Couldn't find a topic for this one (apologies if it's been discussed), but -- after talking about random long-haul flights involving places like BTV (GLEX from VCE) and MHT (DL A330 diversion) -- I thought it might be interesting to discuss (particularly for those who live/have lived near smaller airports) the most unique long-haul movement(s) at your local airport.

A bit of context: I've been interested in long-haul (particularly TATL) ops almost as long as I've been interested in aviation. While I live in Boston -- where there is never a dearth of long-haul action -- I grew up in Maine near PWM, so I didn't get to see many heavies or long-haul flights growing up. In-state, BGR and its variety of (mostly unscheduled) TATL arrivals was two hours away.

BOS is my local airport, but for the purposes of this I'll use PWM: as far as that goes, there have been a number of B6 A321 delivery flights that have arrived from XFW and TLS since 2013, so I'd have to consider those my pick.

There are lots of long hauls especially Pacific locations from Vancouver YVR. However although not scheduled we regularly see a French Air Force A340 stop here on its way to Papeete. That's quite cool. Aside from that we must have 8 or 9 different Chinese carriers heading to multiple cities across China. My favourite bird right now is the A350 of Cathay Pacific from HKG...beautiful.

my home airport is now RSW so the only long-haul besides Canada ops was AirBerlin A330-200 RSW-DUS, which soon will be EW A330-200 RSW-MUC/RSW-DUS. If you ever land here though you will almost always see multiple Western Global aircraft parked on the north side of the ramp. MD-11's and 747-400F's, so even though I believe those are just ferried to MIA when needed, they certainly are unique.

My prior home airport was DTW, and I think the Royal Jordanian now 787-9 ranks up there. I Miss seeing the big blue KLM, and only scheduled long-haul is DL/LH/RJ/AF/WW at the moment but a lot of diversions create interesting sites. Singapore/Qantas A380s recently from NYC, Emirates from ORD more than once.

My local port is MAN in the UK. MAN has some decent selection of long haul, we do get the odd random/rare flights though. Air India 737-800s use to go via here or BHX through delivery. Aside from that I do like the Hainan A330s or Cathay a350s and Saudi 787s that MAN gets on a regular basis.

Here at YOW, being Canada’s Capital, whenever a head of state/monarch/PM/President visits Ottawa, we get the VIP bird(s) come in. A couple of weeks ago I spotted a Belgian A330 landing for a state visit. A nice treat in addition to the daily 767s or FedEx A300 at the airport.

We also get ad-hoc charters every now and then, such as an Atlas 744F (often these ship plane loads of bank notes) a few days ago and AN124s stop in on occasion to transport oversized cargo, such as satellites.

We’re also the primary alternate for EK’s A380 YYZ flights.

Here in Fairbanks FAI we have the distinction of being the smallest city in the US with scheduled service to Europe. That comes in the form of a weekly summer seasonal Condor 763 to FRA. I took this flight last summer and it was cool to see Fairbanks on the departure board at FRA. We also get Asian charters here, and I’ve seen JL 788, CI 330, KE 332, etc.

‘902

During the Winter, Salzburg used to get Transaero 744s which were neat.

My local airport is JFK, and so the real unusual moves are whenever an Ilyushin or Antonov arrive here or an A340 from Iran. Last year it was an ex-Virgin Atlantic A340 owned now by Iran Aseman (msn 2) the precious two it was a state-owned, Meraj-operated ex-Air Canada A340 (msn 257, which was actually destined for the breakers with AeroTurbine until a series of transactions to get it to Iran).

Samrnpage wrote:

My local port is MAN in the UK. MAN has some decent selection of long haul, we do get the odd random/rare flights though. Air India 737-800s use to go via here or BHX through delivery. Aside from that I do like the Hainan A330s or Cathay a350s and Saudi 787s that MAN gets on a regular basis.

MAN isn't really unique in the way that the title suggests.

MAN has a fair amount of of long haul flights seen on a daily basis from 17 different airlines, I wouldn't regard that as being unique considering that it is United Kingdom's third busiest airport with long haul operations.

