KC Sim

JAL has confirmed that the first aircraft that will be painted in the new livery is a Boeing 767-300ER for international operations. I gather that the tsuru that has been re-adopted will not fully resemble its previous logo dating back to August 1959. JAL described its new tsuru logo as " a soaring Japanese red-crown crane with its wings extended in full flight". This is beginning to sound exciting already. JAL and AA are destined to enter into some kind of joint venture and in readiness for that, AA has already ordered two B777-300ER that will be delivered at the end of 2012. KC Sim

Greetings Rene, Thank you very much for your very useful website. As we are in recent years seeing a strong growth in bizjet traffic in this part of the world, your site is very useful in providing identification of such traffic before they arrive. Is it possible for you to also include owner or operator? I have bookmarked your website for future reference. KC Sim

Qantas may have provided the largest aircraft in special livery ... but I clearly remembered that the loudest expressions and joy were released when 9M-MXC appeared!!! That was a moment to savour because it is something we least expected to see so soon. I do not know whether it is a better livery ... but it sure is refreshing. Nice shots Hoe Jyh. Did not have time to process my pictures but you have everything covered! KC

Perhaps Kwek or his friends in high places - in the tower - could force a runway change and have KLM landing on 20R. KC

Yeah!!! Long Live the tsuru!!! This certainly is the JAL news that I have hoped for years to hear of ... When JAL ditched the crane and went for that "lighted cigarette" on the forward fuselage, I frankly could not understand how they could have justified that. The perhaps they got burnt by the cigarette and decided they need something cooling and went for the current "watermelon" colour scheme. And perhaps it was too cooling and the airline's financial performance got a chill. Now it is as timely as ever to return to the tsuru - to signal a re-appreciation of its roots and origin. Perhaps JAL will re-connect with its Japanese customers ... and I too hope that the application of the tsuru on the aircraft will be artistically rendered. Japanese art must surely provide them with tonnes of inspiration. I cannot wait to see the results. Note that the "lighted cigarette" and "watermelon" are names I called them ... these are not their official names. Both were supposedly different interpretations of the Japanese sun but both failed miserably. And yes, please also bring back the name of JAL written in chinese characters. It is a brave move to bring back the tsuru - for sure it will beg the question whether the original change was appropriate. KC Sim

Yes Pieter ... will capture your plane ... whether it is -BVA, -BVB, -BVC or -BVD. Get a seat on the port side and paste yr face as flat on the window as possible during the landing ... KC

What a day this has proven to be ... to be presented with a Russian gift in the form of an IL-76TD of Volga Dnepr with 20th Anniversary markings is as good a start as one could hope for. How much more joy can one ask for ... two exotic MD-11Fs in two days! Today's trijet came from Avient ... totally out of the blue. Must be a load of Chinese New Year goodies from Hong Kong or China. Some familiar subjects in good light too added to the joy of the day. This is the first time I have captured a satisfactory shot of Firefly's ATR72-500 ... the newest addition to the fleet too. A Fokker 27F of Asialink to welcome Pieter who is due to arrive in two days. Another fairly regular but elusive visitor is this Airbus A340-200 from the Brunei Royal Flight. Boeing BBJs are always a joy to watch ... VP-BIZ is a regular sighting at Changi and Seletar Airports. Good things comes in little packages ... such as this Hawker Beechcraft 900XP registered VQ-BPH ... and this private Dassault Falcon 900EX registered LN-AKR. Lets hope the present run of good weather continues for some time. Had another great day spotting with Hoe Jyh. KC Sim

What a sunny day ... after months of absolutely horrible weather. The morning session produced a few little buses ... beginning with Kingfisher Airlines' and Kingfisher Beer's owner's personal A319CJ VT-VJM. Another small bus in the shape of SEAIR's A319 RP-C4319 ... no stranger to Singapore's skies as it was a former Tiger Airways fleet member. Tiger Airways has in recent months been rather prolific in adding new A320s to its fleet. Its newest additions IS 9V-TAT. Our good fortunes remained intact in the afternoon with a few special arrivals. Transmile Air's MD-11F 9M-TGQ arrived from Subang and immediately proceeded to the premises of SASCO. No doubt it will re-emerge in the livery of a new owner or operator. KLM finally obliged with its Skyteam B777-300ER in good light. Saudi Arabian Airlines has recently added turn-around flights to Singapore using B777-200ERs. ANA's newest B767-200ER with winglets JA620A returned to Singapore. Thai Airways International's afternoon flight was upsized today to a B747-400 ... a newly painted HS-TGG. Vietnam Airlines too jumped on the upsizing bandwagon with a B777-200ER. A little light peeped out two days ago on 17 Jan ... just long enough for me to grab two subjects: First to arrive from Colombo was this B757-200B N226G of Comco. I always have a soft spot for Qatar Airways' B777-200LR ... A7-BBB is today's Oryx doing the run to Singapore and Bali. KC Sim

