Merger mania at Photos.aero

This news page is to be moved and integrated into Photos.aero soon, as a brand new news blog updated multiple times daily by crew members from various sources. Expect a dedicated and fast moving news service with the ability to comment on aviation and airline stories of the day.

Terminal 5 at LHR opens to traffic

London’s Heathrow Airport finally saw the opening of services into Terminal 5 this morning, with the arrival of a flight from Hong Kong.

The operations of BA will gradually change to the new terminal, with shorthaul flights and some longhaul initially being transferred over. The bulk of BA’s services will transfer across to T5 during a ramp-up period of about a month during April.

More on the story HERE

Update: BA encounter technical difficulties with baggage systems and are forced to cancel flights, story here 

Another substantial 787 delay?

references HERE

The current state of play with the Boeing 787 seems to be very much fluid at the moment, with the aircraft company all but confirming Steven Udvar-Hazy’s comments regarding another substantial delay.

The latest issues surround the Fuji Industries manufactured wing box, which has been the subject of weight reduction exercises. This has apparently weakened the structure to the point where premature failure could occur, and a major redesign looks inevitable.

Quite where this leaves the 787 will become clearer at the April update. Unfortunately Boeing is not being totally forthcoming at the moment and instead using industryspeak such as “traveled work” rather than give a clear and simple explanation of what’s what.

ILFC however looks likely to increase their order, and there have been no cancellations as slots are at a premium. Just how much more time is needed to solve the weight, wing box, electronics and substandard contractor performance remains to be seen. All Nippon now look to have at least 15 months or even longer to wait until their first aircraft eventually flies in passenger service.

That is assuming flight testing goes 100% perfectly.

Emirates to launch low-cost division as a standalone unit

The hugely successful Emirates Group is to set up a lowcost division to operate in the Gulf and surrounding area.

Previous entrants to the market have been Jazeera, NAS and others. The Dubai based group will operate the “Emirates Lite” style carrier as a standalone business unit within the group but not as a division of the airline itself. Other carriers such as Qatar Airways and Etihad will operate regional services themselves, with Gulf Air having already launched their Gulf Traveller brand using 767-300ER aircraft to lower yield destinations.

More details here

ILFC chief floats new 787 delay possibility

Steven Udvar-Hazy of leasing giant ILFC is now saying that the delayed airliner may not see first deliveries until 3Q 2009 and that power up and first flight will again be pushed back.

we scooped them all! A380 arrives at LHR

First aviation photo site to have the A380 landing at London Heathrow

http://photos.aero/photo.php?p=18004

Forthcoming features (again!)

Big chat with the top brass today. The new upload page is going well and should be online next week for general usage.

Some new features in the works too which will make the photos.aero experience even richer. We now have a new staff member working on programming and a brand new screener to make the process even faster.

For anyone who wants a full size 468×60 banner to link back to us please right-click below and save it to your computer, then add it to your website.

features in development

The main issue with members uploading pictures at the moment is the manual fill box. If an aircraft isn’t already in the database (a vast number already are) then the manual fill box is supposed to help input the correct data.

Like everything in life, it rarely goes 100% and posters are constantly finding quirks or missing information!

The new upload page is currently in beta ready for rollout. It’ll make entering data much easier and in a more intuitive style so watch for that being rolled out fully very soon for full stress testing!