Watching a space shuttle take off is a pretty amazing experience. Seeing it take to the sky from an airliner is that much better. This is an amateur video of the Space Shuttle Discovery taking off for the last time. Some readers on Airliners.net pin-pointed the flight as a JetBlue flight from Orlando, FL to Richmond, VA.
Yesterday was a big day for Lufthansa and the Airbus A380. The airline started its first scheduled flight of the A380 to the United States. The flight from Frankfurt to New York’s JFK is the fourth Airbus A380 route for the airline, after Tokyo, Beijing and Johannesburg.
’œIn early 2007, Lufthansa and Airbus jointly landed the first Airbus A380 on U.S. soil, here in New York during a route-proving flight to North America. Now we are returning with scheduled A380 flight operation. New York is one of the most important markets for Lufthansa, so it was imperative for us to launch transatlantic flights on our flagship aircraft to this U.S. gateway,’ said Jens Bischof, Vice President The Americas for Lufthansa. ’œWe are proud to offer New Yorkers the option to experience this amazing aircraft, combined with Lufthansa’s award-winning service, thus taking the flying experience in all three classes to a whole new level,’ Bischof continued.
Although this is the first Lufthansa Airbus A380 flight to the US, this won’t be the last. The airline has already announced their plans to fly from Frankfurt to San Fransisco starting on May 10, 2011. According to ATI and Flight Global, the airline states the recent issues with the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines will not affect the delivery schedule of the A380. The airline plans to increase their A380 fleet to eight by mid-summer.
With increasing the number of A380’s and being the first customer of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, Lufthansa is quickly working on having one of the best aircraft fleets in the world.
Currently there aren’t too many Airbus A380 flights to and from the US. Dan Jones with the site Route Watch, walked me through the current flights:
Want more photos and video? Then check these out:
* Simpliflying’s coverage of the event
* Flight Global’s photos and video
* Runway Girl takes a look at the A380’s in flight entertainment
* Photos from NYC Aviation
In 2000, Trans World Airlines (TWA) was celebrating their 75th anniversary. It is too bad the airline would last only about a year longer before being merged with American Airlines at the end of 2001. I am not fully sure, but it appears this video was shown on the airline before taking off. The introduction from the manager of advertising is a little slow and dry, but work getting through to see the ten old advertisements from TWA. From “TWA’s the way” ad campaign from the 1960’s to the “one mission…yours” from the 1990’s, there’s a little bit of everything.
What has the room of the Boeing 747-100, but can land at more airports? Well, the DC-10 of course. This 1971 American Airlines shows how the DC-10 had a lounge in first class and economy. Those were the good ‘ol days right? Wonder how much one of those tickets cost from Los Angeles to Chicago. Today you can do it for about $150 each way. Try doing that back in 1971. Either way, enjoy this classic video.
Here is a quick video showing how Boeing kept the 747-8 Intercontinental hidden and then showed it off during their unveiling event inside the Boeing factory today. They had music playing and people on stage. It was a surprise when the curtains fell quickly and suddenly to show the orange liveried airplane. After the unveiling, the 10,000 employees, retirees and guests were able to get up close and personal to the airplane. Seeing parents who worked on the plane show it off to their children was very surreal. I just felt extremely lucky to have been able to join on this special event.