nyanyian burung2 menghibur perjalanan kita. Anak2 jaman dulu sekolah sesuai umurnya, tidak seperti sekarang yang menurut saya belum cukup umur tapi sudah masuk SD dengan harapan semakin cepat semakin baik, padahal sebenarnya itu merenggut hak masa kecil mereka, mereka dipaksa dewasa dini. Padahal masa kecil adalah masa yang paling indah bagi manusia.Kembali ke laptoop!!! pada tahun2 itu sangat jarang sekali anak SMP pacaran!!!walaupun ada namuan gak seheboh dan separah sekarang!!!. Tidak ada HP, Internet, membuat otak mereka ter-selamatkan dari pengaruh buruk teknologi.  

Sekitar tahun 1994, uang perak masih berlaku, paling sebel rasanya kalo dapet kembalian uang perak, beli "mendoan" seharga 25 dengan uang 50an dikasih kembalian dua keping 10 perak dan 5 perak !!!=D.Pada masa itu jajanan anak masih "ramah", tidak mengandung bahan2 aneh, minuman2 yang dijual kebanyakan masih tradisional ex:cendol. dan masih jarang minuman kaleng dingin. Area bermain anak2 adalah sawah dan hutan/kebun. Permainan tradisional hampir dimainkan anak2 kecil di dekat rumah, kalo gak main biasanya anak2 kecil ( termasuk saya) mencari ikan di sungai-yang sekarang sungai tersebut hampir tak mengalir- yang jernih, atau mencari burung dan jangkrik di sawah maupun hutan, kegiatan lain adalah mencari kayu bakar di hutan belakang rumah, FYI jaman dulu hutan ramai dengan anak2 kecil yang mencari kayu bakar atau tumbuhan untuk dimasak, mereka membuat rumah2 pohon rahasia, menggali gua buatan di tepi jurang, maupun sekedar mencari burung. Ada yang menarik, dulu di hutan (sebenarnya sih kebun karet ratusan hektar), ada semacam tumbuhan rambat dengan buah kecil sebesar buah kopi yang rasanya sama persis seperti markisa namun dengan aroma yang khas orang banyak menyebutnya "markisa mini", itu dulu...sekarang????bisa saya katakan sudah punah di daerah saya, namun setelah browsing ternyata di daerah lain masih ada, namanya adalah buah "nyomlang" atau bahasa latinnya Passiflora foeti

Yang paling membuat saya kangen adalah kalo bulan ramadhan, malam hari  senantiasa terdengar lantunan ayat suci di rumah2 gubuk dengan penerangan lampu teplok, mushola-pun masih model panggung dengan dinding dan lantai anyaman bambu, penerangan dengan teplok kadang petromax, pada bulan suci, ibadah terasa maksimal,khusyuk, tidak seperti sekarang yang sudah dikalahkan oleh sinetron, internet, dan kerjaan kantor yang menumpuk sehingga masyarakat kurang bisa meikmati indahnya bulan suci. Biasanya sepulan shalat subuh dari langgar anak laki2 bermain petasan karbit, tau kan??dan anak perempuan jalan2 di jalan raya sambil olah-raga pagi-tentu saja jalan raya waktu itu masih seeepiiiiii-.  Menjelang buka puasa ngabuburit  yang sering dilakukan anak2 adalah main layangan di hamparan sawah yang luaaaaaaaaaasssss, beuuuhhhh indah banget kalo waktu sunset, angin sepoi2 matahari tenggelam dengan warna khas orange kemerah2an, dan burung2 bangau melintas di depan pandangan kita .

bersambung....capek nulisnya =D

Berlin Demands more Germans at Airbus

The German government has sparked a furious row by calling on EADS, the European defence and aerospace group, to put more Germans in top posts at aircraft subsidiary Airbus or risk losing Berlin’s development aid and export-credit guarantees.

In an unprecedented attempt to influence operational decisions at EADS, deputy economics minister Peter Hintze wrote a letter to Tom Enders, Airbus’s German chief executive who will soon take the helm at EADS, to deplore an “unacceptable” bias towards French management and production in France and to demand “a reversal of this trend”.

The demands look set to give Mr Enders a rocky start when he succeeds Louis Gallois as EADS chief executive this spring, and threaten to make a mockery of their shared ambition to make EADS and Airbus “normal” companies free of political inference.

Airbus quickly and brusquely rejected the demands, saying the letter “spoke for itself” and was “not even a basis for any discussion” with Berlin. “Airbus is not going to play any games with questions of balance and proportionality,” it said.

The intervention by Mr Hintze, a close ally of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, comes after Mr Enders said he was planning to move EADS’ headquarters from Munich and Paris to Toulouse, already home of Airbus, its most important unit.

Although the move is expected to involve no more than 300 people, the announcement revived fears in Germany that the company’s long-prized Franco-German balance was tipping in favour of France just after the German government agreed to take a 7.5 per cent stake in EADS from its co-founder Daimler, the German carmaker.

The German government’s unusually heavy-handed intervention looks set to kick-off another round of the kind of political mudslinging between France and Germany which many executives at EADS had hoped the company had finally put behind it.

