SYDNEY - To fly transcontinental in Australia means comparable distances to North America, the Aussies call this “tyranny of distance”. Nobody would think of crossing the 3.300 kilometres as the crow flies between Sydney on the South Pacific coast in the East and Perth on the Indian Ocean in the south-western corner of the country on the ground. 

SYDNEY - I am often asked which is my favourite airline. That’s always hard for me to answer, as I see some things at least in many airlines that I like. One airline, however, sticks out, partially because I fly on it since 1986: Singapore Airlines (SIA).

DOHA - Qatar Airways doesn’t appear modest at all when praising its new premium product as “the best Business Class in the world” or, literally, “First in Business”. Anyone who puts the benchmark this high should make sure to be able to deliver.

HELSINKI - Finnair has massively renewed its long haul fleet by adding currently eleven A350s, eight more are to follow. At the same time eight older Airbus A330s remain a second backbone, especially for shorter routes like to the US East coast.

FRANKFURT - United Polaris, Delta One Suite, Ethiad Business Studio and Qatar Airways Q-Suite - airlines double down on Business Class revenue with schmick new cabins. Lufthansa will close the comfort gap to competition with introduction of the first Boeing 777-9 widebodies in to its fleet by 2020.

DUBAI - In 2003 Emirates was the first airline offering fully private suites in First Class. Now other carriers are upping the ante and the Dubai-based carrier has to catch up. At the Dubai Air Show this week, Emirates managed to launch a few industry firsts in First – question is: Are they really enhancing the experience?

San Francisco - Hardly any product launch has stirred so much interest and discussions among frequent fliers as United Airlines did when it launched Polaris. When the world’s third largest airline announces a revamp of its premium product as United did in June 2016, this naturally raises expectations.

ASTANA - Kazakhstan sounds very far and remote for most Western Europeans, hardly anyone has an idea about this huge country. It is the world`s ninth-largest even, home to only 18m people, while its economy is just about half the size of Ireland`s.

DUSSELDORF - Air Seychelles is the national carrier of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. For the country consisting of 115 far flung islands, whose total footprint is a third smaller than the German city of Hamburg, and of which only a few are inhabited by a total of 93,000 people, tourism is the number one source of income.

CAPE TOWN - kulula is a low cost airline rarely known beyond the borders of South Africa. "Kulula" means "easily" in the Zulu language, linguistically almost an African take on easyJet. It was founded 2001 as spinoff of private airline Comair, which flies since 1996 in close relation with British Airways, since then also under the BA name and livery.

KEFLAVIK - Icelandic LCC WOW air is a prominent newcomer to European aviation, which makes quite a wave not only because of the bright purple color in which its aircraft are painted. Travel writer Monica Suma reviewed the WOW air A330-300 product on behalf of PaxEx.com.

PARIS - For the first time since 2009, Air France is introducing a brand new aircraft type this week into scheduled operation. Eight years ago, it was the Airbus A380, now it is the Boeing 787-9. It took over the carrier's daily service from Paris CDG to Cairo on January 9, a flight lasting 4.5 hours.

DOHA - Hamad International Airport (HIA) joins the top tier of global airports becoming the sixth airport in the world to receive the "5-Star Airport"designation by Skytrax, the London-based aviation institute for airport and airline rankings. HIA is first ever airport in the Middle East to earn this title.

ZURICH - It was an exciting year for Swiss, with two newcomers to the fleet of Lufthansa Group's affiliate in Switzerland: In January, the first Boeing 777 (of six today) arrived, July saw the world premier of Bombardier's C Series (four in service today).

LISBON - TAP Air Portugal's headquarters at Lisbon airport was built in the 1960s, and the buildings clearly show their age, with maintenance hangars dimly lit in yellow light. But the heritage-rich Portuguese flag carrier, which just celebrated its 70th anniversary in September, seems to be in renewal mode.

SYDNEY - Qantas plans a schmick 787-9 cabin layout, fitting only 236 seats into the stretch due to arrive next year. "We are planning to make the most of the 787`s amazing range, so we have designed the cabin to give Qantas passengers a better experience on long haul flights", says Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.

MADRID - Iberia joins the Premium Economy band waggon. The new "Turista Premium" class will be available on 37 of its long-haul aircraft, starting during the summer season of 2017. Iberia will retrofit the cabin on eight Airbus A330-300 and 13 A340-600 to be modified in the course of 2017 and 2018.

LONDON - Brits just love to queue, right? British Airways challenges this stereotype with a new fast track option for its First Class passengers travelling through London Heathrow’s Terminal 5. "The First Wing" - a dedicated walkway from check-in to the lounges - will open in April 2017.

MUNICH - Lufthansa will introduce an all new long haul Economy Class with its first Airbus A350-900 scheduled to arrive at the carrier`s Munich base early 2017. Seats in light and navy blue covers expel the grey from Lufthansa`s Economy cabins and will be "padded a tad less firmly", according to the airline.

AUCKLAND - Air New Zealand is to spend more than 100 million Dollars increasing the number of premium seats on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and refurbishing its Boeing 777-300 fleet in response to customer trends.