Pullmantur’s Boeing 747-400. Photo by Ken Fielding.
Madrid-based Pullmantur Air recently changed up its livery and it is quite the drastic change from the old livery if do say so myself. The fuselage of their aircraft is still predominantly of a white paint scheme, but the tail, forward section and winglets are now proudly sporting aqua & navy blue paint.
This charter airline, founded in 2003, currently operates a fleet of four 747-400s out of Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD).
Photo from Sky.com shows fire appears to be in the rear of the aircraft. Via NYCAviation.com.
Flights were suspended at London’s Heathrow Airport [LHR] at 16:30 BST due to a fire on an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The airport was re-opened at about 18:00 BST today .
The aircraft involved is ET-AOP, which is the first 787 Dreamliner to return to service after the world-wide grounding of the aircraft. No passengers were on board at the time of the fire and officials are trying to determine the cause. Photos show that the fire was in the rear of the aircraft with noticeable damage to the top of the fuselage. Due to the location of the fire, it appears that this is not related to the lithium-ion batteries, which have plagued the Dreamliner.
According to Sky News, the aircraft was parked at a remote stand and was there for more than eight hours before smoke was detected. The plane was scheduled to be used for flight ET701 to Addis Ababa at 9pm.
No, this A320 isn’t parked. It’s taxiing without the engines running. Check out the video after the break.
Photo: Benoà®t Vallet/Safran
Airlines are doing everything they can to reduce their fuel costs. You may have taken an airline flight recently where the crew taxied to or from the runway on one engine. Or you’ve noticed that the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) isn’t running when a plane is at the gate. Sometimes, if possible, instead of running the APU the plane can be plugged into “ground power,” getting it’s juice through a big extension cord from the terminal.
Airlines are also playing with new approach procedures that smooth out the descent and path to the runway, allowing crews to bring the power back to near-idle thrust and pretty well glide most of the way to the threshold and saving on fuel. The goal is to try and do anything to save fuel while keeping passengers safe.
Honeywell and Paris-based Safran Groupe have come up with some nifty new technology that could save airlines hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in fuel costs for each aircraft. It’s called the “Electric Green Taxi System” or EGTS, and it was recently demo’d at the Paris Air Show.
My ride was an Aerospatiale AS355N Twin Squirrel [B-KHS] – Photo: Mal Muir | AirlineReporter.com
This is the continuation of a multi-part series covering my trip from Seattle to San Jose to Narita to Hong Kong and back as a ANA Ambassador. The helicopter flight was provided by the Peninsula Hong Kong although all views are my own. Part1: San Jose to Tokyo on the 787 Dreamliner – Part2: Connecting in Tokyo’s Narita Airport – Part3: Tokyo to Hong Kong & Back. Again
Hong Kong is made up of over 421 square miles of land & water and is home to almost 7 million people. The two main islands that make up this Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China are Hong Kong Island (where the city gets its name) and also Kowloon. With ground space being so sparce, the city has been built up into the sky and what better way to see this amazing city than from the air in a helicopter?
The Peninsula is the only hotel in Hong Kong with it’s own roof top helipad — actually it has two! Both rated to 3 tonnes, these twin roof top pads are the home base to Heliservices Hong Kong’s Aerospatiale AS355N Twin Squirrel. This small, versatile helicopter can speed you between Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) and the hotel in just 10 minutes or taking you on a cruise over the city and surrounding islands.
Outside the Boeing 737 Factory in Renton, WA. Photo by Chris Sloan / Airchive.com.
This story was written by Chris Sloan and originally was published on Airchive.com. This is the first of a multi-part series looking at the Boeing 737 factory in Renton.
On the evening of March 18, 2013 Boeing’s Renton Plant rolled out its first Boeing 737, a 737-800 bound for Panamanian Airline COPA, at the astounding new production rate of 38 aircraft per month. Boeing had only reached 35 airplanes per month, its previous historic high commercial production rate in January 2012. 2 days later on March 20, 2013, Boeing delivered the 7500th 737, the 7,229nd example built at Renton (more on this later). By Spring 2014, the rate is expected to leap to 42 aircraft per month.
In 2015, Renton will begin production of the new 737 MAX that is due to enter commercial service in 2017, 50 years after the 737 first entered service in 1967! The Boeing 737 is the best-selling and longest continuously produced commercial airliner of all time with over 10,500 deliveries and orders. As of April, 2013 between the new Max (1,234) and current the Next-Generation (4,395), the 737 backlog stands at 3,136 aircraft. With the increased production rates, the current order book will take 6 ½ years alone to clear. Boeing’s current market outlook estimates 23,000 new narrow body airliner orders in the 737 / A320 families category over the next 20 years. Three draw dropping data-points stand out: