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Simple Flying Aviation News Podcast
#278: UPS Retires MD-11 Fleet, Lufthansa Flies Empty A380 To Ireland, & Southwest Ends Open Seating
00:33:48
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- [00:05]
A
Hello, my name is Tom Boone.
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B
And I'm Channing Reid.
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A
Welcome to a brand new episode of the Simple Flying Podcast where we'll give you the lowdown on the latest news from the world of commercial aviation. Here's what we have for you this week.
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B
Coming up today, I'll cover the latest developments involving the McDonnell Douglas MD11 grounding, find out which airline has decided to retire the aircraft, effective immediately. Then Tom will look at why Lufthansa flew an empty Airbus A380 to Ireland.
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A
Channing will talk about how Southwest Airlines marked the end of open seating after 50 years. While I look at the airport scrapping the 100ml rule.
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B
And finally, we know who's going to the super bowl this year. I'll explore how airlines are getting ready for the big game.
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A
Do we, do we know who's going to the super bowl this year?
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B
I think we do. We'll get into it.
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A
Okay, well, you have to tell me because being an ignorant European, I'm not following it and have no clue. But now you know what, what's in store. Let's get on with the show. And before we get to the super bowl, tell me about the MD11. Channing.
- [01:11]
B
Yeah, this is actually breaking news as we are recording this on January 27th. UPS Airlines announced just today that its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD11 cargo planes are now officially retired. This comes two months after the fiery crash in Louisville that killed 15 people. As part of a fourth quarter earnings release on Tuesday, the international shipping giant, it accelerated its fleet modernization plans in the aftermath of the crash of UPS Flight 2976. Now, the airline has been issuing statements to several different media outlets, including Simple Flying. And company spokespeople are saying that the remaining 26 MD11s that were in the fleet are now in accelerated retirement. Now, this comes as 18 new Boeing 767 freighters are scheduled for delivery over the next two years. And the company expects no staffing shortages as a result of the changes. But there has been some changes to its operation since the aircraft was grounded a couple months ago after that crash. Of course, it went down at around 5:15pm on November 4th. And we did cover that here as breaking news on Simple Flying. And that crash basically resulted in the left wing catching fire, that engine also detaching, appearing to detach from the aircraft. The plane was fully loaded with fuel for a nine hour flight to Honolulu from Louisville International Airport. And as we were kind of watching in real time, we saw the death toll rise. And unfortunately, that death toll went up to 15 people, including three pilots in that crash. Now, UPS wasn't the only airline, of course, that grounded decided to ground the MD11. FedEx also grounded its fleet, quote, out of an abundance of ca. The Federal Aviation Administration's directive the following day sidelined the planes until inspection and correction of any problems. Now, as we know right now, FedEx and Western Global Airlines are still reportedly going through those inspections. Those airlines have not announced any kind of decision in terms of retiring their fleet of MD11s, but the MD11 fleet, UPS airlines made up about 9% of its fleet and 4% of FedEx fleet. So when we're talking about some of the complications that the airlines had in terms of its operation with those aircraft grounded, UPS was definitely more affected than FedEx. But of course, both when you have a percentage of your fleet grounded, you are going to see some complications there. But for the most part, the airlines have been really working to mitigate those complications. Unfortunately, we have reported here on the podcast and on Simple Flying that Western Global Airlines really is the only other US cargo airline that flies the MD11s. Unfortunately, since the airline has grounded 16 of those aircraft, the airline had to deal with layoffs, unfortunately, and the downsizing of its workforce and furloughs. Now, we do understand that 12 of them have already been put into storage. So that means only four of them are considered active, if you will, in the airline's fleet, although albeit they are grounded right now. So we could see that that airline could eventually announce a grounding or a