As a young(ish), childless male who regularly travels by air, my sympathies with mothers travelling with children have always been somewhat limited. My usual attitude towards screaming children is that they should be carefully stowed away in an overhead compartment and not allowed out until we reach the destination. But recently ...

Asia Pacific, April 22, 2013

Ah, those pesky North Koreans. Will they ever learn? It was no surprise last week when the country acted up once again. Like some irritating, spoilt child, North Korea stamped its feet, waved its fists and screamed at the top of its voice, dishing out empty threats to anyone unfortunate enough ...

Asia Pacific, April 15, 2013

Samoa Air grabbed some headlines last week, probably for the first time in its history, when it became the first airline to base its airfares on a passenger’s weight. Clearly this ruffled a few feathers, or rippled a few fat rolls, among industry figures and travellers alike. “How dare they discriminate ...

Asia Pacific, April 7, 2013

When starting a new job, it’s always important to make a good impression. But when you’re managing an entire country, or even a religion, your charm offensive has to be spectacular. So it’s been interesting to see, over the past few weeks, the lengths to which the PR teams in Beijing ...

Asia Pacific, April 1, 2013

In the scheme of things, Cathay Pacific's 83% drop in profits last year wasn't too bad... Compared to, say, IAG's US$1.2bn loss, or Air France-KLM's US$1.5bn deficit, Cathay's US$118m profit seemed pretty respectable. But when you made US$700m the previous year and US$1.8bn the year before that, just beating Europe’s sicknote ...

Asia Pacific, March 18, 2013

Why do I go and open my big mouth? Sometimes I really wonder… I make an innocent remark about England’s cricket team playing well, and they struggle to draw with New Zealand. I confidently state that hotels won’t get mixed up in Bangkok’s alcohol ban, and my Sunday brunch gets cancelled. ...

Asia Pacific, March 11, 2013

It’s okay people, we can all stop panicking; air travel is now officially safer than at any time in history. Yes, according to IATA you now have only a one in five million chance of being in a plane crash. That’s approximately the same chance you have of becoming a billionaire, ...

Asia Pacific, March 4, 2013

It came as little surprise last week when AirAsia announced its intention to create a new Indian low-cost carrier. After all, the group’s CEO, Tony Fernandes, had pretty much revealed the decision last month, when he said he called India an "exciting market" and one where "penetration of low-cost carrier is ...

Asia Pacific, February 25, 2013