DUBAI: How does one go about making the world’s largest airliner, the Airbus A380, look small? Park it at the new Concourse A at Dubai International Airport, which was designed to handle the giant aircraft and all the high-end passengers who will fly in its premium cabins.
Earlier this year Emirates and Dubai International Airport opened the new concourse. David Parker Brown, a contributor to theAPEX editor’s blog was invited for a tour of the Emirates Airline first and business class lounges.
Concourse A opened on 2 January 2013 and is the world’s only dedicated and purpose built concourse for the Airbus A380. The rest of the airport is able to handle the aircraft, but the new concourse was purpose-built with the A380 in mind. A formidable undertaking for the airport and airline, US$3.3 billion terminal required 159,572,880 man-hours to build.
ANA Boeing 787 at Paine Field. Photo by David Parker Brown.
As 787s around the world return to the sky after the infamous battery incident, airlines work to get their aircraft back to full utilization. United Airlines resumed domestic services between its major hubs of Houston, Chicago & San Francisco, while Qatar Airways returned their Dreamliner to their short Dubai route before starting service back up to London. All Nippon Airways (ANA), which currently operates the largest 787 fleet of 18 aircraft, will start putting their 787s back to service starting June 1.
Prior to the battery incidents, ANA operates two Dreamliner flights to North America: Seattle (SEA) and San Jose (SJC). Once the grounding came into effect both routes were suspended and the industry speculated what would happen to the destinations. Other 787 services like Frankfurt & Beijing (both served from Tokyo Haneda) were changed to other aircraft to keep them active. Would SJC and SEA remain 787 destinations? Yes and no.
Staff are celebrating the opening of the new Delta T4 at New York JFK Airport – Photo: Mal Muir | AirlineReporter.com
With the closure of the famous Pan Am Worldport (T3) at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Delta decided to move their facilities to Terminal 4 (T4) and I was invited to join in on the grand opening. Even at 4am on the 24th of May (the day the new terminal opened), construction workers were still putting on the finishing touches. Since Delta is the primary tenant at T4, they started the day with a very large celebration.
The new T4 refurbishment and extension brings state of the art technology together with new services, shopping and dining facilities to provide an amazing new guest experience.
“Thanks to Delta’s $1.4 billion investment, travelers to and from JFK will experience a state-of-the-art facility with improved amenities and better services,” said New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Over the past six years, Delta has doubled the number of employees based at JFK and created quality construction jobs, with a focus on local hiring. We look forward to their continued expansion and partnership with New York City.”
Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182T Skylane. Photo by Dan Landson.
This story was written by Dan Landson for AirlineReporter.com.
Inside an unassuming building at the North Las Vegas Airport (VGT) there is a buzz of activity. Radios are busy with communications between ground crews and air crews. Teams are being dispatched to check potential threats, others being sent to search for missing aircraft. Reports of explosions, a possible terror cell spotted in a rural part of the state and the potential to save lives has the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in Nevada and California on high alert. These are just some of real-world scenarios that the Air Force’s Auxiliary responds to on a daily basis and today is no different; except it’s all a drill.
AirlineReporter.com was recently invited to get a behind the scenes look at a two-state, multi-agency training drill. The entire drill was being watched by Air Force officials who graded the CAP’s response. The actual mission started on May 10th and concluded on May 18th.
This video, by SpeedbirdHD, highlights multiple Airbus A380s landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The video shows Qantas, Air France, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and China Southern all touching down. So which one landed the best?
