That said though, isn’t AA suppose to be Chapter 11 bankrupcy…if so, where has the money come from to enable them to get a new livery design and to have their entire fleet painted?

The new look and re-branding is an important part of the restructuring. One of the reasons they entered Chapter 11 is because they fell behind the rest of the pack in terms of customer service and on-board experience and thus people stopped flying them.

The new look should help them differentiate themselves from the old American Airlines and hopefully win some flyers back.
When AA has just announced some of the largest orders in aviation history, I expect the re-branding is a relatively minor expense on the balance sheet and it’s not as if the fleet will be painted overnight. It could be 2016/2017 before the last of the aluminium is phased out.
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The livery looks good on the American Eagles;

I went there last summer. The first thing you’ll notice are the beggars; forever rattling their aluminium cans at you. You’re practically followed down the streets by enthusiastic shakers walking beside you (best to just say no and move on, if you gave to everyone you’ll be broke by the end of trip).

Other than that small (or rather large) niggle, it’s a really nice city. The grass is always green in the parks, the parrots sing and there’s a really nice buzz at the commuter links.

Barajas is a very easy airport to navigate around, but if you do have any problems 9 times out of 10 the airport staff will speak English so you can ask them.

The old livery was great. Very photogenic especially when it was clean.

Probably not quite so photogenic on a 787 or A320NEO, though? I expect :p

Hmm, seems the chemistry of these batteries is well known to be unstable!

Why do you think laptops are prohibited from checked in hold luggage? 😉

It’s not often I relish from the thought of a shop closing down. But walking down my highstreet today, I saw my local poundland had a closing down sale (it had only been there for about 6 months). ‘Yes, Kingston’s moving up in the world’ I thought :diablo:

I found it interesting to find out the last time the FAA grounded a fleet was the DC-10 in 1979. After 33 years of satisfactory air travel, the 787 must be a special case.

Does a grounding mean all flights everywhere, or just passenger flights? If it’s the former, what does this do to delivery schedules?

I am a bit shocked the FAA took the step of grounding the B787. Time will tell if it is a knee-jerk reaction.

I think the FAA realises now the scale of the problems. I doubt it’s all knee-jerk because I read on the BBC earlier that FAA officials were due in Tokyo today to address and discuss the concerns of the Japanese carriers. It gives me the impression that the FAA originally thought the decision by JAL and ANA was an overreaction but have now come to the same conclusion.

I’m not an engineer, but was there anything stopping that JAL battery fire from happening half way across the pacific? And what about the first fuel leak? The JAL crew only found out as they were taxiing on to the runway because an AA aircraft told ATC.

Whilst others may/may not (one for the courts) be copying apple, the fact remains their products are very over-priced. An article in The Times showed an iPhone 5 costs around £150 to manufacture and distribute, yet if you were to buy one off the high-street you’d be looking at paying around £530. That’s one hell of a mark-up.
The Samsung Galaxy SIII (arguably a better handset) is available for around £300.