Tiny island nation seeks tourists

BOMBOM, Sao Tome and Principe (AP) -- Flying into the tiny island of Principe off Africa's west coast brings a sense of traveling back in time.
Seen from over the Atlantic, the dense tropical jungle coats the volcanic terrain down to a turquoise sea and golden beaches reachable only by boat. It looks like a prehistoric land that time forgot.
Principe is one of the poorest spots on Earth in dollar terms. But in terms of virgin tropical landscapes it is one of the wealthiest, says Rombout Swanborn, a Dutch businessman and conservationist.
Swanborn recently purchased two hotels on Principe and, backed by local authorities, aims to plug this island of about 6,000 people into the ecotourism boom now spreading across West Africa.
Ecotourism took off in eastern Africa in the early 1990s. Underdeveloped countries such as Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya discovered they had what vacationers from developed countries sought -- raw wilderness rich in animal life.
Now the business is gaining traction in the western part of the African continent, too.
Ecotourism is flourishing in Gabon and Ghana. Angola and Nigeria are also signing up. Sao Tome and Principe, a twin-island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, aims to become the latest.
"The people here are sitting on a pot of gold," said Swanborn, who also operates four ecotourism developments in Gabon.
The Madrid, Spain-based World Tourism Organization in October described Africa as the industry's "star performer." Growth in visitors is predicted to be around 10 percent this year, more than double the world average.
"One can safely say that the growth we observe in Africa ... is mainly based on ecotourism growth," Eugenio Yuris, head of the WTO's sustainable tourism section, said.
The United Nations and international conservation bodies such as the World Wildlife Fund are backing the ecotourism trend. They view the development of sustainable tourism as a way of wedding local needs and care for the environment.
There are potential pitfalls, though.
Neel Inamdar, a senior adviser at Washington, D.C.-based Conservation International, a nonprofit organization, points out that Kenya has fought hard to recover from the damage wrought by high-volume, low-cost ecotourism.
"You need a strong regulatory environment, with bodies that will stand up to the industry," Inamdar said.
Principe island, just north of the equator, fits the bill of a tropical paradise.
Just a few hundred people live in its seaside capital, Santo Antonio. The rest are scattered across small communities of clapboard houses and tumbledown former plantation buildings where they scrape a living from farming and fishing.
The jungle spills down to beaches where you can spend an entire day and the only footprints in the sand are your own.
The thick Atlantic rainforest is sprinkled with colorful birds, including rare species, and waterfalls. In certain seasons, sea turtles lay eggs on the beaches and whales come within view of land.
Despite its charms, this country is not all that it could be as a vacation destination. There are few international-standard hotels.
But tourism development is gathering pace.
Portugal's Pestana Group, which runs a resort on Sao Tome island, is building a development in the capital, also called Sao Tome, that includes a five-star hotel, a casino and villas.
Arlecio Costa, local director of the Falcon Group, is developing a huge project on the northern tip of Sao Tome island called Lago Azul with South African investors.
The $380 million development, still at the planning stage but scheduled to open in five years, includes a quay for cruise liners, an 18-hole golf course, a conference center and a hotel with a health spa.
"It looks like a dream," Costa said.
The project will leave a large footprint, but Costa insists its biggest selling point is the area's natural beauty, especially the nearby Obo National Park whose conservation activities are supported by the United Nations.
Sao Tome and Principe was a largely overlooked country until it found major oil reserves, estimated at 11 billion barrels, in its offshore waters a few years ago. That discovery brought foreign governments and international oil companies knocking at its door.
Costa, though, reckons tourism is the way forward.
"The oil will run out one day," he said. "Tourism can be forever, if you take care of it."
IF YOU GO:
SAO TOME:
National tourism Web site: http://www.saotome.st
TRAVELING TO SAO TOME: Foreign passport holders require visas and a yellow fever vaccination to enter Sao Tome. Flights leave from Lisbon, Portugal (TAP Air Portugal); Luanda, Angola (TAAG); and Gabon (Air Sao Tome). Air Sao Tome flies from Sao Tome island to Principe island.
