INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AIRLINES, AIRPORTS AND AIR TRAVELING

Another cut and paste blog.  Busy chasing potential projects today.  Don't know how much of this stuff is true but it was interesting.  At least now I know why they dim the lights and open the window shades on take off and landing.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AIRLINES, AIRPORTS AND AIR TRAVELING

• All International Airline Pilots speak English.

• Flights longer than 8 hours require 3 pilots (1 captain and 2 first officers) to rotate flying duties. Flights longer than 12 hours require 4 pilots (1 captain and 3 first officers). They usually fly 3-4 hour shifts. (There are different norms of Indian companies Pilots)

•Each airline pilot flying the aircraft, eats a different meal to minimize the risk of all pilots on board being ill.

•On average, pilots fly between 9 and 14 days a month (Indian companies pilot fly 24 to 26 days)

•All airlines have an agreement to let each others' travelling pilots occupy empty seats. If no seats are available, the travelling pilot can also occupy an extra seat in the cockpit that is usually empty.

•The main function of flight attendants are for the safety and security of their passengers, and passenger comfort is only secondary.

•The first female flight attendants in 1930 were required to weigh less than 115 pounds. In addition, they had to be nurses and unmarried.

•Flight attendants must not have any tattoos visible when a uniform is worn. These requirements are designed to give the airlines a positive representation.

•The normal ratio of Flight Attendants to passenger seats is one Flight Attendant for every 50 passenger seats.

•The height requirement for Flight Attendant is for safety reasons, making sure that all flight attendants can reach overhead safety equipment.

•The normal ratio of Lavatories to passengers is approximately one lavatory for every 50 passengers.

•An air traveler can lose approximately 1.5 liters of water in the body during a three-hour flight.

•The reason why the lights are turned out during takeoff and landing – Is for your eyes to adjust to lower levels of light. If there's an accident and they have to activate the emergency slides, studies have shown that you will be able to see better and therefore be able to evacuate more quickly and safely.

•The World’s largest Airline in terms of Fleet Size is Delta Airlines (United States) with 744 aircraft and 121 aircraft on order as of March 2011.

•The largest passenger plane is the Airbus 380 - nearly 240 feet long, almost 80 feet high, and has a wingspan of more than 260 feet. The double-decker plane has a standard seating capacity of 555 passengers.

•The world’s busiest airport in terms of passenger volume or the number of takeoffs and landings, is Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, United States – with more than 88 million passengers shuffled through the Atlanta airport in 2009, with another 20 million in the first three months of 2010, and with aircraft take-off and landings approximately every 37 seconds.

•The Internet/On-Line check-in was first used by Alaskan Airlines in 1999.

•The world’s Largest Airport is Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (as of 2011). By 2013 Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates is planned to be the largest airport in the world.

•The airport with the longest runway in the world is Qamdo Bangda Airport in the Peoples Republic of China with 5.50 kilometers in length (as of 2011).

•American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by removing 1 olive from each salad served in first class.

•In 2009, Southwest served 63.2 million cans of soda, juices, and water; 14.3 million alcoholic beverages; 14 million bags of pretzels; 90 million bags of peanuts; 17.7 million Select-A-Snacks; and 33.5 million other snacks.

•Singapore Airlines spends about $700 million on food every year and $16 million on wine alone. First class passengers consume 20,000 bottles of alcohol every month and Singapore Airlines is the second largest buyer of Dom Perignon champagne in the world.

•Cathay Pacific carries rice cookers, toasters, cappuccino makers and skillets on board their airplanes.

•KLM of Netherlands stands for Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (meaning Royal Dutch Airlines).

•KLM is the worlds' oldest airline established in 1919.

•QUANTAS - Australia’s national airline, originally stood for Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service.

•QUANTAS is the second world’s oldest airline established in 1920.

•QUANTAS still has the world's best safety record with no crashes as of 2011.

•Virgin Atlantic lists catering as their third biggest expense, after fuel and maintenance.

•American Airlines spent about $425 million on food for domestic passengers in 2001.

•In one year, British Airways passengers consume:
* 40.5 tons of chicken
* 6 tons of caviar
* 22 tons of smoked salmon
* 557,507 boxes of chocolate
* 90 thousand cases (9 liter cases) of sparkling wine.

•Abu Dhabi Airport Services once did a complete turn-around for a Boeing 777 in under 40 minutes, as opposed to a normal minimum of one hour. They unloaded passengers, cargo, mail, cleaned the aircraft, and loaded outbound passengers, cargo and mail in that short time.

•In 2001, Dubai Duty Free sold 1,570,214 cartons of cigarettes, 2,003,151 bottles of liquor, 2,909 kilograms of gold, 101,824 watches, 690,502 bottles of perfume, 52,119 mobile phones.

•In-flight catering is an $18 billion worldwide industry employing up to 200,000 people.