Gadling

With the present conditions offering little reason for airline execs to break out the expensive cognac to toast to their success, some airlines (at least those who aren't fearing for their lives) are looking to the future. The likes of Cathay Pacific and Finnair are developing routes to Asia that they hope will become lucrative once the world economy starts playing nice. These airlines are starting early, trying to have their brands in place before the competition. Some are offering added amenities or advertising new, faster routes. Here are some of the players:

1. Finnair claims it has the shortest route between New York and New Delhi, via its hub in Helsinki.
2. Cathay Pacific, already one of the top names in Asia, is trying to compete by adding flights to India via its Hong Kong base.
3. Northwest Airlines is trying to further develop its long running service to Japan.
4. Even American Airlines announced a 12% increase in passengers on its routes to Japan and China.
5. Singapore Airlines launched an all business class service between New York and Singapore.
6. New airlines are also competing for this growing market. India-based Jet Airways is developing a route between San Francisco and Mumbai that has become favorite of business travelers.

Via IHT

High Life, the 35-year-old in-flight magazine of British Airways, is headed from airspace to cyberspace. The famous rag launched its online incarnation on October 9th. BA hopes that the success of the print version will translate to the online world and raise the airline's profile amongst travelers. The publisher of High Life's print version, Ceder, teamed with web development company Reactive on the project. They are aiming to attract advertisers eager to have their name and product associated with High Life. Perhaps they are also hoping that well-heeled cannabis aficionados will happen across the site after Googling "high life" and decide, on the spur of the moment, to book a flight to one of the site's featured destinations.

The first online issue has a food theme and is guest edited by celeb chef Heston Blumenthal. It seems mainly aimed at gourmets and those with an taste for the upscale aspects of travel. There is a bit of hipness, with contributions by the likes of Hot Fuzz's Simon Pegg. Still, the site maintains the glossy feel of its printed kin.

Despite seeing a decrease in the number of arrivals, construction of a new terminal will go ahead as planned at McCarran Airport Las Vegas. Though the 2 billion dollar project will not be completed until 2012, some airlines are questioning the timing of the project. It's not secret that airlines are struggling. Arrivals are down almost 5% at McCarran since last year. A drop of as high as 15% is forecast for next year.

Southwest Airlines has been the biggest critic of the expansion. Over 30% of Las Vegas arrivals fly Southwest. But the airline has been trimming back its service to Sin City. The airport expansion will mostly be funded by an increase in the fees that airlines pay to use the airport and its gates. No one wants to hear talk of higher prices right now, especially at a bread-and-butter location like Las Vegas. After the rapid growth that the city has been experiencing, no one seems to want to look at the facts. But things are slowing down. I guess McCarran is gambling that things won't be so slow in a couple of years.

Product placement has long been a part of the James Bond franchise. The trend will continue with the soon to be released Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig's second outing as 007. It is not only Smirnoff and BMW getting in on the shameless promotion this time. Bond will be flying on Virgin Atlantic between the US and UK - in the Upper Class Cabin, of course.

According to the Virgin Atlantic web site, filming took place on board one of their aircraft in January in England. The airline seems to be intent on milking its cameo for all it's worth. They are even serving a Bond-inspired cocktail in their US and UK clubhouses. No, you won't hear any orders for shaken-not-stirred martinis. The new drink is called a Vesper. It consists of Bombay Sapphire, Grey Goose and Lillet Blanc. (At least Bond finally realized that Smirnoff is rotgut).

I'm not sure if getting their brand on Bond will bring customers to the airline. I mean, is there really anyone out there who would fly Virgin simply because a fiction character, however dashing and cool, does? Quantum of Solace hits screens on November 14th.

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The TSA wants to expand its reach to include the 15,000 private and corporate jets and 300+ small airports that are currently outside its jurisdiction. The security agency claims that many of the jets are the same size as small commercial planes and could be used to commit acts of terrorism. They want all private jet passengers and crews to pass a background check before boarding their planes. Private plane owners, pilots and corporate fliers are crying foul. Most call the proposed plan an invasion of privacy and a waste of money.

But whose money would it be wasting? According to the TSA, 85% of the $200 million per year it would take to fund the screening will come from fees charged to the jets' owners and operators. The proposal does not include physical screening. Passengers and crews would have to provide ID and give their name and birth date. The TSA will most likely subcontract out the work to security firms that specialize in background checks. The proposal, which is more than 200 pages long, states that frequent fliers will only have to pass the background check once.

