Baltia Air Lines Boeing 747-200 (N705BL) at LAX aftering being taken out of the airline junkyard in August 2010..
I have loved following Baltia Air Lines for quite sometime now. Since August 2009 when Tom Luly on The Airline Blog first talked about the airline, or lack of an airline, I have been intrigued.
Really the story starts long ago. Back in 1989, Baltia Air Lines was founded in New York City. The idea was to provide service from New York to what used to be the Soviet Union. After lots of planning, it looked like things were going well for the start up. Baltia had plans to fly to multiple cities in the Soviet Union and were looking to purchase a few Boeing 767’s and 737’s. Then the Soviet Union collapsed, which was great for America, but not so great for the new American-based Baltia Air Lines. There was too much instability in the Baltic region and plans to start a new airline were shelved.
It took until 1996 when Baltia was able to get authority to fly from New York (at JFK) to St. Petersberg. At the time Baltia was planning on flying a single Boeing 747 and in 1998 put a $100,000.00 down payment for an ex-Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-200. However, in 1999, the airline did not have enough capital to start flying and the Department of Transportation (DOT) revoked their route authority. In 2007, Baltia received more capital and once again filed to fly from JFK to St. Petersburg. The DOT approves the plan and allowed them to fly in 2008.
When Luly with The Airline Blog first contacted Baltia back in August 2009, they assured him they were planning on purchasing one Boeing 747 from an airline that was based in the US. Many were skeptical that the airline would actually purchase an aircraft and questioned if the airline would ever take off (pun intended).
It was quite shocking when they announced that they purchased a Boeing 747-200. They didn’t end up getting a 747 from an American carrier, but they still found one. Baltia ended up purchasing one which was first delivered to TAP Air Portugal in 1975. Then in 1976 it was sold to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), where it flew until it was stored in 2005. Then in July 2009, Baltia Air Lines purchased the jumbo jet and registered it as N705BL. They paid a little less than a half-million for the plane, which did not come with engines.
Baltia Air Lines Boeing 747-200 (N705BL) arriving to Malaysian Airline System Berhad ("MAS") facility in Malaysia for scheduled maintenance
Even though they had a plane, it became questionable if it would ever fly. Doubters were amazed, when on August 4th 2010, she arrived at the Malaysian Airlines Maintenance Center where it will be updated and painted.
The choice of an older, less fuel efficient aircraft is a bit puzzling. Of course there is a lower up front cost, but it will cost a lot in the long run. Will passengers be willing to fly in such an old aircraft? Will most even realize how old she really is?
This airline surely is interesting. Not only a US airline flying passengers in a Boeing 747-200, but flying non-stop to major Russian cities is too good to ignore. These people sure seem to have the drive and ambition to make an airline happen, no matter what the time line.
The keen eye of a ramp worker caught N705BL at LAX on its way to Malaysia (photo) and was allowed to go in to take a look. The interior is still looks like PIA (photo), but they plan to install a VIP interior. I kind of hope they can keep the classic spiral stair case going up to the upper deck (photo).
More recently, Baltia Air Lines has announced the purchase of a second Boeing 747 and that they plan to start flying during the second quarter of 2011. According to Airliners Gallery News, Baltia Air Lines President, Igor Dmitrowsky stated, ’œSignificant progress has been made in the FAA Air Carrier Certification document process and that Baltia is anticipating a second quarter launch.” He continued with, “There are still other pre-launch certification tasks to be accomplished such as the completion of the Safety Attribute Inspection audit process of the manuals, the completion of maintenance on our newly acquired Boeing 747 aircraft, the training of our crewmembers, and the mini evacuation test and proving flights, which should all be completed prior to our inaugural flight.’
You can be sure I will be keeping a close eye on Baltia and sharing anything new they might have.
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 777-200LR (ET-ANP) at Paine Field. Click for more photos.
Ah, the life of waiting for a first flight in Seattle: cold, rain, wind, but no Boeing 787 Dreamliner. ZA102, the ninth Dreamliner, was set to take off for the first time today, but it has been pushed until at least tomorrow, Tuesday. The engines started up for a while, but then shut down and the left cowl was opened up. This didn’t mean Paine Field was short of any action this morning. There were two Boeing 777’s that took off, one Boeing 747-8 (BOE503) and a few Ryanair Boeing 737’s that did touch and goes.
