Korean Air has decided to deploy an A380 to Frankfurt in a move that has surprised some (as London was on the cards).

It seems the money in Frankfurt and trade links are more important than a city name… and people who will pay and fill those business class seats  – so business sense rather than pride. (although Korean Air has expanded its route to London recently – even adding a route to London Gatwick).

The service will operate as below:

KE905 DEPART ICN 12:50  ARRIVE FRA 17:45
KE906 DEPART FRA 19:45 ARRIVE ICN 13:05.

Route change commences: 25th March 2012
Booked Equipment: Airbus A380-800

Whilst Korean Air hasn’t formally announced the route, the data is on the GDS, and you can start booking those seats.. now.

A couple of chunks of news from China Southern.

First up, China Southern will be operating to London Heathrow from Guangzhou after 6th June 2012.

The route will operate 3 times a week on the following schedule:

DEPART CAN 09:00  ARRIVE LHR 15:25 ,  OPERATES WED, FRI, SUN
DEPART LHR 22:30  ARRVIE CAN 17:30+1, OPERATES WED, FRI
DEPART LHR 18:25  ARRVIE CAN 13:25+1, OPERATES SUN

Operates Wednesday, Friday, Sunday as stated
Equipment Booked: Airbus A330-200

This will mark the first entry of a Guangzhou-London route, with no other direct route available. For those who need connections when LHR-CAN isn’t running, there are options via Amsterdam and Paris with appropriate SkyTeam connections.

Meanwhile, for those of you in love with the WhaleJet (the Airbus A380), then some good news as China Southern will be deploying their A380 from Beijing to Hong Kong as its first International Destination (well international seems to be such a loose term these days). Alas, it is a temporary deployment for a month before redeploying it elsewhere.

This replaces the A321 operated service, and a major timetable shift for the duration.

The planned operation is as follows:

DEPART PEK 08:50   ARRIVE HKG 1220
DEPART HKG 14:40   ARRIVE PEK 17:50

Operates Daily, 02/03/12 to 24/03/12
Equipment Booked: Airbus A380-800

China Southern currently operates A380′s between Guangzhou-Beijing and Beijing-Shanghai, and it’s international plans for them are sketchy to say the least.

Well it seems the problems with the A380 wing ribs are getting more serious with Qantas withdrawing one of their aircraft during inspections.

Qantas report that it found “minor cracking has been found on some wing rib feet,” and is working with Airbus to resolve issues, with Qantas reporting they believe these to be from manufacturing issues rather than turbulence issues.

Apparently, these are the different sort of cracks to the type two cracks that forced European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to issue an Airworthiness Directive for urgent inspections

Expect short-notice cancellations.

Meanwhile the EASA Directive will force all 68 Airbus A380 aircraft currently in operation to be checked for wing cracks from the initial ones that were suspected of issues.

Considering the new Boeing 787 scheduled is slowed down due to de-lamination issues too, this isn’t a great time for the latest and greatest aircraft.

Well, it’s Saturday, so it must be time to the paint gun out as Emirates demonstrate how one of their A380′s gets painted (Video – Airbus S.A.R.L.).

More aircraft repainting will be winging it’s way to you next week!

Emriates last month announced it was going to increase A380 services to 3 times daily, with 2 services operated by 777-300ER’s.

Well a month seems to be a short time in aviation as Emirates announcing they are to 4 times daily with A380′s.

Flights EK005 and EK006 are the latest conversions on the London route – leaving EK007 and EK008 as the remaining Boeing 777-300ER operated service, with everything else operated by Airbus A380′s.

For clarity – the service changes are listed below.

Dubai to London Heathrow from 24th January 2012 and 25th March 2012

EK007 DEPART DXB 03:10      ARRIVE LHR 07:05 - B777-300ER
EK001 DEPART DXB 07:45      ARRIVE LHR 11:35 - A380
EK029 DEPART DXB 09:40      ARRIVE LHR 13:30 - A380 from January 24, 2012, B777-300ER until then
EK003 DEPART DXB 14:30      ARRIVE LHR 18:15 - A380
EK005 DEPART DXB 16:30      ARRIVE LHR 20:15 - A380 from March 25 2012, B777-300ER until then

All times local

London Heathrow to Dubai from 24th January 2012 and 25th March 2012

EK008 DEPART LHR 09:10      ARRIVE DXB 20:00   - B777-300ER
EK002 DEPART LHR 13:35      ARRIVE DXB 00:25+1 - A380
EK030 DEPART LHR 16:35      ARRIVE DXB 03:25+1 - A380 from January 24, 2012, B777-300ER until then
EK004 DEPART LHR 20:15      ARRIVE DXB 07:00+1 - A380
EK006 DEPART LHR 22:00      ARRIVE DHX 08:45+1 - A380 from March 25 2012, B777-300ER until then

All times local

Lets have some nice pretty looking aviation news, and it’s from Airbus who have released a picture of the first Thai Airways International Airbus A380 entering final assembly.

