I say “supposedly” because not everything has been made known. It’s been all over the news: Porter flight PD444 on 6 August was cancelled because a kid wouldn’t put on his seatbelt. As a dad who has travelled with kids numerous times, I thought long and hard about weighing in on this debate, but wanted to get the facts straight before I give my two cents.

At the outset, I’d like to make two things very clear as the AvDOG, the AvGeek Dad on the Ground. Firstly, I do believe that flying should be safe for everyone. Flight attendants are not just there to ask whether you want chicken or beef. Their main job is to make sure that the flight is safe. If a flight isn’t safe to fly, it’s not safe, period. Secondly, as a dad and a full time teacher, I am not a proponent of so-called gentle parenting, however I do believe that parents are responsible for their own children ensuring they can behave within acceptable social boundaries. I don’t expect every child to be an angel, especially if they’re young, but if something goes wrong, parents should be there. That’s also why I think that low cost carriers should seat parents and kids together.

So on to the incident.

Very quickly: PD444 was cancelled because a child could not be safely secured for take off. News outlets report that Porter decided to return to the gate to deplane, but in order to get everyone off and back on again, they would miss the runway closure at 00:30, so instead the flight cancelled and passengers were rebooked for the next day.

Soon, passengers started sharing details of what happened on the flight. One passenger mentioned that the child kept sliding and hiding under their seat, while Porter said that the child was standing on their seat. Online commentary has been, well, very colourful to say the least.

But let’s look at the facts, or lack thereof.

PD444 was already delayed. The scheduled time of departure was 22:30, it only pushed back from the gate at 23:04 according to Flightradar24. If you trace the playback, there seems to be a 10 minute gap from 23:16-23:26 just before the runway when the aircraft was standing still. There’s no record about what happened in those ten minutes but I’m assuming that’s when the ultimatum was given to the parents while the crew did the final checks before takeoff. At 23:26 the plane moves onto the runway again only to take a right turn back to the airport to deplane the family. The plane ultimately returned to the terminal at 23:42 which gave Porter 48 minutes to deplane, board again and take off. A slightly tall ask unless you are Ryanair.

As a parent, flying with kids is one of the most stressful things. I remember our first flight with my second born. We thought we’d already figured it out with my oldest, we prepared everything well ahead of time, got to the airport with three hours to spare, bought lounge entries for the whole family so everyone could relax. We got to the lounge only to realize that we brought everything except my 3 month old son’s nursing bottle. Flying with kids is just different. I’m not saying that the parents are not to blame (I’ll get to that later), but before you keyboard warriors come at me, have a little empathy for the minority of us flying with kids.

Many people blame the parents for being too soft. I wasn’t on the flight so I’m not sure whether the parents were gentle parenting or just over it by this point (remember the flight was already delayed by 30 minutes at this point). Many say that parents need to be mindful of other passengers and their travel plans but as a parent it’s always a losing battle. I’m not a gentle parent, but I am also very mindful of all the judging looks around me on an aircraft when I tell my kids off. If I was that gentle parent that didn’t tell my kids off, I’d still be blamed for cancelling the whole flight. Cut us some slack.

Also, we really do not know all the details to judge these parents. Firstly, there is no official report about the child’s age. But reports saying that the child slid out from underneath the seatbelt suggest that they couldn’t have been too old. But travelling with a child is not just about getting to your gate on time. It’s about keeping disruption to your child’s schedule to a minimum so that those around them (both parents and other passengers) can remain sane. But as a passenger correctly pointed out, a child sliding out and hiding under a seat suggests that there was more going on. The child was scared, they were in an unfamiliar environment, overstimulated and probably already way past their bedtime. We don’t even know if it’s their first time flying. Put all of this together, putting on a seat belt is not going to be easy for the child or parents. Either that or the parents gave the child seven cans of Coke before takeoff.

Someone commented that parents shouldn’t book a late night flight, but that may be exactly why parents book it, hoping that the child may sleep on board as opposed to being super energetic kicking the seat in front of them. I’ve experienced both. I do prefer to book a late night flight (especially if it’s long haul), get the kids asleep before they get on the plane and pray they sleep throughout taxi and takeoff. If it’s short haul, I try to book a day time flight that coincides with their nap times or meal times if flights are available. This increases the odds of them eating or sleeping on the flight and not treating the plane as a jumping castle.

Did Porter respond correctly to the situation? We don’t know all the details. However, just by looking at the timestamps on Flightradar24, I think their hands were pretty tied. Many say Porter should’ve responded sooner, but the flight was already delayed and I don’t think they were prepared for an uncooperative child to delay the flight even further. It’s not their fault the airport closes at 00:30. Had it been another airport without a curfew, this incident wouldn’t have gotten the coverage it has.

I know parenting is a sensitive topic and even as parents we are very wary of giving others parenting advice. As I’ve mentioned the children are the parents’ responsibility and not the crew’s. I do believe, or hope, that the crew at least told the parents that not putting the seat belt on the child wasn’t gonna fly (no pun intended) and that they were given an acceptable time duration to comply. Many said the parents should’ve physically pinned the child in their seats which I’m sure would’ve garnered some concerned looks from fellow passengers, but there are just too many unknowns for us to put the blame on any party.

I already had a conversation with my wife about this and what we would’ve done in this situation. In fact, we did a long haul flight a few years ago with my daughter that had just turned two. We were in an awkward spot because legally she was just over two and required her own seat, but emotionally she lacked the maturity to sit by herself. She still needed her mom when she was scared, like most two year olds do.

And that’s exactly what happened when we were taxiing. We had multiple flights in that journey where some cabin crew understood and made an exception for her since she was just over two and she got a child seatbelt instead. But on this particular flight the crew were very by-the-book about the fact that she had to be in her own seat for takeoff and landing even if she was only 2.00001 years old.