Although millions of dollars are spent on airline security each year in the United States, it only took $100.00 for a JetBlue ticket agent to allow a unknown package to go onto a flight, coming from an unknown person.
On November 19, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was at Charlotte Douglas Airport testing out JetBlue’s security. Their goal was to try and get an unaccompanied package onto a flight headed to Boston and unfortunately, they succeeded. An undercover TSA agent told a JetBlue ticket agent that he needed to get a package to Boston that day and would pay the agent $100.00 for helping. The agent took the $100, put it in his pocket and proceeded to follow the unknown person’s instructions. The ticket agent chose a passenger’s name at random, which just happened to be an unaccompanied minor, and the package went through the screening process with no problems. Although the package was harmless, the TSA pulled the package just before being loaded onto the aircraft.
’œThat’s really alarming,’ Anthony Amore, a former high-ranking TSA official at Logan Airport told a local Boston CBS station. ’œWhen you have multiple layers in place you hope that they all stand in the way of a terrorist or someone who wishes us harm. In this instance, many of the layers were cast aside and we were left with this one layer of checked baggage screening.’
When the local station asked the TSA for a comment, they were told, “While we cannot comment on the specifics of an open investigation, TSA can assure travelers that, like checked baggage, every package tendered at the airline counter is screened for explosives.’ JetBlue confirmed that they are ’œfully cooperating with the TSA’s investigation’ and ’œthe involved crew member is no longer employed at JetBlue.’
I do not share this story to cause additional security-related fear, nor do I want to “teach the terrorists” how to commit crimes against passengers. I share it, since I think it shows how spending so much money on the front door of airline security and so little attention on the back is a big mistake. Although JetBlue is partly to blame for training issues, this could have happened with almost any airline. They just happened to have a bad-seed-employee in the wrong place at the wrong time. Currently, the TSA is not talking about how often they conduct these sorts of tests and how often they get a package through.
Sadly, this story is just one of many that place many questions on back-door airport security. At the same exact airport, just a few days earlier, a teenager was able to sneak onto the airport secured area, illegally board a US Airways aircraft without being caught (unfortunately, he died en-route). There is also the story of the pilot who pointed out that airport security workers could by-pass security and caused him a lot of grief. Similar stories keep popping up and I have a feeling more will continue to do so. As passengers continue to give up their freedoms and are willing to put up with many annoyances to fly, while at the same time seeing how porous the security is behind the scenes, people will take note and demand for change.
ZA102 sitting on the factory floor in June 2010. Photo by Jon Ostrower.
Jon Ostrower (via Flight Blogger) and Matt Cawby (via KPAE blog) have both confirmed that the 9th Boeing 787 Dreamliner (ZA102 – N1006F), will be taking flight from Paine Field tomorrow. Although Boeing doesn’t confirm the time of lift off, I assume it should be around 10am.
ZA102 will be the first Dreamliner to actually be delivered to an airline and fly passengers. It is painted in the All Nippon Airways (ANA) tail, but has a white body. It is expected that ANA will have a special livery for this Dreamliner.
If you are in the Seattle area and have Monday off, head on over to Paine Field and experience a Dreamliner taking off for the first time. The weather says it will most likely rain, but that shouldn’t stop you. I am hoping to try and do a live video feed via my iPhone, but we shall see how it goes. Follow Twitter for the updates on the first flight of ZA102.
We are all still waiting on Boeing’s updated delivery schedule for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner after ZA002’s fire. For more information on the rest of the 787 test fleet, check out Ostrower’s most recent blog.
We are getting closer and closer to the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental’s first flight. Boeing is preparing for the date and on January 8th, completed their first practice flight of the actual airplane. No, you didn’t miss the first flight of the airplane, the test was totally done on the ground, in the Boeing factory.
This was the first time all all the onboard systems were tested at the same time during the factory gauntlet testing and everything went well.
From what I am seeing, we should be seeing the rollout of the plane maybe in the next few weeks and hopefully first flight shortly after that.
