Rumors have been floating around that Singapore Airlines may be thinking of teaming up with Qantas, in an attempt to gain prosperity from routes out of Sydney, specifically routes from Sydney to the United States. However Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choon Seng ended that speculation in July, reports Forbes. Personally, I would like to see something happen between the two carriers, however Singapore Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance and Qantas maintains it's status with Oneworld, which can constrain airlines from working with each other (but not always). 

It's my guess that Qantas is looking oversees towards the Asian sector. I'm hesitant to speculate, since it causes much debate, but I would agree that Singapore Airlines would make a great choice, for a merger, with Qantas. Cathay Pacific may also be a carrier in the sights of Qantas, yet they're not on the same tier as Singapore. There are a few others lingering in my head, such as JAL, yet I doubt Qantas is looking for someone like them. We'll see as time goes on.

Capacity increases for Qantas are still on schedule; 8% in 2008-2009 fiscal year. Note that Qantas recently cut 4% of its workforce.

Image: flickr.com

BA announces a new partnership with American Airways and Iberia. It raises the old question of the nature of business alliances

BA has cooperated for some time with American Airlines. Any joint venture seems likely to tick one important box, namely that the partners seem comfortable with one another. So there is at least the possibility that the cultural chemistry is not going to be a problem.

That is not to say that cross-cultural issues can be safely ignored, just that many of them have been thoroughly tested in practice over a period of two decades by the two airlines.

Even so, a global alliance presents global problems (or challenges as the remorselessly upbeat business speak encourages us to say). Business Schools prepare the new case for analysis. This one has another layer of complication. The deal is the more complex by the presence of Iberia. Hard enough to get a grip of a bi-party deal.

Oneworld

Where to begin? American Airways places considerable emphasis on its role as partner (and co-founder) of the global oneworld® Alliance,

…which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its members serve more than 600 destinations in over 135 countries and territories.

Such alliances have increasingly and rather unobtrusively making air travel a little more joined up Less frequent fliers like myself increasingly find themselves going with the flow and discovering that the short-haul or regional leg of their journeys is being managed on behalf of a larger and more familiar name.

The alliances fit with the messier business world in which cooperation and competition co-exist. Incidentally, it is a world which poses further ‘challenges’ for traditional arguements regarding the ultimate economic virtues of competitive markets. It will be interesting to read the take on all this from that intelligent newspaper The Economist.

According to OneWorld

The oneworld global airline alliance has warmly welcomed and strongly supports the application for anti-trust immunity filed on August 14 by its members American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian. .. The filing was made as American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia signed a joint business agreement covering their flights between North America and Europe and unveiled plans for further co-operation.

John McCulloch [oneworld spokesman] said: "oneworld has for many years been the only global alliance without the benefit of anti-trust immunity between its key transatlantic partners. This has put oneworld at a considerable disadvantage. We've had to work a great deal harder and smarter than our competitors [Our rival alliances SkyTeam and Star] have grown much bigger and the anti-trust immunity they enjoy has been extended far more widely to deliver the alliance services and benefits that our customers have come to appreciate so much.

Richard Branson’s response

Richard Branson leading from the front for Virgin, enters the fray with a typically high-profile response.

Sir Richard Branson went on the attack yesterday against his old adversary British Airways to try to block plans by the UK flag-carrier to join forces with American Airlines and Spain's Iberia across the North Atlantic. The three carriers, all members of the Oneworld global airline alliance, said they had signed a "joint business agreement" covering flights between North America and Europe.
They intended to co-operate commercially on flights between the US, Mexico and Canada, and the European Union, Switzerland and Norway while continuing to operate as separate legal entities. They would share revenues but not profits.
Sir Richard, president of Virgin Atlantic, said a BA tie-up with AA would "create a monster monopoly that would push up ticket prices and substantially reduce competition on the busiest air corridor in the world".
But other opponents to closer ties between the two airlines, such as Continental Airlines, are likely to tone down their lobbying efforts, as they await regulatory approval for their own proposed partnerships.
BA and Iberia have recently begun negotiations to merge.
It is the third attempt by BA and AA in 11 years to gain antitrust immunity for their alliance. Heathrow, BA's global hub and the Europe gateway for travellers from the US, had been opened to full competition for EU and US carriers since the end of March [2008].

This is the way in which Virgin Atlantic has developed such a positive brand identity and reputation.

