If you’ve taken a budget airline from one of the many that have sprouted up in recent years, you probably would have had the experience of walking across the tarmac to get into your plane. While younger readers might think the lack of an aerobridge is one of the ways budget airlines keep their costs low, older readers would probably remember how crossing the tarmac was the usual way to get onto a plane in the 1960s and 1970s.
yg compares air travel between the 1970s and today:
how air travel has changed over the years! but this picture of passengers on the tarmac boarding a plane brought me back to paya lebar days. i do not remember walking directly into the plane via the aerobridge when i first boarded a plane in the 70s. i remember walking, unprotected from the elements, from the airport building to the waiting boeing 737.
i first flew in a passenger plane when i was in my 20s. the other day, when i was flying budget from kota kinabalu to kuching, young school children in uniform were taking the plane as though they were on a bus. it was quite evident that that not their maiden flight as there was no photo taking, excited chatter and unfamiliarity with the procedure.
these days, hardly anyone take snapshots of their friends or family members when they are in the cabin of a plane. in those days, when travelling by air was more like a kind of a privilege, you would see holiday makers taking pictures.
Check out the rest of yg’s post here.
1 Response
What I’d love someone to do, is write an extensive article (with some photos that they may have – rather than just getting them off PICAS) on Paya Lebar Airport. They could include references to both Saint Jack, and the “Year of the Horse” episodes of Hawaii Five-0, both of which had parts filmed at the airport in 1978.
Posted on August 12th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Add A Comment