The head of Air France KLMÂ is trying to persuade Airbus to build a longer version of its mega A380 airliner that could carry larger numbers of passengers, according to Reuters.
If Airbus launched an expanded version, the French-Dutch airline would order a significant amount of them, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, its chief executive said.
High fuel prices makes the longer version important, he said.
I tried switching from one phone service to another last week (actually, I’ve tried several times, but that’s a whole other sob story) so I could bundle all my services.
Instead, I have no services. No home phone. No Internet. Since FRIDAY.
I’ll cut to the chase on an extremely long, highly frustrating story:
Evil Company No. 1 has to switch something off my existing phone service before my number can be transferred to Evil Company No. 2. After at least four phone calls totaling more than an hour and 15 minutes (”Press 1 if you want to …”) with one company and at least six calls totaling — and I’m not making this up — close to two hours with another one, a representative named Kyle actually said, “We’re not trying to hold you hostage, although I’m sure that’s the way it seems.”
The galling thing — and I wish I were making up this part — is that after royally ticking me off by being slow, rude and generally unconcerned about my situation as he spouted his Evil Company’s standard lines (”We’re sorry for the inconvenience …”), Kyle turned into a suave salesman who tried to sell me new services. I was too stunned to properly admonish him.
Suffice it to say, I’m thinking evil thoughts about both companies and am seeking retribution. Sadly, I can’t do it in print. I’d threaten to spread the word to every friend, enemy, business contact and passerby I can reach, but I think most people already know that we’re captive to bad service. I would just like to say that if some company out there finds a way to have good service (and the automated customer survey at the end of these calls is not cutting it), someone stands to make a fortune.
Please, someone, get on it.
If there’s anyone left who doubts the validity of the coastal housing bubble, consider this buy one, get one free deal publicized in the Los Angeles Times.
If you shell out $1.6 million for a nice home, you’re going to land a $400,000 California starter home in the deal. Kind of like “Landlords for Dummies,” California style.
If that doesn’t trip your wow factor, consider this rationale from Dawn Berry of Michael Crews Development, “We thought, ‘Why does it just have to be on Pop Tarts and restaurants? Why not buy one home, get one free.’”
Comparing a $400,000 house to a Pop Tart? Obviously, some developers are eating houses in California but this makes one even more appreciative of Wichita’s economic stability.
Looks like George Kolb won’t be the new city manager in Durham, N.C. Neither will Pat Salerno.
The Raleigh News & Oberserver is reporting that Durham will award the job to Tom Bonfield, the city manager of Pensacola, Fla.
Bonfield wasn’t one of the three finalists who participated in a public forum in Durham in April. Kolb and Salerno were.
It’s interesting to contrast the process in Durham with the one here, where the city is negotiating with the only candidate it has interviewed to replace Kolb (Salerno).
As city officials continue their hasty courtship of Pat Salerno to become the next city manager, it’s hard to believe that the downtown arena project is not accelerating the speed of the search.
Eagle reporter Brent Wistrom’s piece in Sunday’s Eagle on Salerno elicited both praise and criticism from folks who worked with Salerno in Sunrise, Fla. That’s not unexpected for any public official who has served in the same capacity for 18 years. The one shining highlight on Salerno’s resume is the BankAtlantic Center, the home of the NHL’s Florida Panthers. The arena has sparked tremendous growth in the area.
I’m guessing that Wichita officials would like the same thing to happen around Intrust Bank Arena. Right now, no one is really steering that ship, and the arena opens in about 18 months. Is a vibrant arena neighborhood worth the price of bringing in Salerno and some of his baggage? We’ll find out.
Not only did Wachovia chief executive Ken Thompson lose his job today, he’s also taking taking a lot of heat from readers of Charlotte.com, the Web site for The Eagle’s sister publication, the Charlotte Observer.
Talk about kicking somebody when they’re down. As a lone poster rightly pointed out, the board had to sign off on a lot of the business decisions attributed to Thompson’s leadership. It will be interesting to see whether there will be other leadership changes — namely board positions — to come at the nation’s fourth-largest bank.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Spirit AeroSystems’ decision to put a plant in North Carolina brings respect for the state’s Global TransPark. The park has had a rocky time landing businesses, and Eugene Conti, vice chairman of the North Carolina Global TransPark Authority, said in today’s Charlotte Observer that the industrial park took a major step forward with the addition of Wichita-based Spirit.
