Two commercial airline giants, Airbus and Boeing, are publicly bickering, accusing each other of making false statements about the performance of their planes.

The war of words escalated with an Airbus ad showing a Boeing jet nose grotesquely elongated to resemble Pinocchio’s (left photo), which grew famously longer with each fib he told.

The ad asserts that Boeing is stretching the truth to tout its aircraft. Boeing says it stands by its claims about the superiority of its 737 Max 8 over the Airbus 320Neo and its 747-8 over Airbus’ A380.

This isn’t the first time that Pinocchio has appeared in aviation ads.

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair took on EasyJet in 2010 ads that portrayed EasyJet’s CEO as the long-nosed storybook character fibbing about his airline’s punctuality record.

EasyJet took that one to court, and Ryanair was fined with the CEO forced to make a public apology.
 

— Gay Nagle Myers
 

Hobbits, dwarves and wizards, take note: Air New Zealand, now known as the official airline of Middle-earth, unwrapped its Hobbit-themed Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on Nov. 24, four days in advance of the global film premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" in Wellington, New Zealand, on Nov. 28.

Imagery depicts characters from the fantasy adventure film, the first in a trilogy of Hobbit films by Kiwi director Peter Jackson.

The character images extend the full length of the 219-foot aircraft, the longest plane in Air New Zealand's fleet, and took six days and 400 man hours to install, the largest-ever graphic on an airplane.

In advance of the plane's unveiling, the airline rolled out a Hobbit-inspired safety video on Nov. 1, which chalked up more than 8 million views on YouTube in the first week.

The video features appearances by Jackson, the unforgettable character Gollum, shots of hairy Hobbit feet as well as descendants of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of "The Hobbit."

New Zealand tourism hopes for a big boost in visitors, according to Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe.

"The Hobbit movies will be hugely important to New Zealand's tourism industry in the next couple of years as tourists are inspired to come and see and experience the landscapes which have shaped the movies," Fyfe said.

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," the central film in the trilogy, will be released on Dec. 13, 2013, and the final film, "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," will debut on July 18, 2014.
 

 — Gay Nagle Myers 

"Eat it to beat it" is the slogan behind the initiative at the Hyatt Regency Curacao, to help control the lionfish population that's wreaking havoc on the island's coral reefs.

Chef Norbert Roesch has turned these marine pests into edible masterpieces.

Lionfish are highly unattractive to sharks and other large predators (and probably most people who see one of these things alive), so the population has boomed, allowing the feisty fish to gobble up vast amounts of young fish and pose a threat to the reefs.

Another deal-breaker is the venomous spines that can sting swimmers.

To end the destruction of Curacao's reefs and ensure a safe swim for guests, Chef Norbert offers lionfish specials at Shor American Seafood Grill, the resort's seafood restaurant overlooking the Caribbean.

Guests can choose their lionfish grilled, stuffed, seared or in a ceviche marinade.

"We're doing our part to control the lionfish population, to save the reefs and to protect our guests," the chef said. "Our guests enjoy the flavors of the light and flaky white fish, are enthused about the initiative and happy to be part of the solution."

Chef Norbert also is stimulating the local economy by buying the lionfish from local divers twice a week. 

— Gay Nagle Myers
 

Thanks to Southwest Airlines, an understanding U.S. Agriculture Department entomologist (bug guy) and Maraleen Manos-Jones (known as the “butterfly lady”), a lone female Monarch butterfly beat the odds, despite Superstorm Sandy.

The butterfly emerged late from her cocoon in the upstate N.Y. garden of Manos-Jones, who had worked for more than 10 years at the butterfly conservatory at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The monarch’s pals had long since departed on their long migration south to their winter home and breeding grounds in the mountains of Mexico.

By early October the weather was too cold for a solo flight south, so Manos-Jones began coordinating an itinerary to quickly get the monarch to a warmer climate.

San Antonio’s Botantical Garden was the answer because its flowering plants still held plenty of nectar, which could serve as butterfly fuel for the onward journey to Mexico.

Manos-Jones called Southwest, which came to the aid of what a spokesman called the “circumstantially late butterfly” and agreed to fly the pair for free.

The government bug guy expedited an interstate travel permit for the insect in two days, usually a months-long process.

Then Superstorm Sandy slammed the Northeast, canceling thousands of flights, including Southwest to San Antonio.

During that time, Manos-Jones nursed the butterfly in a climate-controlled environment on a sugar water diet.

When flights resumed, Manos-Jones packed a padded, water-cooled package with the butterfly tucked into two layers of plastic storage containers separated by an ice pack and cushioned by towels and newspapers.

The precious cargo sat on her lap during the Albany-Orlando-San Antonio 2,400-mile odyssey.

And yes, the story has a happy ending. The monarch emerged into the gardens, wobbled a bit, fluttered, landed briefly on her savior’s head and then flew off to a nearby bush loaded with flowers.  

 — Gay Nagle Myers