AIRBUS | A380 News & Discussion

[hkskyline]

Dubai Airports to focus on existing terminals
06 Feb 2011
By Abdul Basit

DUBAI -- Dubai's new Al Maktoum International AirportAl Maktoum International Airport is likely to see another delay in opening of its passenger terminal, which is set to open in October this year.

Dubai Airports, the operator of the two airports in the emirate, is fully focused on its existing passenger terminals as demand is increasing every day.

Last month the operator announced its full year 2010 results that revealed a 15.3 per cent growth in passenger demand over 2009. It is estimated that the airport will handle 52.2 million passengers by the end of 2011 with 11 per cent growth, according to the operator.

Cargo terminal of Al Maktoum International Airport was started in June last year and it was announced that the passenger terminal would be opened in March 2011. It was postponed to October and now Dubai Airports hints at another possible delay.

"We started cargo terminal on 24th of June last year and there is going to be a need to have a passenger operation working on the new airport some stage in the future," Dubai Airports Chief Executive officer Paul Griffiths told Khaleej Times last week in Dubai.

For October deadline Griffiths said, "Its still a possible time, but we are keeping in review and will be making announcement soon as and when we get more information."

"We are focusing on our growth here [Dubai International airport] and reason for that is because the growth is so strong and exceeding our expectations," he said. Growth will be driven by a projected 10 per cent increase in Emirates passenger numbers and an anticipated doubling of flydubai traffic in 2011 as both airlines continue to expand their respective fleets and networks, according to Dubai Airports.

Today Dubai International airport has more than 130 carriers serving 220 destinations on six continents and its home to the world's most profitable airline. Before the end of the decade passenger numbers will approach 90 million making Dubai International the busiest airport in the world in terms of international
 passenger traffic.

Emirates is ordering aircraft and also delaying retirement of existing aircraft so fleet number get bigger and bigger, he added.

"Our problem is that we cannot develop Dubai World Central fast enough to cope with immediate demand so what we have done prioritise the development ....," he added.

Dubai International airport is undergoing a massive development for its Terminal 2 and a new Concourse 3. Concourse 3, set to become the world's first dedicated A380 facility, will boost capacity from the current 60 million passengers annually to 75 million, which, when combined with other facility enhancements and operational efficiencies will boost capacity to 90 million by 2018.

Carriers in the region witnessed around 18 per cent growth in passenger demand last year, compared to an 8.2 per cent international demand during the same period, the aviation body said in its annual performance report that issued on Wednesday.

"Middle Eastern carriers reported the strongest full year growth at 17.8 per cent on the back of a 13.2 per cent capacity increase fueled largely by aircraft deliveries to Gulf-based airlines," the Geneva-based aviation body said.

© Khaleej Times 2011

[Vrooms]

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andygranat/4663819612/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/three_forty/5422665919/

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/523/5234145.html

[Oasis-Bangkok]

[Vrooms]

interesting picture!!

[Oasis-Bangkok]

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[deasine]

Wow 3 Jet Bridges. Are there any instances where that's even used?

[EK413]

Originally Posted by deasine

Wow 3 Jet Bridges. Are there any instances where that's even used?

They utilise 3 aerobridges all the time when disembarking and boarding...

[deasine]

Originally Posted by EK413

They utilise 3 aerobridges all the time when disembarking and boarding...

It's such a site coming from YVR, where our 2 gates that can hold A380 planes, only have 2 jetways.

[hkskyline]

The first does not appear likely to be heavily-utilized as it is for the sparsely-populated front part of the cabin.

[Dubaiiscool:)]

9 February, 2011

One-off service to commemorate 50th Kuwait National Day

Emirates will operate the first ever A380 service into Kuwait this month, in honour of the country’s National Day.

Operating into Kuwait National Airport, on 26th February, the one-off Emirates A380 service will be the world’s first superjumbo to touch down in Kuwait, a significant milestone for Emirates and its operations in Kuwait.



Emirates will operate the first ever A380 service into Kuwait this month, in honour of the country’s National Day.

