Tag Archives: 747

Air China is gradually phasing out the Boeing 747-400

Air China (Beijing) is gradually phasing out its aging Boeing 747-400 fleet. The Jumbo is being replaced with newer Boeing 777-300ERs. The fleet is now down to four aircraft. The flag carrier is ending domestic Boeing 747-400 scheduled flights on June 30 according to Airline Route. The last domestic route is the Beijing – Shanghai (Hongqiao).

The carrier will continue to fly the type until October 25 on the following routes:

Beijing – Hong Kong
Beijing – Tokyo (Narita)
Shanghai (Pudong) – Tokyo (Narita)

The Jumbo, subject to change, is expected to then exit the fleet.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-4J6 B-2460 (msn 24348) arrives at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT).

Air China:

Delta launches nonstop Seattle/Tacoma-Hong Kong flights, calls SEA a “hub” for the first time

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) issued this statement about its new Hong Kong service and its new “Seattle hub”:

Delta Air Lines yesterday (June 16) launched nonstop service from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Hong Kong. The new market is Delta’s latest addition in the buildup of its Seattle hub and its fifth new international destination from Seattle/Tacoma in the last year.

Delta customers and employees will commemorated the event along with representatives from the Port of Seattle, Visit Seattle, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, and the Hong Kong Association of Washington with a gate event prior to the departure of the first flight. The event will include a ceremonial ribbon cutting and water cannon salute.

With the launch of Hong Kong service, Delta customers now have nonstop access to nine long-haul international destinations from Seattle – more than all other airlines combined – including the top five destinations in Asia and three of the top four destinations in Europe. Delta is the only carrier to offer nonstop service from Seattle/Tacoma to Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo-Haneda. Delta is also the only carrier to offer full flat-bed seats with direct aisle access in BusinessElite on every long-haul international flight from Seattle/Tacoma along with Economy Comfort seating and entertainment on demand in every seat throughout the aircraft.

“With the addition of the Hong Kong flight, Delta now offers our customers more than 2,500 daily seats to the top business markets in Asia and Europe from our Seattle hub,” said Mike Medeiros, Delta’s vice president – Seattle. “As we continue growing in the community, we remain committed to consistently providing the award-winning experience that we’re known for both in the U.S. and around the globe.”

Delta has also significantly expanded its operation in Seattle/Tacoma over the last year to support its international service and offer customers in the previously underserved market more choices. In total, Delta has increased its peak-day departures by more than 30 percent since a year ago and by December will offer 95 peak-day departures to 33 destinations, making it Seattle’s fastest-growing airline.

In February, Delta launched a double miles promotion for Seattle-based SkyMiles members. Customers who book and fly Delta or Delta Connection-marketed and -operated flights from Seattle by Dec. 31, 2014, will be awarded double miles and double Medallion Qualification Miles on the nonstop segment departing from or arriving into Seattle. Registration is required.

Delta currently operates 76 peak-day departures to 25 destinations from Seattle, and every flight offers BusinessElite/First Class and Economy Comfort seating as well as Wi-Fi service on all domestic aircraft. Delta also introduced international Wi-Fi on its Boeing 747-400 fleet earlier this year and will complete installation of Wi-Fi service on its entire long-haul international fleet by the end of 2015. The airline has also invested $15 million in its facilities at Sea-Tac, including its Delta Sky Club and recently completed lobby renovations, Sky Priority services, new gate area power recharging stations, expanded ticket counters and enhancements to the international arrivals area.

In other news, Delta will start nonstop Los Angeles-Mazatlan daily service on December 20 with Boeing 737-800s.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Delta also introduced international Wi-Fi on its Boeing 747-400 fleet earlier this year .

Delta Air Lines (current):

Air New Zealand to retire the last Boeing 747 on September 10

Air New Zealand (Auckland) as planned, is phasing down its aging Boeing 747-400 fleet as new Boeing 777s and 787s arrive. The Boeing 747 fleet is now down to two aircraft (ZK-NBV and ZK-SUH) with an average age of 19.3 years. The 747s are operated mainly to Brisbane and San Francisco. The flag carrier is planning to operate its last Boeing 747 revenue flight from San Francisco to Auckland on September 10 per Airline Route. Prior to this, the airline will operate a one time “goodbye” flight on September 6 between Auckland and Sydney.

For Australia, Air New Zealand’s last Boeing 747 flight is now scheduled on July 13, on the Auckland – Brisbane route per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-475 ZK-SUH (msn 24896) is pictured arriving at Los Angeles International Airport. The airframe was originally delivered to VARIG 91st) as PP-VPI on May 31, 1991.

Video: A video by Air New Zealand featuring the Boeing 747-400. The video shows ZK NBT over the Southern Alps and the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand in April 1997.

Air New Zealand:

Philippines will now retire the last Boeing 747 on August 31

Philippines (Philippine Airlines) (Manila) is now planning to operate the last Boeing 747 revenue flight on June 30. According to Airline Route, the final roundtrip will be operated on June 30 (see update below) between Manila and San Francisco and back. The 747s are being replaced by newer Boeing 777-300 ERs which will be operated on the San Francisco route starting on July 1 (now September 1).

Update: Philippines has extended Boeing 747-400 operations until August 31, 2014 according to an update by Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Steve Bailey/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-4F6 RP-C8168 (msn 27827) departs from Los Angeles International Airport.

Philippines:

QANTAS Airways celebrates 60 years of flying to the United States

QANTAS Airways (Sydney) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its first trans-Pacific services to the USA.

On May 15, 1954, a 60-passenger QANTAS Airways Lockheed 1049C Super Constellation aircraft departed Sydney for San Francisco and Vancouver. The journey to San Francisco took around 30 flying hours and involved fuel stops at Fiji, Canton Island and Hawaii.

QANTAS named this the Southern Cross Route in honor of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew who made the first flight in 1928.

QANTAS International CEO Simon Hickey said the sixty year milestone highlighted Qantas’ ongoing commitment to the USA.

“QANTAS is proud of its flying history to the US. Some of our most historic moments have been on the trans-Pacific route including the start of the jet age in 1959 with our first Boeing 707 services and introducing the largest commercial passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, on the route in 2008,” said Mr Hickey.

“The milestone comes in a year where QANTAS is investing significantly in the customer experience to the US, including the opening of our new First and Business Lounges in Los Angeles and the introduction of A380 services between Sydney and Dallas/Ft. Worth from September.

The airline first established itself in North America in San Francisco in 1954, when it took over the operations of British Commonwealth Pacific Airline in September 1947.

This year also marks thirty years since QANTAS Airways began nonstop flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles beginning in April 1984. These services were operated by the long-range Boeing 747SP (above) with a flying time of around 16 hours. Today, the flying time is around 13 hours.

QANTAS is the only carrier to operate A380 services between the US and Australia.

QANTAS flights to the USA include:

Direct daily Airbus A380 services from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles

A daily Boeing 747-400 service from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles

A direct daily Boeing 747-400 service from Brisbane to Los Angeles

Three Boeing 767-300 services per week between Sydney and Honolulu and;

A daily Boeing 747-400 from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth, which will move to a six per week Airbus A380 service from September 29.

Copyright Photo: QANTAS Airways. The pictured Boeing 747SP-38 (Special Performance) VH-EAA (msn 22495) was handed over to QANTAS on January 19, 1981. VH-EAA is pictured over the Cascade Mountains in Washington State in the original 1970 color scheme.

QANTAS Airways:

British Airways launches new routes from London Heathrow to Mykonos and Santorini

British Airways (London) yesterday (May 3) added new service to the island of Mykonos in Greece twice a week from London’s Heathrow Airport. Today (May 4) the company is starting new flight to Santorini (Thira) in Greece twice a week also from Heathrow.

In other news, BA is now flying to Seattle/Tacoma from London (Heathrow) 11 times a week.

Top Copyright Photos: Mark Durbin/AirlinersGallery.com. British has added a small “Jumbo Net – Our Connected 747” logo to Boeing 747-436 G-CIVG (msn 25813).

British Airways:

Video: British Airways has powered up its newest flight simulator, taking the number used by the airline to train its pilots to 18 – the highest ever.

The new addition, a full-motion Airbus A320 simulator, features the latest in flight training technology, allowing pilot instructors to link their iPads to the simulator to control each training session.

The simulator will be used to train some of British Airways’ 3,600 pilots who fly any of the A320 family of aircraft – serving domestic and European destinations on the airline’s network.

The investment in the new simulator reflects increased demand following the airline’s introduction of new A320s, A380s, 787s and 777-300s.

British Airways’ pilot numbers have also been increasing following the success of the airline’s pilot cadet scheme, now in its third year. The program sees newly trained pilots start their British Airways flying career on its A320 fleet.

The new A320 simulator is part of the company’s £5 billion investment in new products and technology to provide the best possible flying experience for British Airways’ customers.

Boeing delivers the 75th Boeing 747 to Lufthansa

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) and Boeing (Chicago and Seattle) celebrated the delivery of the German airline’s 75th 747 on Wednesday (April 30).

Lufthansa is the launch customer for the 747-8 Intercontinental jetliner and took delivery of the first one in April 2012. The airplane delivered Wednesday is Lufthansa’s 13th 747-8 Intercontinental, namely 747-830 D-ABYO (msn 37841). The airline currently flies the 747 to 22 destinations in 10 countries. Over the years, Lufthansa has ordered a total of 81 747s.

Lufthansa’s first 747 – a 747-100 – was delivered in 1970. The airline was also the first to order the 747-200 Freighter.

The 747-8 has accumulated 120 orders for passenger and cargo versions, 68 of which have been delivered.

Top Copyright Photo: Boeing. This poor-quality publicity photo shows D-ABYO departing from Paine Field.

