Month: April 2007

Delta with new livery

Delta Air Lines unveiled a new, boring, livery.

New Delta Livery
New Delta Livery

As it nears the end of its bankruptcy case, Delta Air Lines is preparing to roll out a new paint scheme for its jets — the third such repackaging in 10 years.

Delta is expected to unveil the new livery soon after its scheduled emergence from Chapter 11 at the end of this month. The airline isn’t saying much officially, other than to acknowledge a new paint job might be in the works as part of a larger post-bankruptcy marketing campaign.

Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein “has mentioned that it’s something that we’re looking at,” Delta spokesman Jeff Battcher said.

But word of the project has circulated around Delta and on aviation Web sites such as flyertalk.com and airliners.net.

The main feature of the new design is likely to be the return of Delta’s triangular shield logo, known as “the widget,” to the tail of its jets, according to one employee familiar with the design.

He said a working version features an all-red version of the logo on navy blue tails. The triangular logo — currently red, white and blue — also gets a new three-dimensional look but doesn’t change its basic shape, the employee said. Aircraft colors will also be tweaked, featuring a darker blue that matches recently-revamped employee uniforms, while the main fuselage color will remain white.

Big jets are flying billboards, so airlines take paint schemes seriously. Different managements also use them to put their stamp on a company or as part of broader “re-brandings.”

The current Delta design, with its wavy color bands draped across a logo-less tail, rolled out in 2000 during ex-CEO Leo Mullin’s tenure. One of Mullin’s lieutenants termed it “sophisticated and fluid,” although some wags have termed it the “beach towel” look.

…

Delta has sought to involve employee groups such as the Delta Board Council, which represents employees at meetings of the carrier’s board of directors.

Not long after he stepped in as CEO in 2004, Grinstein returned to Delta’s traditional widget logo because employees objected to a subtly re-designed version that Mullin had introduced.

But at the time, he professed little interest in a new paint scheme.

“If there’s one thing I’m not going to fiddle with now,” he said at the annual shareholders meeting that year, “it’s the livery of the aircraft.”

Source: http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/delta/stories/2007/04/06/0406bizdelta.html

Singapore Airlines New Cabin Design

Since Airbus announced yesterday the cabin furnishing for the first Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 is completed, you might be interested in seeing this newly designed cabin.

UPDATE: Visit SIA A380 Cabin Interior Revealed – Pictures

Unfortunately there are no photos out yet, but I found a page featuring the new cabin design concept.

Link: http://www.dexigner.com/design_news/7984/

Cabin Furnishing For First Singapore Airlines A380 Completed

Cabin furnishing of the first production A380 was completed in early April and is being tested prior to final delivery to Singapore Airlines.

The first production A380 – MSN003- due to enter service with Singapore Airlines later this year, reached the end of the cabin systems test phase on 4 April. Installation of the aircraft’s cabin at the A380 final assembly line in Hamburg was finished on 21 March and since then Airbus’ engineers and systems specialists have been performing a range of tests on the newly installed systems to check that they are working as expected.

The A380 programme team has been working with Singapore’s three on-site representatives throughout cabin furnishing to ensure that they are closely involved in decisions at every stage. And from 5 to 10 April, 30 representatives of Singapore Airlines including senior management are visiting the FAL to gain a comprehensive overview of the aircraft and its cabin systems as part of the customer pre-acceptance phase.

This phase of production has run very smoothly and, while details of the cabin remain secret, those working on the FAL are excited by the results achieved. “We are entering a new world of cabin furnishing,” said Peter Hahn head of the A380 FAL in Hamburg. “This cabin interior looks fantastic and brings a brand new dimension to the onboard experience that Singapore Airlines can offer its passengers.”

Once the pre-acceptance phase has been completed, the aircraft will be painted in the Singapore livery and undergo more systems analysis on the ground before its cabin first flight in the summer to test cabin system performance in the air.