WHEN TO GO: The equatorial islands have a steady temperature between 22 and 30 C (72 and 86 F). The October-May rainy season brings sporadic heavy showers and higher temperatures. It is mostly cloudy between June and September.
WHERE TO STAY: There are just a handful of international standard hotels, though the national tourism Web site lists some other local places to stay.
In the capital, Sao Tome, there are two main hotels. The Marlin Beach Hotel - http://www.marlinbeach.com - is on the bay and the Hotel Miramar -http://www.sao-tome.com/hmiramar/index--english.htm - is located in the city's embassy area.
On the Ilheu das Rolas, an islet off the southern tip of Sao Tome island, the Pestana Equador Hotel -http://www.pestana.com/hotels/en/hotels/africa/SaoTomePrincipeHotels /Equador / Home/ - offers beaches and diving.
On Principe island, the Bombom Resort - http://www.bom-bom.com - has beachside bungalows and organizes trips into the rainforest.
TIPS: Portuguese is the official language. Few speak English; more can speak French. The local currency is the dobra, though euros can be widely used. There are a few taxis, and visitors renting vehicles are advised to choose four-wheel-drive jeeps because the roads are poor. The streets are safe and the people are friendly and welcoming. Sao Tome, with international aid, has greatly improved its problems with malaria in recent years, but visitors should take the usual precautions against mosquito bites.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Disney World hotels ban smoking

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) -- Smoking will be banned as of June 1 at all 22 Disney World hotels and time-share resorts in Florida.
The ban permits smoking at designated outdoor areas. The transition to become smoke-free will allow Disney to better accommodate the increasing number of guests requesting nonsmoking hotel rooms, the theme park's spokesman Jacob DiPietre said.
The ban follows a 2000 measure that restricted smoking throughout Disney's theme and water parks, limiting smoking to designated areas, DiPietre said.
"We're focused on responding to what our guests are asking for and our guests are overwhelmingly asking for smoke-free rooms," DiPietre said. "The number of guests requesting smoking rooms has declined dramatically in recent years."
DiPietre could not provide figures tracking the decline, but said it has been "significant."
Less than 4 percent of Disney's more than 24,000 hotel rooms are currently smoking optional, DiPietre said.
Guests caught smoking after the ban could face cleaning surcharges as high as $500, DiPietre said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

High Museum unlocks 'Gates of Paradise'

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- When the artists of Florence, Italy, swung open the doors of the Baptistery of the Duomo (cathedral) now known as the "Gates of Paradise" in 1452, a new world was waiting on the other side.
Twenty feet tall and weighing three tons, this single work is considered the gateway to the Italian Renaissance, an upheaval so fundamental to how we see our world and think of ourselves that centuries later no Western culture is left untouched by it. ( See an audio slide show with curator Gary Radke )
Legend has it that Michelangelo himself is the one who dubbed these doors the "Gates of Paradise."
And as the High Museum of Art opens its exhibition of three of the doors' 10 gilt panels on Saturday, the conservation effort that brought them here will have lasted 25 years -- just two years less than it took to make the work itself. ( See a gallery of images from the set-up of the High Museum's exhibition )
Once the High showing closes on July 15, the exhibition travels to the Chicago Institute of Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The panels -- depicting the biblical stories of "Adam and Eve", "Jacob and Esau", and "David and Goliath" -- then will be moved back to Florence to be reassembled in the original doorway for permanent, hermetically sealed display at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. They are expected never to travel again.
Exhibition curator Gary Radke of Syracuse University says that the special alloy of bronze developed in the 15th-century workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti for the doors had resulted in a corrosion that had dulled the dull surfaces of the square relief-sculptures and other gilt ornaments on the doors.
The danger in trying to reclaim such works, of course, is that chemical treatments can damage the bond between the gold and bronze and take away more priceless, irreplaceable material.
So it's thanks to a specially developed laser-and-distilled-water technique that what you now can see on display is not a restoration -- not new gold leaf added, or reconstructed bronze modeling -- but the same metals Ghiberti worked with himself.
"These 'Gates of Paradise,' think about it," Radke says. "They're on the doors of the Baptistery in the center of downtown Florence, where you have walking by every day, people like Michelangelo, people like Donatello, people of all important eras, going, going there. And they (the doors) are really the school of the Florentine art of the mid-15th century, of the Renaissance. ... They're there, all day, every day, at night, under the moonlight, under the sunlight.