“Now the GTP can leave the long struggle for respectability behind,”Conti said.
The GTP has been “a regular punching bag for some writers and commentators,” he said. “The GTP was sometimes thrown under the bus.” Even after Spirit’s announcement, some reporters took a cynical “even mean-spirited approach to the story.”
Spirit will bring more than 1,000 high-skill jobs to North Carolina. “Imagine what may come in the wake of Spirit’s initial impact as its manufacturing business grows in the coming years,” Conti said.
Now, “we pledge to build on the foundation of Spirit’s commitment,” Conti said. “No one is claiming the job is over.”
This weekend bank regulators closed yet another bank, this one a $53.7 million institution in Staples, Minn.
It marks the fourth bank to be shuttered by regulators this year.
Last year, regulators shut down one bank in the same period.
What’s going on here? It’s easy to point to a depressed housing market and tightening credit. Banks’ and thrifts’ profits dropped considerably in the first quarter as they moved more money over to cover potential loan losses.
But it’s hard to know in each bank’s case if those two factors led to their demise. Regulators generally provide little detail in bank closings, other than to say management wasn’t following “safe and sound banking practices.” Sometimes they don’t even say that.
One thing’s certain: There is a trend here. With seven more months to go in the year, we’ll probably see more. Stay tuned.
Don’t mess with mom.
A New York lawyer is suing Delta Airlines for $1 million for ruining his family vacation, Reuters said.
The lawyer, Richard Roth, said he planned a Christmas 2007 trip to Buenos Aires to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday. Instead, he, his wife, two teenage children and mother spent three days in airports and went days without their luggage, Reuters said. In addition, they were treated rudely by airline employees and forced to spend $21,000 on unused hotel rooms in Argentina, replacement clothes and other costs.
Delta Air Lines had no immediate comment, Reuters said.
David Pimentel is at it again. The poster boy for the anti-ethanol movement has a figure of 1,700 gallons of water required to produce one gallon of ethanol. He was quoted — again– last week on “Fast Money” on CNBC.
Problem is, like a lot of his other “statistics,” this one is pretty far off base. To arrive at 1,700 gallons he makes the whopping assumption that all ethanol is made from corn and all the corn used is grown under irrigation.
The fact is, only 4 to 5 percent of the corn used to make ethanol is grown under irrigation and the other 95 percent uses the water that falls from the sky, the stuff us folks in farm country call “rain.” Presumably that water is “consumed” if it falls on corn fields but somehow “saved” if falls on a shopping mall.
The correct number is four gallons of water per gallon of ethanol, down 26 percent from 2001 according to Argonne National Laboratory. And growing corn, like all other vegetation, gives off water vapor — about 4,000 gallons of water per acre, per day.
Crude oil, by the way, requires 1,851 gallons of water per barrel in refining. That’s about 44 gallons water for one gallon of crude. Its evaporation rate, in return? Um, that would be zero.
More fun facts on water — these from the EPA.
If the Wichita State baseball team were a stock, the Shockers would definitely have a buy rating today.
Here are your links for Monday:
Send me your links to dloving@wichitaeagle.com.
Friday’s revelation that Wild West World’s bankers want their money – NOW – should evoke a chuckle from anyone who’s been watching the story of the failed theme park unfold.
These small Wichita bank branches which fell all over themselves to throw seven largely oversight-free figures at park founder Thomas Etheredge now reportedly are threatening to pull the plug on an all too tentative plan to buy and revive the park.
The two-month delay boiling up in the closing of the park deal is worrisome, as are reports that the Tulsa-based buyers can’t pin down the final financing pieces for their deal. Memories are fresh of the California investors who popped up last fall and never quite pulled the trigger on the project. And the banks who got soaked by Etheredge aren’t ever going to get a big chunk of their money back, so their haste is somewhat understandable.
But let’s examine the alternatives: What value does development land have when it’s got buildings and infrastructure that will have to be removed? Some believe it will cost more than $1 million to remove the park’s hydraulics and buildings if the land is sold to a developer.
Now would be a good time for patience from the bankers who bought the Etheredge bravado hook, line and sinker. Better late than never.