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A380 winglet left in building.
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A380 wing hit building in Paris.
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The A380 winglet is left behind.
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Aerial shot from damaged wing. Photo by Reuters.
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A Korean Air A380 was used instead. Photo by apgphoto/Flight Global.
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Side shot of the damage on the Airbus A380. Photo by Niek van der Zande.
Click any photo for larger version. Photos by Niek van der Zande, via FlightBlogger and Reuters.
Airbus flew a double-decker Airbus A380 to the 2011 Paris Airshow to put on display and to hopefully attract additional customers. However, while taxiing, the world’s largest airliner’s wing clipped a building ripping off the right winglet and putting the aircraft out of service and unable to fly.
Luckily an A380 owned by Korean Air came to the rescue and flew one of their A380s t0 the Paris Air Show. Being the largest airliner has its benefits and challenges — this is not the first time the A380s size has been an issue. Recently, an Air France A380 struck the tail of a CRJ 700, causing it to spin out.
A spokesperson for Airbus told AirlineReporter.com that the A380, “took the taxiway it was instructed by ground control to take.”
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This will be China Southern’s first Airbus A380
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Airbus A380 with China Southern Airlines livery
The first China Southern Airline Airbus A380 has rolled out of the paint shop in Hamburg Germany. This is one of five A380s that have been ordered by China Southern and the airline should take delivery of their first during the second half of 2011.
Both photos from Airbus. Click either for much larger version.
Fun, cool and trendy Peach Airlines livery on an Airbus A320.
Soon, Japan will have another Low Cost Carrier (LCC) option for passengers: Peach Airlines. The airline will operate out of Kansai International Airport (KIX) in Osaka, Japan. Peach plans to start operations no later than March 2012 between Sappora and Fukuoka and to Seoul in May 2012.
The airline has three major share holders: All Nippon Airways (ANA), Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and the First Eastern Investment Group. Although ANA holds a slightly larger share than the other two investors, I am told the airline will operate independently from ANA.
According to the airline, the name “Peach” was chosen to symbolize energy and happiness across Asian countries. ’œThe name Peach was chosen to reflect our mission of becoming a completely new type of airline that links destinations in Japan and Japan with Asia,” Peach Aviation CEO, Shinichi Inoue stated. “Our promise is to provide safe, low cost travel 365 days of the year, making air travel easier and more accessible. Our airline will also reflect the smart sophistication that has come to represent the words ‘Cool Japan’.”
Although the name might be “Peach,” their livery will be made up of purples and pinks. The colors are supposed to represent “cuteness, coolness and happiness.” Okay, we can go with that. At this point, the airline only has graphical representations of the livery, but an airline spokesperson said we should be able to see the livery an an aircraft sometime in the fall. The airline planes to lease brand new Airbus A320 aircraft in an all economy 180-seat configuration.
The airline has shown some possible concepts of their flight crew’s uniform and they look very trendy, laid back and young.
Interior mock up for Peach Airline's Airbus A320.
You might not realize that P.E.A.C.H. is also an acronym. According the website it matches up to the type of experience you should expect: Pan ’“ Asian, Energetic, Affordable, Cute & Cool, Happy.
The airline explained to me over email that they, “are targeting a wide range of people, but much of our focus is targeting young females.”
Is Japan ready for a low cost airline targeted at the younger and more female population? I am not sure, but it sure seems like ANA and other investors sure thing so.
EDIT: I had originally stated Peach would be Japan’s first Low Cost airline, that is incorrect, I have updated the story. Thanks.
Air Bucharest Boeing 737-300 (YR-TIB)
Air Bucharest is an airline based in Bucharest, Romania and operates charter and lease flights to various destinations in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. The airline was founded in July 2010 and currently has only one Boeing 737-300 in an all economy configuration.
I actually really like the basic foundation of this livery. The swooping blue and red lines on the fuselage and the tail are clean, but colorful. The aircraft is currently on lease from TinarAir and it appears it once flew with them in a very similar livery. Air Bucharest added six flowers to the fuselage and two to the engine nacelles which is a bit of an overkill, but I assume they wanted to customize the livery. In many recent photos (including this one), the nose cone was replaced and has not been repainted. The livery looks much more completed with the nose cone painted and hopefully that is on the airline’s to-do list.
Image: Ken Fielding
With all the flights that United operates each day, is 15 really that big of a deal?
Most times I won’t cover stories that are picked up by the mainstream media, but I couldn’t help myself with this one. Yesterday late afternoon, United experienced a computer outage at their Phoenix facility. If you read most of the stories on this you would have thought hundreds of flights were cancelled and many lives were ruined.
According to the AP, the power outages lead “to widespread cancellations Friday night,” creating, “thousands of stranded travelers.” Hmm really? Well Friday night saw 15 flights cancelled and then today there have been an additional 16. United operates over 3000 flights per day and 15 out of 3000 would not really be my definition of “widespread.” Yes, many folks were delayed and still inconvenienced but the world was still spinning. I think when thunderstorms rolled through Chicago recently more flights were cancelled than this.
Of course, this matters more to someone if you are one of the stranded people. It just is troublesome when it seems the airline industry gets unfairly picked on when they are operating the most complex transportation system in the world. This is a multifaceted business and when you have an airline operating over 3000 flights and managing almost 700 aircraft, things will go wrong — that is just the nature of the business. It seems most people are willing to forgive other businesses that are far less complex for their mistakes, but rarely the airline business.
When I am frustrated by the airlines I try to stop and remember two things: 1) Lois CK video on airlines and 2) What my trip would have been like just 100 years ago. Things can always be worse.
