Note: This post was supposed to publish last month, but for reasons unknown it did not. So here it is, just in time for the first day of spring. Better late than never!
We've had the Boeing 787 Dreamliner at LAX for a couple of years now, but until very recently the competing Airbus model A350 could not been seen here. But that changed just a week or two before Christmas, when a new-to-LAX airline brought in the new Airbus. So new, in fact, that each time the flight arrived, the aircraft had to be test-fitted onto the gate, as we've never had an A350 here before Hong Kong Airlines introduced it. For the first week, I think the flight was assigned a different gate each time just to test-fit the different gates.
Hong Kong Airlines (callsign: Bauhinia) flies between Hong Kong and Los Angeles (approximately 15-16 hours) with the A350-900. American and Cathay Pacific also serve this route; both of them currently operate B777-300ERs. Hong Kong's A350-900s are configured for 334 passengers, while the competing B777-300ERs are set up for 304 at American and 340 at Cathay Pacific.
The callsign Bauhinia comes from the floral symbol of Hong Kong, Bauhinia blakeana, commonly known as the Hong Kong Orchid Tree. A stylized orchid tree flower appears on the flag of Hong Kong.
If you think that you've seen that paint scheme before, you're right. We already have it on the Dreamliners operated by Hainan Airlines:
Hainan Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines are both part of the HNA Group, along with about a dozen others, none of which are present at LAX.
Comparison shots:
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| This shot of the A350 departing is the most similar position/angle to the B787 shot above |
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| The A350 sandwiched between a pair of B737-800s, with a B777-200 in the foreground |
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| A SkyWest CRJ-200 just airborne off Runway 24 Right with the A350-900 on Taxiway E |
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| The Star Alliance B777-300ER is actually EVA Air; their name appears below the windows just aft of the nose gear |
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| A sight that will soon disappear: a Virgin America A320 on the taxiway as the A350 begins its takeoff roll |
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| The A350 with a United B787 |
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| The A350's wings don't appear to have as much flex as those on the B787: |
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| A United B787 Dreamliner just after lift-off. Lots of wing flex! |
Those airliners are getting ever more difficult to distinguish. In the past, one way to identify Airbus widebodies ( except the A380, which is readily identifiable) was the fact that the tail did not come down from the upper line of the fuselage , whereas with Boeings, it did, in the case of the 777 with a distinct break or kink, culminating in the strait-edged APU exhaust.
ReplyDeleteThe main undercarriage bogies hanging the wrong way down was an identifying mark of the 767.
In the last picture, is that a blast fence on the end of RWY 24L ? Has the useable lenght of the RWY increased?
I really miss the construction updates!
How does the Delta move to T2-T3 balance the field now?
Best Regards.
-Filip
I agree; more and more there seems to be one standard formula for an airliner, and the factories just adjust for the size required. An airliner seen by itself with nothing to compare it against requires details to distinguish, and those are becoming smaller and/or are getting adopted by the competition.
DeleteIn the case of the A350 vs the B787, I've found three tells, and even these are not always visible except from the proper angle:
1 - The engine cowlings (the B787 has the scalloped cowlings)
2 - The wingtips (the A350 has winglets, the B787 does not)
3 - The A350 has pronounced flap track fairings on the bottom of the wings (these are the things that look like canoes stuck under the wings)
One additional distinguishing trait is more difficult to discern: The vertical fins are different shapes. If you look at the second and third photos, you can see that the vertical fin on the B787 tapers more than the one on the A350.
Yes, that is a blast fence at the departure end of Rwy 24L. It's not needed when we're on west traffic, as seen in all of these pictures. When we go east, however, Ry 24L becomes Ry 06R, and just beyond the end of the runway is a service road. In addition, those dunes that you see between the runway end and the water are actually an endangered species habitat for the El Segundo blue butterfly. Thus, the blast fence for when departures are using Ry 6R. The runway isn't really any longer, but we now have paved overrun at each end so that an aircraft that runs off the end of the runway doesn't immediately hit something like a public street or gas station.
Standby for more construction updates.
The Delta airlines move to the north side of the field has balanced the airport in an unexpected way: Now, instead of the south side ground control getting gridlocked while the north side loafs, both sides of the airport get gridlocked. It's common for the north side departure line to extend all the way to the TBIT, and sometimes down Taxiway S. At the moment some of this is because of the closed runway on the south side, but it was happening even before Ry 25R closed.