Aircraft Interiors Expo #AIX2017

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Nicolas

Last week, I was in Germany to attend Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg Messe. The event welcomed more than 550 exhibitors from all around the world. Every year, more than 14,000 aviation professionals, airlines and international press go to Hamburg for AIX. The event is huge and covers approximately 24,000 metres square (258,334 feet square) of flooring. As you can see below, the large floor plan includes different buildings that are a walking distance from each other.

Below is a list of the major products you can find at Aircraft Interiors Expo:

Seats (First, Business Premium Economy and Economy)
Seats fabrics
Seats armrests
Seat power ports (110V and USB)
Racks that hold seats on the floor
Carpets for flooring
Cabin lighting
Galley carts
Lavatories
Inflight Entertainment (IFE)
And more!

Major News Announced

Zodiac Aerospace unveiled an economy seat for the Boeing 777X.
Hawaiian Airlines showed their future A321neo cabin interior by JPA Design
Recaro presented the Smart Cabin Reconfiguration for the A320 family. It revealed a quick way to swap seats between higher-density economy and more spacious Eurobusiness seats.
Airbus announced a new cabin version of its jumbo jet to accommodate an additional 80 seats.
ATR partnered with Geven to offer an increased seat width from 17″ to a more comfortable 18″.
Molon Labe updates its Slide-Slip Seat: the aisle seat slips over the middle seat for expedited boarding process.
Altran presented an autonomous robot trolley that can drive itself through the aisle.
HAECO Cabin Solutions offers a cocktail tray and PDE holder that will be offered on the Vector premium seat.

The-first-class-seats-are-standard-BE-but-the-cabin-divider-feature-is-pleasant-enough.-Image-Hawaiian-Airlines-Custom-1024x853

Hawaiian Airlines A321neos will feature both First Class and Economy seats manufactured by B/E Aerospace. (Photo: Hawaiian Airlines)

World Travel Catering Expo (WTCE)

A l’Olivier, based in Paris, provides olive oil dressing for salads to airlines such as Air Canada.

On the other side of the road was held the World Traveling Catering Expo (WTCE). On-site, visitors had the opportunity to try and sample anything from munchies to First class level cuisine. Many of the major airline catering providers (gategroup, dnata and LSG Group) were at the event. There were also many smaller companies I have never heard before.

There were many small firms that provided important products for the food catering industry, such as the aluminum foil that cover the hot meals in economy. You could also find different sizes of aluminum containers for meals, plastic cups for drinks and various sizes and shapes of cutlery. There were also providers of amenity kits for premium cabins, as well as companies that design crew uniforms.

Overview of one of the two WTCE exhibits.

While walking, I saw a cleaning machine that was spinning vertically to clean galley carts. It sprayed water and soap and the centrifugal force disinfected the beverage trolleys for their next flight. It was pretty amazing to watch!

As an #avgeek, it was impressive to see all those providers. There are so many that you would not think at first. I definitely hope to go back next year for the 2018 edition!

Until next time!

Nicolas

Two Days in Berlin

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Nicolas

Hallo!

Early this week, I travelled to Europe with my friend to attend Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany. Before we arrived in Hamburg, we spent two days in Berlin to visit the city. Here are the cool things we did during our stay:

Victory Column
The first activity we did once we arrived in Berlin was to visit the Victory Column (pictured on the right). From the top of the monument, you are able to view the city. It is located in the centre of a roundabout very close to the Tiergarten, one of the most popular park in Berlin.

East Side Gallery
The following morning, we took the U-Bahn (subway) and headed to see the Berlin Wall, which is also known as the East Side Gallery. The 1,316 metre (4,318 feet) long section of the wall is covered with various paintings. Many portions of the wall have been damaged by erosion with time and graffitis since some parts are not protected with a fence.

Brandenburg Gate
This is the city’s only ancient gate remaining. The construction of this landmark started in 1788 and was completed in 1791. What is interesting about it is that it is aligned with the Berlin Victory Column. You can see the tip of it on the picture below.

Topography of Terror
This outdoor and interior museum housed the headquarters of the Gestapo (secret police) during the Third Reich.

Photo: Topographie des Terrors

Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie was the checkpoint between the American and Soviet sectors of Berlin. After the construction of the Berlin Wall, it primarily served as a crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.

Reichstag
The Italian High Renaissance building served as the seat of parliament in the German Empire. Today, it functions as the seat of the federal German parliament.

Berlin Tempelhof Airport
This was probably one of my favorite part of Berlin. The Tempelhof Airport is an abandoned airport that ceased operations in 2008. The airfield has two parallel runways (09R/27R and 09L/27L) with a length of more than 6,000 feet. It only had one taxiway that was basically circled the runways.

