Our newest Dreamliner

As of mid-March, LAX has another carrier bringing the Dreamliner to Los Angeles. Japan Airlines has introduced the B787 on a new (for them) route that restores passenger service between LAX and Osaka's Kansai airport. Prior to this, the only service between Los Angeles and Osaka was a daily cargo flight operated by China Airlines (callsign: Dynasty). Some time back, EVA Air offered passenger service to Kansai, but that was at least four or five years ago. Coincidentally, both China Airlines and EVA Air are both Taiwanese carriers. Kansai airport is on an artificial island in Osaka Bay; nominal flight time from LAX is just under twelve hours. Japan Air's Dreamliners are noteworthy for their comparatively low seating capacity: each of the other B787 operators at LAX have their B787-8s configured for well over 200 passengers, while Japan Air's aircraft seat 186.

Shot of the day: Bird watching

Or perhaps the title should have been Bird washing:

KLM refresh

A recent reader comment alerted me to the LAX debut of KLM's revised livery. I have to admit that when I first saw it, I thought that I'd gotten the wrong day, as the new paint scheme isn't dramatically different from the old scheme. As a refresher, the opening shot shows a recent arrival of the old livery. The following shots all feature the new:

Let's go racing!

One of the newest carriers at LAX is Etihad, from the United Arab Emirates. The nonstop to/from Abu Dhabi is around fifteen hours in a B777-200LR. The aircraft in the opening shot has markings commemorating the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Last year and again this year, Abu Dhabi is the site of the final race in the Formula One racing season. Meanwhile, a lot closer to home, actor Vin Diesel was on hand a week ago for the arrival of another Etihad aircraft to promote the latest in the Fast & Furious movie franchise, which opens here in Los Angeles on April first: