China Southern Airlines on Saturday received Airbus’ first delivery of A380 jumbo jet.

The A380 jumbo jet landed at the Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) Saturday morning and will start its maiden voyage from Beijing to Guangzhou, the provincial capital of southern Guangdong Province on Monday, said Tan Wangeng, a senior manager of China Southern.

It is Airbus’ first out of five A380 jets to be delivered by Airbus to China Southern, according to Airbus.

The A380 jumbo jet will fly on commercial domestic route between Beijing and Guangzhou from Oct. 18-26 and between Beijing and Shanghai Pudong International Airport from Oct. 27-29.

China Southern’s A380 has a 506-seat cabin featuring eight luxury first-class suites, 70 flat-bed business-class seats and 428 economy-class seats.

Don’t mess with the cabin crew onboard Hong Kong Airlines, because they’re about to become martial arts masters. No, really! After a flight attendants trained in close-range combat found her skills helped her deal with unruly and heavy passengers, the airline has now made such training compulsory for all flight crew, with other HK Airlines staff invited to learn as well.

According to the AFP, the flight attendants will specifically learn Wing Chun, a form of Kung Fu ideal for up-close combat in confined spaces.

Flight crew won’t just be using it to chop troublesome passengers into submission; it’ll also aid with overweight passengers. The Wing Chun-trained FA who inspired all this actually found her strength allowed her to better deal with an overweight man who was feeling ill onboard a flight. Those who are currently in the program say they’re enjoying it, since being able to defend themselves is a valuable skill.

Korean Air has unveiled a unique feature on board its new A380 superjumbo — a luxury duty free shop available to passengers during their flight.

In the battle for the flashest and most innovative Airbus A380 implementation Korean Air has raised the stakes with its plans for an in-flight duty free shop on all 10 of its A380 Aircraft the first of which will go into operation on 10 June 2011 on the Seoul to Japan route.

The Korean Air A380 in-flight duty free shop will feature 5 display units, the first being a video display which simply shows product advertising that companies can purchase advertising on, the other display units include a liquor display unit, cosmetics display unit and a display unit for high value items such as jewellery and watches.

Chris Whetter Sales/Project director at AIM says that Korean Air’s A380 in-flight duty free shop will be located on the main deck at the rear of the aircraft, in fact the shops liquor and cosmetics display units will be located either side of the rear stairs that lead to the upper deck and the air crafts Lounge/Bar area.

Mr Whetter explains that during a flight first class passengers will first be invited to browse the duty free shop, followed by Business Class passengers, and finally if there is adequate time remaining economy class passengers would be invited.

“The shop replaces 13 seats on the aircraft so you’re losing a lot of revenue, but the Korean mentality is that they buy all the duty free on every flight,” says Whetter. “It was Korean’s concept to do it and they approached us as being one of the companies with very high quality and excellent design. There were two bidders and we won the programme.”

“If there is severe turbulence the shop has to be emptied out,” says Whetter, adding that “on taxi, take-off and landing the alcohol has to be stowed”

Korean Air believes that by selling high priced upmarket duty free items will more than offset the revenue lost from the 13 seats that their in-flight duty free shop takes up. In addition the display unit and duty free goods added to this the weight of the shop will be less than the combined seating luggage of 13 passengers therefore there would be less fuel burn. If all goes to plan it looks like it will be a win/win for both passengers and the airline.

The first of Korean Air’s 10 A380 aircraft goes into operation on 10 June 2011 between Seoul and Tokyo, followed by Bangkok, Hong Kong and North American routes.

Here’s a novel way to while away the time and burn away some calories during those interminable long-distance flights: an exercise bike suitable for inflight use.

The airline which brought us an award-winning toilet in the Airbus A380 has now created an aircraft-ready stationary exercise bike for frequently-flying fitness fanatics.

Boffins at Lufthansa Technik – Lufthansa’s engineering, maintenance, repair and overhaul service division – revealed the bike at the close of last week’s Aircraft Interiors Expo at Hamburg.

It uses the same lean-back recumbent design as seen in many lifestyle gyms, but don’t expect to hit the same rpm as you would on the ground due to the cabin pressure at altitude and lower oxygen concentration in the air.

FlightGlobal reports that Lufthansa Technik took an off-the-shelf product made by Italy-based Technogym and modified it to satisfy aviation regulations.

Qantas says the Airbus A330 was forced to land in Cairns on Wednesday afternoon after an electrical fault caused smoke and small flames to appear near the left-hand windscreen of the cockpit.

The airline praised the pilots for reacting calmly to the fire, saying they showed quick thinking in donning oxygen masks and extinguishing the flames, while diverting the Sydney-bound flight to the nearest airport.

“There were no ill effects or injuries experienced by any of the 147 passengers or 11 crew, and all passengers were accommodated on other domestic services to complete their journey to Sydney,” a Qantas spokesman said in a statement.