‘This is not a marriage’

Stephen Beard argues in Marketplace that this is not a marriage.

At a time of crisis in the airline industry, [BA and Iberia] want to huddle closer together. They want to cut costs, coordinating flights and fares, perhaps running a joint frequent flyer program. The two airlines feel at a disadvantage. Lufthansa and Air France both operate very closely with U.S. carriers. BA and American need to be allowed to do the same .. American have tried this before, but failed to win the support of regulators. This time, they believe they'll succeed, because the Open Skies Agreement has opened up competition in transatlantic air travel.

What happens next?

Some more turbulence of shareprices. Further informal collaboration between the one world partners. Maybe a full- blooded merger between BA and Iberia. (My blink view is rather cold on this one. But whatever happens, I would not rely on a two-second judgment, if I were into BA speculation). Even more Business School attention on the nature of global alliances. Richard Branson in need of more strategic initiatives to protect the future of Virgin Airlines. We will hear a lot more over the next few months [August 2008].

Note: For a full account of Richard Branson's statement see The Wall Street Journal

1. Retro Flights in Retro Livery Airplane

First of all painting one of the fleet (an Airbus A319) in the original livery from 85 years ago and naming it "Silver Bird" for years to come:

Finnair is flying the "Silver Bird" from its home Helsinki-Vantaa airport to a number of locations all around Europe, but some of those flights between July 30 and December 31, 2008 are classified as Retro flights, with the crew wearing retro dresses as well. (if interested, read our earlier post about sexy stewardess uniforms.)

2. Retro Marketing on a Dedicated Retro Website

Setting up a special dedicated retro website for a month that looks like it was made out of paper and pack it with video commercials from earlier days (which still advertise the current brand...). Add the list of the above mentioned retro flights to it, (the list may change due to operational reasons of course) together with classic Retro style Destination Guides to the planned destinations: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Manchaster, Milan, Oulu, Paris, Rome, Stockholm.

Turning the main Finnair cover website to a Retro looking page with a single banner to the Retro site and a search module - to still allow people to get on with their business and make a booking.

3. Celebrate the 10 year Alliance Membership with Further Special Livery Airplanes

And finally follow LAN Airlines and be the first European oneworld member to feature a special oneworld livery on the latest Airbus A340 addition to the longhaul fleet as well as on a shorthaul Airbus A319 - to celebrate the 10 year membership in oneworld.

Very well done Finnair, this marketing campaign should be copied by others!! Besides the website and the retro commercial videos, having three special livery aircraft at the same time will have all plane-spotters around the world looking out for anniversary Finnair airplanes!

by balint01

Also, as a part of the new agreement all the three airlines have filed for worldwide anti-trust immunity from US DOT (Department of Transportation) over the tie up. This would be American Airlines' and British Airways' third attempt at immunity request.

Virgin Atlantic's Richard Branson is very annoyed. He has termed the possible approval as a "monster monopoly" and "third time unlucky for customers".

Meanwhile British Airways and Iberia are also discussing (separately) their own merger plans.

I personally think that air passengers will benefit from the deal by being able to fly seamlessly on the Oneworld network while gaining/using/benefiting points/miles on all loyalty programs.

From AFP -

Oneworld said that it "warmly welcomed and strongly supports the application for anti-trust immunity."

It
added in a statement: "Anti-trust immunity between oneworld's
transatlantic partners would enable them to unlock even more of
oneworld's potential, enabling us to operate under the same rules as
our alliance competitors" SkyTeam and Star.

merican Airlines, BA and Iberia said in a joint statement that their
new alliance would allow them to "expand customer choice by supporting
routes that would not be economically viable for the individual
airlines."

Ab Deutschland scheint die BA/Quantas/Cathay Variante via Südamerika definitv nicht mehr machbar, die einzige Option das weitaus teurere Oneworld RTW Ticket zu sein. Deshalb ist als gesunde Alternative Start ab London jetzt gesetzt.

 
Für unsere Route: London – Buenos Aires // Santiago – Sydney – Auckland // Christchurch - Singapore – London ist nach wie vor The World Discovery Plus das ultimative Ticket.

 
Die Recherche im Thorn Tree Travel Forum von Lonely Planet zum Thema Gap Year und RTW brachte zusätzliche Anbieter- und Reisebürokontakte aus UK.

