Lobbying by Italian unions and politicians is tipping the scales towards Lufthansa and hobbling Air France-KLM in a Franco-German battle for a slice of Alitalia airline, which narrowly escaped liquidation last week.

Air France-KLM has long been touted as Alitalia's logical partner thanks to existing commercial tie-ups. It agreed a takeover this year that later collapsed amid acrimony over the price and plans to downgrade the Milan hub and focus on Rome.

But the odds have moved in the German airline's favor as its strategy of maintaining multiple hubs strikes a useful political chord in a country peppered with regional rivalries.

"Lufthansa's model of small and dispersed hubs seems to be closer to the format the Italians would instinctively prefer," said a source close to the discussions.

Leading the hunt for a foreign partner is Roberto Colaninno, head of the CAI consortium that offered to buy the profitable parts of Alitalia once its bad assets are removed by the state.

Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have both shown interest, with Colaninno going so far as to say the two are "battling" for a minority stake.

British Airways has ruled out buying shares in Alitalia, but a source close to the company said it could be interested in a commercial deal.

The winning bidder will likely get a stake of up to 20 percent in a relaunched Alitalia and a foothold in the lucrative Italian market. Italy has stressed a foreign airline will not be allowed more than a minority stake in Alitalia.

After weeks of suspense, Alitalia was kept flying last week after pilots and cabin crew backed down over their opposition to CAI's rescue offer, but Italy's powerful unions could still disrupt a deal with a foreign airline.

Major unions such as Cisl and Cgil say they prefer Lufthansa because of its multi-hub strategy that could allow Alitalia to maintain a strong base in Milan, where it had begun cutting back its presence in line with then suitor Air France-KLM's plans.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has also declared Lufthansa his preferred pick after calling Air France-KLM's earlier failed deal, orchestrated by his predecessor Romano Prodi, "humiliating".

"Air France-KLM have declared their hand and what they wanted to pay, which was not very much," said Doug McVitie, who runs Arran Aerospace consulting group.

"If Berlusconi is able to dictate things, he'll keep it out of Air France-KLM's hands because he didn't take very kindly to their treatment of buying Alitalia on the cheap."

Sensing the mood, Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta flew to Rome on Wednesday and made a key concession by agreeing to back the CAI consortium's decisions on hubs and the network if they were profitable, sources familiar with the matter said.

Airlines arrange their networks in a hub-and-spoke model to scoop up the most passengers for lucrative longer routes.

Despite having closer ties with Air France-KLM under the Skyteam alliance, Alitalia's network could fit well with either of the two carriers, said Douglas McNeill, airline analyst with investment bank Blue Oar Securities.

"The real prize that Alitalia can offer is access to the northern Italian market, and that is equidistant to both Paris and Frankfurt," said McNeill.

But with Lufthansa leading a shakeup of the European airline sector -- it has agreed to buy Brussels Airlines and is in talks to buy Scandinavian SAS -- others say Alitalia would gain from allying with a key player rather than waiting to see where it is left in the aftermath.

"Air France-KLM can pick up one or two more small airlines but that's it; the real restructuring will centre around northern Europe and that's being led by Lufthansa," McVitie said.

Lufthansa, in turn, may be betting an alliance with Alitalia will help find passengers to fill the 15 Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft it has ordered and prevent a rival like Air France-KLM from making inroads into the Italian market, he said.

"It's almost like a negative worth -- 'We want it because we don't want our competitors to have it,'" McVitie said. "In these markets, there are no airlines that can grow internally. You can only grow by buying other airlines."

Still, Alitalia remains a tough sell given its history of union strife and failed restructuring efforts and Italy will be lucky to get either one of the two rivals to strike an alliance, said Robert Cullemore, a consultant with Aviation Economics.

Competition from rivals like Austrian and Olympic Airlines, which are also hunting for buyers weakens Italy's hand further.

"The Italians are shopping Alitalia in a buyer's market, and they'll have to take whatever they can get," said Cullemore.

(Reuters)

Cheers!

History, Reason and Benefits

The initial theoretical concept goes back to times before even the Wright Brothers first took to the skies in 1905, but it was picked up and developed by Richard T. Whitcomb of NASA after the 1973 oil crisis - in order to reduce fuel consumption. The first tests were carried out in 1979/80 in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force. At almost the same time, but independent of any U.S. military organization, a private jet producer, LearJet exhibited a prototype in 1977: the LearJet 28 that featured the first winglets on a jet and a production aircraft. Flight tests made with and without winglets showed that the winglets increased range by about 6.5 percent and also improved directional stability for the LearJet- these two factors are the major reasons behind using this facility at any fixed wing aircraft ever since.