“Kuwait will celebrate its 50th National Day on the 25th February and to honour this historic occasion we will operate our award-winning A380 aircraft into Kuwait International Airport,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Commercial Operations Gulf, Middle East and Iran.

“Our customers in Kuwait are eager to try our A380 services and we have worked closely with the Kuwaiti authorities to make this possible. We have operated services into Kuwait since 1989 and although we have no immediate plans to operate an A380 on the route permanently, we remain committed to providing customers in Kuwait with convenient flight and onward connection times through our Dubai hub,” said Khoory.

Emirates flight EK857 will depart Dubai at 14:55 on 26th February and will arrive in Kuwait at 15:40 the same day. The return flight, EK858, will depart Kuwait on 26th February at 18:10 arriving in Dubai at 20:40 the same day. The mammoth aircraft can accommodate 489 passengers with 399 in Economy Class, 76 in Business Class and 14 in First Class.

Kuwait Airport is well equipped to handle the colossal A380 with their new terminal A380 operational since November last year.

The flight will operate as a regular commercial flight and tickets to travel on the flight can be booked through www.emirates.com

“This will be an exciting moment for Emirates and Kuwait and we are confident that the operation of the A380 into Kuwait will be well received by all including the many plane spotters jostling to get a good view as it comes to land,” added Khoory.

Emirates currently has 15 A380’s in it’s fleet operating to 12 destinations including; London Heathrow, Paris, Seoul, Hong Kong, Sydney, Auckland, Toronto, Manchester, New York, Jeddah, Bangkok and Beijing. A further 75 A380’s are on order.

Emirates currently operates four daily flights into Kuwait serviced by a mixture of Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 aircraft in three class configurations.

http://www.emirates.com/english/abou...38039&offset=0

[Vrooms]

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59120792@N08/5431085939/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogeli13/5433182418/

[hkskyline]

Rolls-Royce takes £56m A380 blowout hit
11 February 2011
Guardian Unlimited

The Qantas A380 engine blowout cost Rolls-Royce £56m in compensation payouts and emergency engineering work, the British industrial company has revealed, as it attempted to draw a line under an incident that threatened a BP-style corporate backlash.

The £12bn group, whose products span fighter plane engines to nuclear technology, was at the centre of a massive aviation safety scare last year when an Airbus superjumbo carrying 466 passengers and crew was hit by an explosion in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines shortly after taking off from Singapore's Changi Airport.

No one was killed in the incident, which was caused by a manufacturing fault that triggered an oil leak, but it caused considerable disruption to Airbus and A380 customers using Trent 900 products – including Germany's Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

One expert warned that, like oil company BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill, Rolls-Royce faced a backlash in the US because it is a well-known British global brand and challenges American competitors such as General Electric. However, Rolls-Royce appears to have headed off serious repercussions such as a mass-grounding of Trent-powered planes after rapidly overhauling the A380 engines. Modestly acknowledging the furore that erupted following the A380 incident this morning, Rolls-Royce said: "This regrettable incident attracted widespread attention."

The group added that it was the victim of a one-off engine blowout that occurs infrequently in modern aviation, after the oil leak triggered a fire that caused a turbine disc to shatter and explode through the A380's wing. "Uncontained disc failures happen with a frequency of about once a year on the world's large civil aircraft fleet. However this was the first time an event of this nature had occurred on a large civil Rolls-Royce engine since 1994." Since that incident two decades ago, Rolls-Royce Trent and RB211 engines have accumulated 142m flying hours without serious incidents.

Announcing full-year results this morning, Rolls-Royce said costs related to the Trent 900 failure, including "un-contracted settlements" and "incremental service and support costs", came to £56m. It added that a "modest level" of additional costs might be incurred this year. However, the group said engine orders at its civil aerospace division remained strong and totalled £7.5bn in 2010 – including a £1bn order from Air China placed soon after the Qantas scare. Reflecting a growing trend among industrial companies, Rolls-Royce said service revenues, generated by contracts to maintain and overhaul products as well as build them, had risen by 15% since 2009. Shares in Rolls-Royce, which lost £1bn in value in the immediate aftermath of the Trent 900 explosion, were unchanged this morning at 654.5p – giving the business a market capitalisation of £12.2bn.