With the French government holding 15 per cent and French media company Lagardère a further 7.5 per cent, EADS has been the focus of many an unseemly struggle with Germany, whose stake of 22.5 per cent is still controlled by Daimler.

The letter reflects the German government’s long-held frustration with EADS and Airbus, where it feels it has to maintain a close watch in the face of sometimes aggressive French industrial policy. But this has also drawn it into ever-deeper involvement, making it, as one official noted, “as French, or more French than the French”.

In his late-February letter, seen by the Financial Times, Mr Hintze complained that the €500m in aid Berlin put up for the development of the wide-body A350 aircraft had not led to the promised strengthening of Airbus’s German production sites in Hamburg and Bremen.

As a remedy, he demanded EADS and Airbus ensure “parity” of German and French executives in the “five top tiers” of both companies by January 2017 – and the relocation of some research and development from Toulouse to its two main German sites. 

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Priceline may surpass Expedia to become the largest Online Travel Agency

A report by PhoCusWright says Expedia might soon lose its standing as the world's top online travel agency to fast-charging Priceline. The study says Priceline could knock Expedia out of the No. 1 slot by year-end.

Priceline has picked up speed the past several years from its successful penetration of Western Europe's travel market, where it's gaining consumers in Britain, Germany, France and other countries, says Carroll Rheem, PhoCusWright's research director.

"The real impact wouldn't be until 2013," Rheem said.

Priceline's been outpacing Expedia in global gross bookings since Q2 2010. It passed Expedia in international revenue last year, Rheem says. Read More

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Infographic: The evolution of online travel

 When many of us think of online travel agencies , we associate it with the automation and convenience online booking systems that allows us to plan thousands of miles of journeys from the convenience of our laptops.

We also imagine it as a relatively new phenomenon that emerged a few years ago, probably less than 5 years ago because that's when we started using them.

The truth is that automated booking systems have been with us since 1946 and American airlines, pioneers in commercial aviation, were also pioneers in developing the first electronic and automated booking systems.

The first Global Distribution System was built in 1976  in the UK.Today, GDS are at the centre of distribution of travel products be they flights, hotel bookings, car hire and other travel products. The first online travel website of note was Lonely Planet which was founded in 1995. The first online travel agency was definitely Expedia, founded ,in 1996 by Microsoft. These and much more rich facts are available in this well designed and informative infographic! Open the Infographic in a new tab for larger view:

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Dubai International Airport affected by landing congestion

More aircraft are having to circulate and burn fuel above Dubai International at peak times as slot congestion rises according to a report by the Business Traveller Magazine.

Full report below:

The practice - well known to passengers travelling to London Heathrow and other key hubs - has spread to the Gulf's leading airport as it grapples with capacity constraints amid increasing growth. The airport handled 50.98 million passengers last year, up 8% on 2010.

One pilot said: "It's becoming a bigger problem. When you're flying an A380 around for half an hour waiting to land, that's a considerable add-on cost."

Emirates declined to comment.

Helen Woodrow, Dubai Airport's Head of Aeronautical Strategy, said there has been a rapid rise in demand for airspace capacity in the past five years, which has led to congestion at Dubai International Airport during peak periods.

Evenings and early mornings tend to be the busiest times as flights criss-cross from Asia and Europe, although many flights operate in the middle of the night.

"We are aware of this and are tackling the issue at multiple levels," she said.

"In the near term, changes to standard arrival and departure routes are currently pending regulatory approval. These changes are designed to enhance the efficiency with which flights to and from Dubai and our neighbouring airports are able to be handled by air traffic control."

Dubai International Airport

She added there are several further phases of airspace development planned over the coming years which will focus not only on changing processes, but also on using emerging technologies such as 'performance based navigation'.

In the meantime, Dubai Airports is engaging with various stakeholder to ensure air routes are decongested, bottlenecks are reduced and latent airspace capacity - much of UAE airspace is reserved for military use - is unlocked.

"Unfortunately not all of the fixes required are under our control. Dubai Airports is actively participating in several national and regional forums with our industry partners such as CANSO (Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation), the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority and Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, to work across borders to optimise the region’s airspace structure," she said.

Peak periods, by their very nature, are highly desirable by airlines who typically prefer to retain these slots.
But should the situation deteriorate then the 'plan B' option of switching more flights to Dubai World Central could be accelerated.

"We do anticipate slot constraints at Dubai will make Dubai World Central an increasingly attractive option for general aviation and cargo airlines in future," she said.

Planes circle for up to 55 hours a day over Heathrow, burning 190 tonnes of fuel and releasing 600 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Around 60% of arrivals at the airport are held in four holding stacks, according to figures released by air traffic control service Nats.

Post Courtesy

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Virgin Atlantic Increases Ghana Service

Virgin Atlantic is to add two additional frequencies to its existing London Heathrow-Accra route from March 26.
The carrier will move to a five times-weekly service, citing growth of over 50 per cent in premium economy and Upper Class bookings on the route over the last six months.

The new flights will operate on Wednesday and Saturday, adding to existing services on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

Virgin launched flights to Ghana in May 2010, competing with British Airways on the Heathrow-Accra route

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