Lufthansa Regional-Lufthansa CityLine Embraer ERJ 190-100LR D-AECA (msn 19000327) NUE (Gunter Mayer) (now in LH colors), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
Lufthansa (Frankfurt) will add a new route from the FRA hub to Aberdeen starting on October 30. The new route will be operated three times a week with Embraer ERJ 190s.
Copyright Photo: Gunter Mayer.
Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 747-4Q8 G-VFAB (msn 24958) (Birthday Girl) MIA (Bruce Drum), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
Virgin Atlantic Airways (London) is facing possible industrial action by its pilots, the first strike in Virgin’s history if it goes ahead. Sir Richard Branson has pleaded with the 750 pilots to call off the strike action that is set to cause mass chaos. Branson has sent a letter to the pilots calling for the pilots to call off their industrial action and to reconsider the pay structure that the airline has offered them according to this article by IBTraveler.
Read the full story: CLICK HERE
Virgin Atlantic Slide Show: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. Please click on the photo for information on this special color scheme.
British Airways-BA CityFlyer Embraer ERJ 170-100ST G-LCYE (msn 17000296) SEN (Keith Burton), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
British Airways (London) has announced the launch of two new routes to Faro and Malaga and added more frequency to the destinations of Nice, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza. This means that British Airways now offers 39 leisure flights per week for this summer from London City Airport to top sun destinations at the height of the season.
The four times a week flights to Faro and the three times a week flights to Malaga are now both in operation and will operate year round.
The existing Nice service has been increased to double daily flights from May until September, and from July to September both Palma and Ibiza flights will be increased from four to ten a week.
Flights are operated by the wholly owned British Airways’ subsidiary BA CityFlyer on the new Embraer ERJ 170 and ERJ 190 aircraft.
BA CityFlyer Slide Show: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Please click on the photo for additional information.
Frontier Airlines (2nd)-Chautauqua Airlines Embraer ERJ 145LR (EMB-145LR) N270SK (msn 145304) PHL (Tony Storck) “Ginger”, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.Frontier Airlines (2nd) (Denver) has announced plans to add nonstop seasonal service between Branson, MO (BKG) and both Austin, Texas (AUS) and Phoenix (PHX) to its route map. The carrier will be the only airline offering nonstop service on these new routes.
Branson-Austin service will operate Monday, Wednesday and Friday from September 16 through December 14, 2011. Branson-Phoenix service will operate Saturdays from September 17 through December 10, 2011. Austin service will be operated by 50-seat Embraer ERJ 145 regional jet aircraft operated by Chautauqua Airlines. The Phoenix service will be operated with 138-seat Airbus 319 aircraft operated by Frontier.
Branson is recent years has become a growing tourist destination in the Ozark Mountains. Local attractions include The Hollywood Wax Museum, Silver Dollar City, White Water, Waltzing Waters, Mount Pleasant Winery, Stone Hill Winery, Ride The Ducks, Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, The Haunted House and Monster Asylum, Butterfly Palace & Rainforest Adventure, Predator World and Branson Landing. Ripley’s Odditorium in Branson is housed in a building that has been made to look as if it is cracked wide open by an earthquake or other disaster.
Branson Landing opened in the summer of 2006 on the Lake Taneycomo waterfront in downtown Branson. The lakefront project includes retail space with Bass Pro Shops and Hudson Belk as anchors in an outdoor shopping mall of stores and restaurants. The new Branson Convention Center, which is situated between the Landing and Historic Downtown Branson, opened September 7, 2007. Two animal attractions are Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure, a palace filled with thousands of flying butterflies in a mystical rainforest maze; and Wings of the World, a home to many birds of the world.
Copyright Photo: Tony Storck. Please click on the photo for aircraft information.
Frontier Slide Show: CLICK HERE
Route Map:
ANA (All Nippon Airways) Boeing 787-881 Dreamliner N1006F (JA803A) (ZA102) (msn 34486) PAE (Nick Dean), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
Boeing (Chicago) on June 26 started Function & Reliability (F&R) testing and extended operations (ETOPS) demonstrations on the 787 Dreamliner. This is the final phase of flight testing prior to certification of the airplane.
ANA will take the first delivery in the August to September 2011 time period.
F&R testing simulates various normal and non-normal operations for the airplane, in a realistic airline-like flight environment. ETOPS refers to extended operations – for twin jets, flights that are more than 60 minutes away from a suitable landing field. During ETOPS demonstrations the company validates the airplane’s ability to safely divert for a variety of reasons, including long diversions with one engine shut down.
In addition to F&R and ETOPS testing for the 787 with Rolls-Royce engines, Boeing continues certification testing on 787s with General Electric engines and will conduct a separate F&R/ETOPS test program for that version of the airplane. Other activities will continue on the flight test fleet to support Boeing objectives including examining potential technologies for the 787-9 and testing engine improvement packages.
Copyright Photo: Nick Dean. Please click on the photo for additional information.
ANA (All Nippon Airways) (Tokyo) will paint its first two Boeing 787-881s in this special color scheme. All Dreamliners after the first two will wear the standard 1983 color scheme. The first two to be delivered are believed to be 787-881 JA801A (msn 34485) and JA802A (msn 34488).
According to ANA the first two 787s “are painted big in bold and blue at the front of the aircraft to signify that ANA will be the first airline in the world to fly the Dreamliner. The blue lines at the rear of the fuselage are designed to highlight how the three core elements of the airline’s service brand – innovation, uniqueness and the inspiration of modern Japan – operate across the ANA network.”
ANA has ordered a total of 55 Dreamliners for domestic and international routes and the first 787 aircraft is due to be delivered in August or September 2011.
Images: ANA.
SpiceJet (Delhi) is seeking the Reserve Bank of India’s approval to raise $270 million from Canada’s export finance agency Export Development Canada (EDC) for financing fleet expansion, according this report by Reuters. The carrier is planning to add 15 new Bombardier DHC-8-402s (Q400s).
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: TMK Photography. The first DHC-8-402 (Q400) is pictured at Toronto (Pearson) with the temporary marks of C-GJJU. The new turboprop will become VT-SUA (msn 4373) on delivery.
Tibet Airlines Airbus A319-115 D-AVYH (B-6436) (msn 4766) XFW (Gerd Beilfuss) (new airline, first aircraft), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
Tibet Airlines (Lhasa) will soon take delivery of its first Airbus A319. The new airline is planning to operate three A319s and is planning to launch scheduled operations next month.
Copyright Photo: Gerd Beilfuss. Airbus A319-115 D-AVYH (msn 4766) arrives back at Hamburg (Finkenwerder) on June 25 after a test flight. It will become B-6436 on delivery.
Hot New Photos Slide Show: CLICK HERE
RUS Aviation (Sharjah) is getting ready to introduced a new livery with the pending delivery of former American Airlines Airbus A300B4-622R N77080 (msn 626). The new look was designed by Lila Design Associates.
Read the full report by The Aviation Branding Weblog: CLICK HERE
Route Map:
Aer Lingus (Dublin) is getting ready to acquire four Airbus A319s from Iberia. The first (EC-KEV) is being painted into EI colors at Madrid.
Aer Lingus Slide Show: CLICK HERE