Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Standing Area Only

Ryanair seeks standing room on planes
Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair says it is seeking permission to sell standing room tickets on flights.
Such passengers would be charged less than regular seats, and Ryanair is seeking permission from the Irish Aviation Authority to allow standing room before ordering new aircraft, the British tabloid The Sun reported.
The newspaper said standing fliers would huddle next to what have been described as "bar stools," to which they would be attached by seatbelts. A Ryanair spokesman said, "If they approve it, we'll be doing it."
Airline Chief Cxecutive Michael O'Leary has said he has held talks with U.S. plane manufacturer Boeing about designing a jet with standing room, The Sun reported. O'Leary said he got the idea from the Chinese airline Spring, which estimates it could pack in as many as 50 percent more passengers and cut costs by 20 percent by using standing room.
.

Tiger born with no stripes

A snow white Bengal tiger born without stripes is believed to be the only such animal living in the wild. The six-month-old cub is so rare it is thought there are fewer than 20 others like it - all in captivity. The female tiger, which has been named Fareeda, was born to two white Bengal tigers. Fareeda's brother Shahir and sister Sitarah both bear the typical black tiger stripes in common with 99 per cent of their species. Fareeda, who was hand-reared by keepers at Cango Wildlife Ranch, near Cape Town, South Africa, is part of a unique breeding program to keep the White Bengal species alive.
Keepers at the ranch were delighted when Fareeda and its siblings were born on Christmas Day last year, but even more surprised to see Fareeda's rare lack of markings. Odette Claassen, 52, from Cango Wildlife Ranch, said the keepers had to wait six months before they could be sure Fareeda definitely did not have stripes.She said: "Some cubs develop stripes in their first few months but after six months it's clear that Fareeda is truly one of the rarest of her kind."

Jessie wants attention

.