We found ourselves in a similar position to the family on PD444. Our connecting flight was delayed, we were put on the next flight 24 hours later. We were stuck in a country which we didn’t plan to visit and by the time we were on our flight home, my daughter was having none of it. She, like the child on PD444, slid out from underneath her seatbelt and asked my wife to carry and hold her. The flight attendant came and told us she had to be in her own seat. I told him that on the previous legs on the same airline, the flight attendants gave us a child safety belt and asked if we could have one as well for this flight. He refused and insisted that she had to be in her own seat. My wife and I then proceeded to hold her down in her seat while she was screaming and shouting for taxi and takeoff on a midnight flight, an experience which was traumatic for all of us but at least the plane took off.

Some online are calling for a total ban on kids flying which I wholeheartedly disagree with. But I do hope that there could be more measures put in place for kids flying so that everyone remains safe and similar incidents can be avoided in future. Airlines can provide additional training or timetable certain flight attendants if they see a flight will have a number of young travellers on board. I also think the seatbelts on a commercial aircraft is not necessarily suited for toddlers. Many airlines require kids over two to be seated in their seat but at the same time it is so easy for them to slide out, as in the case of PD444

While not the regulation in Canada where Porter operates, I am forever grateful to the flight attendants that gave our daughter a child seat belt and didn’t insist on her sitting by herself like the flight attendant on our last flight. I’ve written about this before, that flying with kids does not give you a free pass with flying parent privileges, but a little bit of humanity and empathy would go a long way for all involved.

Flying with kids is already stressful enough, and the judgy looks we get when we board the plane with our kids aren’t helping. Yes, we understand other passengers also have travel plans, a wedding or job interview to get to, but we also do. Trust me, when we as parents fly, we do not want to make it any more difficult for anyone. We definitely do not board the plane and plot how we can cancel the flight for everyone.

We are already dealing diapers, and a blue cup that is apparently not the perfect shade of blue. If you would like to take over my parenting duties for the 16 hour flight, by all means I’d be willing for you to do so. Just remember to change the diapers when there’s diarrhoea because the kids aren’t used to airplane food. Oh, earplugs are in the right pocket in case they have a meltdown.

So before we judge whatever happened on PD444, let’s wait for facts to become clearer before we start pointing fingers.

For now, just a few less judgy looks would be a good start.

Yes I create airline liveries for fun.

When I started AvDOG, I knew I wanted this to be a side project. I have a full-time teaching job during the day and I come back at night to my dad duties. Once the kids are asleep and my wife and I have had our wind-down, or both of us agree we each need some desperate me time, I start working on The AvDOG. It’s been a place for the past couple of months for me just to have a creative outlet and write about the aviation industry and avgeekery. I wasn’t gonna post click-bait, I’m not chasing to be a mega influencer or go viral, I just wanted to write and share the quirks and ins and outs of avgeekery to whoever wanted to hear.

It turned out much harder than expected. I gave myself a goal of two posts a week, but in reality it was one post per week. I wanted this to remain a side project so I wasn’t going to push myself, AvDOG is supposed to be good for my mental health and not raise my blood pressure. Whenever I had some spare time, I would jot down some notes or edit some posts. Nothing has really gone viral, and I am consoling myself that this is a side hobby and it’s okay, those who want to read it will eventually find it.

But now it’s summer holidays and with a little bit more time on my hands, I decided it's time to dive into what really makes avgeekery fun for me: liveries.

My livery journey started about 20 years ago, when I used to draw my own fictional liveries as a young boy. As all kids with weird hobbies experience, my parents swiftly discredited them. But it all changed one day. I found a website called cardatabase.com/modifiedairlinerphotos (I have no idea how I remembered it back in the day but I swiftly bookmarked the page on my then new Mozilla Firefox browser) where there were hundreds of geeks like me that made fictional liveries and weird aircraft photoshop edits. I taught myself the ins and outs with how to download a template and create a livery using a lowly Microsoft Paint and uploaded onto the site using the pseudonym Raydon Designs.

Unfortunately, most of my files are (hopefully) on some old computer in my parents’ house back in South Africa but luckily I managed to salvage some of my childhood designs from 2008/2009 as I was about to finish high school.

I still remember my parents telling me to study instead of drawing useless airplane pictures. Looking back, they were pretty atrocious. Firstly, that’s not even a Boeing 737-200, that’s a -400. But one day, one of the university students taught me how to use Photoshop. I realised I could use different gradients and shading to manipulate liveries into actual designs. A year or two later, my designs got better:

I decided to have more fun and experiment with different designs and aircraft types. Some of my designs were even mistaken for actual renditions or news on various forums. Unfortunately the website modifiedairlinerphotos (MAP) shut down and I stopped uploading online in my university years. However, some of my designs were downloaded and found their way on Pinterest or just various random websites online. This one still remains my favourite, how everyone thinks that I made an actual render of the Boeing 777X more than a decade ago and it still hasn’t entered into service.

Almost a decade later, I found one of the original admins of MAP that created an Instagram account using the modifiedairlinerphoto handle. The style was so similar to what I’d seen on MAP back in the day I knew it was like the old online friend that I never met. The livery design spark was reignited and I had to find a way to get my designs out there.

I had various iterations; Raydon, KUMOYA, Kreativity, Air Plain Views… none really stuck and my liveries all came and went. I found it very difficult to balance liveries and my normal human life. As a teenager whose only responsibility was to study, it was easy for me to churn out five liveries a day. Now, not so much.

With AvDOG, I found the balance to write and design as I have time and forgive myself when I don’t get to it. So with the summer holidays I decided to relaunch my liveries once again under the AvDOG brand. Over the past week I posted my designs on Instagram again, I cleaned them up and used AI to generate 3D views. In addition to posting on Instagram I also posted them on Threads. The response has been… mixed.

Let’s start with what hasn’t changed. I still love designing liveries, whether it’s imagining airlines operating new aircraft, concept liveries, retro liveries or all of the above. I still use my signature registration, some combination of S, K and H, unless I want to have some fun like my recent HKexpress upload. I still try and pay attention to details as much as I can or am able to.

Now the fun part. When we had MAP, it was very much one way. We’d post our designs and wouldn’t hear feedback unless it was posted on airliners.net (and it happened to me before, thanks for tearing down a teenage boy’s avgeek dream guys!)

Now, everyone has a voice. Some of the response has been good, some less so. Either way, I still find it very amusing there is now a very active livery police force hiding behind their screens and keyboards criticising fictional liveries. Some people can be quite blunt in their comments, someone even took the effort to put my design next to a sketch to tell me my dimensions were wrong (they weren’t). But in this day and age I guess any feedback is good (ask Ryanair) and it’s something that I will have to get used to now.

I’ll admit, some of my designs are controversial, but I live in a “what-if” world, reimagining what the world of airlines would look like if we bothered to imagine it. A new airline livery will hardly have everyone on the same page anyway; some will like it, some will hate it. So while some of my designs aren’t even real, I understand if they can be somewhat polarizing.

So either way, I hope you enjoy the Gallery, where I will showcase my designs. I will also have some in-depth analysis of my designs here on TheAvDOG.com. As a benefit for paid subscribers, I’ll be accepting livery requests and getting to them as soon as dad life, work life, and bedtime struggles allow. I’ve already got one request in the queue.

Taiwanese carrier Starlux has been making waves since it boldly commenced operations just before COVID hit and most of the industry started shutting down. Despite its family issues with EVA Air, the space-themed airline is starting to spread its wings to many more continents now. Coinciding with its rapid expansion Starlux recently made headlines with the launch of its new special livery and accompanying amenities. I mean just look at this beauty:

Back in January when Starlux announced the collaboration, I really had no idea who Sorayama was, but from media pictures he looked like an artist that works with metal and makes shiny things. That would explain why Chairman Chang wore a shiny silver bomber jacket at the press event? Not my cup of tea but I guess you’d do anything for marketing purposes.

But what makes this collaboration so close to the heart for me is how Mr Sorayama approached the project: the aircraft is a canvas, he’s not just creating a livery, he’s creating flying masterpieces. Sorayama was fully invested in the project, I mean he even created a whole webpage explaining the process and showcased all the details. (Note to airline marketers: that’s how you showcase a livery!)

One highlight that stood out to me was how Sorayama literally thought of every angle of the aircraft and made sure that it was recognisable from each angle. My favourite feature that many airlines neglect is that he even had his bold work mark on the top of the aircraft. While many airlines have it on the underside of the fuselage, having it on the top makes it a little more interesting at airports where you can see the top of the aircraft. It hasn’t been announced yet but I would love to stand on Hong Kong Airport’s SkyBridge and have it come underneath me just so that I could view those titles from the top.

He even thought of every aspect inside the aircraft. Passengers on AIRSORAYAMA flights will get the full Sorayama experience with nearly every single aspect of their flight reflecting Mr Sorayama’s metallic style, from amenities, in-flight meals and a safety video (I always thought their alien cartoon safety video looked out of place anyway.)

Another highlight I really liked was how he actually used two aircraft to form a concept. I don’t know much about art but I do know that sometimes art pieces need to be viewed with all its pieces together. Sorayama did just that, while on their own they’re already masterpieces, he also emphasised that both the Silver and Gold (to be delivered soon) versions need to be viewed as a pair, describing it as “dialogue in motion across the horizon”.

I must also give Starlux’s Chairman Chang credit. This collaboration works so well because of both Chang and Sorayama’s “rebellious spirit” to innovate and just try something new and I’m all for it. Back in 2013, American Airlines made the polarising decision to move away from their bare metal livery to a silver metallic livery. It is well known in the industry that new generation aircraft use composite materials and that bare metal just won’t work anymore. With Sorayama’s metal design language, Chang still pushed ahead with the collaboration, working together with Airbus to find a way to make this flying artwork a reality.

I won’t lie, I was ever so slightly disappointed when Silver came out a little darker and less metallic than expected, but I will still give Chang and Airbus props for staying as true as possible to Sorayama’s concept. Another critique I have is that I’m not a fan of using his typeface and branding. I understand that it’s his signature but replacing the Starlux font with his font does bring in a bit of brand dilution. I would also have preferred Starlux x Sorayama branding as opposed to STARLUXAIRSORAYAMA branding, which sounds a little like a Sorayama is starting his own subsidiary airline within Starlux.

However, these are all minor critiques and shouldn’t deter us from the fact that Starlux and Sorayama view liveries as a masterpiece and an aircraft as a canvas. I’ve written about this before, but with many airlines using liveries as a marketing tool, this collaboration brings a fresh spin that the industry desperately needs. I am secretly hoping that Starlux would even adopt it as their official livery across their fleet.

Seeing Starlux embark on this exciting collaboration hits hard as a long-time AvGeek, especially since my childhood was spent hoping today was my lucky day to see a special livery on the way to the airport. Fast forward twenty years later, Cathay Pacific relaunched their Spirit of Hong Kong livery on a Boeing 777-300ER and it is quite a disaster I should say. In stark contrast to Starlux treating the aircraft as a canvas, it almost looks like Cathay Pacific walked into WestK’s Museum of Art, pulled a few pieces off the wall, stuck them onto the aircraft overnight, and then added a WestK sticker at the back to remind us where it all came from. In actuality, it is art generated with a lot of help from AI: a rather polarising stance when you are trying to promote art.

