Who's That? Answers, Part 5

As promised, these are all international carriers seen at LAX.

This B763 is flown by Aeroflot, from Russia - nonstop service to/from Moscow. Good shots of Aeroflot at LAX are hard to come by, as they arrive late in the afternoon when the sun's glare is awful, and leave at dusk (as seen here) or after dark, depending upon the time of year.

Air New Zealand, seen here towing past a Virgin American A320. New Zealand has a couple of flights that arrive in the late morning. Since the outbound flights don't leave until later in the evening, the planes are towed to a maintenance ramp for the duration of their stay, thereby opening up the gates for other flights. Many of the international carriers do this at LAX.

Okay, this was a little sneaky - These are both Asiana, old and new schemes respectively. The new Asiana scheme is one of my current favorites - I like a lot of color. Asiana is the second of Korea's major airlines, the first being, naturally enough, Korean Air, which you've already seen. Asiana flies both passengers and cargo out of LAX. Both of these shots (which were taken about a year apart) show the same B744 aircraft and are passenger flights, although B744's are also used for cargo here. Asiana's passenger service is gradually being shifted to B772's while some of the B744's are being converted to cargo.

British Airways B744 just lifting off from runway 25 right. British Airways also has B772's, which I've seen at DFW, but they aren't bringing them here (yet).

An EVA Air B744 lifts off from runway 25 right. EVA is from Taiwan, and operates both passenger and cargo service at LAX. While this is a passenger flight, most of their passenger service here is with B773's. Cargo service uses primarily B744's with an occasional MD-11.

Thai Airways operates one of the longest nonstop commercial flights in the world, from Los Angeles to Bangkok. Average flight time is about 18 hours. Like Aeroflot, these guys are hard to photograph at LAX because of when they're here. In the summer, if they're early, you can catch the arrival in the early evening dusk, as seen here. The departure is well after dark, and during the winter, so is the arrival! This is an A345, although they have been known to show up in an A346 as well.

Emirates operates another of the world's longest nonstop commercial flights, from Dubai to Los Angeles, using B772's. While Emirates promoted the commencement of this route by bringing an A380 into LAX, we have yet to see one here in scheduled service, although I've heard rumors that Emirates may eventually bring the A380 to LAX. They were flying A380's
into New York's JFK, but that service stopped this month when the A380's were redeployed on other routes and JFK service is now in B777's. The Emirates A380 pulling out of JFK may leave LAX as the only US airport currently receiving A380 service (Qantas).