Brand New Uzbekistan Boeing 767-300ER (UK67003) at Paine Field. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
Uzbekistan Airways is the national airline of Uzbekistan and started operations on May 31, 1992 after taking over service of Aeroflot’s service in the region. The carrier has a mixed fleet of aircraft including the Airbus A310, Airbus A320, Antonov-24, Avro RJ85, Boeing 757-200, Boeing 767-300ER, Ilyushin Il-114 and the Yak-40. The airline also has orders for two Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
This is one livery that surely stands out. Normally Boeing 767s at Paine Field do not stand out amount the 747s and 787s, but the Uzbekistan livery forces one to take notice. The first time I saw it, I was a bit shocked, but now it has started to grow a bit on me.
So why would an airline paint their aircraft to be light blue up top, white in the middle and green on the bottom with red lines seperating them? Well, take a look at the Uzbekistan flag and you get a pretty good idea of their thought process.
This Eritrean Airlines Boeing 767 obviously has its front door un-latched at the time of landing. Click photo for larger view and check the door handle. Photo by Ken Fielding.
Airline enthusiast Ken Fielding caught an interesting shot while spotting in Manchester (MAN) on December 27, 2004. He took this photo of an Eritrean Airlines Boeing 767-300ER being ferried from Paris-de Gaulle (CDG). At the time, he did not realize the significance of the photo and took a closer look when he recently uploaded it to Flickr. Take a close look near the front of the plane and you will notice that the front door (1R) is unlatched (click on the photo, zoom in and you can easily see the handle in the up position).
It appears that the door was put into that position while at CDG and that the pressurization of the cabin kept the door closed during flight. Fielding reports that since the aircraft was on a ferry flight, there were no passengers on board. Still, that doesn’t give the crew a pass at not completing a simple task of flying safely: make sure all the doors are shut and locked. The crew should have noticed when arming the doors (which they obviously did not do) and/or there should have been an indicator in the cockpit.
I tried to reach out to Eritrean Airlines, but their website is not very helpful for finding contacts and since they are high-lighting stories from 2004, I am guessing it is not the most accurate. The airline went out of business in 2008, but started up again on July 16, 2011 with a pretty slick new livery.
Photo by Ken Fielding
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Condor’s Boeing 767-300ER (D-ABUB) arrives in Seattle with flags waving.
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Ribbon cutting ceremony inside the terminal.
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The 767 receives a water canon salute.
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Condor’s 767 takes off for Frankfurt.
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The blue-bellied aircraft lifts off from Seattle.
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Onward to Germany.
All photos by David Lilienthal / NYCAviation.com – Click any for larger version
Condor Airlines, a low-frills airline based in Germany, commenced their first Seattle (SEA) to Frankfurt (FRA) flight yesterday using a Boeing 767-300ER (D-ABUB). The first flight, arrived about 4:00pm PST and was greeted by a water canon salute and a celebration at the South Terminal.
The new flight will commence twice per week and offer three classes of service: 18 seats in Comfort Class, 35 seats in Premium Economy (with 6 inches additional legroom) and 217 in economy. Condor will provide competition for Lufthansa who currently flies daily between Seattle and Frankfurt.
Seattle becomes Condor’s fifth destination in the US after Anchorage, Fairbanks, Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas. Seattle has seen 6.7% increase in international traffic this year compared to 2010 and expects to see 23% more seats this summer to Europe versus last. Seattle currently operates flights to 19 foreign destinations that are served by 11 airlines.
’œThis new airline service will generate local jobs, provide more choices for travelers from Seattle to Europe, and provides capacity for air cargo between Seattle and Europe,’ said Mike Ehl, Director of Operations at Seattle Tacoma International Airport. ’œWe welcome Condor Airlines as part of our growth in international traffic.’
Condor Airline’s is Germany’s second largest airline and provides flights from Germany to mostly leisure destinations. The airline operates a fleet of 34 aircraft including the Boeing 757-300, Boeing 767-300ER and Airbus A320.
This story was a joint effort between AirlineReporter.com and NYCAviation.com
