Lots happening with the 787 at the moment. Eleven have now been finished by Boeing. With orders of over 800, they have a lot of work to do!

Japan Airlines (JAL) received its first two 787s last month out of its total order of 45 Dreamliners. They plan to use the planes to increase international services  by 25 percent by 2017.

On Sunday 22nd April, they flew the first scheduled 787 Dreamliner passenger service into the USA, with its new Tokyo to Boston service, the first time ever theSE two cities have been linked by direct AIR service. JAL will fly the 14 hour hop four times a week: From Boston: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. .This shows the potential of then plane combining its capacity and range. The carrier says it has bookings for about 98 percent of seats this month and 90 percent for May which is an excellent situation for the airline (less so for us passengers who like a spare seat next to them!).

The airline plans to add a new service to San Diego with the Dreamliner. This will be followed by Helsinki in February. They will then replace 767 and 777 aircraft on services to Moscow, New Delhi and Singapore.JAL are suggesting services to London and New York will be boosted and services to Madrid (Hub of One World partner: Iberia), Berlin and Dusseldorf (hub of another One World partner: Air Berlin). They may re open flights from Osaka’s Kansai and Nagoya airports that weren’t profitable with  777s.

Japan’s other major carrier and 787 launch customer All Nippon Airlines (ANA)  received their latest 787 this week. It completed a transpacific biofuel flight from  Boeing’s Delivery Center in Everett, Washington to Tokyo Haneda Airport. The plane was powered by a mix of regular aviation fuel and used cooking oil! ANA currently have five 787s; four are flying domestically and one is flying Tokyo-Frankfurt. They will begin flying Tokyo to Seattle from July 25 with a 777 , and some time in the year,  will switch to a 787.  The airline itself,  announced a record profit for 2011 so it looks like we will have 787s in Boeing colours for a while.

This week, the first Boeing plane made outside the state of Washington since World War II*  rolled off Boeing’s new assembly line in  Charleston, South Carolina for delivery to Air India. Another three 787s will be built at the plant this year – all for delivery to Air India. Boeing, are aiming to build 10 787s per month by the end of 2013, with three produced each month in South Carolina. The current 787 production rate is  3.5 per month so they have a way to go. Everett also will be focussing on the rollout of the 737NEO. Boeing has apparently bought another 200 acres near the Charleston plant for future expansion. *If you don’t count the Boeing 717 which was really a MD plane built in Long beach

My question is: when will I get to fly a Dreamliner? I had hoped to do it for my 787th flight but that is long past. Maybe for my 878th flight? That is a mere 28 plane trips away!

There are now 73  A380s in service worldwide with 7 airlines:

1. Air France has six. Here is my January 3, 20112 review of their A380 Premium Economy Product which I scored at 78%
2. China Southern has three. I have not flown their plame yet
3. Emirates has 22. Review  AKL-SYD  September 30th, 2010 -Economy – My score: 92%
4. Korean is up to five. My December 27., 2011 review of Economy scored them 86%
5. Lufthansa is flying eight. See my October 11, 2011 review of Lufthansa‘s A380 Economy 80%
6. Qantas has 12 of the planes. My rating of their A380 Premium Economy gave them 87%. No review yet.
7. Singapore is up to 17 planes. No review from me but I gave them a rating of 83%

Malaysian Airlines first A380 is in mid testing stage.

The big news was the formal handing back to Qantas of their Airbus 380 named Nancy Bird Walton. This is the plane  that dramatically “lost an engine” in a mid-air blast off Singapore in November 2010. I have previously blogged about how dangerous the incident was..  The incident dented both the reputation of Qantas as one of the world’s safest airlines (despite the fact the crew managed to nurse the plane into a safe landing) and the reputation of the giant plane. (The concerns some have about the 380 have been  further heightened by hysteria over the wing cracks that have been found recently. Qantas is denying they are considering suing Airbus over the cracks but they are in discussions over the cost). The Financial Times reports that Airbus is ”
“cutting the production rate for the A380 from 2.7 aircraft each month to 2.3 for the next two quarters, as it goes about mending defective components in the superjumbo’s wing structure.”

VH-OQA was formally handed back to Qantas last Saturday after what the airline said was ”one of the biggest repair jobs in aviation”. The repair took 18 months and cost  $A139 million ($US144 million). It required nearly 100,000  hours of work by 170 Airbus staff from eight countries. The repairs were carried out at the hangar of Singapore International Airlines Engineering subsidiary. The airline’s insurance company paid for the repairs and engine-maker Rolls-Royce compensated the airline Aus$95 million for the grounding of the aircraft.

