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.
The new Final Assembly Building in South Carolina
Boeing has been busy this week releasing one important press release after another. I am a little behind still, so I decided to put them all in one easy to follow blog to keep everyone updated:
BOEING OPENS NEW SOUTH CAROLINA 787 FINAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING
Boeing has officially opened the second location where the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be built – North Charleston South Carolina. Although the 787 is a bit behind schedule, the new facility was completed six months ahead of its origional schedule. The final assembly of the first South Carolina-built 787 Dreamliner will begin later this summer. Once up and running, the facility is expected to produce three 787 Dreamliners per month.
The new Final Assembly building encompasses 642,720 square feet and used one million cubic feet of concrete. Compare that to the Boeing Factory in Everett, WA being 4,299,967 square feet.
BOEING STARTS SHARING ON FLICKR
If you read the blog, you know I have loved following Boeing through their social media exploration. Not too long ago, they started a YouTube account adn now they have started Flickr — be sure to follow.
AIRCRAFT DELIVERY MILESTONES
This week Boeing delivered their 50th aircraft to Egyptair and their 275th Boeing 737 Next Generation to GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). Boeing also delivered Angola Airline’s first 777-300ER.
BOEING 747-8F FLYING TO PARIS ON BIOFUEL
This will be the first time that an airliner has flown across the Atlantic Ocean using BioFuel. Boeing pilots Capt. Keith Otsuka and Capt. Rick Braun and Cargolux Capt. Sten Rossby will fly the airplane with each of the 747-8 Freighter’s four GE GEnx-2B engines powered by a blend of 15 percent camelina-based biofuel mixed with 85 percent traditional kerosene fuel (Jet-A).
BOEING EXPECTS DEMAND FOR 33,500 NEW PLANES OVER NEXT 20 YEARS
That is a lot of moola — about $4trillion to be exact. Boeing forcasts that the world fleet will double by 2030 and obviously want to get in on the action. Boeing is concentrating on growth in China and India with most new aircraft deliveries taking place in Asian Pacific countries.
Image: Boeing
Aviation in Seattle is always fun!
Attention Seattle peeps: This is a good weekend for aviation. There are two aviation-themed events going down that you might want to check out:
NATIONAL WINGS OF FREEDOM TOUR
In honor of our WWII Veterans, this tour features the iconic B-17 Flying Fortress, the only fully restored and flying B-24J Liberator and the legendary P-51 Mustang. You have the ability to tour the inside of the aircraft and even get a flight. You can explore the inside of the aircraft for $12 ($6 for kids) or you can hitch a 30-minute ride for $425. Want to take full control? You can get a little “stick” time with the P-51 mustang for $2,200 for 30-min. Probably not something most people can experience, but if you have the means, what an experience. The tour will be at the Flying Heritage Collection at Paine Field from 2pm today until June 20th. After that, they will be hanging out down at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field from June 24-26th.
AMERICAN HEROES AIR SHOW SEATTLE
This is a free helicopter static display aviation event paired with the Code 3 Career Fair, a public service employment recruiting fair complete with vehicles for a hands-on experience for all ages that is located at the Museum of Flight going on this Saturday June 18th from 10a-3pm.
OLYMPIC AIRSHOW
This 13th anniversary event, held June 18-19, 2011, will feature tactical demonstrations including the U.S. Air Force’s A-10 West Coast Demonstration Team! Also visiting for the first time is the Commemorative Air Force’s B-17 Flying Fortress Sentimental Journey, and the B-25 Mitchell Maid In The Shade. Tickets are only $12 if purchased online or $15 at the door.
Helicopters and old war birds, how can you go wrong? Have I said recently how much I love living in Seattle?
Aeroflot's first Superjet during her delivery flight.
Russian airline Aeroflot has taken delivery of their first Sukhoi Superjet 100. They become the second airline to operate the Superjet 100 after Armavia, which has been flying the aircraft since April 19th.
The airline plans to enter the aircraft into service between Moscow and St. Petersburg starting today and Aeroflot is scheduled to receive 10 Superjets in 2011, 12 in 2012 and eight in 2013.
The Superjet 100 is a 75-95 seat regional airliner made by the Russian manufacturer Sukhoi. It is intended to replace older TU-134s and Yakovlev Yak-42s. A collection of Russian companies have come together to develope and produce the new aircraft. It is being reported that Sukhoi is looking at the possibility of creating a larger version that could hold 100-130 passengers and at creating a corporate version of the Superjet.
So far, all the news about the aircraft has not been positive. According to Epress.am, a Moscow-based blogger has reported that there are some serious quality issues with the interior of Armavia’s Superjet. He has taken a few flights and was shocked to see the condition of the interior and had difficult time getting photos to show proof.
’œI soon realized why the crew was so concerned about taking photographs on board. The brand new airplane was falling apart. Despite the fact that it’s been less than a month that the airplane has been carrying out regular flights, the interior was in a deplorable state. The hatches either couldn’t fit or didn’t hold the oxygen masks [it was supposed to hold].
Hopefully these are just a few signs of a new aircraft that might not have had all the bugs worked out before delivery. A few interior panels not fitting is a much different issue than the condition of the mechanics or the fuselage which so far have had no reported issues.
Image: Vasily Kuznetsov
