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Not many people outside of the airline industry know this, but Delta Airline owns and operates a lucrative division of private jets. Delta AirElite, as it is known, is the single bright spot in an otherwise dark business environment for this U.S. legacy carrier. Some are speculating that Delta should sell its AirElite business to raise funds and turn around the carrier, but I have another more radical take on things that I believe should be considered instead.

Established in 1984, Delta AirElite has been steadily growing and making money for Delta. While the airline part of the company is rapidly and continually hemorrhaging cash, AirElite continues to make money and grow. Indeed, with a fleet of sought after business jets in its portfolio including the Challenger 300, Gulfstream IV-SP, and Learjet 31A, AirElite is an attractive company for any potential suitor.

Truly, if Delta were to sell AirElite it would only slow the bleeding for Delta, not stop it. With debt totals exceeding $20 billion, a sale of AirElite would likely only fetch the carrier a few hundred million dollars, if that. Last year, Delta sold off its Delta Connection carrier, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), for $425 million cash to Skywest Airlines. The sale was perceived by industry analysts as a desperate one as ASA was valued to be worth between $700-800 million dollars. The sale took place just before the airline filed for bankruptcy in September 2005, and had no effect in stemming the filing.

So, what should Delta do? In my opinion, get out of the airline business altogether. That’s right, instead of laying off thousands of additional workers and requiring steep give backs in employee wages, Delta might consider selling all of its assets off piece by piece to the competition. This would especially make sense as Delta’s restructuring is dependent on steady fuel prices and, at this point, airlines can expect to pay even more for fuel in 2006 than they did last year. Kiss that recovery plan goodbye!
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A question often asked by anxious airplane passengers is this: What is the safest seat in an airplane? The answer: none. Because accidents can erupt at any spot within the aircraft.

Some people are of the opinion that the nearer one is seated to an emergency exit, the safer one is. Sadly, that is not absolutely true. A fire can start near the emergency exit as in any place within the plane. And if the emergency exit is jammed, then the person sitting nearest it is in as much of the same fix as the one sitting farthest from it.

Regardless of where the passenger is seated inside the aircraft, the risks to one’s safety is greatly minimized by one thing above all else: by being alert and aware of one’s surroundings.
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What comes to mind when someone talks about a UFO? Do you think about the cover of a science fiction novel and the image of mysterious bluish lights beaming down from it? Do you think about a time when you were out late at night and you saw a flash of light, wondered what it was only to realize a moment later that what you saw wasn’t a UFO – it was just the lights of a plane that was beginning its descent. Do you think of movies, or little green men, cartoons, or do you just turn away shaking your head?

A lot of people discuss UFOs as flying saucers – it seems to be the best description that they can come up with. Others suggest, rather dismissively, that UFO simply means unidentified flying object and that the light that someone saw flashing in the sky was either a plane, a helicopter or a reflection of light off of a cell phone tower or another metal object.

Reflections of light from a cell phone tower do little to explain away “mysterious materials” found in Roswell, New Mexico in the late 1940s. While the United States military has always stood their ground that these materials were merely fragments of a research balloon, a top secret test that ended badly, others offer another explanation. They assert that the materials were fragments of a UFO, an alien craft that crashed rather than safely landing. They believe that the “flying disc” – as it was called by military personnel – that was recovered could not be something from this world, and so began one of the most talked about UFO encounters in the world.

Many who believe that the UFO in Roswell, New Mexico deserved more attention than it was being given, believe that it wasn’t something that could just be dismissed. In part, this is likely to have something to do with other stories surrounding the flying saucer. A farmer talked about having found materials miles away from Roswell, and the story was picked up by newspapers, accompanied by photos of the strange find – strips of rubber, something like aluminum foil, sticks. It’s a story that has gained so much attention around the world that it has influenced many people’s sense of alien life and alien visitations to earth.
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Travel guide – UK airports – London Heathrow

In the second of our UK airport travel guides, we will focus on the world’s busiest airport. London Heathrow.

Around 90 airlines use Heathrow as their hub, operating flights to over 180 destinations in 90 countries. Heathrow consists of four terminals, with a fifth currently under construction.

Terminal 1

All of Heathrow’s UK and Ireland flights operate from this terminal as well as some flights to long haul destinations and Europe.
Terminal 2

This terminal caters for European destinations as well as some long haul destinations.
Terminal 3

Long haul operators are the bulk users of this terminal, although some flights to Europe also operate from here.
Terminal 4

This terminal is used almost exclusively by British Airways and KLM.
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