Sign In
Create Account
1
- Owner: POTKC (View all images and albums)
- Uploaded: Jul 26 2020 03:42 PM
- Views: 2,543
- Album Kingdom of Dhahran
Template by Medviation, liveries © POTKC 2019-2020, reproduction or use not permitted without written and explicit consent.
(TOP)
Airline - Dhahrani
Aircraft - Airbus A380-800 | F-WWAT
Built for Dhahrani, 2020
To be delivered to Dhahrani, 2021
Livery - Standard 2010, with Airbus test registration
Country - France/Kingdom of Dhahran
(BOTTOM)
Airline - Dhahrani
Aircraft - Airbus A380-800 | F-WWAU
Built for Dhahrani, 2020
To be delivered to Dhahrani, 2021
Livery - Unpainted, with Airbus test registration
Country - France/Kingdom of Dhahran
Dhahrani placed an order for six Airbus A380s in 2018, for delivery between 2022 and 2024 as a way to supplement the fleet after the delivery of all 777Xs and retirement of 777-300ERs. However, in early 2019 UAE flag carrier Emiri decreased the number of A380s in its second order block, at which point Airbus announced that the program would be shut down by the end of 2022, and invited all other customers with outstanding orders to move their delivery slots forward. Dhahrani took advantage of this opportunity to reschedule its A380s for delivery in 2021 and 2022, reasoning that on the core routes it planned to operate the A380 on, the extra capacity would be needed earlier due to delays in the 777X program.
Shown here are the first two of Dhahrani's A380s - MSN 271 and 272 - as they appear today, in July 2020. The first, with a test registration of F-WWAT, is fully completed and painted, but has not yet been re-registered to its Dhahrani registration of A9-VLA. This is because it is missing all of its insides - the airline's newA380 First Class hard product, is not ready and won't be until early 2021, so none of the interior can be installed until then. The second aircraft, with a test registration of F-WWAU, has also been fully assembled, but not yet painted. Both are currently stored at Airbus' A380 painting/outfitting/delivery facility at Hamburg-Finkenwerder airport. The third Dhahrani A380, with test registration F-WWAV, has started its assembly process in Toulouse, with fuselage sections beginning to be joined together. All three of these planes are planned for delivery in 2021, with three more (which have not yet begun to be built) due in 2022. The final one - MSN 280, test registration F-WWAY - will also be the last ever A380 built.
While work on Dhahrani's A380-800s is currently continuing, there are questions being raised about whether demand in a post-COVID-10 world will justify their entry into service with the airline. The logical answer would of course be 'no' - however it is not clear what Dhahrani and Airbus plan to do about it, considering that two of the aircraft on order have already been fully assembled and work has begun on the third.
Disclaimer: This project is designed to look at the progression of aviation in a more-or-less generic fictional Middle Eastern state. The fictional Kingdom of Dhahran is located near the real Saudi Arabian city called Dhahran, but has no affiliation with it, and the name is a coincidence. Any other similarities to real people, locations, or situations may be intentional. I have zero knowledge of Arabic, so while I have spent considerable time trying to get it right, mistakes are possible, and any advice is greatly appreciated.
Cool!
this is actually really neat. good job
Nice
Cool!
this is actually really neat. good job
Thank you all!
You're taking a step up in terms of size, I see! 
It's always interesting to read the backstories on these liveries.
You're taking a step up in terms of size, I see!
It's always interesting to read the backstories on these liveries.
Thank you!
This is absolutely stunning, having read the entirety of the Dhahrani story, from its beginnings in 1979 to today, where it is a small but powerful nation, similar to Qatar and Bahrain. I hope to see more updates on Dhahran, and I wouldn't actually mind visiting for a connecting flight.
I do have some questions though, hopefully you, as the Head of Aviation for Dhahran, can answer:
1. How has COVID affected Dhahran as a country? Have there been any incidents in the country at all? What is the current state of affairs?
2. I'd really love to see all the cities Dhahrani flies to, maybe I can plan a trip or something lol
3. a350 wHeN??
4. Is there any more info on King Khaleel Airport? Like what airlines visit there, and stuff?
5. What are your plans for the future of Dhahran?
As I said, I'd really, really like to see where this goes, because I am just so interested in it. Maybe I could create an addon for FSX for Dhahran, I just really like this creation!
This is absolutely stunning, having read the entirety of the Dhahrani story, from its beginnings in 1979 to today, where it is a small but powerful nation, similar to Qatar and Bahrain. I hope to see more updates on Dhahran, and I wouldn't actually mind visiting for a connecting flight.
