This model of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in ANA Star Alliance livery was at Narita Airport. Click for larger.
While on a layover at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, I found a very large model of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in special All Nippon Airways (ANA) Star Alliance livery.
ANA has told AirlineReporter.com that they, “are not planning to use the Star Alliance livery for the 787s for now.” That means we might have to wait a bit longer to see this on a bigger version.
Boeing has announced it expects to delivery its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to ANA either August of September of this year. The first 787 will have a special ANA livery which was announced during the Paris Air Show.
Lufthansa is using this Airbus A321 (D-AIDG) to operate their first scheduled flight using biofuels.
Airlines and airline manufactures have been experimenting with biofuels for quite sometime. It has been successfully shown that airliners are able to fly on biofuel and companies around the globe are working to make sure it is economically feasible and sustainable.
Last week, Lufthansa Airlines started flying an Airbus A321 (D-AIDG) on scheduled service from Hamburg to Frankfurt using a 50/50 mix of regular and biofuel on one of its engines and standard jet fuel in the other.
“The main focus of this test is to examine the effects of biofuel on the lifecycle of the engines and other operational issues,” Martin Riecken, Director Corporate Communications, The Americas explained to AirlineReporter.com. “Two of the main roadblocks are availability of biofuel on a larger scale and the price point. Right now, biofuel is about 60-70 percent more expensive than regular jetfuel.”
The aircraft will operate on the biofuel for a test period of six months. The biofuel is similar enough to jet fuel, that the aircraft needs no additional modifications.
Christoph Franz, Chairman and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, said via a press release: ’œLufthansa is the first airline worldwide to use biofuel in scheduled daily flight operations. We are thus continuing to steadily implement our proven and successful strategy for sustainability.’
The fuel used on the Lufthansa A321 is developed from pure biomass and consists of jatropha, camelina and animal fats. The airline requires that the original product originates from a sustainable supply and is not in direct competition with food production.
When asked if Lufthansa plans to continue to fly with the biofuel Riecken replied, “There are no current plans to continue biofuel operations after the completion of the six-month test phase, but we will continue to support further research efforts.”
By implementing new technologies, Lufthansa has improved their fuel efficiency by over 30 percent since 1991 and on average, their fleet has a fuel consumption of 56 MPG per passenger.
This is a classic commercial for Republic Airlines. I chose it not only for the retro Boeing 727 and DC-9, but for sharing the idea of positive letters. Believe it or not, airlines actually do receive letters like this and I have been to more than one airline headquarters where they proudly display them on the wall, to remind workers that some folks are appreciative. For most airlines, all letters (good or bad) are read.
The Republic Airlines in this video is not the same today that operates Frontier. In 1986 Republic Airlines was purchased by Northwest Airlines, which is now part of Delta.
The livery on this Jet2holidays Boeing 737-800 (G-GDFD) looks mighty similar to Allegiant Air's livery.
If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it has to be a duck right? Not always. The image above is for a Jet2holidays Boeing 737, but that livery looks mighty familiar doesn’t it? It seems to have a lot in common with Allegiant Air’s livery, but for good reason.
Allegiant Air has leased two of their Boeing 757s (current registered as G-LSAL and G-LSAM) to Jet2holidays and they are flying them with a modified Allegiant livery. It appears they have now painted their 737 in a similar, but not exact same livery — which has become their new livery.
It is not bad looking, but I think Allegiant’s looks better. It does give you an idea what Allegiant’s livery would look like on a Boeing 737.
I tried to emails Jet2holidays to get some more information on the livery update, but to date, I have not received a reply.
Have you ever looked out the window and wondered "what's that?" There are some helpful apps to inform you.
Have you ever been flying and looked out the window and wonder where the heck you are and what is that object? You might just ask your seat neighbor, but I think half the time they are just making up the answer.
Mark Vanhoenacker, on a NYTimes Travel Blog, has some ideas on how to make your flight more educational.
Vanhoenacker looks at two apps that can help you ID those mountain peaks or bodies of water you aren’t sure about. First there is WindowSeat, that does not require an internet connection and it does not even use GPS. You tell the app where and when you take off and it makes a good guess on your location and flight plan. If it guesses wrong, you can adjust its location, so it might take a little finessing.
If you are on a flight with internet access, Vanhoenacker suggests looking at MondoWindow which gives you an interactive map of your flight, providing live information. I haven’t tried either of these yet, but I am excited to see how they work. Of course, they become less useful when you are flying above clouds.
Are there other apps that help you figure where you are at? Or do any of you carry an old fashion paper map?