Captain Richard de Crespigny, who was piloting the aircraft when the blast happened, received the flight log book from Airbus engineers and  flew the plane back to Sydney where it departed for its first commercial flight to Hong Kong. Picture from the Canberra Times.

I have flown 842 times. In that time, one child has kept me irritated for an entire flight. As he bounced up and down the seats with his oblivious mother staring at her video screen, an exasperated fellow passenger asked if she had brought anything for her child to do. She looked up and shrugged her shoulders, saying “No” and went back to watching  her screen. A few babies have disturbed my takeoffs and landings but not enough for me to want children removed from my aeroplane. Most I have met on board have been well behaved or in awe or both. On the other hand, adult passengers that talk loudly on night flights, recline their seats, pack the luggage racks badly, keep the light on on night flights, abuse the flight attendants, dirty the lavatories, or step on my feet when walking across the emergency exits, annoy me more. Besides, for the first 15 flights of my life,  I was a child under 12.

So I was very interested in Malaysian Airline’s announcement  last Wednesday that children and infants under the age of 12 will be banned from the upper decks of their new Airbus A380 as well as the plane’s First Class.

The announcement overshadowed almost every other detail of the new Airbus services. The first plane due for delivery in June will start flying Kuala Lumpur daily into London in July. The second one will double the London capacity. KL- Sydney will follow from 25 September, 2012 as flights MH123/122 replacing the Boeing 747-400 aircraft currently serving the route. This means four airlines will be flying A380s into Sydney  and four into London (Emirates, Qantas, Singapore currently operate the plane at those two airports).

The Malaysian A380  has a brand new livery of blue and metal colours (pictured). No decision has been made as to whether the colours will be rolled out to the whole fleet. I really like the livery. The colour represents a new era as they join One World and fight to keep their five star Skytrax rating which is “under review”. (If Skytrax downgrades them, then that means with the loss of Kingfisher’s status, there will be five carrying the 5 star moniker compared with seven last year).

Malaysian’s Airbus A380 will have 494 seats compared with:

• Korean: 407  (my report here)
• Qantas: 450 (not reviewed)
• Singapore: 409/471 (not reviewed)
• Emirates: 489/517 (Three airlines A380s compared)
• China Southern: 506 (not flown yet)
• Air France: 516/538 (Reviewed January, 2012)
• Lufthansa: 526 (Review posted October last year)

There was talk of having four classes with a seat count of 503. Instead, Malaysian has dropped premium Economy and  increased the business cabin on the upper deck.  Seven of the seats are reserved for crew giving the plane 487 seats. 420 of these seats are economy, Business and First Class. On the lower deck are 350 Economy seats and the  eight kid free First class seats. The child proofed upper deck will have 66 Business and 70 economy seats.

First-class pitch will be 85 inches. The seats will flatten out to a full 87-inches. In flight entertainment screens are  23-inch. Business class: 74-inch pitch and full flat bed seats each measuring 72 inches in length  with individual 17-inch IFE screens. Economy-class seats will have a 32 inch pitch and an 18 inch seat width with 10.6-inch individual screens. Every seat on board will have a USB port.  AC electrical outlets Ports will be installed at every Business and First seat and shared with every two seats in Economy.

Now for the child ban. Malaysian have instructed travel agents that their booking system will not allow passengers under 12 in First class, or the upper deck. This is hot on the heels of a 2010 US survey identified that nearly 60% of travellers want airlines to create a family-only section on flights. This was a consequence of a confidential settlement between Qantas and a 67-year-old American passenger who sued the airline after a 3-year-old screamed on her flight. Further,  most  survey respondents said they wished to sit as far away from young children as possible. Those who support banning kids, point out that the chance of a small child or baby being disruptive is far greater than that of any other traveller. Those against point out that children likely to fly Business are usually behaved. plus it means all parents seeking to fly Malaysian will have to fly Economy.

So is this policy Wacky or Wise.? What do you think?

I fly from New York to Melbourne via Los Angeles and Sydney (United and Qantas with a sector on my beloved 380!) bringing my flights for the year to 25 from 22 airports in 9 countries on 4 continents with 10 airlines! So much for flying less in 2012!

On my Qantas flight to Sydney, my total miles will exceed 1, 200 000 air miles flown in my life (five times between earth and moon) and a scarey 17 weeks inside planes! Check out myFlightmemory for more information.

