Perth welcomes new direct flight to Paris

QANTAS BOEING 787-9 VH-ZNM (MSN 66077)

From the 12th of July next year, the near 17-hour flight will operate four days per week during the European summer and the Paris Olympics on Qantas' Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. 

Services will then move to three per week from mid-August 2024.

The flight will be the second direct connection between Perth and Continental Europe secured by the WA Government and is in addition to Qantas' existing Rome to Perth service. The new service reaffirms WA's status as the Western Gateway to Australia, with Perth still the only city in Australia with direct air connections from Continental Europe.

The new non-stop link will add more than 75,000 additional seats from and to Europe each year including around 37,500 inbound passengers to WA per year and will cut more than three hours off the current fastest travel time between Paris and Perth.

The route will also provide seamless connections for more than 70 destinations across the region, including Athens, Barcelona and Frankfurt, boosting tourism opportunities from across the continent.

In 2022-23, 19,000 visitors came to WA from France and an additional 108,000 travellers arrived from the rest of mainland Europe, delivering a combined total expenditure of $423 million in the State that year. The State Government has now secured or re-launched direct flights with 16 destinations since borders re-opened last year, through leveraging the $75 million Aviation Recovery Fund.

Other recent wins include the resumption of direct flights between Tokyo and Perth, with the first resumed Tokyo service to take off later today, as well as the announcement of new direct aviation connections with Ho Chi Minh City and Manila.

Qantas' Paris fares went on sale from 9am Sunday 29 October and start from 1,449 EUR inbound and $1,899 AUD.

"This new direct flight will add an important 75,000 additional seats to and from Europe each year and significantly improve opportunity and access for tourists to travel to our great State and explore everything we have to offer.

Brisbane Airport prepares for significant growth

Brisbane Airport is preparing to get its northern winter season underway, offering growth between the 29th of October and the 1st of December.

The airport will be receiving several brand-new services by airlines locally as well as further afield around the world.

The following new services will deliver an extra 1.3m international seats in and out of Brisbane Airport over the next 12 months:

• 29th of October: Qantas commencing 3 services per week to Honiara (Solomon Islands)
• 29th of October: Qantas commencing 7 services per week to Wellington.
• 29th of October: United Airlines increasing San Francisco service to daily.
• 30th of October: Jetstar commencing 5 services per week to Tokyo (Narita)
• 30th of October: Rex commencing 7 services per week to Adelaide
• 1st of November: China Eastern commencing 3 services per week from Shanghai, rising to seasonal daily from the 11th of December
• 18th of November: China Southern commencing 4 services per week from Guangzhou, rising to seasonal daily from the 11th of December
• 1st of December: United Airlines commencing 4 services per week from Los Angeles

These new routes are expected to take Brisbane Airport from 81% of pre-pandemic capacity to 90%.
Commenting on this was Ryan Both, the Executive General Manager for the airport:

“This is a boost for the state’s tourism economy. We know when Brisbane Airport is busy, Queensland is busy, and things are about to step up a notch,”

“We’re excited about the return of the first tourists flying direct from mainland China to Queensland.”

“The restart of China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines to Brisbane signals the return of what was Queensland’s most lucrative tourism market, one that delivers thousands of jobs to the economy.”

“We also celebrate United Airlines significantly boosting flights to Brisbane. It was exactly 12 months ago that United launched 3 flights per week from San Francisco to Brisbane with the help of Queensland’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund.”

“Now this will become a daily service, and United will also add Los Angeles as a destination in time for Christmas.”

“This really demonstrates the success of the Queensland Government and airports joint initiative to kick-start and grow new services to boost the state’s visitor economy.”

Remembering Lion Air 610

LION AIR BOEING 737-8GP PK-LQV (MSN 39861)

Lion Air Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK/WIII), Indonesia to Pangkal Pinang Airport (PGK/WIKK), Indonesia

On the 29th of October 2018, the Boeing 737 MAX operating the route crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew. It was the first major accident involving the new Boeing 737 MAX series of aircraft, introduced in 2017, and the highest death toll of any accident or incident involving the entire Boeing 737 series, Original, Classic, Next Generation or MAX, surpassing Air India Express Flight 812 in 2010. It was the deadliest accident in Lion Air's history, surpassing the 2004 Lion Air Flight 538 that killed 25, and the second deadliest aircraft accident in Indonesia behind Garuda Indonesia Flight 152.

The aircraft departed at 6:20 a.m. local time and was scheduled to arrive at Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang at 7:20 a.m. It took off in a westward direction before circling around to a northeast heading, which it held until crashing offshore northeast of Jakarta in waters estimated to be up to 35 m (115 ft) deep. The flight crew had requested clearance to return to the Jakarta airport 35 km (19 nautical miles) into the flight. The accident site was located 34 km (18 nautical miles) off the coast of the island of Java.

Communication between air traffic control (ATC) and Flight 610 was suddenly lost at 6:33 a.m. ATC informed the National Search and Rescue Agency, which deployed three ships and a helicopter to the area. At 7:30 a.m., the agency received reports that Flight 610 had crashed a few kilometres from an offshore oil platform. Workers on the platform reportedly saw the aircraft crash with a steep nose-down angle. Boats from the platform were immediately deployed and debris from the crashed aircraft was found shortly after.

The aircraft was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, registration PK-LQP, serial number 43000, line number 7058, powered by two CFM International LEAP - 1B25 engines. The aircraft was leased from China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG) Aviation Capital. It made its first flight on the 30th of July 2018 and was delivered new to Lion Air on the 13th of August 2018. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was only three months old had flown around 800 hours in service.  

THOUGHTS ARE WITH THE FAMILIES AND FRIENDS THINGING ABOUT THEIR LOVED ONES TODAY.

More from London's Heathrow

EL AL BOEING 787-9 4X-EDJ (MSN 65086)
LY315 ARRIVING FROM TEL AVIV (TLV)

AIR ALGERIA AIRBUS A330-202 7T-VJB (MSN 1630)
AH2054 ARRIVING FROM ALGIERS (ALG)

QATAR AIRBUS A80-842 A7-APD (MSN 160)
QR3 ARRIVING FROM DOHA (DOH)

AIR CHINA BOEING 777-39L B-2031 (MSN 38670)

TAP AIR PORTUGAL AIRBUS A321-251 CS-TJP (MSN 8946)
TP1359 OFF TO LISBON (LIS)

LUFTHANSA AIRBUS A321-271 D-AIEI (MSN 10304)
LH2475 OFF TO MUNICH (MUC)

LUFTHANSA AIRBUS A320-271 D-AINB (MSN 6864)
LH906 ARRIVING FROM FRANKFURT (FRA)

ITA AIRBUS A320-216 EI-DSY (MSN 3666)
AZ249 OFF TO MILAN (LIN)

AER LINGUS AIRBUS A320-214 EI-DVE (MSN 3129)
EI712 ARRIVING FROM CORK (ORK)

AER LINGUS AIRBUS A320-214 EI-NSA (MSN 10712)
EI162 ARRIVING FROM DUBLIN (DUB)

SCANDANAVIAN AIRLINES AIRBUS A320-251 EI-SIG (MSN 8333)
SK531 ARRIVING FROM STOCKHOLM (ARN)

BRITISH AIRWAYS CONCORDE G-BOAB (MSN 208)

VIRGIN ATLANTIC BOEING 787-9 G-VCRU (MSN 37972)
VS156 ARRIVING FROM LAS VEGAS (LAS)

BRITISH AIRWAYS BOEING 777-236 G-YMMR (MSN 36516)
BA118 ARRIVING FROM BENGALURU (BLR)

HELVETIC AIRWAYS EMBRAER E195 HB-AZI (19020055)
LX319 OFF TO ZURICH (ZRH)

SWISS AIRBUS A320-271 HB-JDA (MSN 9246)
LX332 ARRIVING FROM ZURICH (ZRH)

SAUDIA BOEING 787-9 HZ-ARF (MSN 41549)
SV114 OFF TO JEDDAH (JED)

AMERICAN BOEING 777-223 N767AJ (MSN 33539)
AA195 ARRIVING FROM PHOENIX (PHX)

DELTA AIRBUSA330-223 N860NW (MSN 778)
DL17 OFF TO DETROIT (DTW)

AMERICAN BOEING 777-223 N785AN (MSN 30005)
AA733 OFF TO CHARLOTTE (CLT)

KLM BOEING 737-7K2 PH-BGI (MSN 30364)
KL1017 ARRIVING FROM AMSTERDAM (AMS)
*OUR RIDE BACK TO AMSTERDAM

EGYPTAIR BOEING 777-36N SU-GDL (MSN 38284)
MS777 ARRIVING FROM CAIRO (CAI)

AEGEAN AIRLINES AIRBUS A321-271 SX-NAA (MSN 9553)
A3603 OFF TO ATHENS (ATH)

MEA AIRBUS A321-271 T7-ME9 (MSN 10322)
ME202 OFF TO BEIRUT (BEY)

AIR SERBIA AIRBUS A319-132 YU-APK (MSN 2032)
JU381 OFF TO BELGRADE (BEG)

 

Spotting at London's Heathrow Airport

On Friday the 22nd of September my wife and I arrived at London's Heathrow airport really early so we could do some plane spotting before boarding our KLM flight to Amsterdam at 3pm. We got there around 10am, BUT unfortunately, we couldn't check our luggage in for another two hours. We couldn't find a luggage storage place either. To make things worse, there are no viewing spots anywhere this side of security. I even tried getting through security beforehand, but I needed a boarding pass. 
It was killing sitting there for two hours knowing there were planes on the other side of the security gates. Anyway, midday came, and after checking in, we bolted for security, then it was a good 10-minute walk to the designated viewing area. 

In terminal 4 at Heathrow there is a closed in glassed area where you can see the runway.

The glass is quite thick so some of the photos aren't crystal clear as I'd hoped.

Below are some of the hundreds of the photos I took.

I will post more over the next few days.

AIR FRANCE AIRBUS A220-300 F-HZUO (MSN 55193)
AF1581 OFF TO PARIS (CDG)

ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES BOEING 787-8 V8-DLC (MSN 34789)

AIR FRANCE AIRBUS A220-300 F-HZUM (MSN 55185)

AIR CANADA BOEING 777-333 C-FIVM (MSN 35249)
AC861 OFF TO VANCOUVER (YVR)

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRBUS A330-343 G-VGBR (MSN 1329)
VS186 ARRIVING FROM BRIDGETOWN (BGI)

VIRGIN ATALNTIC AIRBUS A350-1041 G-VEVE (MSN 492)

BRITISH AIRWAYS AIRBUS A320-232 G-EUUS (MSN 3301)
BA1479 ARRIVING FROM GLASGOW (GLA)

FINNAIR AIRBUS A320-214 OH-LXA (MSN 1405)
BA949 ARRIVING FROM MUNICH (MUC)

AMERICAN BOEING 777-223 N750AN (MSN 30259)
AA79 OFF TO DALLAS (DFW)

BRITISH AIRWAYS BOEING 777-236 G-YMMT (MSN 36518)
BA218 ARRIVING FROM DENVER (DEN)

AER LINGUS AIRBUS A320-251 EI-NSC (MSN 11579)
EI159 OFF TO DUBLIN (DUB)

BRITISH AIRWAYS BOEING 787-8 G-ZBJF (MSN 38613)
BA278 ARRIVING FROM SAN JOSE (SJC)

AIR CANADA AIRBUS A330-343 C-GEGI (MSN 1012)
AC855 OFF TO TORONTO (YYZ)

AMERICAN BOEING 777-323 N730AN (MSN 31554)
AA134 ARRIVING FROM LOS ANGELES (LAX)

ETIHAD BOEING 787-10 A6-BME (MSN 60759)
EY19 ARRIVING FROM ABU DABHI (AUH)

EMIRATES AIRBUS A380-842 A6-EVG (MSN 256)
EK1 ARRIVING FROM DUBAI (DXB)

TAP AIR PORTUGAL AIRBUS A321-251 CS-TXB (MSN 8666)
TP1367 OFF TO LISBON (LIS)