#286: Frontier Airlines' Near Miss At LAX, AIX 2026 Preview, Airbus' March Deliveries

Summary

Simple Flying Podcast Episode #286 Summary

Date: April 15, 2026
Hosts: Tom Boon & Channing Reid
Main Topics:

• Frontier Airlines’ near miss at LAX
• Preview of Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) 2026
• American Airlines’ return to Venezuela
• Lufthansa’s 100th anniversary celebration
• Airbus’ March 2026 deliveries & milestones

---

Episode Overview

Tom Boon and Channing Reid discuss the major commercial aviation news stories of the week, offering detailed insight into a headline-grabbing near miss involving Frontier Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport, a comprehensive preview of the upcoming Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, the significance of American Airlines’ anticipated return to Venezuela, Lufthansa’s centennial flight celebration, and Airbus’ Q1 2026 production and delivery milestones.

---

1. Frontier Airlines’ Near Miss at LAX

[Starts 01:06]

Incident Details

• Event: An Atlanta-bound Frontier Airlines flight narrowly avoided a collision with two ground vehicles while taxiing at LAX late Wednesday night.
• Aircraft Involved: Airbus A321neo (N609FR), Flight 3216.
• Details:
  • After pushback from Gate 229 at 11:16pm (an hour late), pilots encountered two ground vehicles near Taxiway Kilo and Bravo.
  • Pilots reported to air traffic control that two trucks cut them off, forcing an emergency stop:

    “We just had two trucks just cut us off. We had to slam on the brakes not to hit them.” (Channing quoting ATC audio, 02:50)

  • The LAX ground controller did not initially have visual confirmation and had to alert airport city operations due to the area's limited visibility.
  • The pilots could not identify the vehicles’ company or whether they were equipped with transponders.
  • Severity highlighted by the pilots:

    “It happened so fast, both of us were just like, holy bleep. And we just slammed on the brakes. I might have to call the flight attendants to make sure everybody's all right in the back. It was real close, the closest I’ve ever seen.” (Frontier pilot, via ATC audio, quoted by Channing, 05:40)

• Wider Context: Incident comes weeks after the Air Canada Flight 8646 crash, heightening concerns regarding airport vehicle transponder requirements and ground safety.
• Community Response:
  • Strong social media discussion with calls for all airport vehicles to have transponders.

    “All vehicles need transponders on them.” (Reddit user, summarized by Channing, 07:05)

  • Anxiety over limited ATC staffing and visibility, particularly in areas obscured by terminals.

Key Insight

• The episode underscores ongoing systemic risks in airport ground operations, especially with regard to the lack of vehicle transponders and persistent ATC visibility gaps.
• Channing reflects:

  “...it goes to show you that this does seem like it’s a little bit of an ongoing problem. And you have to think, it's nighttime, it's hard to see…regardless of the outcome, it shows that we do have a little bit of a safety situation here.” (08:18)

---

2. Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) 2026 Preview

[Starts 08:32]

Highlights & Milestones

• Event: AIX 2026 celebrates its 25th edition in Hamburg (April 14–16).
• Growth: Nearly 500 companies set to exhibit, 74 new exhibitors, spanning 30,000sqm.
• Debuts:
  • Bizjet Interiors Zone: 14 exhibitors for business/VVIP markets.
  • IFEC Zone: 77 companies focused on in-flight entertainment & connectivity.
• Innovations & Product Launches:
  • Connectivity:
    • ThinKom: Unveiling compact, multi-orbit antennas for GEO, MEO, LEO satellite networks.
      • Tom:

        “Low-Earth-Orbit connectivity is where a lot of the passenger Wi-Fi performance gains are coming from at the moment.” (09:40)

    • SES & Google: New partnership to standardize Android in-flight Wi-Fi access.
    • Panasonic Avionics: Demonstrating new digital and inflight entertainment systems.
  • Cabin Concepts:
    • SOGER CLAIR: Three new business class concepts with enhanced privacy and meal table.
    • Schott: Premium reading lights and projector-based seat identification for business class.
  • Sustainability:
    • Gen Phoenix: Launching the 'Circulair Guide' for circular seat design, co-developed with Boeing and Teague.
• Crystal Cabin Awards: 24 finalists across 8 categories; new Breakthrough Startups category.
• Passenger Experience Conference: Over 20 airlines participating the day before AIX opens.
• Tom’s Coverage:

  “Simple Flying is going to have coverage from the show floor across the week. I will be there, so watch the site for our reporting—and if you are there in person, come and say hello.” (11:42)

---

3. American Airlines’ Return to Venezuela

[Starts 12:48]

Background & Plans

• Service Resumption: American Airlines will restart daily non-stop flights from Miami to Caracas, Venezuela, with government permissions pending.
  • Using Embraer E175 aircraft via Envoy Air subsidiary.
  • Service could resume as soon as April 30th, 2026.
  • American last operated flights to Venezuela in 2019, before a US ban imposed due to instability.
• US Government Involvement: Flight ban lifted by US Transportation Secretary per President’s directive. TSA performed security checks at Caracas airport.
• Significance:

  “American was the first airline to announce plans to restart service to Venezuela, and we're encouraged by the progress we've made with both governments…Our commitment to connecting Venezuela with the US spans more than 30 years…” (American CCO Nat Pieper, 15:44, read by Channing)

• Passenger Experience: Embraer E175 offers a premium cabin, Wi-Fi, and in-seat power.

Notable Moment

• Channing and Tom discuss the shifting roles of American's Nat Pieper, previously CEO of OneWorld, adding a personal touch to airline executive changes (16:40).

---

4. Lufthansa’s 100th Anniversary Flight

[Starts 17:40]

Celebration Recap (Tom’s Report)

• Special Flight: Tom was invited to Lufthansa’s centenary flight, re-creating the original 1926 route.
  • Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 in special 100th livery; Airbus A350 also involved from Munich.
  • Route: Frankfurt–Berlin–Zurich, loosely mirroring the 1926 inaugural journey.
  • Passengers: Seats mainly raffled to employees, partners, and a few special guests.
• Unique Experiences:
  • Water cannon salutes at both Berlin and Zurich.

    “This is my favorite picture from the whole day… both of us taxied under the water arches together, which was really cool.” (21:20)

  • Parallel landing and takeoff with the A350.
  • Onboard celebrations—including speeches from CEO Jens Ritter and the Berlin mayor, live music, and event-specific activities during a party in the non-Schengen area at Berlin.
  • Special details: “...we were able to board the flights directly from the event, which was quite cool.” (23:45)
  • Extended detour over the Black Forest before arrival in Zurich, adding to the uniqueness.
  • Returned to Frankfurt with a sunset flight, marking “my record for most water cannon salutes in one day at 2.” (25:54)
• Personal Reflection:
  • “…such a wonderful day and I can’t thank Lufthansa enough for inviting us to be part of it.” (26:57)

---

5. Airbus March Deliveries & A220 Milestone

[Starts 27:42]

Key Points

• March Numbers:
  • 60 aircraft delivered in March; Q1 2026 total at 114 (down 16% YoY).
  • Notable deliveries: 3 to Emirates (despite conflict-related disruptions), plus aircraft to Etihad and flyadeal.
  • Ongoing supply chain and engine part shortages affect pace.
  • Airbus aims for 870 deliveries in 2026; 408 aircraft sold in Q1 (398 after cancellations).
• A220 Program Milestone:
  • Surpassed 500 A220s delivered.
  • Aircraft have flown 1.9k routes, carried 220 million passengers, logged 3.5 million flight hours.
  • Originally the Bombardier C Series (launched 2008, Airbus partnership in 2018).
• Channing’s Perspective:

  “The A220 I think is a very, very favored single aisle aircraft…absolutely loved it…would have no problem flying across the country on [it].” (30:18) “Congratulations to Airbus, all the people that have worked hard on the program and we’ll look forward to many more deliveries to come.” (31:13)

• Personal Note:

  “I love all planes, you know.” (Tom, 31:22)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Safety:

  “It was real close, the closest I’ve ever seen.” (Frontier pilot, as quoted by Channing, 05:40)

