Aviation News Mega-Thread

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It seems to be bad Airbus A380-news Wednesday as Lufthansa also announced the immediate phase-out of half of their fleet.

The airline has fourteen A380s of which seven are stored at Teruel, the rest at Frankfurt and Munich.

After the Corona-crisis Lufthansa will only re-activate seven and base them all at Munich.

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Air France has announced that they will retire the Airbus A380-fleet with immediate effect. The original plan was to retire the type by 2022.

The airline has nine A380s remaining of which two are stored at Lourdes-Tarbes, two at Teruel and the remaining five at Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

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#ICYMI The U.S. Air Force has kicked-off a three-way competition to re-engine the entire 76-aircraft B-52 fleet from 2021 to 2035.

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https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing ... 65.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/u ... 50.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/aerospace/ ... 62.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/bo ... 61.article

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Etihad Airways seems to be the next operator to permanently retire their Airbus A380s, of which they have ten in the fleet.

According to Reuters, the airline is planning to reduce the staff with 1,200 co-workers and streamline the fleet.

Next to phasing-out the A380, Etihad is also considering not taking on their first five A350-1000s which they decided to take delivery off while deferring their remaining 15 on order indefinitely. Four of the five have already been delivered to the airline, which placed them into longterm storage at Bordeaux. The fifth has been seen at Toulouse as well.

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https://www.key.aero/article/raf-typhoo ... -north-sea
https://www.key.aero/article/f-117s-spo ... os-angeles

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https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing ... 88.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/networks/z ... 78.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/air-transp ... 76.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/e ... 74.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/l ... 72.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/networks/i ... 71.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/cambodia-l ... 70.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/networks/c ... 69.article

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https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/v ... 91.article

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Egypt ordered 32 Leonardo helicopters

More information on this order was revealed by the Italian foreign ministry’s report to the Senate on 2019 arms exports, published in May 2020. Egypt has ordered 24 AW149 combat helicopters and eight AW189 civil models from Italy’s Leonardo Helicopters under an 871 million euro contract signed in 2019.

Already in April 2019, the French news website La Tribune reported that Egypt officially notified France that it had chosen to award Leonardo the contract for the delivery of 20-30 AW149s for the Egyptian Navy as a ship-borne helicopter to be used in the new Mistral class assault ships. The French were hoping to sell them the NHIndustries NH90, but is seems they were way too expensive compared to the AW149 *).

The 8.3/8.6 tonne AW149 was developed from the AW139, but with 40% more internal volume and more powerful engines – the helicopter is powered by two General Electric CT7-2E1 turboshafts each developing 2,000 shp. The AW149 first flew in 2009 and in the troop transport role the helicopter can carry 12 fully equipped soldiers or 19 passengers on crash-worthy seats.

Since its launch six years ago, Leonardo has struggled to find military customers for the AW149, with the only confirmed customer to date being the Royal Thai Army, which ordered five. The civil AW189 variant has fared better, with some 60 helicopters in service, mostly in the offshore oil and gas industry and in public service in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

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Ryanair has decided to pull the plug out of Laudamotion at Vienna on 29 May after the Austrian unions didn’t agree with the salary reductions Ryanair proposed.

For now this only means the closure of Laudamotion in Austria; their bases in Düsseldorf, Palma de Mallorca and Stuttgart will remain. However, discussions about pay-cuts with German and Spanish unions are also underway and might lead to the same outcome and ultimately end of the Laudamotion-brand.

Previously Ryanair already said that they were planning to re-fleet Laudamotion with B737-800s, but only when they could reach an agreement on staff costs. Ryanair will now instead incorporate flights to and from Vienna in its own route-network.