All you Asian and Far East spotters, here’s something to look out for in your skies very soon…

Korean Air‘s brand new Airbus A380 has been fully painted and will be delivered soon, with services beginning on 17th June 2011.

It will be based at Seoul Incheon, and fly trunk routes to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York JFK and Tokyo Narita.

I think you’ll agree it looks splendid in the smart blue colour scheme of Korean Air.

Photo (c) Okke Behm

Another airport is feeling the wrath of Ryanair today as the airline vastly reduces routes and based aircraft in a statement against airport charges and policies.

Alicante is one of Ryanair’s newer bases, and the airline has recently heralded countries such as Spain as being more profitable to operate out of than the likes of the UK and Ireland. However, they are now taking offense to the airport’s fees and policy of making the airline use air bridges to board and de-plane passengers.

As a result, 80% of Ryanair’s operation at Alicante will be cut. This involves cutting 31 routes and reducing the number of based aircraft to 2 (from 11 currently). A number of other routes will also see reductions in frequencies.

Looking deeper into this, it all seems a little like Ryanair’s usual attention-seeking spin. In reality, many of the routes are simply those that are usually dropped seasonally anyway. And it seems a little harsh to blame the enforced airbridge use when it doesn’t seem to be a problem at other bases (Malaga, for example, which is also in Spain). Truth of the matter is that maybe they’re just not making enough profit out of all 62 of Alicante’s routes and they want an excuse to cut them.

So, if you’re a spotter heading to Alicante, expect to see far fewer Ryanair 737-800s. It’s up to you to decide if that’s something to worry about.

Photo (c) Gelandet von Pescara

Baltia Airlines is a new company which has been set up in the USA and aims to become the biggest US provider of trans-Atlantic flights between Eastern Europe and the USA.

They’re currently based at New York JFK Terminal 4, and their single aircraft is being prepared for its new life with this carrier. It is a Boeing 747-200B aircraft, formerly flown by Pakistan International Airlines (and still wearing their partial livery judging by the video).

Their plan is to serve cities in Belarus, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine with their 3-class service, plus cargo. Airports in their website’s schedule include: New York JFK, St. Petersburg, Riga, Vilnius, Moscow, Tallinn, Minsk and Kiev.

To introduce their company and aircraft, Baltia Airlines has put together this video:

watch?v=bnduu6W_Zqk

Aeroflot, the national carrier of Russia, has announced the routes it will fly its new homebuilt Sukhoi SSJ100 Superjet aircraft when entered into service. The are to start flying fro the airline from May 2011.

The routes are:

Moscow Sheremetyevo – Kazan
Moscow Sheremetyevo – Nizhniy Novgorod (2x daily)
Moscow Sheremetyevo – Omsk (1 of the 3 daily flights)
Moscow Sheremetyevo – St Petersburg

As you can see, these are all domestic routes and we’re unlikely to see the jet venture elsewhere into Europe just yet (if ever). If you’re lucky enough to get a trip on one of these aircraft, why not comment to let us know what it was like.

Japan Airlines has retired its Boeing 747 fleet after continuously flying the type since 1970.

The final flight was from Honolulu to Okinawa on Tuesday 1st March 2011, with a 747-400 model. The airline has operated all models of the 747 except the SP and -8i in the 41 years of service.

All Nippon Airways are also retiring the type, having removed their international models of the 747-400. They will continue to fly the -400D model on domestic routes until next year.

However, whilst Japan Airlines’ Boeing 787 made its first flight recently in Seattle, the airline has also revealed a new colourscheme which harks back to the scheme of the late 1980s and 90s. It reintroduces the famous ‘crane’ logo on the tail, and a similar typeface to the Japan Air Lines name on otherwise white fuselage.

You can view pictures of the new livery here at AirlineReporter.com

Photo credit: JAL-Japan Airlines Boeing 747-446 JA8087 (msn 26346) NRT (Michael B. Ing)

Bad news for London Gatwick – Qatar Airways is quitting the airport from the end of May.

Currently the airline flies a daily service using Airbus A330 aircraft from the Middle East base of Doha, but will instead focus on other UK gateways. It’s last rotation will be on 31st May 2011.

The airline also flies into London Heathrow and Manchester airports from Doha.

Sad news for Gatwick spotters.

Fly Guam is a new airline set up jointly between Freedom Air and World Aviation Inc. It has recently taken delivery of its first aircraft – Boeing 737-4Y0 N238AG.

The airline’s base is Guam, and it will initially fly to Saipan and Hong Kong using this aircraft, which has an attractive logo and tail design.

It is also planned to serve Taipei and the Philippines in the near future, so keep an eye out for it when visiting these Asian airports.

Visit the airline’s website here: http://www.freedomairguam.com/

(Please click on the photo for more information)

Copyright Photo: Ivan K. Nishimura/Blue Wave Group & AirlinersGallery.com

This year’s Airliner’s International conference has been announced, and will take place at Portland, Oregon on 23-27 August 2011.

The annual show will be based at the Red Lion Hotel on the River, Jantzen Beach, which is close to Portland International Airport (PDX). Every year, thousands of traders and enthusiasts come together, with a huge Collectibles Show full of vendors and their stalls, selling models, collectibles, DVDs, books, slides, magazines and more.

In addition, depending on the ticket you buy, you can enjoy visits to the five local aviation museums, various seminars, Gala Banquet, model contest, and visits to Portland Airport.

You can read all about this year’s show and book tickets at http://ai2011pdx.com/

Biman Bangladesh has returned its single leased Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which sported a nice scheme. Sadly this means reverting to older aircraft, which is a pain for the traveller, but fun for us spotters.

Because of the change, routes from Dhaka – Dubai – London Heathrow will no longer get the 777 aircraft, and are to be operated by Airbus A310-300s.

Similarly, flights from Dhaka – Dubai – Rome will now be operated by DC-10 aircraft – a nice rare type to get these days as there aren’t many DC-10′s left in passenger service!

Picture (c) FlightGlobal.com