AIRBUS | A380 News & Discussion

[Harley Chopper]

Airbus A380 In Vietnam Airlinesa?? 2020 Fleet Plan

Jul 11, 2011

By Leithen Francis

Vietnam Airlines plans to add Airbus A380s to its fleet, but remains tight-lipped on when that will be.

The carrier’s fleet plan, currently before government for approval, lists the Airbus A380 as a type it plans to acquire, according to local news reports, citing unnamed officials at the Ministry of Transport.

The ministry has told the airline to study the market and investigate Vietnam’s airport infrastructure, to ensure there is sufficient demand to fill the aircraft and that local airports can support such a large airliner, according to the reports.

Vietnam Airlines’ spokesman declined comment on the reports when contacted by Aviation Week on July 11. “The master plan is now before government for approval, and it discusses our fleet deployment to the year 2020, but it’s confidential and we don’t have approval yet,” he says.

The national carrier has a fleet of 66 aircraft and another 60 on order: 34 A321s, 10 A350s and 16 Boeing 787s. It faces relatively little competition in its home market because other carriers there have struggled to grow. Vietnam Airlines is also planning to branch out more internationally by, for example, launching services to London and the U.S.

[hkskyline]

^ So they haven't ordered but are thinking of doing so?

[klm.b777]

That is great to hear.. I do hope they order the A380..

[Vrooms]

source:http://www.businesstraveller.com/new...-a380-interior

First look: Thai Airways A380 interior
Published: 20/07/2011 - Filed under: News »



Thai Airways has released a YouTube video showing the interiors of its forthcoming A380 superjumbo.

The seven-minute video shows the seating layout, toilets and bars throughout both decks of the aircraft, with highlights including a "multi purposes area" in first class featuring seats and tables.

There are also self-service bars in both Royal Silk Class (business) and Royal First Class, with both premium cabins being located on the upper deck of the superjumbo.

The carrier has also released details of the seating products in economy, business and first class. Thai's A380 will boast the fewest number of seats on the upper deck of any A380 so far at just 72 (60 in business class and 12 in first class), although by contrast its lower deck will be the mosty densely configured, with a total of 435 economy seats.

[musang]

* deleted *

[CHRISTOPHER06]

Jamba juice has over thirty smoothies that never made it to the menu or have been discontinued for various reasons. Most of the time these secret smoothies are just too high in calories and generally bad for you to be sold at a health food restaurant.











Secret Jamba Juice Menu

[hkskyline]

July 18, 2011 4:01 AM PDT
The giant Airbus A380 and the tiny French village
by Daniel Terdiman

LEVIGNAC, France--I'm looking up toward the sky at two things you wouldn't expect to be right next to each other. One is the "boulangerie" sign outside the bakery in this tiny French village. The other is the "Airbus A380" logo emblazoned on the protective cover on one end of a segment of giant airplane fuselage.

Why would two such things be next to each other? Because late Friday night, a truck convoy carrying all the major components of the next A380 that Airbus will build--the world's largest passenger plane, a full double-decker giant--passed through this hamlet near Toulouse, France, often literally within inches of some of Levignac's buildings.

Airbus manufactures these components--the wings, the tail fins, the fuselage sections--in facilities in Spain, England, Germany, and France. Each is then shipped to Bordeaux, France, and then together, they're put on a barge to another French town, Langon. And from there, each segment is put on the back of a truck, and then, along with a large escort of police and security vehicles, the whole lot crosses about 124 miles of countryside on its way to Toulouse, where Airbus actually assembles the gigantic A380s.

To accommodate the massive task of ferrying all these airplane parts across so much territory, France created a new road, the Itineraire a Grand Gabarit, with the primary goal being that the convoy should be able to skirt towns and bridges. But in Levignac, the convoy has no choice but to pass right through the middle--usually after 11 o'clock at night, and every two weeks or so, when Airbus is ready to begin working on the next A380. And that means it's party time. As part of CNET Road Trip 2011, I stopped in to check out the festivities.

Hundreds of locals--and others--line the streets, many with drinks in hand, waiting for the convoy to make its way through town. At first, the flashing lights that get the crowd perked up turn out to be just a cop showing up to give a car parked on the main drag--where the trucks will soon be driving--a ticket and get it towed. And then it's the vanguard of convoy vans, making sure all is in order. But then, there it is: Something very large appears at the far end of the street--it's a little hard to see, because it's after 11, remember--and while you can't quite tell what it is, you know it wasn't there a minute ago, and that it's not an everyday thing in this little burg.

And then, there are wings. Gigantic A380 wings--first one on its own truck, wrapped tight in plastic, and then the other. And then the massive tail fins, which themselves are as big as the wings on an Airbus A320. And then three huge sections of A380 fuselage. One after another--each piece dominating your field of vision, and grabbing the full attention of everyone nearby.

