Qantas Grounds all A380s

For decades, Australian flag carrier Qantas was known for great service, a young fleet and an unparalleled safety record. In the history of Qantas, one of the oldest airlines in the world, not one single plane has crashed. However, Qantas has had a lot of minor and even major incidents lately: 2008 - a Qantas 747-400 suffered rapid decompression after an explosion in air; 2008 - A330 suffered a rapid loss of altitude in two sudden uncommanded pitch down manoeuvres causing serious injuries; and, finally, November 4, 2010 - a Qantas A380 (the first A380 that was delivered to the airline) suffered an engine failure shortly after taking off from Singapore's Changi Airport.

Only a few minutes after take-off the inner left engine of the A380 with the tail number VH-OQA lost parts of its shell that slammed into the wing, causing a hole of several centimeters. Passengers reported they heard a slamming noise, followed by shaking of the plane. At this point, it is not clear, whether an explosion caused the engine shell to fall off or if the part that fell off caused the explosion by ripping apart cables and fuel injectors. The cockpit crew decided to dump fuel and circled above the Indonesian sea for over an hour before returning back to Singapore. Flight QF 32 safely landed at Changi about an hour and fifteen minutes after it took off to Sydney.

Soon after the incident, Qantas announced it would ground its entire Airbus A380 fleet indefinitely. In my opinion, this is not a very smart move and casts a negative light on Airbus and the A380 specifically, which they do not deserve. Obviously, the issue resulted from a problem with the engine and Airbus does not build aircraft engines. Experts agree that Airbus and the A380 did not really play a role in today's incident. The manufacturer of these engines, Rolls Royce, will have to play a major role in the upcoming investigations. There have already been several issues with these types of engines.

I also need to add here that the media totally blew up this story. The plane landed safely, nobody was really injured and three of the four engines were still running perfectly fine. There have been instances when planes crossed the entire Atlantic with only three out of four engines working. The plane was still in the air more than an hour after the incident! Had this been an emergency like the media pretended it was, the plane would have returned to Changi right away, without dumping fuel. At no point was there any chance the plane would crash. Obviously, it was very scary and uncomfortable for the passengers on board, but their lives were not in danger...

Great Tour of the A380 Cockpit

I just watched this great video, in which a Lufthansa A380 pilot explains the cockpit of the super jumbo. If you're interested in cockpits and don't mind German accents, then you should watch this!

AF A380 Missed Approach JFK

And another nice video of a missed approach at JFK. I wonder why? The A380 almost touched down on the runway already. Oh, and I just love the sound of the A380's flaps being retracted. So futuristic...

Emirates to Order More A380s

I have to start this post with a big WOW! I couldn't believe what I read today: Dubai's official airline Emirates will commit to more than 30 additional A380s, according to Bloomberg. The airline already owns 10 A380s, has 48 additional orders and now - 30 more! Emirates is becoming one of Airbus's most important clients. When all of the planes are delivered, the carrier from the UAE will own 88 A380s and will be, by far, the largest operator of the Airbus. But the Dubai-based airline does not only like this super jumbo. Emirates also firmly ordered 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000. The patriotic American might ask: How many 787s has Emirates ordered? The answer: None! This further underlines the impact of Asia and the Middle East on airplane manufacturers. So far, not a single airline from America has ordered the A380...

To read the Bloomberg piece, please click here.

Lufthansa Receives First A380

Thursday was a very exciting day for Europe's second largest airline Lufthansa: It finally received its first A380, nicknamed "Lady Bee" (I still hate that name) and officially titled "Frankfurt am Main." Lufthansa is only the second European airline to receive the A380, after Air France, which is using the super jumbo on its route from Paris to JFK.

Lufthansa has announced it will be flying the first three A380s being delivered this year on routes to Tokyo, Beijing and Johannesburg. The first flight with passengers will bring Germany's national soccer team to South Africa in early June for the World Cup. Regular A380 flights can already be booked through Lufthansa's Web site. Unfortunately for me, LH does not plan to use the A380 on routes to North America until mid of 2011 earliest.