 
Hier eine Auswahl:
Westernair.co.uk
Travel Nation
Roundtheworldexperts.co.uk
Roundtheworldflights.com
Travelmood
Trailfinders

 
Preislich liegen die 3 bisher erhaltenen Quotes (Westernair, Travel Nation und Global Village/Roundtheworldflights.com) alle bei etwa £1570.00 (approx 2000.00€) bei Start im Februar 2009 und inklusive aktuellen Steuern sowie Gebühren.

Beratung und Kontakt mit allen 3 travel agents ist sehr positiv, top Beratung und schnelle Rücklaufzeit. Bei Travel Nation haben z.B. alle Mitarbeiter mind. 40 Länder bereist. Im Lonely Planet Forum gab's für sie auch die beste Bewertungen und es wird wohl über sie gebucht werden.

Alternative Routen und schier unendliche Stopover-Kombinationen finden sich auf den Seiten der o.g. travel agents.

 
Es geht so langsam ans Eingemachte.

I have checked your itinerary below and can confirm that the World Discovery Plus (British Airways, Qantas and Air Pacific) is the best ticket to use for your proposed trip.

The total fare for the itinerary you have proposed would be £1579.00 (approx 2000.00€) inclusive of tax & fuel surcharges (at todays rates). Please note this is subject to change and can only be confirmed at time of payment and ticketing.

If you can swap the order of the destinations by travelling to Auckland first and then Sydney. Eg. London – B.Aires – (overland ) – Santiago – Auckland – Sydney – Singapore – London , then the tax & fuel surcharges do decrease and the fare would be approx £1520.00 inclusive.

You also have some spare miles with this option so if you would like an extra flight within Australia or another stop in Asia or South America (Brazil, Thailand or India would all be possible extra stopover points) then this would only results in a small increase in tax and fuel surcharges.

In terms of value this fare is excellent as it is valid for 12 months and you can change date easily. It is far less expensive than the oneworld explorer tickets although you are limited to BA & Qantas and 7 stops total.

 
 
Das heißt, es wird wohl mit o.g. RTW Ticket ab London losgehen, da von Worldspan Travel bisher gar kein Feedback und aus Deutschland soweit nur dieses kam:

 
Antwort 1
Leider gibt es mit dem von euch genannten Routing keine Tickets unter 2000 Euro!!! Die RTW-Tickets von Oneworld (einziges RTW-Ticket bei dem Südamerika mit Neuseeland zu kombinieren geht) kosten auf jeden Fall über 3000 Euro pro Person. Evtl. könnten wir noch versuchen, mit Einzeltickets unter diesen Preis zu kommen, dazu müssten wir aber für alle Flugstrecken das ungefähr gewünschte Reisedatum wissen. Das würde aber nur für Studenten gehen.

RTW-Tickets unter 2000 Euro gibt es im Prinzip nicht, einzige Möglichkeit wäre mit Air Newzealand Deutschland - Los Angeles - Südsee - Neuseeland - Australien - Hongkong oder Tokio oder Osaka oder Shanghai - Deutschland, dieses kostet je nach Verfügbarkeit und Strecke zwischen 1700 und 2100 Euro.

 
Antwort 2
Bei Zielgebieten innerhalb von Mittel/Südamerika kommen 2 Round The World in Frage,einmal der Global/Oneworld Tarif und zum amderen der KLM Round the World.

Die Grundpreise beim Oneworld liegen bei Ihrem gewünschten Routing bei einem Grundpreis von 2399 Euro bzw. 2599 Eurobeim KLM Tarif pro Person.Die zusätzlich anfallenden Flugsteuern und Gebühren liegen,je nach Routing, etwa zwischen 500 und 700 Euro pro Person.

Everyone knew that this was going to happen eventually. British Airways and American Airlines have been good friends for years. It almost reminds me of when British Airways had their ties with US Air in the mid 1990's. Perhaps something like that will develop. Any thoughts?

Image: startelegram.typepad.com

Users can deliver 30-minute-length videos and there is no limitation on types of format. Documentaries, short-length videos, and also machinima can be uploaded. When I checked the website there was a machinima report on Global Warming, presented by a Second Life avatar.

OneWorldTV is a part of OneWorld.net, a portal that focuses attention on minorities, releasing independent media content. The portal is also an online community and it is sustained by NGOs, development-oriented news services, foundations, and research institutions.