• Regulatory Calls:

  “If they aren’t going to hire more air traffic controllers, then we need ground vehicle transponders yesterday.” (Reddit user via Channing, 07:12)

• AIX Reflections:

  “This anniversary edition is both a moment to reflect on how far the sector has come and a launchpad for the transformational technologies coming next.” (Event director, cited by Tom, 09:10)

• Lufthansa Celebration:

  “We had a lot of live music there… It was new songs with an old timey feel, if that makes sense.” (Tom, 22:32) “We got another water cannon salute. So that’s my record for most water cannon salutes in one day at 2.” (Tom, 25:54)

---

Episode Timestamps

• Frontier Airlines LAX Incident: 01:06–08:32
• AIX 2026 Preview: 08:32–12:48
• American Returns to Venezuela: 12:48–17:40
• Lufthansa 100th Anniversary Flight: 17:40–27:42
• Airbus Deliveries & A220 milestone: 27:42–31:33

---

Takeaways

• Recent close-call incidents continue to expose vulnerabilities in airport ground safety and the urgent need for vehicle tracking improvements.
• The 25th AIX in Hamburg is set to highlight major leaps in passenger experience, sustainability, and in-flight connectivity.
• American Airlines is moving closer to reconnecting the U.S. and Venezuela, pending regulatory clearance.
• Lufthansa marked its centennial in style, underscoring the importance of legacy, innovation, and spectacle in airline anniversaries.
• While Airbus’ Q1 deliveries are down, key program milestones like the A220’s expansion evidence the resilience and adaptability of the manufacturer.

---

For more detailed articles and further coverage, visit simpleflying.com, and follow the hosts on social media for live updates from AIX 2026.

Transcript

[A]

Hello, my name is Tom Boone.

[B]

And I'm Channing Reed.

[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.

[B]

Coming up today, Frontier Airlines is praising its crew for avoiding what would have been a major accident at Los Angeles International Airport earlier this week. I'll share the details on the industry's latest near miss incident before Tom covers what to expect from this year's Aircraft Interiors Expo show.

[A]

Channing will then discuss how American Airlines is bringing its return to Venezuela after nearly six year break while I look at the airline that celebrated 100 years last week. And no, it's not United.

[B]

And finally, the numbers are in. And Airbus delivered 60 new planes last month. I'll explain how the manufacturer is technically still behind, but how it also just reached a new milestone.

[A]

So now you know what's in store. Let's get on with the show. And shall what's going on with Frontier Airlines at Los Angeles?

[B]

