Hobart Airport and City

This morning before I started catching up with family and friends I headed down to the airport for an hour or so. The airport is only 10 minutes from where I am staying at my sisters house.
Even though Hobart is an international airport they don't have any international arrivals at all. The main airline servicing Hobart is Jetstar followed by Virgin and Qantaslink.




HOBART TOWER

JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VFX (CN 5871)

JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VGN (CN 4434)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-838 VH-VUW (CN 39449)

QANTASLINK B717-2BL VH-YQU (CN 55180)

ALLIANCE FOKKER F28 MK 70 (CN 11575)

EUROCOPTER AS355 (CN 5423)

I left there and went up to a place called Rosny Hill to get a few photos of the city, the bridge and the mountain.

After dinner in the city I went to a place called Trafalgar Square as I had seen photos of the fountain there in a ray of different colours. As my luck would have it the colour was stuck on blue.

Melbourne - Hobart Trip

After a few busy days in Melbourne it was time to head to the airport once again, but I wasn't going home to Brisbane, I was heading to my home town of Hobart. As I have family and friends down and I haven't been home for years so I decided to take Friday and Monday off as A/L and visit my family.
I got to the airport a little earlier than usual as the new Qantas 787 was coming in from Perth and I really wanted to see it.

SINGAPORE B777-312 9V-SWZ (CN 42239)

QANTAS A330-202 VH-EBN (CN 1094)

ETIHAD B787-9 A6-BLK (CN 39654)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-YIF (CN 38710)

QANTAS B787-9 VH-ZNA (CN 39038)

After it landed I was dropped at the airport by my rep as I was getting a Virgin flight at 4pm. After I checked my suitcase in I headed to a window that has a great view of the runway for a few minutes of plane spotting.

GULFSTREAM G650ER VH-LAL (CN 6138)

MALAYSIA A330-323 9M-MTL (CN 1395)

We began boarding at 3.51pm (11 minutes late) through gate 1 and I took my seat which was 5A. The aircraft for this flight was VH-YFN (CN 41009) this was the first time I have flown on this aircraft.
The last cabin door was closed at 4.05pm and we pushed back at 4.06, we taxied at 4.10 and headed out for runway 27. We had a rolling start and got airborne at 4.15pm, we maintained runway heading for about 2 minutes before banking left and headed south.
Climbing to 370 we made our way over to the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, then on to Devonport and down the centre of Tasmania.

We began our descent at 4.45pm and landed in Hobart from the north on runway 12 at 5.10pm.

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIRFORCE
BOEING C17A GLOBEMASTER A41-210 (CN 50240)

QANTASLINK B717-200 VH-YQT (CN 55179)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-YFN (CN 41009)

TIGERAIR A320-232 VH-VNO (CN 4053)

EMBRAER 135BJ VH-VLT (CN 14501107)

ALLIANCE FOKKER F28 MK70 VH-QQY (CN 11575)

Brisbane - Melbourne Trip

Today I had to head off to Melbourne for a few days, my Qantas flight 605 was leaving at 5.55am and boarding was at  5.35am. I arrived at the airport around 4.30am and after a few security issues with my luggage I made my way upstairs for breakfast.
about 5.15 I headed towards gate 23 stopping along the way for a few photos.

QANTAS B737-838 VH-XZM (CN 44574)

QANTAS B737-838 VH-VZW (CN 39359)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA TAILS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-VUP (CN 36604)

JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VFX (CN 5871)

We boarded at 5.30am and I took my seat which was 25F, the aircraft for today was VH-XZM (CN 44574). This is the second time I have been on XZM,  the first time was 3rd Dec 2015 - Cairns - Brisbane. The last cabin door was closed at 5.52 and we pushed back at 5.53, we began taxiing at 5.56 and taxied out for Alpha three holding point for runway 19.

QANTAS B737-838 VH-VXT (CN 33760)

PIONAIR AUSTRALIA BAe 146-200 VH-SFV (CN E2086)

Approaching the holding point we kept rolling out onto the runway for a rolling start, getting airborne at 6.02am.
We did the usual bank left and right and then set course for Melbourne.

As we climbed to 380 we continued our track to Melbourne via Tenterfield, Parkes and Shepparton then on into Melbourne. Since our flying time was going to be 2 hours 20 minutes I decided to watch a movie. I chose to watch Ali's Wedding, an Australian romantic comedy, staring Helana Sawires, Don Hany and Robert Rabiah.
Very good movie which I really enjoyed. We began our descent at 7.43am and landed from the north on runway 16 at 8.10am. Melbourne has daylight savings so we had to put the time forward one hour making our official landing time 9.10am.

