Hoe Jyh

20/1 Thursday From Russia with love... Volga Dnepr sent in their stunning IL76TD-90 RA-76952 this morning to kick start another fruitful and enjoyable day of spotting Undoubtedly a timeless classic, the IL76 manages to look masculine with its thick high mounted wings and yet graceful as well with its highly swept wings. Another view of this amazing Russian freighter with its characteristic huge high mounted anhedral wings. The IL76TD-90 version is equipped with modern digital avionics and is powered by Perm PS-90A-76 engines which allows it to be operated into Europe. The F27-Friendship is yet another timeless aviation classic and Asialink's examples are always a great joy to photograph with its striking livery although they operate to Changi on a daily basis. Brunei Royal Flight A342 V8-BKH also popped by Changi during lunchtime today. BBJ VP-BIZ has a unique and rather classy livery. Avient Cargo M11F Z-BVT as SMJ674 from HKG. Love the cute red nose! FedEx M11F N605FE was also photographed returning from an airtest. Thanks for reading!

Lovely shots there, KC! It was indeed a very productive day with great weather and subjects. VJ Mallya's private A319CJ VT-VJM operated into Changi today as KFR11 from Mumbai in beautiful morning light. Although the Singapore F1 Grand Prix had been staged here for the past 3 years, we had not been able to obtain a decent shot of this aircraft as he tends to come in and leave at odd hours in the night. The nose of the aircraft carries the names of the mogul's 3 children: Sidhartha, Leana and Tanya. Sriwijaya Air B734 PK-CJW with its striking red and blue based livery. Former Transmile M11F 9M-TGQ as TH11 from SZB wearing only the cargo carrier's basic colours and devoid of any titles. Vietnam Airlines also sent their B772ER VN-A142 again as the afternoon flight from Hanoi. The livery simply looks stunning in the mid-afternoon sun on a clean aircraft! Thai Airways provided a very nice surprise by upsizing their afternoon flight to a B747-400. Although HS-TGG is a regular visitor to Changi in recent months, it is great to see this aircraft now being repainted in the airline's new livery. KLM Skyteam B77W PH-BVD as KL835 from Amsterdam. Hope to see you on her this Saturday, Pieter! Thanks for reading!

Here she is, Hong Kong Airlines A332 B-LNC Unfortunately the sun had decided to hide itself behind some clouds when she arrived

Unfortunately no as today (or rather yesterday) is a Sunday and thus KL835 does not operate. KL837 was operated by PH-BQE which had went to land on 02C as 02L was closed for runway cleaning at that time.

After a rather long spell of terrible weather over the past few months, we finally had a stretch of rather good light this afternoon Air New Zealand NZ6021 from Christchurch was operated by B767-300ER ZK-NCL with winglets. China Eastern provided a very nice surprise ahead of Chinese New Year by upsizing and sending in A346 B-6055 with Expo livery instead of the usual AB6. At long last, Jetstar finally obliged and sent in their 'albino' A332 VH-EBC in excellent evening light today. British Airways B744 G-CIVZ with One World livery. Thanks for reading!

02 Jan 11 With the beginning of a new year, the weather also seemed to have momentarily taken a turn for the better at last. Las Vegas Sands B737-300 N789LS seemed to have taken over the duty of its sister aircraft N788LS, which appeared to have been stored from online records. This 22 year old aircraft had previously operated for Condor as D-AGED and Delta Airlines as N224DA before joining the casino giant's fleet in 2007. Apart from JA619A, ANA also has another B763ER which is fitted with winglets. JA620A was delivered to the airline in mid-November, but unlike JA619A, it seemed that the winglets were fitted by Boeing prior to delivery. Jetstar A332 is now a regular feature at Changi with a daily afternoon arrival as JQ7 from MEL. Still patiently waiting for an opportunity to photograph the 'albino' VH-EBC! Garuda Indonesia sent their B744 PK-GSI again as GA8284 from CGK this evening. British Airways B744 G-CIVW has an additional sticker on her nose that says "Air Force Scrum". This aircraft was the official aircraft which brought the British & Irish rugby Lions team to South Africa for their tour in 2009, and the name of the aircraft was chosen after a naming contest. http://press.ba.com/?p=706 Thanks for viewing