"Think of how many people have been through that piazza and have seen these doors. I remember them being relatively clean -- I went as a student, then went as a newlywed and thought what was on the work was dirt.
"We found out it wasn't just dirt but was actually chemical reactions between the surfaces of the gold and the bronze."
The genius of the master metalworkers of Florence had caught up with their work at last and intervention was required to save them.
Ghiberti ("gee-BARE-tee," pronounced with a hard "G") is, in a way, the artist behind the masters. Born in 1378, he won a competition to create the north doors of the Baptistery at a time when Radke says Florence was spending more money on its cultural expansion than its military endeavors.
By the time that commission had led to the "Gates of Paradise" job, Ghiberti's workshop had become the place in which Donatello, Masolino, Uccello and other key artists of the era would be trained. Ghiberti died in 1455 -- 20 years before the birth of Michelangelo.
One-time U.S. tour
Now housing the reliefs in special transparent oxygen-free cases -- so no humidity can generate a galvanic reaction among the salts in the metals -- the display at the High Museum is designed not only to give you a very close look at three of the 31.5-inch square panels themselves, but also a sense for context.
Patrizio Ostricresi of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence has worked closely with the chief conservatory on the project, Annamaria Giusti. While overseeing the assembly of the protective cases for the priceless pieces in Atlanta, he points to the "David and Goliath" panel's patches of brown that show through the gold.
"Look at this," says Ostricresi. "The mountain in this scene, the helmets" on the centurions in the crowd scene, "and the David, himself. You see how the gold has been rubbed off? Removed? I will show you why."
He walks over to the full-size photographic replica of the doors the High has produced for the display. "You see, the 'David' panel was placed by Ghiberti here, at the bottom of the door. This is why the Florentines could take the gold. It was low. Within reach. But if you look at the 'Adam and Eve' panel? Perfect. It has lived for 500 years up high on the doors. Too high to reach."
And when High Director Michael Shapiro looks at the "Adam and Eve" panel, what he notices is a feat of astonishing relief work. "This angel's wing," he points out, "comes right out of the piece."
Sure enough, there's light behind the central part of the wing on one of the many angels feathering the skies over Ghiberti's glowing Eden.
Shapiro has become known in the industry for his liaisons with European art centers. Still in its first of three years, the Louvre Atlanta series of exhibitions currently is on view, its latest additions the "Decorative Arts of the Kings" show and the recent arrival of "Et in Arcadia" painting of Nicolas Poussin. ( Read more about the High's decorative arts show from the Louvre )
And in 2003, Shapiro brought Verrocchio's "David" to the museum, the first effort in the particular laser conservation technique deployed in the "Gates of Paradise" reclamation.
As might be expected, that effort in conservation involves the international cooperation and study of many experts. The High convened a special workshop in February 2006 in Florence with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (which also underwrote the show's catalog) and resulting in a commission to have the digital-art library ARTstor create a major photographic study of the "Gates."
The completion of the restoration of the bronze doors has been facilitated by special funding from a non-profit organization, the Friends of Florence.

50 years since debut of 'Europe on 5 Dollars a Day'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Arthur Frommer first saw Europe in 1953 from the window of a military transport plane.
He'd been drafted and was headed to a U.S. base in Germany. But whenever he had a weekend's leave or a three-day pass, he'd hop a train to Paris or hitch a ride to England on an Air Force flight. Eventually he wrote a guide to Europe for GIs and had 5,000 copies printed. They sold out at 50 cents apiece, and when his Army stint was over, he rewrote the book for civilians, self-publishing "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" in 1957. (Read excerpts)
"It struck a chord and became an immediate best-seller," he recalled.
On the 50th anniversary of the book's publication, Frommer is still being credited with helping to change leisure travel by showing average Americans that they could afford a trip to Europe. And while the dollar-a-day series is finally ending this year after selling millions of copies, the Frommer brand remains strong, with a new series from Arthur's daughter Pauline carrying on the tradition.
