Airline Nation

Qantas and Airbus have marked the first flight of the carrier’s four-class A380 at the airframer’s facility in Hamburg, Germany.

EGYPTAIR changed its identity on the 76th anniversary by introducing a new look of its logo Horus and a new livery on its aircrafts, EGYPTAIR soars into the future with a new brand image.

Boeing has delivered EgyptAir’s first Star Alliance liveried aircraft, a 737-800, just one month after the airline joined the global partnership.

The aircraft, which was delivered Aug. 18, is also the first 737 to be painted with in the alliance’s livery.

Emirates would like to operate its A380s from Dubai to Los Angeles or even Houston, although that would require flying fewer passengers on the A380. But CEO Tim Clark notes that at around 430 seats, it would still provide better operating economics than the Boeing 777-200LR now used on the route.

Emirates is looking to make its own contributions in reducing weight reduction by considering reducing cruise speed to Mach 0.83 from Mach 0.85 to reduce fuel burn. It is also in talks with Russia about more direct routes.

United Airlines plans to eliminate complimentary food on flights beginning 2 September.

TAM Airlines has taken delivery of the first of eight Boeing 777-300ER long-range widebody twinjets on firm order.

TAM is the first Latin American airline to operate the General Electric GE90-powered 777-300ER, and the delivery also marks the Brazilian carrier’s first acquisition of a new Boeing aircraft.

For the 3rd time in 10 years, Singapore Airlines has been named World’s Best Airline, winning the 2008 Airline of the Year title in the latest Skytrax World Airline Awards.

Here are some startling statistics from the report: * The total cost of domestic air traffic delays to the U.S. economy was as much as $41 billion for 2007 including higher airline operating costs, lost passenger productivity and time, and losses to other industries. … * Seventy-eight percent of flight delays in 2007 occurred before take-off, with 58 percent at the gate, and 20 percent during the taxi to the runway. * 94 percent of all flight delays were caused by other flights arriving late, national system delays, or air carrier delays (less than six percent of delays were due to security or extreme weather).

United Airlines may cancel an order for 42 Airbus aircraft, forfeiting a $91 million deposit and possibly heralding a wave of deferrals and cancellations for the major plane makers as their customers scale back growth plans.