Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Abandoned airport.

An embarrassing emblem of the Spanish Financial Crisis, Ciudad Real Central Airport opened in 2009 at a cost of $1.2 billion. Located far from Spain's tourist destinations, this is one airport that should never have seen the light of day.

(Source: MSN News February 16, 2019)

Here we have a copy of a letter sent to the CEO of Qantas by Alex Jacquot a 10 year old school boy-

Dear Mr Alex Joyce, CEO Qantas,

I'm Alex Jacquot, a 10 year old (please take me seriously) and I want to start an airline. I have already started some stuff like what type of planes I’ll need, flight numbers, catering and more. I'm the CEO of the airline, which by the way is called Oceania Express. I've also hired a CFO, a Head of IT, a Head of Maintenance, a Head of On-board Services and a Head of Legal. Along, with my friend Wolf (Vice CEO).

We are both co-founders. I wanted to write to you because I wanted to ask three things. I like working on my airline. Seeing as it is the school holidays, I have more time to work. But I don't have anything to do (that I can think of).

Do you have any ideas of what I can do? Seeing as you are the CEO of QANTAS I thought I would ask you.

Number two: Do you have any tips of starting an airline? I'd be very grateful to know what you have to say.

Number 3: I'm thinking about, as you are, about an A350 for Sydney/Melbourne to London flights, seeing as it is a 25 hour flight.

We are having lot of trouble thinking about sleep. Do you have any advice?

Hope to hear from you soon.
Signed Alex Jacqvol, CEO and co-founder of Oceania Express.

To read the full story and view both Alex's letter and Mr. Joyce's response:

Click Here for the Daily Mail from March 10, 2019

Click Here for CNN March 12, 2019

A fleet of electric aircraft could eventually be criss-crossing the Strait of Georgia, Canada.

Canada’s Harbour Air Seaplanes, the world’s first carbon-neutral airline, announced April 2, 2019 it plans to convert its fleet of more than 40 aircraft to electric propulsion to become the world’s first emissions-free passenger airline in a joint venture with MagniX, an electric aviation propulsion systems development company in Redmond, Washington

Greg McDougall, Harbour Air Seaplanes founder and CEO, said the first Harbour Air prototype electric floatplane will start making test flights in November.

“I’m certain we can get the first aircraft up, so that’s as confident as you can be, I guess,” McDougall said. “The reason I say that is that the technology to do it actually exists today and it’s basically a matter of retrofitting that technology to existing technology.”

The test bed for electric commercial flight will be a six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver, a Canadian aircraft design flying since 1947.

McDougall said the prototype will operate as an experimental aircraft to prove the system and gain certification to carry passengers. He hopes to fly passengers aboard electric planes by 2022, albeit with possibly lighter loads to maximize aircraft range.

(Source: Nanaimo News Bulletin April 2, 2019)