Before I get into that, I think for the record, aren't there multiple airlines that are celebrating their 100th year or maybe last week? I don't know. But you're not talking about United. We'll have to see which airline you're talking about. Yes, looking forward to that. But yes, there was an incident with a Frontier Airlines aircraft that happened just a few days ago at Los Angeles International Airport. It's resulted in the airline praising its crew for their vigilance and professionalism. Now this involved a Frontier Airlines plane with two ground vehicles and a near miss as the Atlanta bound redeye flight was taxiing to the Runway at Los Angeles International Airport. Again, this happening just Wednesday evening, late Wednesday evening, in an air traffic control recording, you can hear the pilots alerting controllers that two trucks cut us off and they had to, quote, slam on the brakes not to hit them. Now this development coming just weeks after the air Canada Flight 8646 crash. And of course, that investigation is still ongoing. But this near miss is adding to the growing concerns over airport ground vehicles operating without transponders. So we'll get into the details of this story. It was uncovered by a Reddit post on Thursday featuring a Flight Radar 24 video of Frontier Flight 3216, its taxi path at Los Angeles International Airport. It was also accompanied by ATC audio. Now that aircraft, an Airbus A321neo registered as November 609 Foxtrot Romeo, it pushed back from Gate 229 at 11:16pm that flight was delayed by over an hour. However, it was scheduled to depart at 10pm now, following its pushback, the plane was facing south on Taxiway Lima. Once taxiing on its own power, data shows the aircraft turning left onto Taxiway Kilo 1 before turning right onto Taxiway Kilo, which runs parallel to Taxiway Lima. I feel like I'm a pilot or an air traffic controller by all of this the phonetic Alphabet. But the pilots reportedly encountered that the ground vehicles, they saw them right before turning left onto Taxiway Bravo. Now, the ATC recording, again, it recounts the entire situation. So the pilot first said, hey, ground, do you see this? Talking to the LAX ground controllers, that controller responded saying, no. Then the pilot responded again saying, we just had two trucks just cut us off. We had to slam on the brakes not to hit them. And then LAX ground said, quote, and who was asking that? Is that Frontier? And the pilot confirmed, yeah, that's Frontier. Now, one thing to note about this story is that Los Angeles International Airport has three ATC non visibility areas. That's according to the official airport diagram provided by the Federal Aviation Administration. Now, the reason why there are those areas at the airport is simply because they're sandwiched between terminal buildings in the center of the airfield, which makes it harder for air traffic controllers in the tower to visually see what's going on in that area. And so you can actually hear the controller on the recordings telling, alerting airport, city Ops, quote, behind that building. So it just gives you an idea of the controller really was also trying to figure out where exactly this was happening. But nonetheless, that controller got in contact with City Ops. And the Frontier pilots were also still on the frequency. And the pilot did confirm that that near miss happened near the intersection of taxiways Kilo and Bravo at the service route. So then the controller then asked the pilots if they could see where the trucks were going and which direct. The pilot said they were going eastbound and one appeared to turn off. However, they were unable to determine which company the vehicles belonged to or were operated by. The pilot then on the recording says, it happened so fast, both of us were just like, holy bleep. And we just slammed on the brakes. I might have to call the flight attendants to make sure everybody's all right in the back. It was real close, the closest I've ever seen. So the flight then continued its taxi without incident, subsequently took off, and one of the controllers were able to reportedly spot where at least one of those trucks were going. They asked the city Ops to dispatch over there and to figure out what was going on. But again, as I mentioned at the top of the story, this situation is really adding to the concern of transponders and airport vehicles. I should mention though, however, Frontier did respond to our request for comment. They said that they were aware of the incident. They also thanked the crew. But the Reddit post is really bringing up a lot of conversation about the safety of airport, airfields and ground vehicles and planes alike. One person said that they've seen ground vehicles acting like idiots multiple times and that they're surprised that it doesn't happen more often. They also did bring up the Air Canada collision and they specifically said, quote, that the driver probably didn't do his due diligence and visually checking that the Runway was clear. That's in reference to the driver of the fire truck. Now, it is important to know that, and worth noting, that that crash, of course, is still under investigation. A cause has not been determined, but preliminary findings have indicated that that fire truck was not equipped with a transponder, which would have allowed pilots and air traffic controllers to see its movements on radar. Now, it is unclear whether the two trucks at LAX had transponders on them. But again, there is, you know, a lot of people are talking about how every vehicle should have transponders on them. That's what one Reddit user said. All vehicles need transponders on them. Another one said it shows that if they aren't going to hire more air traffic controllers, then we need ground vehicle transponders yesterday. So, you know, I have to say it's bit, a little, a bit startling to see that we could have had another major situation that could have involved fatalities, injuries for that matter, so close to the Air Canada incident. So it goes to show you that this does seem like it's a little bit of an ongoing problem. And you have to think, it's nighttime, it's hard to see pilots, visibility, they might think that they're seeing something and maybe not. Maybe the same for the drivers and the airport vehicles. There's just a lot going on and I think regardless of the outcome, it shows that we do have a little bit of a safety situation here. Hopefully regulators will look into this and find solutions to make our airfields safer.

