Nice shots of the past (MD-11), present (A330) and future (787). I must say though, that 787 is awful. It is certainly going to take some getting used to!

wow, completely disagree. 747 event is so worth reporting even without 380 one. An aircraft carrying more than 400 passengers had to return. This was serious.

My parents flew with Gulf Air back in 2008, and, a few minutes after departing from Heathrow, one of the engines apparently shut down. The Captain told passengers only that the engine had stopped working and that they would have to turn back to London.

The thing is, this incident, along with so many others that must happen (perhaps on a daily basis) was not mentioned in the news, despite 200-and-something passengers and crew being on board.

I agree that any problem that forces an aircraft to make an emergency landing is severe, but I disagree that the reporting of the 747 incident was necessary. And despite what you might think, I am certain that if the A380 incident had not have occurred a few days ago, we would have known nothing about the 747.

Had the A380 a few days ago not have experienced the engine problems it did, this relatively minor (in comparison) issue with a 747 would never have been brought to the attention of the world.

With the airline industry going through tough times at the moment, this unnecessary reporting could have catastrophic consequences for Qantas. At a time when every airline in the world is fighting to fill seats, Qantas has the added challenge of convincing the travelling public that they are a safe airline.

The A380 incident was news-worthy. The 747 not so.

HRW, SGPRE and BRSN?

Is that Heathrow, Singapore and Brisbane? :confused:

Great shots. Always nice to see something different to the norm. 🙂

Great shots, Darren.. especially that A380!

I have my first A380 flight next month – with Emirates – and am really looking forward to it.

Not sure what SRB will think, last I heard was that if the BA/AA agreement got the green light, he said that VS might consider merging/taking over another carrier and joining a competing alliance to OneWorld (please let it be BD!:D)

If a takeover or merge with bmi is possible, do you think it would have much of an effect? Personally, I don’t. The number of destinations served by bmi has been slashed in recent years and the airline’s fleet has shrunk quite drastically, too.

There are obvious advantages to the travelling public when looking at the British Airways and American Airlines partnership. A similar agreement between Virgin Atlantic and bmi is unlikely to offer any improvement over what is already being offered.

Does anyone know the exact retirement date for BA’s 757’s?

30 October, isn’t it?

The aircraft is apparently going to tour Europe before being withdrawn from service at the end of the month. It has visited Madrid and Barcelona already, and it is currently on its way back from Malaga as BA497.