Wednesday, June 11, 2025

The Professor’s Minute Minute – June 12, 2025

 Obscure truths from the edge of Aviation, Technology, Humanity, and Startups—plus one spectacular historical faceplant.


AVIATION


Pan Am Rises Again? Enter Ed Wegel, the Airline Necromancer

Pan Am is being resurrected—again. This time, the name is tied to AVI8 Air Capital, with serial airline reviver Ed Wegel at the controls. He’s the guy behind GlobalX and prior Eastern revival efforts. Is this nostalgia? Arbitrage? A licensing bet?

Pan Am: because some brands never die, they just keep taxiing in circles.

Source – Aviator.aero


TECHNOLOGY


Stretching the MAX? 400 Fuel Tanks Later

Marshall Aerospace has delivered over 400 Additional Centre Tanks (ACTs) to Boeing for its 737 series. Now can it also, quietly transform the 737 MAX into a long-haul contender. These tanks are now flying routes like India to Western Europe—without a fuss, fanfare, or fuselage change in the 737 NGs

Sometimes, evolution hides in the belly of the aircraft.

Source – Marshall Group


HUMANITY


Therapy Dogs Are the Real Class Monitors

Across Europe and North America, schools are bringing in trained therapy dogs to ease student anxiety, improve classroom behavior, and even boost attendance. Turns out, a Labrador is better at calming teens than TikTok.

This is the only school program where drooling is encouraged.

Source – Wikipedia: School dog


STARTUP IDEA


Driverless Cars… in Lima?

While San Francisco’s AVs panic at intersections, and LA risk being a little toasted, Lima, Peru is quietly launching autonomous shuttle pilots. Developed by MIT-affiliated engineers, the program is proving AVs might succeed faster in chaotic cities than in sanitized ones.

If you can make autonomy work in Lima, you can make it work anywhere.

Source – WBUR


NOTABLE FAIL


RIP 3K: Jetstar Asia Quietly Exits the Runway

After years flying out of Changi, Jetstar Asia (IATA: 3K) appears to be vanishing without much ceremony. With operations winding down and no official strategy revealed, it joins the growing list of brands Qantas never quite knew what to do with.

A little less quiet is the exit of Silver Airways. 

Sometimes, the silence between codeshares says it all.

Source – Executive Traveller


Follow the Professor Sabena Blog for daily doses of global obscurity, travel weirdness, and tech whimsy—published nightly at 23:00, wherever I happen to be.


Coming Friday: Our “Best of the Week” goes visual on LinkedIn and Instagram—featuring whimsical graphics and things that probably shouldn’t fly.

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