It is something to see. And then, just like that, just when you're getting used to what's going on, and hoping for more, the convoy is past. Having cleared the main part of town and reached the place where the road widens, the trucks suddenly pick up speed. And then they're gone, and the crowd spills into the street, and it's like a concert has ended--cars driving in every direction, people milling around, a sense that something cool just happened. But now it's over.

Except if you happen to drive the next morning near the A380 assembly plant in Blagnac, outside Toulouse. You can't get inside, but you don't need to. From a frontage road just alongside, you can see them. All those giant airplane segments, stationed quietly outside the plant, with no one around except a stray security guard. And since it's a Saturday, all you can think is one thing, even though you know it's not quite like this: On Monday, when all the folks at the plant get to work, they're going to discover one heck of a package waiting for them.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20...#ixzz1SlALvA40

[Elktest]

the Frist Cabin flight from the Korean HL-7612 its no 3 for Korean Airlines

[pi_malejana]

Incident: Korean A388 at Tokyo on Jul 21st 2011, engine pod strike
By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Jul 21st 2011 17:25Z, last updated Thursday, Jul 21st 2011 17:26Z
The Aviation Herald

A Korean Air Airbus A380-800, registration HL7611 performing flight KE-701 from Seoul (South Korea) to Tokyo Narita (Japan) with 168 people on board, landed on Tokyo's runway 34L at a right bank angle sufficient to have the outboard right engine's pod contact the runway surface. The airplane rolled out safely at around 11:20L (02:20Z) and taxied to the apron.

The airport reported the runway was closed for about 20 minutes for a runway inspection which revealed scratch marks on the runway surface.

Following checks the aircraft was able to perform its return flight KE-702 normally reaching Seoul with a delay of one hour.



yikes

[Oasis-Bangkok]

image hosted on flickr

[Matze20111984]

Scary landing of a korean A380 at Tokyo


http://avherald.com/h?article=4400bee5&opt=0

A Korean Air Airbus A380-800, registration HL7611 performing flight KE-701 from Seoul (South Korea) to Tokyo Narita (Japan) with 168 people on board, landed on Tokyo's runway 34L at a right bank angle sufficient to have the outboard right engine's pod contact the runway surface. The airplane rolled out safely at around 11:20L (02:20Z) and taxied to the apron.

The airport reported the runway was closed for about 20 minutes for a runway inspection which revealed scratch marks on the runway surface.

Following checks the aircraft was able to perform its return flight KE-702 normally reaching Seoul with a delay of one hour.

[Oasis-Bangkok]

[lady gaga]

Emirates from 1oct11 is replacing b777-300ER to a380-800 on Dubai johannesburg route

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/538/5389577.html

[world260]

image hosted on flickr


Airbus A380-841 / Malaysia Airlines - F-WW?? - c/n 0078

[eomer]

OOOOps !!!

[hkskyline]

^ So there were spotters at the airport that day!

[GTR66]

Emirates is updating their a380 plan.
Just saw it on airliners.net

An A380 dedicated update to the 2011/12 operating plan:

Effective 30 October 2011
EK302/303 DXB-PVG-DXB – upgrade to A380-800 on a Daily basis from the current 3x weekly

Effective 1 December 2011[/COLOR]EK097/098 DXB-FCO-DXB – aircraft upgrade from B777-300 to A380-800 (ULR version)

EK346/347 DXB-KUL-DXB – aircraft upgrade from B777-300ER to A380-800 (ULR version)

The above are all subject to government approval, not loaded into the reservation system yet and still subject to change.

There are some other smaller updates to the operating plan e.g. TUN and KRT both increasing to Daily, SEZ’s 2 nd frequency remaining at 4x weekly and not rising to the planned Daily service, all of which I have not outlined in detail.

EK406/407 DXB-MEL-AKL-MEL-DXB will also likely upgrade to the A380 by March 2012.

Sneak preview for 2012/13 operating plan: The new lighter A380s which will have more range are planned to be deployed on EK225/226 DXB-SFO-DXB and EK261/262 DXB-GRU-DXB. No firm dates yet.
Keep discovering - more interesting developments ahead.
As always, all info posted above subject to operational changes.

[Elktest]

Singapore Airlines in Hamburg, its from me the pic

[Xoser_barcelona]

Originally Posted by eomer

OOOOps !!!

Scary picture and surely a very tense moment for passengers and the piloting crew. What was the reason for this difficult landing? Was it nature influencing, technology failing or human error? If human error is to blame, other questions arise; is the plane too big to have a good overview for the pilots and if the plane can land itself, should it?