Vietnam Airlines B772ER VN-A142 MH605 was operated by B738 9M-MLG. Apologies for the bad quality due to the heat haze. A cheerful cockpit crew similing for the camera as they taxi 9M-AQA into Gate C11 With that, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and here's to more exciting subjects in great weather next year!

Thursday, 16 Dec 10 Jetstar launched its inaugural daily non-stop Singapore-Melbourne service on 16 Dec 2010 using a widebody A330-200. VH-EBE had the honours of performing this historic flight, which is also the first scheduled widebody long haul service operated by a low cost carrier from Singapore Changi airport. Unfortunately the weather was not very cooperate that evening but the newly opened viewing mall did come in very useful in such adverse weather conditions Sunday, 19 Dec 10 Air Asia sent both its Thailand and Malaysian version of Truly ASEAN. 9M-AFA HS-ABD VH-EBD arriving as JQ7 from Melbourne in significantly better lighting conditions Las Vegas Sands B747SP VP-BLK also made an unscheduled appearance this afternoon. Dubai Amiri B747-400 A6-COM departing for Dubai Thanks for viewing!

Thanks everyone! Hope this rare stroke of luck with a usable viewing gallery would allow us to get more photos of the traffic in SIN from another angle with some background in the picture as well. Waiping: No idea, but the 2 A380s were parked at the engine run-up bay until this evening when one of them was towed across to park at the SATS Cargo Complex instead. Pieter: Oh yes, the new flag looks rather out of place as compared to the old flag which only comprised of red, blue and a white emblem. Personally, I felt that the flag looked more at home on an African carrier instead! The B732F in the photo is PK-YGP and is operated by Tri-MG, but the aircraft has Neptune Air basic colours. QANTAS B767-300ER VH-OGT 'Maroochydore' in QF's new livery turning into gate C16 as QF77 from Perth. As the A333s that were deployed on this route were roped in to operate longer sectors such as SIN-MEL due to the grounding of the airline's A380 fleet, some of the shorter flights such as QF77/78 reverted back to using B763ERs instead.

Wow okay....I am definitely going to miss the B737s when they are gone! It doesn't help that Indonesia Air Asia's A320s do not have any special schemes at all so far..

Some shots from an unusually sunny afternoon yesteraday There is still a slight green tint to the clear panes of glass which I had mentioned earlier. However the green tint is significantly less than those at T2, T3 or Crowne Plaza. Here is a photo straight out of the camera showing the green tint... ...and the same photo with some Auto-colour from photoshop. Other photos from yesterday at the same location Singapore Airlines A340-500 9V-SGC MAI A321 F-GYAO turning into Gate D32. Thai Airways B777-300 HS-TKC Indonesia Air Asia B737-300 PK-AWX 'Amazing' Thanks for reading!