When did this take effect? No wonder I was forced into a middle seat on my KUL-LHR flight earlier this week! It was horrible, and the person with the window seat slammed the window shades shut as soon as the plane became airborne. This remained closed all the way till just before landing at LHR - it was a night flight all the way anyway, but it would have been nice to at least see something beyond a solid window shade. How much is this nominal fee? And does it really apply even for a window seat? KC Sim

Looks like the Business Class passenger has to tuck his feet into that little "cubby hole" at the sharper end of his personal space. I gather this is unavoidable but as long as one could stretch out and lie flat, it does not matter. The centre row of Premium Economy seats are quite awkward for a couple travelling together, especially one that is lovey-dovey. They are perhaps better off seating across the aisle from one another where they could at least still see one another without pinching a nerve on their necks. Personally, I am not thrilled about the predominance of grey tones in the cabin ... very lacking in warmth. The stake and competition is high for well-heeled passengers in the premium cabins. And Cathay Pacific is finally realising that its existing not-so-old Business Class seats just don't measure up. The carriers from the Middle East are really giving Far Eastern carriers a run for their money. I just returned from a Munich-Doha-Singapore flight with Qatar Airways and I was mighty impressed by its inflight service. The best of its crew members are certainly those from the Philippines. And the IFE in the B777-200LR is wonderful ... very easy to navigate - even for an IT-d10t like me. Only disappointment was the super small food portion served on a plastic tray that I swear looked similar to my niece's play kitchen set from years ago. I hope that Cathay Pacific - just like SQ - continues to entice with superior meal services. KC Sim

Hi Mwingers, with all the changes in fleet going on, could someone post what is the definitive MAS fleet (operational fleet plus orders) as of 1 December 2010 or later ... and perhaps we could have this updated at the beginning of each month. Does anyone know for sure the delivery schedule of the B737-800s ... and the planned routes of these beyond the current BKI-HND route. Are any of the B738s ordered going to Firefly and if so, how many? What is the latest delivery schedule for the A380s and are these still destined for service to AMS, LHR, SYD ... where else? Appreciate any help you could render. KC Sim

Oh my gosh ... yet another great shot of the endless stream of VVIP flights in Hanoi. KC Sim

Hi Pieter, Yes, I was in Manila and thanks to Kaneyoshi who gave me the name of a road, I was able to find my way to a nice spot. Spotting in Manila is great fun and I do have quite a few images to share. But I could not find a "Spotting in Manila" thread ... or should I start one? KC Sim

N707JT has been one of the most beautiful airliner many of us have photographed in SIN ... and for those who have met John Travolta, he is one of the nicest soul on Earth too. He has brought his B707-138 to SIN at least twice and on one occasion, many of us who were waiting to photograph his departure would remember how he caused a go-around. I hope he keeps N707JT flying for a very very long time and that we get to see it in our home airports in Singapore and Malaysia many more times. KC Sim

The weather recently has been horrible. After being blanketed by haze from Sumatra for a week, we had nothing but rain with the weathermen forecasting even more rain as the monsoons arrive and La Nina takes hold. Even then - and thankfully, there were little breaks just barely long enough for a few planes to be captured. On 11 November 2010, we had this B767-200 N2767 arriving from Manila. I was surprised when Myanmar Airways International (MAI) sent its newly leased Airbus A321 F-GYAO (a former Air Mediterranee aircraft). Thankfully, this one has a completely white fuselage (as opposed to a light grey one on the A320s) and the cheatlines do not wrap round the nose. Most importantly, it has the new flag of the Union of Myanmar. Yesterday (12 November 2010), our wait for the MD-11F of Avient was in vain when it landed on runway 02C in gorgeous light!! As a consolation, we were offered an MD-10 of Fedex N385FE returning from its post-maintenance test flight. And I realise that Jetstar Asia's latest A320 9V-JSI has the larger billboard titles that we have previously seen on the Australian registered aircraft. KC Sim

T Azahan: I think that bald gentleman disembarking Qatar plane is its outspoken and blunt CEO, Mr Akbar Al Baker. It sure is ... especially from the top-down view, his signature "barcode" hair pattern at the top of his balding pate is evident. Outspoken is an understatement - one could be outspoken and still be measured and diplomatic. You could almost expect a barrage aimed at one aircraft manufacturer at each major airshow - in between, I guess his employees and other business associates bear the brunt of his verbal assault. I believe the Angkor Air Cambodia A321 may have stealthily picked up Mr Ban Ki Moon in Singapore because the plane quietly came to SIN (and went to the VIP complex) and was out in a jiffy a few days ago. KC Sim

