‘Scene’ at the East Midlands Airport 1 on Dennis Basford’srailsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

A visit to the EMA at Castle Donington on the borders of Derbyshire and Leicestershire to see the freight aircraft come and go, has become one of mine and friend John Beastall (who incidentally supplied all the aircraft details) little pleasures in life.

 

I like freighters. 

 

They are often older former passenger airliners that have been converted when their passenger flying days are done.

 

That said, there are numbers of new build aircraft joining the ranks.

 

If there is a downside, it is the knowledge that much of the freight they bring into the country are goods and products that in years gone by we would have, as a nation, produced for ourselves. 

 

Anyone seeking further details of the aircraft are advised to type the second line details of type and c/n into Google and go to the ‘planespotters.net’ entry.

 

G-DHLX ‘DHL Air’.

Boeing 777-F c/n 67139

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

One of the new boys on the block being new in 2022.

 

Pictured having just landed having come from Cincinnati, USA to where it would return later in the night.

 

 

 

 

G-DHLG ‘DHL Air’.

BOEING 767-3JHF c/n 37807

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Having earlier arrived from Milan and now on its way to Cincinnati

 

New in 2009.

 

 

 

 

G-BMRB ‘DHL Air’.

Boeing 757-236SF c/n 23975

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Delivered new to ‘British Airways’ in 1987.

 

Pictured having just landed having come from Reykjavik, Iceland. It would later depart for Leipzig, Germany.

 

 

 

 

G-DHLK ‘DHL Air’.

Boeing 767-3JHF c/n 37810

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

New in 2012.

 

Pictured having just landed having come from Bahrain. It would later depart for Leipzig, Germany.

 

‘DHL Partner’ livery.

 

 

 

 

G-DHLO ‘DHL Air’.

Boeing 767-316ERF c/n 40592

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

New to ‘LAN Airlines’ (Chile) in 2012.

 

Pictured having just landed having come from Belfast. It would later depart for Brussels, Belgium.

 

‘Scene’ at the East Midlands Airport. DHL freighters on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Whilst passenger services have plummeted because of the pandemic, freight traffic has rocketed so not surprisingly, this blog illustrates freighters.

 

Many thanks go to friend John Beastall who provided all the identification and operational details.

 

Readers seeking further details on particular aircraft are recommended to Google the aircraft registration. e.g. G-BMRA.

 

I then go to ‘www.airfleets.net'

 

‘DHL’ are one of the largest air freight carriers in the world and are in and out of the airport regularly during the evening and night.

 

G-BMRA ‘DHL Airways’. Boeing 727-236SF

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

It first flew on 13/02/1987 for ‘British Airways’ which makes it 34 years old at the time of writing.

 

 

 

 

D-DHLE ‘DHL Airways’. Boeing 767-3JHF

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

It first flew on 28/07/2009 for ‘DHL’ which makes it 12 years old at the time of writing.

 

 

 

 

D-AALM ‘DHL Airways’. Boeing 777-FZN

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

It first flew on 23/09/2019 for’ DHL’ which makes almost 2 years old at the time of writing.

 

Operated for ‘DHL’ by ‘Aerologic'.

 

 

 

 

EI-DGU ‘DHL Airways’. Airbus A300B4-622RF

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

It first flew on 27/02/1990 which makes it 31 years old at the time of writing.

 

New registered SU-GAR for ‘Egyptair’.

 

Operated for ‘DHL’ by ‘ASL Airlines Ireland’.

 

‘Scene’ at Manchester International Airport. ‘Thomson/Tui’ on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Todays ‘Thomson/Tui’ airline has its beginnings in 1962 with a company called ‘Euravia’ which at that time flew Lockheed Constellations on holiday charters.

 

The name ‘Britannia Airways’ (BA) was adopted in 1964 when former BOAC Bristol Britannia 102’s joined the fleet.

 

In 1965 ‘BA’ became part of the ‘Thomson’ group. A Canadian owned company.

 

In 2000 ‘Thomson’ and ‘BA’ were purchased by ‘Preussag’ AG (Tui group) of Germany.

 

The ‘Thomson’, ‘Thomson Airways’ & ‘Thomsonfly’ names have continued to appear on aircraft but the ‘Tui’ titling is now replacing them.

 

The current fleet comprised Boeing 737’s, Boeing 757’s, Boeing 767’s and Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s.

 

 

G-FDZY ‘Tui’. Boeing 737-8K5

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 2011. Leased from time to time to ‘Sunwing Airlines’ of Canada as G-FDZY and C-GHZY.

 

 

 

G-TAWF ‘Tui’. Boeing 737-8K5

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 2012.

 

 

 

G-FDZR ‘Thomson’. Boeing 737-8K5

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 2009. Leased from time to time to ‘Sunwing Airlines’ of Canada as C-FLZR.

 

 

 

G-BYAY ‘Tui’. Boeing 757-204

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New to ‘BA’ in 1999.

 

 

 

G-OOBN ‘Tui’. Boeing 757-2G5

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 2000 to ‘Balair’ (Switzerland) as HB-IHR. Leased to ‘Air Berlin’ and to

‘Thomson Airways’ 2010.