Déjà partenaires au sein de l'alliance OneWorld, les compagnies aériennes britannique British Airways et espagnole Iberia ont annoncé, mardi 29 juillet, avoir commencé des négociations dans le but d'aboutir à une fusion par échange d'actions.+Plus

British Airways and Spain's flag carrier Iberia (or Iberia, Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. ) are deep in merger talks with Iberia "have taken direct/indirect 10% stake in British rival". The merger is backed by boards on both airlines and will create the third largest airline in Europe (after KLM-Air France and Lufthansa).

So, as usual, I set out to find how the combined entity would look. Please be aware that I do not account for possible merger related capacity reduction (or airplane retirement) and unforeseeable changes.

British Airways in BLUE and Iberia in RED -

• Headquartered - Waterside, Harmondsworth, UK and Madrid, Spain
• Destinations - 147 + 115 (+19 future) =252 (+19 future) - OVERLAP
• Frequent Flier Program - Executive Club, Premier + Iberia Plus = ?
• Alliance - Oneworld
• Hubs - London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport, Barajas Int'l Airport
  
• Fleet - Airbus A318, A319, A320, A321, A380-800*; Boeing 737, 757, 767, 747, 777, 787* + Airbus A319, A320, A321, A340; McDonnell Douglas MD-88
• Fleet Size - 235 (+62 orders) + 152 (+19 orders) =387 (+81 orders)
  
• Company Slogan - Upgrade to British Airways + With Iberia , you're more = Upgrade with more???

Since, British Airways is a bigger airline, there might be a possible BA head over the combined airline. Willie Walsh as CEO???

Now I knew it was going to be expensive, because I want to visit 5 continents and include Central & South America, but it was even more expensive than I thought - both agents quoted me around £2,300 including taxes.

I know it'll all be worth it once I head off, but it still seems a fair bit. I think have some more shopping around to do.

The first two, Japan Airlines Boeing 777's (a -200 and a -300) were joined by a LAN Argentina Airbus (LV-BFO) just recently, when LAN Argentina celebrated its one year membership in the alliance.

By clicking on the thumbnails below, you will be taken to airliners.net where these images are from:

I'm looking for seeing more oneworld themed special aircraft paintings at American Airlines (with their shiny aluminium design), British Airways or Malev Hungarian Airlines for example.

by balint01

On April 10th 2008, Mexicana (Compañía Mexicana de Aviación), the Mexico city based flag carrier airline of Mexico, accepted the formal invitation to join Oneworld Alliance (the second Latin American Airline to join the alliance after LAN Airlines). Iberia will be the sponsor carrier for Mexicana (and Click Mexicana) for the targeted 2009 Membership.

Facts about Mexican (from here) -

• Mexicana is Mexico's flag carrier (since 1924)
• Established in - July 12, 1921
• Size - Second largest airline in Mexico (After main competitor - Aeroméxico)
• Hubs - Mexico City International Airport and Guadalajara International Airport
• Fleet Size - 64
• Fleet - Airbus A318, Airbus A319, Airbus A320 and Boeing 767
• Misc - It is the fourth oldest airline after the Netherland's KLM, Colombia's Avianca, and Australia's Qantas.

This week the oneworld airline alliance has announced on its annual meeting of the Governing Board that Mexicana Airways has accepted their invitation to join the alliance, together with its subsidiary Click Mexicana also to join as an affiliate member.

The integration process is to take about 12-18 months that allows for a full membership sometime in 2009, with the prime sponsor being Iberia while secondary sponsor is American Airlines. The announcement came at the annual meeting held in Los Angeles, where Mexicana is the biggest non-US carrier using LAX as their biggest hub outside of Mexico.

With the alliance's existing members serving 11 points in Mexico, its addition will expand to more than 130 points throughout Latin America and to 35 points in Mexico only, which is the world's 11^th most populous country, the 12^th biggest economy and the seventh most popular tourist destination, attracting more than 20 million foreign visitors a year.

Globally, its addition will expand the alliance's network to approaching 700 destinations in nearly 150 countries, with a combined fleet of 2,350 aircraft operating almost 9,500 flights a day, carrying 333 million passengers, with annual revenues of US$100 billion. Mexicana operates a fleet of 62 aircraft - 30 Airbus A320s, 20 A319s and ten A318s, and two Boeing 767s - making 300 departures a day. Mexicana offers two classes - Executive and Economy - with in-flight entertainment screens throughout the fleet and complimentary in-flight meals and drinks in both cabins. It has the two-letter airline code MX. Click Mexicana operates 18 Fokker 100s, making 115 departures a day. Its single cabin offers a "coach plus" style of service, with leather-covered seats at a 35 ins (89 cm) pitch. It offers complimentary in-flight drinks and snacks. Click Mexicana has its own flight code (QA) but all its flights also carry Mexicana's MX code under a code-sharing agreement.

Mexicana boarded 9 million passengers in 2007, with Click Mexicana carrying another 2.2 million. Between them, they employ 6,725 staff.

Mexico City - the world's second most populous metropolis - is the airlines' main hub, with Cancun and Guadalajara secondary hubs.

Mexicana has signed a contract to move its main IT platforms to Amadeus Altea - alongside oneworld partners British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Qantas, with Cathay Pacific also committed to transfer to this provider soon.

by balint01

We were supposed to be on the Friday 5.10pm BA shuttle from Glasgow to Heathrow and from there, the 9.15pm to Hong Kong.  The shuttle got into Glasgow over 3 hours late due to some unexplained problem in T5 and this meant that we left Glasgow at around 9.30pm.
We got to Heathrow T5 well past even the later HKG flight which was at 10.15pm. At the BA service desk we were told by some bored minion that we were booked into the Qantas 12.20pm flight the next day. We were given our updated booking and 3 hotel vouchers for the Ibis Hotel Heathrow. I was slightly agitated about our checked-in bags and was told that they would be automatically forwarded to T4 in the morning. I was not reassured.

The night was spend at the AWFUL Ibis. It is the pits. I should have stumped out my own cash for the Radisson or the Hilton and claimed on the travel policy. Tiny little room, noisy aircon, poor food, even worse service- NEEDS TO BE AVOIDED.

On Saturday after a pitiful breakfast, we made our way to T4 bright and early. We got checked-in no bother with Qantas. At least BA didn’t bugger up the booking with their OneWorld partner. I made a detour to the BA desk to ask about our 3 bags and the jackass there gave the standard claptrap that the bags were safe and on their way to T4.

You can probably guess what’s coming next. Yes. Lost luggage. Well, BA didn’t lose them all- we checked in 3 suitcases in Glasgow and on the baggage carousel in HKG were only 2 of them. The baggage handling agents checked on the system and it appears that the 3rd case was / is still somewhere in T5.

Luckily for us we had packed about 3 changes of clothes in our hand luggage. A quick call to the travel insurance people and the green light was given to spend £600 on clothes and another £600 if the bag didn’t appear by 48 hours. Silver lining…

Thoughts so far-
BA are such a fuck up operation.
T5 is still a mess.
Always travel with clothes in hand luggage.
Get a good travel insurance policy.

Turkish Airlines is out of the oneworld alliance and in the star alliance. Effective today!

So, you will no longer be able to get AA miles, but you will be able to get UA miles. (UA has not updated their website - but take my word for it).

And you can get all the way to Hawaii (from Israel) for 75,000 miles on UA/Star Alliance.

Check this out if you really need convincing to go to Hawaii.

• Adventure Travel in Honolulu, Waikiki and Oahu, Hawaii
• Family Vacation Ideas for Honolulu, Waikiki and Oahu, Hawaii
• Getting to Honolulu, Waikiki and Oahu, Hawaii

A Green Building

• Water conservation - 85 per cent of the water that falls on T5 will be collected and reused
• Recycling - 97 per cent of the construction waste was reused and passengers can contribute by recycling their waste at special facilities around the terminal
• Lighting - the predominantly glass constructed building allows in natural sunlight, reducing the need for artificial lighting (30.000 square metres of reinforced glass and 5.500 glass panels also guarantee the light and airy feel)
• Heat – 85 per cent of the heat required by the building is provided by waste heat from the existing airport heat and power station

The terminal housing the longest baggage carousel system in the world will be able to handle 30 million passengers every year, raising the total capacity of Heathrow to 90 million from 68 million currently (while the airport was originally designed for 45 million...). The main terminal building is home to Concourse A, while the satellite Concourse B has been finished as well (with dedicated stands for the Airbus A380 superjumbo - already on order with BA), and is connected to the main building by an underground people mover system. The opening of Concourse C is scheduled for 2010. Alltogether, Terminal 5 will have 60 aircraft stands.

