The move is part of a fleet renewal program at the company’s charter airline division Air Transat, under which it is replacing older Airbus A310s.

Air Transat currently operates five of A330s, three more will be in operation by the end of 2010 and another in 2011, bringing the total of A330s to nine.

Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

When booking my tickets to go back to France for the holidays, I saw that I could make a stop to JFK and take the brand new, and at the time of booking not even in service, Air France Airbus A380. It’s very easy to make the decision if you’re as passionate as me about planes. The A380 is also very special for me, because I followed that fantastic project from the beginning, the construction of the factory in Toulouse, my hometown, to the first flight, and the first inauguration. I just wanted to share my experience on board of this fantastic aircraft, round-trip from New-York JFK and Paris CDG.

Of course, the first thing that is impressive, is the size of the airplane. The tail is just gigantic and the surface of the wings as big as a football field. The engines diameter is the same as the diameter of an A320 fuselage itself! (hard to believe but it’s true!) It’s nowhere near the size of any other airplane, which make the A380 very noticeable. Boarding didn’t took much longer than my previous flights on a Boeing 747 or 777, especially from Paris where the Charles De Gaulle airport has 3 steps connected to the plane, while JFK only had 2, one for each deck.

What is different in Economy class than other airplanes? Well, quite a lot. First, you enjoy 1 inch of more legroom, a much bigger screen in each seat, and a compartment on the side of the window seats both on the main and upper deck. Windows are bigger than other airplanes, which is enjoyable. I was now seated, mood lighting was blinking and changing colors gently and we were ready to go and enjoy the show!

The plane started, and we were aligned to start taxiing to the runway. Everyone was really surprised to see the plane live on their screen, thanks for the “tail cam”. It’s a camera that is located at the top of the tail of the plane, and that gives you a live view of pretty much the whole plane, during the whole flight. It’s a really nice touch, and it’s available on all A380. Now we could see the runway, and we were ready to take off. Full power… and we could barely ear the engines! Believe it or not, as soon as the tires are not touching the ground anymore, we could barely ear a small noise, that were the engines. It’s is very impressive, and it was the first flight in a while where I didn’t had to put on my in-ear earbuds. Also, something impressive during the takeoff is that you really feel that it’s an Heavy plane (notice the capital H). It’s fairly slow to take off and get some altitude at takeoff, something I never felt in any other airplane. There’s that “huh” moment at takeoff where you ask yourself if you’re actually going to make it.

We were now at our cruising altitude, it was time for me to discover the brand new video on demand system that Air France specially redesigned for the A380. There was about a hundred movies, old or new to enjoy, definitely the biggest selection I ever got in an airplane. The screens have a much better resolution than the ones you’re used to, you can create chat rooms or use pre-defined rooms and chat live with the passengers thanks to the keyboard located at the back of the remote, you can watch one of the 3 live cameras located at the tail, under or in the nose of the plane. Something that is really nice are the new upgraded high quality maps displayed during the flight, they even added history fact on them like where the Titanic sinked, or where some historical battles took place. Definitely a nice touch. Just like the USB plug available next to your screen. While you cannot watch your own movie you could have stored on it, you can download content from the plane to your key. Content include some desktop widgets (Windows only), metro maps and other tourist documents from your destination, videos about Air France, the construction of the A380.

During the flight, I couldn’t resist to walk a bit in the plane, especially in the bar area at the back of the plane, next to the stairs that brings you upper deck, which is about 70% reserved for Business class seats, and the rest were Economy class. As Premiere or Business passengers you can also access a “Gallery” area in front of the plane, that display art from museums all around the world. I cannot say more about it since I was in Economy and could not access this part of the place.

7 hours after it was time to enjoy the sunrise while starting our descent to Paris. The flight was super smooth, super quiet and enjoyable. Definitely better than on board of old planes, which makes you want to only fly A380s after. We just have to patient for the A380 to be available in more airlines, and more routes. With 25 deliveries since it’s commercial launch, and as many planned for 2010, that’s mores chances to fly a A380 in the next year!

More photos are available on my Flickr.

A proposed ruling would also ration the number of a newer type of sensor made by same manufacturer, France’s Thales, to just one per plane, he told Reuters.

“EASA will recommend that all A330 and A340 Airbus aircraft currently equipped with Thales pitot probes should be fitted with at least 2 Goodrich probes,” said Daniel Holtgen, chief spokesman for the agency responsible for aviation safety in the European Union. The proposal will be presented to the aviation industry for consultation and will not be mandatory, at least initially, he added.

This recommendation comes in the wake of the crash of Air France flight 447, which crashed en route from Rio De Janeiro to Paris on June 1, killing all 228 people on the Airbus A330. Automated data sent from the plane indicated problems with its speed probes, known as “pitot tubes”.

Thales has seen better days …

The twin-deck aircraft, which has been undergoing final preparation at Airbus’ Hamburg plant, is to be deployed on the daily Paris Charles de Gaulle-New York JFK route in November this year.

Air France has configured the jet for 538 passengers, which will make it the highest-density layout of any A380 so far put into service.

The airline has a mix of 80 business-class and 106 economy-class seats on the upper deck. The lower deck will feature nine first-class and 343 economy-class seats.

Air France has 12 Airbus A380s on order, four of which will start operating in winter 2009 and spring 2010.

So far this year, airlines have cancelled orders for 22 Airbus aircraft, leaving the EADS subsidiary with a net order intake of 68 planes.

Rival Boeing sold 85 aircraft between January and June but airlines cancelled orders for 84 aircraft, leaving it with a positive first-half net order balance of one aircraft.

More info at Reuters

The Toulouse, France-based company booked just one order, from Turkish Airlines, for 4 single-aisle A321s last month.

The same number of A321s were canceled, as were a further eight single-aisle planes including three A320s, two A319s and three A318s.

Airbus, which at the end of 2008 had a backlog of 3,715 aircraft, said it delivered 34 aircraft in the month.

Airbus rival Chicago-based Boeing Co. received orders for 18 jetliners last month and delivered 35 planes (31 single-aisle)

Thanks Raph for the info.

Picture of the first Air France Airbus A380. Serial Number #33, picture taken at the airport of  Toulouse Blagnac, France (TLS).

Crédit photo: Yvan Panas