I do have some questions though, hopefully you, as the Head of Aviation for Dhahran, can answer:
1. How has COVID affected Dhahran as a country? Have there been any incidents in the country at all? What is the current state of affairs?
2. I'd really love to see all the cities Dhahrani flies to, maybe I can plan a trip or something lol
3. a350 wHeN??
4. Is there any more info on King Khaleel Airport? Like what airlines visit there, and stuff?
5. What are your plans for the future of Dhahran?
As I said, I'd really, really like to see where this goes, because I am just so interested in it. Maybe I could create an addon for FSX for Dhahran, I just really like this creation!
Thank you for the compliments! As to your questions:
1. The Kingdom of Dhahran has (as of July 6th) had 46,000 cases of COVID-19, with under 200 deaths. Thanks to strict self-isolation rules and contact tracing the curve has been flattened, with less than fifty new cases per day being reported at this time. Since mid-March the country has been fully quarantined, with foreigners not allowed to enter and a three-week quarantine required for returning citizens - luckily there is plenty of space in the country's hotels to accommodate those who need to be isolated. Foreign airlines have also been forbidden from operating anything except repatriation flights into Ras Al Qua since mid-March, Dhahrani has suspended most operations, flying only occasional repatriation flights, plus scheduled service to Singapore, Sydney, London, New York, and Washington DC - foreigners are allowed on these flights but are not allowed to enter the country, meaning connections in Ras Al Qua are possible when traveling between the aforementioned cities. A negative PCR test result from less than 36 hours before departure is needed to be let on board the flight to Ras Al Qua, and temperature monitoring as well as COVID-sniffing dogs are being used at the airport to detect passengers with the coronavirus.
2. I might try to create some kind of route map maybe, but it'll probably be quite hard to do because of the sheer number of cities Dhahrani flies to...
3. Never, probably. Apart from the A380, Dhahrani is a committed Boeing customer when it comes to widebody aircraft, and after the retirement of all A340s and A330s now operates only 777s and 787s on long-haul routes (again, apart from the A380s it is meant to take delivery of soon).
4. King Khaleel International Airport (QUA - ODDR) is the main airport in the country and currently the only airport to see scheduled service. It has a single large terminal, designed to look vaguely like a scimitar from above, and two 14,400ft runways. It has a throughput capacity of 45-50 million passengers per year, but currently serves (or rather served, before the pandemic began) around 43 million passengers per year. 82% of these passengers were flown by Dhahrani itself, with an additional 4% by Gulf Sky, and the rest by other airlines that operate to QUA. While the majority of flights into and out of the airport (approximately 75-80%, depending on the seasons) are operated by Dhahrani, Ras Al Qua is also served by most major European, African, Middle Eastern, and Asian carriers, as well as a wide variety of low-cost carriers from Dhahran's neighboring states. While the construction of a third runway as well as a second terminal - which would together raise the airport's throughput capacity to 80 million passengers per year - was planned to begin in 2022, these plans are now going to be pushed back until 2026 at the earliest due to the decrease in demand for air travel.
5. To be honest, we're kind of getting to the end here (in fact going a bit into the future even, with these A380s and the 777-9Xs from two posts back). A few uploads from now I'll basically come to the end of my fleet plans for both Dhahrani and Gulf Sky, and there aren't enough new aircraft types coming in the next decade (especially with reliable information on specs, unit prices, and expected entry into service timeframes, not to mention templates I can use) for me to keep this going indefinitely. The idea behind this project was to look at the history of how this fictional country's aviation industry develops so I guess now that I've caught up to the present it'll start coming to an end...
Thanks so much for the speedy reply! I kinda wanna make QUA in FSX, and/or some Dhahrani planes, cos I'm really interested in this
I actually put the 90s livery on an A320, A330-200, and A340-300 in XP11 (which is what I use) and built a quick Al Amin airport (the old one) in WED. Did a few flights to Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Houston, LA, Tunis, etc (few other places, don't remember off the top of my head). The issue is that these airports are fictional so they're not in any of the navdata, meaning it's hard to do proper flights to them if I actually put them where they're meant to be (at least in x-plane, though I assume in FSX, P3D, or MSFS - when it's available - you'd have the same problem). Since SMA is a simple single-runway thing I used Ras Tanura airport nearby, in Saudi Arabia, as a base and rebuilt it in WED, increasing the runway length, adding taxiways, a terminal, static aircraft, etc, but for QUA that wouldn't work since it's (fictionally) built partially on reclaimed land, right on the coast, with two very specifically-positioned runways and a uniquely shaped terminal. The closest approximation would be Dammam (also two parallel runways and a similar geographical location) but that would look nothing like QUA unless you made a completely custom terminal model and redesigned the taxiways entirely...
Nice