So while it may seem like the days of us having art on an aircraft may have disappeared, Starlux is coming back and showing the aviation world what is actually possible. The livery isn’t necessarily perfect, but the concept is on point: the aircraft is a canvas and done correctly, aircraft are not just engineering marvels, they are flying masterpieces.

I’m writing this as a parent and I get it, traveling with kids is stressful and you want to keep them entertained by looking out the window. But that does not entitle you to a free seat swap. Let me preface this, I’m not picking a fight with parents, I am also a parent that travels with kids, but if you were traveling solo and a parent asks you to swap, would you do it?

Many airlines actually discourage seat swaps as it messes with the loading and operational safety. Sure one swap isn’t gonna do much but when everyone starts requesting for one it becomes a nightmare for the crew. In some countries unaccompanied minors cannot be seated with adults or kids need to be seated with their guardians, in the age of low cost travel, many families choose to skip paying for a seat and would rather rely on the goodwill of others or hope for the best.

I’ll admit, I’ve requested seat swaps before while traveling with my kids (more on that later) but it had to be reasonable. This matter irks me because I’ve had plenty of people roll their eyes rolled at me when I board with many passengers assuming that I am that entitled parent again. So please, to make life easier for all other traveling parents, hear me out.

When not to ask for a seat swap

No, don’t offer me your middle seat for my window seat.

Seriously, don’t run the middle-seat hustle. You got the middle seat, you keep the middle seat. If you want the window seat you need to buy it when you book or select it at online check in (if available). Nowadays many airlines would gladly sell you the window seat for an extra couple of dollars, just take it. And conversely, if I bought the window seat I’m definitely not giving it up for free. You wanna pay for it with mark up? Then we can discuss again.

I want to sit together with my kid

Well, then you should book your seats together. In some countries airlines have to accommodate parents and children together. But with low cost carriers assigning random seats, your best guarantee is that you just pay up.

I’ve taken two trips with low cost carriers this year, one with HK Express and one with AirAsia. In both cases I traveled with my wife, my three year old daughter and an infant. I know my wife needs me during the flight to keep my daughter entertained, help with bags, feeding… basically keep everyone sane. I was not going to risk the airline separating any of us for a nightmare trip with my wife. In both cases I also managed to book us in the last few rows so we could have the galley as an escape from our seats if we needed to stand somewhere with the baby.

When to ask for a seat swap

The first long distance trip I did with my daughter was when she was two years old. We traveled from Hong Kong to Doha to Johannesburg. My strategy was to book outer seats so that we could potentially have a free seat in the middle because space is a luxury on long distance flights.

On the Boeing 777-300, we booked the middle section of four seats and kept one seat free hoping that no one would select the middle seat. We weren’t that lucky because someone ended up selecting it as it was a full flight. We offered to take the middle seat and let him have the aisle seat instead. Win-win.

Our strategy worked for two of the four flights, but we missed our final flight due to a delay and we were put onto the next flight which was already full. After much back and forth with the agents, they put us two separate rows and told us to ask on board if anyone would be willing to swap (case in point, agents also realize its a problem for families so they’re also willing to make some accommodations). In this case it was exactly the same seat but just in different rows and the kind passengers were happy to swap.

The Strategy

Basically it’s very simple, if you want to swap seats you need to make sure that the person you’re swapping with is getting a better deal. Give up your window or aisle for his middle seat, even better give up your business class seat if that’s what it takes to be seated with your child in economy- I’m sure there’ll lots of takers!

But if I paid for it, there’s no way I’m just giving it away. If you want to guarantee your seat, please just buy it. It will save you a lot stress during the journey as well instead of fighting for seats with strangers.

But if you chose to ignore the above advice (which you are totally entitled to), before you ask for a seat swap, put yourself in that solo traveler’s shoes. Would you be happy with such a request?

Can you spot it? Though not in final trim, none of the above screams “THAI Airways”, but rather the same generic warm colours copied and pasted (It’s the first one, by the way). If this is really THAI’s final product without some THAI coloured trim, it looks very bleak.

I feel like every month an airline is showing off its newest business class only for it to look like the new business class from the previous month. All of them having the following features: brushed metal or aluminium, brown and warm tones, and of course a sliding door. If it’s not for the airline logo on the bulkhead, you’d really not be able to differentiate any of them. Here’s a list of more airlines using the similar colour palette:

• American Airlines Flagship

• Cathay Pacific Aria

• Emirates Business Class

• Etihad Business Class

• Korean Air New Business Class

• Qantas Business Class

• Starlux Business Class

• Turkish Airlines

Just as the term “eurowhite” was coined from European airlines creating a majority white fuselage with some colour on the tail, something is starting to happen inside the aircraft that we may not necessarily see. I would really like to say this has been influenced by Scandinavian interior design choices which we see nowadays, warm natural colours; it is also reflective of more premium materials used in premium cabins like leather or wood accents.

This trend may have started with Emirates as it has always been part of the airline’s branding to lean into the sandy desert colours of Arabia, with all three (and now four) classes of travel featuring a combination of brown and creamy colours. With the airline becoming a global powerhouse, it may have been the standard that steered many airlines to use a similar colour palette to be associated with the more premium feel.

In some cases it may actually work without it looking like an airline is trying too hard to impress. Singapore Airlines for example also has brownish looking Business Class, but with brand colours featuring dark blue and gold, it’s not too far off. Newcomers Starlux and Etihad also have brand colours featuring black, gold and brown so using these colours in their cabins is a no brainer.