Image – (c) Airbus SAS 2011.

Now I don’t know about you, but that Purple on the tail fin does look very pretty indeed (and I do like the colour scheme they’ve chosen for the “re-brand”).

I’ll look forward to when Airbus outfit the new plane for Thai Airways, and to see it in service.

A bright spot for next year indeed…

The shy and retiring airline that’s known as Emirates has decided to upscale it’s operations to London again, and have disposed of a 777 and switched it to… an A380.

Flight EK29/30 from the 24th of January 2012 will go A380, adding more capacity on the run, and from the timings, perfect connection timings for some of their other Eastbound services

For those interested in the Emirates service, here are the timings of it’s London<>Dubai service, with equipment listed:

Dubai to London Heathrow from 24th January 2012

EK007 DEPART DXB 03:10      ARRIVE LHR 07:05 - B777-300
EK001 DEPART DXB 07:45      ARRIVE LHR 11:35 - A380
EK029 DEPART DXB 09:40      ARRIVE LHR 13:30 - A380 from January 24, 2012, B777-300 until then
EK003 DEPART DXB 14:30      ARRIVE LHR 18:15 - A380
EK005 DEPART DXB 16:30      ARRIVE LHR 20:15 - B777-300

All times local

London Heathrow to Dubai from 24th January 2012

EK008 DEPART LHR 09:10      ARRIVE DXB 20:00   - B773
EK002 DEPART LHR 13:35      ARRIVE DXB 00:25+1 - A380
EK030 DEPART LHR 16:35      ARRIVE DXB 03:25+1 - A380 from January 24, 2012, B777-300 until then
EK004 DEPART LHR 20:15      ARRIVE DXB 07:00+1 - A380
EK006 DEPART LHR 22:00      ARRIVE DHX 08:45+1 - B773

All times local

In a way, it’s good to see their demand is still sky-rocketing, but in another way, this is starting to smell like… capacity dumping.  That’s an awful lot of seats to fill on a short 6:45 leg…

Malaysia Airlines have quietly rolled out where they’re going to be taking their A380′s to, and has quietly announced it’s going to serve London Heathrow with the big Airbus’s.

Currently, the aircraft is booked as below, operating 3 days a week from between KL and London:

MH002 DEPART KUL 2340   ARRIVE LHR  0550+1 Operates Monday, Thursday, Saturday
MH003 DEPART LHR 1200   ARRIVE KUL  0725+1 Operates Tuesday, Friday, Sunday

Commencement: 2nd July 2012
Equipment: Airbus A380-800

From 15th August 2012, this service is due to go daily.

Reservations and data is now loaded in the GDS’s – so they’re available to book.

The layout is

• First Class – 8 Seats, Lower Deck
• Business Class 52 Seats, Upper Deck
• Economy Class -  Upper Deck  – 96 Seats, Lower Deck 347
• Total:  503 Seats

Airline Route has seat maps and other fun things related to the launch.

Yes, you read that right. 700 seats.

Transareo – Russia’s 2nd largest airline – will be the first Russian airline to take delivery of Four Airbus A380′s according to airbus.com

Image – Airbus SARL.

Transareo will be planning to operate these aircraft on long-haul routes from Moscow, in a 3 cabin layout seating about 700 passengers.

Olga Pleshakova, Transaero Airlines CEO says:

”Transaero is experienced in operating long-range wide-body aircraft, and is now ready to offer the A380. I am sure that the operation of this high capacity aircraft will stimulate the development of Russia’s aviation sector, in particular airports infrastructure while passengers will benefit from a completely new experience.”

Whilst Vladimir Putin may not like they’re not “Buying Russian”, the only larger plane that is Russian (or Russian Technology) is the AN-225 (and that’s Ukrainian at a push), and she’s a cargo bird.

Transaero operates 130 routes, and is a co-partner on the London Heathrow-Moscow DME run with British Midland International.

The only other operator who is considering such a mad configuration is Air Austral – who is planning a vision of Dante’s Inferno with 840 seats in an all-economy version of the plane.

If Transaero can make these numbers work, it’ll be interesting – but not my first choice of carrier with that sort of density aboard….

News from over the channel, with Air France preparing to commence an A380 equipment service from Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) to Los Angeles International (LAX) from the 28th May 2012

The proposed schedule is :

AF066    DEPT CDG 10:30      ARRIVE LAX 13:05
AF065    DEPT LAX 15:50      ARRIVE CDG 11:20+1

Commencement: 28/05/2012, All times local
 Booked Equipment: Airbus A380

In addition to operating the LAX with an A380, Air France serves New York-JFK and Washington Dulles-IAD.

An important note to those of you who do fly A380 on Air France – the premium economy product (Premium Voyageur) will be live on all A380′s from 12th December 2011 which should make those long journeys across the pond or where-ever a bit more comfortable….