Elsewhere in the full-year results, Rolls-Royce said underlying revenues rose by 7% to £10.9bn, with underlying pre-tax profits rising by 4% to £955m. The final dividend was 16p per share. Sir John Rose, presenting his last full-year results statement before retiring, said the group's three main pillars – civil, defence and marine – were all firing strongly.

"Rolls-Royce has delivered a strong performance in 2010 with record underlying revenues and profits. This reflects our global customer base and the balanced portfolio of products and services that we offer. It is a measure of progress that the civil, defence and marine businesses now each generate underlying profits of more than £300m."

Rose hands over to John Rishton, chief executive of Dutch retailer Royal Ahold, at the end of March. "It has been an extraordinary privilege to work with so many outstanding people and to contribute to the development of a business that has been at the forefront of engineering and technology for over 100 years," said Rose.

[siamu maharaj]

That's not a lot actually.

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by siamu maharaj

That's not a lot actually.

Well, thankfully there were no casualties and this didn't happen over US skies.

[Vrooms]

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cx717/5...n/photostream/

[philvia]

Originally Posted by deasine

Wow 3 Jet Bridges. Are there any instances where that's even used?

pic from a few weeks ago

[Vrooms]

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vector_one/5438563274/

[hkskyline]

Qantas 'hero' pilot retains faith in A380
13 February 2011
Australian Associated Press General News

QANTAS SYDNEY, Feb 13 AAP - The pilot of last November's Airbus flight from Singapore, in which the engine exploded, has declared the Qantas A380 aircraft "absolutely" safe.

Richard de Crespigny managed to land the aircraft after the engine exploded mid-air, resulting in more than 60 separate system failures.

"This is the biggest testament to Airbus. Some people might think the aircraft collapsed under the onslaught but no aircraft is ever designed to take the beating that this aircraft got," Mr de Crespigny told the Nine Network's 60 Minutes on Sunday.

"The wing was clusterbombed, the aircraft had phenomenal damage to all systems - and it didn't just recover, it performed brilliantly. It is indestructible."

Just minutes into the QF32 flight from Singapore on November 4 of last year there was a small oil leak in the intermediate pressure turbine of engine number two.

The oil ignited causing a turbine disk to explode at high speed.

Two pieces smashed through the wing severing the plane's controls while a third did the same underneath the plane.

"Electrically the left hand side of the aircraft was dead. We'd lost 50 per cent of the hydraulics system. The brakes underneath the wings were reduced to 30 per cent braking conditions," he said.

The pilot has been praised for his cool head as he managed to land the plane under these conditions.

"I think it was my finest moment, I think I should give up aviation now and leave on a high because I think it was a good landing under tough conditions," he said.

Mr de Crespigny has been flying with Qantas for 25 years and before that was a pilot with the Airforce.

"I'm so confident that there is nobody in this world who knows that aircraft better than Rich," his wife Coral de Crespigny said.

Ms de Crespigny didn't know about the incident until after her husband was safely on the ground and she got a call from his boss at Qantas.

"He said I need to tell you that Richard's safe and he's on the ground and I said why are you telling me this.

"He said there's been an incident so I immediately turned on the news and I saw that wasn't...well I assumed there had been a crash.

"I'm just so glad he didn't stuff up that landing," she said.

Mr de Crespigny doesn't like being deemed a hero as he said he was just doing his job and was supported by an extraordinary crew with lots of experience.

"I would ultimately be responsible if people died and I am so proud of everyone and all the teams that helped out. I was proud to be in command of that aircraft," he said.

The pilot said that he didn't think an airbus aircraft had ever been challenged as much as this one.

"I think a Rolls Royce engine has never failed so spectacularly... there was so much collateral damage....it was a flight that you could never train for.

"You might practice one or two emergencies, not 60," he said.

Qantas is now completely confident Rolls Royce has fixed the engine fault on the jet.

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/523/5236331.html