VIETNAM B787-9 VN-A864 (CN 35154)

GARUDA INDONSESIA A330-343 PK-GPR (CN 1446)

UNITED B787-9 N35953 (CN 36404)

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EDN (CN 56)

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EOU (CN 205)

Last Flight for Air Berlin

IATA ICAO Callsign AB BER AIR BERLIN

Insolvent German carrier Air Berlin has flown its last flight. It was a heartfelt event for many passengers and employees.
The last flight for the German airline landed late Friday evening, ending almost 40 years of history for Germany's second largest airline.
Flight AB 6210 from Munich landed at Berlin-Tegel airport at 23:45, but not before the pilots changed the flight number to BER4EVER.
The last flight was operated by an Airbus A320-214 D-ABNW (CN 2627)

The "airline with a heart" is known for giving passengers heart-shaped chocolates upon disembarkation. Before departing from Munich Air Berlin said a farewell to its passengers and employees.
"Air Berlin said thanks on this sad day to all the staff, partners and passengers who passed us who have given their hearts and their loyalty for many years,” the company said in a statement.
Hundreds of observers gathered at Berlin Tegel to witness Air Berlin's last landing, with the fire brigades giving the Airbus A320 a water cannon salute.

Originally registered as Air Berlin USA, the company was founded in 1978 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Lelco, an American agricultural enterprise headquartered in Oregon, to operate charter flights on behalf of German tour operators from Berlin Tegel Airport.

Air Berlin filed for bankruptcy in August after its funding was cut off by Etihad, one of its major shareholders. A German government loan of €150 million ($174 million) helped keep the airline afloat for the following weeks.
Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa will take control of 81 of its 134 jets. It will also take on 3,000 Air Berlin employees. The fate of thousands of other Air Berlin employees is uncertain.

As part of the deal, Lufthansa will take over Air Berlin's low-cost leisure airline Niki and its LG Walter regional airline. The sale still needs approval from creditors and European Union anti-trust authorities to take effect.
Today, Saturday 28th October, Easyjet said it would buy part of Air Berlin's operations at Tegel airport. The low-cost British carrier will lease up to 25 A320 aircraft and a buy Air Berlin's take-off and landing rights at Tegel. The deal was valued at €40 million. It also said up to 1,000 Air Berlin employees could be recruited.

Happy 32nd Birthday Emirates

IATA ICAO Callsign EK UAE EMIRATES

The Emirates story starts back in 1985 when they launched operations with just two aircraft, an Airbus A300 B4 and a Boeing 737. This was due to Gulf Air cutting back its services to Dubai. As a result, Emirates was conceived in March 1985 with backing from Dubai's royal family, with Pakistan International Airlines providing two of the airline's first aircraft on wet-lease. The Royal Family's Dubai Royal Air Wing also provided the airline with two used Boeing 727–200 Adv as a gift.

AC MILAN ON A6-EET (CN 142)

The airline was founded on the 25th March 1985   and commenced operations later that year on the 25th October 1985. On that day flight EK600 departed Dubai International for Karachi.
Emirates is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is wholly owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest airline in the Middle East with a fleet of  238 aircraft, operating over 3,600 flights per week from its hub at Dubai International Airport. Emirates flies to more than 154 cities in 81 countries across six continents.

BOEING 777-F1H A6-EFM (CN 42231)     CARGO

Emirates is the world's fourth largest airline by scheduled revenue passenger-kilometers flown, the fourth-largest in terms of international passengers carried, and the second-largest in terms of freight tonne kilometers flown.

Emirates operates a mixed fleet of Airbus A380's and Boeing aircraft and is one of the few airlines to operate an all-wide-body aircraft fleet. As of September 2017, Emirates was the largest Airbus A380 operator with 100 planes in service (taking delivery of it's 100th A380 on the 12 September 2017)  and a further 42 in orders. Since their introduction, the Airbus A380 has become an integral part of Emirates fleet, especially on long-haul high-traffic routes. Emirates is also the world's largest Boeing 777 operator with over 130 planes in service.

Emirates had the longest non-stop commercial flight from Dubai to Auckland until it was surpassed by Qatar Airways flying from Doha to Auckland.

AIRBUS A380-861 A6-EDN (CN 056)

As of October 2017, the Emirates fleet consists of the following wide body aircraft:

Aircraft	In Service	Orders
Airbus A380-800	100	42
Boeing 777-200LR	10	—
Boeing 777-300	3	—
Boeing 777-300ER	125	15
Boeing 777-8	—	3
Boeing 777-9	—	115
Total	238	175

BOEING 777-31H A6-ECF (CN 35574)