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Emirates Airlines is celebrating its new L.A. to Dubai route by making a film. I'm not sure if the airline's execs actually expect people to see the film, titled The Exposure of Tom King, or if it is merely a gimmick to drive people to their web site for advertising purposes. The only company who has pulled off a successful foray into film is BMW, which tapped top directors to make shorts for their The Hire series starring Clive Owen.

Tom King probably won't approach that level of quality. But regular people will have a shot at appearing onscreen. That's because Emirates will be casting the film using web cams. Anyone can go to the movie's web site and submit a clip of themselves. But there will be no free trip to L.A. if you are selected to be in the film. The production will utilize bluescreen technology so that the cast can act from their home via web cam. The backgrounds for the film have already been shot. You can check it out for yourself, or even audition, from now until October 26th.

The Penjari Biosphere is a wildlife preserve in a remote corner of the West African nation of Benin. Like many such wildlife areas, it struggles with poachers and environmental problems, but tourism, in the form of photo safaris like the one in the video, is an important source of income for the area.

Even the most jaded tourist, wary of tourist traps and non-authentic experiences, would find a safari like the one in the video exciting. The fact that getting up-close and personal with wild animals is an attractive proposition is nothing new to the African tourism industry, but fully capitalizing on the tourist potential while protecting the wildlife for future tourism is the challenge. But, there are now economic reasons for creating a sustainable tourist model. The more interest in wildlife tourism grows, the more demand there will be for sustainability.

This video was taken in early morning, when the Penjari's animals all head for the nearest watering hole. Check out the menacing elephant about a minute-and-a-half in.
Video courtesy of Boing Boing

A Yeti Airlines Twin-Otter plane carrying sixteen passengers and three crew members crashed at a remote airstrip in Nepal yesterday morning, local time. The plane's wheel became entangled in a security fence as it was landing at the trekking base of Lukla, about 30 miles from Mount Everest. 18 people, including a group of 12 German trekkers, were killed. Only the pilot survived, though he remains in critical condition at an area hospital. Passengers waiting for other planes were first on the scene, but they were ill-equipped to fight the fire that had broken out on impact. By the time it was finally extinguished, everyone in the passenger cabin was beyond help.

The crash was initially blamed on poor visibility. It was quite foggy at the time of the crash, though two similar planes had already landed at the airstrip that morning. The government has promised a full investigation. The team looking into the disaster will be headed by the country's attorney general. The airport is located at 2500 meters above sea level and many people say it is ill-equipped to handle the heavy traffic it sees during trekking and climbing season.

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The board members of Hawaii's State Tourism Authority accepted the resignation of Rex Johnson, the head of the agency, after a months-long investigation into emails sent and received from his office computer. Johnson was first reprimanded in August after an audit by the state uncovered pornographic emails on the computer. At that time, Johnson was reprimanded by the board. His salary was cut and his apology accepted.

However, further investigation revealed that the emails had been forwarded by Johnson to other email accounts. Some of the emails included remarks deemed racist and sexist by investigators. Rather than face further scandal, Johnson agreed to step down yesterday. The board was only too happy to accept the resignation. I guess poor Rex never learned the meaning of the acronym NSFW. But with tourism accounting for a large part of the Hawaii's economy, the negative press from such a scandal could end up affecting the state's image and tourism revenue.

It has become a tradition amongst Hong Kongers to visit the hillside graves of their ancestors on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (which fell on October 7th this year). The graves are cleaned and offerings, usually consisting of meat, placed nearby. The 2008 version of the festivities were a bit quieter than usual. People still flocked to graveyards throughout the territory, but there were fewer whole roast chickens and suckling pigs being totted up the hill for the ancestors. Everyone seems to be blaming the sour economy for the lack of meat this year.

Many people opted for paper likenesses of meat. Local meat vendors reported poor sales numbers, but retailers hawking the paper offerings had a banner day. Though many people still ventured out for a visit with their dearly departed, the celebration, usually filled with over-the-top displays of edibles, was noticeably muted. Hopefully, economic woes will dissappear by the time Lunar New Year, unarguably the biggest part in Honkers.