Monday, June 8, 2009

Who's That? Answers, Part 5

As promised, these are all international carriers seen at LAX.


This B763 is flown by Aeroflot, from Russia - nonstop service to/from Moscow. Good shots of Aeroflot at LAX are hard to come by, as they arrive late in the afternoon when the sun's glare is awful, and leave at dusk (as seen here) or after dark, depending upon the time of year.

Air New Zealand, seen here towing past a Virgin American A320. New Zealand has a couple of flights that arrive in the late morning. Since the outbound flights don't leave until later in the evening, the planes are towed to a maintenance ramp for the duration of their stay, thereby opening up the gates for other flights. Many of the international carriers do this at LAX.


Okay, this was a little sneaky - These are both Asiana, old and new schemes respectively. The new Asiana scheme is one of my current favorites - I like a lot of color. Asiana is the second of Korea's major airlines, the first being, naturally enough, Korean Air, which you've already seen. Asiana flies both passengers and cargo out of LAX. Both of these shots (which were taken about a year apart) show the same B744 aircraft and are passenger flights, although B744's are also used for cargo here. Asiana's passenger service is gradually being shifted to B772's while some of the B744's are being converted to cargo.

British Airways B744 just lifting off from runway 25 right. British Airways also has B772's, which I've seen at DFW, but they aren't bringing them here (yet).

An EVA Air B744 lifts off from runway 25 right. EVA is from Taiwan, and operates both passenger and cargo service at LAX. While this is a passenger flight, most of their passenger service here is with B773's. Cargo service uses primarily B744's with an occasional MD-11.

Thai Airways operates one of the longest nonstop commercial flights in the world, from Los Angeles to Bangkok. Average flight time is about 18 hours. Like Aeroflot, these guys are hard to photograph at LAX because of when they're here. In the summer, if they're early, you can catch the arrival in the early evening dusk, as seen here. The departure is well after dark, and during the winter, so is the arrival! This is an A345, although they have been known to show up in an A346 as well.

Emirates operates another of the world's longest nonstop commercial flights, from Dubai to Los Angeles, using B772's. While Emirates promoted the commencement of this route by bringing an A380 into LAX, we have yet to see one here in scheduled service, although I've heard rumors that Emirates may eventually bring the A380 to LAX. They were flying A380's
into New York's JFK, but that service stopped this month when the A380's were redeployed on other routes and JFK service is now in B777's. The Emirates A380 pulling out of JFK may leave LAX as the only US airport currently receiving A380 service (Qantas).

Friday, June 5, 2009

Who's That? Part 5

Each time, I've been saying that these are going to get tougher, and then giving you a bunch of gimmes after all. Well, not this time!

I'll give you two hints: These are all international carriers, and they're shown here in alphabetical order. I'll give you a few days to study - the answers will come out on the 8th. Let's see how you do . . .









Wow! I even had them all facing the same way for once!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Who's That? Answers, Part 4

So, how're you doing so far? I think I'm just about down to the last of the carriers with their name on the tail or a instantly recognizable logo; this might be the last batch.

KLM operates one plane a day in and out of LAX, from their hub in Amsterdam. As you can see from the Northwest B744, this picture was taken some time ago.

This one was easy only because the name is on the tail; Spirit is not a large carrier, and their presence at LAX is currently limited to two flights a day, both well after dark.

You should've been able to work this one out simply through a process of elimination:
Virgin Atlantic's new scheme on an A346. This one's named "Scarlet Lady"; check out the registration!

Korean Air operates passenger and cargo flights at LAX using B747-400's. While this B744 has people on board, many of their passenger flights use B772's and B773's.

AeroMexico B737 just airborne from runway 25 right. Nearly all of AeroMexico's flights at LAX are B737's now, mostly -700's but also some -800's.

Alaska has a lot of flights at LAX. This B738 (I think) is just pushing off gate 36. This shot dates back to last year, as Alaska no longer uses that gate - it's a Virgin America gate now.

A Continental B752 taxis in as an American B738 lifts off.

Yes, I know I already showed you a Delta, but this is their slowly-disappearing 'flying colors' scheme. I like it over the new 'lazy widget' scheme, but I'll concede that this tail scheme wouldn't make you think 'Delta' if you didn't know that's who it was.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Who's That? Part 4

Okay, to start off the week, I found some more easy ones for you. But get ready, 'cause I've just about run out; the next ones will be more challenging for sure. Also, in response to requests for more study time, the answers for today's quiz will be posted in a couple of days, instead of tomorrow. Sorry it took a while to make that happen, but most of this has already been posted, so I had to go back into the future to make it happen. Good luck!