Tag Archives: Airbus

JetLite Boeing 737-300A JetLite Boeing 737-800 performing flight S2-361 from Kolkata to Guwahati, India, returned to Kolkata airport, after the crew declared an emergency after the left hand engine caught fire shortly after take-off at 0629 local 0059 GMT, January 17, 2009. The crew shut the engine down, activated fire extinguisher, and stopped the fire. The plane landed 0648 local. …

Airbus yesterday, commenced construction of the A350 XWB (eXtra Wide Body) Final Assembly Line (FAL), completing the second key milestone towards delivering the aircraft in 2013 to launch customer Qatar Airways. Last month Airbus froze the design for the jetliner’s first family member – the A350-900, allowed Airbus teams to begin component-level work, and preparing for the production of tooling …

A mere 16 months after launching services with the Airbus A380 superjumbo, Singapore Airlines is expecting to fly its one millionth A380 customer in February 2009. Singapore Airlines was the first airline in the world to fly the Airbus A380 super-jumbo, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, when it began commercial services between Singapore and Sydney in October 2007. The Airline …

Jet Airways procured ten ultra-luxuriously appointed Boeing 777-300ERs for its ambitious international expansion. It even won awards for its international first class, featuring private suites. Now those plans are in tatters, and Jet has abandoned its international ambitions, at least for the foreseeable future. Recently TravelBizMonitor reported Jet Airways, has dropped its expansion plan, especially plans of expanding overseas informed …

On its 15th anniversary, the Airbus A330 is getting a major birthday gift, and from none other, than its major competitor, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Thanks to the 2 year delay on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, airlines who had previously ordered the aircraft, are rushing to fill the gap with the Airbus A330. Qantas which has placed firm orders for …

FlightBlogger is reporting, Airbus brought MSN033, the first A380 for Air France, it’s European launch customer, out to the flight line in Toulouse yesterday. Image courtesy FlightBlogger. Copyright David Barrie F-WWSB, which will eventually be registered as F-HPJA. As the photo shows, the airframe has its four GP7200 engines installed, and we can expect it to take its maiden flight …

Both the European EASA and US FAA have issued emergency Airworthiness Directives ADs for operators of CFM56-5B engines, typically operated on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, which include the A318, A319, A320 and A321. Snecma ImageEASA Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2008-228 and the FAA Airworthiness Directive AD 2009-01-01, requests operators of CFM56-5B engines, to monitor Exhaust Gas Temperatures (EGT) for …

Airbus today, met its revised A380 delivery schedule for 2008 of 12 aircraft. In Hamburg, Airbus delivered its 12th A380 of 2008, to its largest A380 customer Emirates. MSN020 registered as A6-EDD is the fourth of 58 ordered by Emirates, and the 13th overall A380 delivered out of 198 orders. Airbus has been steadily improving its A380 delivery performance by …

Honeywell did a test flight of this very odd looking Boeing 757. The small engine attached to the front part of the fuselage is being developed for regional jets and private commercial jets. See all the pictures here from Cupps at Flightglobal Airspace. Thanks to Jon at FlightBlogger for the tip. Incidentally, Jon has done a very interesting analysis which …

Airbus A330-343E, F-WWKZ, CN 978, pictured here in the cold grey skies of Toulouse, France, will soon be heading to the lush tropical city-state of Singapore, as 9V-STA, and joining the fleet of Singapore Airlines, who will become the newest operator of the Airbus A330 aircraft. Singapore Airlines will introduce its new Airbus A330-300, powered by Rolls Royce Trent 700 …

In an incident, that will definitely not please either the airline, or the airframe manufacturer, the world’s largest commercial airliner the Airbus A380 superjumbo, operated by Australian carrier Qantas was grounded in Fiji due to a computer glitch. VH-OQB, the second aircraft in Qantas’ A380 fleet, recently delivered, and which commenced operations just one week ago, was on a routine …

Airbus SAS today handed over its 11th A380 superjumbo to Qantas Airways Ltd. of Australia. Airframe serial number MSN022 was registered VH-OQC and christened Paul McGinness. The plane was the third A380 for Qantas this year, Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said in an interview to Bloomberg. The first two VH-OQA (Nancy-Bird Walton) and VH-OQB (Hudson Fysh) have been operating between …

In a second incident involving a commercial jet mishap at a major airport in just about twelve hours, as per Reuters, a Continental Airlines Boeing 737 plane went off the runway and caught fire at Denver International Airport at 18:18 December 20, (01:18 GMT December 21). Less than 12 hours earlier, at 13:51 GMT, December 20, a Gulf Air Airbus …

PTI reports, the engine of a Gulf Air Airbus A321 aircraft with 124 passengers and nine crew caught fire a few minutes prior to its take-off today, disrupting flight operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at Mumbai, for about an hour. “The engine of the Bahrain-bound Gulf Air flight GF 065 caught fire just when it was lined up …

Is this the shape of new Airbus A320 family aircraft to come ? Jon Ostrower at FlightBlogger has the report with more pictures. Click here to read it. December 17th update. Airbus press release. Airbus has started flight-testing of Blended Winglet devices on an Airbus A320. The Blended Winglet technology, developed by Aviation Partners Inc. (API), has been specially adapted …

Airbus reported completion of the largest civil aircraft deal of the year, a 51-plane order from Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways worth over $10 billion. The order includes 6 A380 superjumbo, 25 A350XWB and 20 single-aisle A320 aircraft. The order was first announced at the Farnborough air show in July. However, Etihad’s financial woes, and speculation of a merger with …

Jon Ostrower, of FlightBlogger, probably the best aviation blog around, has uncovered an internal Airbus competitive intelligence briefing on their arch rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program. A briefing, filled with juicy details. Even if you are not interested in commercial aircraft development, I recommend reading both Jon’s article, as well as the Airbus presentation. It is a stunning eye opener …

Airlines across the globe are grounding planes, cutting capacity and delaying or even canceling orders for new aircraft as the global economic crisis hits both passenger and cargo air traffic. Add to this airline mergers like those of Delta-Northwest, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa-BMI, the proposed British Airways-Qantas, leading to industry consolidation, and in the worst cases even going out of business, …

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum announced today a gift of $6 million for Phase Two of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center from Airbus Americas Inc. The gift is the largest corporate gift to the Smithsonian Institution in 2008. In recognition of the donation, the Imax Theater at the Udvar-Hazy Center will be named the Airbus Imax Theater. “The …

The troubles of Australian carrier Qantas just don’t seem to end. Qantas A330-300. Image Courtesy QantasEarlier today, the captain of a Qantas Airbus A330-300 flying to Singapore, had to shut down an engine and turn back to Perth, after an oil warning light flashed, according to the airline. The plane flew back to Perth, on the west coast of Australia, …