A winglet is a (near) vertical extension of the wing tips. The upward angle of the winglet, its inward angle as well as its size and shape are critical for correct performance - this is why they can look quite different. Air rotating around the wing strikes the surface of the winglet that directs it in another direction - thus creating an extra force, basically converting otherwise wasted energy to thrust. This is a small contribution but can save a lot for an operator in an aircraft's lifetime. Another potential benefit of winglets is that they reduce the strength of wingtip vortices, which trail behind the plane. When other aircraft pass through these vortices, the turbulent air can cause loss of control, possibly resulting in an accident.

Winglet Types

In general any wingtips that not end the wing simply horizontally are considered as some kind of a winglet. Even though in strictly technical terms Wingtip Fences are not real extensions of the wing, and Raked Wingtips do not have a vertical part, they are still widely considered as winglet variants.

WINGTIP FENCES are a special variant of winglets, that extend both upward and downward from the tip of the wing. Preferred by European plane-maker Airbus, it is featured on their full product range (except the A330/340 family and the future A350). The Airbus A300 was actually the first jet airliner to feature this kind of solution by default, but it was a very small version of the tool. Provided that most of the Airbus planes (including all A320 family jets) feature such wingtip fences, this may be the most seen and most produced winglet type. Even the new Airbus A380 double-decker features wingtip fences.

BLENDED WINGLETS (the real "Winglets") are the most popular winglet type, leveraged by Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Bombardier but also by Russian Tupolev and Iljushin. Blended winglets were first introduced on the McDonnel Douglas MD-11 aircraft in 1990 with launch customer Finnair (it also features a smaller winglet at the bottom side of the wing). In contrast to Airbus who applies the wingtip fences by default on most of their aircraft (and the winglets on the A330/340 family), blended winglets are considered by Boeing for example as an optional extra feature on their products, except for the Boeing 747-400. For some of the older Boeing jets (737 and 757) such blended winglets have been offered as an aftermarket retrofit, these are the newer, tall designs and do not connect to the tip of the wing with a sharp angle, but with a curve instead. These winglets are popular among airlines that fly these aircraft on medium/long haul routes as most of the real fuel savings materialize while cruising. Longer flights mean longer cruising, thus larger fuel savings. And they also server as marketing surface for airline logos or web addresses usually.

Just recently the Boeing 767-300ER has received 3.4 m high (!) winglets produced by Aviation Partners Inc. with American Airlines as the launch-customer with Air New Zealand and Hawaiian Airlines following with orders of 5 and 8 aircrafts respectively. 141 shipsets have been pre-sold already as the forecasted fuel savings range around 4%-6% for medium/long-range flights. Airbus earlier tested similar blended winglets designed by Winglet Technology for the A320 series, but determined that their benefits did not warrant further development and they stayed with the wingtip fences instead. Aviation Partners Boeing claims that winglets on 737s and 757s have saved a collective 1.2 billion gal. of fuel since they were introduced and 11.5 million tonnes of CO2 while reducing those types' noise footprint by 6.5%. It has sold winglets to 140 airlines and 95% of all 737NGs are fitted with them. It is working on four winglet concepts for the 777 and hopes to finalize a design for that aircraft type by December, 2008.

[caption id="attachment_1086" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Blended Winglets on Several Aircraft Types"][/caption]

RAKED WINGTIPS are the most recent winglet variants (they are probably better classified as special wings, though), where the tip of the wing has a higher degree of sweep than the rest of the wing. They are widely referred to as winglets, but they are better described as integrated wingtip extensions as they are (horizontal) additions to the existing wing, rather than the previously described (near) vertical solutions. The stated purpose of this additional feature is to improve fuel economy, climb performance and to shorten takeoff field length. It does this in much the same way as "traditional" winglets do. In testing by Boeing and NASA, raked wingtips have been shown to reduce drag by as much as 5.5%, as opposed to improvements of 3.5% to 4.5% from conventional winglets. Airliners to use raked wingtips: Boeing 747-8, Boeing 767-400ER, Boeing 777(-200LR; -300ER; and freighter versions) plus the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350. The 747-8, the 787 and the A350 will have special, new kind of wings, which do not have a separate winglet, but have raked, and blended wingtips integrated - without a sharp angle between the wing and the winglet.

