The Miami-based Thales 787 simulators are already operating around the clock, according to Boeing. Photo: Chris Sloan / Airchive.com
Reported and Photographed from Miami by: Chris Sloan, Airchive.com Editor-in-Chief
Miami is now Boeing’s ’œSim City,’ but Airchive’s home base has been an aviation hub dating back to the early days of the industry. Hallowed names like Pan Am, National, Eastern, Glenn Curtis, Rich International, and Air Florida have played pivotal roles in the world’s aviation industry from South Florida. OK, maybe that last name is a bit of a stretch.
Today, Miami boasts America’s second-busiest international airport and number one international cargo airport ’“ MIA, American Airlines’ bustling Latin American hub, and the UPS hub of the Americas. Perhaps the most iconic name in aviation, Boeing joined South Florida’s famed aviation industry in 1997 when they established a joint-venture with Flight Safety, FlightSafety Boeing Training International.
In 2002, Boeing bought out their partner. They join Airbus’ Americas Training Center and the Pan Am Flight Academy (just purchased this week by Japan’s ANA) in the little Miami suburb of Virginia Gardens, now home to one of the largest concentrations of flight simulators and commercial aviation training of any city in the world.
Sparkling-new Air Canada 777-300ER C-FIVX at the Boeing Delivery Center, Paine Field, Everett WA. Photo: Bernie Leighton
It’s looking pretty busy at Air Canada (AC) and not just because they’ve launched their new “leisure airline,” rouge.
This summer, AC took delivery of the first two 777-300ERs from their latest five-plane order. When this order is completed, AC will have 17 -300ERs and 6 -200LRs in their international fleet. While AC’s new 777s look standard on the outside, they are very different inside.
Their newest 777s are configured in a new, three-class cabin, seating 458. That’s a huge 30% capacity increase from AC’s older 777-300ERs, which have 349 seats in a two-class arrangement. What all has changed? Obviously we had to take a closer look.
An AeroGal Boeing 767-300ER. Photo courtesy of Joe McBride, Kansas City Aviation Department.
I’ll be the first to admit it, I absolutely despise Eurowhite liveries. Unfamiliar with Eurowhite? The term refers to an all/mostly white plane with a bit of decoration here and there.
A Eurowhite livery is cheap, boring, uninspired and a huge loss from a branding and brand recognition perspective. Be that as it may, it’s a trend that started in Europe and quickly spread across the world. But not all is lost, let’s examine an airline that managed to take a boring concept and spruce it up a bit. Never thought I’d say it, but this is a Eurowhite livery that I’m a fan of.
British Airways Airbus A380 at the Paris Air Show. Image from Jason Rabinowitz / Airchive.com.
Even though the business phase of the Paris Air Show wound down on Thursday, orders and announcements continued at a rapid pace. Airbus and Boeing had a great PAS13 ’“ Airbus had 466 orders and commitments for commercial aircraft and Boeing had 442 total. Here’s some of what happened since our last update:
- Ryanair converted previous commitments into a huge order for 175 Boeing 737-800s, adding to the 303 -800s that Ryanair flies. As well, they might be placing an order for the 737 MAX by year-end. Ryanair CEO Ryan O’Leary said that ’œit wouldn’t be worth doing’ if the order wasn’t for at least 200 aircraft.
- Boeing announced that the 737 MAX’s Entry into Service (EIS) will be the 3rd quarter of 2017, about 6 months earlier than previously expected. Among other details released about the 737 MAX, the flight deck will have 4 large ’œlandscape’ displays, and the nose will be 8 inches higher to accommodate the larger fan diameter of it’s advanced LEAP-1B engines.
- Leasing and finance company, CIT Aerospace, ordered 30 737 MAX 8s.
Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport (YWG)
Photo: Gerry Kopelow
Dear YWG,
Somehow, AirlineReporter.com missed the opening of your new terminal in October, 2011. We must have been busy with the 787, A380, airline mergers and stuff like that. But we still want to talk about you.
And by the way, we do know that your full name is ’œWinnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport’, but frankly, that’s a lot to type over and over. So we’ll just call you YWG. Hope you’re OK with that.
Sincerely,
Howard at AirlineReporter.com
OK, everyone, let’s review what we know about YWG and Winnipeg, the capital city of the province of Manitoba, Canada.
