I can't really claim that this is a new arrival, since they've been flying here for a couple of months now, but Qatar Airways now serves LAX from its home base in Doha, Qatar. This is a fifteen hour flight in B777-200LRs that are configured for 259 passengers. We actually started receiving Qatar freight flights last year, ahead of the passenger service which just started up in January. The freighters fly a different route, though: they arrive from Mexico City, and then depart for Liege, Belgium, also in B777-200s that wear the same livery as the passenger haulers. This has, on one or two occasions, caused some confusion when a ground controller has attempted to take the passenger arrival to the air freight ramp. Before the arrival of passenger or freight service, we have seen this identical livery at LAX in the form of Qatar Amiri Flight, which serves the government and royal family, although not actually part of the airline.
Interesting that they chose to use T2 instead of TBIT, which would seem to be the better choice for a top carrier like to give their passengers a better over-all experience. Is that temporary? Also, how does the airport allot where an airline get's to operate? Not sure if that's a subject that's been discussed on here (though I am an avid reader of this blog).
ReplyDeleteI sometimes see Qatar 777F on approach to LGG(/EBLG) when watching fr24.com late at night. I have seen Nairobi as a departure point. The biggest surprise, when I started watching fr24, was seeing 777F flying on really short intra-Europe flights between parcel sorting hubs, like BRU-LEJ, LGG-EMA, and CGN-CDG. I wonder how that industry will change now that FedEx has bought TNT Express.
ReplyDeleteHave a new treshold and numbers been painted on 24L? On one of your last postings before your long hiatus ( welcome back, Captain Vector!), the one with the C-17 landing, there was serious work going on on 24R.
The posting with the Hondajet also showed an ugly hole on the treshold of 24L.
Can A380s depart from the shortened RW?
I take it that the plans for a TW between the 24s have been definitively scrapped.
I guess I like photos of airport construction projects! How is the connector building between T4 and TBIT coming along?
--Filip