Lufthansa:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. It all started with the Boeing 747-130. The pictured Boeing 747-130 D-ABYA (msn 19746) at New York (JFK) was delivered new to LH as the first 747 on March 10, 1970.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines is coming to Munich on May 9

AirBridgeCargo Airlines-ABC (Moscow-Sheremetyevo), the largest Russian scheduled cargo airline and part of Volga Dnepr Group, is further expanding its services in Central Europe by introducing direct services to/from Munich with a Boeing 747 freighter on May 9.

The new Munich flight to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport will be in addition to the existing 4 weekly Boeing 737 flights operated by Atran Cargo Airlines, also part of Volga Dnepr Group. ABC Boeing 747 all-cargo flight between the Bavarian capital and ABC hub in Moscow (Sheremetyevo) will be on Friday midday, providing ideal end of the week departure time for European customers.

Germany has always been one of the most important markets contributing to ABC’s growth over the last decade. Earlier this year ABC launched scheduled Boeing 747 services to and from Leipzig, extending the Group’s strong association with the airport, where it has invested in a modern aircraft maintenance and repair facility to serve a variety of aircraft types (Boeing 747-200/300/400/8 (CF-50/80, PW4000), Boeing 737CL).

AirBridgeCargo’s scheduled network covers major markets in Asia (China, Japan and Korea), Europe (the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden) and North America (Chicago, Dallas).

The airline’s fleet is one of the youngest in the industry and includes 12 Boeing 747s: four Boeing 747-400ERFs, three Boeing 747-400Fs and five brand new Boeing 747-8Fs. The average fleet age is about 4 years.

Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-8HVF VQ-BLR (msn 37668) taxies at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS).

AirBridgeCargo Aircraft Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Routes to Europe:

Cargolux improves with a net profit of $8.4 million in 2013

Cargolux Airlines International (Luxembourg) at its annual general meeting, the shareholders of Cargolux Airlines International S.A. approved the audited financial statements for the financial year ended on December 31, 2013.

2013 Highlights

Cargolux earned a full year net profit of US$ 8.4 million compared to US$ 35.1 million net loss in 2012;

Total revenues rose 14.4% to US$ 1,988.5 million from US$ 1,738.9 million in 2012.
Key Performance Indicators:

Tons sold increased 16.7% to 753,848 from 645,759 in 2012;

Average load factor softened 0.9 percentage points to 67.7%;

FTK strengthened to 5.7 million compared to 4.8 million in 2012;

Daily aircraft utilization stood at 14:57 block hours versus 15:07 in 2012.

In spite of a moderate recovery in the last quarter, the airfreight industry continued to operate in a difficult environment for the most part of 2013. Capacity growth still outstripped demand, which resulted in an industry-wide decline in yields and load factors. Despite difficult trading conditions, Cargolux grew its activities and increased volumes in a bid to maximize contribution to fixed costs. This was achieved quite successfully, as the company recorded a tonnage growth of 16.7% over 2012 to 753,848 tons – exceeding the 2013 budget by 13.5%. Total revenues grew by 14.4% to $1,988.5 million (US) while tons-kilometers flown increased from 4.8 million in 2012 to 5.7 million in 2013.

Cargolux operated 95,022 block hours, 13,364 hours more than planned for 2013. The high amount of operational activity contributed towards achieving a net consolidated gain of $8.4 million (US), a noteworthy improvement over the originally budgeted loss for 2013 of $27.1 million (US).

Cargolux expanded its fleet with three new Boeing 747-8Fs and retained, on a power-by-the-hour basis, a Boeing 747-400F that was initially planned to exit the fleet during 2013. It also added a Boeing 747-400ERF on the same basis, which brought the fleet to 20 aircraft at the end of the year. In contrast, the budget for 2013 foresaw a fleet of 16 aircraft only.

With a bigger fleet and more operational activity than planned, Cargolux recorded an average daily aircraft utilization of 14:57 hours. The company’s market share reached 3.5% and it ranked at number 8 among the world’s dedicated freighter and combination carriers in terms of FTKs.

“We don’t expect market conditions to improve significantly in 2014,” said Cargolux President and CEO Dirk Reich. “Our priority is to grow and expand our global network with the continued support and valuable contribution of our hard working employees while focusing on efficiency and performance improvements. I am also confident in our ability to reap the first tangible rewards from the cooperation with our new shareholder HNCA”, Reich added.

Copyright Photo: Karl Cornil/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-8R7F LX-VCG (msn 35812) taxies past the camera at Amsterdam.

Cargolux Aircraft Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Philippines to retire the last Boeing 747 in May

Philippines (Philippine Airlines) (Manila) will retire 20 aging aircraft from its fleet this year including its last Boeing 747-400 later in the month of May. The 747s are being replaced by newer Boeing 777-300 ERs.

Read the full report from the Business Mirror: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-4F6 RP-C8168 (msn 27827) climbs away from the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Philippines Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Bottom Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. PAL has been a long-time Boeing 747 operator. This historic photo shows Boeing 747-2F6B N741PR (msn 21832) with special Mabuhay! Chicago sub-titles at Zurich.