As you can see, wingtips/winglets have developed and changed very much over the last 30 years, but are becoming the standard, which is not proven better by anything else than the wing designs of future aircraft by the largest airplane-makers that feature a built-in winglet at the tip of their new, revolutionary wings.

(Most of the winglet pictures in the montage images taken from airliners.net taken by several photographers.)

by balint01

It was a huge plane, and i chose the aisle seat (always do on the long haul flights) near the bathroom., and at the main deck of the plane. Luckily, no one is seated beside me aside from the two other Indian guys two chairs next to me, so I am happy. Not that i am anti social, i just like my own (spaciuos) space during flights.

Obviously, this two Indian guys also are first timers to ride the jumbo jet. Not very surprisingly a lot of the passengers are! Number of us were carrying cameras and video cams, taking pictures, and soon-t-be-posted youtube videos of themselves, well at least i did have reason and not felt embrassed that it is just me who was excited to ride the new plane.

Okey, the seats have different color of the usual SQ flights they are of grey and green. Dynamically designed chairs more compact but more spacious for the passenger.

What is new is they do havea TV out jack, a USB port, a LAN port for your own for your laptop, and an outlet for your power.(bummer i placed my adaptor in my check-in luggage). The USB port can be used to view Microsoft applications that you can edit using the console and pictures you can view you took from your holidays or trip or whatever on your own screen.

The video screen is wider, ALTHOUGH i noticed that the system is slower than the usual. And I've noticed a few passengers complaining their videos do not work. Luckily mine did! or i wish i would have transferred to a higher class ;-). Anyway, i did watch the Indiana Jones, The Binge, Forbidden Kingdom and run fat boy run (to psyche me for my half marathon in the next 7 days).

Wow! the fleece blankets are Givenchy, mind you, (oops for those people who are fond of bringing home plane stuff!! oh please!) . And i am sitting at the economy the old planes carry the wool SQ colors.

Flight wise, it was like not flying with a jumbo jet, The pilot was good its just like the other planes. As usual, excellent hospitality from the staff with my bottomless peanuts and cocktails.

verdict: Good.
Recommend to others: yes
Downside: On arrival since it is a Jumbo jet, all bags come in on one carousel. I imagine waiting for your bag amongst all 400 passengers luggages! I did wait for some time, but i did entertain myself eyeing on 4 Louis Vuitton luggages on the belt and i am playing paparazzi who is going to pick the bags. Oh well i got my good reliable 7 year old luggage ahead of whoever is picking it up.

I booked my flights to Philippines for Christmas and i chose the schedule that is flying with the A380 again. (well aparrenly, they are the chepeast flight going to the Philippines during this peak season. I do not really mind the stop over as there is always a lot of endless things to do in Singapore airport and i always can stop by in a friend's house for an overnight.)

side note: Fat by run script excerpt from libby to Dennis "run a marathon?, how do you think you can do that? you can even never finish anything in your life" this would be a good something for me to play in my mind when i do the half. I will not be too had for myself. I am running because I love it, I run because of health reasons and the stress theraphy it gives me. Although I will still try not to be at the back of the pack.

Some highlights of the event -

• Like Father like son - Captain Peter Probert flew the plane (his father flew the first Boeing 747 into Australia in 1971)
• Flight - Flew from Toulouse, France (Friday night) and landed in Sydney about 9am local time.
• Passengers - 86 passengers (with "team of
  technicians, Qantas executives, chef Neil Perry, head designer Marc
  Newson and a large media contingent")
• Luxury on Flight - On board this flight, the passengers were treated to "Dom Perignon champagne and Penfolds Grange 2001 vintage"

About Qantas' Airbus A380 -

• A380's Seating Configuration - Main Deck - 14 first class seats, 332 economy seats
• A380's Seating Configuration - Second Level - 72 business seats, 32 premium economy seats
• Other features - "higher levels of
  passenger comfort with more space per seat, advanced cabin lighting
  designed to fight jetlag through simulated sunset and sunrise,
  reduced noise levels, and expanded access to inflight internet,
  email and sms services in every class."
• Delivery Schedule - 3 by the end of 2008, another 8 by 2010 and rest 9 by the end of 2013
• First Commercial Flight - "Melbourne to
  Los Angeles on October 20, with its first flight out of Sydney,
  also to Los Angeles, on October 24."

From The Age -

Dubbed the "jolly green giant" because of its reduced fuel
consumption, the A380 will deliver up to a 25 per cent improvement
in fuel efficiency and carbon emissions per revenue tonne than
large jets now operating, Qantas chief executive designate Alan
Joyce said.