Notice how amazingly spotless the Qatar A330 is! And the ladies wearing red ao-dai are all so well-poised, seemingly tall and of uniform height. At first, I told myself : Would I love to be that photographer at the top of the stairs ... but a second later, I wish I were Tuan Khiem with this beautiful bird's-eye view. What sunny weather you have in Hanoi. Here in SIN, we have been warned to expect wetter than normal weather due to the coming monsoons and La Nina effect. Looks like my poor camera will be in semi-retirement for a while - unless I can go somewhere sunnier for spotting. KC Sim

Wow ... wow .... and more wows!!!! Tuan Khiem, absolutely love your images of both common visitors and rare guests, even those at night! Love the Korean Air Force B744 and Indian Air Force IL-76 (missed shooting this one on approach to Delhi Airport in 2002 by just 10 seconds). Keep your shots coming and keep making us droool uncontrollably ... makes me promise myself a trip to HAN for shooting sometime this winter. The Spotting in HAN page has been my favourite for a while as a result of these great shots! Well done. Kok Chwee SIM (KC) Singapore

Francis : You are right ... it should be Endless Discovery ... don't know why my stubby fingers kept typing Journey! Must be old age. Thanks for the correction. KC

Yesterday (2 Nov 2010), JAL surprised by sending in their B767 with the new "Endless Journey" markings. The Yokoso Japan tourism campaign - after more than 5 years - has been replaced by a new "Endless Journey" campaign and thankfully, the new logo is added to some ANA and JAL planes. Wish it was a little more colourful though. KC Sim

Airphil Express flight 2P-800 on the evening of 30 October 2010 was operated by RP-C3227 ... definitely not a mistake as I was on this flight. I flew to Manila on the inaugural flight 2P-801 on 27 October and this was operated by RP-C8388. During the three days I was in Manila, I have only seen RP-C3227, RP-C8388 and RP-C8389. There are several Dash 8 (both -300s and Q400s) including RP-C3018 with Philippine Airlines tail logo and Airphil Express titles (plus small "Operated by Air Philippines" sticker on the fuselage). Thanks to information from Kane Yoshi, I was able to proceed directly to Multi-national Avenue to photograph planes landing on runway 06. KC Sim

This is where I always feel that most airlines are capable of wow-ing one load of passengers at some point ... but it is far more important to be consistently in delivering a good quality of service. This way, the customers know that they can expect a minimum standard of service that is already ahead of most of the other airlines. I've had great service - potentially some of the best I've experienced - on some Asian carriers, but sadly this experience is not often delivered on subsequent flights. KC Sim

Bet you that if tomorrow somebody decides to establish LCCs in Port Moresby, Biak, Mandalay or in Port Blair, Dato TF would not have an opinion. But try establishing one in Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia ... then fangs and talons will be out and all those talk of competition being good for the consumer goes flying out of the window. And talk about keeping to one's core business ... I think that does not hold water. Many airlines have in the past dabbled with hotel business and most have withdrawn after realising that it is not considered a core aviation business. So whether Tune Hotels is in step with sticking to an airline's core business or out of tune, only time will tell. The cat fight between the two is interesting to watch ... and it will be fun to see what the final outcome will be. Will the Tiger succeed in pouncing on the opportunity to create a cub in Thailand or will Dato TF be able to decide whether everyone can fly in Thailand. One thing I know for sure, do not believe every (or any) word you hear coming out of either. KC Sim

The management of MAS should go to a local design college, give the students there a broad brief and give them the liberty to work from a clean sheet ... and see what they could come out with. I am certain you will find some very fresh ideas compared to what they have now adopted as the new livery. This definitely looked like an in-house design job and the rendition of this on the B747-400 does make one apprehensive about how this will look in the flesh. And I am most apprehensive about this livery on the A380. It should be noted that airline liveries may not be very colourful but could still come out looking elegant. El Al's blue and silver is very effective - simple colours, elegant lines and still representative of the Israeli flag. Qantas' new livery does look quite good - at least better than on paper and Emirates' colours on the tail are simple and shows the flag. The airline's name in gold is a nice touch. Air France's livery is the simplest but does look quite good when seen in good light (and especially when the plane is clean). Can some of Mwing members give objective and strong feedback to MH through other channels - hopefully the management has the courage to change the new livery if a better idea is put forward. KC Sim

Josh T : " I don't know about you guys but the kite on the tail now looks "old" compared to the livery on the fueslage." Agree with this comment. This is the result when the livery on the fuselage is given a treatment totally independent of the tail. It probably is a management brief that clearly spelt out for the logo on the tail not to be touched. I wish the new livery had used a deeper blue and a deeper red (almost burgurndy). It remains to be seen if this livery will stand out nicely when applied on bigger aircraft. I am concerned that the two patches of red and blue on the fuselage will be quite massive on the A380. But I think on the B744, it will be quite nice. Let's give this livery a chance ... how nice if the two "stingray" patches on the fuselage can be of different colours on different aircraft ... or perhaps be modified to feature subtle batik patterns. KC Sim