retirement rather of those planes as well. Now, the cockpit voice recorder captured the bell, of course, in that unfortunate crash. It sounded about 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust. That's according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Now, there are different types of alarms with varying mean. And investigators haven't yet determined why the bell rang, though they know that the left wing was burning and the engine on that side had detached. As I've reported before, there was also speculation about the aircraft in terms of its maintenance records as well. The Aviation Herald reported that just before that crash, the aircraft had gone through extensive maintenance and was sitting on the ground in Louisville with reportedly an alleged engine swap out. So that is again something that these investigators are continuing to look through. Of course, we know that the NTSB spends a long time on their investigation process. It's not something that they just determine this was the cause of the crash. A few months after that crash, it's going to take them a few months more to really dig through all of this data and understand what exactly happened. Now, the UPS MD11, it was built in 1991 and we know that this aircraft, it's not the only aircraft that was built during this time. The majority of these planes were built in the 90s and are quite old if you will. But these airlines still operate them because it's a little bit cheaper, right, to operate a plane that has been around for quite some time and is fully paid off. But unfortunately UPS is dealing with now the cost of having to get rid of these planes and write them off as well. Now, the company's fleet is comprised of more than 500 aircraft and ups spokeswoman provided the following statement to Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS11 on Tuesday. It says, quote, UPS is planning to gradually has been planning to gradually retire its MD11 fleet for several years beginning with the first six aircraft back in 2023. The recent peak season provided a real world test of our network with the MD11 fleet. The results were strong with the UPS leading the industry in on time performance for the eighth year in a row. The success demonstrated our ability to meet customer demand without relying on MD11 capacity, allowing us to confidently accelerate retirements. So again, had this aircraft and the fleet been a larger percentage of its fleet than we might not see this decision to retire the planes. But when they originally grounded this aircraft, we saw some complications with its operation. And then of course it was really the worst time of the year for you to have complications because it was the holidays and trying to deliver packages around the world. But as I mentioned, the airline really bounced back and was able to mitigate a lot of those complications. And it's probably a big deciding, big factor in its decision to retire these aircraft. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg held a conference news conference on Tuesday regarding UPS's announcement. He said, quote, I see that this is a positive step forward. If there's any question about safety, planes shouldn't be flying. He went on to say, clearly UPS made this decision with safety in mind. I applaud them for putting safety first. So clearly, obviously this is a safety decision. And again we'll have to see if FedEx and Western Global follow suit with their decision to retire the plane. But this is something that I want to say some of us might have saw it coming. We actually did cover, we wrote an article on simple flying about whether this was really the end of the MD11, was it done flying for good? So we know that it's done flying for good for at least UPS Airlines and we'll have to watch the space to See what happens with the other, other carriers.
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A
Yeah. We will have to watch this space. And it's sad to see them go, but I mean, it's probably about time, given how old they're getting and the circumstances around it. I think I remember seeing Lufthansa Operating MD11s before they retired it, and I
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B
believe KLM did too.
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A
Yeah, I think they only retired them in 2021. That's right. So I remember walking around one at Frankfurt Airport once on the ground and thinking, h, this looks like a very different airplane.
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B
Yeah, right.
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A
Yeah. It wasn't Boeing or Airbus, so. Yeah, but, you know, Lufthansa. Let's move on to our second story of the week. And we're looking at a very unusual ferry flight that took place last week involving one of Lufthansa's most iconic aircraft. That's right. It's time for
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Tom's A380 podcast.
