San Diego airport seems a lot like Wellington – houses on a hillside overlooking the runway. Wonder what they go for?

The future isn’t so bleak, but you have to admit oneworld are not going to go anywhere very fast.

For rectifying defects, for sure. I think some of JMC’s A330s went back to Airbus.

I would suspect the manufacturers have all sorts of link ups/contracts with the various big maint. companies. You’ll probably see Airbus boiler suits at places like Lufthansa Technik.

The notion of “anywhere, anytime” help means manufacturers send technicians all over the world to help out, offer training and advice and maybe even do some actual work. As an example, BAE Systems has loads of people based in Saudi Arabia on the maintainence side, although probably a lot of them are for work on military aircraft.

Also, some manufactuers have their own maintainence outfits. Rolls Royce certainly does, and they sell you an option to maintain your RR engines if you want.

Some of the more informed members will probably be able to put me right or add more detail as the case may be.

I know Qantas already has the A330, but do you think that signifies they will opt for the A340NG rather than the 777? (if they go for either).

As for the cargo, depends on whether or not they have long term cargo contracts and what the penalties are for breaking the contracts. I would otherwise agree that a fare paying passenger would take priority over ad-hoc cargo.

No, but they haven’t reached critical mass yet. It’s too early to predict great things.

Like that scetch from Airplane

Roger, Roger. What’s my vector, Victor?