After being closed for renovations for more than a year, the new Terminal 1 viewing mall had finally reopened yesterday. After a series of disastrous viewing malls at Terminal 2 and 3 which featured double layered glass that prevented any attempts at obtaining decent photos of aircraft, we were not very optimistic with how the Terminal 1 viewing mall would eventually turn out. However, as the renovation progressed on through the past year, there was a glimmer of hope as it seemed that the remodelled T1 viewing mall might still retain a single layer of glass. Entrance to the Terminal 1 viewing mall. The new viewing mall allows visitors to have a more expansive view of the restricted area as compared to the old viewing mall. The new viewing mall features a sloped ceiling with shielded lighting. Though the sloped ceiling means that the lights are directly projected onto the glass, the fact that the light sources are partially shielded by the ceiling panels help to reduce the reflections. View of the viewing mall from the other side. The new viewing mall is approximately half the area of the former T1 central apron viewing mall and overlooks the C pier in the central apron. There is a standard flight board as well as toilets available in the viewing gallery. It might be of note that there is currently no reception for Wireless@SG at the viewing mall. The main highlight of the viewing mall is the new glass floor and ceiling.Most importantly, it still only has a single layer of glass! The tempered glass floor can take a maximum of 500kg/m2. This translates into a maximum load of approximately 4 people per square metre with a weight of 125kg each. There are 3 panes of untinted glass while the other glass panes have a slight green tint to it. These panes are clear glass were originally meant for fire fighting access in the unlikely event of an emergency. There is almost no noticeable tint for photos taking through the clear panes of glass. The photo of the VN A332 at gate C13 below had not been adjusted for colour. Of course, there are still some visitors who are still more comfortable with the 'double layered' view which the T2 and T3 viewing mall offers Thanks for reading!

Some photos from my brief visit to Senai airport yesterday The rather impressive new terminal extension which houses a shopping area. The entrance driveway in front of the terminal is now brightly lit, and features an underground carpark in addition to a new surface carpark besides the terminal building. The architecture is a very welcome change from the 'KLIA clones' which seems to characterise many of the new renovated airport terminals in Malaysia. Aeromall at Senai Airport The brightly lit interior of the new terminal extension. To date, most of the shops remain vacant. Interior decoration Before the construction of the new terminal, this covered walkway used to be an open pavement and the site of the old bus stop. The 'quitessential' Senai airport shot with a MH B734 9M-MQO boarding passengers from Gate 1 bound for KCH and BKI at 1400hrs. There would be a 4hrs lull until the next passenger aircraft arrival! Unfortunately, the existing section of the terminal which contains the departure and arrival halls had not been renovated. Thus, travellers can expect a big shock when walking from the brand new terminal extension into this section of the terminal to check in for their flights. A slight consolation is that the fly population at the food court and Marybrown restaurant had decreased significantly since my previous visit. Senai airport is primarily served by an airport shuttle which is operated by Causeway Link to Kotaraya II terminal in the city and costs RM8 per pax for the 45min journey. Alternatively, JB Central Line (formerly known as GML Line, also sometimes known as Meridian Transport) operates service A1 (formerly known as G1) from Larkin Terminal to Senai Airport. The 1hr journey costs RM3.50. WFY4630, a Scania L113 was photographed departing the new bus pick up point at the extreme right of the terminal. Causeway Link also operates a mythical service 333 which is identical to service A1 and charges to the same fare. The service is referred to as mythical because it is very seldom in service. However, the public bus service frequency is erratic although frequency improves in the evening when there are more movements. For example, there was only 1 bus deployed on service A1 during my visit yesterday which was supplemanted by another solitary bus operating Causeway Link service 333, resulting in an average frequency of about 75mins. Thanks for reading!

15/10 Thai Airways continued with their 'Friday special' and sent their Star Alliance B744 HS-TGW as TG413 from Bangkok. Although it is not very apparent from the photo, the revised Star Alliance titles and tail logo are huge! Air Macau Cargo seems to be a regular every Friday afternoon now B-MBJ A300-600F is named 'Harmony'. Tiger Airways 9V-TAO turbotiger on finals at the end of her flight from Haikou. I wonder if 9V-TAP has a similar name applied on her nose! As the sun gradually shifts towards the south at this time of the year, aircraft which use runway 20 for arrivals are illuminated head-on. This allows one to appreciate the many curved blades which make up the 110 inch diameter fan on the GE90-110B engines that power one of the most fuel efficient cargo aircraft today. Rounding up the day is a QANTAS B744 VH-OJU with OneWorld titles as QF10 from LHR. Thanks for viewing

Sheik Mustafa Edrees's private A319CJ P4-MIS. Certainly a very interesting livery! Additional flight EK346 from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore. It was operated by a B772 A6-EML which used to be very common in Singapore in the past but is now certainly considered as a rare type to be seen here!

25/9 Air New Zealand ZK-NBU as NZ6019 from AKL Bombardier Global Express VP-BEM China Sonangol Intl A318CJ B-6188 as CCA098 from HKG. It is operated on behalf of the entity by Air China Business Jets.

18/9 KLM Skyteam PH-BVD made a repeat visit to SIN today as KL835 VistaJet Challenger 850 OE-ILV Las Vegas Sands Gulfstream V N383LS Embraer Legacy PK-RSS Candair Challenger 604 N280K Delivery flight of SQ's newest A333 yet, 9V-STQ as SQ330 from TLS.

Some photos to share from the long Hari Raya weekend This photo of KLM Skyteam PH-BVD is especially dedicated to Pieter for all his efforts in trying to sound us out whenever she was scheduled to visit Singapore as KL835. After countless attempts in less than sterling weather, she finally arrived in great mid-afternoon sun. The One World camp decided that the KLM Skyteam should not get all the attention and sent in 2 of its logojets (JA707J & G-CIVK) as well on Sunday. Star Alliance has a home advantage in this alliance special livery parade, with Singapore Airlines sending 9V-SYEon several regional flights during the weekend which allowed us to have several opportunities to get a photo of her in excellent weather. British Airways sent in G-YMMI, which featured an additional title "Keep Our Flag Flying" at the rear of the aircraft. This title was added to signify the carrier's resolve to sustain normal operations during the massive crew strikes earlier this year. Vietnam Airlines upsized their equipment on the Hanoi flight during the long weekend and sent in B772ER VN-A144 on Saturday. RMAF Dassault Falcon M37-01 paid a Hari Raya visit to Singapore. 9M-AFH Hats off to Dato Pahamin HS-ABD Truly ASEAN...my first shot of this livery even though there is one each in AK's and FD's fleet! Hope you enjoy viewing the photos and Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri to all.

VN contined to upsize their equipment today with a A333 VN-A368 which sports a white nose. This aircraft was first delivered to LTU on 30/03/1995 as D-AERH and continued to serve with Skyservice, Air Luxor and HiFly before joining VN's fleet on 15/02/2007. Just to share another photo of an Air India B777-300ER VT-ALT which was photographed arriving in this morning's excellent light.

The flight RI809 was operated by an A320, PK-RML. 26/08 A Bombardier Global Express VP-BJI with a very nice light blue livery which matches the crisp blue skies very well. Leased B767-300ER CS-TQI which was operated for Sri Lankan Airlines as UL312 from CMB.

Druk Air A319 A5-RGG operating flight DRK510. FedEx MD-10-10F N383FE departing for an Air Test.

The FedEx schedules in the past few weeks had been quite interesting as FX sometimes do send in the B777F on the CAN-SIN-CAN run too! In addition the early afternoon flight from CAN is often at A313 as well.

Vietnam Airlines finally sent their Skyteam A332 VN-A371 with some decent sunlight Its a pity that the shoddy paintwork does not do justice to such a lovely livery. TNT also sent in their B744ERF OO-THA in the company's new revised livery. This includes the addition of their slogen "Sure We Can" on both the front and on the tail.

Southern Air B742SF N820SA in new livery returning from Air Test. Hawker 800XP VT-RAN operated by India based Religare Voyages.

Some B777 shots in today's gorgeous afternoon sun from the land of endless B777s 9V-SVB in Royal Brunei colours returning from her test flight with the RAT deployed. She will be delivered to BI shortly. Vietnam Airlines seem to prefer sending their B772ER over here to SIN instead of the A332 over the past 2 weeks. The strong early afternoon sun does no favours in highlighting the many flaws on VN-A141's paintwork. Delighted to see FedEx sending in other types to S'pore apart from the usual M11F, and for once I don't mind photographing another B772!