Its been while since I posted, due mainly to the pace of life here at Alternative Airlines including a lightning trip to Athens to see an exciting airline looking to launch scheduled services for the first time (Hellenic Airways) - watch out for more about thsi Boeing 747 operator, they have a great management team and some ambitious, but sound, expansion plans.

Closer to home I attended the annual Barclays Bank Travel Forum where the keynote speaker was an economist - 12 months ago he would have been viewed as a low value speaker, but ts true to say that in today’s uncertan financial times the whole audience hung on his every word looking for some insights into what’s likely to happen next with consumer spending and exchange rates - the new stars of business are clearly men like Adarsh from Barclays Capital who can see beyond today’s turmoil and explain what’s probably coming next ... a great speaker with lots of relevant things to say.

Further afield its a big congratulations! to experienced Airline Chief Executive, Darrell Richardson who has just been re -appointed to head up Pace Airlines of the US. We’ve worked with Darrell before and he is a class act. Previously instrumental in turning Pace into a major airline success story, he will without doubt do so again. Good Luck Darrell. Note:Pace is a charter airline and third-party maintenance company is based in Winston-Salem US, where it has maintenance and training operations.

The company employs more than 400 people, with 300 working in Winston-Salem. Pace also has operations in Atlantic City, N.J., and Dallas, and it plans to open a hub in Miami, Fla., on July 1st 2009.