Air France's Nex flagship comes in with wild dreams

Airbus widebody comes up with big dreams among Air France pilots.


And fierce competition is on as who will be picked to drive the A380

Plans set by the top management called to entrust the double-deckker to the best experienced 777 pilots, (here a 228 passenger variant)


But a drastic slump in all cargo services (mostly operated by dedicated all freighter 428Fs and former passenger 428s converted as BCFs)


didacted otherwise as no fewer than 100 747-400 (here a 428) pilots out of 400 are on redudency.


The latters are the airline's ongest employed and best paid ones. Many are also close to 60 years.
Air France offered the unions the conclusion of a passageway agreement to relocate some 744 drivers on T7s, (here, a 228F freighter)


by taking into account that recouping costs of type ratings lasts 6 years or so.
So a 58 year veteran could not have been entitled to a seat on the newly introduced A380.

But effective January 1st, retirement age will also be raised to 65 years in France and this change everything to the afore mentioned 58 year veteran who can demand a new rating.

Not to mention that a 58 year old 744 driver can get a priority over a 54 year 777 fellow flyer

Coming out of such transcients is not well accepted by other pilots.

The Triple Seven (here, a stretched 328ER) drivers would like to move up on A380,


while A32X ones are eager to upgrade on the Boeing.

(making up for the 32X family of single aisle aircrafts are

the A318

the A319

the A320, first to be introduced into revenue in 1988 by AF

and the stretched A321)


The ongoing uneasiness by the 747-400 dept may spill over the whole airline's pilot staff says Jean François Huzen, head of UNPL/Union National des Pilote de Ligne (National Union of Airline Pilots) Adds he, "granting the ratings to some will jam the ways for many others"

The airline also openely dislikes the idea in seeing old-timers seating by the joystick of its new double-decker flagship ...
AF would then back the unions who plan setting a 60 year age limit in getting another type rating.
But some 744 drivers have already warned they will procesute the airline over age discrimination !

Source : Le Figaro 14-12-2009, Fabrice Amedeo

Air Méditerrannée partly back to first LOVE !

According to french weekly aviation magazine Air & Cosmos released yesterday, french charter and supplemental carrier Air Méditerrannée plans operating Boeing 737s again.


Headquartered at Tarbes, in southwestern France, the airline started trading with


3 Boeing 737-200s in 1997. Both views show F-GCSL, member of the original trio illustrated in the airline's first and today's liveries


and then gradually upgraded to its today fleets made up of 7 Airbus A321s


Including F-GYAR, sporting a special tail livery as to better show the close link with FRAM, a a major french tour operator based at Toulouse, and altogether, the airline's best contractor.


and a single Airbus A320
operating from Paris/Charles de Gaulles, Lyons, Marseilles, Nantes and Toulouse to destinations across the Mediterrannean area, which inspired the name, and as far as Dakar/Sénégal.

Yet, many tour operatings companies based across the south of France cried for smaller aircrafts.

Hence, a partial return to FIRST LOVE

The airline's plans call for taking up four 130 seat Boeing 737-500s by late 2010 and specifically base them at Marseille, Toulouse, Lyons and Nantes, with an aircraft deployed at each airport.


The model 500 is similar in size to the early 200, but comes up with the quieter and more fuel efficient CFM56s powerplants

Sources

Wikipedia in French, for the fleet details of the aircrafts operated since inception

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Méditerrannée

Wikipedia in English, for the detailed list of destinations served

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Méditerrannée

Not yet in full scale, but not far from the R-312

Veolia's proposed double articulated bus for rapid transit showed up, although in presentation poster sized proportions.

Still operating across the northern rim of Greater Paris from Saint-Denis with enroute stops at La Courneuve, where the picture was shot, Tramway T1 is set to be considerably extended as far as Reuil-Malmaison, west of Paris. Completing the planned extention will take more than 10 years.

Yet, hard working line 304 shows its limits at peak time. At time two or three articulated units may be trailing to each other

as seen at Nanterre-Université

On normal times, intervals rarely exceed 15 minutes

Serving scores of strategic locations, such as the general hospital, across both Colombes and Nanterre, bus 304 is reportedly set for replacement before work on T1 extension can actually start. Not operating across downtown Paris, but still a RATP arch-rival and even a nemesis on outside tenders, Veolia also reportedly inked a deal
according to which the BHNS/Bus-à-Hauts-Niveau-de-Service (Hight Level Service Bus) as the BRT/Bus Rapid Transit is refered in French will be operated on behalf of the legacy transit authority as a replacement for Bus 304 until the Tramway extension is completed.

Educating users

Last September 17th, the plazza of Nanterre Ville's regional and metropolitan station played host to a presentation of mass transit projects set to serve the area by 5 years. Lasting five days, the event also promoted the use

of bicycles. A repair shop was sheltered by the marquee

Not to be left in the cold, RATP/Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, Greater Paris's mass transit authority, contributed to the event by putting passengers into bus drivers' shoes, let's start the engine.

Produced between 1987 and 1996, the Renault R-312 took over from the venerable Renault SC-10 on most french mass transit networks. R312's name stood for R as Renault, 3 for the three side exits featured on early models and 12 for the vehicle lengh, aka, 12 meters. By far the largest customer, RATP accepted a grand total of 632 units. Since, many have been withdrawn from use as newer Irisbus and MAN started coming in the fleet. Things were not completely over and scores of R312 found new networks to serve in Eastern Europe and Africa.

