The 787 departed Farnborough yesterday. Overnight, the prime real estate it occupied has been grabbed by the Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER and the 787 signs on Boeing's chalet in that area have been overlaid with Qatar logos.
Note as well a certain Middle Eastern rival behind the Qatar Airways 777 - that sight will please Qatar CEO Mr Akbar Al Baker!
I reveal they lead to the Airbus chalet on the flightline. The reason is the debut of the Airbus 400M - nick-named the Grizzly. Now you know.
Airbus has revealed images it describes as "more than a flight of pure fantasy" of a concept plane.
"The images released today illustrate what air transport could look like in 2050 - even 2030 if advancements in existing technologies continue apace," says Airbus.
"Airbus experts in aircraft materials, aerodynamics, cabins and engines came up with the design which is an 'engineer's dream' to meet the expectations of the passengers of the future.
"Ultra long and slim wings, semi-embedded engines, a U-shaped tail and light-weight 'intelligent' body all feature to further improve environmental performance or 'eco-efficiency'. The result: lower fuel burn, a significant cut in emissions, less noise and greater comfort."
What's been walking around at the show last night?
There were about 300 snappers, journalists and others on the flight line at Farnborough at 0900 this morning to witness the long-awaited arrival of the 787.
After holding for a while because it was nice and early it did a low, slow flypast before landing, literally, on a sixpence. Honestly a Dash 7 could hardly have done better.
It's got lovely lines this lady.
The 787 does a little bit of posing back down the runway before going off to customs.
Another shot.
And finally, the Airline Business editor and our man in Singapore Siva Govindasamy are all smiles because we were there when the 787 landed at Farnborough!
Everyone is salivating about the arrival of the Boeing 787 in about an hour or so.
So, just so you don't forget that there is something else interesting at this show, here is a shot of the Airbus A380 just now as it is pushing into position on the flight line here at Farnborough.
Set-up day at Farnborough and one of our own lobs a speculation grenade into the Flightglobal chalet. The EADS stand features a full-sized Airbus A350 XWB mock-up with a Spanish flag prominently positioned behind the cockpit window.
There's a pressure wave of half-baked conclusions and outrageously premature headlines, mainly about
Sure enough, the A350 is there complete with Bandera de España...
...but what's being concealed?
Nothing is obviously visible through the cloth so I sidle up to the flag and, feigning intense fascination with the coat-of-arms, slide my hand up behind it, feeling around as if there's a front-page scoop written on the fuselage in Braille.
Still nothing. So there's only one option. A glance around suggests the only people around are labourers putting the finishing touches to the stand, so I lift the free corner of the flag and look underneath.
Then I hear a voice. "You like the flag? It's my flag," says one of the workers, in a Mediterranean accent. "The World Cup!"
And with that, the red-hot Spanish A350 scoop flatlines.
"Are you from
A first look at the four big halls here at Farnborough as the contractors work hard to finish them off before Sunday evening.
This team was assembling a COMAC C919 model.
This bit goes here.
The Antonov crew take a break from their model building...
While these Sukhoi's are built and remain under wraps...
These nets are in Hall 4 to contain the indoor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle demonstration which will take place pretty much all day.
Ummm, wonder what's under here?
A post on behalf of Henk Ombelet, Flightglobal business development manager
Being responsible within Flightglobal for our iPhone development, I was very pleased to receive an invitation from British Airway to the launch of their mobile application.
BA has had an iPhone app for a couple of years now, and had identified that it was in need of an upgrade. It also realised there are other platforms out there, and while the iPhone is the most used phone on their BA2GO website, the Blackberry is very important for their business travellers.
So, last night Chris Davies, Head of Digital Marketing, opened by giving an overview of the BA mobile strategy. Clearly, mobile devices are very important for their customers, and are also very personal.
Linking the travel plans of an individual with his or her smart phone means that BA can offer a very smooth travel experience. It's all done through the Executive Club, BA's frequent flyer program, and it links the application on your phone with all your upcoming travel, allowing you to check in online, and on the iPhone, even to store your boarding pass. No more bits of paper to lose.
It will also tell if your flight is delayed, you can check your Exec Club account, look up flight schedules and eventually it will present live information such as gates and boarding times.
They then let everyone loose on the various iPhones, Blackberrys and Android phones with some of the developers around to explain and at the same time record feedback.
While the apps are very good, and as a blackberry user I have been yearning for something that lets me check in on the run, what impressed me most though was the manner in which BA had organised the event.
It used an internet forum of frequent travellers to recruit BA travellers for the event, especially those that had been vocal about mobile apps. They gave them a nice, practically first class experience, and most of these people relished the opportunity to give feedback to senior managers at the airline - something they don't often get a chance to do.
In return, BA gets a lot of valuable customer feedback, and at the same time manages to give off a really positive vibe - something they needed after the ash clouds and other problems of the past months.
