Summary: Creating content for airlines, a Chinese naval fighter emerges, strong airline passenger demand, record Boeing and Airbus deliveries, United flight attendants file OSHA complaint, the world’s safest airlines, and on-time performance at airports. Guest Al St. Germain is Senior Vice President, USA for Spafax, one of the leading inflight entertainment providers in the world. Spafax provides content for over 30 different airlines, overseeing licensing, programming, fulfillment and technical services. In addition to that role, Al serves as publisher of APEX Experience, the official media platform for the Airline Passenger Experience Association, one of the industry's leading trade groups. Prior to Spafax, Al worked at both Delta and United in roles ranging from brand management to product development. At United, he worked particularly closely with the Onboard Services Group. Al started his career at noted branding firm Landor Associates, where he managed design projects ranging from airline liveries to airport counters to snack bags, all for Delta Air Lines. Al was also part of the original team that came up with Delta Song. Visit Spafax.com and follow them on Twitter at @Spafax. Al tweets at @alstg. Find the APEX Experience blog at blog.apex.aero and on Twitter at @theAPEXassoc. Mentioned in the Conversation British Airways launches in-flight 'slow TV', with seven hour film of train journey A Breakthrough in Branded Content Revenue: Jetblue Brings Old-School IFE to its Fly-Fi IFC Spafax goes Hollywood to be on forefront of content on-the-go News First photo of the fully operative Chinese rivals to the US Navy F-18 The Chinese naval fighter Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark is operational. This carrier jet is believed to be based on the Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-33. IATA: Healthy Passenger Demand in November - Domestic Markets Driving Growth IATA released the latest air passenger numbers, and they look good. RPK (revenue passenger kilometers) is up 6.0% over November 2013. November capacity up 5.4% and load factor up to 76.7%. All this is mostly driven by growth in domestic markets, particularly in China and India. Boeing reports record orders, deliveries to airlines in 2014 Boeing and Airbus both set records for airplane deliveries in 2014. Boeing delivered 723 commercial airplanes, a company record. Airbus is reported to have broken their record also, but the official statement isn’t out. In 2014, Boeing booked 1,432 orders worth $232.7B at list price. Boeing's commercial order book shows 5,789 airplanes at year-end, a company high. Fired United Airlines flight attendants say they were spooked by this message In July 2014, someone drew in the oil film on one of the engines of a United flight scheduled from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Thirteen flight attendants saw that as a threat, refused to fly, and were subsequently fired for insubordination. Now they want to be rehired and filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, under the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, which protects employees from retaliation for opposing violation of air-safety or air-security standards. World's Safest Airlines for 2015 Safety and product rating review website Airline Ratings.com has announced its top ten safest airlines, and also its top ten safest low cost airlines. OAG Punctuality League 2014: On-time performance results for airlines and airports Aviation Intelligence company OAG announced their on time performance ratings in their Punctuality League 2014 report. The Australia News Desk The boys received the sad news of the passing of Captain Jack Curtis, an icon in the aviation scene down under, particularly in relation to DC-3s. In this week's segment, they give us an interview Grant recorded with Jack in November 2013. He was a great pilot and a top bloke. Blue skies, Jack! Airplane Geeks on Ice
