Peter Smith 1 Report post Posted February 13, 2008 Just for Pieter... KLM joined the whiskey club today with 777-306ER PH-BVA winging its way into Amsterdam on delivery. It was calling itself "KLM7461" and wears the name "Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Walter Sim 1 Report post Posted February 13, 2008 weeeee!! There are some shots of her arrival in the AMS spotting thread in OBS HILL! Wonder if MH is joining the bandwagon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted February 13, 2008 There are some shots of her arrival in the AMS spotting thread in OBS HILL! Yeah, Cornelis beat me there; will post some more tonight, but note: foggy, so dull shots Tomorrow, another delivery to KLM: KL7471 TLS-AMS A330-200 PH-AOL ETA 1830 hrs... Go go go, Cornelis and get her !!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jani 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2008 Ah.. what a beautiful plane. Will I ever get to see it in MAS colors.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert 0 Report post Posted February 15, 2008 From this weeks business traveller..... Air France and KLM install denser B777 economy seating Published: 14/02/2008 - Filed under: News » Until now, Dubai-based Emirates has been the only big airline to feature ten-across (3-4-3) economy class seating for its B777 fleet. Rival B777 operators offer nine-across seating in a 3-3-3 configuration, or sometimes a 2-5-2 layout. But now Air France and Dutch carrier KLM have followed suit. Both have put in one extra economy class seat per row on their new B777-300ERs, upping the number of seats from nine, to the denser ten-across layout. At first, both carriers will only be fitting this seating to their newish B777-300ER crafts arriving from manufacturer Boeing. Air France started the process last November and has now begun retrofitting the ten-across seating on the remaining 40 or so B777-300ERs in its fleet. KLM’s first B777-300ER arrived in Amsterdam fresh from the factory yesterday (February 13). It, and the other five B777-300ERs joining KLM’s fleet, will all have ten-across seating. The big question is whether other main B777 operators like British Airways, United or SIA will follow suit as they did with their B747s in the 1980s? Readers with long memories will know that when the B747 first entered service in 1970, the airlines fitted nine-across seats with ample legroom. Ten years later, following the arrival of business class, seat pitch was decreased and seating abreast was boosted from nine to ten. Adding more seats enables an airline to carry more passengers per flight, which in turn reduces the seat mile cost. Air France’s three-class B777-300ERs will accommodate an additional 15 passengers. The mammoth economy cabin on one of KLM’s two-class B777-300ERs contains 393 seats, so it can carry over 100 more passengers than on one of KLM’s older B777 versions. To appease passengers, Emirates and Air France offer an extra inch or so of legroom on its converted craft. It’s not clear if KLM will do likewise. Both KLM and Air France haven’t yet decided whether or not to retrofit their older B777-200s (these have the normal nine-across 3-3-3 layout), but it’s likely if only for the sake of commonality. This new configuration for the B777 is controversial, because although the B747 and the Airbus A380 also feature ten-across seating, they have wider cabins. A B777 has a width of 5.86 metres, whereas the B747 is 6.10 metres wide. On that basis, the A380’s cabin is positively luxurious, with a width of 6.58 metres. What it means is that passengers occupying a ten-across layout on the B777 will find they have less elbowroom and narrower aisles. Indeed it means that it will be almost impossible for two people to pass each other when moving along the aisle. Readers have also complained about the messy boarding and deplaning process on fully booked Emirates B777 flights. These B777-300ERs for Air France and KLM will eventually replace their B747s. That means passengers will encounter them at some stage on prime long-haul business routes like Paris-Tokyo, Paris-Los Angeles, Paris-Johannesburg, Amsterdam-Dubai and Amsterdam-Sao Paulo. KLM is not wasting its time introducing its first B777-300ER into service. Christened “National Park De Hoge Veluwe”, its maiden flight is today (February 14) on the popular Amsterdam-Dubai route. The planes in the small fleet will all be named after Dutch national parks. Lets hope our local airlines dont follow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jani 0 Report post Posted February 15, 2008 You surely mean (plural) 'airline' because Air Asia if I'm not mistaken will have the 3-4-3 even for their A330's Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted February 21, 2008 Tomorrow, another delivery to KLM: KL7471 TLS-AMS A330-200 PH-AOL ETA 1830 hrs... PH-AOL is named 'Piccadilly Circus - London' PH-AOM #11 will be delivered May 2010 (name to be 'Moscow' ???) PH-AON #12 will be delivered April 2011 (name to be 'NewYork' ???) You surely mean (plural) 'airline' because Air Asia if I'm not mistaken will have the 3-4-3 even for their A330's Believe EK also operates 773's with 3-4-3 seating Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted February 21, 2008 Believe EK also operates 773's with 3-4-3 seating. Yes, can confirm on that. From my first flight with EK on their B77W: EK 346 KUL-CGK 26 December 2007 3-4-3, yes. But it appeared like 15 abreast non stop without any aisle in this photo. Very high density configuration. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jani 0 Report post Posted February 21, 2008 haha really look like sardin man! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yusoff 1 Report post Posted February 21, 2008 TF would smile ear-to-ear seeing this scenario happens on every flight on his D7... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted March 29, 2008 The 2nd Whiskey (PH-BVB) was delivered this morning, nonstop from Paine Field - Seattle as KL7461... Check the link below for some nice shots: http://www.scramble.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40067 Also, scroll down and look at the fabulous shot of MH017, just after take-off from 18L with 07F38C286Y passengers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jani 0 Report post Posted March 29, 2008 Very nice, thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted March 30, 2008 The 2nd Whiskey (PH-BVB) was delivered this morning, nonstop from Paine Field - Seattle as KL7461... Also, scroll down and look at the fabulous shot of MH017, just after take-off from 18L with 07F38C286Y passengers. Congratulation to KLM for the second B77W! And what a good load (and yield too) on MH 17. Interesting to see that it is 9M-MPQ Kuala Lumpur, which was also the same aircraft for my MH 17 flight AMS-KUL on 21 October 2007. AMS is sooo going to get the A380 if MH proceed with the order. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted March 30, 2008 And what a good load (and yield too) on MH 17. Loads are always good ex AMS, especially in Business-Class (= good yield) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
