A Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental on the factory floor in Everett.
I love a good mystery. Today Boeing sent out a media advisory saying that tomorrow there will be an event in New York City to, “announce a significant airplane purchase agreement.” Now, what could this be?
The release does not say much, but gives away two interesting details. First, it will be held at a very nice hotel. I don’t want to name the exact hotel, but if I were to try and get a room there tomorrow, the cheapest is over $600.00 and the Penthouse is about $10,000. Not your Motel 6.
Also Ray Conner, President and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes will be at the announcement as well. He doesn’t really show up to many order announcements, so this is something special.
So who will be the airline and what aircraft will they be ordering? Some of my thoughts:
The venue is nice. I think this eliminates most low cost carriers, at least those in the US. Actually, I would be surprised if this was a US carrier at all. The only US carrier, who would be making a Boeing purchase and announcing in NYC I could see is Delta. But my bet is a foreign carrier.
My guess is the order will be significant. Either with the number of planes or aircraft type. There have been some pretty large numbers of 737 orders already and it would probably need to be significant for this sort of announcement.
Honestly, I hope that it is an order for the 747-8 Intercontinental — especially from a US carrier. There haven’t been very many and additional orders would call for celebration.
I wouldn’t see this being an order for the 787 Dreamliner. It is still a sore topic and not currently flying.
I think the Boeing 737 MAX is a great airplane, but no offense, the order announcements are not as exciting anymore. I am kind of hoping for a different aircraft type.
A MAX order from JetBlue (who is based in NYC) would excite me, but I do not see that happening.
Could this be a combo? Boeing could officially announce the 777X and the first airline to order it? It seems a bit early, but it would take some attention away from the 787 and help to move Boeing forward.
Stay tuned. @AirlineFlyer will be reporting for @AirlineReporter in New York City tomorrow and follow both Twitter accounts for the announcement. The event is set to start at 10:15am EST. Until then…
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Who do you think the airline will be? What aircraft will they order? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Update:Reuters is reporting that they are hearing Ryanair will announce an order for 150 Boeing 737 NG’s tomorrow. Sure, great for Boeing to keep their 737NG (which is still a great plane) line going. Also would be good for Ryanair to finally be able to add more aircraft and routes, but I hope that this is not the announcement. Just not very exciting or sexy — give me some wide bodies here.
Also, the location of a posh hotel does not make sense for Ryanair, since they want to be seen as an ultra low-cost carrier. The biggest question for me is: Why New York City? Now, if they are announcing the 737 order and plans to fly to NYC, then I am interested for sure.
I am going to say that I do not think Ryanair will be involved with tomorrow’s announcement.
Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330 receiving a nice farewell. Photo from Hawaiian Airlines.
This past week, Hawaiian Airlines launched another new route to its network: Honolulu to Auckland, New Zealand. The new service will use their 294-seat Airbus A330-200.
The new service will be three days a week; Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Honolulu (HA 445) and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from Auckland (HA 446). This new route makes Hawaiian the only US carrier to serve Auckland.
’œWe have been delighted by the interest in our new service, both here at home and in New Zealand,’ said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and CEO. ’œThe deep cultural connections between our islands and the islands of Aotearoa make New Zealand a natural destination for Hawaiian and for our singular brand of authentic Hawaiian hospitality.’
Hawaiian Dancers celebrate the New Zealand flight. Photo from Hawaiian Airlines.
’œThe United States is a vital market for New Zealand leisure and business travel, and is a key focus for our marketing efforts given the significant potential for growth that exists,” Tourism New Zealand’s Chief Executive Kevin Bowler stated.
This is the first of three new services announced to launch this year, along with Sendai, Japan and Taipei, Taiwan. In the last couple of years the airline’s aggressive expansion has included numerous routes to Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Tahiti, American Samoa and increased service to Australia.
The inaugural flight of HA 445 was celebrated with gate side festivities that included Hawaiian music and hula, a performance honoring the Maori culture and a traditional Hawaiian blessing
Hawaiian Airlines Maori Dancers during inaugural celebration. Photo from Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines has also announced that it plans to move up its Portland to Honolulu Airbus A330-200 launch date as it is taking earlier than expected delivery of new aircraft. The route is currently flown using a Boeing 767. Portland can now expect the A330 to start service on April 20th, which is about three weeks early.
The airline has been in the process of replacing their aging Boeing 767-300’s and has also announced orders for the Airbus A321neo as they continue their rapid expansion across the Pacific.
This story written by…Brandon Farris, Correspondent.
Brandon is an avid aviation geek based in Seattle. He got started in Photography and Reporting back in 2010. He loves to travel where ever he has to to cover the story and try to get the best darn shot possible.
If you are looking for some hard hitting plot, you won’t find it in this video. However, if you are looking or some great angles of the 737 and some cheezy music (yea you might want to hit mute), then you have come to the right place.
We have seen the new American livery on a Boeing 737, Boeing 777 and a Bombardier CRJ700. Now, there has been a newly painted American Airlines Boeing 767-300ER spotting in the wild; LAX to be exact.
SpeedBirdHD caught N7375A taxiing back and taking off — once again, another great video.
American Airlines Boeing 767-300ER (N368AA). Photo by SpeedbirdHD.
It seems that more and more of you are starting to either be okay or (heaven forbid) actually like the new livery. I just can’t wait to see it on the Boeing 757, which I think is the aircraft that almost all liveries look best on.
The ground is painted to prepare for an Airbus A380 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Photo by Brandon Farris.
For most passengers, they probably do not notice the painted lines below the planes at the gate showing where the front wheel should be for different aircraft types. But for an AvGeek, it is always fun to see what aircraft a gate can handle.
Currently, there are no Airbus A380 aircraft flown into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), but will that change soon? This week, three gates at the South Terminal had “A380” painted on the ground, but why? Sigh… turns out still no A380 service — for now.
“Yes, that is an A380 spot,” Perry Cooper Airport Media and Public Affairs Manager for SEA explained to AirlineReporter.com. “It is marked just for emergency purposes. That would be the space we’d park it. We do have a couple of other spots marked for it in the cargo area.”
Perry also pointed out the the airport does not have the facilities, such as double jet bridges, to handle the A380 on anything more than an emergency basis. The airport is planning on only having one gate prepared for the A380 and will be making the decision which one of the gates (S11, S15, S16) will make the cut.
Will Seattle see an Airbus A380 someday? Photo by Jason Rabinowitz.
Currently, there are only two airlines operating the Boeing 747-400 out of Seattle (Eva Air and British Airways — and Delta starting later this year) and having additional opportunities to spot large birds is always welcomed.
Although short-term we will unlikely see an A380 flying out of SEA, that could change in the future. There are three airlines that operate the A380 and also fly to Seattle: Emirates, Lufthansa and Korean Air. If one of them would start A380 operations, but my guess would be Emirates. But at this time, the airport states that they are not in talks with any airlines on starting A380 service.
Seattle continues to grow with additional international traffic to Asia and Europe and I could see the demand for the A380 happening in the future.
This story written by…David Parker Brown, Editor & Founder.
David started AirlineReporter.com in the summer of 2008, but has had a passion for aviation since he was a kid. Born and raised in the Seattle area (where he is currently based) has surely had an influence and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else in the world.
