Tag Archives: Airbus A340300

JetBlue Airways and South African Airways begin code-sharing

JetBlue Airways (New York) and South African Airways (SAA) (Johannesburg) have launched their bilateral code-share agreement.

JetBlue is now placing its “B6” code on SAA-operated flights between the U.S. and Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as on connecting flights to select destinations beyond Johannesburg including Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

SAA flies each day between both New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Washington’s Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport

Via its Johannesburg hub, SAA links the world to most cities and destinations across southern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, including South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Beginning in 2014, JetBlue will debut Mint, the carrier’s new premium offering, featuring the longest lie-flat bed in domestic business class and the only private suites on the New York-Los Angeles and New York-San Francisco routes.

At JFK Airport, JetBlue operates from its Terminal 5, while SAA operates from the adjacent Terminal 4, allowing for fast and easy connections between flights.

At Washington Dulles, both JetBlue and SAA are co-located in Concourse B.

Top Copyright Photo: James Helbock/AirlinersGallery.com. Standing out in the red FDNY special livery, Airbus A320-232 N615JB (msn 2461) arrives at Los Angeles International Airport.

JetBlue Airways:

South African Airways:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. South African Airways’ Airbus A340-313X ZS-SXE (msn 646) leaves the runway at Washington Dulles International Airport.

Finnair to install Zodiac fully-flat seats on its long range aircraft

Finnair (Helsinki) has announced it will install new fully flat seats in most of its existing long haul aircraft starting in January. Once the installation program is completed by fall 2014, all of Finnair’s long haul Airbus fleet will have full flat seats in Business Class, with the exception of three older aircraft. These three aircraft will be the first to be removed from the fleet with the arrival of A350 XWBs in 2015. The total investment, including replacement investments, is approximately 29 million euros or approximately 39 million dollars.

The Zodiac Seats UK Vantage model seats selected by Finnair are already in use on the airline’s four newest Airbus A330s. The seats are designed to provide a fully-flat bed measuring up to 79 inches (200 cm), while shoulder room measures 23 inches (58 cm).The fully adjustable seats also come with an individual reading light, adjustable head rest, mood lights and a range of inflight entertainment options.

DIMENSIONS

Contour Vantage A330/A340

Seat width between armrest: 20.07 inches

Seat width at shoulder level: 22.83 inches

Bed length: 79.17 inches

Bed width at head level: 20 inches

Bed width at shoulder level: 20 inches

Bed width at hip level: 20 inches

Bed width at foot level: 10.98 inches

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313E OH-LQE (msn 938) in the Oneworld design arrives at the Helsinki (HEL) hub.

Finnair:

Aerolineas Argentinas to lease four Airbus A330-200s from ILFC

Aerolineas Argentinas (Buenos Aires) has signed a contract to lease four Airbus A330-200s from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC).

Deliveries of the aircraft are scheduled to take place later this year. This is a new type for AR.

Copyright Photo: John Adlard/AirlinersGallery.com. The newer A330-200s are likely to replace four of the older A340-300s. Airbus A340-313X LV-CSX (msn 373) is pictured at Sydney in the updated 2010 livery.

Aerolineas Argentinas:

Surinam Airways celebrates 50 years

Surinam Airways (Paramaribo) is celebrating 50 years as an airline. Organized in 1953, the airline commenced scheduled commercial operations on January 6, 1955 as SLM (Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij) flying from Paramaribo to Moengo with a Cessna 170B aircraft. The Surinam Airways name was adopted in 1966 and gradually replaced all references to SLM.

Read the full story from the Curacao Chronicle: CLICK HERE

Peter Sanches has written a beautiful book (we helped Peter with many of the photos) on the first 50 years of Surinam Airways: Flying on Trusted Wings: 50 Years of Surinam Airways (hardcover).

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems. Ex-Air France Airbus A340-311 F-GLZG became PZ-TCP (msn 049) with Surinam Airways and is the European lifeline aircraft for the company flying between Paramaribo and Amsterdam.

Surinam Airways:

Route Map:

Lufthansa faces additional strikes by Verdi

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) is facing additional strikes by its Verdi union.

According to this report by Reuters, Verdi is demanding a 5.2 percent pay raise over 12 months and job security for about 33,000 cabin crew and ground staff.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography. Airbus A340-311 D-AIGC (msn 027) in the Star Alliance livery climbs away from the runway at Toronto (Pearson).