Source: airbus.com

John Travolta’s Boeing 707

After writing my last blog post about John Travolta’s 707, I became interested in the history of this classic airliner.
So, here it is. Ladys & Gentlemen fasten your seatbelts, the history of the John Travolta Boeing 707.

His 707-138B was built in 1964, constructed at Boeing Seattle and has Boeing Construction Number 18740 Line 388.

1964 John Travolta was 10 years old. Travolta first became enamored of aviation as a child. He observed the flight paths of the nearest airports, read books on aviation, and took special interest in Constellations, DC-6s and DC-7s. Attesting to his early charisma, he persuaded the girls in his neighborhood to don their Brownie uniforms to play flight attendants as he “captained” his backyard airliner.

On September 10, 1964 first owner became Qantas. It’s registration number became VH-EBM “City of Launceston”. [ Photo ]
It was primary used for routes from Sydney to Asia and North/South America.

Since November 1, 1968 it was withdrawn from use and stored engineless at Sydney Airport. The same year in June it was already cancelled from the Australian Aircraft Register.

On June 7, 1969 new owner became Braniff International Airways. It’s registration number changed to N108BN.

From February 24, 1972 till 1975 it was owned by Frank Sinatra.
During this time, on October 20, 1973, it was again withdrawn from use and stored.

In June 1975 it was sold to Boeing.

In September 1975 it was again sold, this time to Kirk Kerkorian / Tracy Investments Corp (Tracinda / TIC).

Since September 26, 1977 it was owned by TAG Aviation, a holding company based in Luxembourg.

During this time it was also leased to Saudi Arabian Sheikh Akram, for short time.

On August 25, 1981 the 707 was again withdrawn from use, stored at Newark and ferried to Le Bourget for further storage in August 1983.

In December 1983 our 707 returned to service.

In November 1987 it has been sold to Trans Oceanic Aviation.

1988 – 1989 it was out of service again. During this time VIP interior was installed and it was modified with hush kits which converted it to a 707-138B(Q).

In July 1990, with a changed registration number to N707XX it returned to service.

In 1995 the ownage changed again to “Aviation Methods” and was ferried to Istanbul for storage on 29 October 1995.

In September 1996, with only 27,682 of total flying hours, it was offered for sale.

On May 20, 1998 it was finally registered to Jet Clipper Johnny LLC (John Travolta), sold on May 25, and changed registration on December 13, 1998 to N707JT “707 Jett Clipper Ella”. Named after his children “Jett” and “Ella”, Clipper in homage to legendary airline Pan Am, which used/uses “Clipper” in all their aircraft names.

In June 2002, the 707 finally returned home to Qantas, since Travolta participated in the Qantas “Spirit of Friendship” tour, because it was always his dream to be involved with a major airline in some way. He was piloting his own Boeing 707 on a thirteen city, 35,000 mile tour. [ Photo ] He continues as Ambassador-at-Large for the Australia based Qantas Airways. For this campaign the plane was repainted in full classical Qantas “V-Jet” livery. The same livery that was used for the 707’s first flights, back in the old days.

John Travolta is a pilot with a life long passion for aviation. Since earning his wings in 1974, he has logged close to an astounding 5,000 flying hours. Literally every cent of his first paychecks went to flying lessons. He achieved qualification as a captain in the Gulfstream II, Learjet 24, Hawker 1A, Citation 1 and 2, Tebuan and Vampire Jet. He owns the type rating for the Boeing 707 and is certified for SIC privileges (Second In Command). Travolta keeps his skill up-to-date through continual refresher courses, training at American Airlines, SimuFlite and others.

John Travolta in Mid-Air Engine Failure

John Travolta was forced to make a landing in Shannon/Ireland on Monday while piloting his private classic Boeing 707 airliner from Munich/Germany to New York. The actor, who was jetting back to the US after promoting his new movie in Germany, landed safely after his Boeing 707 suffered an engine failture mid-flight. Nevertheless, the 53-year-old just hired another plane and completed the journey, while his jet was grounded for repairs.