Dubai has taken second place in the list of busiest international airports – that is, the amount of international traffic that is handled.

The airport is now ahead of Paris Charles de Gaulle and Hong Kong airports, which previously handled more international traffic. Dubai now has its sights firmly on top position as it approaches London Heathrow, which has occupied top slot for many years but is now at full capacity. Heathrow’s options have been severely hampered by the UK government declining additional runways at the airport.

Dubai Airport handled 10,640,120 passengers in the first two months of this year, a rise of 13% over the same period last year. It hopes to gain top spot by 2015. It recently opened the new Concourse A, which is developed to handle up to 20 Airbus A380 superjumbos at once.

British Airways have made the first flights on their new Airbus A380 aircraft available to book.

The aircraft are due to enter service in October, and will operate to both Hong Kong and Los Angeles on selective flights from London Heathrow.

The tentative dates of entry to service, which can be booked now (and are subject to change) are:

LHR-Los Angeles-LHR
15 October, BA269, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
18 October, BA283, Monday, Friday
27 October, BA269, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday

LHR-Hong Kong-LHR
15/16 November, BA25, Monday-Sunday

Here’s a video promoting the new aircraft in the fleet:

 A good friend of mine, Andrew Solum, and British Airways‘ Head of UK & Ireland Sales, Richard Tams, are about to embark upon a fantastic journey in the hope of raising money for charity.

Their target is to raise £20,000 for the Comic Relief Flying Start charity, supported by British Airways and aimed at improving the lives of countless children every year.

Their challenge? Well, they’ve got to get around the world in seven days, starting in New York on 15th September, and using every Oneworld airline partner.

The journey will start with American Airlines from New York to Chicago then on to the Tokyo Narita international hub of Japan Airlines.

The following day they will fly with Japan Airlines from Tokyo to the Hong Kong home of Cathay Pacific and on September 17 undertake a three-flight schedule from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur with Cathay Pacific, Kuala Lumpur to Singapore with Malaysia Airlines, which is on track to join oneworld at the turn of the year. They will then travel on from Singapore to London Heathrow with Qantas arriving early on September 18.

British Airways will carry them on to Amman, base of Royal Jordanian.

On September 19 they will fly from Amman to Frankfurt with Royal Jordanian, then with airberlin to Germany’s capital city.

On September 20, they will take to the air again with airberlin to Frankfurt, then off with LAN to Madrid. From its base at the Spanish capital, Iberia will then carry them to the Moscow hub of S7, landing early on September 21, before a swift transfer to S7 for a flight to St. Petersburg.

The following day (September 22) they will begin the last leg of their journey heading with Finnair from St Petersburg to its own Helsinki home then on to Heathrow to connect on to their final flight, a British Airways jet from London to New York arriving at 8.55pm local time.

In total they will cover just over 30,000 miles, flying along the way on every oneworld member airline and via 11 of the alliance’s major hubs.

Tams said: “I’ve done a lot of flying in my time at British Airways, but never so many destinations in such a short period. We’ll be going through 16 airports, flying on ten different aircraft types and visiting 11 countries on 12 airlines. We won’t even have time to stop and enjoy the views!

Mr Solum, a management consultant and oneworld Emerald top tier frequent flyer, said “it will be tough going on standby staff tickets with no guarantee where we’ll be seated, but at the end of the day, every penny we raise will make a difference to a child – and that is really our driving force for this challenge.”

Tams added “We’re enormously grateful to our oneworld partners for supporting our challenge – it’s a great reflection of the reach the alliance has. I’d also like to thank our hotel partners in this, the Global Hotel Alliance, Starwood and Marriott.”

“The travel trade have also already been really supportive and we’ve already hit £8,000+ of our target but we really want to reach at least £20,000 so we’re asking everyone to dig deep and help us out. Anyone can pledge money at:

http://donate.ba-flyingstart.com/funraiser/roundtheoneworld.”

The money raised will all go directly to Flying Start, the global charity partnership between British Airways and Comic Relief UK. It will help to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children living in the UK and in some of the poorest countries across the world. The aim of the charity is to help create lasting change by giving children and their families the chance to start supporting themselves.

The intrepid travellers will be blogging their adventures and experiences, so stay tuned for further details!

Thai Airways is to received its first Airbus A380 in September, with entry to service due in October.

The aircraft recently appeared in full colours at the Hamburg Finkenwerder facility in Germany, where it had recently flown to for painting.

