Another impact of COVID19 is Air France’s early retirement of their ten A380s, just eleven years after the airline first received them. The CEO of the Air France-KLM group Brian Smith indicated that he is absolutely not a fan of the A380 saying in 2019, that while passengers love it, the plane is not suitable for the airline as it is expensive, unreliable and too large. Smith in trying to reduce Air France’s complex fleet structure and confusing product range, indicated their ten A380s (five leased and five owned) would be gone by 2022. The…
Airbus A380
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All of My 2016 Trip Reports
As mentioned earlier this month, I flew 119 times for business and pleasure last year with 20 airlines in 2016. Big highlights of the year were my first five flights on the 787 Dreamliner, my first flights with Sri Lankan, my 380th flight with Qantas, my 350th flight on a Boeing 737 and flying into the Maldives. Here are the year’s ten Trip Reports (oops I need to post more Trip Reports!): 2016’s Best flight: My 380th Qantas flight in A380 FIRST – My Flight Rating: 96% (4.8 out of 5) My 2nd 787: Thai Business Brisbane…
2016’s Best flight: My 380th Qantas flight in A380 FIRST
MEL, Melbourne, Australia to DXB, Dubai, UAE QF9 Scheduled Departure: 23:25 Arrival: 06:35 14hrs 10 mins Total distance: 7252 miles / 11671 km / 6302 nautical miles For my 380th flight with Qantas, I wanted to do something special. It had to be on a Qantas Airbus 380. That narrowed routes to: Sydney or Melbourne to Dubai and /or London Sydney or Melbourne to Los Angeles Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth As I was going on to Bangkok and Cebu for New Year’s Eve, the US bound flights were the least logical. So I ended up doing a…
Longest Flight in the World
Move over Sydney to Dallas! You have been outdone! If you want to spend 17 hours and 35 minutes in a 777-200LR, Emirates will take you from Dubai to Panama, a distance of 13,821 km (8,588 mi ) from 1st February, 2016. The Panama (PTY) to Dubai (DXB) return trip will be a mere 15 hours 45 minutes. The aforementioned Qantas‘ Dallas service is a touch under 17 hours. The third longest flight in the world is Johannesburg to Atlanta at 16 hours and 40 minutes. My choice would be in Emirates Business Class for this distance! The…
Boeing delivers 200th 787
I have yet to ride in a 787 and there are now 200 flying! This week on 28th October, 2014., Boeing delivered the 200th 787 to Qatar airways. (Registration# A7-BCP) at Paine field airport, Everett. The 100th was delivered on 4th November 4th, 2013 to Japan Airlines. It seems that 21 airlines now fly the 787: Aeromexico (AM) Air Canada (AC) Air India (AI) Arkefly (OR) (Netherlands) All Nippon Airways British Airways (BA) China Southern (CZ) Ethiopian Airlines ( Hainan Airlines ( Japan Airlines (JL) Jetairfly (TB) (Belgium) Jetstar Airways (JQ) Kenya Airways (KQ) LAN Airlines (LA)…
Airlines add 380s to Dallas
In the last two weeks, Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), the USA’s fourth busiest airport, has had new very long distance Airbus 380 routes added. Qantas upgraded their non stop Sydney -DFW service to an A380 from a 747 on September 29th. This upgrade means that the longest scheduled commercial flight in the world is now served by the largest passenger jet in the world! The flight is approximately 12, 200 km (8,600 miles). It takes 15 hours 35 mins from Sydney to DFW and 16hr 55mins from DFW due to the headwinds! Thats a few movies on a flight advertised as…
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and A380 at Farnborough
The Farnborugh airshow is held in mid-July in even-numbered years at Farnborough Airport, England. The airport is 35 kilometres (22 miles) from Londom. This year’s show celebrated 100 years of commercial Aviation. One impressive display was the 787-9, shown here practising for its routine: The other show stopper was the acrobatic antics of the 380. In this vidoe, you can catch a glimpse of the new A350 taking off at five minutes 45seconds just before the A380 lands at six minutes 12 seconds Related Posts 110 years today– wright brothers take off Trip Review: Emirates- comparing the…
1500th 747 delivered
The 747 has been one of my favourite aircraft from my very first flight with Pam Am on July 2nd 1971 (yes 43 years ago this week!) . The 747 had entered service with Pan Am in January, 1970, some 18 months before I hitched a ride on one. Since then I have flown on the 747 96 times covering 774,769 kilometres (481,419 miles) on the “Jumbo” with 14 airlines. And 1500 of the 747 have been rolled out. 500th 747 went to Scandinavian in 1981: The 1000th went to Singapore in 1993. On June…
5* Emirates Business: Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur
Qatar, Emirates and Cathay Pacific, have been my three favourite airlines for a while now (although I have some misgivings regarding Qatar following revelations last year of their employment practices). Nonetheless, these carriers bring back the pleasure of airline travel providing me with reminders that air flights do not have to be a barren bus like experiences! Today’s flight (my 994th ever) was the epitome of how phenomenal Emirates are. Booking: 9 out of 10 I actually booked my ticket through Qantas. Despite being the same seat on the same plane, Qantas were selling it…
The world’s most crowded 380
When the 747 debuted over 40 years ago, the airlines promised luxurious lounges, roomy bar areas and elaborate staircases. The oil crisis of the early 1970s woke airlines to a basic premise: those spaces cost revenue. The trend after that was to see how many extra rows of revenue generating seats could be crammed in! The same thing seems to happening with the Boeing 787 and the Airbus 380. Seat capacity of the 380 carriers is Korean: 407 (plus Duty free store!) Singapore: 409 or 471 Qantas: 450 or 484 British Airways: 463 Singapore Emirates:…
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