The new Airbus A350 joined the Airbus A330 and Airbus A380 for an “Xtra-widebody” family flight yesterday (September 19) near Toulouse.ย The Airbus wide body family of flight test aircraft, the A380, A330 and the all-new A350 XWB, took off from Toulouse flying together for the first time.
Copyright Photo: Airbus.
Avianca Colombia (Bogota) has cancelled 160 domestic flight through next Wednesday because its pilots are refusing to work overtime due to a pay dispute according to Reuters.
Avianca’s 1,000 pilots are demanding a 15 percent pay increase from the company. Avianca Colombia is a part of Avianca Holdings. TACA’s pilots and other pilots under the Avianca brand are not involved in the dispute.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Aldo Ciarini. Avianca added its first ATR 72 on July 3, 2013 when the pictured ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-600) F-WWEE was handed over as HK-4954 (msn 1092). The new type is pictured landing at Toulouse before the delivery.
Avianca (Colombia):ย 
Qatar Airwaysโ (Doha) first A380 took off from Toulouse on its maiden flight to Hamburg where the aircraft will be fitted with its cabin before being painted.
The carrier has firm orders for ten A380s and will become the eleventh airline to join the prestigious club of A380 operators when it takes delivery of this aircraft in 2014.
Copyright Photo: Airbus. Airbus A380-861 F-WWST (msn 137) departs from Toulouse.
Qatar Airways:ย
Airbus (Toulouse) has delivered its 8,000th aircraft โ an A320 for AirAsia Indonesia (Jakarta). The aircraft took off from Toulouse, France on Saturday August 3 and arrived earlier today (August 5) at its new base in Jakarta.
Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu) is planning to operate two new long-range routes to Hawaii from Oakland next summer. According to Airline Route, the company will operate the Oakland-Kona (Hawaii) route four days a week from June 13 through August 15, 2014 and the Oakland-Lihue (Kauai) route three days a week from June 15 through August 15, 2014. Both routes will be flown with Boeing 767-300 ERs.
Copyright Photo: Clement Alloing. Boeing 767-3CB N588HA (msn 33466) is pictured at Toulouse, France.
Hawaiian Airlines:ย
Air Tahiti (3rd) (Papeete) is getting ready to take delivery of its first ATR 42-600. The regional carrier in the Pacific is taking the opportunity to introduce this new livery.
Copyright Photo: Olivier Gregoire/AirlinersGallery.com. ATR 42-212A (ATR 42-600) F-WWLP (msn 1007) at Toulouse will become F-ORVB on the hand over this month.
Route Map: The airline has superimposed its extensive and far-flung French Polynesia network over the outline of Europe to give the observer a feeling for the size of the airline:
Airbus (Toulouse) yesterday (July 19) celebrated the delivery of the 1,000thย A330. The aircraft, an A330-343X registered B-LBB (msn 1436), powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, was handed over to Cathay Pacific Airways (Hong Kong) at special ceremony in Toulouse. Cathay Pacific together with its sister airline Dragonair (Hong Kong) is the worldโs largest operator of the A330, with a total of 56 now in service.
Since its first delivery of the A330 in 1995, Cathay Pacificโs Airbus fleet now comprises 38 A330-300s and 11 A340s, while Dragonair flies 21 single aisle A320 Family aircraft and 18 A330-300s. The Cathay Pacific Group has outstanding orders for 10 more A330-300s. The airline will also take delivery of 48 all-new A350 XWBs in the future, including 46 ordered from Airbus and two leased aircraft.
The wide market appeal of the A330 Family is demonstrated daily by over 100 operators, including network carriers, low cost, charter and flag carriers, who fly A330s on all missions from 30 minutes to over 14 hours. About 1.2 billion passengers have enjoyed traveling on board the light, bright and spacious A330 cabin to and from the 300 airports it serves today.ย More than 1,250 A330s have been ordered to date.
Copyright Photo: Airbus. B-LBB wears a special “We are flying the 1000th A330” inscription below the main titles.
Cathay Pacific Airways:ย
Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu) today (July 9) launched nonstop service to Taipei, Taiwan, the latest addition to its expanding international network and seventh Asian gateway destination.
The departure of HA 807 followed gate side festivities that includedย Hawaiian musicย and hula, performance honoring the Taiwanese culture, traditional Hawaiian blessing, and presentation of lei to passengers boarding the inaugural flight. Remarks were given byย Hawai’i Governorย Neil Abercrombie, who was one of several VIP guests on the inaugural flight; V.C. Chu, director general of theย Taipei Economic and Cultural Officeย in Honolulu; and Peter Ingram, Hawaiian Airlines executive vice president and chief commercial officer.