My home airport is PER,

There's a certain QF9 you may have heard of recently.
As well as SAA's only Australian destination which uses a combination of A343, A346 and as of recently, A332

My home airports now are LGA & JFK however back in CLE it’s always interesting when the Saudi Air 747s showed up or back in the day when United would send it’s NYC diversions, I remember one storm where there were 5 or 6 777s lined up (mostly Asia diversions)... I have no idea how customs processed everyone but none the less was impressive to see them lined up at an airport which usually sees no wide body passenger service...

steveinbc wrote:

There are lots of long hauls especially Pacific locations from Vancouver YVR. However although not scheduled we regularly see a French Air Force A340 stop here on its way to Papeete. That's quite cool. Aside from that we must have 8 or 9 different Chinese carriers heading to multiple cities across China. My favourite bird right now is the A350 of Cathay Pacific from HKG...beautiful.

I was lucky enough to see that A340 about a year ago in March at YVR on my spring break trip to Whistler. For my home airport of Seattle, the occasional diversions, most recently the QF 744 are pretty cool. Regularly scheduled, I’d go with the HU A330 and 787. The red and yellow is so vibrant. Living in close proximity to PAE and BFI allows me to see all kinds of exotic aircraft in a not so exotic setting.

SLC-AMS on KLM

AUS sees some pretty interesting heavy movement! Between the EK 77W weather diversions fro IAH and the Formula 1/Grand Prix we see IB Airbus heavies, and other special event one-offs like the SXSW SK A330 and DL 763.

For BED it has to be the DL 752 and Swift 737 charters for the Celtics and Bruins respectively. For BOS it is definitely the old 757 of TACV arrivals were very special.

My nearby airport is PAE. A lot of wide bodies leave and never come back.

At RFD we see the odd diversion from ORD, there was a Qatar 777 here a few weeks ago. While not long haul both the Embraer 195-E2 and Mitsubishi MRJ have been here in the last month for flight testing.

At my home airport PIT, up until 2016 we had a DL 752 to CDG on a seasonal basis.

So far for 2018 we will have:
DL 763 to CDG (seasonal)
DE 763 to FRA (seasonal)
WW A320neo/A321 to KEF
QR 77F to LUX

Hopefully I can catch the QR 77F again but unfortunately it arrives very early in the morning and it's only 2x weekly. Makes for getting a photo of it very difficult.

Cunard wrote:

MAN isn't really unique in the way that the title suggests.

MAN has a fair amount of of long haul flights seen on a daily basis from 17 different airlines, I wouldn't regard that as being unique considering that it is United Kingdom's third busiest airport with long haul operations.

It is true MAN does not have a dearth of long-haul activity, but, to be fair, I think the Air India 738s delivery flights Samrnpage mentioned are pretty unique. Certainly jealous of MAN getting CX A359s! We get the 77W here in BOS and that is pretty cool but I do like the CX livery on the A359 frame.

NickolayAv wrote:

For BED it has to be the DL 752 and Swift 737 charters for the Celtics and Bruins respectively. For BOS it is definitely the old 757 of TACV arrivals were very special.

I have never seen the 752/737 charters at BED. Then again, I've only been there a handful of times, and I am in Cambridge, so not exactly close to the patterns for BED's 11/29.

As far as BOS favorites go, my favorite long-haul aircraft has to be the BA 744. They have been coming here for what seems like forever but there is something majestic about the Union Jack tail and Speedmarque on the 747 frame. I often enjoy watching the evening TATL departures from 33L, and while I enjoy them all the Speedbird Jumbo is the one I particularly look for.

BoeingGuy wrote:

My nearby airport is PAE. A lot of wide bodies leave and never come back.

https://tinyurl.com/y7gk4f6v

My home airport is Cardiff CWL. We don't get a lot of long haul but do get about 10 Caribbean flights throughout the winter operated by TUI with their 787 8s. The airport has Qatar starting in a couple of weeks and the inaugural flight will be an A350 900 then it'll shift to 787 8s. The airport also has a BA maintenance centre so sees a few heavies because of that with most coming from Heathrow but a few months back the 747 that lost an engine on take off at Phoenix flew in from Phoenix via the Caribbean on 3 engines.
For a small airport, 1.4 million passengers last year, Cardiff does pretty well on long haul. Hopefully one day as well the airport will get Orlando back and get new long haul flights to the likes of New York!

10 years ago a few AY long hauls diverted to TMP due to heavy snowfall at HEL. I was driving past TMP and saw one landing. Probably first heavies at TMP?

CI daily 777-300ER ONT-TPE

Some years ago EIN almost saw it's first regular long haul service. OR was planning on EIN-AUA/CUR on a 787 but was denied permission. Now the furthest destination served from EIN on a regular basis is TFS. We do sometimes get military charters that fly long haul from EIN.

