YYZSaabGuy

Still a fine-looking aircraft.

Guaranteed, no. Very little in this business is guaranteed. However, ancillary revenues can in general be forecast with a reasonable level of accuracy based on historic performance of a route, PAX mix (first class vs. business vs. premium economy vs. economy, etc.), stage length, seasonality, etc. I don't know why ULCCs would be any different; in fact, I would guess their revenue analytics guys/gals are pretty proficient at this stuff.

I think the TSB is missing the point: if people aren't complying with evacuation instructions being shouted at them during an actual emergency, they aren't going to pay any more attention to an amended pre-flight safety briefing than they do now. It's just going to take a bit more militancy from the folks trapped at the back of the aircraft directed at the oafs up front who are blocking the aisle while they recover their baggage. Should I ever find myself in that predicament, rest assured that any veneer of courtesy is going to go out the window pretty quickly.

Wow - 14 months/2X as long as planned for a 400-hour check? It'd be interesting, given our own upcoming procurement, to know the comparable figures for the F35.

Thanks for posting that. Probably the most balanced and insightful analysis I've seen yet.