CheshireTom

Just keeping you up to date ............ After all, You're not very good at understanding this delivery lark .............. "Lets see - They delivered one last year, and they are maybe going to deliver one in October this year - That makes one a year, on average."

It looks like the 3rd A380 for Singapore Airline's London service is arriving today .......... MrMango will be impressed!

That must be why the USAF went for a bunch of incompetent Euro engineers for its tanker programme. As you told us before, it's a Boeing aeroplane and therefore a Boeing cock-up. As for being a more completed product ............. well, its still stuck on the ground the last I heard.

Since the RR 1000 Trent engines are the only things that are on schedule in the 787 programme, I think you'll find that BigD was just making it up again. If the analysts comments are correct then it will mean that power-on will be delayed beyond the original entry into service date.

They sure didn't learn anything about avoiding wiring problems, did they? CHICAGO, March 8 (UPI) -- Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner program could be headed for further delays, a Wall Street analyst warned. The Chicago Tribune reported Saturday that a Goldman Sachs analyst warned in a research report Friday that Boeing may not turn on all of the plane's electrical systems for the first time until the end of June rather than the end of March. "In our view, Boeing continues to underestimate the amount of work required on the 787," Goldman analyst Richard Safran wrote. He said the plane's wiring problems have proven time-consuming and difficult to resolve, the newspaper reported

Fuck! These guys at Boeing must be reading the forum. Longtime Boeing exec leaves airplanes division By Dominic Gates The most senior executive overseeing airplane manufacturing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes is retiring, Boeing announced internally Friday. Jim Jamieson, a Boeing senior vice president and chief operating officer, left the job Friday after 32 years at the company. He will be 60 in July, five years shy of Boeing's mandatory retirement age for executives. In September 2006, when Scott Carson came in as chief executive of Commercial Airplanes — a top jet salesman but not an engineer — Jamieson moved here from Chicago to bolster the technical side of management.

makavelli, Anything in the Central, Admiralty or Wan Chai areas would be OK on the island (they're all only a couple of minutes apart on the subway). Even getting into Kowloon for your missus to do some shopping isn't an issue ........ either the ferry or subway will get you into Kowloon in minutes.

Emil, I'll be in Pattaya next weekend for a few days (split between Soi 3 and Thappraya Rd) ........... got a photoshoot to do at the SkyTop Grande. PM me your cellphone number and I'll hook up for some nosh with you ................

eltib, It looks like they are going to get hammered by their own success in selling the aeroplane as opposed to actually building (never mind flying) it. Lots of compensation to lots of customers seems to be on the horizon. Looks like they gloated about the A380's delays but didn't actually learn anything from it. If the analysts reports turn out to be accurate i would think that the top guys in the company need to be looking at their jobs ................ I don't think the markets will accept another sacrificial lamb.

Jacko, One of my pet hates in the UK. I don't mind incompetent governments, druggies on the street, crap health services, illegal immigrants etc .......... but the frustration of dealing with overseas call centres.

Well, with Boeing losing out on the USAF tanker deal you would have thought that things couldn't get any worse ................. More delays to come on Boeing's 787 - analyst Fri Mar 7, 2008 9:34am NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) probably won't deliver its first 787 Dreamliner until July next year at the earliest, a Goldman Sachs analyst said on Friday, potentially adding another six-month delay onto the troubled program, which is already nine months behind schedule. Airlines are still enthusiastic about Boeing's new carbon-composite plane, which promises to cut fuel costs by 20 percent, but some are starting to show impatience with slow progress on the aircraft, which was originally set to enter service in May this year. "We now think deliveries will start in the third quarter of 2009 versus the current 'early' 2009 target," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Safran in a report issued on Friday. "Boeing continues to underestimate the amount of work required on the 787," said Safran, citing unnamed sources familiar with the program. He said production problems on the first batch of 787s on Boeing's production line would delay turning the power on in the first plane, push back the first test flight and extend the amount of time Boeing needs to conduct full flight tests on the aircraft. Representatives of the Boeing 787 program did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Boeing has been updating investors on the progress of the plane each quarter, but generally does not make comments on specific development issues. Wall Street analysts and aviation bloggers accurately predicted the previous two delays on Boeing's 787, long before the company admitted to problems on the aircraft. (Reporting by Bill Rigby, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

The non-stop service will continue ............ it's just that the seats will cost a small fortune. I'm not sure about the Thai option ........... they are looking to bin the non-stop as well and routing through either China or Korea.

