The week of Airplane art continues today with a Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400 pushing back from London Heathrow Terminal 3, beginning the long journey back to Hong Kong.

More during the week, in what was meant to be a quiet week… that’s turned into one of the busiest I’ve had of posting!

The week of airplane art is still in progress even though there’s a fair amount of news going through. Today, its a British Airways Boeing 777-200ER taking off at London Heathrow Airport

More Airplane art tomorrow as the week of airplane art continues!

It’s Sunday again, so it must be time for some airplane art.

This week, it’s a All Nippon Airlines Boeing 777-200ER taxing at Los Angeles International Airport

More airplane art of course next week!

It’s Saturday again, so it must be time for Safety Video Saturday.

For no explainable reason at all, it’s United Airlines Boeing 777 safety video that actually is the Continental Airlines 777 Safety Video with Rhapsody in Blue wrapped on top of it.

More of course next week!

It’s Sunday again, so it must be time for some Airplane Art.

This week, it’s a Korean Air Boeing 777-300ER parked up and being serviced at Washington Dulles International Airport

More of course next week!

Emirates have kicked off the Dubai Airshow in style, with an order from Boeing for a grand total of 50 (Yes, 50) Boeing 777-300ER’s

At list, the order is worth $18 Billion. Knowing Emirates, they probably got a knock-down on that price.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates states

“The 777′s reliability, performance and operating economics have firmly established it as the backbone of our fleet,”

The order makes it the largest order it has made for Boeing Aircraft.  Emirates state that they wish to

 ”expand our long haul destinations and continue to excel as a world leading carrier, connecting the world to Dubai and beyond”.

So yes, I think we can guess what Emirates is going to do with these birds – replace older birds when their time comes, and swap out with newer aircraft when ready.

And again – this stamps the solidity of the 777-300ER programme, and how it competes against it’s own 747-8I programme.

It’s Sunday again so it must be time for some Airplane Art.

This week, it’s an United Airlines Boeing 757-200 in the “new” colours taxing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

With the next trip oncomming, I may have more than my fill of 757′s soon…

More Airplane art of course next week!

It’s Sunday again, so it’s time for this week’s Airplane Art.

This week, it’s Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400, with “new” titles parked up at London Heathrow Terminal 3

More of course next week!

Arik Air is an odd beast. With bits of it from Nigerian Airlines, and different investments here and there, it operates a 22 aircraft fleet, focusing on Nigeria and the area, as well as a few long-haul routes (namely, London, New York JFK, Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg). To run the long haul routes, it’s drafted in a pair of Airbus A340-500′s which can been seen flying some of these.

Well it seems that Arik Air has gone a bit more Boeing, with the announcement it is to order a grand total of TWO Boeing 747-8I’s.

Sir JIA Arumemi-Johnson, owner and chairman of Arik Air states:.

“Air travel within the region continues to grow at a rapid pace and we must prepare our fleet to accommodate that growth,” said

“Boeing’s new 747-8 fits perfectly into our long-term planning. It brings the best operating economics for its size, which is important with the increase in fuel prices.”

Arik Air also have outstanding orders for 7 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners (whenever Boeing chooses to build them) has signed a deal with Boeing for two 747-8 Intercontinental aircraft for use on its key long-haul routes.

Now, whilst this isn’t a rubber stamp on the 747-8i project (which quite frankly isn’t doing well in comparison to Boeing’s other long haul frame – namely the 777-300ER), I’m sure that Boeing will welcome the extra $635 million at list prices the aircraft are worth.

Still for such as small sub-fleet of aircraft, 2 is a bit too small – as BMI demonstrate wonderfully with their Airbus A330-200 fleet of 2, and unless Air Arik is careful with the deployments of these birds, they could be finding new homes quickly….

Picture – Boeing Commercial Aircraft – from their live stream.

Flight Boeing 501 Experimental landed safely at Panne Field at 16:18PST, with a bounce of a nose.

Aircraft has taxied to a stop, and as seen in this image, is being towed so the pilots can disembark and address the press.

Frame RC501 (Boeing 501 Experimental) took to the air for the first time today, and is currently conducting it’s first flight in the Washington State Area.

Pictures – Boeing Commercial (from their webcast)

More coverage later, but for previous GhettoIFE.com 747-8  Coverage, clicky here to see my analysis here..