[A]

Definitely. Safety is always king, as we always say. Before we get to my 100th anniversary news this week, I want to flag something that's right around the corner for those who follow the cabin interiors and passenger experience space. Because the Aircraft Interiors Expo is kicking off in Hamburg this week running from the 14th to the 16th of April at the Hamburg Messe, and this year It's a milestone. AIX 2026 is the show's 25th edition. It launched back in 2020 and since then it's been the place where a remarkable amount of what we now take for granted in aircraft cabins was first shown to the world lie flat beds, personal IFE screens, brand driven interior design, the first generation of inflight WI fi. The show's event director summed it up well when she said that this anniversary edition is both a moment to reflect on how far the sector has come and a launch pad for the transformational technologies coming next. We'll get to see what those are in a moment, but the scale of the event this year is significant because nearly 500 companies are set to exhibit, including 74 first time exhibitors and the total footprint spans almost 30,000 square meters. Across the halls of the Mesa, two dedicated zones are worth highlighting. There's a brand new Bizjet Interior zone which is making its debut with 14 exhibitors focusing on the business, aviation and VVIP cabin market. And then there's also the ifec zone with 77 exhibitors covering in flight connectivity and entertainment. On the show floor itself, there are some specific product launches already confirmed that give a good sense of where the industry's attention is right now. In connectivity still one of the hot topics in the industry. Fincom will unveil a new compact multi orbit antenna supporting Geo Mio and LEO satellite networks engineered to be lighter, cheaper and smaller than its predecessors. Now that's significant because low off orbit or LEO connectivity is where a lot of the passenger WI Fi performance gains are coming from. At the moment, SES is also showcasing a new partnership with Google that aims to standardize how Android devices connect to in flight WI Fi. Now this sound. It sounds mundane, but it's actually a real pain point for passengers who've had to jump through hoops to get a connection mid flight and Panasonic Avionics, one of the show's longest running exhibitors, will be demonstrating progress across inflight systems and digital services in cabin design. SOGA Clare will unveil three new business class concepts using what they're calling a Vista Demonstrator, including a front row mini seat, an enhanced privacy door and a companion dining table, dining capable meal table even and in lighting Shot is launching a premium reading light range using natural materials including wood and stone, plus a projector based seat identification system for business class boarding that can display seat numbers and logos directly onto seat shells. And in the sustainability space, Jen Phoenix is presenting the Circulair Guide, which is a practical framework developed with Boeing, Teague and several seat manufacturers to embed circularity into seat design from the very beginning of the process rather than as an afterthought. Now the show also sees the Crystal Cabin Awards revealed on the evening of the 14th at a ceremony at Hamburg's Chamber of Commerce. 24 finalists have been selected across eight categories by an international jury, including representatives from British Airways, Collins Aerospace, Lufthansa Group and Safran. And this year's adding a brand new Breakthrough Startups category for the first time, which is a good signal that the industry is taking new entrants seriously rather than just reward the established names. The Passenger Experience Conference, which runs on the 13th the day before the main show opens, features speakers from over 20 airlines including United, Virgin Atlantic and Fiji Airways. And usually there's some interesting discussion topics from that so as I say, Simple Flying is going to have coverage from the show floor across the week. I will be there so watch the site for our reporting and if you are there in person, come and say hello. Come and find us. Say hello. And yeah, I'm looking forward to all of the fun stories that we can run from AIX next week.

[B]

