Asian budget airlines launch price war

Amid the global economic downturn Singapore-based Tiger Airways, which flies to destinations in Southeast Asia, Australia and China, announced Tuesday 3rd March 2009 it would launch summer fares starting at about 16 US dollars, including taxes. Jetstar Asia, another Singapore-based budget airline, said it had extended until August 16 a promotion to beat the cheapest price offered by rivals. Under the promotion, should a traveller find another published online fare cheaper than the lowest available on www.jetstar.com, the airline will beat the price by 10 percent if the customer makes an instant reservation by phone.

Malaysian budget airline AirAsia also has its "take me away" promotion which offers is a one-way flight from Singapore to Bangkok starting from 43 dollars, inclusive of taxes, for travel from March 23 to September 11. It is also offering a number of tickets starting from 26 cents for travel within Malaysia. Comparatively, a return flight to Bangkok on Singapore Airlines costs 337 dollars, inclusive of taxes. Thailand's Nok Air is offering one-way fares for as low as 25 cents, excluding taxes and fees, for domestic flights for those travelling from May 15 to September 30. Indonesia's Lion Air is selling a one-way trip from Singapore to Bali for as low as 5.80 dollars for travel from June 1 to September 30, according to its website.


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Airbus A380

The first completed A380 at the "A380 Reveal" event in Toulouse, France. - Cruising speed Mach 0.85 (903 km/h, 561 mph, 487 knots)-Maximum cruising speed Mach 0.89 (945 km/h, 587 mph, 510 knots)


The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, an EADS subsidiary. The largest passenger airliner in the world, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse, France, and made its first commercial flight on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The A380-800, the passenger model, is the largest passenger airliner in the world provides seating for 525 people in standard three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all economy class configurations.(33% more seats than a 747-400 in a standard three-class configuration but 50% more cabin area and volume, resulting in more space per passenger.)(The wider cabin allows for up to 48 cm (19 in) wide economy seats at a 10 abreast configuration on the main deck, while 10 abreast seating on the 747 has a seat width of only 43.7 cm (17.2 in) [seat pitch varies by airline].) It is the first commercial jet capable of using GTL-based fuel. The A380 can run on mixed synthetic jet fuel with a natural-gas-derived component. The GTL used was no cleaner in CO2 terms than standard fuel but it had local air quality benefits because it contains no sulphur. The A380 produces 50% less cabin noise than a 747 and has higher cabin air pressure (equivalent to an altitude of 1,500 m (4,900 ft) versus 2,500 m (8,200 ft); both features are expected to reduce the effects of travel fatigue.

Major structural sections of the A380 are built in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Due to their size, they are brought to the assembly hall in Toulouse in France by surface transportation. Components of the A380 are provided by suppliers from around the world; the five largest contributors, by value, are Rolls-Royce, SAFRAN, United Technologies, General Electric, and Goodrich.

The first aircraft delivered (MSN003, registered 9V-SKA) was handed over to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered into service on 25 October 2007 with a inaugural flight between Singapore and Sydney (flight number SQ380). Passengers bought seats in a charity online auction paying between $560 and $100,380. Two months later Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choong Seng said that the A380 was performing better than both the airline and Airbus had anticipated, burning 20% less fuel per passenger than the airline's existing 747-400 fleet. Emirates Airline was the second airline to take delivery of the A380 on 28 July 2008 and started flights between Dubai and New York on 1 August 2008. Qantas followed on 19 September 2008, starting flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles on 20 October 2008. By the end of 2008, 890,000 passengers had flown on 2,200 A380 flights totaling 21,000 hours.

Airbus' initial publicity stressed the comfort and space of the A380's cabin, anticipating installations such as relaxation areas, bars, duty-free shops, and beauty salons. Virgin Atlantic Airways already offers a bar as part of its "Upper Class" service on its A340 and 747 aircraft, and has announced plans to include casinos, double beds, and gymnasiums on its A380s. Singapore Airlines offers twelve partly-enclosed first-class suites (open at top) on its A380, each with one full and one secondary seat, full-sized bed, desk, personal storage. Four of these suites (C and D on rows 3 and 4) have dividing walls that can be removed to create two "double" suites with two beds modified into one double bed. Qantas Airways has shown their product which features a long flat-bed that converts from the seat but does not have privacy doors. Emirates Airline's fourteen first-class private suites have shared access to two "shower spas". First and business class passengers have shared access to a snack bar and lounge with two sofas, in addition to a first-class-only private lounge.

Top Orders for Airbus A380

Total: 185 orders (165 firm orders)
15 customers

Emirates: 47
Qantas: 20
Singapore Airlines: 19

Singapore Airlines
Making history: the first double bed on a commercial jet. US$14,320 price for two tickets in one of the suites, -Stephen Forshaw, a Singapore Airlines official warns, "If couples used our double beds to engage in inappropriate activity, we would politely ask them to desist."

Unlike other airlines, that have considered offering casinos, gyms and showers on their future A380s, Singapore Airlines has opted instead for a configuration that, whilst offering luxury, also makes money. Behind the 12 luxury suites there are 399 economy seats, ranked 10-abreast on the upper and lower decks, as well as 60 business class seats that are the biggest yet at 87 centimeters wide. Tickets for the A380's first return commercial flight between Singapore and Sydney were sold at auction on eBay. One passenger paid $100,000 for the experience, with the majority paying between $1,500 and $5,000. The $1.4 million raised has gone to charities in Singapore, Sydney and a global humanitarian organization.


Emirates Airlines


Qantas
THE FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT GOING OUT TO AUSTRALIA FROM USA....