Compared to other airlines, especially those from the Persian Gulf and Asia (Emirates, Singapore Airlines, etc.), Lufthansa has been reluctant to buy a lot of A380s. Right now, only 15 A380s have been ordered by Germany's biggest airline, compared to 20 Boeing 747-8s. This is contrary to LH's overall strategy to replace fuel-consuming Boeing aircraft with more fuel-efficient Airbuses, especially for short-haul planes. Obviously, Lufthansa does not want to become too dependent on only one manufacturer when it comes to long-haul aircraft and similar approaches can be observed for most other big airlines. Interestingly, Lufthansa has neither placed orders for the 787 nor the A350. But the German airline has always been very picky when it comes to aircraft orders. In contrast to most other airlines, Lufthansa never owned the extremely popular 777. It also refused to order the 757 and the 767, which it only used for its former subsidiary Condor.

To read Lufthansa's press release on the A380 delivery, please click here.

To see more pictures of the new Lufthansa flagship, please click here.

Two Surprises About Lufthansa's A380

The wait is almost over. Lufthansa is scheduled to receive its first Airbus A380 in May. Over the last couple of months people could vote on lufthansa.com which name they want to give this new, gigantic plane. The idea was: The A380 should have a nickname, like "Jumbo Jet" for the 747. I personally suggested "Mega Jet", "Giga Jet" and "Jet 2.0" and a total of more than 10,000 suggestions were submitted. A few days ago Lufthansa announced it had made a decision. And, in my opinion, they mad a horrible decision. The A380 is now called "Lady Bee"! Awful, isn't it? I am very disappointed by this decision. Why bee??? It doesn't look like a bee. Much more like a whale. Oh well, I really doubt people will start calling the A380 "Lady Bee". I will definitely refuse to do so.

Another surprise was Lufthansa's announcement of the A380's destinations. Initially, LH hinted they would use the "Lady Bee" on its busy route from Frankfurt to New York's JFK airport. Today, however, Germany's largest airline announced it would use the first four A380s it is receiving this year on routes to Tokyo, Beijing and Johannesburg. This is really sad for me to hear. I was planning to take LH's A380 back home to Frankfurt sometime this year, which will not happen now.

All in all, two very disappointing announcements, Lufthansa! I am disappointed, but still love you...

IMM: Landing in Melbourne

Nancy also posted this great video of the Qantas A380 landing in Melbourne in slight crosswinds on her block:

IMM: Adventures on the QANTAS A380

My friend and colleague Nancy posted an interesting story about her experience with Qantas' A380 on her recent flight from LAX to Melbourne on her blog "The Informed Makeup Maven". I totally agree with pretty much everything Nancy is writing. The A380 rocks - so smooth and we both love the on-board cameras.

Please read Nancy's story here.

A Lego Version of the A380

Ryan McNaught from Melbourne, Australia, spent 5,000 Australian Dollars to build a Lego version of the A380. To build this 1.8-meter long plane, McNaught used 35,000 bricks. Someone had a lot of time! Still, it looks great.

Check out the pictures and the entire story here.

Lufthansa's Airbus A380 - First Flight

Nice video about Lufthansa's first A380, which will be delivered in the spring of this year. To my knowledge, the first flight will bring Germany's soccer team to South Africa for this year's World Championship. What a lovely plane...

Bloomberg - Boeing Boosts Output on 777s and 747s to Meet Demand

I wasn't surprised to read that Boeing is boosting the production of its 777. The 777 is an awesome plane and it has been really successful with airlines from all over the world. But I was a bit stunned to read that Boeing is also increasing its 747-8 production. I am not a big fan of the 747-8, since I don't really understand why you would need a plane like it at all. I don't understand its unique selling point. The 747-8's design is a bit obsolete and it looks like a 747-200 with new engines (and apparently a fly-by-wire system). To me, it is just a "we need to build a successor of the 747-400" plane to compete with Airbus's A380. Airlines feel this way too. Only two passenger airlines (Korean Air and Lufthansa) have ordered the 747-8 so far and demand is less than expected. For a while, Boeing even considered axing the passenger version of the new jumbo jet altogether. Well, we'll see if the 747-8 turns out to be a success. Several dozen freighter versions have been sold already.

To read the Bloomberg piece, please click here.