Lufthansa:

SAS launches Copenhagen-San Francisco service, drops Bangkok

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) today (April 8) begins flying six times a week from Copenhagen to San Francisco. SAS
already flies to New York, Chicago and Washington. This is the first service to the U.S. West Coast by SAS.

The route will be operated using an Airbus 340-300.

SAS is forecasting around 125,000 passengers per year on the route. Of these, 55% will come from the Nordic countries and 10% from the rest of Europe. The remaining 35% will come from the USA.

Meanwhile SAS is ending service to Bangkok, a route it has served since 1949. This was an important route for SAS. It helped to create Thai Airways in 1960.

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:

SriLankan Airlines opens a second international airport in Sri Lanka

SriLankan Airlines (Colombo) and the president of Sri Lanka opened the country’s second international airport yesterday (March 18) on the island’s southeast coast.

Air Arabia (Sharjah) became the first foreign airline to operate scheduled services to and from Mattala Rajapakse International Airport, approximately 168 miles south of the capital of Colombo according to this report by Hindustan Times.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Sri Lankan Airlines:

China Airlines elects a new chairman, studies a new JV with TransAsia Airways

China Airlines‘ (Taipei) Board of Directors has elected company President Huang-Hsiang Sun as its new chairman.

According to the carrier, “Sun joined China Airlines in1970 and has assumed various leadership positions in the China Airlines Group and affiliated companies. Over the past four decades, he has served as vice president of China Airlines’ Passenger Sales and Corporate Planning divisions; general manager of China Airline’s Europe and San Francisco branch offices; vice president of Mandarin Airlines; president of Formosa Airlines and TransAsia Airways; and CEO of Yangtze River Express Airlines. Sun became president of China Airlines in June 2008 and will continue to assume this role until a new president is appointed.”

Sun immediately set up a team to study the possibility of a new low-cost joint venture possibly with TransAsia Airways (Taipei).

China Airlines:

Swiss commits for six new Boeing 777-300 ERs to start replacing its Airbus A340-300s

Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich) has committed for six new Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft. The prospective deal will have to be finalized into a firm order. Boeing (Chicago) issued the following statement this morning:

Boeing, the Lufthansa Group and Swiss International Air Lines announced a commitment today for six 777-300 ER (Extended Range) airplanes. The airplanes, valued at $1.9 billion at list prices, were selected for the airline’s long-haul fleet renewal. Boeing looks forward to working with Swiss to finalize the details, at which time the order will be posted to the Boeing Orders & Deliveries website.

The Boeing 777-300 ER is the largest long-range twin-engine commercial airplane in the world, seating up to 386 passengers in a three-class configuration and has a maximum range of 7,825 nautical miles (14,490 km).

On the financial side, the company issued this statement:

Swiss International Air Lines generated total income from operating activities of CHF 5,033 million in 2012, a 2% increase on the previous year (2011: CHF 4,927 million). But with the market environment still difficult, operating profit for the year fell 31% to CHF 212 million (2011: CHF 306 million). The CHF 27 million operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2012 was, however, an improvement on the CHF 18 million of the prior-year period. Swiss has also announced that its Airbus A340 fleet will be phased out from 2016 onwards. To this end, orders have been placed with Boeing for six Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft.

Swiss International Air Lines generated total income from operating activities of CHF 5,033 million for 2012, a 2% increase on the CHF 4,927 million of the previous year. Annual operating profit declined 31%, however, to CHF 212 million. Swiss achieved an operating profit of CHF 27 million for the 2012 fourth-quarter period, a CHF 9 million improvement on the CHF 18 million of October-to-December 2011.

Copyright Photo: Mark Durbin. Swiss currently operates a fleet of 15 older and less fuel efficient Airbus A340-300s. The new additions will start to replace the older Airbus long-range fleet. A340-313X HB-JMK (msn 169) lands at San Francisco International Airport in the updated 2012 livery which features larger and bolder titles.

Swiss International Air Lines:

Virgin Atlantic freezes wages as it prepares to report a record yearly loss

Virgin Atlantic Airways (London) has frozen all salaries according to this report by Bloomberg. The struggling carrier is expected to report a loss of $201 million for its fiscal year ending on February 28 according to the Sunday Times.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Looking almost new in its updated 2010 livery, Airbus A340-313X G-VELD (msn 214) climbs away from the runway at the London (Heathrow) hub. Higher fuel costs are hurting the carrier especially with its older less fuel-efficient aircraft like the Airbus A340-300. The last of the four A340-300s is expected to depart from the fleet this year.

Virgin Atlantic: