This is doubtlessly one of the most spectacular time-lapse aviation related videos that I have seen so far (and I have seen quite a few of them!), put together by NATS, the UK air traffic control organisation.
Absolutely jaw-dropping!
Launching a new airline
My new adventure...
Back to writing after a few weeks of (blogging) silence...!
This was not because there were no interesting news in the industry, but due to some personal and professional developments: I have recently started collaborating professionally with Dobrolet (Добролёт), Aeroflot's up and coming low cost carrier.
Those of you that read this blog regularly might already familiar with my interest in the Russian airline industry. No wonder then, that when the opportunity came up to join this new and exciting project (Russia is possibly the "last frontier" when it comes to low cost airline development!) I did not think twice.
Every good thing has usually a trade-off and, in this case, in being affiliated with an industry player means I am no longer an independent observer, but rather an industry insider. In practical terms this means that, for obvious reasons, I will very likely abstain from writing about topics upon which I have some type of direct or indirect professional involvement.
However, I plan to continue updating this blog in the measure of what's possible and sharing interesting stories and my views about this fascinating industry.
By the way, I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that for more frequent updates and lots of aviation-related content (not only written by me!) you can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Denim Air paints aircraft for Dutch DJ Armin Van Buuren
Armin van Buuren, about to board its specially dedicated Fokker F50 aircraft. Picture: Denim Air
Music is a global industry and artists need, obviously, someone to carry them around.
Some like to pilot their own aircraft, like Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, that likes to take command of an specially decorated Astraeus Boeing 757, or you can always call Denim Air, the Dutch airline contractor, or ACMI in industry-jargon, that we had the chance to present in this blog last summer.
This is the case of Dutch DJ and music producer Armin van Buuren, as Denim Air is providing a dedicated Fokker F50 aircraft with a special livery for its latest World tour. Planespotters be alert!
Armin van Buuren World Tour F50 aircraft. Picture: Denim Air
The interior has also got the Armin van Buuren World Tour touch, Picture: Denim Air
Talking about Russian airlines on Australian radio
This weekend I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Steve Collins of Radio Roaming, an online radio station broadcasting out of Perth, Western Australia, and specializing on travel-related topics.
By the way, we talked mainly about the Russian commercial aviation industry.
Here is the podcast. Enjoy!
Allplane and the Airbus Beluga, on CNN
Is not everyday that you get featured on the cover of CNN International, so I thought I would share here the article that has been making the rounds...
It has been a pleasure sharing with CNN followers worldwide some insights from my recent trip to Toulouse, where I was able to visit the home of the Beluga and get on-board one of this amazing and really unique aircraft.
Christmas special: one of best aviation videos ever by Air Tahiti Nui
This is a fantastic video that Air Tahiti Nui, the airline of French Polynesia has put together showing all what goes on behind the scenes when their aircraft are operating.
Plus Air Tahiti Nui has one of the coolest liveries out there...
Enjoy!
More long-haul aircraft than ever at Barcelona airport
Barcelona airport is quite a unique case in Europe: its nearly 35M annual passengers make it one of Europe's top ten airports, yet it is visited by a relatively small number of wide-bodied aircraft. Or was it?
In reality the number of long-haul routes (and airlines flying wide-body aircraft) has been increasing at Barcelona airport., to the point that Emirates and Transaero have announced A380 flights from Dubai and Moscow respectively. Add to that the fact that some airlines respond to Barcelona's popularity as a tourist destination by adding capacity and flying larger aircraft during the summer months and the chances of seeing large aircraft at Barcelona airport increase are actually much larger than they used not long ago.
So I was curious to find out more about this topic: although staff at Barcelona airport were extremely helpful, hard data had to come from Aena's website (Aena is the public entity managing almost all Spanish airports) that is really a pain to use...and unbelievable enough there is no dedicated site for Barcelona airport.
