QANTAS has assured disrupted passengers they will have no difficulty accessing free flights being offered as a goodwill gesture while pilots said it will take more than that for the public to forgive airline management.

The airline today said that the free return economy flight being offered to more than 70,000 passengers pretentious by the grounding was completely separate to its compensation packages or any other payments.

But passengers deprived of their business class flights will have to fly economy if they wish to take up the Qantas free offer, which the airline estimate will cost it about $20 million.

It takes the cost of the grounding to over $50 million.

The pilots' union today dismissed offering free tickets as a waste of airline money, pointing to a survey which they claimed showed people blamed the Qantas management more than unions for damaging the airline's standing.

The only survivor of the Russian airplane crash that killed 44 people most of them famous hockey players has given his first interview since the Sept. 7 disaster.

Alexander Sizov, 52, was the engineer for the plane that annihilated the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team as it failed on takeoff northeast of Moscow for a game in Minsk.

Sizov, in an interview with Russian reporters that was translated by the Moscow Times, said he knew there was problem when the plane did not take off instantly.

"I quickly realized that we were on unpaved ground," Sizov said."The plane began falling soon after takeoff, and it was clear that we were going to crash."

Sizov, yet hospitalized, spoke from his bed. He has been treated for harsh shock, burns and various fractures.

"On impact, everything began flying. Something strikes me hard, that's why my left side is all broken up," Sizov said. "Once in the water, I truthfully didn't see or notice anything around not the fires, not the plane, nothing."

The human death included 37 players and coaches from Russia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Sweden, Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine and the seven member crew. Lokomotiv winger Alexander Galimov at first survived the crash, but died of his injuries five days later.

Amongst the dead were Ex-New York Rangers defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev, a member of the 1994 Stanley Cup winning team, and Ex NHL superstar Pavol Demitra.

Much of the wreckage landed in a tributary of the Volga River. Police said Sizov badly burned one arm while trying to rescue a colleague.

Sizov helped check the plane before liftoff, had been flying in it for the past year, and said it was in "perfect" condition.

"A kind of miracle saved me," added Sizov, who is expected to be released from the hospital soon. "My family and my wife's love helped me stay alive."

The Cuban government has approved to have direct flights from New Orleans for the 1st time in more than 50 years; opening the entry for travel companies from anyplace in the country to apply for permits to make flight plans originating from New Orleans.

In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agreed an application from Louis Armstrong International Airport and seven other air fields to serve as a doorway to Cuba.

But after the doorway was opened on the U.S. side, endeavor to gain permission from the Cuban side for flights seemed to be moving slowly. In August, two officials from the airport and two from Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration Aimee Quirk, adviser to the mayor for economic development, and Richard Cortizas, then executive counsel to the mayor, now acting city attorney traveled to Cuba to make the case for why the Caribbean island nation should get flights from New Orleans.

Airport officials just got a letter from Cuban officials approving New Orleans as one of a handful of U.S. cities able to provide flights.

The government and airport management worked hard on creating a chance for private companies to provide flights from Armstrong International Airport to Cuba, Armstrong Airport's director of aviation, Iftikhar Ahmad, said in a news release. "We expect that private sector will benefit from this opportunity."

Quirk said the approving for flights not only creates the chance for New Orleanians to travel to Cuba, but also for people elsewhere in the country to fly to Cuba through New Orleans. Armstrong International could add to its passenger counts because of the certification for a limited number of U.S. airports, and local tourism companies could make a pitch for travelers to spend a few days enjoying music in New Orleans before departing for Havana. Tour companies from elsewhere in the country could also build route through New Orleans.

"That's one of the allurements here,” she said.

The city administration has aimed attempts to rebuild international air service from New Orleans.

Before the Cuban Revolution, New Orleans was Cuba's major trading partner in the United States. It has long been believed that if the Cuba were to open to U.S. tourism, Louisiana would stand to benefit because cruise companies would probably plan routes from New Orleans to Havana and local companies would find out new export markets in Cuba.

In January, the Obama government relaxed limitations for Americans traveling to Cuba, but it left the long standing prohibitions in place. The new regulations allow travel for cultural, academic or religious purposes; allow Americans to send money to normal citizens in Cuba; and allow for charter flights from more American cities.

In the past, only Los Angeles, Miami and New York were permitted to offer flights to Cuba. But in March, the Obama government said New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Tampa and San Juan, Puerto Rico, could also offer flights, bringing the total to 11 cities from which flights to Cuba could depart.

Airport spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut said airport and city officials made the application to attempt to open doors for local companies. Any U.S. company seeking to run flights now must obtain permit from the Department of Permits and Flight Planning Institute Civil Aeronautics of Cuba.

It's just a issue of a service provider stepping ahead and provide that service, whether it's a charter or tour operator or airline, “Wilcut said. Major airlines often have charter operations on the side.

The New Orleans tour company Destination Management Inc. is also sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury as Cuba service provider.

"It's a fresh and rising market,” Wilcut said.