Overseas Aviation

Air Asia wont do it. Air AsiaX is their medium/long haul carrier with a fleet of A330s. But Air AsiaX will be very careful in lounging any route as it is severely loss making. They just shut down ADL too. Plus in NZ they would be looking at AKL. But again caution is needed. JQ pulled out of AKL-SIN due to poor yeilds and loads.

According to NZ Herald, AirAsia is keen to fly from New Zealand to Australia to connect with services to Asia, which could mean more bargain fares for holidaymakers.

The airline's international division, AirAsiaX, flew from Christchurch to Malaysia for about a year before pulling out of the route in May 2012 after suffering a sharp drop in demand following earthquakes in the southern city.

Fernandes said during a visit to Sydney yesterday that as direct flights from Asia to New Zealand had not worked, the best service could include a stopover in Australia.

It would be interesting to see what happens with the new T5 in Changi.
If T5 is exclusively for SQ (and its subsidiaries MI, TZ and UK [if and when Vistara starts SIN operations!]), it surely will work in a similar way to DXB's T3 (Concourse A & B) and how EK managed to exploit it very well, and is good for passengers because all flights depart from the same terminal.
As of now, SQ use T2 for Tier II destinations and T3 for Tier I destinations.

Interesting details released on the new Changi Terminal 5:

- Designed to handle 50M passengers per year, growth to 70M - almost as much as T1,T2 and T3 combined.
- Planning underway even though T4 is still under construction.
- Expected to open in 2020
- Located on the east side of the airport, third runway to be built. Connected to other terminals for connections, dedicated MRT station.

Wow! Changi Terminal 5 going to be used by only SQ ?

Like many airlines in europe they probably thought it would be nice to put a 70s livery on a modern jet

KLM Boeing 747-400 has received during a recent major overhaul at Kuala Lumpur the revised corporate scheme. What do you think of the new KLM livery? When it's going to be on the sky again for revenue service?

Very smart aircraft!! Thanks a lot for sharing the picture. Is it the first B747-8i for Lufthansa? Any reason why this bird painted into retro livery? when it's going to be delivered? or is it already been delivered.

There's an intact airframe sitting at the BA Maintenance Hangars at Heathrow. Been sitting outside for quite a few years - I don't think you'll ever see one flying again.

Has anyone heard Of any news or timeframes Of when the Concorde s might fly again?

Theres some demand to middle eastern destinations from ZYL, BG operates flights from DAC via ZYL to routes like Muscat, Jeddah, Dammam.....theres also a surprisingly good demand to LHR from ZYL, some DAC-LHR flights touch down there but no foreign airline ever operated to ZYL

Lufthansa retro B747-8I

Flydubai to start direct flights to Sylhet in Bangladesh. Flydubai will be the first foreign carrier operating into Sylhet?? Does Sylhet-Dubai route has sufficient passenger demand?

Air New Zealand Moves Forward Boeing 787-9 Daily Shanghai and Tokyo Service to Aug and Sep instead of from Oct. From end of Sep, Air New Zealand operating once a week B787-9 service Los Angeles. If I am not mistaken Air New Zealand has three B787-9 in the current fleet. Wondering where do they currently operate these B787-9s?

Shots Fired At FlyDubai Flight Landing in Baghdad

http://www.wsj.com/articles/shots-fi...dad-1422341895

DUBAI—A plane carrying 154 passengers was shot at on Monday after landing at Baghdad International Airport from Dubai, prompting the aviation authority in the United Arab Emirates to issue a ban on flights to the Iraqi capital.

Low-cost carrier FlyDubai said on Tuesday that flight FZ215 to Baghdad was fired at by small arms as it landed just before 5 p.m. local time, damaging the fuselage.

All passengers disembarked normally through the jet bridge and no medical attention was required at the airport, FlyDubai said. A replacement aircraft was flown to Iraq to carry passengers back to Dubai, the airline added.

“An investigation is under way to establish what happened,” a FlyDubai spokesperson said.

The airline has suspended flights to Baghdad until further notice. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said it would also suspend flights to the Iraqi capital after the U.A.E. General Civil Aviation Authority issued a ban on flying to the city due to security concerns.

“The safety of our customers and employees is always our first priority,” Etihad said in a statement.

Dubai’s Emirates Airline, the world’s biggest international carrier by traffic flown, also canceled flights to Baghdad, but said it would continue operating to Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region and Basra in the south of the country.

“We remain committed to our customers in Iraq and hope to resume services to Baghdad as soon as operational conditions allow us to do so,” an Emirates spokesperson said.

Concerns about airlines flying into conflict zones have grown in the past year after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board. Airlines had largely stopped flying over Iraqi airspace after the advancement into the country last year of Islamic State, which led to the U.S. launching airstrikes against the Islamist militants.

The U.S. government in August told airlines flying over Iraq to remain at higher altitudes. U.S. carriers are now prohibited from flying over the country below 30,000 feet, while European safety regulators also issued similar guidance.

Iraq was previously a busy trunk route for airlines traveling between Europe and the Persian Gulf hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, or beyond to Southeast Asia. Air France , Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Virgin Atlantic Airways all said they had ceased flying over Iraq.

Etihad and Dubai’s Emirates Airline, the world’s biggest international carrier by traffic flown, had diverted most of their traffic through Iran’s airspace to connect to Europe and some ports in the U.S. But the airlines had continued flying direct to Iraq.

Maldivian Airlines takes delivery of first A321 - http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7960088&nseq=1 . It's 8Q-IAI, MSN2599 delivered on 20-1-15 via MAD-JED-MLE.