China Airlines began service from Taipei to Seattle on July 14, 2024
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) celebrated its 75th anniversary on July 9, 2024, followed by welcoming its fifth new international route this year, with China Airlines’ Taipei (TPE)-Seattle route just a few days later on July 14, using an Airbus A350-900.
The schedule is as follows:
SEA commenced flight operations on July 9, 1949. Things were a lot different back then – the general public was allowed on the ramp to view the aircraft, and the terminal was tiny compared to what it’s become.
A photo from opening day at SEA – Image: Port of Seattle
In 1949, the airport had eight gates and served 130,549 passengers that year. Fast-forward to 2024, and SEA has 89 gates and serves an average of 140,000 passengers every single day.
More interesting factoids: SEA’s first international service was with Japan Airlines in 1959. Today, there are 25 international carriers serving 33 global destinations.
A China Airlines A350 on final to SEA on a flight a few days after the inaugual – figured you’d enjoy seeing at least one photo that wasn’t backlit
Which nicely leads us back to … airplanes!
China Airlines inaugural TPE-SEA flight taxiing to the gate
China Airlines Cargo has long served Seattle; the recent inaugural passenger flight is the airline’s sixth North American destination, and its debut for passenger service to the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
The arriving aircraft received a traditional water-cannon salute from the airport fire department. The late-afternoon sun made for some interesting photo challengesOne of the two ARFF vehicles providing the saluteThe water arch formed a veil in front of the aircraftThe plane was still dripping water as it rolled up to the gate
China Airlines is the third airline to offer direct service to Taipei, competing for passengers with Delta Air Lines and EVA Air.
Workers performed a post-flight walkaround after the engines were turned off
It’s always a fantastic experience to get out onto the ramp for an aircraft arrival, especially an inaugural.
And congratulations to SEA for 75 successful years!
Copa is an interesting airline to get to know. Based at the junction of two continents, the Panamanian carrier found its niche connecting the Americas from north to south. It operates a single-type fleet of around 100 Boeing 737s. But compared with other all-737 airlines that follow a low-cost carrier model, Copa is a different beast. It’s a full-service airline with premium cabins and some of the lengthiest 737 routes out there.
As with most of the world’s 737-based airlines, Copa went in big on the MAX, and it was heavily affected by the past few years’ MAX drama. On the bright side, the airline put its best foot forward with the MAX, debuting a brand-new premium cabin branded as “Dreams” business class. The Dreams seat was designed for Copa’s medium-haul services, the four- to seven-hour flights where quality sleep is a big deal.
We got a chance to try Copa and their new MAX seats on a recent trip. We also got to explore the relatively new terminal at the airline’s Panama City hub. The trip hit a snafu midway through, which we’ll get to later. But in the end we still got a good feel for the airline, its new seat design, and the freshest updates to its home airport.
Read on for more on our time flying with Copa and exploring the airport in Panama City.
A Lufthansa A350 taxiing to the terminal at SEA on its inaugural flight from Munich
New route launches are always exciting, both for travelers wanting to visit the new location, and for we AvGeeks who get to cover the event itself.
On May 31, Lufthansa launched new nonstop service between Seattle and Munich, using A350s for the route. The airline already provides daily service between Seattle and Frankfurt, with that route having been established back in 2008; it is flown with A330s and A340s.
Flight LH488 arrived at SEA to a traditional water-turret salute from the airport fire department
The new service runs SEA-MUH as flight LH488 on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, departing at 6:50 pm and arriving in Munich at 1:45 pm the following day. The MUC-SEA leg is LH488, running every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday with a 3:30 pm departure and a 4:59 pm arrival into Seattle.
Don Bunkenburg/Senior Director Sales USA Central, West & Central America Lufthansa GroupRick Duncan/SEA Airport Director, Aviation Business & PropertiesA traditional ribbon cutting was held at the departure gate
Being in the terminal with all my cameras, I couldn’t resist photographing other planes.
Speaking of Germany, Condor also had a plane at the gate for its daily service to Frankfurt
The Lufthansa inaugural marks the third new international service for SEA in 2024 (the first two this year were Hainan’s service to Chonqing and Alaska Airlines service to Toronto), bringing the total to 50 services to 33 international destinations on 25 different airlines.
One of SEA’s airport fire trucks arriving at the gate for the water-cannon salute
Two fire trucks were stationed at each side of the gate to provide an arch via their water cannons for the inaugural arrival.
