Recreating history
'These machines! On a day of bad weather they are far from steady, far from steady. I myself have felt seriously incommoded once or twice,' bemoans the French chief of detectives in Agatha Christie's 1935 novel Death in the Clouds. The titular murder takes place aboard a Handley Page HP42, which was arguably the world's first luxury airliner and which entered service 75 years ago today. These giant biplanes, eight of which were built, could carry up to 38 passengers in previously - and some might say currently - unheard-of comfort. Passengers sat in plush armchairs surrounded by fresh flowers and were served freshly cooked meals on bone china - together with fine wines drunk from crystal glasses - by stewards in starched linen uniforms. The HP42s flew from Croydon, England, to cities as far away as Karachi and Calcutta, and in almost a decade of service with Imperial Airways they didn't lose a single passenger.
Splash out
Weighty issue
In a move that would, if carried out in that country, probably ground every airline in the United States, Indian Airlines is to suspend any flight attendant found to be even 1kg more than his or her ideal weight. 'We are part of the service industry and we have to be more presentable,' Vishwapati Trivedi, the airline's chairman and managing director, informed The Times of India. 'So we are trying to get the cabin crew members to be fit.' The new policy is not the first time the carrier, which recently rebranded itself as simply 'Indian', has attempted to smarten up its staff. In 2001, a male flight attendant, Victor Joynath De, was suspended for having a moustache of unseemly dimensions, which had been 25 years in the growing. He sued the airline and was reinstated, whiskers intact, a few months later. Indian must surely be hoping he hasn't gained a few extra kilos since then.