Jaunted

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It's Not Every Day That Air Force One Goes Up For Sale

An unattainable dream is about to come true. Someone who is not the President nor in the government will be able to say that they are now the owner of Air Force One*.

The aircraft—a DC-9 with seats for 42 travelers—may not be the jumbo jet 747 we're so used to seeing presidents emerge from on state visits, but nabbing this plane for a starting bid of $50,000 isn't half bad. For that amount of money, The Telegraph notes, one could "only run Mr Obama's main presidential aircraft for a quarter of an hour."

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Boeing is Hard at Work Cooking Up a Whole New Flavor of 777

You know we get all worked up when there's anything new to report in the saga of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but eventually we’re going to have to shift our focus—and airplane love—towards a new aircraft. It looks like Boeing has something up their sleeve already, and if things go according to plan the world’s longest-range passenger jet may roll off the assembly line sooner rather than later.

Sure, it’s technically not a totally new aircraft, as we’re sure the engineers at Boeing are copying and pasting some stuff from one set of blueprints to another. Nonetheless, the Boeing 777X is a totally revamped and renovated option from airplane manufacturer.

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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner Rides Again: First Flight Dates for Each Airline

For the first time in nearly three months, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is in the headlines for a positive reason—they're returning to the skies! Of course, this comes after battery fires and millions upon millions lost by grounding the jets, but still—good news.

According to Reuters, the fix required for the airplane's batteries won't be a cheap one, as the FAA "pegged the cost of repairing United's six jets at about $2.8 million." The installation of the modified lithium-ion batteries in Dreamliners should be complete by mid-May, meaning tickets are again being sold for 787 flights.

There are currently 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in service with airlines, all of which will be "fixed" and flying again as soon as the airlines can handle it. Here's the dates for when airlines expect their 787s to again fly with paying passengers:

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It Probably Won't Happen, but the Airplane 'Side-Slip Seat' Idea is Unique

It’s been a little bit of time since we first heard about the Side-Slip Seat, but now it looks as though the latest idea in airplane seating design is making the rounds once again. We’ve got a few more details and some additional renderings, since Molon Labe Designs sincerely hopes this will be the next great thing in airplane seating.

The basic premise behind this new design is that the aisle seat can slide over the middle seat, with the goal that the aisle of the airplane gets a little bit roomier during the boarding process. Faster boarding means quicker turnaround time for the airlines, and as a result that might just lead to more cash in their bank accounts.

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Why Porter Airlines Needs Toronto's City Airport to Bend the Rules

We haven’t heard too much from Porter Airlines lately. Sure they’ve had their share of new route announcements, and of course they’re still busy doing the free lounge access things for all of their passengers. However, they might be in store for something big, as it looks like they’ve got their eyes on a whole bunch of new airplanes.

They must have a fairly nice PowerPoint to show off, as they’ve got an expansion plan that includes like a $2 billion order for those brand new Bombardier CSeries jets. Sounds all fine and dandy, but there’s a little bit of a problem. A lot of Porter’s success has been dependent on their use of the very convenient Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport right near Toronto’s downtown core; however, there’s also all kinds of rules, regulations, and restrictions regarding what can and cannot fly to and from the airport. That means these new planes aren’t necessarily allowed there, so Porter Airlines is going to need to ask for permission first.

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The Latest Idea for a Concorde Home Hits a Setback

There’s nothing about Concorde that we don’t like, except the fact that it no longer flies high in the supersonic skies. From trip reports, photographs, and even souvenirs we’re all about the world’s greatest commercial airliner, so of course we’d be all about a museum dedicated to Concorde this and Concorde that. Unfortunately it seems like not everyone is down with scoring some t-shirts at the gift shop.

The Save Concorde Group put the original plan forth for a museum, because just like us they thought a £2 million Concorde home was a pretty sweet idea. They were going to construct something in Filton, UK but unfortunately British Airways isn’t cool with the purposed plan.

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Seats Now on Sale for the Restart of United's 787 Dreamliner Flights

Its been nearly two full months since the FAA grounded Boeing's brand new 787 Dreamliners due to caution over battery issues, but last week saw the bird return to the air...over the skies of Washington State, at least. Boeing is in the process of trial flights to asses a fix to prevent future fires in its lithium-ion battery system.