On the other hand, some airlines use these colours and designs as a design language. Cathay Pacific has had a specific design language for its lounges in partnership with Studioisle. When the Aria was introduced the airline tried to replicate the design language. With all of Cathay Pacific’s lounges featuring a similar design language, the colours chosen for the Aria is a natural choice. Similarly, China Airlines used a similar design language inspired by bamboo and papyrus that complements the plum pink and purple of the airline in its cabins.

However, this is where my gripe with THAI and other airlines comes in: if they do not feature any brown or gold in the branding or marketing, why use it? It would feel very disconnected from the rest of the branding. I have always associated certain colours with certain airlines, with THAI it has always been purple and pink, and the dull brown cabin is a stark contrast to what I have seen. Similarly, when Air Canada revealed its Signature Cabin, the brown cabin felt so far off from its white, black and red branding that I struggled to connect it to the airline.

I can understand that airlines such as Cathay and China Airlines are trying to create a “home away from home” type of cabin in the sky, especially with the airlines trying to incorporate a design language. But now it seems like every other airline is doing a copy and paste of warm colours into their business class cabin that airlines seem to be too lazy to create any form of differentiation in their premium cabins. Do not forget, with many economy class passengers also walking past the business class cabins during boarding and disembarkation, it seems like such a wasted opportunity for airlines to use these cabins as a wow factor to convince economy class passengers to upgrade next time.

A well designed cabin not only has the opportunity to impress, but even more elevate the airline as a brand that passengers can associate with. For example, my first ever business class flight was in Qatar’s QSuite, and one of the reasons I did it was that I walked past the QSuite on the way to my lowly economy class seat and it left such an impression on me that I felt like all the hype was warranted. With the new Riyadh Air launching, their business class draws inspiration from the deserts of Saudi Arabia mixed with the lavender purple from their brand, and just by looking at the pictures it clearly shows that they mean business.

So with THAI releasing their business class pictures, I hope they don’t just take a seat from the product catalog and call it a day. Nothing screams THAI, and nothing seems very inviting. But unless they plan to change their livery to brown gold with the orchid or add some royal purple trim or accents, it would look like any other cosmetic upgrade in business class.

_{A previous version of this post assumed the product was official, but it turns out it hasn’t undergone the THAI trim yet. The post as been updated to reflect it accordingly.}

The Filipinos are one of the most passionate people I know. Sure, their country is a mess politically and economically, yet they still manage to find the joy in everyday little things. It’s no wonder Philippines Airlines’ motto is the “The Heart of the Filipino” because they sure do have heart. Even when oneworld announced that they have formally invited the airline to join the alliance, Filipinos online celebrated as if they were crowned world champions of the airline industry, a celebration second only to winning beauty pageants in the Philippines.

Some may have credited their invitation to their new president Richard Nuttall. He is the first foreigner in an executive position at PAL, but he’s no foreigner to the industry. Prior to joining PAL, he was CEO at Sri Lankan, soon to be PAL’s fellow alliance member. Nuttall was brought in to modernise PAL and develop international expansion. Having taken deliveries of new Airbus A350-1000s in December 2025, an invitation to join an alliance is just the next step in Nuttall’s strategy to bring PAL back to its former glory.

PAL has always been priced aggressively compared to its competitors in the region, especially with those wanting to travel from the US to Southeast Asia on a budget. But with increasing competition from Cebu Pacific, a leading low cost carrier in Philippines, as well as numerous low cost carriers in the region, PAL does not have much wiggle room in terms of pricing. PAL could take advantage of alliance members feeding into its domestic network as well and have some more breathing space by cooperating with premium alliance airlines such as Cathay Pacific and American Airlines.

What’s in it for oneworld though? The alliance already has some solid footing in Asia with members Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Sri Lankan holding fort, one has to wonder can PAL really add that much footprint to the alliance? Each of the above seem to offer some form of value to oneworld as it competes against SkyTeam and Star Alliance. Cathay opens up the Chinese market which the other two alliances already have members in, Japan Airlines offer connectivity in the northern Asian region where SkyTeam will soon have mega carrier airline Korean Air and Star competes with All Nippon, Malaysia Airlines competes alone against two duos from two alliances (Star has Singapore Airlines/THAI whereas Skyteam has Garuda/Vietnam) in Southeast Asia. Sri Lankan gives passengers some access into India, not enough to dent Air India from Star but better than nothing compared to SkyTeam.

It may make some sense for oneworld to have two supporting carriers in the SEA region to complement Malaysia Airlines’ SEA portfolio of destinations. With a growing diaspora of Filipinos working abroad, oneworld may consider the first mover advantage to secure access to the Filipino domestic market with Philippine Airlines being the sole non low cost carrier in the country. But while one cannot argue against PAL’s top class hospitality, will a strong domestic Filipino network attract more passengers to the alliance? I think not.

PAL does not add much value in terms of connectivity and destinations, but it adds something that many have known the airline for: the heart of the Filipino. It brings along with it a loyal following of patriotic citizens that would want nothing more than their flag carrier excelling. While many may not have the means to enjoy the first class lounges that oneworld has to offer, the alliance opens markets previously inaccessible to the country.

And that is exactly what oneworld needs to pivot. If oneworld can market the importance of PAL to oneworld and oneworld to PAL, they will welcome a loyal following of new passengers. Filipinos are loud, like fanfare, and generally easy to please. Cooperation will be key, and if they can push the proposition that if you support oneworld, you support PAL, then it’s a win-win situation for all.

With social media being flooded with photos of the alliance invitation ceremony, the relationship is off to a good start. Bring the fanfare, bring the photos, make sure the two brands are associated with one another. This has been one of the most exciting alliance news recently and I can’t wait to see it develop.