We rented bikes for about one hour and rolled down on the runways and taxiways! We saw a Douglas C-54 of the USAAF parked under the terminal (pictured above) and a Let L-410 Turbojet that was used for fire training purposes. The hour flew by really fast!

After our passage through the abandoned airport, we headed to the city’s main railway station (Berlin Hauptbahnhof) to take a train to Hamburg. In my next post, I will talk about Aircraft Interiors Expo 2017 in Hamburg!

Nicolas

Some Tips to be a Great Intern

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Maryam

Hello everyone!

Exactly one month from now, I will conclude my current internship with Delta Air Lines, so I wanted to share some tips that I’ve learned. I know many of you will be off for internships during the summer, so it will be great to keep some of the following in mind.

1. Learn about the company:

Being offered an internship is a great boost to your resume, but it’s always great to learn more about the company before hand. Always do you homework- conduct some additional research of the history of the company you are going to intern with and learn about their culture. This will help boost your knowledge and maybe impress your boss! I mean you could even end up scoring a letter of recommendation from your manager in the future!

2. Mentor:

It is important that you find a mentor while working in the company. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your manager, but someone whom you could talk to and will give you continuous support. This will also help develop relationships and connect with the employees on a personal level. At my current internship, my manager and I have set up an “intern status meeting” every Wednesday, so I would highly recommend doing something similar. It has helped me connect with my manager on a personal level, and I always learn new things about her!

3. Commitment:

Never show up late to work, unless you have an emergency . Be sure to communicate with your manager in case you know you might be late or need a day off (car trouble, stuck in traffic, sick leave, etc). It’s better that your manager knows where you are instead of wondering whether you will show up to work or not. Communication is an important key to developing your relationship with the manager. Always keep them in the loop. Don’t be afraid to talk to them in case you’re facing any problems. If necessary, stay back later in the evening as well. This will show your manager that you are committed to do your job. Prove to them that you are someone who stands out and goes the extra mile. Your internship is your time to shine. Standing out in your company could even open up job offers after your internship is over.

4. Social Media:

AVOID AVOID AVOID! Do not be on social media unless your job requires you to be on it. The internship is your time to learn more about the industry and gain valuable experience. If you need to, you can use social media preferably on lunch break. I still avoid it, even during lunch break, since I treat my break as a bonding experience with my fellow coworkers and try to learn more about them. Always be polite and friendly when you’re talking to your employees/ employers and beware of gossiping.

5. Feedback:

Always ask for feedback when you’re working on projects assigned to you. This will shine light on your strengths, and you can always learn from your weaknesses before you leave. Everyone makes mistakes so do not be afraid to correct them. Do whatever it takes to show your employer that you are eager to do your job! Talk to your employer if you need more projects to work on or need to lessen the load.

There are definitely many other factors involved, but I just wanted to give a brief insight of some of the factors I considered while working on my current internship. I wish you the very best in all your endeavors. Be yourself, be amazing!

Until next time,

Maryam

Spring Break in the Mountains

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Nicolas

Hey all!

Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada

For the second part of Spring Break, my family and I went to ski for a few days in Mont-Tremblant, which is just a bit over 80 miles north-west of Montreal. I believe it was time to something else in the snow after shovelling snow for a few days due to Winter Storm Stella. I had already been to this skiing resort when I was younger.

I think it is my favorite mountain on the East side of North America. It is not comparable to the height of the Canadian Rockies or Colorado in the West, but it is a great mountain. The village is awesome and you have the feeling of being in Vail or Whistler.

Beautiful sunset over the Mont-Tremblant village just after our arrival at the hotel.

Beautiful sunset over the Mont-Tremblant village just after our arrival to the hotel.

The village has all sorts of restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, boutiques and ski equipment stores. While we were there, it was also Spring Break for many high schools and universities in Ontario. I felt like I was in the United States since I was only listening to people talking in English.

The village during daytime.

The village at the bottom of the slopes becomes lively in the afternoon.

The Fairmont Tremblant is right by the slopes and is “ski-in ski-out.”

Even though Mont-Tremblant is mostly a winter seasonal destination, I heard many tourists come visit in the summer. There are many activities to do in the warmer months of the year such as golf, mountain biking, wall climbing and hiking. The is also a lake where you can fish, go canoeing and kayaking. I have not been in the summer but I hope to do so next summer!

If you want to visit Mont-Tremblant, you can either fly to Montreal (YUL) and drive to the resort, or you can fly directly to YTM seasonally via Montreal, Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) or Toronto City (YTZ).

Until next time!

Nicolas

My Life @ Riddle

Daytona Beach Edition

Monthly Archives: April 2017

Aircraft Interiors Expo #AIX2017

Two Days in Berlin

Some Tips to be a Great Intern

Spring Break in the Mountains