Photo Friday: Emirates A380s

Emirates operates the world's largest fleet of Airbus 380s, and we get to see one everyday at LAX. With a fleet of over 100 A380s, there are bound to be some with special liveries - and here are a few of them. The opening shot is the standard Emirates paint scheme on an A380 arriving on Runway 24 Right. 

This shot is special in two ways: Besides the special Year of Zayed 2018 livery, it also shows an A380 departing from Runway 25 Left. Of the various A380 operators at LAX, Emirates is the most likely to require Runway 25 Left for departure.

 

Dubai will be hosting Expo 2020, and there are several A380s with special markings to mark the occasion. This particular aircraft wears green; I have also seen one with similar markings in blue, and I've been told that there are also some in orange.

This one is my favorite. United for Wildlife is a global collaboration of seven of the world's leading wildlife charities and the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Bonus shot:

No, it's not Emirates, but it is another A380 arriving on Runway 24 Right. Unlike the opening shot, with its dramatic tire smoke from the touchdown of the main landing gear, this shot caught the rare tire smoke from the touchdown of the nose gear - quite possibly a personal first.

More super shots

I lucked into a nice shot of Asiana landing on Runway 24 Left this weekend. Since I knew it would be featured here, I took a look through the cameras to see what else I had in the same vein. The opening shots are mine; the remaining four I believe are credited to CG (again).

 

Emirates arriving on Runway 24 Left, with a KLM B747-400 on Taxiway Echo. This summer, we've been getting two KLM flights per day, both in B744s. Some of you may recall that the last two summers, the additional seasonal flight was often operated with MD11s, but not this year.

Three of a kind! To produce this shot, the ground and tower controllers had to work together, since we have some draconian restrictions on A380s on the runway and the adjacent taxiway at the same time. The British Airways jet would have had to wait in position on the runway until the Air France jet could approach the position seen here. Not seen in this shot are the dozen other aircraft that are normally departing about this same time; the A380s most likely were held back until everyone else was out of their way.

While I was gone on MINI Takes The States, Los Angeles got rain. In late July, which is virtually unheard of. Nonetheless, here is a sequence of shots showing Korean departing Runway 24 Left. Check out the spray!

 

This post features most of LAX's A380 operators; the only ones not shown are Qantas and China Southern. As of this writing, LAX gets eleven or twelve A380s a day. I hear that there are more that would like to come, gate space permitting. Here's the current breakdown of operators, and how many A380s they bring to LAX daily:

Air France: 1
Asiana: 1
British Airways: 2
China Southern: 1
Emirates: 1
Korean: 2
Singapore: 1
Qantas: 2 or 3

For those of you who want to see them in person, your best time is between about ten in the morning through around four in the afternoon. That will let you see most of them except for China Southern, who usually arrives closer to six in the afternoon. As many have lamented, most A380 operations occur on the north side of the airport. Don't despair, though: Sometime next year, that will change, albeit possibly only temporarily, when a runway construction project will push them all to the south side. More details will be forthcoming if/when I get them.

Super shots

Thank you for your patience while I was traversing the country on MINI Takes The States with Ryan's MINI. While I was away, CG grabbed a couple of super shots for you.

Asiana started their A380 service between Los Angeles and Seoul, South Korea this week, giving all you A380 spotters one more reason to come to LAX. The flight was previously operated with a B777-200, and arrives late morning and departs in the early afternoon.

Speaking of spotting, here's another A380 that I've seen a couple of times, but have been unable to catch with the camera. CG to the rescue again: