American Airlines showed off their brand-new Airbus A321 at John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on Tuesday and upped the game in the ever-competitive transcontinental market. I was invited to take a tour.
The A321 with be replacing American’s aging Boeing 767-200 on the JFK/LAX route starting January 7th, and the JFK/SFO shortly thereafter, and will offer a welcomed upgrade for passengers.
A First Class seat on the American Airbus A321 – Photo: Eric Dunetz
American will be the only carrier to offer a three-class cabin, featuring fully lie-flat seats in both First and Business Class, on a narrow-body aircraft. The First Class cabin will be outfitted with 10 fully lie-flat seats in a 1-1 configuration, giving each seat direct aisle access.
Business class will have 20 fully lie-flat seats in a 2-2 configuration. Each premium class seat features a 15.4-inch HD-capable touchscreen monitor offering a selection of in-flight entertainment including movies, TV programs, audio selections, and games.
In Main Cabin (economy) every seat will have an 8.9-inch HD-capable touchscreen monitor with an assortment of movies, TV programs, games and audio selections. Only a portion of the content is free.
Do you like the #NewAmerican or the #NewNewAmerican livery? Image: American
According to the Dallas News, American could be changing their livery… again. The possible alteration in the livery only deals with the tail. The choice is to either keep the current artistic flag, or to go back to the classic AA with eagle design. Who gets to decide? The new combined American Airlines’ employees.
“As we build our new company, we want all of our employees to have a voice in who we are as an airline, and that starts with what we look like,’ Doug Parker, the new chief executive officer of the American Airlines Group, wrote in the internal newsletter to employees. ’œAs such, today we launched a survey for all employees of the combined company to vote on what we should do with our new look for the tail ’“ keep the work that was done, or go back to the previous American.’
Parker made it clear that the option of a complete re-design of the livery if not on the table. “However you may feel about the new livery and branding, the fact is it would be irresponsible for us to start over from scratch. There are currently more than 200 aircraft in the new livery and the new flight symbol or, ’˜eagle’ as it’s sometimes called, and the related signage is up in many airports and facilities already.”
I had just flown about 18 hours non-stop from LA to Singapore, it was 5am local time, and I had about 30 hours on the ground before I headed back to the states on the world’s longest flight. I wasn’t sure if I was going to head out to Singapore or stick to the airport during my “layover.”
Since I was exhausted, not feeling too well, and knew the Changi Airport (SIN) had quite a bit to offer, I ended up never leaving the airport. Yes, my name is David and I am an #AvGeek.
Oh what a great holiday gift! This video shows the pilot’s perspective of moving Christmas trees quickly in Oregon to be sold for the holidays. This pilot is flying a Bell 206B-3 JetRanger helicopter and the video was taken in 2011.
According to The (Vancouver, Washington) Colombian, Oregon is the nation’s largest grower and exporter of Christmas trees. The state sells nearly seven million trees per year, which is a $100 million-plus industry in the state.
Obviously, the tree farms need to move all those trees quickly from where they are grown to the trucks, and what better way to move them than using a helicopter? (well, there surely isn’t a more fun way)
So, next time you buy a tree, make sure to ask for one that was transported using a helicopter!
On overview of hangar four shows a handful of aircraft in the shop. Most notably however, is the LOT 737-400 in the foreground. The airplane, now out of service, was painted gold to celebrate the free and fair elections in the country after the fall of communism.
By Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren and originally published November 20, 2013 on Airchive.com
As part of our trip to Poland in October we had an opportunity to visit LOT Aircraft Maintenance Services on a Saturday afternoon. Technically separate from LOT, the company can handle anything from a simple tire repair to a heavy D-check, aircraft painting to 737 avionics.