 

 

 

G-OBYF ‘Tui’. Boeing 767-304ER

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New to ‘BA’ in 1998. Has been leased to ‘Garuda Indonesian’ twice as G-OYBF and ‘Eurowings’ (Germany) as D-ATYF.

 

 

 

G-OBYG ‘Tui’. Boeing 767-304ER

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New to ‘BA’ in 1999. Has been leased to ‘Garuda Indonesian’ several times as G-OYBG and ‘Tuifly’ (Germany) as D-ATYG.

 

 

 

G-TUIF ‘Tui’. Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ at Tenerife South Airport on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

We were on the way home from a week in the Canaries and Madeira and as usual had a while for our aircraft to turn up so taking a few photo’s was as good a way of passing the time as any.

 

I must confess imediately that all the images were taken from inside the terminal where I had the ‘benefit’ of tinted glass to give everything a ‘glow’.

 

The closeness of the sea to the runway can clearly be seen.

 

 

‘Tuifly Nordic’ are part of the ‘Tui’ group who also own ‘Thomson Airways’ hence the similar livery.

SE-RFU ‘Tuifly Nordic’ Boeing 737-8K5

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

G-LSAJ ‘Jet2 holidays’ Boeing 757-236

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

LN-NGW ‘Norwegian Air Shuttle’ Boeing 737-8JP

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

 

NOTE the Irish registration.

 

EI-FHY  ‘Norwegian Air Shuttle’ Boeing 737-8JP

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

G-OOBC ‘Thomson Airways’ Boeing 757-28A

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

One of the rare Boeing 757-300 aircraft which are 23 feet longer then the standard series 200 and one of only two on the British register.

 

G-JMAA ‘Thomas Cook Airlines’ Boeing 757-3CQ

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

G-GDFZ ‘Jet2 holidays’ Boeing 737-86Q

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

‘Tuifly Nordic’ are part of the ‘Tui’ group who also own ‘Thomson Airways’ hence the similar livery.

SE-RFV ‘Tuifly Nordic’ Boeing 737-8K5

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

This was our ride back to the UK.

G-FDZD ‘Thomson Airways’ Boeing 737-8K5 

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

 

Note the Boeing 757 taking off in the background. (Purely accidental!).

G-FDZD ‘Thomson Airways’ Boeing 737-8K5 /2

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

‘Scene’ at ‘The East Midlands Airport’

Located almost at the side of the M1 with the cities of Derby, Leicester and Nottingham all less than 20 miles away, the ‘EMA’ is superbly situated at the centre of the East Midlands region.

 

This is what attracts the range of operators that it does

 

N319UP

 

An American registered Boeing 767-34AF of ’United Parcel Service’. (UPS)

 

It first flew in August 1997 and was delivered new to ‘UPS’ the following month.

 

G-BTPE

 

A British Aerospace ATP-F of ‘West Atlantic Airlines’. 

 

It was originally built for ‘British Airways’ (BA) as ‘PE’ and first flew in March1989 spending almost 10 years with ‘BA’ before moving as EC-GZH to ‘Air Europe Express’ (AEE) in Spain.

 

It later carried the registration EC-HGE whilst with ‘AEE’ before being restored to the UK register with ‘Atlantic Airlines’ in October 2007 before moving to ‘West Atlantic’ in  April 2009.

 

EI-SEV

An Irish registered Boeing 737-300 of ‘Ryanair’.

 

An unusual aircraft in the ‘Ryanair’ fleet in that it is the only 737-300 in an otherwise totally 737-800 fleet. The reason being that it was bought specifically as a crew training aircraft and not for commercial operation.

 

It first flew in January 1999 as N60436 with Boeing and was delivered to ‘Azzurra Air’ as EI-CRP the following April.

 

Since then it has flown as PR-SAE in Brazil, OY-MLW in Denmark and HK-4627 in Colombia before joining ‘Ryanair’ in June 2015.

 

N714SA

 

An American registered Boeing 777-FZB of ‘Southern Air’. (SA)

 

Seen being loaded outside the massive DHL freight terminal.

 

Delivered in March 2012 to ‘SA' operating for DHL.

 

G-JECX

A Canadian built Bombardier DHC 8-Q402 of ‘flybe’.

 

The ‘Q’ in the designation indicates quiet.

 

EC-HCF

 

A Brazilian built Embraer EMB 120RT Brasilia of Spanish operator ‘Swift Air’.

 

It first flew 1n 1985 as PT-SIB.

 

The blanked off windows indicate that the aircraft has been converted to a freighter.

 

G-MCGH

Sikorsky S-92A operated by ‘Bristow Helicopters’ on behalf of HM UK Coastguard.

 

CS-TLZ

 

A Portuguese registered Boeing 767-375ERF of ‘euroAtlanticargo’ operating for ‘Star Air’.

 

It first flew in December 1988 with the test registration of N6055X and was delivered in March 1989 as C-FCAJ to ‘Canadian Airlines’.

