Airbus A380

China Southern Airlines will start domestic services using its new Airbus A380s on 18 October.

The SkyTeam alliance member will operate the aircraft on the Beijing-Guangzhou (Sevrien : 2,450 à 2,500 kms ? ) route on that date. A second daily A380 domestic service, on the Beijing-Shanghai Hongqiao (Sevrien : 1,450 à 1,500 kms ? ) route, will start on 27 October, said a company official.

Its first international A380 service will be on the Guangzhou-Paris route. The launch date for this service has not been unveiled.

China Southern is the first operator of the aircraft to deploy it on domestic routes.

The other existing A380 operators - Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas Airways, Air France and Korean Air - only deploy the aircraft on international services.

Mais, ..... il est vrai que 'l'Europe' n'est pas encore 'faite' !

Qantas is ordering a staggering 110 new Airbus A320s -- the largest single aircraft order in Australian aviation history -- to enable it to rapidly grow its Asian travel strategy.

CEO Alan Joyce said this morning that in addition to the 110 firm orders, it had reserved options to buy another 194 of the planes.

The model ordered by Qantas is the A320 NEO (New Engine Option), which Joyce says is 8% cheaper to buy than current-model A320s, .....

........ features 15% lower fuel burn and has 20% lower engine maintainence costs.

Because the fuel consumption is lower, the planes can fly up to 950km further, too.

The A320 fits 150 passengers in a typical two-class arrangement, or up to 180 with high-density seating plan. It is the workhorse of the Jetstar fleet, typically with 177 seats in a 3-3 configuration, and is used for interstate and short-haul international flights.

The large number of smaller planes will give Qantas the ability to offer more frequent flights without having to work so hard to fill up its largest international planes on routes where the demand doesn't match the size of the aircraft.

The new planes will be used in Qantas' new, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Jetstar Australia and Qantas' own flights.

To free up cash for the massive order, the airline has elected to delay the delivery of six of its flagship Airbus A380 superjumbos by five to six years.

The airline will have 12 A380s in service by end of this year, focused on the Australia to Los Angeles and London via Singapore routes.

India Refuses Lufthansa A380 Landing

India has refused to grant New Delhi landing rights for Lufthansa’s Airbus A380, a German daily said on Friday.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported in a pre-release of its Saturday edition that the Indian government’s decision apparently was made because the Star Alliance, of which Lufthansa is a member, had rejected Air India’s bid to become a Star Alliance member.

It said Star Alliance last month decided to turn down the request of state-owned Air India to become a member because of the latter’s weak financial situation.

The report said the denial of landing rights would be a blow to Lufthansa’s ambition to expand its flight offers to India.

A spokesman for Lufthansa said the landing rights issue should not be linked to Star Alliance’s decision on Air India, saying other airlines have also been unsuccessful so far in obtaining the right to land some of their aircraft in New Delhi.