Home briefly before heading to Perth, Western Australia (flight 26 for 2012 and 838 in my life!) Accommodation is very expensive in that city thanks to the mining boom.

Where are you travelling to?

China Southern  has been flying their first A380s on domestic routes within China. This means they have had the world’s largest number of passengers on a single domestic flight surely?

I have been advised they will start flying their A380 in March from Beijing to Hong Kong. The timetable says: Flight:  CZ310  will leave Beijing (PEK) at 0850 and arrive at 1220 into Hong Kong (HKG). It then returns as CZ 309 departing at 1440 and arriving 1750 back to Beijing.

I can’t wait to fly it – I have been on the other six airline’s flying 380s; Air France, Emirates, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore and am eager to compare. I have yet to work a Hong Kong or China trip into my schedule.

In the meantime,  Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said he has ordered an internal investigation into the A380 wing cracks situation. Apparently the cracks are affecting  an average of five out of 2,000 aluminum alloy brackets per wing. Enders said at the Singapore air show recently:  We made a mistake here and we are repairing it as quickly as possible,” and “This plane is absolutely safe to fly.”

Airbus is still planning to deliver 30 A380s in 2012:

• Air France (their 7th and 8th Airbus 380s)
• China Southern (3rd and 4th for that carrier)
• Emirates (ten more planes taking them to 31 A380s)
• Lufthansa (9th and 10th for the German flag carrier)
• Malaysia Airlines (their 1st in June, 2012 followed by 3 more) – they will be the eighth A380 carrier
• Singapore (16th, 17th 18t and 19th)
• Thai Airways (their 1st in October, 2012 followed by 2 more)- they will be the ninth A380 carrier

Qantas Airways has temporarily grounded one of its A380 superjumbos after discovering dozens of hairline cracks in its wings. They have said tehy:

1. do not pose a threat to safety

2. they are different from the types of cracks that manufacturer Airbus found in the wings of two jets last month

Should we be worried about my beloved A380?

Qantas A380  VH-OQF called  Charles Kingsford Smith en route to Singapore as QF 32, encountered severe turbulence over India as a result of storms in the region. A minute after the seatbelt sign came on, the plane began a series of drops and pitches. Some passengers has not made it back to their seats and were tossed up in the air, along with anything else not secured. Passengers screamed as the turbulence hit the plane. There were seven injuries- none serious. Passengers have praised the crew and the captain for the way they  handled the situation.

Plane, crew and passengers stayed in Singapore while the plane was checked.

http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/qantas-lands-safely-after-bad-weather/x2l9923

Hopefully people wont blame Qantas CEO Alan Joyce for this one!

British actor and Tweetaholic Stephen Fry was en route from Sydney to London today aboard a Qantas A380 operating as QF 31. Four hours out from Singapore, the plane was diverted to Dubai due to engine problems. Bizarrely one year to the day since a Qantas A380 Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine shredded in what could have been a disaster for that airliner. Fry kept us entertained with a blow by blow account of today’s situation which a Qantas spokesperson said was not connected to last year’s issue (Oh yeah? how d they know?):

82 stephenfry:  Taking off from Sydney. Reluctant to turn phone off and tear myself away from @Quora, a service with which I’ve fallen hopelessly in love

stephenfry: That’s it. Phone off now. Starting to taxi. See you all the other side. Singapore first. Then London. Farewell and thank you, Australia. 3 Nov (retweeted by 59)

stephenfry:  A quick stop over in Singapore while they change crews, clean and refuel the plane and whatnot…15 hours ago (retweeted by 33)

stephenfry:  Just before phones off, don’t miss the sublimely talented@TheShowstoppers’s Improv Musical this Fri night @CriTheatre.criterion-theatre.co.uk/Showstopper 14 hours ago (retweeted by 32)

stephenfry:  Bugger. Forced to land in Dubai. An engine has decided not to play. 5 hours ago (retweeted by 77)

stephenfry:  My flight. Still on board. Not sure of we’ll be bussed to the airport lounges or kept aboard while they work on it bbc.co.uk/news/business-…5 hours ago

stephenfry Still stuck on Dubai tarmac. No one seems to know how long we’ll be here. Should’ve landed in London at 6:20. That won’t happen! #qantas 4 hours ago

stephenfry @abcnews24 I think plan is to bus us to the transit lounge and await International Rescue. This plane, the crew tell me, is going nowhere 4 hours ago (re tweeted by 9)

stephenfry:  @abcnews24 I should in all conscience add that staff are being wonderful & that morale is high and the passengers understanding & cheerful 4 hours ago (re-tweeted by 21)

stephenfry:  On a bus from the plane to the terminal now. Who knows what treats lie in store? #qantas 3 hours ago (retweeted by 73)

stephenfry:  @abcnews and I’ve left my wallet on the plane – all my ID cards, money passes etc. I’m going to be siting here for ever and ever and ever 3 hours ago (retweeetd by 29)

stephenfry:  Reunited with wallet & cards so v relieved ! Hurrah. Qantas have gone to the trouble & expense of this: which is nice pic.twitter.com/3sStwLfV 41 minutes ago (retweeted by 42)