Changes could be approved as early as the end of this month, and it's obvious that's exactly what a few airlines are betting on as a recent schedule update shows United's confident enough to put some 787s back on schedule, starting May 31. And those flights, between Houston and Denver, are already on sale, according to AirlineRoute.net.

We attempted to purchase a ticket on the first United flight using the 787, on May 31, and it was not only still available but reasonably priced and light in load.

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The American Airlines 777-300ER Onslaught Continues

As you may have heard - say, when we excitedly wrote about it here and here, or when we did the definitive description of it here, or when we posted the definitive photo gallery of it here—American Airlines has a line of new Boeing 777-300ER airplanes.

They're neat and, more to the point, American wants you to know they're neat. They've put out two new videos highlighting that neatness, which we're going to go ahead and steal from AAdvantage Geek. The videos are embedded below.

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Finally! The First Real Photo Emerges of British Airways' A380

This is not a computer-generated rendering. This is the first real photo of the first Airbus A380 belonging to British Airways.

Early this morning, the image appeared on BA's instagram with the announcement: "Meet MSN95, our first A380 superjumbo to be painted in the famous red, white and blue livery." Airbus then also chimed in: "The next new #A380 operator in full livery fresh out of our Hamburg paint shop. Looking good @British_Airways."

There are 469 passenger seats inside of it, and all are already on sale from $830 and up, as we announced a month ago. First flights won't happen for several months, however, as regular service is due to begin between London and Los Angeles on October 15 and between London and Hong Kong on November 15, 2013.

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Onboard American Airlines' First Boeing 777-300ER: Getting High

There's something new in the air. Smell it? That's the scent of a refreshed American Airlines and their shiniest new toy: the Boeing 777-300ER. AA is the first US airline with the plane and we just stepped off one of its first flights. So let's talk about it.

The Jaunted Series on American's Shiny New Toy

We must've looked over at the tiny display screen on the remote control twenty times during the course of our flight from New York-JFK to London-Heathrow. It sat, snugly locked into its own nook, just above our left shoulder and in the corner of our peripheral vision.

No matter how low the mood lighting went or how engrossed in the old Bond flick "Diamonds Are Forever" we got, eventually we'd have a glance over at the little glowing words "American Airlines." It was a reassurance—this Boeing 777-300ER in which we found ourselves so comfortably situated for 6-ish hours over the Atlantic Ocean is really, truly an American Airlines plane.

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Onboard American Airlines' First Boeing 777-300ER: The New Hotness

The AA 777-300ER

There's something new in the air. Smell it? That's the scent of a refreshed American Airlines and their shiniest new toy: the Boeing 777-300ER. AA is the first US airline with the plane and we just stepped off one of its first flights. So let's talk about it.

The Jaunted Series on American's Shiny New Toy

This is an American Airlines plane?! NO WAY.

WAY.

From the fresh paint job in the "new American" livery to the mood lighting and seatback touchscreen TVs, it's hard to believe that this 777 belongs to an airline whose biggest headlines of recent swirled around its bankruptcy. Well, we've flown bankrupt airlines before (cough Alitalia cough) and we've flown the old American a bunch, and what we just experienced is so completely unlike those that it's shocking (in a good way).

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Europe Joins the 'Vomit Comet' Game as Zero-G Flights Begin

We’re all about in-flight comfort—from fine wining and dining to the latest in sleeper suites, it's all of interest to us, and of course we want to try it. However, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t interested in something a little more adventurous when climbing aboard an aircraft. That’s why we’re pretty intrigued about the Zero-G flights now available to the paying public over in Europe.

You’ve probably heard of the “Vomit Comet” before, as aircraft flying wild courses to experience reduced gravity is hardly a new concept. Space agencies have been using airplanes for years to simulate varying degrees of weightlessness, but you no longer need to be an astronaut to climb aboard. Trips like this have been available in the United States and Russia, but this is the first time these kinds of flights have been open to one and all in Europe.

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