Last week, we looked at multi-sector hops across Arctic Norway and beach landings on Barra in our review of unusual European scheduled flights. Now we follow up with comments on some of the really small aircraft used on regular island flights around Scotland and Ireland. Shetland Several of the smaller islands in the Shetland archipelago » Read more

Flying has generally become so standardized nowadays that you’ll understand what we mean when we assert that many flights are just boring. Let’s face it, there’s not a world of difference between the morning shuttle from Boston to New York and a routine flight from Frankfurt to London. The lines for security, the pantomime at » Read more

Earlier this month we looked at new flight connections within Europe for 2011. We now follow up with a review of new transatlantic links for summer 2011. A raft of new routes creates many new opportunities for North Americans looking for creative itineraries to and around Europe. New routes from California California gets its first-ever » Read more

Europe’s spring airline schedules came into effect last week, so in this travel brief we take a look at what’s new in the skies over Europe for the 2011 peak season. A new airline takes off from Vienna Our prize for the zaniest airline name in the new schedules goes to People’s Viennaline, a start-up » Read more

Hands down, one of the most interesting airlines in Europe right now is Iceland Express, the Icelandic budget airline with brand new Reykjavik-Newark and Reykjavik-Winnipeg routes launching this week. While Newark is an obvious expansion target, Winnipeg, Canada’s seventh biggest city, located midway across the continent, may not be, not at least until one considers » Read more

This week, let’s set our sights on six key features that define a good, contemporary airport, whether in Europe or elsewhere. Here the focus is on those areas of the airport open to all passengers, not just the frequent-flier set. What makes a business-class lounge good is a matter for another investigation. 1. Public transportation » Read more

Note: The authors hoped to be in the Faroe Islands this week. That Icelandic volcano had other ideas. They reflect from Berlin on an interesting week in European travel. Air travel in Europe has taken a hard knock these past days. Media reports of all Europe being utterly paralyzed have a dash of hyperbole. Less than one » Read more

Airlines—especially flagship carriers—have the awesome opportunity to create compelling brands that connect, in ways both obvious and creative, with their home cultures. Turkish Airlines, which I just had the pleasure of flying for the very first time, does a very good job of connecting its service as an airline to the brand of Turkey. Last » Read more

Three weeks ago, we reported here on EuroCheapo on how booking on a new air route or ferry service can cause a lot of grief for travelers intent on sticking to a fixed itinerary. All too often, teething problems can mean that a new service might not get started as smoothly as a carrier might » Read more