Spotting at Vientiane Wattay International Airport

[KC Sim 2]

It rained and rained and rained throughout my five-day visit to Vientiane . . . thankfully, the rain held back when I departed and the sun peeped out for less than five minutes. This window was just enough for me to shoot the AVIC MA-60 of Lao Airlines.

 

RDPL-34168 was suddenly awashed in brilliant sunshine just as I scrambled up the stairs to the second storey of the domestic terminal.

 

And sister-ship RDPL-34169 was started up for a domestic dash . . .

 

And just as I was boarding the Thai Airways International B737-400 for the flight to BKK, Vietnam Airlines sent a really grimy Fokker 70 in its old livery.

 

And as a parting shot, this view out of the window shows the Mekong River in the background.

 

KC Sim

[Fitri Shukri 0]

A big thank you to KC Sim for giving us rare insights on Laos aviation. Too bad it rained fr days for you. Hope to see more on Laos from you (aviation and non-aviation).

Any photo of the airport terminal?

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

Nice KC

Something new and out of the norm ...

Anymore ?

[KC Sim 2]

Here's a shot of the airport terminals - the elaborately roofed one is the international terminal with all of three gates and two aerobridges and the plain shoebox terminal on the left (white with squarish windows) is the domestic terminal.

 

Another two shots taken through the grimy window of the Thai B737-400 - first, China Eastern's special liveried jet.

 

and another view of Vietnam Airlines' grimy Fokker 70 VN-A502.

 

And here's some shots taken in 2003:

 

ATR72 in two different versions of old colours

 

A pair of Yunshuji Y-12

 

And finally, a Yunshuji Y-7-100 (with winglets!!!)

 

KC Sim

[kianhong 0]

Wow! These are really some rare stuff. Thanks for sharing. KC.

[Samuel Chy 0]

sorry for my ignorance, is that last two aircraft are Rusian made one?

[KC Sim 2]

"Yunshuji" means "transport aircraft" in Mandarin . . .

 

and the Y-7 is a Chinese-built version of the Antonov AN-24 from Xi'an while the Y-12 is an indigenously designed 17-seat utility aircraft built in Harbin.

 

KC Sim

[Andrew Yong 0]

KC Sim, excellent coverage !!! The china eastern livery is really nice !!!!

[Mahathir M. S. 0]

KC Sim those shots are really rare thanks for sharing.

[Pieter C. 5]

Excellent shots from an 'unknown' spotter's 'paradise'

 

You'll witness aircraft there, not to be seen outside Laos often...

 

Love the Y-7 and Y-12 shots especially...

 

That Fokker 70 really needs a new paint-job; this way she is in a very sorry state (and not a good advertisement for the Government, forwhich she operates a lot, I heard )

The new VN colours should look nicely on the F70

 

Thanks a lot for sharing, KC

[KK Lee 5]

 

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

KC,

 

Thanks for sharing the photos from Laos;From here we can see the differences between the older Y-7 and newer Xian MA-60!

 

Just wanna ask you something;is the ATR 72 operated by Laos Airlines are -200 or -500 series?

 

I do agree with Uncle Pieter;the VN F70 looks dull in old Aeroflot-style colors (Correct me if i'm wrong).Perhaps it's time for VN to repaint the F70s into their current corporate colors.

[Cornelis Boersma 0]

They still operate Dutch Lady

[KC Sim 2]

Lao Aviation's ATR72s seen in the pictures above are the -200 series. Believe they have only just placed an order for a couple of -500 series.

 

Photography is only possible from the second storey of the domestic terminal. Even then, one has to be extremely discreet and keep away the camera as soon as the shot is taken. Walking from the terminal to the aircraft on the ramp, keep your camera and tele-lens ready because on the ramp a short distance away are a line of parked aircraft - it included a Laotian-registered AN-70.

 

KC

[Ja Singh 2]

The china eastern livery really looks messy as even the word China china Eastern is not clear as it is painted over.It is quite clear that the did not bother to remove the old livery (the 2 lines,blue and red running all the way to the front) but merely just splashed on the trees over it.

 

The old laos livery looks good as the swweping lines swoop downwards towards the nose end of the plane and hence is unique.

 

Aeroflot new livery is one of the most stunnin around.

 

thanks for the pics Sim.

Edited July 8, 2009 by jadivindra