He said the pilots were being praised for “their calm response to the incident.”

The fire broke out at 3.35pm and the plane arrived in Cairns 50 minutes later.

Qantas said the incident would be investigated, and that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau had been notified.

United Airlines the world’s largest carrier, may ground its Boeing  737-500 and 767-200ER aircraft to cut fuel use amid rising prices.
Getting rid of less fuel efficient planes is among steps the carrier is considering after announcing March 7 that it would pare planned capacity growth this year. The capacity changes won’t require employee layoffs, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek said today.

The price of jet fuel, one of airlines’ largest costs, has risen 27 percent this year, prompting United to join Delta Air Lines and  American Airlines in cutting 2011 growth plans.

Emirates Airline is hiring thousands of staff to service its burgeoning fleet of A380 superjumbos, with each requiring more than 150 air crew.

The airline’s record order for the Airbus A380 is prompting it to embark on an ambitious hiring drive across six continents.

For each A380 that enters its fleet the airline needs 20 pilots and 133 cabin crew, Emirates said yesterday.

With more A380s expected this year as well as deliveries from Boeing for other large passenger aircraft, Emirates expects to hire about 4,000 cabin attendants, it said.

“Emirates is currently in full recruitment mode,” the airline said on the eve of participating in Europe’s largest travel fair, the ITB event in Berlin, where it will recruit more German-speaking cabin crew from a stand whose centrepiece is a 150-tonne, three-storey globe. This year, the giant rotating structure will feature life-size replicas of the A380 onboard shower spa and lounge.

The airline currently has 12,000 cabin crew, including 2,000 who operate on its fleet of 15 A380s. Emirates has another 75 orders for the 500-seat plane.

The airline’s recent growth propelled it last year into the top spot for international airline capacity worldwide, ahead of Lufthansa.

Now Emirates has also moved up another set of rankings: it is the world’s third-largest airline, ahead of United Airlines, in terms of monthly capacity. The Dubai carrier is expected to fly 16.9 billion seat kilometres this month, up 9.9 per cent from the same period last year.

Korean Air is scheduled to induct the double-decker Airbus A380 plane in its fleet this year by May. They have made very luxurious plans for the new plane and its interiors. They plan turn the entire upper deck of an Airbus A380 into a luxurious space for business class passengers with lie-flat seats. The total number of seats in the plane will be reduced, but the idea is to provide space and comfort on long haul flights.

The Korean Air design for Airbus A380 will provide only 407 seats. This is, so far, the lowest number of seats on any commercial A380 flying with any of the airlines. The entire upper deck which is being converted to Business Class will accommodate 94 passengers. There will be 12 First Class suits in the nose of the plane. The lower deck will house the Economy Class with a total of 301 seats.

The configuration of three classes is identical to most other airlines but the design aims at passenger comfort and luxury more than optimizing the number of seats on the large plane. Korean Air has ordered a total of 10 Airbus A380. The delivery of the planes will start in May and go on through the year.

It has been rumoured that Singapore Airlines are planning to increase the number of Business Class seats on their Airbus A380 fleet due to an increase in demand for premium seats.

As the business travel industry recovers, most airlines are choosing to invest in their First and Business Class products. By changing the floor plans of their A380s to have more premium cost seats, this will be a big revenue boost for Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines is supposedly rearranging seat plans on its new A380s, removing Economy seats from its upper deck and making way for more Business Class seats, which will stretch across the entire length of the upper deck.

The changes will be made from May 2011 when the airline’s 12^th A380 superjumbo is delivered. This aircraft, and the other 8 on order from Airbus, will be fitted with the new seating configuration, which will see an increase of 40% in the number of Business Class seats. It is expected that the current A380s in the fleet will keep their original cabin layouts.

At the moment there are 16 rows of Business Class seats and 11 rows of Economy seats on the other deck, but Singapore Airlines will be ditching the Economy seats for 6 more rows of Business Class seats, which lie fully-flat and offer 55 inches of legroom.

The spacious Business Class seat folds out to become the largest fully-flat seat of its class, so passengers can curl up in a duvet, large pillows and fresh linen. Business seats are equipped with a centralized business panel featuring power supply and USB ports and passengers can watch a wide selection of entertainment on the 15.4” personal screen. Seats feature carefully integrated storage space, mood lighting and a contemporary colour scheme.

Business passengers receive restaurant style meals created world class chefs served on Givenchy tableware. A range of branded toiletries such as eau de cologne, aftershave, and moisturising lotion is available in all Business Class washrooms and passengers can request  toothbrush sets, combs, disposable razors, and shaving cream.  Passengers can request a writing kit from the cabin crew, and keep up to date on current affairs with a wide range of magazines and newspapers.