Airbus Updates No.2664

AIR FRANCE TO WITHDRAW AIRBUS A380 PERMANENTLY WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT 

AirFrance announced this afternoon (Wednesday) that it is withdrawing all of its A380’s from service permanently from today.

Having decided nealry a year ago not to spend the almost $US75m it would have taken to refurbish the aircraft interiors (they’re as delivered), the ailrine then said it would remove half of them on lease by 2022 and then the rest as appropriate, but likely by 2028.

Following the Covid19 pandemic, and the long road ahead to return to 2019 flight levels, the airline has decided to remove them immediately, making the largest aircraft in the airlines fleet its 773ER’s.

The aircraft are for the most part barely ten to eleven years old with the youngest just six.

Its an extremely sad day for aviation enthusiasts and must be deeply disheartening for those who spent millions of man hours assembling these huge aircraft, which should really have lasted at least thirty years.

Airbus Updates No.729

Incident: THY A319 near Ankara on Jun 15th 2012, bomb hoax on lavatory mirror

By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Jun 28th 2012 13:07Z, last updated Thursday, Jun 28th 2012 13:07Z A THY Turkish Airlines Airbus A319-100, registration TC-JUA performing flight TK-2201 from Kahramanmaras to Istanbul (Turkey) with 120 passengers, was enroute at FL300 about 160nm southeast of Ankara (Turkey) when the word "BOMMM" was found written on a lavatory mirror with a blue pen. The captain decided to divert to Ankara as a precaution, the aircraft landed safely on Ankara's runway 21R about 25 minutes later. The aircraft taxied to a remote area, the passengers disembarked normally. The aircraft, passengers and luggage were searched with no traces of explosives found. In order to not inconvenience the innocent amongst the passengers any further the aircraft was permitted to continue to Istanbul about 2:45 hours after landing after all passengers had submitted samples of their writing. The aircraft reached Istanbul with a delay of 3:20 hours. Police is still working to determine who wrote onto the lavatory mirror. Incident: Indigo A320 at Srinagar on Jun 28th 2012, bird strike By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Jun 28th 2012 19:36Z, last updated Thursday, Jun 28th 2012 19:36Z An Indigo Airbus A320-200, flight 6E-448 from Srinagar to Mumbai (India) with 182 people on board, was climbing through about 1500 feet out of Srinagar when the crew suspected a bird strike into one of the engines and decided to return to Srinagar for a safe landing. A replacement aircraft reached Mumbai with a delay of 5 hours. The airline said, the crew suspected a bird strike and returned to Mumbai for a normal landing. ncident: Air France A388 near Gothenburg on Jul 1st 2012, door problems By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Jul 1st 2012 17:20Z, last updated Sunday, Jul 1st 2012 22:42Z An Air France Airbus A380-800, registration F-HPJG performing flight AF-276 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Tokyo Narita (Japan), had just reached FL370 about 45nm eastnortheast of Gothenburg (Sweden) when the crew reported door problems and requested to descend to FL250. The aircraft dumped fuel over the Baltic Sea and set course to return to Paris where the aircraft landed safely on runway 27L at about 19:49L (17:49Z) about 5 hours after departure. Sweden's Civil Aviation Authority said the crew reported door problems and requested to dump fuel over the Baltic Sea. The airline reported the aircraft returned to Paris for technical checks. The flight is estimated to depart again at 23:30L (21:30Z). A replacement Airbus A380-800 registration F-HPJF departed runway 09R at 00:36L (Jul 2nd, 22:36Z Jul 1st) about 4:45 hours after landing and is estimated to reach Tokyo with a delay of 10 hours. Incident: S7 A313 at Moscow on Jul 2nd 2012, could not fully retract gear By Simon Hradecky, created Monday, Jul 2nd 2012 14:43Z, last updated Monday, Jul 2nd 2012 14:43Z A S7 Sibir Airlines Airbus A310-300, registration S7-943 from Moscow Domodedovo (Russia) to Bourgas (Bulgaria), was climbing out of Domodedovo's runway 14L when the crew stopped the climb at FL100 reporting they could not fully retract the landing gear. The aircraft entered a holding at FL080 and returned to Moscow's Domodedovo Airport for a safe landing on runway 32R about 50 minutes after departure. A replacement Airbus A319-100 registration VP-BHG reached Bourgas with a delay of 4.5 hours.

Airbus Updates No.716

Airbus A320	-232	1862		EC-LRY	Vueling	in full cs at DUB 07jun12, EI-reg prior delivery	ex EI-EUG
Airbus A320	-214	4128		EC-LSA	Vueling	ferried 09jun12 DUS-OSR, D-reg for paint prior delivery	ex D-ABFB
Airbus A320	-232	4977		B-6935	Shenzhen Airlines	delivery 05jun12 ex TSN	ex B-508L
Airbus A320	-232	5148		N805JB	jetBlue	delivery 09jun12 XFW-BGR-MCO	ex D-AVVP
Airbus A320	-216	5153		JA01AJ	Air Asia Japan	delivery 09jun12 TLS-ESB-DEL	ex F-WWDH
Airbus A320	-232	5156		B-6929	China Eastern	delivery 06jun12 TLS-SVX	ex F-WWDE
Airbus A320	-232	5170		B-6896	China Southern	delivery 08jun12 XFW-OVB	ex D-AXAG
Airbus A320	-214	5178		CC-BAX	LAN Airlines	delivery 09-10jun12 XFW-LPA-REC-SCL	ex D-AXAR
Airbus A330	-223	946		VT-VJP	Kingfisher Airlines	ferried 04jun12 BOM-ZRH on return to lessor ( + 939 VT-VJO 29may12)	ex F_WWYX
Airbus A340	-642	924		VP-CDD	Govt of Jordan	ferried 02jun12 BSL-DUB, F-reg for paint into all white after VIP cabin config	ex F-WJKG
Airbus A380	-861	67		F-HPJG	Air France	delivery 05jun12 XFW-CDG	ex F-WWSQ
Airbus A380	-841	78		9M-MNA	Malaysia Airlines	ferried 06jun12 KUL-TLS for partial cabin re-config and paint into new cs	ex F-WWSU