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So if you were monitoring Flightradar24 last Wednesday, you might have spotted a Lufthansa Airbus A380 performing a bit of a high speed sprint across Europe. The aircraft, registration DM H, took off from Munich under the Special Ferry callsign LH9900 and headed straight for Shannon in Ireland. Now, what made this flight particularly interesting to the enthusiasts watching the tracking data was the altitude. Because the aircraft was flying completely empty, without the weight of 500 passengers and their luggage, it was able to quickly climb all the way to 40, 43,000ft. Now, that's quite the feat for an A380, and it really shows the raw performance of those four Rolls Royce Trent engines when they're unburdened. It made the trip from Germany to the west coast of Ireland in just over two hours. And the reason for this visit to Shannon is all about a fresh coat of paint. Actually, Shannon Airport is home to International Aerospace Coatings, or iac, which is one of the very few facilities in the world with a hangar large enough to accommodate the Super Jumbo for painting. More importantly, it has the specialized equipment required to handle the complex painting process for a jet of this size. Now, all signs point to MikeHotel being the latest member of the fleet to receive Lufthansa special 100th anniversary livery throughout 2026. Lufthansa is celebrating a century of the flying crane brand. And while the corporate structure has changed since 1926, the identity remains a pillar of global aviation. To mark the occasion, the airline is painting six aircraft in a striking new design. And it's not just a minor TWEAK to their current livery. It's a bold, deep blue finish that covers the entire fuselage. The design features a massive white version of the crane that stretches across the tail and sweeps down onto the rear fuselage. And its wings are designed to blend seamlessly into the actual wings of the aircraft, which creates the illusion of the giant bird in flight. Now, you also have a large 100 on the left side and the years 1926 to 2026 painted on it. And there's even a massive 100 logo painted on the belly so people on the ground get a clear view of the celebration during takeoff. So far, we've seen two of the sixth anniversary aircraft enter service. There is a Boeing 7879 that was delivered just before Christmas. I think we spoke about that one before. And an A320neo that landed in Frankfurt on January 19th. Now, we're also expecting an Airbus A350 900 to join the group in early February that's currently being repainted in France. But none of these have the sheer presence of the A380. And as airport director of Shannon Niall Cairns pointed out, seeing this aircraft on the Runway is a spectacle because it simply dwarfs every other regular jet at the airport. Now, Lufthansa is being quite strategic with this rollout because by getting the A380 painted now, they'll have their most recognisable widebody flying as a massive billboard, just in time for the peak summer travel season. For those of us who love seeing the A380 back in active service, this is more than just an anniversary celebration. It's a sign that Lufthansa sees the super jumbo as a vital part of their brand identity for the foreseeable future. I'm going to be keeping a close eye for the hangar doors in Shannon over the next few weeks to see the final result. And hopefully, maybe I can find a reason to go to Munich and see it, because Lufthansa made me very sad when they decided to stop flying the A380 out of Frankfurt.
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B
Yeah, I remember covering that and writing about that, and I thought, that's so weird. I wonder why they did that and why they. Isn't it just exclusively out of Munich? Is that right?
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A
Yeah, I think it's a planning thing. Maybe they have the 380 exclusively out of Munich, I think, and then they've got, by contrast, the 747s at Frankfurt. And I'm sure seeing lots of 747s would make a lot of people very happy. But I'd rather that a 380.
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B
Exactly. Battle of the jumbo jets, for sure. I will also say this might be a hot take to our listeners, but I wonder how much they are paying to repaint their aircraft into the special livery. And the reason why I say that is because it looks like they're investing a little bit more than the US airlines that are celebrating their 100th anniversary.
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A
Is that a dig at American?
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B
Actually, it's not a dig at American, it's a dig at United. Believe it or not, American at least and Delta have come up with American did their retro Boeing 777 300er, and then they did do the 737 800, which is similar to its standard livery. And Delta has its own 100th special livery. But United Airlines just unveiled their 100th livery and it's an Airbus A321neo and it's standard livery with just what appears to be a sticker that says 100 years on the aft of the fuselage. I hope that they will come out with another special livery because that I think they could do a little bit better than that, honestly.
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A
I mean, United isn't one to shy away from special liveries because I remember the herart here ones were particularly gorgeous. They were great to look at.
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B
Unfortunately, they retired or not retired the aircraft, but the aircraft are still flying. But they repainted the planes back to the standard livery, unfortunately.
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A
But that's a shame.
