Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia Picks Up Its 1st Boeing 737-8

Airplanes, Uncategorized, ,

Virgin Australia First 737-8 Delivery Event Seattle – Courtesy Boeing

A team from Virgin Australia was in Seattle this week to take delivery of the carrier’s first Boeing 737-8 aircraft.

Picking up a new plane is a big deal anytime. But this is the first of 33 MAX family aircraft the carrier plans to take delivery of over the next five years. The order includes eight 737-8s and twenty-five 737-10s.

This first 737-8 For Virgin Australia is registered as VH-8IA and is named Monkey Mia.

The name is in line with Virgin Australia’s tradition of naming its aircraft after Australian bodies of water. And Monkey Mia is in the Shark Bay region of Western Australia, which became Western Australia’s first World Heritage-listed site in 1991.

The plane is flying from Seattle to Brisbane, Australia with a stopover in Hawaii and leaves Seattle with a fuel load that includes 30 percent Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

“These new aircraft will allow us to grow capacity and support more efficient jet services,” said Virgin Australia Chief Operations Officer Stuart Aggs. He noted that these MAX aircraft are a critical part of the airline’s decarbonization plans and “will reduce emissions by at least 15 percent per flight compared to the 737-800 NG fleet, supporting our commitment to targeting net zero emissions by 2050.”

In addition to being fuel efficient, the 737-8 is approximately 40 percent quieter than Virgin Australia’s current 737-800 NG fleet and has the airline’s new generation seats, which include device holders and in-seat power.

On a tour of Boeing’s 737 plant in Renton, WA, the Virgin Australia team was able to see the unique “hay loader” system Boeing uses to deliver new airline seats from the factory floor onto planes.

Airlines – and IKEA – join in on April Fools’ Day

Fun Stuff, Holidays, , ,

Keeping with tradition, many airlines shared April Fools’ Day announcements. Here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/ikea.au/posts/10155184905858288

More April Fools’ Day aviation news

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In addition to this list of April 1 travel tidbits sharing April Fools’ Day announcements from WestJet, Richard Branson and Denver International Airport, you should know about these April Fools’ Day announcements.

Southwest Airlines released a video saying “all the other guys are doing it,” so they were beginning a “bag fee bandwagon bonanza” based on bag color.

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Virgin Australia announced a special pre-flight lounge for pets.

 

Qantas Airways posted a note on its Facebook page announcing a slight change in the spelling of the carrier’s name:

“Putting ‘U’ in QANTAS! So excited to today be adding a ‘U’ into our name, QANTAS, to acknowledge all of our passengers worldwide. Look out for the QUANTAS name change as of midday today!”

 

Delta Air Lines announced it would begin serving a version of its popular Biscoff cookies – made with kale.

Spirit Airlines announced Spirit Superiority Boarding at all U.S. airport locations.

Because “the boarding process for most airlines can be lengthy, confusing, and frankly insulting…these new boarding procedures will clear things up,” the airline said it a statement announcing a new line-up of boarding priorities that starts with gluten-free customers, members of the Illuminati, those with O-negative blood type and ends with people who eat kale and, finally… everyone else.

And, in Seattle, the Museum of Flight announced plans for adding real personality to some exhibits.

“Traditionally, an aerospace museum accessions an aircraft or spacecraft at the end of its service life to conserve and protect it for the enlightenment of future generations,” said museum spokesman Ted Huetter, “we now aim to treat the people in aerospace the same way. It’s that simple. And thanks to recent advances in the art of preserving human tissue, the exhibition of an aviator is no different from that of an old propeller or clock.”

Huetter noted that the museum has planes dating back to the 1920s and 1930s and that there are people alive today who flew in these planes. “When they pass away we will reunite them with the aircraft forever,” he said.

Vintage airline air sickness bags

Advisories, Airplanes, Fun Stuff, Health, , , , ,

Reading back through the Delta Air Lines blog this week I noticed an entertaining entry from archives manager Marie Force: an airsickness bag from the mid-1960s that has a gin rummy scoreboard on one side:

And an aviation quiz on the other!

That led me to visit the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum, of course, where the currently featured airsickness bag is this red number from Virgin Australia.

Unfortunately, I didn’t spend all that much time searching the airsickness bag museum site. But that was because I noticed this poster for sale in the gift shop and spent the rest of the evening trying to clear a spot for it on the living room wall in my house.