Just before the christmas season holidays FlyGlobespan filed for bankrupcy on the 16^th of december. The scottish airline has a fleet of 10 Boeing 737 and 767 aircraft, serving about a dozen destinations across Britain and Europe, as well as Orlando, Florida, and the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh. Some 5000 people were due to fly with the airline and are now stranded. Most of the Edinburgh, Scotland-based company's 800 employees will be fired. Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers said Flyglobespan's ability to raise money had been underminded by lenders' lack of confidence in the airline industry. It said last-ditch attempts to find funding in recent weeks had been unsuccessful. A sad end for a Scottish Airline....

British Airways crew intend to go on strike during the Christmas period. I am wondering if they realize how much damage they impose on the airline. It is not just an ordinary 2 or 3-day strike, it is a 12-day strike (from 22nd December to 2nd January) and it is affecting around 1 Million travelers !!

The aviation wordl has changed a lot in the last decade and airlines have to adapt to these changes and sometimes annoying and unfriendly steps are needed in order to become financially healthy again. If I look at the profit/loss sheet of BA (a loss of 292 million Pounds in the first half of 2009) they need to do something, so freezing salaries for two years (and working a bit harder) don't look too bad to me, considering a lot of people have no work at all. BA-employees are actually paid pretty well compared to EasyJet or Ryanair, but also they are paid much more than staff at other national airlines like Air France, Lufthansa and American Airlines. The majority of the BA staff earn twice as much as their rivals at Virgin Atlantic. So a pay-freeze or even a pay-cut will help BA to get finances in the black again.

People travelling with BA during the christmas period have no alternative as flights of other airlines are full. BA will lose as much as 35 Million Euros a day(!) during this strike so over a 12 day period this means 420 Million Euros!! Outrageous, I think. Analists say it is almost suicidal and it might well destroy the airline, leaving Richard and Michael laughing their pants off......

UPDATE 17/12/2009 22:00:

"A strike by British Airways cabin crew planned for Chrstmas has been declared illegal in a High Court ruling". Great news for the one million BA-travellers!!

Nikon announced on December 10^th, 2009, the release of two new lens products, compatible with the FX format. The telephoto AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II prime lens is equipped with vibration reduction (VR II) that reduces the effects of camera shake equivalent to a shutter speed increase of approximately four stops. The AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III, is the world’s first teleconverter to utilize an aspherical lens element.

AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II primary features:

• Built-in vibration reduction (VR II) offering camera shake compensation equivalent to a shutter speed increase of approximately 4 stops
• The addition of A/M (autofocus with manual override; AF priority) focus mode prevents accidental switching from autofocus to manual focus. Along with M/A (autofocus with manual override; manual priority) mode, which enables manual focusing by rotating the focus ring while autofocus is operating and M (manual) mode, this makes for a total of three focus modes.
• The lens optics and Nano Crystal Coat so well received with previous lenses have been adopted without modification

AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III* primary features:

• An FX-format compatible teleconverter that extends the focal length of the primary lens by 2X*
• The world’s first teleconverter to utilize an aspherical lens element
• A new optical design that offers superior contrast and resolution
• Utilization of an aspherical lens element enabled a more compact and lightweight teleconverter

* Using this teleconverter with a lens decreases the effective aperture by two stops.

Prices in The Netherlands (expected by the end on January 2010):

• AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II : EUR 6299,-
• AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III : EUR 549,-

With a comparable Canon EF 300/2.8 L USM IS at about EUR 3989,- these are really competative prices. NOT.... When will Nikon learn......

For more specs on these products see here in English or here in Dutch.

The latest photo gallery of Brussels Airport is now online in the trips-and-visits section ...