However, there is a very active planespotting community in Barcelona and this is how I found what I was looking for. They say an image is worth more than a thousand words, so I thought it would be a good idea to share this video by Aerotendencias that summarizes quite well the current activity by wide-body aircraft at Barcelona airport, it only covers the first half of 2013, so the summer months, when activity peaks, are not included, but it is a very good illustration nevertheless!
Planes never sleep
Iberia has published on its corporate blog this very interesting video about what goes on in an aircraft during the night, when it rests at base.
With the name "Los aviones nunca duermen" ("Planes never sleep" in Spanish), you can see how ground crews take care of an Airbus cleaning and maintenance throughout the night...the video is in Spanish but, even if you don't understand the language, there is plenty of interesting footage of that part of airline operations you usually do not get to see!
Contrailz: an amazing way to visualize air routes
As we are talking a lot about maps in this blog recently, I couldn't help but post about this very interesting and visually striking site called Contrailz.
What you will see on Contrailz is a visualization of air routes aroudn the World in an amazing blue/red pattern that gives it an almost artsy, surreal touch.
Enjoy!
Night landing at Los Angeles international airport
Having a slow day? Just watch this video of a night landing at Los Angeles International airport (LAX) with the accompanying music and I am sure you will get back to an energetic mood!
Planespotting at London Gatwick airport
After the global mega-hub of Istanbul it was time to planespot at a totally different type of airport, not because it is small (London Gatwick makes it into Europe's top 10 airports by number of traffic) but because of the role it fulfils.
Although in some aspects might be providing a passenger experience superior to that of Heathrow (not a difficult challenge anyway!), Gatwick is not London's main airport.
Gatwick is mainly an airport for origin and destination traffic, with a strong leaning towards leisure and low cost carriers, however, it still provides good planespotting opportunities, as most of these carriers are fond of colourful liveries.
Gatwick has also its fair share of long-haul traffic too and, as it does not have the capacity constraints of Heathrow it is easy to spot a broad range of aircraft types, from British regional carriers to Virgin Atlantic's jumbo jets...
Why cross-winds do not affect only small aircraft
I have already posted several videos of aircraft landing in strong cross-wind conditions in the past, but when someone sends one of these to me I can't help but share it as they tend to be quite spectacular and give you a perspective that (thankfully!) you are usually not aware of when inside the aircraft.
And if you think that cross-winds affect only small aircraft, have a look at the Emirates Boeing 777 that appears first in the video!
Planespotting at an emerging mega-hub: Istanbul
Well, planespotting is maybe not the right word, since I just had enough time to look around from the windows, but it is always exciting to go through one of the World's emerging mega-hubs.
One of the things that fascinate me about Atatürk international airport in Istanbul is that it is truly a 24 hour airport, with flights taking off and landing all day and night to cities as diverse as Aalborg, Kinshasa or Ashgabat, to name just a few...actually by looking at the information boards one can even assume that peak hour at Istanbul might be sometime between midnight and 3am...!
No wonder that plans are under way to build a brand new airport to serve the city of Istanbul and Turkish Airlines' fast growing hub!
In any case, here are some pictures that I took while at Istanbul airport that I would like to share with you. And remember that if you like aircraft and airline-related pictures you can always check my Instagram and Pinterest profiles!
What happens around an aircraft while it is landing?
Thanks to the twitter stream of @fgrau I came across this fantastic video of a Swiss Airbus A340 landing during a foggy night at Zurich airport (published by Jalopnik).
In it you can clearly appreciate all the different aerodynamic forces at play, such as the amazing wingtip vortices that form around the airplane while it is landing.
Planespotting in Barcelona
One of the best airports for planespotting I have ever been to!...there are even two purpose-made viewing platforms between the runways and the beach (In this map you will find the approximate location of, what I think, is the best place for planespotting at Barcelona airport, and in this other one (good find, Pau Cuevas!), there is comprehensive guide of the best locations for spotters at Barcelona airport)
But there is a catch: the planespotting platform is not easy to get to unless you have a car (there is a local bus, but, as far as I am ware of, it does not connect with the airport terminals but with the train station at the nearby town of El Prat).
Another factor to take into account is that most of the traffic at Barcelona is to and from European destinations, which means that Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 will account for an overwhelming majority of the sights.
But you can still spot some visitors from afar, like this Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777-200 or a Qatar Airways Airbus A330!
Planespotting at London City Airport
London City airport is, obviously quite different from the other airports serving the London area, like an exclusive boutique compared to a mainstream retailer.
But I was also positively surprised as an aviation enthusiast an planespotter, since it is possible to enjoy great views of the runway from the waiting area of the terminal, and you can see some aircraft types that you seldom see at other London airports, such as the Avro RJ85s and several models of Embraer's E-jets.
Here are some pictures that I took while waiting to board my flight...I took some more interesting pictures with my camera (including one of the unique British Airways transatlantic business-only Airbus A318 and I expect to post them to my Instagram account in the near future).
Great time-lapse video of London Heathrow landings
London Heathrow's congestion problem are well known...here is an amazing time-lapse video that @jplanas posted on his twitter stream that makes it easier to visualize Heathrow's airport frantic activity!
The shortest commercial flight I've ever made
When our flight from London Gatwick was about to land at Barcelona-El Prat, the pilot went on air to say that the runway where we were expecting to land had been temporarily closed and that, in view of the fact that we only had fuel for 20 more minutes of flight, we were diverting to Reus airport, 100 miles south of Barcelona, in order to refuel.
And so we did. The interesting part is that we then were to fly from Reus to Barcelona. I had flown short flights in general aviation aircraft before, but this is ceertainly the shortest distance I have flown in a commercial jet aircraft: it took about 15 minutes for the Easyjet A319 to cover the 100 miles that separate Reus and Barcelona airports...
Some curiosities from this experience:
-Upon arrival I noticed that our flight appeared twice on Barcelona airports flight information displays in the arrivals area and both with the same flight number: one for the original one from Gatwick and another one listed as coming from Reus.
-We could enjoy the safety instructions demonstration twice (even if no one exited the aircraft). I know this is standard practice but I found ita bit surreal.
-We were at Reus for longer than expected because the flight plan had to be provided to the pilots in paper and it seems there was no one ready to print it out at that time of the night at Reus airport (which is quite a small airport that gets only a handful of Ryanair flights at this time of the year). I guess this situation will not be hapenning a few years from now, when everyone is using iPads (I ignore if some regulations will need to change to adapt to the new paperless reality too).
This was my shortest commercial flight so far, but might not be the last, I know there are some scheduled flights out there that are even shorter than this, in the Caribbean and also in places like the Orkney Islands, that hold the record to the shortest regular commercial flight in the World!
Allplane in the media
A bit of blatant self-promotion here, I know, but it is nice to see one's work picked up by industry peers, particularly when we are talking about some heavy-weights of online journalism!
My picture of a Thai Airways' Airbus A380 crew sleeping quarters was re-published on the front cover of popular American technology site Gizmodo.
And my article about Vueling's recent expansion was picked up by online travel magazine Skift.
No need to say readership figures went through the roof with all this extra exposure!
Enjoy the read!
Aviation videos (III): landing at small island airports
One of things I am wondering is how Felix Baumgartner managed to land at exactly the right spot from so high up...because landing can really be an art, be it because of adverse weather conditions or because the the airport is in a "challenging" location...and some of the most challenging airports are located in small islands, where it can often be difficult to find enough flat land to be able to build a runway. Have a look at these islands airports to see what I mean...!
Madeira
In this video you will see several aircraft landing in cross-winds at Madeira airport, a landing streep embedded between a steep hill and the sea. I found particularly interesting the landing of Air Berlin aircraft from minute 9 of the video!
Vagar, Faroe Islands
The interesting here is the shape of the runway, that is not exactly flat, but adapts to the curvature of the terrain (this airport, built by the British during WWII is possibly worth a blog post of its own!)
Saba, Netherlands Antilles
If Madeira's airport looks challenging, what to say of Saba's!