Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Business Is Taking Off

But The Plane Isn’t Going Anywhere

An Indian entrepreneur has given a new twist to the idea of low-cost airlines. The passengers on his Airbus A300 in New Delhi do not expect to go anywhere - because it never takes off. All they want is to experience what it is like to sit on a plane, listen to announcements and be waited on by flight attendants. The $4 ``virtual journeys'' of Bahadur Chand Gupta, a retired Indian Airlines engineer, have proved a roaring success.

FOOTNOTE: Where's Pontius the pilot?

7 comments:

  1. Isn't this a bit like playing train with a row of chairs in preschool?

    And all this time I thought the thrill of flying was the sensation of fighting gravity and actually arriving at a new destination.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I guess they pay for the fun of not having to go through amusement park length lines to get through the security checks. No bad food either. Sounds like a good deal to me! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. We hav a similar event over heer fer train buffs. It's run by Virgin Trains.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now this is MY kind of airline flight! Problem is, I would have to endure real air travel and food to experience it. I think this is a great idea for a fine eatery - maybe they will franchise out to within my ground reach someday.

    ReplyDelete
  5. At first I thought it a bit on the "strange" side. But after a bit of thought, I'd think a "virtual-flight" might indeed be a good thing. $4.oo ain't a bad price for first-class service, and a bit of well-earned privacy---especially in crowded New Delhi!

    ReplyDelete
  6. There is something to be said for the entrepreneurial spirit. Come up with an idea and you will part some one from his money

    ReplyDelete