Australia’s flagship airline, Qantas, has received the first of 20 Airbus A380s on order, at a ceremony in Toulouse, France. Yesterday the aircraft landed in Sydney.

 The Rolls-Royce powered aircraft was handed over to Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Dixon and Qantas CEO-Designate, Alan Joyce by Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO and John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers.  

Qantas and Airbus sought to cool fears of deepening turmoil in the aviation industry on Friday as Australia's biggest airline took the first of 20 A380 superjumbos and pledged more expansion.

Qantas said it had not noticed any deterioration in bookings in its main network or its Jetstar low-cost subsidiary in the past four weeks, and said it was looking to buy more superjumbos and studying the future Airbus mid-sized A350.

The A350 lost out against Boeing for that size of plane two years ago when Qantas opted for 65 787 Dreamliners.

Qantas took delivery of its first A380, the world's largest airliner, at the end of a week of global financial turmoil which has raised new fears for an airline sector hit hard by high oil prices and which threatens order cancellations at Airbus and Boeing.

Among those directly caught up in the financial crisis was the world's largest aircraft leasing company by fleet value, International Lease Finance, a unit of AIG which had to be rescued by the US Federal Reserve to avoid collapse this week.

Airbus sales chief John Leahy sought to remove concerns over the company's largest customer.

"On Tuesday AIG was teetering on the edge and things were dire. Right now they are completely stable again and I don't see any problem," Leahy told reporters.

Analysts say a collapse or disorderly sale of profitable ILFC could have spread chaos among the world's airlines, many of whom rely on lease financing to purchase fleets.

Qantas is the third airline to take delivery of the A380 after Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

It will enter service from Melbourne to Los Angeles on October 20 and fly the Sydney-Los Angeles route on October 24. It is configured for 450 passengers including 14 in first class and 72 in business shaped in futuristic silvery-backed pods.

"We operate in some of the longest sectors in the world given our location and the A380 gives us the flexibility we need," said Alan Joyce, head of the JetStar subsidiary who has been appointed Qantas chief executive from November.

"We haven't even taken delivery of the first aircraft and already we are thinking of expanding. People were predicting the demise of legacy airlines but I think the opposite has happened," he said.

However with markets see-sawing wildly, he indicated that Qantas would think hard before pressing ahead with plans for a stock market flotation of its Frequent Flyer loyalty scheme.

"We would do the float if market conditions were right, and if they were wrong we wouldn't do it," he said, adding the board still planned to discuss it in September. "We are keen to do the IPO at some stage; it is just a question of timing."

Qantas and other customers have been hit by a two-year delay in deliveries due to problems in wiring the double-decker A380.

Airbus denied reports its target of 12 deliveries could be changed but seemed reluctant to rule that out. After parrying questions, Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said he was "ready to bet a magnum of champagne that we will deliver more than 11".

The Qantas plane is the seventh A380 to be delivered this year and the eighth since the first plane rolled off the assembly line at the end of 2007. Airbus plans to deliver another five this year including two more to Qantas.

"I hope we are not going to find out right now that there are more delays otherwise this ceremony would be very abruptly halted," outgoing Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon quipped.

Dixon had signed the final deal to buy the first Qantas superjumbo over dinner with Airbus officials washed down with 68 year old Armagnac, distilled in the year he was born.

"When you look at this aircraft today, it is almost the perfect aircraft for long-haul travel and that is our DNA," he told a news conference in front of the plane named after Australian aviation pioneer Nancy-Bird Walton.

(Reuters)

Australia's Qantas took delivery of its first A380 superjumbo on Friday and said it was in talks with Airbus to buy more.

Qantas took delivery of the first of 20 double-decker planes it has ordered some two years later than scheduled following problems in assembling the world's largest airliner.

Airbus denied reports its target of 12 A380 deliveries in 2008 was threatened by new delays and chief executive Tom Enders said he was "ready to bet a magnum of champagne that we will deliver more than 11".

"I confirmed our target two days ago and I confirm it again today," Enders said.

The Qantas plane is the seventh A380 to be delivered this year and the eighth since the first plane rolled off the assembly line at the end of 2007. Airbus plans to deliver another five this year including two more to Qantas.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the airline had started discussions with Airbus about adding to the 20 A380s it has ordered and was also in talks about buying its mid-sized A350.

The A350 lost out to Boeing for that size of plane two years ago when Qantas opted for 65 787s, becoming the biggest customer for the larger of two variants.

Qantas is the third airline to take delivery of the A380 after Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

It will enter service from Melbourne to Los Angeles on September 20 and fly the Sydney-Los Angeles route on September 24.

