Well it’s Thursday lunchtime, and here’s the news from Paris.

And we open with Air Asia’s massive order for 200 A320neo’s. Yes – 200 frames. With none of the frames they have on order currently being cancelled this takes Air Asia to 375 frames due from Airbus.

That’s a LOT of frames!

Meanwhile Airbus has disclosed an agreement for 10 A380′s has been tentatively agreed with an undisclosed customer. Not that this sniffs of a company who has ordered.. ooh 15 747-8I’s….

Speaking of A380′s, Skymark Airlines have firmed up it’s options for an extra 2 Airbus A380′s – taking it to 6 frames to order

Meanwhile, talk is abound of the A350-800… and it’s status – with Qatar airways receiving no further updates on release of the first aircraft. It seems that Airbus are concentrating on the A350-900 (the larger variant) than the -800 in the first instance…

More thing evening….

Well it’s Wednesday evening, and with a lot of the deals done, lets see who else has opened their wallets in the past few hours…

Indigo Airlines are the big news today, confirming their mass order for 180 Airbus A320 class aircraft made up 30 A320′s and 150 Airbus A320neo’s. No matter how you colour it, that’s a lot of aircraft.

LAN is also in the market for the A320neo, and has signed for 20 frames.

Alafco of Kuwait has tentatively signed for 30 Airbus A320neo

There’s a lot of orders this week for the A320Neo, and next week GhettoIFE.com will be taking a cursory look at what you can expect from the passenger viewpoint.

Your next update from Paris will be tomorrow lunchtime.

It seems to be the day to settle, with Heathrow Express Management settling with the RMT over the pay dispute.

It seems an improve pay offer has been made, which the RMT is urging it’s members to accept. Which is nice.

In addition, the overtime ban has been lifted too, allowing for a full Heathrow Express/Heathrow Connect service to operate.

A final resolution to the dispute is expected in a few weeks.

It seems peace is breaking out everywhere… but very slowly.

With a vote of 92% to accept and a turnout of 72%, the industrial action of British Airways vs Unite has come to an end.

And that’s that. No further comment needed really.

ANA have had the paitence of angels, but have released a video of what to expect onboard their new Boeing 787′s.

Taking a cue from their recently rolled out 777-300ER programme (Inspiration of Japan), expect to see two configurations of the birds – a Long Haul and a Short Haul variant – the difference being the seats at the front of the plane (A Cradle seat in short haul business and a staggered flat-bed in the long haul variant).

For those of us who know life down the back it’s the new style “shell” seats where the seat cushion shifts forward, rather than reclining into the person behind you. Like all good modern aircraft, expect IFE screens, Power Sockets and USB Ports. Long haul variations will have an iPod port too (which means this is a Panasonic EX2 type IFE system)

And yes, expect scary toilets and bidets aboard too.

So far we’ve got a computer rendering (as shown above). How it will look in the flesh is another matter completely… .

It’s Wednesday Lunchtime, and it’s time for who’s brought what.

Kuwait’s ALAFCO has opened it chequebook, ordering a further six Airbus A350-900′s, taking its orders for the class up to 18 aircraft.

Russian carrier UTAir has signed with Boeing for 40 737NG aircraft, made up of 33 737-800′s and 7 737-900ERs.

Meanwhile it seems Hong Kong Airlines has come forward as the owner of the 15 Boeing 747-8I’s that have been ordered. In addition, it’s being mumbled that they’re also ordering six Airbus A380-800′s too.

The owning company of Hong Kong Airlines – HNA Group is also ordering 30 787-9s, six 777 Freighters, and two 787-8s in VIP configuration as well. So they have a fair bit of cash to play with from the sounds of it.

In Airbus A320Neo news, Avianca-TACA has signed a MOU for 51 frames, 33 of which will be A320neo’s.

Meanwhile, Republic Airways (owner of Frontier as well as a variety of Regional carriers) has has tentatively signed to take 40 Airbus A319neos and 40 A320neos, making them the launch customer of the A319neo series.

As usual, things are fast moving in Paris. In the late evening update, a clearer picture should emerge of what Hong Kong Airlines is actually doing…..

Apologies for the delay – I’ve spent most of the evening crashed out – which has cost me in more ways than one (which is a post subject in the next couple of days…)

So It’s Tuesday Evening. Who’s done what?

