Friday 6 April 2012 - Good Friday

Turkish Airbus A320-232 TC-JPN operated their flight to Istanbul
.

Falcon 900EX G-JPSZ positioned in from its Gloucester base
to night stop on the Elmdon apron

Thursday 5 April 2012 - Air Charter Scotland Legacy G-WCCI visits the Elmdon apron

Air Charter Scotland Legacy 600 G-WCCI was a morning
visitor to the Elmdon apron departing to Geneva
.

Agusta A-109SP Grand G-SGRP which is operated for the
Stobart Group was an afternoon visitor Photo: Mike Hollick
.

CityLine Hungary Antonov 26B HA-TCO which has been parked up
since it arrived on Wednesday 28 March 2012 positioned out to
Aberdeen to operate a charter to Bergen Photo: Mike Hollick
.

SAS Airbus A319-131 OY-KBO operated their morning service
to Copenhagen - the aircraft is in their "retro" colour scheme

Menzies Aviation commence passenger ground handling operations at Birmingham Airport

Menzies Aviation today, Wednesday 28 March 2012, commenced
a 3 year ground handling contract for flybe at Birmingham Airport
.
Menzies have a cargo facility on the Elmdon site but this is their
first passenger ground handling contract at Birmingham - as
a result the airport again has three terminal based handling
agents - Menzies, Servisair and Swissport
.

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Wednesday 4 April 2012 - Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 G-VROS diverts in from Manchester

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-443 G-VROS diverted in from
Manchester while operating flight "VS 074" from Orlando....
.

Photos: Mike Hollick
.

.... after unloading it positioned back to Manchester
.

.... quickly lifting off a very wet Runway 33
.

Lufthansa Regional Embraer 195LR D-AEBM operated
their early morning service to Munich - it had arrived on
its first visit to BHX on Tuesday evening
.

Air Berlin Airbus A319-112 D-ABGP operated their flight to Hannover
.

Citation XLS SE-RIL made a brief morning visit Photo: Mike Hollick

Tuesday 3 April 2012 - Diamond Twin Star G-PETS visits on transplant flight

Diamond DA-42 Twin Star G-PETS was a lunchtime visitor arriving
from Gamston to take a transplant organ to Edinburgh....
.

.... while Premiair S-76B Spirit G-VONC was a morning visitor
Photos: Mike Hollick
.

KLM Boeing 737-9K2 PH-BXS operated their mid morning
service to Amsterdam

Monday 2 April 2012 - Air Harrods Sikorsky S-76C G-WIWI visits the Elmdon apron

Air Harrods Sikorsky S 76C G-WIWI was an afternoon
visitor to the Elmdon apron Photo: Mike Hollick
.

Former Olympic Airlines ATR 72-202 SX-BIG was moved from
Hangar 2 to Hangar 1 during the afternoon Photo: Mike Hollick
.

Brit Air Canadair CRJ 1000 F-HMLE operated the evening
Air France service from Paris CDG - its first visit to BHX
.

bmi Airbus A319-131 G-DBCJ positioned in from Heathrow
to replace a "tech" Airbus A320 G-MIDO and operate the
evening Lufthansa service to Frankfurt

Sunday 1 April 2012 - Albinati Global 5000 HB-JRS visits the Elmdon apron

Albinati Global 5000 HB-JRS was a morning visitor....
.

.... to the Elmdon apron departing to Geneva - its first visit to BHX
.

Swiss Airbus A320-214 HB-JLP operated their morning service
to Zurich replacing the usual Helvetic Fokker 100
.

Monarch Airbus A320-214 G-OZBW - which is in their latest colour
scheme - operated their new service from Venice - the second of their
recently acquired ex Thomson/First Choice 320's to be based at BHX
.

Former Olympic Airlines ATR 72-202's SX-BIG (left) and SX-BII
(right) which have both been in and out of the flybe hangar during
the previous week being prepared for departure are currently
parked up on the new Compass base

bmibaby launch new routes to Rome, Barcelona and Lisbon from Birmingham Airport‏

bmibaby customers at Birmingham Airport got a slice of
the action last weekend as the low cost airline celebrated
its inaugural service to Rome
.
bmibaby launched its new route to the Italian capital with
a specially commissioned bmibaby pizza comprising
delicious buffalo mozzarella and meatballs
.