Qantas indicated bookings at the main airline and low-cost Jetstar unit were surprisingly resilient given the growing financial turmoil. It said it had experienced no problems so far with debt funding due to the credit squeeze.

"In the last four weeks we have had very buoyant intakes from Qantas and Jetstar in all classes," Dixon said.

(Reuters)

Each Qantas A380 is configured to carry up to 450 passengers in 4 cabin classes (14 First, 72 Business, 32 Premium Economy and 332 Economy) created by internationally renowned designer Marc Newson. The airline will use the jet initially on its Los Angeles services from the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, before placing it on Kangaroo Route flights to Singapore and London early next year.

Following the ceremony, the aircraft departed Toulouse near midnight bound for Sydney. It is scheduled to arrive on September 21st following a brief stopover in Singapore. Qantas has ordered 20 A380s and is the third airline to take delivery of the type (after Singapore Airlines and Emirates).

The financial hurricane blowing through Wall Street and elsewhere is beginning to ruffle one of the global economy's strongest sectors: commercial aerospace.

International Lease Finance Corporation, the world's biggest plane buyer, is up for sale as its owner American International Group tries to raise cash to pay back a lifesaving USD$85 billion US Federal Reserve loan.

The Los Angeles-based lessor is the most important commercial customer for Boeing and Airbus. Shares of both plane makers plunged on Wednesday, as investors worried about the outcome of a sale, and what an uncertain ILFC would mean for the industry.

"It's going to be a difficult deal to pull off," said John McMahon who runs Ireland-based lessor Genesis Lease. "Even in the best of times it would be a seriously big deal. There aren't too many parties around that are capable of executing."

ILFC is the world's biggest plane lessor by fleet value, with almost 1,000 planes on its books, worth USD$55 billion. It's a debt-heavy operation which needs a strong, long-term balance sheet to keep its business going.

ILFC could be worth USD$5 billion to USD$8 billion based on valuations of smaller listed rivals, Wachovia Capital Markets said in a note to clients on Tuesday.

No obvious buyers have emerged, and sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East and China are seen as the only buyers with the muscle to pull it off.

Boeing and Airbus have so far sailed above the credit crisis and spike in oil prices, as global demand for new planes defies fears of a global recession.

ILFC has played a leading role in a three-year boom in plane orders. It is the biggest buyer of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which it encouraged the plane maker to build, and is a buyer of Airbus's giant A380 superjumbo.

One out of every three jets flying across the world is now leased, indicating the importance of ILFC and other leasing companies in the aerospace industry.

ILFC itself has 155 planes on order from Boeing and Airbus, worth about USD$25 billion.

That is only a fraction of the 7,500 outstanding orders Boeing and Airbus have on their books, but if they were deferred or cancelled it would be a blow to the plane makers, which are already concerned about a possible increase in cancellations as airlines struggle with high oil prices.

"That (the ILFC orders) won't disappear unless ILFC disappears," said McMahon. "It's a highly profitable business. The problem it has is that its owner is in difficulties."

ILFC's founder and chief executive, Steven Udvar-Hazy, effectively invented the business of plane leasing when he started the company in 1973. The benefits of leasing rather than buying planes appealed to start-ups and traditional airlines alike, and Hazy built up and sold the company to AIG in 1990 for USD$1.3 billion.

ILFC's influence depends mainly on the timing and intuition of Hungarian-born Udvar-Hazy, a towering figure in aviation who regularly instructs Airbus and Boeing on crucial design decisions. Any successful sale of ILFC will depend on his backing.

"Hazy is a figurehead in the industry, and his choice of new parent would be an important factor," said Les Weal, director of valuations and appraisals at British aviation consultant Ascend. "He is a very hands-on guy."

Growing concerned about AIG's finances, he was reported to be hatching a plan to take back ILFC earlier this year and may be willing invest some of his multi-billion dollar fortune in a deal.

A management buyout funded by private equity might be Udvar-Hazy's ideal way forward, but it is difficult to see investors willing to commit so much money with no obvious prospect of selling the business on, said McMahon.

That leaves state-backed funds in the Middle East and China as the most likely buyers.

Late in 2006, the Bank of China bought Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise for almost USD$1 billion, and may be on the hunt for similar assets.

In Dubai, the leasing unit of state-run Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) is "rapidly establishing itself as a world-class aircraft leasing business," according to its own description.

"(The AIG situation) is something that is still in flux," DAE Capital chief executive Bob Genise said, declining to comment on his interest in making a bid.

