by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 3, 2017 | A350, Featured, Lufthansa, Munich, Passenger Experience |
I’m in Munich this week to attend the events surrounding the introduction of Lufthansa’s first A350 to the fleet. Though delivery happened back in December, it was last night at a special ‘Roll In’ event that the A350 was christened into service. To celebrate this important time in Lufthansa’s history, I’ll have several posts in the coming days that will cover the event. The evening was full of fantastic experiences and it would be difficult to summarize it into just one post.
The aircraft was positioned in one of Lufthansa Technik’s hangars which was filled with over 1300 guests invited by Lufthansa to share in the event. After brief addresses from key German dignitaries and leaders of Lufthansa and Airbus, the curtain was dropped to reveal ‘Nurnberg’, the name by which the A350 has been christened. Lufthansa maintains a long-standing tradition of christening their aircraft with names of various German towns and cities, as well as cities around the world that they serve.
The following photos are the very first ones that I took of the aircraft, before most of the attendees were able to gather around the aircraft. I especially liked how Lufthansa lit the aircraft in a flood of blue floodlights which really help bring out the design and architecture of the aircraft.
Enjoy these shots! Many more are on the way!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 3, 2017 | Eurowings, Featured, LCC, Munich, Passenger Experience |
Beginning in Summer 2018, Lufthansa’s low cost carrier, Eurowings, will begin serving Frankfurt as the LH Group seeks to stem the competition coming from other European LCCs.
In an article published in Airliners.de, Eurowings boss Karl Ulrich Garnadt stated that due to the pressures seen coming from Ryanair and others, it made good business sense to counter the new competition. Ryanair plans to begin service to Frankfurt this spring.
Such a move is made easier due to the fact that Eurowings will inherit 33 aircraft in the coming months after Lufthansa agreed to lease the aircraft from Air Berlin. This is of course in addition to the aircraft that will join Eurowings after the acquisition of Brussels Airlines closes. In all, the Eurowings fleet will grow to nearly 120 aircraft making it easier to operate from large hubs and to take on their competitors directly.
Previously, Eurowings announced that it will begin flying from Lufthansa’s other Mega-Hub in Munich in March. The initial timetable calls for flights to 32 cities throughout Europe, mostly towards ‘Holiday’ type destinations.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 1, 2017 | Featured, Swiss |
Earlier today, SWISS flight LX40 operating from Zurich to Los Angeles suffered an engine problem that required the shut down of the engine and an emergency diversion to a nearby airport. The aircraft flying to route was one of their newer 777 aircraft, tail number HB-JND.
The plane landed safely at Iqaluit Airport (YFB) after traveling nearly 3000 miles from Zurich. There is no immediate time frame for the continuation of the flight. The airport’s main runway was closed for nearly an hour after the aircraft arrived.
There actually was someone at the airport able to catch the emergency landing.
The following video is from Twitter user @Tattuinee who captured the moment the 777 landed.
Now being towed safely to the apron:
Iqaluit is in the Nunavut region of Canada near the entrance to Hudson Bay, and not far from Santa’s workshop in the North pole.
Santa’s Workshop is just a quick dog sled trip away…
A quick decision was made to divert. Graphic courtesy of FlightRadar24.com.
As luck would have it (for me at least), I have a friend who is on this flight so I expect hear all about his adventure in this remote outpost. If there’s anything interesting to share, I’ll follow up with another post.
UPDATE: Swiss has sent an aircraft from New York to pick up stranded passengers and take then onward to Los Angeles.