In the meantime, over at Weibo.com, the Chinese microblogging equivaent of Twitter, China Southern reported that its first A380 was back in the air after a two day grounding caused by a mechanical fault in the wing flap power-drive system. They had only had the plane for 12 days. Their next A380 is due December and at that point, we might know where they are going to take the planes internationally.

This week, for the first time ever, an A380 will be used on a domestic route. China Southern received their first 380 on October 14 from Airbus in France (see handover video above- Note the slight error in translation of the CEO’s speech when the plane is referred to as “A-three-eight-zero“). The plane touched down in Beijing October 15.   China Southern’s became the seventh airline to fly the A380 joining Air France, Emirates, Korea, Lufthansa, Qantas and Singapore. number seven and their A380 is the 58th in scheduled service.  They have ordered five A380s.

The handover video gives you a great sense of the China Southern’s A380 internal colours and set up (see 2 min 11 secs).  I was amused by the arm movements by one of the executives at 2mins 26 seconds as he measures out the pitch between seats in what looks like the economy cabin. Was he saying “is the leg room really that small?”

The plane will be used  firstly on a daily round trip Beijing to Guangzhou service from October 18 to 26. Then from October 27 to 29, it will ply the Beijing to Shanghai route. Eighty per cent of the 428 Economy seats plus all of the eight luxury first-class suites and 70 Business class seats have been sold for those first flights. I was hoping to get there but I need to be at work in Australia!

The mystery is where China Southern are going to fly them internationally. There has been much speculation. The contenders are:

1. Guangzhou to Paris (currently A330)
2. Guangzhou to London
3. Guangzhou to Sydney- which is a twice daily service currently
4. Guangzhou to Melbourne- which just become a twice daily A330 service
5. some have said the new Guangzhou to Vancouver could be upgraded-its only thrice weekly currently

The airline has said it “might be flown to the USA. The most likely options:

1. Guangzhou to Los Angeles
2. Guangzhou - San Francisco
3. Guangzhou - Dallas
4. Guangzhou-Washington DC

When they announce, then I can book!

In August, the A380 celebrated its third Birthday of flying, Last week,  I flew my fourth A38o airline: Lufthansa, the German flag carrier. My earlier A380 flights have been with Qantas, Singapore and Emirates.

Booking

I was determined to fly on the Lufthansa A380 so I searched for the flight at Lufthansa.com to find it was much more expensive than I planned. I then found United was selling seats on the exact same Lufthansa flight for substantially cheaper than the Lufthansa price!

After confirmation of my booking, my next task was seat selection. Lufthansa’s website works very well and allows you to easily retrieve your booking and search for seats. I wandered around the cabin, however, trying to find a seat that would accommodate my long legs. Alas, there were none. I checked the website every day.

Then one magic day, I found Seat 76K was open. I immediately grabbed it. This in my opinion is the best seat on Lufthansa’s A380. Row 75 is officially exit row with more leg room. As you can see from the seatguru.com diagram,  there Seat 76K and 76A do not have a seat in front of them! This gives you massive leg room but you don’t get people standing on your toes as they congregate for the lavatory.

Check in: 7 out of 10

Check in was as efficient as you would expect with a German airline. I was surprised though when the check in clerk offered to move me to a “better seat”. The better seat turned out to be an aisle seat slightly closer to the front door. I explained I wanted seat 76K because of the leg room and she assured me that t had no extra leg room. Having established that she wasn’t giving me an upgrade,  I made sure she left me in my chosen seat! That lack of knowledge was a surprise and could make all he difference on a very long flight.

I gave Emirates (EK) 10/10, Qantas   (QF) 9/10 and Singapore (SQ) 8/10 for my A380 journeys with them

Boarding: 7 out of 10

The line through security was long and a little chaotic.

