Dismantling of Olympic Airlines Airbus A340-313X SX-DFA in Athens

Ex Olympic Airlines Airbus A340-313X SX-DFA (c/n 235) was dismantled (scrapped) in Athens during the previous 2 weeks. Below is a timelapse video of the process:

Watch on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpWHOohkxB4&feature=youtu.be

The dismantling of the next ex Olympic Airlines A340, SX-DFB, has also begun and is expected to have finished by the end of April 2013. The rest of the A340s (SX-DFC & SX-DFD) await their fate in the airport.

German Air Force Airbus A340 registered 16+02 in Athens

German Air Force Airbus A340-313X (c/n 355, ex D-AIFB) registered 1602 (16+02) arrived today in Athens bringing the Vice Chancellor of Germany / Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Mr Rösler along with a large delegation of German businessmen. The plane arrived as GAF838 and landed at 18:50L on runway 21R. The plane's ModeS code was 3E89E7.

Airbus A340 / 16+02 / about to land on runway 21R

FC Barcelona arrived in Athens on an Iberia A340-600 registered EC-LCZ

FC Barcelona arrived today in Athens for a Champion's League match on board an Iberia Airbus A340-600 registered EC-LCZ from BCN (Barcelona, Spain). The flight, IB2820, landed at 13:35L on runway 21R. At 14:45 it departed as IB2819 on a ferry flight back to MAD (Madrid, Spain).

Airbus A340-600 / EC-LCZ / about to land on runway 21R

Thai Airways changing aircraft on Athens route using Airbus A340-500

Since today Thai Airways is changing the aircraft type using on the Bangkok - Athens route. From now on an Airbus A340-500 will be used instead of the Boeing 777-200ER. The first A345 to arrive in Athens today was registered HS-TLD.
Thanks to Alex for the following photo.

Airbus A340 / HS-TLD / first Thai A345 in Athens

Olympic Airlines last passenger flight, operated by Airbus A340 registered SX-DFB (farewell low pass)

Last updated 2/10/2009 10:45 (added another better video of the low pass at Athens at the end of the post)

Olympic Airlines performed today their last passenger flight ever. It was the OA424 (Toronto - Athens) flight that was operated by the Airbus A340 registered SX-DFB. As a farewell, the crew of the flight performed a low pass over runway 03L of Athens airport before returning for landing at 10:30L. 152 passengers were on board this last ever flight of Olympic Airlines. This plane, along with SX-DFA which arrived one hour earlier from JFK as OA412 will be parked on taxiway "Z" together with SX-DFC and SX-DFD that are already there (see post).

Special thanks to Ilias for the following photos of the low pass. Click on a photo for higher resolution version hosted on www.airpics.net

Airbus A340 / SX-DFB / farewell low pass over rwy 03L of the last Olympic Airlines flight (photo 29/9/2009)


Airbus A340 / SX-DFB / farewell low pass over rwy 03L of the last Olympic Airlines flight (photo 29/9/2009)


Airbus A340 / SX-DFB / farewell low pass over rwy 03L of the last Olympic Airlines flight (photo 29/9/2009)


Airbus A340 / SX-DFB / farewell low pass over rwy 03L of the last Olympic Airlines flight (photo 29/9/2009)

Update 30/9/2009
Thanks to YULspotter for the following video which is the last departure of SX-DFB from YUL to Athens, where it did the low pass.


Also thanks to Ilias, here is a photo of Airbus A340 registered SX-DFA which arrived from JFK, a little earlier than SX-DFB and was the last flight from New York for Olympic Airlines.

Airbus A340 / SX-DFA / arriving flight from JFK as OA412, the last ever passenger flight from New York for Olympic Airlines (photo 29/9/2009)

Update 30/9/2009 17:10
Thanks to PILOTCH for the following video of the low pass over runway 03L.


Update 2/10/2009
Thanks to panos290788 for the following video of the low pass.

Olympic Airlines Airbus A340s parked at Athens

As Olympic Air is taking over Olympic Airlines routes from 00:01L tomorrow, all Olympic Airlines planes that finish their last route today will be parked on taxiway "B" and "Z" (see post). The first two planes that were towed on taxiway "Z", where the two Airbus A340s that didn't have a flight today. SX-DFC and SX-DFD are parked on "Z" facing west and have enough space behind them in order for the other two (SX-DFA & SX-DFB) to park tomorrow upon arrival in Athens. A brief history of the last flights of these Airbus A340s:
SX-DFA: Is currently en route to JFK (New York, USA) on the last OA411/412 flight and is expected to arrive in Athens tomorrow morning at 09:10L
SX-DFB: Is currently en route to YYZ (Toronto, Canada) on the last OA423/424 flight and is expected to arrive in Athens tomorrow morning at 10:50L
SX-DFC: Performed its last flight on 19/9/2009 as OA412 from JFK and is parked in Athens since then
SX-DFD: Performed its last flight today as OA412 from JFK and is parked in Athens since then


Airbus A340 / SX-DFD & SX-DFC / parked on taxiway "Z" of Athens (photo 28/9/2009)

Olympic Airlines flight 411 ATH-JFK returned to ATH due to emergency

Olympic Airlines flight OA411 from ATH to JFK had to return to ATH due to a No2 engine fire indication. The plane involved is the Airbus A340-300 registered SX-DFD. They had to dump fuel in order to reduce the plane's weight and be able to land safely. The plane landed without any problems at 13:50L on rwy 03R, using the whole runway length and making no use of thrust reversers. The emergency vehicles were not required to be on standby as the captain said. The flight is scheduled to depart again at 15:15L and be operated by Airbus A340-300 registered SX-DFB.

Turkish Airlines flight THY 1153 on an emergency diversion to Athens

Tuskish Airlines flight THY 1153 from IST (Istanbul, Turkey) to ALG (Algiers, Algeria) declared a medical emergency and diverted to ATH a few minutes ago. It is also reported that there were clogged lavatories as well. The plane involved is an Airbus A340 registered TC-JII. It landed at 13:14L and is expected to depart in a few minutes to continue to ALG.


Airbus A340 / TC-JII / about to depart from rwy 03L at 15:05L

Emirates A340-500 used to Athens (A6-ERI)

Emirates flight 105/106 on 4/4/2009 was scheduled to be operated with an Airbus A340-300. Instead, due to a last minute change at Dubai airport, the Airbus A340-500 registered A6-ERI at the photo below was used!
Thanks to Alex for the photo!

Airbus A340-500 / A6-ERI / surprising visit in ATH

Emirates used an A340-300 to Athens (A6-ERP)

Surprisingly Emirates used an Airbus A340-300 on the today's EK 105/106 flights instead of the usual Boeing 777-300ER. It's one of the very few times that an Emirates A343 is coming to Athens. Fortunatelly, according to the Emirates website schedule, it is going to come again on 2/4, 4&5/4 and 8-12/4 on the EK 105/106 flights.
The full equipment schedule for EK 105/106 of April is as follow:
We 1/4 B772
Th 2/4 A343
Fr 3/4 A332
Sa 4/4 A343
Su 5/4 A343
Mo 6/4 B773ER
Tu 7/4 B773ER
We 8/4 A343
Th 9/4 A343
Fr 10/4 A343
Sa 11/4 A343
Su 12/4 A343
Mo 13/4 B773ER
Tu 14/4 B772
We 15/4 B773ER
Th 16/4 B773ER
Fr 17/4 B773ER
Sa 18/4 B773ER
Su 19/4 B772
Mo 20/4 until the end of April B773ER
The second daily flight to DXB (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), EK 103/104, is scheduled to be operated always with an Airbus A330-200.

Airbus A340-300 / A6-ERP / the rarely used A343 departing from Athens airport