Yeah, it sounds like there's a lot happening and some new exciting developments. Definitely will be looking forward to our coverage there. And before we get on to your amazing 100th airline story, I did want to talk about another airline that is celebrating 100 years. That that's American Airlines, and they are working on opening up their route network to a specific destination, that is Caracas, Venezuela. The airline is continuing to work closely with regulators to reinstate nonstop service between the US And Venezuela. Now, when all government approvals and security checks are complete, American plans to offer daily nonstop service between Miami and Caracas with its Embraer E175 aircraft and carrier, saying it could start as soon as April 30th. So the end of this month, the flights will be operated by Envoy Air, one of American's wholly owned subsidiaries. Again, this is a pretty new development because it's been quite some time since American last flew to Venezuela. The airline has been working with the Department of Transportation to solidify their service and get this back into motion. Now, back in 2019, the US government had an order that banned US airlines from flying to Venezuela. Now, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy lifted that order after President Trump directed him to make the move and approved Americans requests for flights last month. Now, the Transportation Security Administration was reportedly in Caracas about a month ago to review airport security procedures. That's according to Reuters. Now American plans to resume service just weeks after the US military seized the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro. Now we did get a statement from American's executive vice president of American Eagle, corporate real estate and government affairs, Nate Gatton saying, quote, american was the first airline to announce plans to restart service to Venezuela. And we're encouraged by the progress we've made with both governments. We are grateful for the efforts of the US Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the entire administration to help us reconnect the US With Venezuela. Our return wouldn't be possible without this strong partnership. Now, the Embraer E175, it's a dual class aircraft. It offers the opportunity to upgrade passengers travel experience with a premium cabin and features customer friendly amenities including wi fi and in seat power. That's according to American and I have been on that aircraft. It is for regional operations. It's not that bad. I think a lot of passengers might say that it's a little bit more comfortable than flying on a CRJ. Nonetheless, American started operating in Venezuela back in 1987. It served as the largest US airline in the country before suspending service in 2019. The airline connects more destinations nonstop to the US than any other airline across the Caribbean and Latin America, providing crucial nonstop links for decades that have enabled business, family and friends, leisure and humanitarian travel. American's Chief Commercial Officer Nat Piper said, quote, american's Miami hub is the preeminent US Gateway to Latin America. And our service to Venezuela is a key part of our history and future. Our commitment to connecting Venezuela with the US spans more than 30 years and we look forward to the new opportunities for commerce and strengthen ties with family and friends that our service will provide.

[A]

It still confuses me hearing Nat Piper's name as an American Airlines representative and not the CEO of OneWorld, I must

[B]

say yes, I remember that when I went to their event in New York for the debut of the xlr, I think I had heard the development, the news, but still in my mind, same type of thing. And he was there talking to us reporters and I thought, wow, used to be with One World.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Nonetheless, great story. And we'll have to see once they get all the regulatory approvals and everything sorted if that service will actually start on April 30th or if it will be delayed. We will continue to follow this development. Tom, I do have a question for you because I know last week we Talked about the parallel runways, or maybe that was the week before. I can't remember all the days meshed together and parallel landings. I understand. And you just had an experience like that a few days ago.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. So I have had parallel landings and parallel takeoffs this week, which was quite exciting. So obviously Monday was Easter Monday, which was a holiday. So I wasn't working, but I was working in an unofficial capacity because it was Lufthansa's 100th birthday and who could say no to the opportunity of celebrating such an important milestone with such a big aviation brand? So I spent the whole day with Lufthansa, pretty much. And I just wanted to talk a little bit about that for the people who weren't there. I started in Frankfurt and ended in Frankfurt and so did the aircraft that I flew on, which was the Boeing 7879 in the 100th anniversary livery. I think we talked about it on the podcast before because this was the one that I went to see arriving in Frankfurt just before Christmas. So Lufthansa is like my Christmas and Easter. Who knows what's next now? But yeah, so it was really exciting because we started by leaving Frankfurt at about 11 o' clock in the morning. And the first flight was from Frankfurt to Berlin. Now this was just only employees on board, employees and me, maybe some other special guests. But you couldn't book it as a passenger, let's say that. And the. As I understand it, most of the seats on this flight had been raffled out to employees and their partners who were really interested in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the flight. So there was a little celebration before we left Frankfurt at one of the gates. It was gate A69, which I have now discovered is one of the furthest gates from the security check at Frankfurt airport. But it was fun. I boarded and found a seat in 11k, which was second row in premium economy. Although there was no real distinction between business and economy and premium economy for this flight other than the actual seat that you were sat in. We had a little speech from Jens Ritter, who's the CEO of Lufthansa, the airline, before we took off. And it was quite a short flight to Berlin. I was sat next to a lady whose daughter is doing the Allegris integration on the Airbus, apparently Airbus aircraft for Lufthansa, which was quite cool. We had a little chat and then, yeah, it was almost immediately time to land in Berlin. This was not a straight in approach. You know, we kind of wiggled about a bit, making. Making me Think, where are we going? It turned out that we were actually landing in parallel with the Airbus A350 900 that had taken off from Munich. That one was slightly ahead of us, so it wasn't 100% parallel landing, I'd say. But it was a bit sad for this one because I was sat on the right of the plane and the other plane was on the left. So I could see loads of phone screens with the plane on them, but I couldn't see the plane itself. But what was really cool was that after we'd both landed, the terminal is in the middle of the runways. So both aircraft taxied towards the terminals and pulled into the gates side by side. And there were four fire engines making two water cannon arches. So, you know, this is my favorite picture from the whole day. You've got to see it on our story if you haven't. But both of us taxied under the water arches together, which was really cool. And then we headed into the terminal, much as any ordinary flight. But what's really cool about Berlin is that they have a non Schengen area above the Schengen area and the sort of section of gates that Lufthansa uses. They're not really using the non Schengen area there because Lufthansa is only flying within the Schengen area. So what they'd done was they'd closed off this section of non Schengen area and turned it into a big events venue. And you actually accessed it. I think we had to go to gate B10 or something. And the way we accessed it was showing our boarding passes. And then we had to, you know, you've got the jet bridges have like a ramp that goes up to the non Schengen bit and the ramp that goes down to the Schengen bit. So we walked up to the jet bridge and back, which was quite fun. But then we ended up in this big event room that had been set out for like a big party. There were lots of different activities. You could send postcards to family and friends, you could get photos. You could read about the history of Lufthansa and where it's going next. I think there was also a game that involved stacking drinks into a drinks trolley or so I didn't give that one a try.

