The Maiden Post
Hello there,
I feel
deeply honoured to have you here reading this maiden post. I am as excited as
you are to finally get this thing off the ground! Let’s start with a bit of
background information. First, for as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated
with travel especially air travel (rail and road travel are pretty interesting
as well and we shall hopefully touch on them from time to time, but they just
don’t grip me like aviation does!). The major allure of air travel for me is
the almost magical possibility of zigzagging across thousands of miles in the
space of a few hours. I am greatly intrigued by the “magical quality” of air
travel, you hop on a plane spend a couple of hours airborne and at the end of your
flight you’re in a completely different world experiencing different cultures,
a different way of life, tasting exotic dishes sometimes with unpronounceable
names as well as experiencing a different climate in a different time zone
which wreaks havoc on your sleeping patterns. Its very possible to hop into a
plane in say Lagos, Nigeria with the temperature being a blazing 34 degrees
Celsius and about twelve hours later land in New York City to below freezing
temperatures and piles of snow. This is a major excitement of travel, the way
it can propel you into dizzyingly different experiences within a very short
time.
I have the barest of technical skills or
knowledge, but I do have a fair understanding of the physics which ensure that
an aircraft takes off and remains airborne for the duration of flight. However,
I must confess that each time I am fastened into my seat and awaiting takeoff,
as I feel the enormous power generated by the engines pushing the plane faster
and faster until it breaks free of the pull of gravity, I can’t help but wonder
if perhaps Grandma is right each time she says about air travel “there’s got to
be magic involved in this thing!”. For me, despite having been on countless
airplanes in different parts of the world and knowing what I know, I can’t seem
to get rid of the awe I feel when am on board an airplane for hours and hours
speeding through the sky at hundreds of kilometers per hour with hundreds of
people onboard and with thousands of pounds of luggage and cargo in its belly.
For me two points in every flight hold an almost ritualistic and mystical
quality: the moment when the aircraft conquers the forces of of gravity and
leaps into the sky leaving the world behind and the moment when at the end of
every flight, the aircraft wheels kiss and reconnect with mother earth in a
triumphant “yes we did it again, we beat gravity” kinda moment.
At this
point, you’ve probably figured out that I am an aviation junkie, the aviation
and travel industry are topics I love to read and research upon endlessly. Such
is my addiction that on one occasion during a job interview when I was asked to say something interesting about
myself, I immediately leapt into – you guessed right; aviation. I went on and
on and on about airports and airlines, megahubs and megacarriers, the
importance of feed traffic to the sustenance of a hub and bits and pieces about
the air travel industry. I rambled on for nearly ten minutes leaving my
interviewer spellbound. umm, I didn’t get THAT job!! Well, I digress. So back
to the mata!
May I at
this point state that I am Nigerian and due to occurrences in my nation’s
history, the English Language is the official language of business and most
formal activities in Nigeria, nevertheless, in addition to the existing native
Nigerian Languages, Nigerians (and other Anglophone West Africans), also speak
an English creole knows and pidgin or
brokin (Broken English). From experience, I realize that reading or hearing
pidgin can be extremely confusing to non – Nigerians.
Above is a
link for further explanations about pidgin English. In reading this blog, you
shall from time to time (very rarely) find bits and pieces of pidgin English
strewn across this blog. Please disregard it if you do not understand it, I shall
ensure that the blog remains very intelligible. If you however wish for any
pidgin phrase or sentence to be explained in detail to you, please indicate in
the comments section and I will be happy to do so.
Aviation is
a very crucial sector in any country. It is no coincidence that some of the
wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world have very vibrant and robust
aviation industries usually led by powerful national carriers which serve to
spread the nation’s influence and prestige as well as enhance the rapid flow of
persons, goods and services. It also not a coincidence that most of the global
centres of trade and commerce are host to some of the world’s largest and most
vibrant airports which often double as the home of their mega carrier airlines.
For example London is home to Heathrow Airport
(LHR) (where British Airways is based), Gatwick Airport (LGW), London City
Airport (LCY), Luton Airport and Stansted Airport (STA) airports – Heathrow and Gatwick are amongst
the largest airports in Europe with air links to all corners of the globe while
the remaining airports are smaller yet considerably important airports.
The city of
Dubai is a major hub for Emirates airlines and is home to the massive Al –
Maktoum international airport (DXB). A new airport – the Dubai World Central
(DWC) has reached advanced stages in its construction and is set to open for
commercial use before the end of the decade. Once opened, DWC Is projected to
handle over 90 million passengers each year and is a major plank for the
ambitious growth plans envisaged by Emirates Airlines.
The city of
New York has several major airports in its airport system – John F. Kennedy
International Airport (JFK), Newark International Airport (EWR), and La Guardia
International Airport (LGA). For several years, JFK was the world’s largest and
busiest airport.
Beijing’s
Capital International Airport is the major hub for Air China, China Eastern
Airlines, Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines. It is also an important
airport for several major Chinese and international air carriers.
All the
above airports each serve passengers numbering in the tens of millions on an
annual basis as well as provide direct and indirect employment for tens of
millions more, their home cities depend on them for the sustenance of their
trade and business links as well as their prominence.
This blog
aims to keep abreast with the latest developments in the aviation and wider
travel industry and to examine ways in which these trends can be replicated in
our airlines and airports. We shall also beam our searchlight on our local
airlines with a view to ensuring that they begin to keep abreast of global best
practices in the industry.
Kindly air
your views on any topic in the comments section and remember to be social! Share
and spread the news!!
So, welcome
aboard and remember that the journey to a destination is also as important as
the destination itself.
PS: The blog
is still under construction, please be patient as we populate and do a lot of
furnishing, it will soon look very pretty in here.
Quebix Travels
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