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B
It is a shame. So, yes, if anybody at United is listening to our podcast, we are waiting to see if there's going to be another special 100 livery. Let's talk about another retro livery. And that has to do with Southwest Airlines, of course. They have two different retro liveries painted on Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. And one of them, it is registered N871 Hotel Kilo was used just last night to mark the end of something that has been a common occurrence, if you will, at Southwest for more than 50 years. And that is open seating, one of the things that really set Southwest apart. Well, we know today, January 27th, that is no longer the case. The airline's new assigned seating policy has officially taken flight. And that final flight of open seating was operated by November 871Hotel Kilo, and it is also known as Southwest Desert Gold livery. Back in the day, before its Canyon Blue livery and its current Heart livery, Southwest painted all of its planes in this desert gold paint scheme. And as I remember kind of growing up living in Phoenix, Arizona, we'd Go down to Sky Harbor Airport and I would see those planes. You would just see just a field of gold planes. It really was a striking livery. And of course, that livery honors the the airline's founder, which is Herb Kelleher. It's kind of fitting that the airline used this plane to mark the end of open seating, but it is kind of getting some people talking. Of course, once we first announced that Southwest was moving away from open seating and going to assigned seating, a lot of passengers, there were mixed reviews. There were some were saying that this is a great step for Southwest. Others were saying that it shows that the carrier really has lost its roots, if you will. So again, for the first time more than 53 years, the Southwest has announced that it will be assigning seats from today and onward. And I should also mention that last flight was Southwest Flight 1791 and it took off from Honolulu at 10:13pm on Monday, January 26th. It was a red eye flight, which is something that's also new at Southwest as of the past couple of months. And it arrived in Los Angeles at 4:55am the final open seating flight. Now, as it transitions to its assigned seating again, people are saying that it's becoming more alike to its competitors, American, Delta and United Airlines. And it's not just assigned seating. Right. Airline is also offering extra leg room, which we just reported a few days ago, how the carrier was pretty much working around the clock and overnight as a lot of its planes were parked, going through and taking out a row of seats on its 737, 700-00 to offer that extra leg room. Now, Tony Roach, who is an executive of a customer and brand at Southwest, he said in a statement that it's a opportunity for customers and it removes the uncertainty of not knowing where they will sit in the cabin. However, I will say it was kind of fun, right? You would board the plane and it was your choice. If you wanted to sit in the back for that day, you could sit in the back. If you wanted to sit in the front that day, you could sit in the front. Of course, we know that aisle seats and window seats are a little bit more popular than the middle seat. So if you wanted an aisle seat towards the front of the aircraft, you might have had to purchase an early bird check in to be able to get an earlier check in or boarding spot. But again, all of that is now of the past and some of you might be wondering, all right, so what's going to happen to those metal stanchions and pylons that Southwest has used at several of its airports for its boarding process, for open seating. We're now learning that those stanchions will be phased out over the next 60 days. And Southwest will now have two alternating boarding lanes, silver columns where passengers were previously lined up. They'll have their numbers removed or covered as the airports work to remove them entirely. And some people are kind of making fun of this on social media. I was looking on X and I saw someone had posted the end of an era. And it's a picture of those metal pylons in the airport with some flowers and candles below them, kind of as a tribute. And others are saying that Herb is rolling in his grave right now. Of course, again, he was the founder of Southwest. I will say it is quite interesting. He passed away in 2019. If he was still around, it'd be very interesting to see what his take is on how the airline has pretty much changed, I want to say, kind of taken a 180 turn since 2019. A lot has happened. Of course, we've covered it with its influence from Elliott Management Co. But again, it's still getting some mixed reviews. Part of me wants to try the assigned seating. I'm wondering just what it's like. I would imagine that it's just very similar to the other airlines. But what do you think, Tom? Do you think that this is a good change for Southwest or are we losing what made Southwest Southwest?
- [21:27]
A
Well, let me give you the sort of European look on this. Yeah. No, I think unreserved seating on an airplane is an archaic concept at this point in time. I have zero support for it. I remember Ryanair way, way, way back in the day used to have unreserved seating. EasyJet 2, I think, maybe, and I've flown once with selfie and use their unreserved seating. But, you know, it's just why I cannot see any single reason to have unreserved seating in 2025. It's not lost revenue because you can sell seats. And for quite an up mark, I think the EasyJet flight I'm taking next month, for example, a seat up in the front row cost €30. So maybe $40. That's not insignificant. So it's not a revenue thing. It saves time because everyone knows where they're seated. I don't necessarily agree with the sort of speedy boarding, fast track boarding, first on the plane concept either.
