Plane Spotting: HD Video: Emirates A380 A6-EDO take-off runway 23L at Manchester

Senior spotter Murtaza Sattar played host to me on Friday 20th May for a day of spotting at Manchester Ringway airport in the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately Murt's claim that he could control everything but the weather, came true. It was dull, cloudy, rainy, cold, windy day.

The photos were coming out very poorly, so I decided to use the Live View feature of my Nikon DSLR and take this video of the Emirates airline Airbus A380-800 A6-EDO super-jumbo taking off from runway 23L. This runway is normally closed from about 10am to 4pm, but it is specially opened around 2pm to accomodate the behemoth from Dubai taking-off.


Murtaza has a great shot of another Emirates A380 taking off on the same runway. See it here. Thanks Murt, for a great day, regardless of the weather.

Read more »

Singapore Airlines increases frequency to Mumbai and Delhi

With the global economy increasing in select geographies, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is making changes to its route network in the coming months.

Frequency to Mumbai and Delhi will meanwhile be increased from March and June 2010, respectively. Flights will be operated twice-daily to both Indian cities, up from the existing 11-times-weekly.

Effective 18 December, the Singapore-Moscow-Houston flight frequency will increase to five per week from the current four.

From 19 January 2010, the non-stop Singapore-Newark flights will return to daily operations from the current five times a week.

Munich will be a new destination in the SIA network from end March 2010. Flights will operate five times per week on a Singapore-Munich-Manchester routing.

Also from end March 2010, Colombo and Dhaka will each be served daily, up from five flights a week.

Services to Seoul will increase from June 2010; to 18 weekly from the current 14 weekly, one of which carries on to San Francisco.

From end October 2010, the carrier will commence twice daily operations to Tokyo Haneda airport, complementing the existing twice daily flights to Tokyo Narita, one of which continues on to Los Angeles.

The airline is suspending operations to Karachi and Lahore, Pakistan and Nanjing, China. The last Singapore-Karachi-Lahore service will be operated on 17 February 2010 while the last Singapore-Nanjing service will be operated on 26 March 2010.

Read more »

Qatar Airways introduces environment friendly tray meal service in economy class

Qatar Airways has launched an innovative Economy Class in-flight service on all flights operating to and from the UK, which sees all onboard meals served in a new presentation style using recyclable materials, with see through trays, bright meal cartons and cutlery packs, as well as a personal table mat in a variety of different colours. which are 99% recyclable.

For the main meals of lunch and dinner each tray will offer a flavour of Arabia with a regional dressing or dip, such as humus, to serve with the fresh salad starter accompanied by Arabic bread.

Passengers will be given a choice of three delicious main courses, including a lighter option for the more health conscious.

Malaysian chicken curry, fish and fennel pot pie and Indian style kadi pakora are among the selection main meals.

For breakfast service, it is fresh fruit, a healthy yoghurt and croissant with preserves, and a choice from two hot dishes such as Zucchini and Majoran Fritatta with Cherry tomatoes or Apple and Cinnamon crepe with maple syrup and berry garnish.

Following the introduction of this new tray service on flights between Doha and London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester, Qatar Airways plans to roll out the concept across the remainder of its international network over the next few months.

Read more »