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Yahoo Climbs as Fourth-Quarter Earnings Top Estimates

Just days after Carol Bartz, 60, took over in the month Jan 2009 as chief executive officer from Jerry Yang, who stepped down after Yahoo’s rejection of a $47.5 billion offer from Microsoft Corp. rankled investors last year, the company said it would freeze pay for many employees. Carol Bartz, in her first earnings conference call as chief executive officer, said she would consider offers to buy the company’s assets, while adding that she didn’t come to Yahoo with the intention of selling it. With the recession deepening, Yahoo is slashing costs. Yahoo! Inc., owner of the second most popular U.S. search engine, surged 7.9 percent in Nasdaq trading on Jan. 28 after fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates, buoyed by job cuts and rising domestic sales. Excluding fees passed on to partner sites, sales were $1.38 billion, meeting projections. Yahoo rose 90 cents to $12.24 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares declined 48 percent last year. Fourth-quarter sales increased 2 percent to $1.34 billion in the U.S., Yahoo said. International sales declined 10 percent to $468 million. Yahoo’s worldwide revenue from search ads climbed 11 percent last quarter as users submitted more queries, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said on the call. Sales of display advertising declined 2 percent, he said. Yahoo depends more heavily on display ads than search advertising, where Google leads, Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. said. VIA


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Couple spend $155,000 to clone dead dog

Animal lovers Edgar,79 and Nina Otto,66 Labrador retriever, Lancelot, died of cancer which moved the couple to a cloned copy. On Jan. 27, 2009 a year after the demise Lancelot, their doggie double “Lancelot Encore.” arrived. And 
he
 looks
 just 
like 
his 
namesake.
 Picture: The 10-week-old golden Labrador retriever is a clone, created in South Korea by a California biotech firm from the DNA of the first Sir Lancelot, the beloved pet of Ed and Nina Otto of Boca Raton. The original ”Lancy” died, at age 11, in January 2008. In West Boca, Florida the couple on their 12-acre land, tend to four parrots, 10 cats and six sheep along with their nine other dogs. Edgar look upon Lancelot as an unbelievable, humanlike dog and a true companion. Hence the Ottos had DNA frozen from Lancelot six years ago(cryogenically 
banked 
DNA 
samples). Then, last June — six months after Lance’s death — they bidded and won the dog-cloning auction for $155,000 held by the Northern California biotech firm BioArts International. BioArts partnered with Dr. Hwang S Woo-Suk, of the South Korea biotech research firm Sooam, to bring a second Lancelot into the Otto household. Hwang, 
a 
controversial 
figure,
lost 
his
 research 
professorship 
at 
Seoul 
National
 University
 in
 2004
 after 
fraudulently 
claiming
 that
 he
 had
 cloned
 human 
embryos
 and 
stem cells. To
 create 
Lancelot 
Encore, 
Woo-suk 
took 
an
 egg
 from
 what 
Hawthorne
, who ran a BioArts predecessor called Genetic Savings & Clone, called
 an
 indigenous
 Korean
 dog 
resembling
 a 
bloodhound, 
replaced 
the 
egg's 
innards 
with 
the 
late
 Lancelot's 
DNA, 
then
 implanted 
the 
egg 
in
 a
 second
 Korean 
dog.
 Two
 months
 later, 
Lancelot 
Encore 
was 
born,
 at 
1.3
pounds. 
Now
 10
 weeks old a
 hefty, 
boisterous
 17
 pounder,
 he
 lavished 
kisses 
on 
the
 Ottos
 , 
as 
well 
as
 anyone
 else
 who
 came 
within
 licking 
range.



His
 father, 
the 
late 
Edward
 Otto,
cofounded
 both 
NASCAR
 and
 the 
Orange
 Bowl 
where,
 in 
the
 1930s, 
he
 staged
 motorcycle
 races and Edgar himself started a successful medical company. Ed Otto, NASCAR’s Silent Partner’ Book Launch Set for Daytona

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The Humane Society of the United States lambastes pet cloning calling the practice ”disreputable,” the animal-welfare organization insists that “cloning cannot replicate an animal’s uniqueness. Cloning can only replicate the pet’s genetics, which influence but do not determine his physical attributes or personality.” It is unclear whether little Lancy’s temperament will resemble his predecessor’s. The concept has critics, many of whom question the ethics of spending so much money on custom-designed dogs at a time when U.S. shelters kill an estimated 3 million to 4 million unwanted pets annually. The [Tri-County] Humane Society in Palm Beach County, no-kill shelter’s founder and CEO, Jeannette Christos said the Ottos have given her shelter almost twice what their new puppy cost.

World economy may lose 51 million jobs

In the worst-case economic scenario, the Global Employment Trends report said 51 million more jobs could be lost by the end of this year, creating a 7.1 percent global unemployment rate. More realistically, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said 30 million more people could lose their jobs if financial turmoil persists through 2009, pushing up the world's unemployment to 6.5 percent, compared to 6.0 percent in 2008 and 5.7 percent in 2007. Caterpillar, Sprint, Philips, Texas Instruments and ING are among the companies that have cut thousands of jobs in response to the financial crisis and economic downturn that has spread around the world. Developing countries will suffer most from additional job losses, according to the ILO, whose governing structure includes governments, employers and workers groups. North Africa and the Middle East had the highest unemployment rate at the end of 2008, at 10.3 percent and 9.4 percent respectively. Central and southeastern Europe and the former Soviet states ended last year with a jobless rate of 8.8 percent, sub-Saharan Africa's was 7.9 percent and Latin America's was 7.3 percent. East Asia fared best of the world's regions at 3.8 percent. Labor-based approaches can generate jobs and much-needed infrastructure quite quickly in poorer countries with high levels of joblessness. VIA
Related Topic: Up to 26 million China rural migrants now jobless