Thai will use their Airbus A380s on routes from Bangkok to European destinations such as Frankfurt and Paris CDG. Initially they will operate to Hong Kong and Singapore from 28 October, and from Januray also to Tokyo Narita.

THAI will become the ninth operator of the A380 when it takes delivery of first the aircraft in the third quarter this year. The airline has firm orders for six A380s.

Boeing’s latest incarnation of the queen of the skies – the 747 – is now in operation with eight carriers and a number of private operators worldwide.

Featuring extended length, capacity, range, and a variety of technological advances both inside and out, the type is the height of aviation design.

It is available in passenger, cargo and VIP configurations; however, the cargo variant has proved far more popular, and more airlines are currently flying this option.

So where can you see the Boeing 747-8 in operation? Here are are the main airports:

Everett Paine Field
Boeing’s airfield to the north of Seattle where the Boeing 747-8 is built. You’ll see all aircraft flight testing here, and sitting on the flight line as they are fitted out. You can head to the Future of Flight center for its observation deck and watch the 747′s flying close by you.

London Stansted
Global Supply Systems flies three 747-8′s on behalf of British Airways Cargo to destinations worldwide. However, their home base is London Stansted airport in the UK.

Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok
Cathay Pacific ordered ten Boeing 747-8′s for its cargo network, and was one of the launch customers for the type. Their Hong Kong base is one of the busiest hubs for the type, as it also sees examples from other cargo airlines visit.

Frankfurt Main
Lufthansa is the only airline to operate the passenger version of the 747-8 so far (other airlines have the type on order), and their Frankfurt base is where it flies from. It operates to destinations such as Washington Dulles on a daily basis. In total, 20 747-8′s will join Lufthansa as they replace their older 747-400′s.

Luxembourg
Cargolux was the first airline to take delivery of a Boeing 747-8. The airline ordered seven of the type, which are based at Luxembourg. However, they can be seen on their round-the-world network to many far flung airports.

Tokyo Narita
Nippon Cargo Airlines are based at Tokyo Narita Airport in Japan. They ordered 14 Boeing 747-8′s, and the type has already entered service on long haul cargo operations.

Abu Dhabi
The first VIP configured Boeing 747-8 was delivered to the Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight as a royal transport aircraft. It flies from Abu Dhabi on official business.

Mongolian Airlines has ventured outside its own borders for the first time, by starting flights to Hong Kong and Tokyo Haneda.

The airline is using its Airbus A319 aircraft on the flights. Since Mongolia isn’t a country many of us visit, this is a rare chance to see the airline’s aircraft as Hong Kong and Tokyo are a little more accessible.

Flights operate 2x daily to Hong Kong, and 1x daily to Tokyo, both from Ulaan Baatar.

Plans to operate to Tianjin, Shanghai and Erlianhot have been postponed.

Singapore Airlines is to retired the Boeing 747 from service after operating the type for almost 40 years.

Since the Airbus A380 and other large aircraft started flying with the airline in 2007, the once numerous Boeing 747 fleet has been dwindling. Now it has been announced that the airline will operate a special ‘last service’ with the type on 6 April 2012 between Singapore and Hong Kong (and return – replacing the usual Airbus A330 that day), on which passengers can enjoy special memorabilia and the chance to say “I was there!”

Singapore Airlines received their first Boeing 747 – a -200B model – in 1973. From then on, it has operated many different examples of the type, including the -300 and -400 models. The airline operated it to over 60 destinations worldwide, and it was a familiar sight to many enthusiasts.

A special website has been set up to commemorate the last journey, which will be SQ747 and SQ748, and is bookable now. If you book first class, you’ll also get a tour of the cabin crew training facility and their simulator. The website is http://www.siajourneys.com/

Have you ever flown a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747? What was it like?

Hong Kong Airport’s brand-new Midfield Terminal is on it’s way. A ground-breaking ceremony took place recently, and work is set to take place until 2015.

The new facility is situated in the middle of the airfield, between the runways, and linked to Terminal 1 via a people mover. It is five storeys high, and has 20 aircraft gates.

The new structure is being billed as incredibly environmentally friendly, with solar panels across its roof, and waste/energy recycling schemes being built in.

It will also see the airport’s capacity increased, and no doubt lots of big windows to watch the action through!

Photo (c) Wylkie Chan

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

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