Emirates 777-300 JFK pix

[SengaB]

It appears UAE started with the 777-300 about a week ago.
UAE 777-300 on departure from 31L
Almost no bank and was very high well before the tower.


Senga

[Futterman]

Great shot, Senga! Seems like a few of the ULH flights have been stingy with the banks right after departure, but I'm sure we'll see it sooner or later.

Completely forgot about them switching over. This is just EK203/204, the early morning flight. 201/202, the afternoon flight, is still the A345.

Their third flight later this year (sometime in November, I believe), is through HAM and also a 77W. Can't remember the times, but I remember thinking how we won't be able to photograph it's arrival during the winter, so it's probably in the ballpark of 6pm.

Brian

[NIKV69]

I was suprised to see her coming in the other morning. Cool bird!
Got this in the queue now.


http://www.airliners.net/addphotos/big/ ... fkedit.jpg

[SengaB]

Yea I forgot too Brian, I went for the departure as I found out after the fact.

Nice shot there Nick. I would have liked to have gotten an arrival shot of this one.

Senga

[NIKV69]

Thanks Senga I didn't know about the 777 and was like wtf? Got lucky had the TAM go by short time later. Nice morning.

[Nonstop2AUH]

Saw an EK presentation earlier this week, apparently the 777 does not have the elaborate and much-publicized first class private suites as in the A345, but it does have lie-flat beds in business class which the Airbus does not.

Business class is the big moneymaker in this market given the number of Gulf travelers on expat package (I used to be one), hence the focus on this as opposed to first which is very expensive (and apparently seldom full) and economy which is said to be low margin. IIRC in economy EK 777s are 10 across which is one more than most other operators so probably not a great ride in the back...

Also...EK is looking at IAH and LAX as additional US destinations, with a time frame of "2007/2008" as indicated in the powerpoint.

Note that Etihad begins service to neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi (which is not much of a drive from Dubai) later this month with A345 with a rather unique premium cabin...

[hiss srq]

Ethiad is going to play heavy competition to EK I think if they are trying to get in on the niche that EK has been working to create being "an airline of the world"

[Nonstop2AUH]

Just to add, as a former Abu Dhabi resident, I think Etihad (if they are smart) will set modest and attainable objectives for themselves, hopefully not aim as high as EK with the expansion plans. The reason being that while EK benefits enormously from having a hub that is also an insanely popular global tourist destination (along with EK presentation this week there was one on Dubai tourism, there is actually at the moment more demand for hotel rooms than supply), Abu Dhabi serves mainly as a connecting point and as a business destination for people in petrochemical-related industries or who have some business with the UAE federal government which is based there. While a new sort of niche tourism promotion effort is underway in Abu Dhabi and I wish them all the luck in the world, for various cultural, economic and logistical reasons I don't think it can be another Dubai and I don't think they would really even want to be. If you think of Dubai as Manhattan and Abu Dhabi as Washington DC you'll sort of get the picture...

[hiss srq]

now who wants to take bets on 748i's and t73ers for ek? lol

[Iberia A340-600]

Nice shots Senga and Nick. I was thinking about the switch this morning actually, I guess it's already been made!

[Nonstop2AUH]

According to the Khaleej Times (khaleej means "gulf", it is one of the 2 Dubai english language papers), thanks to the A380 delay and some maneuvering by Etihad to get their hands on the flight test aircraft, EY will actually get their small batch of aircraft before EK. Sort of the upstart upstaging their bigger rival up the coast. I suspect contributing factors are a) EY went for the Trents which are further along in testing than the EA engines chosen by EK and b) EY is closely linked to Abu Dhabi government (the way EK used to be in Dubai) and in my experience if Abu Dhabi wants something badly enough they will pay up for it, whereas Emirates today is run more to a global commercial standard typical of other major airlines.

Might be useful here to point out that in addition to EY and EK, other Gulf carriers going after a similar market would be Gulf Air from Bahrain and Qatar Airways. Other than size, the key advantage EK has is that DXB is a truly global destination in itself whereas BAH, DOH, and AUH are essentially niche destinations that on their own probably couldn't support a global airline except as a connecting hub between Europe and South Asia etc....

[FlyingColors]

Nice shot guys!

[727C47]

looking fwd to my first EWR overnite this season, when I can rise with the sun,grab a crew car, cross the Holland tunnel, the Brooklyn bridge, and Belt Pkwy it all the way to Howard Beach,and S.Ozone Pk, for some good JFK spotting,God I am such a geek ! great shots Senga, per usual !

[SengaB]

Thanks,
I'm really looking forward to the next one. Ethiad A340-500. Things are changing so fast its hard to keep up.

Senga

[Nonstop2AUH]

Great EK pics Senga and I'm sure you'll do your usual excellent job with the Etihad, even if the timings are not ideal for photograpy.

FYI there is an ad for EY in the NYT Sunday travel section, first class cabin shot but nice flat bed and first EY ad I've seen in any US media. It should probably be in the business section given the likely demographics of the JFK-AUH premium cabin passenger but I am not complaining, just good to see them getting the word out....