Check out the comments that were left on the chat forum after the event: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1103088-would-you-like-chance-come-our-mobile-event-2.html , and you'll get an idea of how the attendees enjoyed the experience.
The new applications will be released on Monday 19 July 2010.
Being responsible within flightglobal for our iPhone development, I was very pleased to receive an invitation from British Airway to the launch of their mobile application. BA has had an iPhone app for a couple of years now, and had identified that it was in need of an upgrade. They also realised there are other platforms out there, and while the iPhone is the most used phone on their BA2GO website, the Blackberry is very important for their business travellers.
So, last night Chris Davies, Head of Digital Marketing, opened by giving an overview of the BA mobile strategy. Clearly, mobile devices are very important for their customers, and are also very personal. Linking the travel plans of an individual with his or her smart phone means that BA can offer a very smooth travel experience. It's all done through the Executive Club, BA's frequent flyer program, and it links the application on your phone with all your upcoming travel, allowing you to check in online, and on the iPhone, even to store your boarding pass. No more bits of paper to loose. It will also tell if your flight is delayed, you can check your Exec Club account, look up flight schedules and eventually it will present live information such as gates and boarding times.
They then let everyone loose on the various iPhones, Blackberrys and Android phones with some of the developers around to explain and at the same time record feedback.
While the apps are very good, and as a blackberry user I have been yearning for something that lets me check in on the run, what impressed me most though was the manner in which BA had organised the event. They used an internet forum of frequent travellers to recruit BA travellers for the event, especially those that had been vocal about mobile apps. They gave them a nice, practically first class experience, and most of these people relished the opportunity to give feedback to senior managers at the airline - something they don't often get a chance to do. In return, BA gets a lot of valuable customer feedback, and at the same time manages to give off a really positive vibe - something they needed after the ash clouds and other problems of the past months. Check out the comments that were left on the chat forum after the event: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1103088-would-you-like-chance-come-our-mobile-event-2.html , and you'll get an idea of how the attendees enjoyed the experience.
The new applications will be released on Monday 19 July 2010.
Morning All. Just arrived at the Farnborough air show 2010 and got first sight of my home for the next week or so.
First thing to say is security was excellent - whisked in very politely - good start!
A couple of photos on the way to the Flightglobal Media Lounge.
These racks will be filled up with the huge first issue of Flight Daily News which will be out on Monday first thing.
Don't forget to check out the first issue of interactive Flight from about 1500 GMT on Monday too.
Flightglobal's editors and photographers and designers are beginning to arrive.
Let the show begin.
As fans of the now-defunct 'Miss KrasAir' contest will testify, you can rely on Russia to be shamelessly anachronistic when it comes to female cabin crew, and it doesn't look like the upcoming 'Flight Attendant at the Helm' competition is going to be changing things much.
It all kicks off on 16 July when cabin crew from several airlines - Aeroflot, Transaero, SkyExpress and NordStar among them - will pitch up to show which of them can best handle a Boeing 737 simulator.
"You can find out which airlines have not only the most beautiful, but also the most talented stewardesses with piloting skills - capable, if necessary, of taking the place of the captain," says one of the parties involved, although I doubt the line-up will feature many diesel-faced munters with type ratings.
That pin-up scourge of the feminist aviation chapter, Avianova, is taking part as well, but don't ask me where that puts them on the moral barometer.
British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh was in bullish mood addressing a packed Aviation Club in central London yesterday. In a wide-ranging, and at times very funny, address, Walsh tackled a number of themes:
But problably the constant theme was his steadfast belief the UK carrier would continue to compete effectively and grow despite the capacity restraints in London's airport infrastructure. For more on this, read my story here on how he believes BA's merger with Iberia through the creation of the International Aviation Group holding company will position it to exploit further consolidation opportunities.
One of the interesting aspects touched on by Walsh during the Q&A after his speech was in response to a question about the competitive threat posed by the mega Middle East carriers. Here was his take on it:
"The challenge in the Middle East is whether it can sustain three large global carriers. I struggle to see how you can create three global hubs so close to each other. It has never been done before. That is not to say it can't be done, but the ambition there is very, very large by any scale. I think the next five years will tell a lot.
But the good thing about it is I think the carriers in Europe are wide awake to the challenge it represents and we are not sitting back waiting for something to break. We are taking action today to make sure we are in a position to compete effectively on a global scale with those carriers.
We've got to respond, and respond in a positive way, and not be like the industry was when Ryanair appeared on the scene. We all laughed, we all said it wouldn't work
We've got to make sure we treat these ambitious carriers with respect and do whatever is necessary to make sure we compete with them.We believe we can offer global reach, which they cannot yet do. The problem we face [in the UK], and its not a problem most of my European counterparts face, are concerns about the infrastructure. We can compete I believe effectively for a few years, maybe ten years. But 20 years? The UK is going to be bypassed because it won't have the infrastructure to support the demand that exists. That is something the Government needs to be awake to and I'm not sure it's recognised yet. The decisions taken today are critical for the future of this country and economy."
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