With the departure of Spirit, the industry was quick to jump in and show their support: cabin crew and pilots from various airlines in the USA offered their sympathies, AI-generated images of cartoon aircraft in US airline liveries hugging a yellow aircraft popped up all over social media, Southwest even put on a celebration for what would’ve been a Spirit pilot’s final flight. And of course, airlines jumped in to help stranded passengers.

But don’t let that fool you. Airlines were very willing to put on a sorry facade for stranded Spirit passengers, a small price they have to pay for what’s to come: raising fares.

Spirit has always been the pseudo “how low can you go” standard in the industry. With that bar removed, airlines are free to increase prices, especially to make up for the gap that Spirit left in the market. And this increase in ticket prices is all too welcome in today’s day and age where fuel is at a scarcity due to the war in the Middle East. As airlines try to cope with rerouting flights, they have to juggle the increase in fuel prices and operation costs simultaneously. For many, it has proven too much, with airlines adjusting (mostly reducing) frequencies to optimize profits in this troubling time.

Of course, it’s always easy to raise prices when things are bad, but we also know when things go well, prices do not necessarily come down again. In fact, we need things to go super downhill, like a global pandemic, to bring the industry to a standstill before airlines bring ticket prices down out of desperation.

Case in point: the Middle Eastern airlines are proving again that desperation drives airlines to their knees. It has been no secret that the ME3 have been struggling recently due to the war. While they do not have a fuel shortage, it’s been an operational mess for them. Thriving on a hub-and-spoke model of connecting passengers through their hubs, many passengers have opted for different routes due to the uncertainty of war in the area. With insurance companies not covering travel disruption for war-related incidents, after clearing the backlog of stranded passengers, the ME3 are now trying to fill up their planes again. The emails I have gotten from Qatar Airways have been more than usual, and it’s clear they’re trying their best to throw various promotions at me to get me flying with them again.

But closer to home, an airline did the unthinkable. While airlines across the world continued to raise prices, Cathay Pacific announced that they were lowering the fuel surcharge. Not by much, but enough to give passengers a bit of a breather. With Cathay Pacific only just coming out of the red, I am surprised by such a move, but in an industry where everyone is raising prices, such a move is a breath of fresh air. Not only that, Cathay Pacific has been rather upfront that they would review the fuel surcharge situation every two weeks, allowing passengers to even plan whether they should buy a ticket or wait for a lower fuel surcharge.

I myself have been the unfortunate victim of Cathay lowering prices after I bought a ticket. I swiftly cancelled my ticket and bought a new one at a higher fare class but lower cash price. As the drop in fuel surcharges is minimal, I doubt passengers would cancel their tickets to buy new tickets at the lower surcharge. The lower surcharge is also only available for tickets originating in Hong Kong, which already carry one of the highest price tags for cancellation fees.

But where this move really stands out as a diamond against a black sky, is that airlines are actually capable of lowering prices. It’s only a matter of whether they want to.

Unlike my previous experience where my ticket price went down almost unnoticed, Cathay decided to go public with such information, playing the transparency card. Maybe they’re doing it for marketing, maybe they’re playing it safe in case they need to raise fuel charges again in the future, but I do hope that this tiny gesture can send a big message to airlines: we know you can drop prices.

For those who don’t know, Al Baker was the CEO of Qatar Airways. Or a rather controversial one. His antics ranged from threatening manufacturers with aircraft paint issues to rather questionable human rights practices with his cabin crew. Either way whether these accusations are true or not, one cannot deny that he grew Qatar Airways into a global powerhouse of an airline it is today. For example, their business class product called QSuite, is still considered one of the very best business class seats in the world. Its base at Hamad International Airport in Doha boasts some of the world’s most impressive airline lounges owned by Qatar Airways.

I have a rather special relationship with Qatar Airways. Back in 2022 in the middle of Covid I had a family emergency I needed to attend to in South Africa. With all flights being down, Qatar Airways was the only available option I had. After I flew them, I was hooked and realised I could obtain airline status very quickly with them as well. As a result, they are the airline that gave me my first ever (and thus far only) business class experience when I upgraded with miles. I was spoiled and I could finally see what all the hype was about. So whether or not all the accusations against Al Baker are true or not, from an experiential standpoint, I can certainly say that he transformed Qatar Airways into a very strong airline worldwide.

Now how about Lufthansa? Would he be a good fit? If he were to become the next CEO at Lufthansa, it would certainly be an adjustment for him.

Al Baker has made it very clear he is against the idea of a premium economy cabin. Whereas the likes of Emirates have fully embraced the product, he stated publicly that he will not install a premium economy class into the airline. Lufthansa on the other hand has lots of premium economy seats, and not just Lufthansa only but also all the airlines in its group. It would not make economic sense if he were to remove all the premium economy class seats, a product which Lufthansa and its group airlines have invested heavily in already. But how would he utilize the product should he inherit it? He may have to adjust to it.

Talking about the airline group, Al Baker doesn’t have the best history when it comes to airline groups. If he were to lead Lufthansa, an airline which has operated within the Lufthansa group consisting of many European airlines, he’d have his work cut out. He’d have to liaise with not only Lufthansa, but also its entire portfolio of airlines which include Austrian, Swiss, Eurowings, Discover, Edelweiss, and now also ITA Airways.

Sure, it has invested in airlines such as Cathay Pacific, but when it comes to running airlines as a group his track record is a bit more muddied. For example, there was the case of Al Maha, the failed start up that was meant to feature a green oryx instead of burgundy, which was due to operate in Saudi Arabia. But when Qatar Airways joined the oneworld alliance in 2013, Al Baker also had frequent spats with fellow alliance members, often threatening to quit. While his disputes were often within reason, a public dispute doesn’t look very good in terms of PR.