Officials at Abu Dhabi investment firm Mubadala Development, another possible buyer with a fast-growing aerospace division, were not available for comment.

(Reuters)

Singapore Airlines, the world's biggest carrier by stock market value, said on Thursday it has received its sixth A380 superjumbo from planemaker Airbus.

Singapore Air said it will put the latest A380, the world's largest passenger jet, on a second daily flight between Singapore and London.

Airbus had said on Monday it is sticking to its target of delivering 12 of its A380 superjumbo aircraft by the end of the year, after a French newspaper reported the model was facing further delays.

(Reuters)

With the addition of this aircraft, Singapore Airlines now has 6 A380s in service operating flights to London, Sydney and Tokyo. The carrier has ordered 19 of the world's largest passenger jet, carrying 471 passengers in a 3-class configuration.

El aparato, es número de serie Cn-014 y tendrá la matrícula VH-OQA cuando sea presentado.

Edito la entrada, para poner un link a la web dedicada de Airbus para la entrega del A380:

A380 Delivery

Edición: 21/Sep/08

Edito la entrada hoy domingo, para incorporar los datos de la presentación del A380 de Qantas del pasado día 19. A continuación os dejo la nota de prensa de Airbus!

"Qantas, la línea aérea de bandera australiana, ha recibido el primero de sus 20 Airbus A380 bajo pedido, durante una ceremonia en Toulouse, Francia. El avión propulsado por motores Rolls-Royce fue entregado al Consejero Delegado de Qantas, Geoff Dixon y al CEO designado, Alan Joyce por Tom Enders, Presidente y CEO de Airbus, y John Leahy, Director del Área de Clientes.

Geoff Dixon, dijo: “Cuando pedimos nuestros A380 en 2000, dijimos que estos no haría reinventar nuestro producto, con este avión revolucionario que ofrece capacidad y ahorros operativos, además de mejoras medioambientales. Todo lo que hemos visto desde nuestro pedido inicial, ha reforzado esta percepción”.

La cabina del A380 ha sido creada por el conocido diseñador Marc Newson. Normalmente, el A380 acomoda 525 pasajeros en tres clases. Pero la cabina de Qantas ofrece espacio extra, con 450 plazas (14 en Primera, 72 en Business, 32 en Premium Economy y 332 en Economy).

“El A380 se convierte en el referente en el Siglo XXI”, dijo Tom Enders. “Más de 380 patentes subrayan el liderazgo de este avión en eco-eficiencia e innovación, y permitirá a Qantas continuar creciendo a la vez que reduce su impacto en el medio ambiente.

Apreciamos el hecho de que la icónica línea aérea de Australia comparta la visión del A380 con nosotros, desde sus comienzos”.

Qantas fue el primer cliente en cerrar la firma de un contrato con el A380. En noviembre de 2000 pidió 12 A380, la primera vez en la larga historia de la línea aérea que pedía aviones Airbus. Qantas incrementó posteriormente su pedido de A380 hasta 20, y ahora es el segundo cliente más importante del avión más moderno del mundo.

Los cuatro motores Rolls Royce Trent 900, entregan cada uno 72.000 libras de empuje, con una eficiencia de consumo de menos de tres litros por pasajero cada 100 kilómetros.

El Presidente de Rolls-Royce, Simon Robertson, dijo: “Apreciamos una vez más la oportunidad de formar parte integral del futuro de Qantas, la compañía icono de Australia y uno de los líderes a nivel mundial. Esta ocasión supone otro hito para el Trent 900, el motor líder en el mercado para el A380”.

La eficiencia del avión y su avanzada tecnología, dan como resultado una mayor flexibilidad operacional y una economía sin igual, con un alcance de más de 15.000 kilómetros, y un coste por asiento / milla un 20 por ciento inferior a su más cercano competidor. El A380 proporciona también una capacidad de pasajeros extra vital, sin incrementar el número de vuelos.

El A380 de Qantas se detendrá en Singapur antes de llegar a Sydney el 21 de septiembre. Los primeros servicios comerciales de Qantas con el A380 se lanzarán el 20 de octubre desde Melbourne a Los Angeles, y el 24 de octubre desde Sydney a Los Angeles- Posteriormente Qantas volará también Singapur y Londres. Actualmente el grupo Qantas, incluyendo su subsidiaria de bajo coste Jetstar ha pedido un total de 110 aviones directamente a Airbus."

Y para terminar, una imagen del vuelo de entrega del VH-OQA: