Tag Archives: HKIA

Spotting at HKIA

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A few photos from yesterday afternoon at Hong Kong International Airport:

  
An Asiana Airbus A321

  
Moments after the Asiana A321 pushed back, it was replaced by the same model but from Vietnam Airlines. 

  
There were several All Nippon Airways planes preparing for flights to Japan. This is a Boeing 767-300. 

  
While the Boeing 747-400 is a rapidly vanishing type, there were several fine examples yesterday including this one from Korean Air. 

  
And this one from Carhay Pacific. They have only three passenger models still in service but several cargo models, including the one taxiing out to the runway in the background. 

  
Here is a closer look in artistic black and white! 

  
The newest jumbo jet, which some would say has taken the 747’s crown, is the massive Airbus A380. Many airlines fly these planes to HKG, including British Airways. 

  
Emirates Airlines from the UAE operates the A380 from HKG to BKK, continuing to Dubai. They also fly a nonstop A380 service to Dubai in case you don’t fancy a visit to Bangkok. 

  
The Russian airline Aeroflot has multiple flights a day to Hong Kong. This Boeing 777-300ER was about to board for a return trip to Moscow. 

  
HKG has a great diversity of carriers. This EL AL Israeli airlines Boeing 777-200 was preparing for a flight to Tel Aviv

  
Heading in the opposite direction is this Fiji Airways Airbus A330-200 heading to Nadi. 

  

Thai Airways offers several flights a day to Bangkok and Phuket. This Boeing 777-200 is being readied for the 2-hour flight to Bangkok. 

  
And, finally, the Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 that took me back to Bangkok. 

Spotting at HKG

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Last August, Tawn and I took at short trip to Hong Kong to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our marriage. I realized this weekend that I never posted the photos I took the afternoon of our return flight. Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok International Airport is one of the best places for spotting: lots of large windows offering mostly distortion-free views of the many airlines from around the globe that call on HKG.

I hope you enjoy.

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Cathay pacific Airbus A330 in the OneWorld color scheme

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Qantas Airbus A380

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British Airways Boeing 777-300ER

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China Airlines (from Taiwan) Airbus A330

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Elegant Swiss Airbus A340

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Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300 – the terminal in the background handles flights to/from the Mainland

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Korean Air’s Airbus A330 in a robin’s egg blue color that I find very fetching

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Looking over the top of a Cathay Pacific B777 to enjoy another Cathay B777-300 in the Spirit of Hong Kong color scheme. This picture also provides a very good sense of just how built up Lantau Island has become, adjacent to the airport.

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From the land of Hobbits, an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200ER

P1290361Cathay has since retired the passenger versions of their Boeing 747-400, the “Queen of the Skies”

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Dragonair is another local carrier, also flying the Airbus A330. You can also see the British Airways A380 in the background.

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A pair of Airbus A340-600s, the front one belonging to Virgin Atlantic and the back one from Lufthansa.

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Something new and different, an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

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Singapore Airlines also operates the Boeing 777-300 into Hong Kong

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London, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong are three great cities to view the Airbus A380. This one is operated by Emirates and makes a stop in Bangkok before continuing to Dubai.

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Air France also flies the Airbus A380 to Hong Kong

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Lufthansa is one of the few carriers not to give up on the 747 passenger version. This is their newest plane, a Boeing 747-8i.

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A Hong Kong Airlines’ Airbus A330 with a surprise guest in the background: a Boeing C-17 Globemaster operated by the United States Air Force.

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Another Cathay A330, this one in their regular color scheme

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Turkish Airlines Operates the Boeing 777-300ER into Hong Kong. One of the newer members of Star Alliance, I would like to try them one of these days.

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One of the more interesting color schemes on an Airbus A330 belonging to Air Seychelles. The Seychelles are off the east coast of Africa, north of Madagascar. Don’t worry, I had to look it up, too.

 

Flying Home

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Ignore for a moment that this entry is being posted a week and a day after I actually flew back from Hong Kong to Bangkok!  One of the best things about visiting Hong Kong is the airport.  It is one of the finest airports in the world, user friendly, beautifully designed, lots of light, easy to watch airplanes from around the globe, etc.

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This view of the main concourse, taken from the second-floor food court area just beyond immigration and security, is such the antithesis of Bangkok’s dark, depressing terminal.

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Interesting planes from all around.  I can’t think of the last time I saw a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747.

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My flight, an Air Asia Airbus A320, pulls into the gate.  Surprisingly, the Bangkok-Hong Kong ticket on Air Asia was only 4100 baht (about US$130) all inclusive, round-trip.  Normally, Hong Kong is one of their more expensive destinations.

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Buy-on-board chicken satay.  Compare what it looks like in real life with the image in the menu, below.

Air Asia Satay 

I’d like to complain to someone about the lack of truth in advertising!

Anyhow, I’m back in Bangkok now, the US midterm elections are today, my San Francisco Giants just won the Baseball World Series for the first time since 1954, and I’m finished writing about  Hong Kong for the time being.