The next new airline to operate the Airbus A380 after Singapore, Emirates and Qantas is Air France, who will start flights on 23 November with their first aircraft, F-HPJA. Another two will follow by Spring 2010.

The airline has announced the routes the aircraft will operate as:
Dubai (1 February 2010)
Johannesburg (early 2010)
New York JFK (23 November 2009)
Tokyo Narita (spring 2010)

All will operate from Paris CDG airport. Interestingly, the route to Dubai will start 15 days before Emirates start using A380s on their Dubai – Paris route.

The aircraft will visit Paris Orly on 11 November to test the airport as a diversion field from CDG.

Airbus have just announced that company Airbus A380 F-WWOW will be making an “approach and go around flythrough” at Birmingham Airport on Saturday 5 September 2009 as part of a UK tour on that day.

The Birmingham flypast is scheduled for 1540. The aircraft will also be visiting Edinburgh, Prestwick, Port Rush for the Northern
Ireland International Air Show, Belfast City and Broughton on that day before returning to Toulouse via Birmingham – times
at - http://bhxflightguide.blogspot.com

This visit is in addition to the planned visit by an Emirates A380 to Birmingham on Wednesday 9 September 2009 – again more information on that visit can be found at the link above.

A new book has been released by Destinworld Publishing which is jam-packed full of information on airframes around the world and their current condition.

Out of Production List – Western Jet Airliners lists full production lists of 27 aircraft types and sub-types, all of which are no longer produced and so prove more and more difficult to find as the years pass by.

The book is right up to date as of June 2009 and lists the status of every airframe, whether it is active, stored, preserved, written off, or remaining only as a small section or parts in someone’s back yard. The importance of this to spotters’ logs is obvious, as aircraft you once thought were lost are once again unlocked to you to hunt out on your travels.

Types covered are separated by sub-type, and include older Airbus and Boeing types, such as the A300, 707, 737-200 etc., as well as types such as the Convair 880/990, HS Trident, VC-10, Caravelle, Fokker 28/70/100 and many more. Each has a summary of locations and conditions, plus a complete cross reference of previous registrations to make finding frames you’ve seen easier. Each entry has a tick box to mark off aircraf you’ve seen.

For full details on the book, and to order a copy click here, or visit your favourite aviation bookstore. It’s also available on Amazon.