Recently in Airlines Category

In a dimmed hangar on the side of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport lies N106US, the US Airways Airbus A320 that landed on the Hudson River one chilly January morning in 2009.

Edward Russell

The famous "Miracle on the Hudson" aircraft is now an exhibit at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Flight 1549 was bound for Charlotte after departing New York's LaGuardia airport on the morning of 15 January 2009 before its fateful meeting with a flock of Canadian geese over New York.

While solemn in its presentation, the exhibit celebrates all of the factors that combined to allow for a successful ditching in the Hudson with no loss of life. Elements highlighted range from the experience of the crew and aircraft avionics to the fact that the A320 was one of only a handful in US Airways' fleet with extended overwater certification, which requires life vests and rafts for every passenger. One interesting fact that stood out - less than a third of the passengers on the aircraft had reviewed the safety card before the flight.

Edward Russell

N106US ended up at the museum after its president Shawn Dorsch was inspired by a visit to a memorial to JAL Flight 123 at the Japan Airlines' Safety Promotion Centre near Haneda Airport in Japan, which had a flow chart of safety improvements since the 1985 accident and ending at US Airways 1549.

"When I saw this, I realised that 1549 was an international aviation icon," Dorsch told Flightglobal in 2011. "For me, having it in the museum would give the opportunity to tell something much bigger than the event itself."

Edward Russell

Next time you're passing through Charlotte and have a few hours, the museum is a highly recommended diversion only a few minutes drive from the terminal.

Last week I traveled to Toulouse in order to attend the delivery ceremony of Thai Airways' first Airbus A380-800.

With this delivery the Thai flag carrier becomes the 9th A380 operator, an important step in the airline's fleet renewal plans, as it gradually retires its Boeing 747 fleet. The significance of the event for Thai Airways was highlighted by the number of media attending, that included not only specialized trade press but also many journalists working for general media that had come all the way from Thailand for the occasion.

Thai's Captain Montree Jumrieng provided details on the route deployment plans for the carrier's new A380s, the first aircraft will be deployed on routes to Hong Kong and Singapore followed by Star Alliance's Frankfurt hub as soon as the second A380 is delivered, in December 2012 (you can find the rest of the deployment calendar here).

This trip was also an excellent occasion to visit the A380 assembly plant, an amazing sight, since it is one of the largest buildings in Europe.

We next headed towards the nearby Airbus Delivery Center, where Thai Airway's first A380, named Si Rattana" (Majestic Jewel), was waiting for us.

On exiting the factory, we could see several more A380s by the runway, all of them at very advanced completion stages: two of them already in Malaysian Airlines livery, another being readied for China Southern and, remarkably, Thai's 4th A380 (we were told that Thai's 2nd and 3rd A380s were in Hamburg undergoing their fitting process).

As you can see, the famous light of Southern France was notoriously absent on this day!

We could walk all around (and below!) the aircraft, however, it was not until after the next day's formal delivery ceremony that we would be allowed onboard to check the cabin interior.

At Thursday's ceremony speeches by Kiran Rao (Airbus), Nick Devall (Rolls Royce) and Capt. Montree Jumrieng (Thai Airways) highlighted the long term relationship between the Thai airline and the European manufacturer, that goes back to 1977, when it was one of the first carriers to order the, then state-of-the-art, A300-B4.

And, of course, some Thai dances were also in the programme!

When it comes to cabin interiors, Thai has opted for a relatively low-density configuration, with 507 seats, 377 economy seats on the main deck and an upper deck featuring three service classes: 12 first class seats, 60 business class seats and 58 in economy.


An aircraft visit could not be complete without seeing the cockpit!

Curious fact: It only takes about a month of training for A340 pilots to transition to the A380

You can see more pictures of Thai Airways' first A380 delivery ceremony on our A380 image gallery.

For further information see also:

Thai receives first A380 at Toulouse ceremony

Thai Airways announces A380 route plans

AIRLINE PROFILE: Thai Airways (Pro Only)

Picture: British Airways

The upcoming London Olympics have provided a great opportunity to British Airways to get creative with aircraft liveries. If a few weeks ago the "Dove" was unveiled, it is now the turn of the "Firefly", the Airbus A319 that will fly the Olympic flame from Athens to London.

 

Picture: British Airways

Firefly's special livery has required 9 days of work and 250 litres of gold, white and yellow paint. Its name was chosen in a competition in which students across the UK participated.

Picture: British Airways

Planespotters, get ready!

As the London 2012 Olympics are fast approaching some sort of marketing initiative was expected from British Airways, that, in addition to calling London its home, is also a proud sponsor of the event.
 
Designer Pascal Anson has come up with a dove-like livery for one of British Airways Airbus A319s (see picture above). The artist was inspired while watching the movement of aircraft at London Gatwick airport and the design is aimed to play with people's perceptions of flying objects.
 
As well as an international symbol of peace, Doves have a long association with the Olympics, as in ancient Greece they were used to send reports of what was happening, and, in modern times, they have featured prominently in some of the modern Olympics ceremonies such as that of London's previous Olympics, in 1948.
 
The painting of the aircraft required a team of ten people and took 50 man-hours to complete, applying the 500 litres of paint in the process (see video below). It is the first time that BA has painted the whole surface of an aircraft that will continue to feature the traditional Chatham Dockyard Union flag.
 

The first stop of the aircraft will be today's flight to Copenhagen but expect to see it represent the UK around Europe over the coming months.

You can find more pictures of this and other aircraft in the British Airways fleet in our British Airways gallery.

While aviation people spend a lot of time and energy worrying about how to squeeze fuel burn a bit or if the wings can be bit more carbon fibre, the ultimate customers - passengers - seem to have very different concerns.