Airbus Updates No.713

Airbus A319  -131  1082     G-EUPA  British Airways  1st in svc 31may12 LHR-BSL vv after paint into “Dove” cs   ex D-AVYK
Airbus A319  -111  2392     N936FR  GECAS  ferried 30may12 GYR-MZJ after storage (+2400 N937FR)   ex D-AVYK
 Airbus A319  -111  2442     VP-BDY  RusLine  delivery 29may12 OSR-VOG  ex G-EZID
 Airbus A319  -111  2446     VP-BDZ  RusLine  delivery 01jun12 OSR-VOG after paint  ex G-EZIE
 Airbus A319  -112  3865     SP-IBA  Yes Airways  ferried 01jun12 DUS-OSR for paint into OLT Express cs   ex D-ABGS
 Airbus A319  -133ACJ  4428     B-3333  Evergrande  at HAM 31may12 in full cs after paint prior delivery   ex D-ALHT
 Airbus A320  -212  407     N407BV  AerCap  ferried 31may12 AUA-BRO-MZJ after storage, FlyAruba cs, ntu   ex A9C-ER
Airbus A320  -214  3933     EC-LRT  Orbest  ferried 31may12 CHR-PMI after paint  ex VT-WAO
Airbus A320  -214  4539     CN-NMF  Air Arabia Maroc  ferried 31may12 SHJ-ALY-CMN on transfer  ex A6-ANC
 Airbus A320  -214  5147     B-LPC  Hong Kong Airlines  delivery 31may-01jun12 TLS-DXB-HKG   ex F-WWBR
Airbus A320  -214  5167     VQ-BPN  S7 Airlines  delivery 01jun12 TLS-DME  ex F-WWBV
 Airbus A320  -214  5174     B-6881  Air China  delivery 31may-01jun12 XFW-HAM-OVB   ex D-AXAQ
Airbus A330  -243  1008     CS-TFZ  HiFly  ferried 28may12 AMM-ORY, Corsair titl, TUI logo applied 29may12 prior summer-lease  ex F-WWYD
 Airbus A330  -323  1318     9M-MTG  Malaysia Airlines  delivery 31may12 TLS-KUL  ex F-WWYI
 Airbus A380  -861  67     F-HPJG  Air France  for delivery 04jun12 XFW-CDG  ex F-WWSQ

Airbus Updates No.712

Airbus A300  B4-203(F)  211     N821SC  Sky Lease Aero  ferried 29may12 MIA-SFB for interim storage, Transcarga cs   ex N862PA
Airbus A319  -112  794     D-AKNH  Lufthansa  ferried 30may12 BUD-MUC after storage on return to service (+1172 D-AKNJ)  ex D-AVYD
 Airbus A319  -112  946     HC-CMO  TAME  delivery 29-30may12 MPL-SID-REC-UIO  ex F-WTBM
 Airbus A319  -112  1016     D-AKNI  Lufthansa  ferried 29may12 SXF-FRA after storage on return to service   ex D-AVYK
 Airbus A319  -131  2188     G-DBCB  British Airways  in svc since 28may12 in golden “Dove” cs  ex D-AVYA
 Airbus A319  -111  2442     VP-BDY  RusLine  delivery 29may12 OSR-VOG  ex G-EZID
 Airbus A320  -212  419     LY-VEY  Avion Express  positioned 31may12 KEF-CDG prior Wow Air ops   ex N419AG
 Airbus A320  -232  661     TC-OBU  Onur Air  in full cs at DUB 28may12, EI-reg prior delivery  ex EI-EEI
 Airbus A320  -211  726     CS-TQS  White  ferried 27may12 LIS-KTW on wet-lease to Sprintair   ex YL-BCB
 Airbus A320  -214  1860     N263AV  Frontier  delivery 29may12 RME-GYR   ex D-AXLB
 Airbus A320  -232  2210     EI-EUA  Livingston  delivery 30may12 SNN-MXP  ex EC_IYG
 Airbus A320  -232  2747     TC-ATK  AtlasJet  delivery 29may12 BUD-IST  ex OE-IBD
 Airbus A320  -214  2810     EI-DET  Aer Lingus  ferried 20/27ay12 DUB-EMA-DUB, paint into all wh prior return to lessor   ex F-WWIP
 Airbus A320  -214  4487     N448AV  Avianca  at BOG 28may12 in Star Alliance cs prior entering svc  ex HC-CJW
 Airbus A320  -214  4967     B-6880  China Eastern  delivery 25may12 ex TSN  ex B-507L
Airbus A321  -231  1366     SU-TCD  Almasria Universal Airlines   delivery 29may12 PGF-CAI  ex EI-EUD
Airbus A321  -231  5160     B-6906  Sichuan Airlines  delivery 29may12 XFW-OVB  ex D-AVZF
 Airbus A340  -212  18     ZS-SLC  South African Airlines  ferried 27may12 JNB-LDE on return to lessor  ex D-AIBD
 Airbus A380  -861  67     F-HPJG  Air France  delivery 31may12 XFW-CDG  ex F-WWSQ
 Airbus A380  -841  78     9M-MNA  Malaysia Airlines  delivery 29may12 TLS-KUL  ex F-WWSU