In my last post, I showed you the Alaska 'Salmon-Thirty-Salmon', which a press release claimed was "the most elaborate design ever painted on a commercial jet". That's as may be, but if so then Qantas' 'Wunala Dreaming' must be a close second:
For more about 'Wunala Dreaming' or its smaller cousin 'Yananyi Dreaming' go here.
A while back I told you that Northwest had started using Airbus 330-200's on the LA - Tokyo route. Well now the Boeings are back! In the meantime, Northwest's LA ground operations have been combined with Delta's at Terminals 5 and 6. Here are a couple of shots of Northwest 1 and 2 at Terminal 6's gate 68B. Above is Northwest 2 just arriving from Tokyo in Northwest paint. Below, Northwest 1 in Delta colors loading for the outbound leg.
And speaking of Delta, they now go from LA to Sidney, Australia, using B777-200's. The plane arrives from Atlanta in the early evening and then goes on to Sidney. The return flight arrives shortly after sun up, and then the plane continues on to Atlanta. The flight number on the Atlanta legs (244 & 245, I believe) is different from the Sidney flights (16 & 17).
Another reappearance of Boeings has been with Virgin Atlantic, who has been bringing them in on at least one of their daily flights for the last couple of weeks. When I queried one of the arriving pilots about it, she speculated that it was for additional capacity, as the British school summer holiday had just begun and they were "chockers full".
One more Boeing to show you: Air France has been bringing in B777's for quite some time now, although until recently we also got Airbus 340's. I haven't seen any of the Airbuses in the last few months, but I have seen this revised Air France livery. Not dramatically different, the main changes are the lettering style, the addition of the red bar after the name, and the slightly simplified tail design. Probably a coincidence, but the first time I saw this scheme was a month or two after the Air France Airbus was lost over the South Atlantic.
Captain Vector:
ReplyDeleteGreat Blog. I LOVE the pics from the new(er) tower at LAX. I sat MANY MANY Days atop the theme building when it was still allowed, watching planes land. Never get tired of seeing magnificent airliners coming and going.
RE:Boeings are Back
I've been doing corporate travel bookings for more years than I care to admit.(30+)
We are actually seeing a LOT of people booking AWAY from Long Haul Airbus 300 series right now. I think they have a real black eye, especially because people have a feeling that Air France, Airbus and the French Gov't really didn't WANT to find the black boxes, so liability could not be proved.
It's a sad time for Airbus. Until they can reassure the public of the TRUE reason for the crash of AF#447 was NOT the plane itself, we may see a continued trend of "booking away."
I'm not surprised that you're seeing more and more Airbus long haul planes disappear from the longest markets. The only NEW entrant I've seen in QANTAS's A380 service to Sydney and Melbourne.