Emil, The last I heard the timeline was for trials to start at the end of this year with services starting next year. That could just be the line across the river though. I must take a look at the maps for the new routes as I've seen two huge stations being built (one at the bottom end of Sukhumvit Soi 24 and one up by Pratunam) but I haven't got a clue where the lines go to from those places. Are you in Pattaya at the moment? If so, for how long?

I am with TOT in Songhla and am, quite literally, at the end of the line from the local exchange so the actual line can be pretty crap at times. That said, the guys (and gals) at the local TOT office and the engineers who were at my house within 30 minutes of advising the office of my problems couldn't have been any more helpful and corteous. Back in UK, whether for internet, gas, water, electric or satellite TV, I would have been lucky to find another human being to speak to.

There is a bit going on at Suvarnabhumi at the moment with the official taxis coming under the control of AOT and issues related to that. There was also a large protest by the official taxi drivers a couple of nights ago about the activities of the "black" taxis at the airport. Running the gauntlet of a couple of hundred mad Bangkok taxi drivers probably isn't the ideal start to anyone's holday.

And right on cue ............. From today's Nation .................. "The airline is considering re-routing two long-haul flights between Bangkok and Los Angeles or New York by adding South Korea or China as stopover stations."

SQ doesn't do economy from EWR. It is currently biz and premium economy but even premium economy is being dropped in favour of an all biz class service. SIA steps up business focus By Raphael Minder in Hong Kong Singapore Airlines on Tuesday became the first airline to offer an all-business-class service across the Pacific, underlining growing competition among carriers to secure the higher and steadier revenues from business travellers. SIA said it would remove economy seats on flights between the Asian city-state and Los Angeles as well as New York’s Newark airport. The overhaul will cut total seating on the five Airbus A340-500s used on the routes from 181 to 100; the present configuration includes 64 seats in business class. SIA’s move is the latest in the growing trend for all-business-class services from established and start-up airlines, which began on transatlantic routes earlier this decade. It's assuming a lot that Thai will still be running JFK non-stop flights next year. If SQ can't make the service pay for itself then it is reasonably safe to assume that Thai must be suffering on their current service.

You don't return a wai to service staff unless you know them on a personal level. A nod and to acknowledge them is all that's required.

Errrr ........ or always allowed unless illegal.

Why do some guys keep inferring that you have to negotiate the price with a public taxi from the Airport? The price is laid down as 1,200 Baht plus 50 Baht Airport fee plus tolls. There is absolutely no requirement to haggle with anyone.

BigD, It would be beneficial to the OP if you could clarify .................... Was your hotel in a Thai Nationals name? Did you own or only lease your hotel? What initial outlay of cash did you make? What was your projected income, after expenses? Were the headaches worth the trouble? I know several guest house/apartment owners down south who make a very good living. All those gas and oil-rich guys from the likes of Haliburton, Chevron and Siemens have got to live somewhere ........... 365 days a year and no low-season

BigD, Why don't you just answer the guy's question? After all, weren't you at one time the "part-owner" in a Pattaya hotel? You had every opportunity to be helpful to a boardie who was asking a reasonable question but, as stevoman, quite rightly highlights, your post amounts to no more than yet more spam for your friend's business. And, as far as I recall, you didn't spend a year living in Thailand before taking the plunge either. For Wedge, There is plenty of info on www.thaivisa.com. You may also wish to contact Sunbelt Asia as a starting point to get the necessary info as it applies to your own particular circumstances as well as current law (not to mention propsed future changes to the law).

It's actually the airlines responsibility to repatriate you if you are turned away at immigration. therefore, when you check-in they should be checking that you comply with the requirements for entry i.e. confirmed onwards travel arrangements. So you have been asked, its just that you didn't realise it.