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B
I think that's how they ended up making revenue from that. I mean, early bird check in wasn't always a thing, but.
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A
No, I Mean, Ryanair and EasyJet still offers priority boarding. Oh, I see, that's what I mean, you know, so you're not losing that. I'm saying, though, I don't think that's the best way to board an aircraft, but hey. But yeah, you know, I think it's long overdue to get rid of unreserved seating, personally.
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B
Yeah, it's definitely, I think where people are standing is, you know, it was one thing that allowed Southwest to stand apart from its competitors, but now since that's not a thing, it seems like, like it's, you know, just the airline is like its competitors, you know, more so. Which I guess that works, right, as you're saying, you know, it's 20, 26, no airline has open seating. So kind of makes sense to follow suit at this point too.
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A
Yeah, that's my take on it. Let's see if we get any hate from the readers, but the listeners. But for my second story this week, we're going to fly over to London and talk about a massive operational milestone at Heathrow Airport. Airport. After years of planning and some significant delays, Heathrow has finally completed the rollout of its next generation CT security scanners across all four terminals. Now, this was a massive billion pound investment that's effectively ended the era of digging through the bag for liquids and laptops. Now, last week the airline officially confirmed that the project is complete, making it the largest airport in the world to fully transition to this technology. And for the passenger, the benefits are immediate. I mean, I cannot explain how grumpy I get now when I see that I don't have a CT scanner at airport security. But it's not just the fact that the queue is moving faster because you don't have to take out your liquids and your laptops. But there's also a huge benefit for passengers at Heathrow is that they've removed now the 100 milliliter liquid policy. So this has several arguments for it. I guess the first one is a sustainability win because arguably you don't need these little plastic bags anymore for your small liquids. And Heathrow estimates they're going to save about 16 million single use plastic bags every single year. Now, this makes me wonder what on earth I'm doing with my travel, because I have an ancient plastic bag that I've using for about four years since my last one fell apart and this one is about to fall apart. So I don't know who's taking these 16 million bags, but CEO Thomas Waldby had called it the biggest improvement to the passenger experience in decades. And on the surface it certainly looks like a win. But like the unreserved seatings, I've got to be honest with you, while it sounds like a revolution in travel, I believe removing these liquid rules is actually pretty pointless at the moment. Because if it only works in one direction, think about the reality for the average traveler. You know, if you're flying out of Heathrow to an airport that doesn't have the limits changed, you're going to have a rude awakening for your flight back. For example, maybe you fly from London to Frankfurt and you take a one liter bottle of sun cream, which you probably wouldn't need because it's not sunny here at the moment. But stick with me, you know, you're going to find out on the way, especially if you're hand baggage only, you're not going to be able to take that back with you because Frankfurt still has the 100 milliliter rule. And you know, when you look at. I don't expect these rules to change anytime soon in the United States because the tsa, we've reported this before, has suggested a full rollout of this technology across all their airports. Might not even be complete until 2040.
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B
Yeah, slow rollout, yeah.
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I'm going to be old by then, you know, so it creates an inconsistency in the travel experience. And I think it's almost more stressful to have to remember which airports allow what rather than just sticking to the old rules, just to be safe. And until we see global or at least regional synchronization on these scanners, the two litre rule, it feels like a bit of a trap for the unwary. And, you know, it is a great headline for Heathrow, but. But does it solve the fundamental friction of international travel if the rules change the moment you land in another country? Not really. Despite my skepticism about the liquid limits, though, this is just one piece of a much larger 10 billion pound investment plan that Heathrow is running through 2031. They're going to add new lounges, more retail space and significantly upgrade their baggage handling systems. So it's clear that Heathrow is determined to keep its title as the premier hub in Europe, even if the rest of the world is still catching up on their security tech.