Prague (PRG) has a heavy presence of Mainland China carriers while it lacks other major Asian/Asia-Pacific airlines (such as JAL/ANA, Cathay, EVA, Vietnam, Air India or Singapore Airlines).

Sichuan Airlines: Chengdu, Zurich
China Eastern: Shanghai, Xi'an
Hainan: Beijing, Belgrade

My local airport is BNE, and whilst it's not long-haul at all, we have the pleasure of hosting the only scheduled 767 passenger service to Australia since QF/NZ retired their's (PX from POM). As for long-haul, we are also the only BR served destination in Australia/New Zealand.

For MAA - it has to be that Air Austral service to the Reunion Islands.

Boston area also, PSM is my local airport. I'm sure there are some interesting aircraft landing there thanks to the long runway and being an official port of entry, but there isn't enough activity in general for spotters to be camped out there, so it would be hard to know. Local papers do report unique military aircraft visiting, like harriers.

Edit: quick search of photos from psm here reveals mostly military and aircraft from airshows. I suppose us having hosted Boston regional airshows on many years has introduced a little bit of everything to PSM in the past.

Here at NCL, its pretty much limited to the daily EK 777 to Dubai, or an occasional Florida/Cancun/Carribean charter.

But its not that long since it used to have an Air Transat to Toronto every week. The A310 was always interesting to catch as it passed over.

I've seen Kuwait Airways in a few times on cargo ops, but thats not exactly common

[threeid][/threeid]

Crackshot wrote:

My local airport is BNE, and whilst it's not long-haul at all, we have the pleasure of hosting the only scheduled 767 passenger service to Australia since QF/NZ retired their's (PX from POM). As for long-haul, we are also the only BR served destination in Australia/New Zealand.

Doesn't BNE-LAX on QF still exist?

Longest regular scheduled flights from KEF are currently WW to LAX and FI to SFO. However, both JL and NH fly 4-8x charters each every year on a mix of 77Ws and 788s.

Arion640 wrote:

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Crackshot wrote:

My local airport is BNE, and whilst it's not long-haul at all, we have the pleasure of hosting the only scheduled 767 passenger service to Australia since QF/NZ retired their's (PX from POM). As for long-haul, we are also the only BR served destination in Australia/New Zealand.

Doesn't BNE-LAX on QF still exist?

agreed, and on VA.

I would have thought an airport a little further west would have a far more interesting aircraft movement.
the CX 74F's at WTB are a bit of an anomaly, isn't the next size down at WTB a Dash 8?

for a pic of the 747 dwarfing the airport:
http://australianaviation.com.au/2016/1 ... r-service/

TWA902fly wrote:

Here in Fairbanks FAI we have the distinction of being the smallest city in the US with scheduled service to Europe. That comes in the form of a weekly summer seasonal Condor 763 to FRA. I took this flight last summer and it was cool to see Fairbanks on the departure board at FRA. We also get Asian charters here, and I’ve seen JL 788, CI 330, KE 332, etc.

‘902

I wanted to mention this flight from the FRA side.

Crackshot wrote:

My local airport is BNE, and whilst it's not long-haul at all, we have the pleasure of hosting the only scheduled 767 passenger service to Australia since QF/NZ retired their's (PX from POM). As for long-haul, we are also the only BR served destination in Australia/New Zealand.

No long haul at BNE? What are you on about?

LAX, YVR, AUH, DXB, PEK, ORD/SEA/DFW soon

Medium:

SIN, BKK, HNL, PVG, NRT, CAN, HKG, MNL, KUL, DPS, SGN (2019), TPE

Arion640 wrote:

[threeid][/threeid]

Crackshot wrote:

My local airport is BNE, and whilst it's not long-haul at all, we have the pleasure of hosting the only scheduled 767 passenger service to Australia since QF/NZ retired their's (PX from POM). As for long-haul, we are also the only BR served destination in Australia/New Zealand.

Doesn't BNE-LAX on QF still exist?

BNE-LAX certainly still exists and is on the 744 might go to 789 soon

Crackshot wrote:

My local airport is BNE, and whilst it's not long-haul at all, we have the pleasure of hosting the only scheduled 767 passenger service to Australia since QF/NZ retired their's (PX from POM). As for long-haul, we are also the only BR served destination in Australia/New Zealand.

No long haul at BNE? What are you on about?

LAX, YVR, AUH, DXB, PEK, ORD/SEA/DFW soon

Medium:

SIN, BKK, HNL, PVG, NRT, CAN, HKG, MNL, KUL, DPS, SGN (2019), TPE

Whilst MAN does have a fair bit of long haul, one of the more unique ‘long-ish’ haul movements has to be the direct Iraqi Airways flights to Baghdad and soon, Sulimanyah.