[B]

Some pretty good live music too, right?

[A]

Yeah, we had a lot of live music there. It was all sort of. I don't know what era it would be, but it was sort of old timey. It was new songs with an old timey feel. If that makes sense. And yeah, then before we knew it, Jens Ritter came on stage with the Mayor of Berlin and there was a lot of speeches and they renamed the aircraft that I was flying on for the day to Berlin, which was quite cool. But then after the speeches, it was time to get back on the plane and because of the location of the event, we were able to board the flights directly from the event, which was quite cool. Back on the plane, I was back in 11k, and this was another cool thing because first we were pushed back in opposite directions, but then they pulled the planes together so they were nose to nose. And there's some really nice pictures and videos of this. It was a bit underwhelming if you were on the plane because you could only see the landing gear of the 350 on the nose camera if you were on the plane. But after that the planes taxied past each other. This time we went to the south Runway while the 350 went to the north Runway and we took off in parallel, which was cool. It was also a little wait on the Runway while a helicopter circled and took video and pictures of. Of us, which they just look stunning. But, yeah, we took off and then we departed towards Zurich via Halle, Erfurt, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. And that was the original flight that the plane 100 years earlier took. It had to stop four times because you couldn't fly this distance back then. I think they only had six passengers on the plane as well. It was crazy. Whereas today, you know, we had a fully, I wouldn't say fully laden 787. I think it had no baggage on it, but, you know, a fully passengered 787, the 350 did something quite cool. It flew over Tempelhof airport at a low height before going off to Cologne. But, yeah, just after we passed Stuttgart, we had quite a cool announcement because the pilot said, oh, it's about 20 minutes to land, so get ready, that's coming up. And then about two minutes later, the pilot said, actually, change of plans, I've spoken to ATC and we're just going to go on a detour over the Black Forest. So we flew for another 30, 40 minutes after that, which was quite cool. We had the sort of standard economy business, sorry, the standard short haul business class food across the whole cabin as well. Which it was quite a special thing, you know, not just getting water and the little chocolate, but, you know, before too long we landed in Zurich. We taxied to a remote gate and at first I was thinking, why a remote Gate, we got another water cannon salute. So that's my record for most water cannon salutes in one day at 2. And there's some stunning photos and videos on Instagram that I've seen of us arriving and departing. Because we got off the plane in Zurich to the buses, there was yodelers waiting for us to greet us coming off the plane. And we went to the terminal and that was kind of the end of the event. But obviously the plane and myself needed to get back to Frankfurt. So this Lufthansa essentially just scheduled an extra rotation from Zurich to Frankfurt that anyone could book. So there was a lot of people on that flight that wanted to get back to Frankfurt from the special flight, but also some random holidaymakers just trying to get from Zurich to Frankfurt, which made an interesting mix. But we got back on the plane one final time and took off into the sunset. And it was one of those amazing, you know, the sort of really orange sunsets that you get in La Channing. It was. Was really one of those, which we don't have so often over in Europe. And I mean, the videos of it. Yeah, it was such a wonderful day and I can't thank Lufthansa enough for inviting us to be part of it. And I must say, have a look at our featured image on that article because for me, it's just amazing.