Not yet driving back and forth the streets of either Douala/Cameroon or Varna/Bulgaria, this R-312 still soldiers with the RATP as a rental bicycle office at large. But on this occasion, its was driven to educate today's bus riders .... The stage was then set with the following cast
Stool : a kid suddenly running across the street
Pink canvas : pavement (UK) sidewalk (US)
Green plants : other by-standers


Bicyle + baloon : itself

The driver was acting as the teacher on the field by inviting on-lookers to sit in the driver's position. Once behind the wheel, one was then asked how good he could see the afore mentioned cast members by using the field of vision from the windshield, driving mirrors and so on.

Giving a lift to a french legend

Thanks to this Nissan Atleon, this 40 year plus old Citroën D-Super is on the roads again.
Next stop will be the restoration workshop.

Small by size, BIG for what they can do

These are the mini trucks made by MEGA, part of Aixam group of automotive companies, headquartered at Aix-Les-Bains/France at the foot of the Alps. The extensive lines of vehicles range from Columbia golf shuttlers , to Mega trucks with Aixam driving licence-free micro cars in between.

Company profile : http://www.mega-vehicles.com/en-company-profile.html

Mega's range of mini trucks and utility vehicles http://www.mega-vehicles.com/accueil.php

A Mega truck at work on location

Well showing how appropriate the naming has been, the micro truck is parked on the edge of the passage way to a major department store. Something virtually impossible to do with a small van and let alone a regular truck !

There, this congenial looking vehicle caters to passers-by in need of either a cup of coffee, or some concfectionary, or a sandwich plus drink, without the hassle of walking to some distant coffee houses.

Renault's newest Sedan/Saloon previews on Champs Elysées

A new Renault up for close inspection before

your nearest dealer gets it in the show-room ....

The Mégane range of (european) midsize cars was launched in 1994
The products family was made up of
an hatchback 4-door sedan/saloon

an hatchback coupé 2 doors
a 4-door + boot regular sedan/saloon
a stationwagon (or Estate for readers from the UK)
and a mid-size family van labelled as the Scenic
last year, the third generation hit the show rooms,

without a regular sedan/saloon.
Admittingly, France is not anymore a perfect market place for sedans/saloons.
Starting with the launch of the Renault R-16 in 1965,
France has turned as a country of hatchbacks.

Now set to single out as a proper standalone like the Scenic,

the regular sedan is previewing at the carmaker's show case

on Avenue des Champs-Elysées.

and can be inspected at close quarters.

Now called the FLUENCE, it will be put on sale across Europe next spring

Paris' Waterways Clients

Fleets of sightseeing boats operated by quite a few companies crisscross Paris' waterways at a sustained level. Often larger, barges mingle into traffic at regular levels together with smaller yatchs.

At times, the waterway divides into two ways of shipping, often determined by the bridges' clearance in terms of width and height.

Close by St-Michel, opposite Quai des Grands Augustins and along Quai des Orfèvres, a landmark in many in hosts of detective stories taking place in Paris .... Paris-En-Seine's flagship is about to shore at base after completing another 1 hour stylish drink cruise. (http://www.paris-en-seine.com)

Coming next is a Compagnie des Bateaux Mouche's fleet member

which gets ahead while going under Pont-St.Michel.
Bateaux-Mouche specializes in long standing cruises along determined itineraries from base to base (http://www.bateaux-mouche.fr/lang-pref/en)

Not far behind is a


Batobus fleet member shuttling along a fixed itineray serving 8 points of call.
Passengers are free to drop off and come on.
(http://www.batobus.com/engligh/index.htm)


Closing Notre-Dame, third stop of a loop originating from Eiffel Tower

How about a Smart running on Steroids

Last April 15th, La Défense plazza hosted the launch of Burn Day, another energy drink.


A congenial crew came in with loads of samples to be given away to thousands of tired and bored office workers who inhabits the surrounding building on day time.

To both keep sample fresh when stored and get an handy attention getter, Burn Day also brought the proof that a diminutive Smart

can also run on steroids !!! And increase its lengh by almost three fold.

Not as elaborate as their predecessors of the 50s and 60s

But not devoid of interest. Some advertising vehicles still come out from some real conversion out of a standard one. But modifications seldom reach the levels of four and five decades ago when everything except the chassis was redesigned and reworked.

Cofiroute is a prominent french highway builder and operator. The company's latest project is a two level motorway running across much of Paris western suburban area, by linking Reuil-Malmaison to Versailles in 10 to 15 minutes instead of today's 45 minutes or so.
Plans call for setting the motorway underground through a two level tunnel. Each level comes up with a three lane highway. Each level will be single way, so that frontal collision will be virtualy impossible. Moreover, two-wheelers and trucks will be banned in addition to vehicule showing up an height in excess of 2.80 meters / 7.40 feet.

Last September 24th, Cofiroute was amid a marketing drive to promote a subscription scheme targeted to frequent drivers, many of whom radiate from La Défense business district for both personnal and professionnal reasons

The company dispatched then its specially modified advertising van, conversion of which


was obtained from a Renault Master full size van. The company's van was parked on the grand plazza , all day long and at a strategic location between the convention center and the shopping mall., where a promotional counter was already on site. The van drove in with another team of attention getters who circled back and forth

and salespersons who set up their office and pitched the subscriptions on board.

The ride to Today - Tomorrow - Toyota - keeps driving upstairs

There, Toyota displays a GT-One, also known as a TS020 in Japan and which raced at Le Mans in 1998 and 1999

The 900 kg grand-touring (and later upgraded to Le Mans protoype class) racer was powered by a 600 HP V8 engine. ZENT is a leading Japanese alloy wheel maker.

The Formula racer sits next to the GT-One

is mated to an extremely popular racing simulator