Your Aviation Weekend Reads for June 24, 2016

Anyone who knows me knows that I am 100 percent in love with the Boeing 747, the Queen of the Skies. I love it so much I made it part of my logo. But orders for the gas guzzling, four-engine jumbo jet have slowed to a crawl and many media outlets have predicted the end of its production. But Bloomberg reports that Russian cargo carrier Volga-Dnepr Group is close to converting a year-old commitment into more than 10 firm orders for 747–8 freighters in a deal that could be worth nearly $4 billion. The order would extend the production of a plane that’s been in the skies since Pan Am took the first one in 1970.

Speaking of Boeing, the Seattle-based manufacturer’s CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, will use next month’s Farnborough Air Show to kick off his company’s celebration of its 100th anniversary, reports USA Today. You can hear more details about the celebration from Boeing’s Steve Lott, who spoke during the latest episode of the Airplane Geeks podcast.

Delta Air Lines at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Photo by Benét J. Wilson

Back in June 2012, I wrote this post on my AviationQueen.com blog about how Delta Air Lines was testing out rock-bottom “basic economy” fares on selected routes to compete with Spirit Airlines. And fast-forward to 2015, where this story in Travel + Leisure reports that American Airlines and United Airlines will begin offering similar fares in 2017 and 2018, respectively. In exchange for these really cheap fares, passengers can’t make any changes to their itinerary, nor can they choose seats in advance. The fares are non-refundable and you can’t earn frequent flyer miles on them.

A rendering of the new atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Image courtesy of the City of Atlanta

Back in March, officials at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport unveiled a 20-Year, $6 billion capital improvement plan at a formal luncheon hosted by CNN’s Richard Quest. And now Skift reports that the project — dubbed ATLNext — is now underway. Construction has begun to modernize the escalator corridor that connects passengers from the plane train to baggage claim. And the airport’s iconic “Spirit of Atlanta,” the 70-foot mural of children playing in Centennial Olympic Park, has been removed and replaced with a video screen, much to the chagrin of travelers.

The Star Alliance has 28 member airlines that reads like a who’s who of the industry. But with most major airlines part of one of the three global alliances, Star will be launching its “connecting partner” program for low-cost carriers to interline in the third quarter, reports the Runway Girl Network. The trick, writes John Walton, is to set passenger expectations as the alliance tries to integrating full-service airline benefits with the cost and service structure of low-cost carriers.

Speaking of airline benefits, House Beautiful outlines nine things that passengers don’t know they can still get for free on their flights. Those items include a full can of soda, a cockpit tour (after the plane lands), first aid items and hot chocolate.

Wireless Bose QC Bose QC35 noise-canceling headphones. Image courtesy of Bose

This week, I had to fly to Denver for business. My flight on Southwest Airlines was completely full. It was made worse for a lot of passengers because a parent had a lap child (who looked older than age two) who was not happy about not having his own seat. So unhappy, in fact, that he screamed for most of our three-hour flight. Lucky for me, I had my Bose QC35 noise-canceling headphones on, so I was oblivious. This piece in The Next Web explains why regular travelers like me swear by these headphones above all others. They cost $350 (although you can get them cheaper on eBay), but they are worth every penny, especially on longer flights.

We’ll end the week with this piece from Benjamin Zhang of Business Insider, who writes about a Boeing 787 converted into a private jet. China’s HNA Aviation Group spent $300 million dollars to add features including a dining room and a lounge area in 2,400 sq. ft. of living space.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m the Air Travel Expert for About.com. You can follow my travel-related magazines on Flipboard: Best of About Travel, a joint curation venture with my fellow About Travel Experts; and Travel-Go! There’s Nothing Stopping You, all about the passenger experience on the ground and in the air. Click here to subscribe to my weekly aviation newsletter. Finally, you can see my travel-related boards on Pinterest and follow me on Twitter at @AvQueenBenet, on Instagram at aviationqueen and on Snapchat at AvQueenBenet.