More important, Frommer's original approach -- a combination of wide-eyed wonder and getting the best value for your money -- has become so standard that it's hard to remember how radical it seemed in the days before discount flights and backpacks.
"If you go back to the 1950s, most people who traveled were wealthy," said Pat Carrier, owner of The Globe Corner Bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "If they went to Europe, it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. Today, my kids think they should be in a foreign country as part of their every-year experience. Arthur did for travel what Consumer Reports did for everything else."
Anne Sutherland, a professor at the University of California at Riverside who studies tourism as a global phenomenon, used "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" on a six-month trip in 1965. "When I read the title, I said, 'I can do Europe on $5 a day? I'm going!"' she said. "And I really did live on $5 a day. For my generation, that really made a difference. Without that guidebook, we couldn't have known we could do it."
Bertram Gordon, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, California, recalled sitting in a cafe in Paris in the mid-1970s where "it looked like every third person passing by was carrying a Frommer's." But Gordon, who teaches a course on the history of European travel, noted that many factors contributed to Frommer's success, including the affluence of post-World War II America, adventurous baby boomers, and the rise and ease of jet travel.
"Frommer was catching a wave," Gordon said. "This is not to take anything away from him, but when his books started coming out, there was an audience."
That wave continues today. Americans now "look upon the entire world as a possibility for their next vacation," Frommer, 77, said in an interview. "You go to a party nowadays and people say, 'Shall I go to Miami or London? Shall I go to San Francisco or Shanghai?' The whole emphasis has become international travel, which was not the case 50 years ago."
In the 1950s, he added, "you traveled to Europe with a steamer trunk. You were told by the entire travel industry that the only way to go to Europe was first-class, that this was a war-torn continent coming out of World War II, that it literally wasn't safe to stay anywhere other than first-class hotels."
Then as now, Frommer insists, "budget travel is a preferable method of travel because it leads to a more authentic experience. You meet people imbued with intellectual curiosity -- teachers, students, artists, normal people, people from all over the world -- who want to have a genuine experience, rather than an experience whose aim is to make you physically comfortable and let you enjoy the pretentiousness of flaunting your wallet."
In the 1960s, when inflation forced him to change the title of the book to "Europe on 5 and 10 Dollars a Day," he said "it was as if someone had plunged a knife into my head." Thanks to the weak dollar, the final editions were titled "Europe from $95 a Day."
"The dollar a day concept doesn't make sense when it costs $100 a day if you're lucky to find a hotel room," said Michael Spring, Frommer's publisher at Wiley Publishing Inc.
Carrier, the Globe Corner Bookstore owner, credited Spring with greatly improving the Frommer's guides in the past 10 years. Carrier said they remain especially useful for food and accommodations. But he added that the Frommer's "brand is diminished today in terms of its reach across all age groups. I don't think anyone could have anticipated 15 years ago that Lonely Planet would explode the way it did." Lonely Planet books are geared to backpackers and a younger, more adventurous traveler.
Frommer's still publishes comprehensive guides to many destinations, but is trying to broaden its appeal. Last year the brand launched MTV Travel Guides, geared to trendy 20-somethings; Frommer's Day by Day guides to help time-pressed travelers pare down their options; and Pauline Frommer's Travel Guides, for adult budget travelers, emphasizing alternative accommodations and offbeat experiences like volunteer vacations. "Pauline Frommer's New York City" won the 2006 best travel book award from the North American Travel Journalists Association.
Pauline began traveling with her father and mother, Hope, in 1965 when she was four months old. "They used to joke that the book should be called 'Europe on Five Diapers a Day,"' Pauline Frommer said.
Her father still rails against gourmet meals, five-star hotels, private jets and other trappings of luxury travel, and Pauline shares his tastes. He noted that she recently booked round-trip tickets for herself, her husband and two daughters to fly round-trip to England this summer on Virgin Atlantic for $595 apiece. "She saved close to $1,000 for her family," he said approvingly.
"I never fly first-class," he added. "It's an incredible waste of money."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Nudist camps reach out to the young and buff

WOODSTOCK, Connecticut (AP) -- Here's the naked truth about nude recreation: The people who practice it aren't getting any younger.
