Emirates to fly A380 to JFK again!

Two days ago on May 13, Emirates Airlines announced that due to increased demand, the Airbus A380 will fly to JFK again! This is just after I posted how disappointed I was that it didn't fly here anymore. However, this does come just weeks after potential terrorist Faisal Shahzid boarded an Emirates plane despite being on a no-flight list. Mr. Shahzid purchased the green SUV that was found in Times Square on May 4. Anyway, Emirates will fly beginning in October.

Emirates currently has 8 A380s and has 50 more on order. That's just insane. And, just in case you didn't know how luxurious of an aircraft it is inside, take a look at these pictures:

This is the first class bathroom on board. With a shower. With two showers, in fact. There is also a spa, a lounge, work benches for business class, the seats, naturally, fold into beds, and there is a minibar. Plus power points everywhere. That's in first class, where you also have your own private suite. It clearly has every luxury you could possibly imagine that high in the air. The plane is also amazingly quiet for such a big machine. I usually end up falling asleep, like, as we're taxiing away from the runway so I'm usually pretty happy with a just a window seat.

The first A380 that Emirates acquired has 489 seats, with economy having 399 seats. The upper level of the plane has 14 first class seats and 76 business class seats. I cannot wait to get onto one of these things, and hopefully it will be soon - I flew on the Qantas 747 last year to get from Brisbane, Australia to Los Angeles, CA and I flew in business class, which was awesome. Outlets was probably one of the best features because I could watch whatever I wanted to without worrying about losing battery. Also, the inside of the plane had cute koala and kangaroo designs, which was a nice touch. The flight attendant also helped me get to sleep, as I got free alcohol. Which is always a plus.

JFK

Well, I am a happy camper, because with JFK's construction on their runways, they were only landing the planes on certain runways, and they are not meant to reopen them until June, according to some sources. Nevertheless, I saw some planes flying on the old flight paths this morning (I live very close to the airport and love watching the planes). Here are some photographs I've taken, basically in my backyard.
 

airberlin a330

Iberia a340 - One of my favorite planes

Not sure what this guy is...but my guess is a330?

Finally, a BritishAirways flight, over the Lawrence LIRR train station.

More pictures to come.

What... no... Airbus A380

Well, I have been looking for this elusive plane since it started flying to New York's JFK airport on November 20, 2009. I've gone plane watching, and I've seen it, but only fleetingly and only when I have not had a camera of any kind. Once I saw its tail 5 minutes after leaving a location that would have given me an amazing view of it. I once saw it fly over the local dollar store, and stopped in the middle of the parking lot, for a short view of it. Then, I saw it once (and have blurry photos) of it flying in the distance, about to land at JFK. Just by chance did I snap a couple of photos. Then, when I was at the right place at the right time, Air France changed the equipment to a 777 that day. I don't think I will ever see it.

If I were living in England, however, I guess I would just take up Air France's awesome £80 deal to fly from Heathrow to Charles De Gaulle. $150 bucks to fly on this thing? I'd totally do it. They are also offering business-class seats for £250 The thing can seat more than 500 passengers, and they are flying it on a short haul route (215 miles). How about a JFK-BOS A380 route, guys? Evidently, AirFrance can justify using the A380 on this route, because it's pretty busy. Emirates had an Airbus A380 flying from Dubai to JFK as well, but due to the lack of demand, dropped it in early 2009, replacing it, again, with a B777. I can't wait to see which US carrier uses the A380 first (if it ever happens) but my guess would be for Northwest, or with this new Continental/United merger, perhaps they will acquire the $300m+ plane. Right now, only four carriers have at least one: Air France, Emirates, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines.

Just because, here are some of my (horrible quality) pictures of the A380. These were taken in Woodmere, NY, coming in for a landing at JFK.

One day, Airbus A380, I will get you.

New Swiss Airlines Livery

There is lots of buzz in the airliners.net forums about a new plane design that Swiss Airlines is releasing on its 340 to San Francisco. It's a colorful design and clearly reflects San Francisco's "hippie" background. I personally love it, and appreciate seeing different designs on airplanes. As a somewhat avid plane watcher, it gets pretty boring to see one Delta plane over and over again, so anything new is exciting. Anyway, here are some photographs of this awesome design that won, as well as the alternatives that were offered to "20 Minuten online," a Swiss online newspaper. And the winner is:

As you can see, it's a fun design, with eyes over each door (and one poking out at the back!). Notice that it says "Zurich" right behind the wing as well. I think this one stood out as compared to the other candidates which were as follows:

Although I do like the flowers, I think the color combinations in the first alternative are horrible, and the second one is just ugly. Unfortunately, since I am on the East Coast, I will probably never get an opportunity to see this awesome plane, but I can't wait to see photographs on airliners.net.