The colors of Condor

 

The German airline Condor is upgrading its fleet, and with new airplanes comes new paint. This stripes theme seems reminiscent of beach towels and awnings. So far, only the new A330neos seem to be getting the all-over stripes; the older A330s that I've seen only have stripes on the tails. The reaction among my coworkers has been pretty mixed, but I like it. I especially like the planes of different colors; anybody remember the jellybeans and flying colors of Braniff?

Before the Airbuses and the new livery, Condor brought B767s into LAX:

Shot of the day: Toons!

Yet another B777

China Eastern is the latest carrier to operate the B777 at LAX. Not only is it a new airplane, it's wearing a new livery with a new version of the swallow. A reader alerted me to the coming of the first one this past Thursday. I didn't catch the arrival, but here it is on its way out to Shanghai.

The B777 has nearly as many seats (316) as the A346 it replaces (322). China Eastern only had five of the big Airbuses, but plans to acquire twenty B777s. Unlike the B777, which is becoming ubiquitous at LAX, we don't see that many A340-600s. China Eastern only brought in one per day; we still see one each from Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic; and during the summer months we sometimes have another from Iberia. 

The China Eastern A346s actually left the LAX scene last year; in the interim China Eastern has been using A330-200s on the Shanghai - Los Angeles route. For a time, we were getting two per day:

Construction Update and Hey - What's that?!

After over a week of gray and wet weather in LA (most of which I missed out on thanks to a strategically-timed Texas trip), the sun came out again and so here are some new photos of the construction at the Tom Bradley International Terminal:

Here's the north end of the TBIT. In the background can be seen the Taxiway Delta extension and Taxiway Sierra relocation construction.

Here's the southern end of the TBIT. We've been told that the big crane is as tall as the control tower; when the weather gets bad they have to take it down. Behind the crane is the other end of the Taxiway Sierra relocation and the . . . HEY! What's that behind the crane?!?

Here's another look

The first Korean Airbus I've ever seen at LAX; in this case an A330-200

The Korean A332 sandwiched between a pair of B777s: On the left, an El Al B772; on the right, a V Australia B773.

And here's another look at the Taxiway Delta and Sierra project, with one of Air New Zealand's new B777-300s on Taxiway Echo, along with an Asiana B744 and a Qantas A380 at the TBIT. For now, I'm only seeing one Qantas A380 per day at LAX. Meanwhile, I've heard the Singapore A380s destined for LAX are on indefinite hold. It sounds like the next carrier to bring A380s into LAX is going to be Korean Air, starting in October. The A380 will replace the B744 Korean currently uses on its mid-day flight to Seoul. Korean's other flights are serviced with B772s and B773s (and now, apparently, A332s).

One other news item that sadly lacks a photo (sorry): Today, Iberia started nonstop service to Madrid, Spain, using Airbus 340s. It's been over ten years since Iberia offered service into LAX; they're operating three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.

Link to LAWA News Press Releases

LAX aircraft spotters' guide: Airbus A330 (Re-revised)

March, 2011: It's been two years since this originally was published, and there have been some notable changes that called for another revision. Notably, Aeroflot and Hawaiian both now bring A332s into LAX; Northwest no longer exists but their fleet still flies in Delta colors; and LTU is now Air Berlin.

This entry has been revised a couple of times since I first posted it, and now features technical data on the A330. In addition, this will be the first part of an occasional aircraft spotters' guide series on the aircraft types seen at LAX.

The title for this piece was originally going to be something along the lines of "Something Old, Something New", but the old got away before I could catch it with the camera. So instead, I'll just cut straight to the new, seen recently at LAX: Our first Northwest Airbus in Delta colors. Not only an Airbus, but it's a heavy Airbus: the first A330-300 I've seen at LAX. Northwest replaced its DC-10s (finally) with Airbus A330s, both -200s and -300s. I got to see both while I was in Memphis, but this is the first heavy Airbus that Northwest has brought into LAX. We have seen A330s here before, but only the -200 model, which is the shorter of the two: LTU and Aer Lingus, both of which have disappeared from the LAX scene, flew them to Europe, while Qantas occasionally uses one to Auckland.

