London Heathrow #1

Two days ago I transited through London Heathrow [ICAO code: EGLL] airport - a memorable experience as it turned out!

I had never transited through Heathrow before. It is a huge airport, and I knew I had to go through immigration and transfer from terminal 5 to terminal 1. I had 3 hours to do it.

Turns out it was very very easy! On arrival, I asked and was directed to the terminal transfer bus. This resulted in a 17/ 18 minute ride around airside to get to terminal 1 - a free airside tour thrown in :-) Nice. Immigration was done in terminal 1 and it didn't take long before I was in the very familiar surroundings of the terminal 1 departure area.

I was heading to Dublin, and so after a feed, a walk around and a few photos, I headed to the departure gates - waiting at gate 8 initially, before being directed to gate 78 - a long walk, although probably only 5 minutes.

Anyway, here are a few photos from the main terminal 1 area - from behind the Giraffe food outlet. Top to bottom we have:

Boeing 787-8, N961AM, of AeroMexico
Boeing 737-8K2, PH-BXA, of KLM in an historic livery
Boeing 777-368/ER, HZ-AK13, of Saudi Arabian
Boeing 777-336ER, G-STBK, of British Airways
Airbus A380-841, 9M-MND [as best I can tell], of Malaysia Airlines

MH17 crash

I guess you've all heard of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over the Ukraine earlier today. A very sad situation for all involved. I'm guessing that there will finally be some more scrutiny of the Ukraine/ Russian-backed civil war [am I allowed to call it that???!] and hopefully an end to that conflict sooner rather than later [well, we can live in hope].

Here's the only picture I seem to have of the aircraft involved... a Boeing 777-2H6/ER, 9M-MRD, shown below landing at Auckland on a fairly dreary day about one year ago, late June 2013.

Spotting at Auckland: Singapore, Jetstar, Malaysia and LAN

In this final post from the photos from Auckland, I have various photos; one each from Singapore Airlines, Jetstar Airways, Malaysian Airlines and LAN. Top to bottom are:

Boeing 777-312/ER, 9V-SWA, Singapore Airlines
Airbus A330-202, VH-EBB, Jetstar Airways
Boeing 777-2H6/ER, 9M-MRD, Malaysian Airlines
Airbus A340-313X, CC-CQF, LAN

Exotic metal

Here's one final catch up from a couple of weekends ago, when I spent some time at Auckland airport watching what was coming and going. In this post, I've included only those airlines which I don't usually get to see, so no Air NZ, Pacific Blue, Qantas or [what is arguably the worst airline in New Zealand] Jetstar...

Instead, here are a few different airlines. Top to bottom we have:

Airbus A320-232, F-OJSB, registered to Aircalin
Airbus A340-313X, B-HXG, registered to Cathay Pacific
Boeing 777-2H6/ER, 9M-MRE, registered to Malaysian Airlines
Airbus A340-313X, CC-CQA, registered to LAN Airlines
Airbus A330-223, B-6547, registered to China Southern Airlines
Airbus A330-302, B-18310, registered to China Airlines

Auckland Quick Visit Sep 2010 #13: Boeing 777

I have fond memories of the Boeing 777, having flown with Air New Zealand to Heathrow via Hongkong. It was a very comfortable, exciting and yet relaxing flight.

Here are a few of the B777's I saw over the two days, from Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Malaysia Airlines and Thai.

Another Auckland Visit #3: A Singaporean, Korean and a Malaysian

No, it's not the start of a bad joke [although I know some terrible jokes!], but the operators of some of the other aircraft in and out of Auckland today. Here are some pictures. Top to bottom are:

At the top, two views of Singapore Airlines Boeing B777, registration 9V-SWR, followed by two photos of a Korean Airlines Boeing B777-200, registration HL7715. Next is a photo of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing B777, registration 9M-MRC. Note the titles "Visit Malaysia Year" on the side. Clearly the B777 is a very popular aircraft!