A380 MSN017The 5th A380 for Emirates Airlines, A6-EDE, is on the flight line at Hamburg and expected to be delivered in April. Thanks to the folks at the Hamburg Airport forum, enjoy the picture. Given the slowdown at Singapore Airlines, there is some debate on whether the next A380 out will be MSN026 (Qantas’ 4th A380 VH-QQD) or MSN019 (Singapore …

March 2nd, the crew of a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter, registration 9V-SFK performing freight flight SQ7344 from Nairobi, Kenya to Amsterdam Schiphol, Netherlands, declared an emergency reporting a fire alert and automatic activation of the cargo fire suppression system and diverted to Munich, Germany. The aircraft landed safely, and the crew remained on board while the emergency services checked …

The Indian government has approved a ten per cent increase in aeronautical charges at 84 airports across India operated by the state owned Airports Authority of India (AAI). This at a time when airports across Asia and in many parts of the world, are reducing airport and passenger charges to stimulate air travel. These charges include landing, parking and terminal …

Qantas’ bad luck with its planes continue. On March 2, Qantas was forced to declare one of its flagship Airbus A380 superjumbos “unserviceable” at London Heathrow. Despite best efforts and making hundreds of passengers wait over 12 hours, Qantas engineers could not repair a leak in the fuel system. Qantas was forced to transfer its passengers on to a Boeing …

She was always known by just her name. Never an article ahead of it. She was Concorde. Never THE Concorde or A Concorde or LE Concorde; and 40 years ago, she made her first flight from Toulouse in France, where the giant Airbus A380 is made today. F-WSST took to the skies at 15:40 on March 2, 1969, coincidentally, just …

These powerful images made on the mobile phone seconds after the Turkish Airlines flight crashed at Amsterdram Schiphol airport. Video from Heart of the Netherlands.

Been to Bengaluru International Airport over the last fortnight, and took some photos early in the morning with planes taking-off and landing in to the sun. Some of the planes I got; VT-JNV, VT-JGQ, VT-INE, VT-INS, VT-INF, VT-SGE, 9V-SFF, VT-DKA, G-OJIB (Ed Force One), VT-JNZ, Luftwaffe A310 10-27, VT-EPH, VT-JCD and a few others. Hope you enjoy the shots. You …

Virgin group Chairman Richard Branson went around the world in 8 days showcasing his airline’s world coverage with the launch of V Australia’s flights to the United States. Virgin is the only airline group that offers a traveller the ability to circumnavigate the world on one airline brand. He documented the events with a video blog and we can see …

Wired has a nice story on the constant efforts by both Airbus and Boeing to increase fuel savings by their aircraft. The latest technology which appears promising is “moving winglets” or “morphlets” whose configuration can be changed in-flight to suit flying conditions to deliver fuel savings. The two airframe makers are taking different approaches to the same goal. Read the …