D-AIXP touching down in Seattle on its inaugural flight from Munich
It was a beautiful day to be out on the ramp to document the arrival.
I love writing about long-haul premium economy. Mostly because the judgement comes down to one straightforward question: does the product feel like economy with a bit of extra, or more like business class lite? Seats in the first category do enough to take the pain out of the coach class space crunch. Which, to be fair, is what premium economy was designed to do. But seats in that second category delight in their own right, enough that you might even go out of your way to fly them.
We put Cathay Pacific’s long-haul premium economy to that test over the course of two flights on their Airbus A350 subfleet. Those planes are capable of handling some seriously lengthy routes. In our case, between a flight from New York to Hong Kong and then a connection on to Sydney, we spent over 25 hours onboard.
What did we think after all that time putting the seat and service to the test? Read on to find out. Plus we have plenty of video, including a nose-cam and tail-cam treat at the end.
April 2nd Author’s Note : Thanks for enjoying a bit of April Fools’ fun with us. You AvGeeks know that that’s NOT what a 777 looks like. But fake news is a problem out there. And so to make sure nobody gets confused we’re putting in this disclaimer to make it clear to everyone.
The embattled aircraft manufacturer Boeing today announced that it discovered a major manufacturing error on one of its aircraft. While the planemaker’s issues to date largely focused on the 737 MAX, this morning’s news related to a larger member of its lineup, the 777. The triple-seven is arguably Boeing’s most commercially successful widebody aircraft, making today’s announcement particularly troublesome.
Boeing’s Everett production facility, where the 777 is assembled (photo: Boeing)
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, who will be stepping down from his role at the end of this year as part of a major company shake-up, held a press conference this morning regarding this development.
“A manufacturing anomaly made it past our quality controls on the 777 production line,” Calhoun admitted. “A few major components of this particular 777-300ER aircraft were installed in the wrong location, and it was only shortly before delivery that those abnormalities were discovered.”
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun answering questions after today’s press conference
AirlineReporter was able to obtain an exclusive leaked image of the aircraft in question. It appears that two forward fuselage sections were installed underneath the wings in place of the aircraft’s engines. Furthermore, an unusually large variant of General Electric’s GE90 engine appears to have been installed in place of the cockpit at the front of the aircraft.
Images obtained of the affected aircraft.
A Boeing employee who asked to remain anonymous noted “I walked up to the plane when it arrived at the plant’s completion and delivery center and … well something just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. But I’m glad that we spoke up.”
This model demonstrates the correct locations of the 777’s cockpit and engines.
Aircraft safety expert Faye Kinuse remarked “This was a scary near miss. If the mistake hadn’t been discovered and any pilot attempted to operate the aircraft, who knows what could have happened.”
Furthermore, other similarly significant manufacturing errors have been found in 777s that are operating today. A whistleblower pointed authorities to an aircraft operated by Emirates, which owns the world’s biggest 777 fleet. The plane in question, delivered two years ago, appears to have unintended additional sections included in its fuselage.
When reached for comment about the discovery, a Boeing spokesperson noted that “while this error is regrettable, on the bright side this aircraft offers unparalleled economics on a per-seat basis.”
While Airbus had previously remained above the fray of Boeing’s manufacturing woes, it appears that some of their airplanes may harbor similarly severe assembly problems. Members of the planespotting community in Frankfurt, Germany recently posted photos taken of a Lufthansa Airbus A380 with six more engines than normal.
“We were understandably alarmed when we were alerted about the issue,” said Lufthansa spokesperson Öpse Deise. “However it now makes sense why that particular aircraft cruises at Mach 3.”
Airbus held a press conference to express regret for the error. Striking a more upbeat note, the company pointed to its new A3 line of aircraft, designed with environmental sustainability in mind. As a shortened version of the A320 family it is small enough to be propelled by its passengers via bicycle pedal power, giving it a net-zero carbon footprint.
Editor’s Note: Happy April Fools’ everyone, thanks for sharing in a bit of fun with us. We hope you liked revisiting those crazy airplane photoshops that were big on YouTube and message boards years ago. Thanks and credit to the people behind the images we used, including @SwiftOnSecurityand the Infinite Flight message board, though a lot of those photos were posted anonymously.Also kudos to those of you who noticed that our Dave Calhoun pic was actually actor Wallace Shawn.