Malaysia Airlines has unveiled the design and specifications of its first Airbus A380-800 aircraft.

The aircraft, to be delivered in the middle of June, will have a new livery on its exterior, said the airline.

The aircraft will have 494 seats in a three-class configuration - eight in first class, 66 in business and 420 in economy. The business class seats, together with 70 economy seats, will be on the aircraft's upper deck.

Full story on the Malaysia Airlines A380 unveiling...

Here's an interesting example of a trend we're seeing in finance - money deals that might in the past have been naturally placed in Europe are moving to other regions. The problem is that European banks are being forced to trim their balance sheets to toughen themselves up against the cold wind of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, and also meet forthcoming regulations on debt to capital ratios that are designed to cut the risk of default in the banking industry. More broadly, European banks are struggling against the general global liquidity crunch to raise as much US dollar finance as they've been accustomed to working with.
The most visible aerospace implication of these factors to date has been European banks' cutback of exposure to new airliner finance deals, whereas in recent years it's been Europe taking the lion's share of the debt that keeps the aircraft rolling off assembly lines at Airbus, Boeing, et al. The sale of RBS's aviation business to Mitsubishi in Japan has been the headline example of this trend, but it's clearly widespread.
Today, though, we learn that Safran - the French aerospace and security technology giant - has successfully gone to the US corporate bonds market to place $1.2 billion of unsecuredc notes with 7-, 10- and 12-year maturities, at coupon rates of 3.7% to 4.43%.
According to Safran:

"This transaction enables Safran to diversify its funding sources at attractive conditions, to lengthen the maturity of its debt profile and to provide long term funding for the acquisitions made in the past 3 years, notably in the US.

"The placement which was made to a broad group of accredited institutional investors demonstrated the confidence that debt investors have in the Group's strategy and long term development."

Confidence, for sure - Safran is borrowing much cheaper than several European countries, probably including France. And, it's inherently a good thing for a company like this to borrow broadly; stable long-term relationships with lenders in a home region are good things, but for borrowers as well as lenders, spreading risk is a wise strategy for the long term.

Videos of landing aircraft in challenging conditions is nothing new, but this video - currently popular on YouTube - showcases how an afternoon of bad weather at Düsseldorf airport can make landing an aircraft a real test of skill for pilots.

1. A380 hits CRJ while taxiing at JFK

Video footage emerged showing an Air France Airbus A380 colliding with a Comair Bombardier CRJ700 during taxiing at New York JFK back in April. The A380 "clipped the tail fin" of the parked Comair jet, causing only "material damage".

2. Tu 154 struggles against in-flight oscillation

The video clips below show a TU-154 departing from an air base in Moscow before it appears to encounter problems in lateral and longitudinal control.

It eventually returns to the airfield to land.

 

 

3. Sendai airport deluged as earthquake strikes

 

 

 

4. ANA 737 rolled near inverted after rudder trim blunder

Japanese investigators have detailed the extraordinary in-flight upset involving an All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-700 which resulted in the aircraft banking to a near-inverted attitude.

Flight NH140 from Naha had been cruising at 41,000ft, en route to Tokyo on 6 September, and had been some 43km south of Hamamatsu when the incident occurred.

5. ANA unveils first 787 configuration

All Nippon Airways has unveiled the long-awaited configuration of the first 787 to enter service, outfitting its first 787s with 264 seats for regional and domestic operations, with later regionally-configured aircraft to have 222 seats as the carrier ramps up its initial pilot and cabin crew training.

The aircraft, painted in bespoke white and blue colours highlighting Boeing's Dreamliner brand and ANA's service goals - innovation, uniqueness and the inspiration of Japan - is the eighth 787 built. It is also known as ZA101 and has been registered JA801A.

6. PICTURES & VIDEO: F-35B critical tests

With the beginning of at-sea trials for the Lockheed Martin F-35B, the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant had entered the most critical phase in a year-long campaign to overcome probation and be spared cancellation.

7. An-12 rolled inverted before Congo crash

Video evidence of an aircraft crash in Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo in March identified the type as an Antonov An-12 freighter, and showed it rolling inverted moments before impact.

Images of the aircraft's last seconds show it diving steeply and rolling to starboard, crashing inverted.

8. No viable all new single aisle before 2030

Airbus believes that a viable all-new single-aisle airliner will not arrive before 2030, due to the timing of the necessary advances in powerplant technology.

John Leahy, Airbus' chief operating officer, spoke to Flightglobal on video.

9. Boeing poised for crucial phase in 747-8 test effort

Boeing underwent a crucial phase in the 747-8 flight-test effort as it prepares to start trials of the -8I passenger variant including maximum-brake-energy demonstration on the freighter version, plus an analysis of back-to-back wake vortex testing to determine whether the stretched 747 will be approved in the same separation category as the smaller 747-400. Four 747-8Fs were engaged in the flight-test programme, which began in February 2010.

 

 

10. Test pilots extract stranded Alrosa Tu-154

Pilots in Russia extracted an Alrosa Tupolev Tu-154 from a remote military airfield, six months after an in-flight power loss and emergency landing left the aircraft stranded.

The landing damaged the trijet, when it overran the 1,300m runway at Izhma in the Komi republic, and the short field meant that it could not easily be flown out again.

Passengers flying with KLM can select who to sit next to on flights using social media such as Facebook.

The airline believes that your air travel experience can be affected by the person you are seated next to and is proposing that passengers can opt to select their seat mate using tools like Facebook.

The airline says the "meet and seat" programme can be used for networking or to find passengers who share similar interests.

See this Taiwanese animation (by Next Media Animation) showing how the concept might work.