Our first A333, seen here at gate 26, with an A320 and a B744 for comparison.

Here it is again, pushing off the gate for departure. That's an American Eagle E140 in the background on runway 24 left.

An Eva Cargo MD11 touches down as this Delta A332 taxis out for departure

A Delta (formerly Northwest) A332, with a Korean B773 and a Continental B753

Delta A332, United B772, Air France B773, Southwest B737

Delta A332 with a United B763 and a Skywest E120

That's an A332 on the corner gate, with American MD80 and B752 on the taxiways; in the foreground is a B764, not often seen at LAX these days, along with the smaller B752 at the gate next door.

Almost the same picture, but with a B753 in the foreground instead

Here's a rogue's gallery of A332's that I've seen at LAX:

Aer Lingus (callsign: Shamrock) just arriving. They stopped service here in November, but had plans to return in the spring. Two years later, we have yet to see Aer Lingus again at LAX.

LTU, in Air Berlin colors, arriving a few minutes before. This was the last LTU scheme I saw here. Haven't seen them at all since last fall. Like Aer Lingus, LTU currently considers LAX a seasonal destination. LTU was taken over by Air Berlin in 2007, but continued to use the 'LTU' callsign, at least on the flights I've seen. Air Berlin still operates to LAX on a seasonal (summer) basis; the LTU brand and callsign are no more.

Here's LTU again, this time in their own scheme. The Air France is a B772.

LTU's previous livery.

Qantas seasonally (winter) brings in an A332 on the flight to/from Auckland, New Zealand. The A330 and A340 models were developed concurrently, and in some ways are the same airplane, with a choice of two engines or four, and various fuselage lengths. The Air Tahiti in the background at gate 102 is an A343.

Qantas A332 bearing the Oneworld livery and a Delta B752

Qantas A332 with a Hawaiian B763

Qantas A332 with an El Al B772

Sandwiched between a pair of B744s

Aeroflot now uses A332s on the LA - Moscow route, replacing B763s

The A330 is built on the same production line with the A340 in Toulouse, France. The -200 and -300 differ in length (193 feet vs. 209 feet) and, oddly enough, tail height (the -200's tail is 2 feet taller to counter for the reduced effectiveness caused by the shorter fuselage). They share the same engines, wingspan (198 feet), and maximum takeoff weight (233 tons). The shorter -200 carries more fuel (36,746 gallons vs. 25,669) and thus has a 1000 miles greater range than the -300: 6749 miles vs. 5669. The -300, however, has more seating capacity: 295 in a 3-class configuration, compared to the -200's 253. The -300 also needs more runway: A maximum weight takeoff in the -300 requires 8,200 feet, while the -200 gets airborne in 7,300 feet. Both models have a normal cruise speed of 541 MPH at 35,000 feet; maximum cruise speed at the same altitude is 568 MPH. These speeds are 82% and 86%, respectively, of the speed of sound at that altitude, and might be filed on a flight plan as .82 Mach or .86 Mach. The aircraft type on the flight plan will be listed as A332 or A333. Besides Northwest, the only other US carrier operating the A330 is US Airways, but they don't bring them into LAX. No longer true: Hawaiian has added A332s to their fleet:

Hawaiian has added 294-seat A332s to its fleet; the Airbuses have thirty seats more than Hawaiian's B767-300s.

An interesting side note is that last year, Northrop Grumman won the Air Force aerial refueler competition with a tanker version of the A330-200, which was to be called the KC-45 and assembled in the US. The Boeing entry was based upon the smaller B767. Airbus had already developed the A330 MRTT tanker and it is operated by Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the UK. The results of the US Air Force competition were challenged and as far as I know the outcome has yet to be resolved. It has now: The USAF has chosen Boeing to supply new tankers. Tanker article Another tanker article

References:

Airbus Industries

Wikipedia


And now, an addendum:

After the piece about the crash that killed Buddy Holly, et al, a friend of mine told me about a tribute done that weekend on A Prairie Home Companion. Here's a link to that weekend's show: PHC