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B
Yeah, I mean, you make a great point there. I think also with hearing about it initially, it's exciting, but then I also think about, okay, if I'm traveling with my carry on bag, it was kind of nice to have that limit of the size of the bottle because then it would take up less space in my bag too. So if I'm bringing a full bottle of shampoo or whatever it is, then that's going to take up more space in the bag. But yes, one thing to depart from he Heathrow with that allowance now. But it's going to be a little different when you're coming back and you're returning. I guess anybody who's flying one way out of London, Heathrow, they can probably benefit the most from this. But we'll have to see if other airports will roll this out as well. But to your point, here in the US we've covered it. It's something that's on TSA's radar. But yes, it's a very, very, very slow rollout. So so could be a couple of years to decades before we see it at more airports. I will say I have seen the new CT scanners at San Francisco International Airport and yeah, very high tech, very cool. So looking forward to that being rolled out across other airports in the country. So here in the U.S. tom, yes, we have a Super bowl and I actually did just learn about the teams that are going to be playing, which is just in a couple of Weeks on February 8th, I.e. the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. I'm not much of a sports person, I will admit to our listeners. However, I do know that the super bowl doesn't ever really take place at either of the team's home city or stadium. So the super bowl this year will be located in the Bay Area in California at Levi's Stadium and in Santa Clara, California. And with that, airlines are adding plenty of flights and seats to get Seahawks fans from Seattle or Patriots fans from across the country in New England to the Bay Area. Alaska airlines is adding 16 round trip flights to its schedule to get fans to the big game. And United Airlines also adding flights from Seattle to San Jose, which is a route that the airline doesn't Normally operate on February 7th and as well as a return flight on February 9th. American Airlines specifically back before we even knew who was going to be playing in the super bowl, they added 10,000 seats from its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia and Phoenix. Phoenix. Phoenix had six flights per day to San Jose on February 5th and 6th and five flights per day on February 9th from San Jose, Dallas, Fort Worth, also another one with a lot of flights, seven flights per day on February 5th and 6th eight flights on the return for February 9th. But what's interesting is they added those 10,000 seats. We found out who was playing in the super bowl. And now the airline added even more flights. So the carrier in a statement to Simple Flying said, quote, we've added more flights from both Boston and Seattle to San Jose, California. San Jose is a convenient 10 minutes away from this stadium. That's referring to San Jose Mineta International Airport. It's code is SJC and this makes it an easier, hassle free journey before and after February 8th. As I mentioned, it comes after the airline already added 10,000 seats, which I believe is more than any other carrier here in the US So this is a route that the airline American doesn't normally fly, which is basically from Boston and Seattle to San Jose. They don't normally fly those routes, but adding more flights to those routes. So it's going to be very exciting. Also Delta Airlines as well, which is, I believe they operate a hub out of Boston, they're adding nonstop flights between Boston and San Francisco. So it's a little bit further from the stadium. But they're increasing that schedule from two to three daily flights on February 6 and four return flights on February 9. The airline said its expanded service offers more flexibility for coast to coast travelers and ensures customers can choose the timing that best fits their plans without sacrificing comfort or convenience. I was going to ask you, Tom, which team you were rooting for, but I don't think it really matters in this case, does it?
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A
No, L.A. galaxy. That's the one, isn't it?
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B
Or is that the LA Galaxy? I'm not sure which team that is, but we can go with the West Coast. Seattle Seahawks.
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A
Yeah, I'll take that. They used to. Actually, no, I will say I will go for Seattle Seahawks and the reason I will go for that is solely because there used to be a Seattle Seahawks liveried 747.
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B
Oh really? Which airline?
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A
I think it was a freighter perhaps. It might have been a Boeing aircraft. Actually. Yeah, it might have been a Boeing aircraft as opposed to an airline aircraft.
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B
There you go. Yeah. So we'll have to see which team will end up winning this. I should also mention the Patriots operation, a pair of Boeing 767s. I believe we've covered that on Simple Flying. So anybody listening, you have to go back on our website and take a look at those articles. But yes, some exciting news as airlines add seats for the big game. And that is going to do it for today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. We welcome any feedback you might have@editorialimpleflying.com
- [33:30]
A
for more great content you can visit our website@simpleflying.com or find us on social media, simply search for simple Flying.
- [33:36]
B
And if you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a rating on your favorite podcast player. Thanks for listening.
- [33:42]
A
Bye.