To draw 20- and 30-somethings, nudist groups and camps are trying everything from deep discounts on membership fees to a young ambassador program that encourages college and graduate students to talk to their peers about having fun in the buff.
"We don't want the place to turn into a gated assisted living facility," said Gordon Adams, membership director at Solair Recreation League, a nudist camp in northeastern Connecticut that recently invited students from dozens of New England schools to a college day in hopes of piquing their interest.
The median age is 55 at Solair, where a yearly membership is $500 for people older than 40, $300 for people younger than 40 and $150 for college students.
The Kissimee, Florida-based American Association for Nude Recreation, which represents about 270 clubs and resorts in North America, estimates that more than 90 percent of its 50,000 members are older than 35.
"If a young person is enlightened enough to go to a beach or resort, they'll find that they're outnumbered by people who are not like them," said Sam Miller, 32, a medical student in Riverside, California, who is helping to plan a youth ambassadors workshop being held next month in Orlando, Florida. "Oftentimes they won't go back for that reason."
No one is quite sure why nudity, at least the organized version promoted by the AANR and similar groups, is such a tough sell for younger people.
"I think people think that we're all hippies," said Laura Groezinger, 22, of Billerica, Massachusetts, who grew up visiting Solair with her family. "Other people, I don't know the right way to say this, but they think it's more sexual, kind of. They don't understand just the being free with your body and being comfortable."
Money is also an issue. As nudist resorts become increasingly upscale, catering to baby boomers and retirees with plenty of disposable income, they're less affordable for college students and young families.
"There's a financial barrier, and I think it's important for resorts, if they want young people around, to recognize that and cater to them with discounts or free days," Miller said.
Only a handful of students attended Solair's recent college event, held on an overcast 60-degree day that prompted many to bundle up in sweaters rather than shed their clothes. But camp members such as Robyn Maguire, 27, of Manchester, Connecticut, said they plan to try again.
"I hope to get the word out to younger people that hey, it is OK, and here's a safe place to be, a very accepting place," Maguire said. "Unlike any other place in life, people actually look at you when they talk to you."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Cyprus to tempt tourists with saints' bones

NICOSIA, Cyprus (Reuters) -- The bones of martyred saints and somber shrines may not be at the top of every tourist's must-see holiday wish list.
But the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, better known as a major European sun-and-sea spot, is determined to delve into its rich cultural heritage and exploit the budding -- and more wholesome -- market of religious tourism.
"We are more than just a sand and sea and sex destination," said George Michaelides, chairman of the Cultural and Special Interest Tourism Association.
Industry officials say about 100,000 of the island's 2.5 million tourists already come for the cultural and religious monuments and the market has seen a boost since Dan Brown's bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" made religious quests popular.
"Cyprus has always been associated with religion. In earlier times there was no ship going to the Holy Land without stopping at Cyprus. We are known as the island of saints," Michaelides said.
According to the World Tourism Organization, 300 to 330 million pilgrims visit the world's key religious sites every year. Cyprus is eager to take a big bite out of this growing market and boost the island's main industry.
In cooperation with the powerful Church of Cyprus and tourism officials it is launching religious tours for the first time this summer.
"Cyprus packs a huge amount of monuments in such a small space," said Vakis Loizides, a tourist officer at the Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO). "The island's special relationship with saints, like Lazarus and Helen, make it very attractive."
Visitors can go on a tour tracing the footsteps of Saint Paul, who traveled from Antioch to Cyprus in 45 AD, and visit the pillar in the town of Paphos where he was tortured and, according to his second epistle to the Corinthians, given "forty bar one lashes" for preaching Christianity.
Or they can visit the church of Saint Lazarus, who church tradition says came to Cyprus after his resurrection by Christ, and served as a bishop on the island.
Most of his bones were sent to Constantinople in the 9th century but the faithful can see his skull, on display in a glass-topped box in the church.
Da Vinci Code
"We are seeing an increase in demand," said Angelos Mylonas, manager at Mantovani Plotin Travel. "After 'The Da Vinci Code', there is an interest from people to see Greek Orthodox churches."
Scattered over the Troodos mountains, Cyprus's 10 medieval timber-roofed churches, listed as UNESCO world heritage monuments for their stunning wall paintings, are at the top of many religious tourists' lists, he added.
