Monday, October 17, 2011

More A380s at LAX


Last week, Korean Air became the third airline to operate the A380 on scheduled flights at LAX, flying between Los Angeles and Seoul three times a week. I missed the inaugural flight thanks to a plumbing emergency at the theater, and since then the weather has not been ideal for photos. But here they are anyway, showing a recent arrival on Runway 25 Left on a very hazy morning:


Like Qantas and Singapore, the Korean A380 will usually be parked at either gate 101 or 123; in this case the former:

Seen here with an American B777-200;

And here with an American Eagle E140 and a SkyWest E120

Conditions were somewhat better by departure time. Due to taxiway construction on the north side of the airport, Runway 25 Left was the preferred runway for Korean's midday departure:

Korean A380 on Taxiway Alpha, All Nippon B773 on Bravo, SkyWest E120 on Charlie

Take off roll, with a newly-painted United B772 in the foreground

Still rolling, with a Fedex DC-10 in the background

A little further down the runway, with a Polar B744 in the background

That's an Eva Air MD-11 tail-on to the camera



For those planespotters among you, here is the schedule for A380s at LAX:

According to this schedule, which we received from the airport, Thursday is the best day for seeing an A380 at LAX: That's the one day that you can see A380s from all three carriers.

5 comments:

  1. My goodness, she doesn't get off the ground for a while does she? If I am looking at the photo correctly, she's down by the El Al pressure test building when she gets off the ground. That's a long roll from Aviation.

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  2. Thanks for the KE photos. I was on Imperial Hill and was pleasantly surprised to see her lift off from 25L. You mention construction on the north side. Would KE normally move to 24L for departure? Just thinking about future Saturday spotting trips :)

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  3. Actually, it looks like Tuesday and Saturday are also good as they get all three airlines as well. Qantas and Singapore come every day, so to get all three you just have to go on a day when Korean comes too. The difference with Thursday is that it has two Qantas flights.

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  4. I was boarding a flight on US AIR to Charlotte on Sunday (11:40 departure) when the KAL A380 took off from 24L. WOW! What a sight. I then returned the next Friday at 1900, and caught the AIR FRANCE A380 parked and loading at the gate.

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  5. My bad! Not AIR FRANCE, but SINGAPORE....

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