Richard Branson christens the new V Australia 777 in LAX

by Grant Martin on

V Australia‘s new Boeing 777 aircraft arrived in Los Angeles on its way down to Sydney yesterday. Onboard were Richard Branson, the mayor of Los Angeles and a few other dignitaries, and when the aircraft rolled onto the Imperial Highway tarmac they naturally had to pop a bottle of Champagne.

So after the creature came to a halt in front of the eager crowd, a red carpet was unrolled on the wing and out popped Branson and a few hotties. Take a look at how it unfolded below, and stay tuned for official and unoffical reports from the aircraft early next week.

Tune in for the V Australia 777 Launch

by Grant Martin on

The world’s newest Transpacific carrier takes delivery of their first Boeing 777 aircraft this week, as executives from V Australia and Virgin converge in Los Angeles for the ceremony. Tomorrow afternoon, Richard Branson and top brass will pick up the aircraft in Washington and shuttle it down to LAX, where a fanfare of media pawns, cocktails and schmoozing will welcome the group.

On arrival, we’re welcome to browse through the aircraft, drinking in the succulent Business Class seats, crawling through the lavs and measuring seat heights, widths and pitches. Yours truly and the Cranky Flier will be there, and unless the latter gets us kicked out of another Virgin event we should be tweeting through the evening (EST) and sending updates.

What do we expect to see? Well, a few pictures of economy and economy plus have already been leaked to the internets, but what we’re really looking for is leg room, video screens (the service is purported to use the same RED system that Virgin America uses,) business class amenities and general ambiance of the aircraft.

Anything else you want to see? Shoot us a comment or a tweet and we’ll try to collect some good content.

United to cancel 777 flights today

by Grant Martin on

Has the FAA been bringing the pain super fast lately? Last week we saw hundreds of cancellations on American Airlines and Delta Airlines flights because of potential issues with wiring harnesses underneath the aircraft. The issue was solely on their MD-80 aircraft, each carrier grounded a few flights, checked out the problem and everything got rolling again. What caused the inspections, however, was a flag raised by the FAA questioning the methodology of the inspections, not dissimilar to warnings raised earlier on Southwest 737s.

Now, United Airlines has discovered that one of the tests to check the fire suppression systems in their Boeing 777 cargo holds hasn’t been run properly, so they’re cycling all of those aircraft in to make inspections. Thirty one of the eighty four scheduled flights in total were canceled.

Why the sudden spate of aircraft groundings for maintenance checks? It might have to do with increased attention to aircraft maintenance issues as a result of the Southwest incident a few weeks back. Airlines are now probably scrambling to double and triple check their records to make sure that everything is up to snuff as the FAA and congress clamp down on quality.

A congressional hearing on the matter is scheduled for Thursday, at which point we’ll probably hear much more on United and maintenance checks in general, and what our fair politicians plan to do to keep things running smoothly. We’ll let you know how that goes.

New Nonstop Service Between Detroit and Beijing

by Grant Martin on

Get your dose of cultural China now, before its all gobbled up by the West.

According to the Detroit Free Press, March of ’09 marks the beginning of new non-stop service between the Motor City and China’s capital on China Southern Airlines. This means fewer connections, better access to Asian routes and a fun trip over the arctic circle. Furthermore, as a member of the Skyteam Alliance, those flying on CZ will be able to bank frequent flyer miles on Northwest, Continental, Delta and your favorite junior alliance member.

For those of you concerned with flying on an unfamiliar carrier, I’ve flown China Southern before between Shanghai and Shenzhen and they’re a very legitimate airline — directly comparable to any domestic group. The nice thing about flying transpac in this case is that you’ll likely be on the 777, which is a usually a real pleasure to fly: large, quiet and spacious.

If any of you hipsters think that you would rather see Shanghai, the gateway to the west, take some time to consider the cultural benefit of Beijing. The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and bucketsfull of cultural mishmash are in China’s Capital, with the Great Wall not a stones throw away. Before long, Google, Starbucks and Apple will have purchased and trademarked the entire planet- go before they take control.