And finally, also the point that led to this speculation on the podcast, is that while Al Baker was serving at Qatar, he had some questionable labor rights practices, especially among the cabin crew. There were reports of discrimination and surveillance among crew members. While he defended this as “cultural norms”, similar practices will not fly in Europe, especially with Lufthansa struggling with labor unions and strikes. Al Baker would have to find another way to deal with labor practices. He may have been able to enforce a “my way or the highway” leadership style in the Middle East, but as we have seen in the news recently, this would lead to full on airport or airline shutdown resulting from union strikes. He would have to tread more carefully if he were to operate an European airline.

And an airline based it Europe is also another ball game. Qatar Airways is famous for offering a full service meal on its regional flights, one might even be lucky to get a long haul QSuite product on a short 30 minute flight. But with European airlines saving on regional flights (blocked middle economy seat for Euro business anyone?), I don’t think he would accept the reality thereof that easily. Again, he could decide to change it up, but with Lufthansa having such an established network already, it may not make financial sense to revamp the business model completely.

But talking about operating in Europe, in Qatar Al Baker also had the task of answering to the Qatari government: using an airline to put Qatar on the map. But Lufthansa is not a state-owned airline that receives massive cash-injections from oil rich governments. It has to answer to stakeholders who demand profit margins. In Germany, under the Mitbestimmung (co-determination) law, labor union representatives actually make up 50% of the Supervisory Board. The very unions Al Baker historically fights would literally be his bosses.

Despite these massive cultural and structural hurdles, this environment is also precisely why he would be a good fit. Where he essentially built Qatar Airways from the ground up, this has already been done at Lufthansa. Instead of focusing on development, he could focus his energy on efficiency and streamlining operations. With the sheer amount of subsidiaries Lufthansa owns, he could very easily slim them down.

Although he had Airbus issues at Qatar, being headquartered in Europe would give him access to Airbus factories and facilities fairly easily. While he’s known for being picky about aircraft and how he wants them delivered, being in the middle of action, right at the manufacturing, would cut the lead times and facilitate easy communication with aircraft manufacturers. This would also suit his aggressive growth leadership style and achieve results much quicker.

And that is why, despite his history, ironically he would be a good fit at Lufthansa. Al Baker, though controversial, is famous for one thing, he gets the job done. While there was no official reason for him leaving Qatar, I speculate that there was something he wanted done and couldn’t get done, so he stepped down to possibly save face. But while it may look like an uphill battle at Lufthansa, I think he may be great and exactly what the airline needs right now.

I remember when I was doing my MBA, my professor asked me why I was so interested in aviation. I told him that, among other things, I was fascinated by aircraft liveries.

He scoffed. “Who cares about a livery? Will you actually choose an airline based on what it looks like?”

His question has always boggled me. It might sound like something trivial to an academic, but in the aviation world, airline liveries hold a special place. And as it turns out, they hold a special place in the real world, too.

Recently, I took a flight on Airlink. I was lucky enough to have the all-black “Skybucks” special livery on the Embraer E195 operating my flight. That black fuselage stood out dramatically on an apron full of standard white aircraft. I was even luckier to have a bus gate for my flight. As we stepped off the bus, I noticed something: even the non-AvGeeks (i.e., normal people) were stopping to take non-stop photos of our special-liveried jet.

While I agree with my college professor that a fresh coat of paint may not immediately deposit money into an airline’s bank account, it is undoubtedly a core marketing asset. It leaves a lasting impact on anyone who comes into contact with it.

Take my four-year-old daughter, for example. She may not know which specific airline she flew with last month, but she remembers the “green aeroplane” and the “red aeroplane.” She also knows that next time, we might be able to take the “blue aeroplane.” Now, just imagine her sheer excitement as a massive Hello Kitty fan when she saw the famous EVA Air Hello Kitty-themed jet taxi across the airport. She is already associating colors and characters with airplanes. When she gets older, she will associate those feelings with specific airlines.

It’s no wonder that airlines leverage the power of special liveries as a marketing tool. For Cathay Pacific‘s 80th anniversary this year, they painted two aircraft in historical retro liveries. They’ve actively encouraged the public to take photos and post them online with the hashtag #80yearstogether. The strategy is working. Even my non-AvGeek friends have pointed out to me that Cathay Pacific has something special in the skies this year. It is absolute, unfiltered free marketing and brand awareness.

Special liveries have taken the forefront in the industry this year, with major airlines launching designs to please both AvGeeks and everyday passengers alike. With Lufthansa’s centenary this year, many think their special 100-year livery is possibly the most beautiful paint job ever to adorn a Boeing 787. So much so, that Lufthansa decided to replicate the livery on other aircraft types to celebrate the milestone. Meanwhile, the new Taiwanese luxury carrier Starlux just collaborated with Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama to launch striking gold and silver “AIRSORAYAMA” liveries that have just left the paint shop and will enter service soon.

But liveries also hold a special place for traditional legacy carriers, bringing a sense of national pride for the countries they represent. These aircraft are often draped in national colors and symbols that evoke a deep emotional response from citizens around the world. While I’ve been away from South Africa for a while, I still treat South African Airways as my home airline, despite all the troubles they’re going through right now. They still have one of my favorite Euro-white liveries, and I remember the distinct sense of national pride that bubbled up whenever I saw them flying overhead while landing in Hong Kong.

When these iconic liveries are replaced or altered, a similar sense of disbelief and disappointment often surfaces. When we returned to Taiwan for the first time in seven years, my mom noticed that China Airlines had replaced the flag on their tail with a plum blossom. While she is no artist, her disgust for the new logo was palpable.

