Tag Archives: Airbus

Lufthansa has launched a new website devoted to its upcoming Airbus A380 which has a planned entry into service during the 2010 summer schedule. The airline invites visitors to discover more about its future flagship including details about the current status of Lufthansa’s first Airbus A380. The site is meant for both passengers and A380 fans who can find out, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

At the start of this month, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced it has invited proposals from both its sole vendor till date, Boeing, and competitor Airbus for 200 to 300 new single-aisle aircraft in the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 category, for delivery between 2012 and 2017. I had a chance to interact with senior Airbus executives during the recently …

Airbus A380-861 MSN045 currently registered as F-WWSG, and destined as the 10th A380 for launch customer Singapore Airlines made its first flight on February 23 and flew straight to Hamburg, where it will undergo outfitting for the Singapore Airlines’ luxurious interiors, and is expected to be delivered late this year and registered 9V-SKJ. The plane had a rejected take-off the …

A preliminary report into a crash of an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 jet last November off the coast of France, is pointing the cause toward its aircrew who were performing low speed tests, claiming “the flight crew’s failure to adhere to standard operating procedures”. As a result of the interim finding air safety regulators have issued urgent advice on …

Bahrain based Gulf Air has confirmed an agreement to lease four new Boeing 777-300ERs (B77W in industry parlance) from Jet Airways of India. The agreement which was signed on February 22nd, calls for three aircraft to join its fleet in March, and the fourth in May. This deal was expected since January. Gulf Air is already wet-leasing two Airbus A330-200s …

This photograph by Digital Airliners taken just two days ago at Toulouse shows two Airbus A340-500’s. One is still painted in Kingfisher Airlines’ colours. Kingfisher had ordered five A340-500s, but defaulted on taking delivery last year. Three were diverted to Nigeria’s Arik Air, but it appears the balance two have become the dreaded white tail for Airbus, i.e. a jet …

The United States Federal Aviation Administration today issued a final airworthiness directive (AD) instructing operators of most Airbus A330 and A340 models to power down suspect air data inertial reference units (ADIRU) using one specific rotary dial on the panel. The mandate follows EASA Emergency AD 2008-0225-E of December 18, 2008, which superseded EASA Emergency AD 2008-0203-E of November 19, …

Last week Air France unveiled its new logo and livery. The current livery which was changed way back in 1975, i.e. 34 years ago. Due to the current cost pressures, the new scheme will be gradually introduced as new planes are inducted or as existing aircraft come in for maintenance. Air France is now just one word, and the tail …

February 6th saw Airbus A380-861 MSN033 destined for Air France taxiing around Toulouse Blagnac (LFBO) airport. Click on the images for high resolution pictures We can expect to see the first flight VERY VERY SOON. Air France is expected to put the aircraft on the Paris Montreal route. Thanks to pictaero for the images.

Read the official investigation report here. February 9, 2009, 10:00 IST (04:30 GMT) TV channels are reporting that an Air India Airbus A321 performing flight IC866 was involved in a rejected take-off/near miss at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport earlier this morning. The flight had commenced its take-off run, when a helicopter which was given permission to land, strayed across …

The last few days may have brought bad news to both Boeing and Airbus in the form of order cancellations, which have put both manufacturers in an unenviable situation of being negative on their net order book for 2009. They can take heart in the procurement actions of India’s national carrier Air India, which will be taking delivery of ordered …

The financial woes at Kingfisher Airlines, forcing them to divert ordered aircraft to other airlines, continue. First it was the Airbus A340-500’s meant for the flagship Bangalore to San Francisco “Silicon to Silicon” flights, that were diverted to Arik when Kingfisher could not take delivery. Now it is the turn of Turkish Airlines THY, who is taking delivery of four …

Congratulations to Airbus. With the newest order from Korean Air, the order book for the A380 superjumbo has crossed the 200 mark. Korean Air has placed firm orders with Airbus for two more double-deck A380 superjumbos, bringing the total number of A380s ordered by Korean Air to ten aircraft. The carrier will operate the aircraft in a three-class layout on …

BBC News and Aviation Herald are reporting a Cyprus Airways plane has slipped off a taxiway at Heathrow Airport, lodging its front wheel in a grassy area. The Cyprus Airways Airbus A330-200, registration 5B-DBS, was performing flight CY-332 from Larnaca, Cyprus to London Heathrow, United Kingdom, had landed at Heathrow and already turned off the runway onto the taxiways, when …

Call it wishful thinking, but I was so hoping to see the Airbus A380 in the Air Force One livery. Alas, my wish will not come true, and I will have to live with this CGI image by Gareth Burgess of Flight International. EADS North America confirmed that it will not respond to a request for information by the US …

Singapore Airlines took delivery of its first Airbus A330-300 aircraft, 9V-STA, today, and also unveiled the cabin product. Acquired under a lease agreement with Dublin-based AWAS, and powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, the aircraft was handed over to the airline at a ceremony in Toulouse today attended by Mak Swee Wah, Executive Vice President Operations and Services, Singapore Airlines, …

Singapore Airlines will introduce the the Airbus A380 super-jumbo, on its Singapore-Paris route from June 1, 2009 . Using the A380 in precisely the manner Airbus intended, i.e. lower frequency with a ultra-large aircraft, Singapore Airlines will cut down the frequency from the current 10 a week Boeing 777-300ER flights to a daily Airbus A380 flight. Paris will be Singapore …