"Tourists already know where they are going and what they want to see. They are extremely well read, they know places not even we are aware of," Mylonas said.
A 300,000 Cyprus pound ($700,000) tourist office campaign part-funded by the European Union and the Cypriot government is aimed primarily at travelers from Greece and Orthodox nations of the former communist bloc like Russia, but also at Orthodox communities in the United States, Britain and Australia.
The CTO is publishing religious tourism guides in several languages and a traveling exhibition of Orthodox artifacts is also planned.
Religious tolerance
Officials say that apart from the large number of shrines spanning millennia, Cyprus's comparative advantage is that it houses monuments of different religions, including one of Islam's most important mosques, the 648 AD Hala Sultan Tekke in the town of Larnaca.
"Cyprus is tolerant to various dogmas. Tourists can see Muslim and Orthodox monuments co-exist. This is very special," Loizides said.
He said the Church, originally skeptical about anything to do with tourism which it associates with lewd behavior, is now eager to promote "religious culture tours". It is cooperating in planning festivals and ceremonies so tourists can attend them.
"There is international interest in religious tourism. Given the violence and wars in the world, there is a belief that if developed properly, it can lead to a dialogue between cultures," he said.
Others in Cyprus see the development of religious tourism from a more practical perspective.
"This will help diversify the product of the island, change its image," Michaelides said. "These people come off-season and stay longer than the average tourist. They are better spenders, who go around and not just from the hotel to the pub."
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Boeing vs Airbus: Battle for the skies

LONDON, (England) CNN -- Last month Airbus began painting the Singapore Airlines livery on its first A380 superjumbo, due for delivery in October this year, while Boeing continues to receive healthy orders for its 787 Dreamliners.
Yet the real battle for the skies is happening on terra firma, between the two major players in the aviation industry.
Each has their backers and each their detractors in a mire of politics, power, money and influence. One thing is for sure though, from the smallest plane to the biggest it is one mighty struggle between the two.
"It's a major contest. Can Airbus sell the A380 against all the Boeing range of planes? There is also the fight for the medium-sized market -- there's going to be a titanic struggle between the 787 Dreamliner and Airbus' A350, which it also got into difficulty with," Kieran Daly, of Air Transport Intelligence told CNN.
"I also think we're just seeing the very beginnings of the biggest contest of all -- who will replace the smaller narrow-bodied planes, like the 737s, which are everywhere you look."
Orders for new planes tell part of the story. For the best part of a decade, Airbus held the lead while Boeing struggled with a painful and lingering restructuring.
But the tables have turned. While delays to the A380 led to some airlines canceling orders of the planes, Boeing enjoyed an almost record-breaking year with 1,050 on its books in 2006, compared to Airbus' 790.
Technical problems with the A380 are symptomatic of a broader ideological malaise at Airbus. At the end of February, Europe's plane-maker is embarked on its own restructuring program, called Power 8.
By reducing aircraft development times by two years, from eight to six, the airline hopes to streamline productivity and regain their market lead. It won't be a smooth ride -- there will be job loses within the company and industrial action has already been threatened.
It is in the airline boardrooms, however, that the fate of Airbus and Boeing will be decided.
Most carriers embark on a rolling program of renewals. Not so British Airways. It is opting for a block replacement of its fleet and that's got the plane manufacturers salivating at the prospect of a truly gigantic order.
So will BA stick with Boeing or go for Airbus?
"If you're Willy Walsh looking at Boeing, all your pilots are trained for their aircraft, so there's an incumbent advantage. However I don't think that's necessarily a done deal. BA will be looking at the future shape of the industry," Andrew Fitchie, an analyst for Collins Stewart told CNN.
In February the airline hinted at the path it may take with an order of four Boeing 777s, with an option for four more.
"There will be certain routes that the A380 will be more suited to on BA's global network. What is interesting is that BA is looking to do the whole fleet and expansion in one, which will give them considerable bargaining power with manufacturers."
Who wins between Airbus and Boeing can only be judged over a large number of years, but one things for sure. Once you are squashed back into seat 36F, it's still going to seem like a very long flight.