Garuda Indonesia has signed for 25 Airbus A320 aircraft (10 of these will be the A320Neo aircraft for it’s LCC – Citilink. These will be used to replace the exisiting Boeing 737 Classics that are in the their fleet.

GECAS has opened up the cheque book and has ordered two 747-8Fs and eight 777-300ERs – all yet to be placed with carriers.

But the rumour of the day goes to Boeing who are seriously considering a response to the Airbus A350-1000… and it’s a 777 based derivative initially numbered the 777-8X and the 777-9X. However before then, Boeing is considering the 777+ project “refreshing” the frame, and adding new wings to the design with other incremental updates. Which is fine if you’re a long haul carrier. Short Haul Carriers on the other hand are still waiting for the next 737 design…

More tomorrow lunchtime.

Well now the British Airways industrial dispute is out of the way, it’s time for the Virgin Atlantic pilots to go on strike.

The dispute is over pay (oh surprise) and the lack of rises since 2008, but it seems to be a high turnout of 94% with 97% of voters going for strike action.

BALPA has yet to announce strike dates at this time, but are using the turnout as a battering ram against Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic is preparing contingency plans in case a strike date is called, wit the offer of more talks.

However, there is at the end of the day one lot of people who will suffer over this – and alas, it’ll be the person who buys the ticket and realises on that day, they’re going to be delayed, rerouted or have to rebook for another time.

GhettoIFE.com will keep abreast of the situation and if dates are announced, they will be posted.

And as usual, begin your contingency travel planning… now.

British Midland International is slowly expanding it’s wings now it has it’s full compliment of two Airbus A330-200′s back.

Today, a new tag-on flight has been announced, with service to Amritsar – BMI’s second attempt at heading to India.

Service commences October 13th, operating 3 times a week (subject to governmental approval)

The Northern Indian city will be served three times a week by BMI starting on October 13 with an Airbus A330-200.

The proposed schedule is:

Outbound – Operates Monday, Thursday and Saturday
BD991 – Depart LHR 09:55, Arrive ALA 23:20, Depart ALA 00:10, Arrive ATQ 02:45

Inbound – Tuesday, Friday and Sunday
BD992 – Depart ATQ 04:10, Arrive ALA 07:45, Depart ALA 0845, Arrive LHR 10:50

For those who think BMI is playing risk here, this could be an interesting play as there is no current direct link from London to Amritsar. 3 times a week is enough of “communications link” to make it worth while, whilst BMI are risking nothing other than having a plane on the ground at ALA for 6 hours. Might as well try and make them earn some money.

That or BMI wants to incite more regime change (after all, look what happened to the Tripoli service – they managed to operate 1 rotation before all hell broke loose there…)

Well we’re into Day Two of the Paris Air Show, so let’s see who’s opened up their Chequebooks this morning

Firstly, SAS Group have decided to do a partial fleet renewal and addtion, with the purchase of 30 Airbus A320Neo’s

Malaysian Airlines have taken up an option for ten Boeing 737-800s – an addition of aircraft to their fleet

Aeroflot has been busy and has signed a deal for an additional eight Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

CIT Group has signed memorandum of understanding with Airbus for 50 A320neo aircraft form the A320neo Family.

TransAsia (a Taiwanese Airline) have signed for six A321neos as an expansion for it’s current fleet. Interestingly, it will operate a mix of Airbus shorthaul aircraft with A320′s, A321′s, the Sharklet A320 (when they enter service) and at the end point – A321neo.

Norwegian have ordered another 15 Boeing 737-800s (and interestingly have the 1000th ever 737 constructed in their fleet), whilst firming up the 787 order first made in May. However Norwegian are piling on the pressure along with other short haul carriers about the 737 replacement. With Airbus stealing orders with the A320neo/A321neo, this is surely playing on the minds of Boeing Execs…

The surprise of the morning so far goes to Korean Air who as well as providing backup support for Airbus, has signed a letter of intent with Bombardier for up to 10 initial CSeries Jets, with options for 10 more, and purchase rights for an other 10 – a possible 30 jets.

The next top up from Paris will be sometime this evening. Lots of time for more deals to be signed…