For an airport in Western Europe to have a non stop flight to Baghdad, but not to say, Bordeaux is mind boggling.

As a kid: TXL (PA, AF and BA were always a welcome sight) but THF was truly unique (PA 747 military charters along with the occasional LO flight )
As a teen: LAX SU IL-96s and MS 767s
20s: IAH 5Y 744 SonAir
30s: DFW 4O SSJ 100

ATH doesn't really have much in the way of long-haul... Until May that is, because then it gets crazy.

oskarclare wrote:

No long haul at BNE? What are you on about?

Crackshot has got his comma in the wrong place (should be after the and, not before) but is clearly referring to the POM-BNE service not being a long-haul one rather than making a comment about BNE itself.

My local airport is GRQ and the largest we get on a regular basis are B737/A320-sized aircraft. In the past we've had our fair share of nice visitors (including test flights with B777/B747's), but early March we had our most unique movement in the 11 years that I've been there: A Boeing 747 on a charter for a full stop (the full stop being key). This wasn't really possible before 2013 (the runway and apron was extended), but it now puts us on a map and it with a great deal of media coverage of the event (doh), I hope many airlines are now aware of the possibilities.


More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kasvanzon ... 6744085908

BDL is my home airport. Most unique long haul movements are Antonov freighters hauling heavy cargo, either engines from P&W, Sikorsky helicopters, or sailboat hulls. In years past Concorde was often diverted here.

Hardly a unique equipment type, but I can't help getting excited every time I see WK's A333 touch down at my home airport of TPA after the long haul from ZRH. That livery! Somehow, the exoticism of this airline and route still tickles me after years of service, even if it's not a particularly significant service in the scheme of things.

BoeingGuy wrote:

My nearby airport is PAE. A lot of wide bodies leave and never come back.

Maybe you should retire near VCV to balance things out?

Here in GRR, we can get ORD & DTW diversions when there’s WX issues. Some of the most interesting ones I’ve seen over the years:

ORD diversions:
Singapore Cargo 744F
Great Wall 744F
Various UA 763s from Europe
Lots of domestic narrow-body aircraft (mainly UA, some AA)

DTW diversions:
DL / NW 744s from Asia
DL / NW A330s from Europe
NW DC-10
Lots of domestic narrow-body DL and NW a/c

Not diversions, but DL has sent 744s, 763s, and recently the A359 here for crew training.

In my home airport of CCS, the most exotic and exciting thing I can remember is Conviasa leasing from the likes of Air Tahiti Nui or AirAsia X. Pretty cool.

LOWS wrote:

During the Winter, Salzburg used to get Transaero 744s which were neat.

Nitpick mode on...

I would never have considered Salzburg - Moscow as long haul. Who knew!

Nitpick mode off

The most interesting at my home airport HPN is Delta 757s operating as sports charters. However, I use JFK the most, and that has some really interesting stuff. In addition to UN charter flights on A340s from Iran, Russian jets, etc., we have AZAL to GYD, Uzbekistan to TAS, etc.

LOWS wrote:

During the Winter, Salzburg used to get Transaero 744s which were neat.

Random question: Did/does Transaero have RRs on any of its 744s? I feel like I saw a set of RB211s on a Transaero 744 but it may well have been A. me imagining things or B. been a Transaero 747 but not a 744.

I live about five minutes away from KIWA(Phoenix-Mesa Gateway). We get all sorts of strange things here because manufacturers like to use it for testing as it's a relatively massive airport by runway count and length and it's relatively underused for its size.

Anyway, several times a year, we see the AN124 in here picking up brand new Apache helicopters from the factory and taking them back overseas. They usually come from somewhere else in the US and then depart back across the Atlantic. I believe the last time, about a month ago, they flew from KIWA to KEF, presumably for a fuel stop, and then on from there.

for Santiago SCL: Santiago-Easter Island-Papeete, Santiago-Punta Arenas-Mount Pleasant (Falkland Is. medium haul), and the upcoming launch to Tel Aviv. Ethiopian has pointed out that their next destination will be SCL via GIG. And then there's Emirates in July, kinda unique me thinks since it's a rather small market and the flight is 20hrs or so with a stop in GRU. Any flight to Asia or Africa seemed unthinkable up to year ago. SCL-MEL seemed logical, but still out of blue.