Singapore Airlines take delivery of second A380

Singapore Airlines has added another A380 to its collection. The Superjumbo was handed over in Toulouse on Friday 11th January. This is the second that the airline now possess.

This one is also the same as the first with the capacity of seating 471 configurated in a three class layout.

This Superjumbo will allow for more cabin training and will allow rotation on the Sydney route with the first.

The airline will be given a third Airbus in February and will be operating between Singapore and London Heathrow.

Singapore are the only airline operating the A380 at present and has another 17 on order.

A380 grounded after rolling off runway

The newly flying Singapore Airlines A380 has been grounded after a tow truck towing it came away and the aircraft rolled onto grass next to the runway.

The jet was bound for Sydney and passengers had to be asked to leave the plane so that it could be inspected for damage.

The passengers boarded a 747-400 to depart for Sydney.

A spokesman said that the tow truck being used developed some sort of failure which resulted in it becoming detatched from the aircraft.

'As a consequence of the failure on the truck, the aircraft ... came into contact with the grass verge off the airport tarmac. The aircraft was not under its own power at the time. It is too early at this time to know the cause of the incident but Singapore Airlines will investigate this quickly, and is filing reports with the appropriate Singapore authorities,' the spokesman said.

Should airlines give passengers the legal right to 2 more inches legroom?

Currently the statutory width is 26 inches but now that people are getting fatter and taller should the width be increased to 28 inches?

It's been put forward that the current width prevents tall passengers from adopting the brace position if an emergency occurs.

The committee also added that "An extra tax for those who may have a medical need for extra leg room is unfair."

Airlines have also put forward their defence comments. EasyJet have said that some of their carriers would fall below the recommended statutory minimum that the committee suggested:

"It would not affect that many of our seats and we would clearly implement any new laws asked of us."

British Airways said:

"We already meet and exceed many of the recommendations put forward by the report and are actively working to improve the industries knowledge across key topics of aviation and health. The health and well being of our passengers remains of paramount importance. For over ten years British Airways has provided information to passengers about well-being in the air through an on-board video, information in our in-flight magazine and on ticket wallets."

Chief Executive backs third runway proposals at Heathrow Airport

Willie Walsh the Chief Executive of British Airways has announced today that he is backing proposals for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

"It is a critical piece of national infrastructure and I am 100% behind the proposals. If we want a strong economy and want to be a world centre for business we have to have growth at Heathrow."

He went on to add that Terminal 5 is "on time and on budget" and would see operations at the UK's biggest airport transformed dramatically.

British Airways will use the new terminal primarily leaving the capacity in other terminals for other airlines.

Five killed in light aircraft crash

A Beechcraft B9L aircraft has crashed near the Czech Republic killing all five people onboard.

The accident happened near Kiev's second airport Zhulyany on Sunday. Nobody on the ground was hurt.

Experts are saying the aircraft caught fire on impact whilst employees are saying it exploded in flight. All five who died are believed to be Czech citizens.

Debris from the wings, engines and the inside cabin are believed to be scattered near a barn in the middle of a field.

"Five people died," the emergency ministry spokesman said.

"There were five people on board - two pilots and three passengers. This was a small plane which was flying to Ukraine and three kilometres from Zhulyany it dropped off the radar screens," he said.

Two Continental Airlines jets involved in near miss

Two jets at Newark Airport have narrowly missed a collision.

A passenger jet landing was within 300ft of another jet taxiing along the runway.

The two aircraft involved were both Continental Airlines jets.

Air traffic control had instructed the taxiing jet to hold at the end of the runway yet the aircraft continued moving. Investigators are looking at radar and radio transmissions to establish what happened between communications.

Malaysia Airlines close to buying up to 8 superjumbos

Airbus are looking at a record year for aircraft orders as they are currently in talks with Malaysia Airlines to sell more A380 jets to them.

MAS, Malaysia's biggest carrier are near to confirming 6 A380s with the possibility of an extra 2 within months. However with Airbus looking more towards making profit on the superjumbos in the Far East, MAS may still struggle to fill the aircraft if air travel numbers decrease.

``The purchase of A380s is quite risky,'' said Hanafi, who has an ``outperform'' rating on Malaysian Air shares at Alliance Research Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur. ``You do need a few A380s, but to expand to a larger fleet, Malaysian Air would be better off buying Boeings'' because it has predominately Boeing Co. fleet.

Malaysia Air despite being on target to exceed 500 million ringgit for next year are still behind Singapore Airlines with regards ordering more aircraft. If they do complete an agreement with Airbus they'll be able to introduce more routes.

The delivery of the A380 scheduled for 2009 could be delayed even longer than that.

``We are working with them on when they would like to have the first one delivered,'' Leahy said.

A compensation settlement won't be seeked until other airlines have completed their negotiations and the Malaysia Air will take a 'pointer' from that.