All sorts of traffic means are connected to the building, including Heathrow Express rail service as well as the London Underground's Piccadilly Line. 4.000 cars can be parked in the new Parking Garage, but there are bicycle routes up to the terminal as well, with free bicyle parking in car parks 1 and 1A.

BA will use Terminal 5 as the only one carrier, but Terminal 5 will not be the only one terminal used by BA, as they are forced to keep some of their services on Terminal 3. You can find the list of destinations served by BA and their Terminals here. There will also be a frequent coach service launched between Terminals 3 and 5 to allow BA passengers to easily transfer between the two terminals used by the British carrier.

The first flight to arrive is BA 026 from Hong Kong, piloted by BA's first woman pilot, Captain Lynn Barton, due to touch down at 4.50am. She has described the role as "a huge honour". The first flight to depart is heading for Paris at 6.20pm with a further 380 (what a coincidence with the A380...) flights due to arrive or depart at the terminal on its first day. The BA move will involve a convoy of more than 1,000 vehicles, including 360 baggage trailers, 240 cargo containers and 27 short-haul aircraft. More than 2,500 ground staff will also make the move, with another 3,000 to follow on the 30th of April.

Once airside, BA passengers will be able to kill time in an enormous shopping mall and a range of cafes and restaurants - the list of outlets includes Harrods, Prada, Bulgari, Wagamama, Gordon Ramsay, Paul Smith and Carluccio's as well as Starbucks among many-many others.

by balint01

According to the first reports by BBC and declined to be commented by British Airways, the aircraft has lost some (or all) of its power and avionics systems while descending to the airport, and it equals to a miracle that the pilot managed to reach the territory of the airport by gliding this huge bird "nose up", and not crash-land into the heavily populated residential areas of West-London. This is the FIRST Report, only a few hours after the crash, so as investigations will take place, the findings may change the descriptions of the cause.

All 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped the aircraft, with 13 of the passengers (among them 7 British and 3 Chinese) reportedly being treated in a nearby hospital with minor injuries.

Scotland Yard has quickly stated that the incident is not terrorism related.

BA chief Willie Walsh, while praising the crew for doing an "excellent job," declined to comment on the possible cause of the accident, which is being to be probed by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). He further added that "The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years," he said.

What is known at this moment, is a few eyewitness explanations:

Eyewitness Neil Jones, who has a general aviation pilot's licence, said the plane had been making a "very, very unusual approach," and the engine sounded louder than normal. "The aircraft was banking to the left and it was coming in very low over the surrounding houses. The plane was significantly lower than it would normally be," he told the BBC. "You could see the pilot was desperate, trying to get the plane down. The aircraft hit the grass and there was a lot of dirt. The pilot was struggling to keep the plane straight. He did a great job," said Jones. Another witness said the Boeing had come in at a "funny angle," and, with its undercarriage down, had slid along the grass in a "plume of smoke." The plane had hit the ground with a "big impact and a loud noise."

The 6 year old Boeing 777-200ER, registration G-YMMM, was built by Boeing in 2001 and is one of 43 in the British Airways fleet. The plane is powered by two Rolls-Royce Group Plc Trent 895 engines and had accumulated 23,476 flying hours as of Dec. 31, 2006, (according to data on the Web site of the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority) and was immediately surrounded by emergency vehicles, including fire engines and ambulances, as a carpet of foam was sprayed. The wheels of the plane, which had a routine maintenance check in December, were still in the field where it crashed, several hundred meters from the runway.

Officials said delays were expected after one of Heathrow's two runways was closed for almost two hours with an air exclusion zone imposed to help regulate traffic at one of the world's busiest airports. The runway has since been reopened for take-offs only.

Update: first good resolution pictures on airliners.net:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1318128/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1318132/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1318205/L/

Update: Video of the Crew's Press Meeting on Telegraph TV, so you know who made sure that such an emergency situation was handled as best as possible: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137942530/bclid1155254697/bctid1381652074 

Update: In the preliminary report The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the flight had been normal until that point but then the Boeing 777 descended rapidly. The report states: "At approximately 600ft and two miles from touch down, the autothrottle demanded an increase in thrust from the two engines but the engines did not respond." This means that so far the first theory has been confirmed by pre-liminary investigation findings. This was the first ever crash involving a Boeing 777 aircraft, which is considered as one of the most advanced jets in the sky today.

by balint01