AUSTRIAN Starts Los Angeles Service

AUSTRIAN Starts Los Angeles Service

Seven months ago, Austrian first announced that it was planning to begin service this Spring between Vienna and Los Angeles.

Today, the first flights for the new route took place as OS81 departed for Los Angeles at 10:00a and the return flight (OS82) departed back to Vienna shortly after 3:00p.

The route will be flown 6 days a week (No flights on Sundays) by their 777 fleet and will be in place for Austrian’s summer timetable through October.

This brings Austrian’s total weekly flights to the USA to 37.   In addition to the new LAX route, OS flies to Miami, New York JFK, Newark, Chicago, and Washington DC.

 


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SWISS LX40 Makes Emergency Landing After Engine Failure – Video Of Landing!

SWISS LX40 Makes Emergency Landing After Engine Failure – Video Of Landing!

 

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.

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Santa’s Workshop is just a quick dog sled trip away…

 

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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.


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SWISS LX40 Makes Emergency Landing After Engine Failure – Video Of Landing!

SWISS Bringing Their 777s To Chicago

SWISS has announced that they will introduce the 777 on several flights between Zurich and Chicago beginning June 1, 2017.  Specifically, the 777 will be assigned to Flight LX008 and LX009 for 6 of the 7 weekly flights.  Overall, SWISS will maintain 12 flights per week between ZRH and ORD.

Here is what service will look like beginning June 1:

LX006 and 007 will still fly between ZRH and ORD 5 times a week (not Wednesdays/Fridays).  The flights will be operated with A330-300 aircraft.

LX008 and 009 will fly daily and will have the 777 on the route everyday except Tuesdays.   The Tuesday flight will be operated by an A330-300.

The 777 is expected to be on LX008/009 until October 28, 2017.   I expect that the Airbuses will come back for the winter due to demand decrease.


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Need A Christmas Gift Idea?  Have 1,500,000 Million Miles To Spend?  SWISS Has An Option For You!

Need A Christmas Gift Idea? Have 1,500,000 Million Miles To Spend? SWISS Has An Option For You!

For those of you that have flown with SWISS recently, you’ll notice a major co-branding campaign with renowned Swiss watch house Breitling.   Its hard to miss the relationship when visiting any SWISS Lounge or flipping through their inflight magazine.

To raise the bar on their relationship, Breitling has unveiled an exclusive limited edition marking the introduction of SWISS’ Boeing 777 aircraft.   Limited to only 777 copies, watch aficionados and collectors can now add this unique piece to their collection.

Based on their iconic ‘Navitimer’, the unique SWISS tribute piece has tasteful customizations that make this Navitimer stand apart from other versions that have been offered by Breitling over the last 64 years.  Specifically, a red second hand with an aircraft pointer along with a customized SWISS caseback will make this Navitimer timer a unique SWISS tribute.   Each caseback will also carry its unique serial number, between 1 and 777.

Breitling is currently offering the watch for sale and it can be yours for 1,500,000 Miles & More miles. For those of you short on miles, but deep on pockets, you can buy the watch for CHF 7077.  See what they did there??   For those of you challenged in currency conversion, that amount equals approximately $7000 or €6600.   So its cheaper if you use Euros! 🙂

The watch has been on sale since Spring of this year and there are a few more copies available to fill the stockings of your loved ones!


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SWISS Announces 777 Route Updates for 2017

SWISS Announces 777 Route Updates for 2017

 

Late last week SWISS updated their timetable for 2017 with 4 updates concerning the 777 the days it will fly on certain route.    This is just the first batch of changes and more will be coming in the next few weeks.   For now, here is what is changing with 777 service going into 2017:

Zurich – Bangkok will see the A340-300 replace the 777 between March 28 and April 22 on 3 of the 7 flights each week.   The A340 will fly the route on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday while the 777 will fly the route on the remaining days.  These days are based on Zurich departures.

Zurich – Montreal will see the 777 replace the A330-300 between March 26 and May 31 on 3 of the 7 flights each week.   The 777 will fly the route Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday while the A330 will fly the route on the remaining days.   These days are based on Zurich departures.

Zurich – San Francisco will see the 777 fly the route everyday beginning on April 17.  Currently the A340 is flying the route 4 days a week, while the 777 flies on the remaining 3 days.

Zurich – Singapore will see the 777 fly the route everyday beginning March 4.   Currently the A340 is flying the route 4 days a week, while the 777 flies on the remaining 3 days.

 

Related:

SWISS Announces EUROPEAN Routes for 777

SWISS 777 Route Update For USA 

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