Copyright Photo: PRNewsFoto/Hawaiian Airlines.ย Hawaiian Airlines employees greet Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie (center) with lei as he boards the inaugural flight from Honolulu to Taipei today. Taipei is the latest addition to Hawaiian Airlines’ growing international network and seventh Asian destination. Front Row (L to R): Sharon Wai, Governor Neil Abercrombie, and Billy Remular. Back Row: Shannon Kaleikini-Fukuda, Sonny Ah Puck and Jerrica Sorrow.
Today’s inaugural capitalizes on the extension of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program to cover citizens of Taiwan. Taipei is the capital city and economic center of Taiwan, and the surrounding metropolitan area of Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung is home to nearly seven million people. As a whole, Taiwan has more than 23 million people and is considered one of the “Four Asian Tiger Economies” with one of the highest Per Capita GDP in Asia.
Hawai’i hosted nearly 10,000 visitors from Taiwan in 2012, according to the Hawai’i Tourism Authority (HTA), which expects arrival numbers to grow substantially with Visa restrictions lifted.ย “This new Hawaiian Airlines flightย fits into our strategy of global market diversification,” commented Mike McCartney, HTA president and CEO.ย “This new service is critically important asHawai’i strives to become a major hub for that region in Asia.”
Hawaiian Airlines will operate three flights a week betweenย Honoluluย and Taipei using a 294-seat A330-200 aircraft. Flight HA 807 departsย Honolulu International Airportย at 1:55 a.m. every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, crosses the international dateline, and lands at Taipei International Airport at 6:15 a.m. the following day.
The return Flight HA 808 departs Taipei at 8:55 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, crosses the international dateline, and arrives in Honolulu at 1:10 p.m. the same day.
The addition of Taipei to Hawaiian Airlines’ international network follows the launches of service to Tokyo in November 2010, Seoul in January 2011, Osaka in July 2011, Fukuoka in April 2012, New York in June 2012, Sapporo in October 2012, Brisbane in November 2012, Auckland in March 2013 and Sendai in June 2013. New non-stop service will begin betweenย Honoluluย and Beijing, China in April 2014, subject to government approvals.
Copyright Photo: Eurospot. Airbus A330-243 F-WWYX (msn 1104) became N380HA on delivery.
Hawaiian Airlines:ย
British Airways (London) has issued this statement about the delivery of its first Airbus A380.
Super-jumbo aviation arrives in the UK today with the delivery to Heathrow of British Airwaysโ first A380.
Copyright Photo: Airbus.
The airline is the first UK carrier to take delivery of the double-decker, which is the worldโs largest commercial jet. British Airways is also the first airline in Europe to operate both the A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the first two of which landed at Heathrow last week.
The airline announced today that the very first long-haul flight on the A380 to Los Angeles will be on September 24, 2013 with prices starting from ยฃ621 return, and the first to Hong Kong will be on October 22 with prices from ยฃ688 return.
British Airwaysโ A380s will accommodate 469 customers across four cabins. Customers in First will be seated at the front of the main deck. The cabin will offer 14 seats and is evolved from the current First class with 30 per cent more personal space and 60 per cent more personal stowage.
Club World (business class) customers can choose from 44 seats on the main deck, or 53 seats on the upper deck. These upper deck seats will feature a new 2:3:2 configuration across the cabin. The 55 World Traveller Plus (premier economy) seats will be located on the upper deck while World Traveller (economy) customers can choose seats on both the main and upper deck. Customers travelling in both World Traveller and World Traveller Plus will be able to enjoy the new cabins and seats that have proved so popular on our 777-300 ER fleet.
The aircraftโs innovative design makes it much quieter during take-off and landing and 16 per cent more fuel efficient than a Boeing 747. British Airways has ordered 12 A380s for delivery by 2016. Three will arrive this year followed by a further five in 2014.
Both aircraft types will now begin a complex โentry into serviceโ program, which will see pilot and cabin crew training taking place at Manston Airport in Kent, customer service trials at Heathrow and short-haul flying for both aircraft, including flights within the UK.
Copyright Photo: Olivier Gregoire/AirlinersGallery.com.ย The pictured A380-841 F-WWSK (msn 095) was delivered as G-XLEA today (July 4).
British Airways:ย 
Videos:
Libyan Airlines (Tripoli), the national carrier of Libya, has taken delivery of its first A330-200 becoming a new operator for the type. The carrier already operates seven Airbus A320 aircraft, with three A330-200 and four A350-800 aircraft on order.
Accommodating a two-class configuration of 24 business and 235 economy seats, the aircraft is ย powered by GE CF6-80 engines and will be deployed in the Middle East, around Dubai and Jeddah, as well as on Asian and European trunk routes.
Copyright Photo: Eurospot/AirlinersGallery.com.ย Airbus A330-202 F-WWCK (msn 1412) became 5A-LAR on delivery.
Libyan Airlines:ย
You must be logged in to post a comment.