 

It moved to ‘VARIG’ in Brasil as PP-VPV in December 1997 before coming to its current operator having been converted to a freighter.

 

G-JMCP

A Boeing 737-4Q8F of ‘West Atlantic Airlines’ (WAA).

 

Built as N39340 March 1987 for ‘Continental Airlines’. 

 

Converted to freighter configuration, it moved to ‘TNT Airways’ as a freighter with the Belgian registration OO-TNB.

 

It moved to ‘WAA’ in December 2013.

 

TF-FIG

An Icelandic registered Boeing 757-23APF of ‘Icelandair Cargo’ (IC).

 

It first flew in July 1989 as N571CA for ‘Challenge Air Cargo’ by whom it was leased in Australia to ‘Ansett World Wide’.

 

It came to ‘IC’ in September 1999 who converted it to freighter.

 

OE-IAT

An Austrian registered Boeing 737-4M0F of ‘TNT Airways’.

 

Built for the leasing company GECAS and first registered to Boeing as N1015B. 

 

Its first flight was in January 1999 and was delivered to the Russian operator ‘Aeroflot’ in April 1999.

 

It was registered as VP-BAR. The Russians registering the aircraft in Bermuda to avoid paying import taxes in Russia.

 

In 2004, it moved to ‘Garuda’ in Indonesia as PK-GZO before being converted to a freighter and joining ‘TNT’ in June 2012.

 

OY-SRL

A Danish registered Boeing 767-232F of ‘Star Air Freight’ (SAF), a Danish company. 

 

Interestingly it carries joint ‘Maersk’ titling. 

 

‘Maersk’ being a major company worldwide in the transport and energy sectors. 

 

Delivered to ‘Delta Airlines’ in January 1983 as N107DL.

 

It was converted to a freighter by Israel Aircraft Industries in 2006 when it joined ‘SAF’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ at Naples airport

A holiday in Sorrento took me through Naples airport both ways and this selection of images is a compilation from those visits.

 

EI-EWJ

 

A Boeing 717 of Spanish operator ‘VOLOTEA’.

 

The final development of what was the Douglas DC-9 and McDonnell Douglas (McDD) MD 80 and 90 series originally having been designated the MD 95. 

 

It became the Boeing 717 when Boeing took over ‘McDD’ in 1997.

 

Production ceased in 2006 with 156 aircraft built.

 

Still much in demand in the secondhand market with ‘Delta Airlines’ in the USA currently buying up samples from around the world.

 

Interestingly the aircraft is registered in the Irish Republic.

 

EC-MGT

The same type from the same airline but registered in Spain.

 

I-AIGH

 

A Boeing 767-23B(ER) of Italian operator ‘Meridiana’.

 

Originally built for ‘Air Mauritius’ in 1988 as 3B-NAK, it became N252MY with ‘MAXjet Airways’.

 

Going to ‘Air Italy’ in its current marks in 2008 and then to ‘Meridiana in 2014.

 

G-EUYA

 

An Airbus A320-232 of British Airways new in 2008 with the test registration of F-WWBM.

 

HB-ACA

An ATR-72 of ‘Etihad Regional’ (ER).

 

New as D-ANFH in 2001 for ‘Eurowings’ then to ‘Contact Air’ in 2005 with the same registration. 

 

It then went to Italian operator ‘Air Dolomiti’ as I-ADCB in 2009 before moving to ‘Darwin Air’ (DA) in 2014 with its current Swiss registration who operate it on behalf of ‘ER’.

 

EI-RDN

An Embraer ERJ-175 of Italian operator ‘Alitalia’. Another aircraft registered in the Irish Republic.

 

New in 2013.

 

LY-SPE

 

A Boeing 737-31S of Lithuanian operator ‘Small Planet airlines’.

 

New in 1997 to ‘Deutsche BA’ as D-ADBK, it has since been VT-SIX in India and EI-ANX in Ireland before going to Lithuania in 2009.

 

G-OOBH

A Boeing 757-236 of ‘Thomson Airways’ (TA).

 

Built in 1999 as N545NA for ‘National Airlines’ it has since been either G-OOBH or when in the summer it worked for ‘First Choice Airways’ (FCA).

 

Or C-FOBH when in the winter it worked for ‘Sky Service’ of Canada.

 

It came to ‘TA’ when they took over ‘FCA’ in 2010.

 

G-EZIW

 

An Airbus A 319-111 of ‘Easyjet’. New in 2005 with the test registration D-AVXE.

 

G-EZUW

An Airbus A 320-214 of ‘Easyjet’. New in 2012 with the test registration D-AUBY.

 

EI-IMI

An Airbus A 318-112 of ‘Alitalia’. New in 2002 as I-BIMI for ‘Alitalia’. Re-registered 2010 in the Irish Republic. 

 

Previously D-AVWZ for test purposes.

 

EI-FHD

A Boeing 737-8JP of ‘Norwegian Air International’ (NAI). New in 2012 as LN-DYX to ‘Norwegian Air Shuttle’. To ‘NAI’ May 2014.