[B]

Yeah. So just a few things that I was thinking about when you were talking about that. So your record of Water Cannon Solutions, is it also your record of flying three flights on a widebody in one day?

[A]

I think it's my record of flying free flights on a widebody in one day. But not, not just the same widebody, you know.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

I guess you could make a. There's definitely, you could say two flights on a wide body. If you're on a fifth, Freedom, maybe you could.

[B]

Yeah, get that on the same one.

[A]

But yeah, free. I must say though, it's not my first time doing free flights in a day, but. But I always find three short haul flights in a day is so much more draining than just taking one long haul flight.

[B]

Oh, agreed, Absolutely. Totally agreed there. But it sounds like you had an amazing event. And yeah, the livery, everything that Lufthansa is doing right now, they're doing it right to celebrate their 100 year anniversary. I think some of the US airlines here in the US they could maybe look to Lufthansa for some inspiration. But we are going to talk about one more story, and that is Airbus. Tommy, you flew on the 787. But the Airbus A350 was also involved in that special occasion and Airbus actually reaching a new milestone. But I'll first say that back in March they delivered 60 new planes and that brings its first quarter deliveries to 114 jets. Now despite that performance, it is down 60 16% from the same point last year. Those deliveries included three jets to Dubai based Emirates, despite the disruption to the airline's operations from the Middle east conflict. The French based plane carrier planemaker also delivered an aircraft to Etihad Airways and Saudi Arabia's Fly a deal. Now Airbus deliveries have been hampered since the start of the year by ongoing problems with the supply and fuselage panels and shortages of engines. Company executives report told Reuters that in the first quarter of 2025, Airbus delivered 136 aircraft. The manufacturer aims to deliver 870 airplanes this year. So far the company said IT has sold 408 aircraft in the first quarter or net total of 398 after adjusting for cancellations. As a part of all of this today actually Airbus is celebrating a milestone and that is with its it's a220 and the company posting on social media. 220 reasons to look up. Did you know that we've officially delivered more than 500 A220s flying regional routes up to seven hour journeys and our game changing single aisle aircraft has so far served 1.9k routes worldwide. It's welcomed 220 million passengers on board and logged 3.5 million flight hours. That is a milestone. And the A220 I think is a very, very favored single aisle aircraft. I have to say I flew on it for the first time back in February and absolutely loved it. It is definitely a plane that I would have no problem flying across the country on and I really would like to see more US Airlines order the aircraft, but we'll have to see where that goes. But nonetheless, great milestone for Airbus and of course we do know that the A2. I was actually just looking at the stats, Tom. It's very interesting. Did you know that the program itself has been around for almost 20 years? It launched in 2008 of course as the Bombardier C series, or I should say Bombardier tomato tomato. But it took its first flight in September 2013 and then in 2018 Airbus became the majority partner and it was was eventually welcomed into the Airbus family. But yes, it is a fantastic aircraft and congratulations to Airbus, all the people that have worked hard on the program and we'll look forward to many more deliveries to come.

[A]

Definitely, definitely. I can't wait. I love the free all of the. I love all planes, you know.

[B]

Yeah, I think that's me, too. Otherwise, that would be kind of awkward doing this podcast. Right. If we didn't like planes, I mean.

[A]

Well, I've got one plane that I like, love very specifically, which is

[B]

Tom's A380 podcast. There you go. All right. Well, that is all the time that we have for today's podcast, and we hope you enjoyed it. We welcome any feedback that you might [e-mail] for more great content, you can

[A]

visit our [e-mail] or find us on social media. Simply search for simple Flying.

[B]

And if you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a rating on your favorite podcast player. Thanks for listening.

[A]

Bye.