It never rains, but it does pour.
So much for leaving the English weather behind – it seems to have followed me to France at the start of this weeks biennial air show.
While it lashed down outside, I took comfort from being the first to visit the second Air France Boeing 777 Freighter.
The key message, as echoed by Randy Tinseth last week was reaffirmed by BCA President & CEO Scott Carson, in that the company remains confident of securing and retaining its backlog and that market resilience is what will ultimately fight back and lead to a recovery, perhaps as soon as next year stated Carson in this mornings briefing.
For now, enjoy a taster of some of the 777F images I snapped.
More will be added in due course.
Au revoir!
All images copyright/owned by FleetBuzz Editorial.com
Beautiful airplane! Lovely, clear photo of the Upper EICAS display. At least a TAT of 18C outside is OK, not too cold!
Sweet photos! I’m glad to see AF committed to the B77F, even given the recent economic doldrums!
Great shot of the cargo bay. I’d love to see more. How far forward does the cargo area extend? Are there any provisions for a few pax other than the flight crew? Does this aircraft have the crews rest quarters?
Jacobin:
Did you know the WhaleBus is coming to the Osh Kosh Air Show next month for an extended visit. Perhaps you’d like to join me for a thorough photographic going over of this magnificent aircraft on July 28-29, very conveniently located in the heart of “Cheeseland?” Seems to me you’ll get much better access for close inspection of the exterior than you can ever hope for at SFO.
Why did you tag this as Airbus? There is not even a mention of it in this blog post.
Aurora – there are four seats in a row right by the door 1 entry. I have a couple of shots and will try and update/upload later today.
The seating area includes crew rest quarters as well as a kitchen area. Directly behind this is the cargo bay and it feels just as wide/big as 747F cargo holds that I’ve stood in.
One damn impressive airplane by all accounts!
Off topic.
I’ve just read SQ’s load factor in May.
http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2009/06/16/singapore-airlines-reports-dreadful-traffic-figures-for-may-2009/page1
Quote: “Singapore Airlines’ passenger load factor plunged 7.8 ppts to just 66.9% last month as a 22.8% decline in passenger traffic (RPKs) significantly outstripped a 13.9% decrease in capacity (ASKs).” (emphasis added)
That’s bad.
OFF TOPIC – again
Airlines are offering too many business seats in the current environment.
http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2009/06/16/airlines-offering-far-too-many-business-seats—aircraft-configurations-in-focus-as-premium-revenues/page1
Quote: “Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, told The Australian newspaper last week the airline is considering reducing the size of its A380 Business class (currently 72 seats), stating, “the configuration is not right for us in the current environment”. He added, “ideally, with the amount of aircraft we have coming, we would like less Business class seats and more Premium Economy.” Rival Emirates has 76 Business seats in its A380s, while Singapore Airlines, which reported further deep reductions in traffic last month, has 60 Business seats in its A380s.” (emphasis added)
Vero, thanks for the link. Does this mean that we won’t see Chew double down on his whalejet order at the end of this paris air show?
Skeptic.
I understand SQ will double the 777 fleet, double the 787 order and get a score of 748i’s. Unless that happens don’t expect any change to the A380 order.
9. Skeptic | June 16th, 2009 at 10:23 “Does this mean that we won’t see Chew double down on his whalejet order at the end of this paris air show?”
I don’t know.
AFAIK SQ ordered 19 A380 of which 8 or 9 are delivered. I don’t think they’re in hurry to order more of those.
If my feeling about the future economic growth (as I wrote in the comment below) is right then I don’t see more A380 order from SQ.
http://boeingblogs.com/randy/archives/2009/06/back_to_the_future_part_ii_1.html#comment-55216
I wish to add something.
The the hype about the A380 due to its “novelty” starts to subside. I think less and less people change their travel plan just to “take a ride” on an A380 especially when they’re in economy class (see above comments about the business class).
So I think the load factors of 70% or so is now uniform on SQ’s fleet, including the A380.
The only region with positive growth last month is the Middle East. But, if you check EK’s fares you will see that they are systematically and substantially cheaper than the competition. Their yields must be quite low.
You can reasonably think that Middle Eastern carriers are “stealing” other airlines’ passengers. One day or another the situation must change.
“You can reasonably think that Middle Eastern carriers are “stealing” other airlines’ passengers. One day or another the situation must change.”
Yeah, let’s liberate them
Leelaw:
Thanks so kindly for the Whale-spotting “heads-up”.
I have tentative planes of being in the Chi’town area (north burbs) around that time as well. I won’t have anything definitive however until sometime in early July. It would be a pleasure to meet and have an opportunity to take photographs of the Big Beast so up and close.
Vero Venia:
Thanks for the links! Very interesting indeed. What I’ve gathered is for whatever reason, history has shown that the novelty of adding too many amenities on a new airplane doesn’t last too long and reality eventually sets in (i.e.-the piano lounges on the early B747′s) which results in nothing more than adding more fish to the sardine can.
14. keesje | June 16th, 2009 at 14:40
I think sooner or later, such low yields will bring them down.
If they can keep their operating costs down, they can survive on those “low yields”.
They have many new airplanes, so maintenance is low and their efficiency helps with rising fuel prices (even though that is being driven by speculation so they could collapse again). I believe their labor costs are also low and all those seats helps drives down CASM.
“You can reasonably think that Middle Eastern carriers are “stealing” other airlines’ passengers. One day or another the situation must change.”
Yeah, let’s liberate them
Those who can, do. Those who can’t, cavil and snipe.
Fantastic pics there,especi9ally that of the Main deck.
Fantastic pics there,especially that of the Main deck.