Similarly, while the blue and white of Lufthansa’s centenary livery drew widespread praise, the same couldn’t be said when they replaced their classic yellow crane circle with the navy-and-white design found on their standard livery today. That classic yellow disc had been associated with Lufthansa for decades, and removing it in 2018 simply didn’t sit right with many who shared an emotional bond with the airline.

Air India experienced something similar in 1990 when their CEO decided to remove the traditional “Flying Palace” painted windows for something a bit more “modern.” A public outcry and boycott followed, and the airline swiftly brought back the signature windows. Unfortunately, this didn’t fully carry through during their 2024 rebrand and merger with Vistara, though there is still a subtle nod to the arched windows in their new design.

So, to finally answer my professor from back in the day: No, a livery does not directly print cash for an airline. But it isthe face of the airline, and many of us form a genuine emotional bond with it. It doesn’t just represent a corporation; it represents the people who have a connection to it.

Special liveries create a unique opportunity to generate brand awareness (take that, marketing professor) that resonates with AvGeeks, expats, grandmothers, and toddlers alike. So, while it may not be the most important bullet point on an executive’s agenda, I will always prefer an apron full of good liveries over a sea of pure white aircraft.

Over the past three weeks I took eight flights, totaling up to 50 hours. I spent one week away from my wife and kids on a work trip in Australia, one week with them on a holiday in Malaysia, and then made another emergency trip home to South Africa to take care of some affairs and visit my parents and friends as well.

As an AvGeek, it was awesome. I got to fly on five different aircraft types, I got to try one new aircraft type and one new airline. I also got to visit a bucket list lounge for the first time.

But as a dad, it’s been difficult to be away from my kids. In Malaysia, my son was crawling around, but when I got back from South Africa, he was walking. I missed that.

This tension is something I struggle with. I am a self-proclaimed AvGeek from the OG days. The first flight I took in my retrievable memory was in June 2002. We got to fly a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400, dubbed ‘MegaTop’. The 9-hour flight from Johannesburg to Singapore took forever for a little 10-year-old boy, but the excitement of getting in a tube and flying high above the clouds outweighed the weird uncomfortable feeling of ears popping and zombified jet lagged behaviour.

But the trip sparked something within me. Why was it called ‘Megatop’ when the second leg of our trip was on the ‘Jubilee’? Who were these beautiful looking ladies looking after us on the plane? What exactly is a terminal and why is there a Terminal 1 and Terminal 2?

Down the rabbit hole I went. My dad travelled a lot and I got a collection of paperback timetables and inflight magazines, most of which are still stacked in the corner of my wardrobe back home. My most prized possessions are still my assortment of amenity kits I begged off my dad or from overseas guests who succumbed to my weird gift requests.

I started drawing planes, designing my own liveries and fantasy airline lounges (which I never got to enter into). I uploaded hundreds of designs on Cardatabase’s aviation designs in my teenage years. We weren’t wealthy and a career as a pilot would never be on the cards for me.

I studied Finance followed by an MBA, and my dream of starting my own airline clashed with reality. I did manage to write and publish a paper on Flight Delays as my graduating paper, but knowing whatever goes behind running an airline not only gained my respect but made me realize that my little hobby would never become more than that. I got married, had kids, and life carried on. While the aviation world was at a standstill, I started my database of airline livery history and played airline simulator games, wishing that flights could return to normal.

Fast forward a few years to being a dad with a full-time job, and I am still proud to be an AvGeek. I now find myself in Hong Kong, an airport city with a rich aviation culture and history. I am fortunate enough to see Boeing 747s still flying in the sky, though they are mostly cargo types.

After travelling for three weeks, I realize that maybe I still have something within me that can make a difference to the AvGeek world. I won’t be able to score airline miles and fly first class. Even if I had enough miles, the redemption tickets are always blocked out in the school holidays anyway.

But being an AvGeek dad has been so rewarding for me. With all four grandparents living in different countries than us, we had to take the kids to visit them. My daughter is at an age where she starts to recognize different coloured planes, looking up at the sky to search for them when we walk to school. Her newest fascination is folding paper jets - it keeps her entertained. I had to explain to her once that our plane didn’t have TVs and an inflight meal because we flew low-cost instead of full service. I just hope that one day she will realize how fortunate she was to fly so many times already at such a young age.

I realize that the meaning of being an AvGeek may have changed. Some may think that it is all about flying in First and Business class, but there is still a select few of us that just like planes. We check the registration and tail numbers and bump into people when we look up at the sky. We pay attention to the weirdest detail that an everyday person would overlook and we geek out about plane liveries or make our own.

Of course, I am extremely grateful to the many influencers that popped up over the years and brought the aviation industry to the forefront of our lives, but most of us are incredibly happy just to fly Economy class and that shouldn’t stop anyone from being an AvGeek.

I don’t fly a lot, and it took me a long time to make peace with it. When I do fly, I tend to fly economy or the quickest way to keep everyone in my family sane. But I hope that as I’m busy typing this on my iPad sitting on my couch after I’ve just put my kids to bed on a Friday night after a long week, I can bring a little bit of my AvGeek spark to those who can’t fly every week, but still call themselves AvGeeks.

I have no idea where this will lead me, but I hope I can write whenever I can. I’m planning to write in three sections (don’t ask why I chose G, it just worked):

• The Geek Seat: where we can just all geek out about plane stuff

• The Boarding Gate: where I can write about the occasional flight I had or my opinion on passenger experiences

• The Ground Lounge: where I’ll try and put my MBA skills to good use and write about recent developments in the industry.

All of this is from the perspective of an AvGeek Dad on the Ground, so welcome aboard AvDOG.

Cabin crew, please be seated for takeoff.

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