Boarding, while pretty straightforward felt a little chaotic. When I reached my row, I found a small war was on between the passengers in rows 75 and 76 over bin space. There were many harsh words being exchanged. I quickly deposited my bags in Row 73 and sat down (I later moved them to Row 76). The passengers next to me seemed very unhappy when I arrived (I think they hoped to nab my seat!). I said hello and attempted to be friendly but got very quickly rebuffed. Later 75H moved to the bulklhead and 75J moved into 75H, giving us a spare seat between us. We didn’t talk for the rest of the flight and she ignored my farewell.

Cabin crew seemed very friendly but very passive. None appeared to be offering passengers help in finding seats or putting luggage away.

EK: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 7/10

 On Board: 7 out of 10

Lufthansa have some of the meanest seats in Economy. They give passengers a seat which is a mere 17″ wide and has 31″ pitch between the seats. Compare this to Singapore who offer 19″ wide by 32″ pitch on their A380.  I heard a lot of  mumblings and grumblings about the seats, as passengers boarded. I have decided that 18″ by 32″ is a minimum I can tolerate in Economy when not sitting in an exit row.  My Lufthansa A380 had been recently named “Wien” in a  ceremony in Vienna on August 22, 2011. Interior colour scheme was fresh and very pleasant. The plane was almost totally full

EK: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 8/10

Takeoff: 10 out of 10

We were delayed leaving the gate because, as the captain advised us,  tail winds across the Atlantic would get us to Frankfurt before the 6am curfew. We waited at the gate and then at the tarmac before moving to the runway for a perfect takeoff.

The sensations involved in an A380 take off are amazing. Takeoff feels all too smooth, all too quiet, all too slow, all  too gentle to allow this monster double decker plane filled with 400 people is going to escape earth’s gravity.  Then you glance across at airport fence and realise that the plane is in fact rocketing along. With a small twitch of the wings, the truly magnificent machine leaves the ground. A sharp right hand turn had the plane heading for Long Island. We climbed smoothly and steadily. One of the best aspects of Lufthansa, is that like Emirates, you can watch your take off from a tail mounted camera. An A380 takeoff always reminds me why I love this plane-it was made to fly.

Take off was followed by the distribution of hot towels by the crew. Small gesture but so appreciated. Thanks Lufthansa. They repeated the hot towels the next morning before breakfast. Why don’t other airlines still do this?

Meals: 8.5 out of 10

I chose a Teriyaki chicken with rice for my dinner and to my amazement it was perfect. The chicken’s flavour was great. The accompanying  salad and bread roll were both fresh. Breakfast the next morning while simple was delicious. Where Lufthansa disappointed meal-wise, was a lack of snacks or fruit available through the night in the galley. Other airlines do better. Lufthansa had plenty of drinks on hand in the galley through the night though.

EK: 10/10, QF: 7/10,  SQ 9/10

Entertainment: 7 out of 10

The entertainment system consistes of a personal VOD unit with a 10″ screen. At most seats, the unit is seat back. In my set and at the exit row seats, the screen is folded out of the way for takeoff and landing (I watched the tail camera on my neighbouring screen). The system itself works logically and smoothly but I found that the TV options were limited. There are 35 TV shows built in plus 18 movies. I find it hard to watch movies  on a plane so usually focus on TV shows. I ran out of ones I found interesting very quickly eg there was one solitary episode of Modern Family, that I had seen twice before. If I was flying Lufthansa multiple times in a month, I would be bored very quickly. Also I could not get the games to work on the system as it kept asking for a games controller. I didn’t pursue that any further but it seemed odd that games are offerred that cannot be played. Headset provided by the airline was so comfortable, I actually used it! EK: 8/10 , QF 9/10 and SQ 10/10

Landing: 10 out of 10

We landed early into a Frankfurt dawn with a perfect touchdown.

My ratings:
80% (4 out of 5) – My average rating for all my Lufthansa  flights is 4.8 over seven years-so its a little lower than their usual standard. Out of all of my A380 flights, Lufthansa scored the lowest- just. EK: 92%, QF: 87%, SQ: 83%

Positives:  Great meals, the good website, ease of check in

Negatives: Lack of sufficient on-board entertainment,  lack of snacks overnight, cabin crew not so customer focussed and that tiny, teeny economy seat.

Would I fly them again? Yes, especially on an A380 but only if I can get seat 76A or 76K

I seem to have snagged the window seat of the exit row on my next A380 flight,
A lot can happen between now and check in so fingers crossed!

Watch for Tuesday Trip Report on 12th October