Served up by waiters in traditional Roman togas, customers
at Birmingham Airport tucked into the pizzas before heading
through to departures for their flight. bmibaby mascot, Tiny,
was also on hand to distribute pizza and bid farewell to
customers jetting off for the city
.
Rome wasn’t the only new flight on the menu for bmibaby
this weekend. The airline also commenced new services to
Barcelona on Friday 30 March and to Lisbon which took
off on Saturday 31 March 2012

.

Julian Carr, bmibaby managing director, said: "We are
delighted to expand our network from Birmingham Airport
and introduce services to three fantastic European cities.
I’m delighted to say that these first flights were exceptionally
busy, with 96 percent of the seats sold on the inaugural flights
to Rome, Barcelona and Lisbon. We are confident these routes
will continue to prove popular over the summer season"
.

William Pearson, Head of Route Development at Birmingham
Airport, said: "The launch of this new route is fantastic news for
the people of Birmingham and the wider Midlands region. You can
now fly from Birmingham to Rome up to four times a week on bmibaby"
.
"This is a really exciting time for the airport, as our friends at
bmibaby have also recently launched new services to Barcelona

and Lisbon, making Birmingham the ideal place to fly from for
those wishing to enjoy a city break over the summer"
.
bmibaby flies from Birmingham Airport to Rome and Barcelona
up to four times a week and from Birmingham Airport to Lisbon
twice a week. Fares start from just £55.99 one way to Rome, £45.99
one way to Barcelona and £50.99 one way to Lisbon including taxes
.

For more information about bmibaby or to book a flight,
please visit www.bmibaby.com
.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Saturday 31 March 2012 - Austrian Airlines Boeing 737-8Z9 OE-LNT flying in "Star Alliance" colours

Austrian Airlines Boeing 737-8Z9 OE-LNT which is in "Star Alliance" colours operated their weekly
ski IT flight from Innsbruck - this seasonal service finishes on Saturday 14 April 2012

Friday 30 March 2012 - Farnair ATR 72 HB-AFV wears Quikjet India titles

Farnair ATR 72-202 HB-AFV which arrived on Thursday evening
from Graz via Hahn wears Quikjet India titles Photo: Mike Hollick
.

Ruby Star Antonov 12BK EW-275TI which had arrived from Graz
in the early hours of Thursday morning positioned out to Minsk....
.

.... while Ukraine Air Alliance Antonov 12BK UR-CAJ
had earlier positioned out to Paris Le Bourget
.

Turkish Airlines Airbus A321-231 TC-JRS operated
their flight to Istanbul - its first visit to BHX
.

Visitors to the Elmdon apron included Commander 114B N116SB....
.

.... and Grumman American AA-5B Tiger G-BIPV Photos: Mike Hollick

Aegean Airlines to return to Birmingham Airport for the summer 2012 season

Aegean Airlines (A3) will be returning to Birmingham Airport
for the summer 2012 season with a weekly Airbus A320 IT flight
from/to Larnaca on behalf of Olympic Holidays

.
Aegean Airlines last regularly operated into BHX back in 2005
when they used Boeing 737-400's on a weekly IT flight - since
then they have become a mainly scheduled operator with a large
fleet of Airbus's - please see below for the weekly schedule -

.
Aegean Airlines schedule at Birmingham Airport from
Saturday 2 June to 27 October 2012

.
2230/2320 A3 4132/4133 320 from/to Larnaca
- operates weekly on Saturday's - Aegean Airlines

.
Schedule subject to change
.

Thursday 29 March 2012

Turkmenistan Boeing 717 EZ-A106 planned to transit BHX on Monday 2 April 2012‏

The flight is now running late - BHX ETA is 2100
with departure to Kiev now expected at 2200 Monday
.
A Turkmenistan Boeing 717 is expected to transit Birmingham

tomorrow/Monday 2 April 2012 on its way back to Ashgabat....
.
.... it has flown Marana - Dayton this afternoon/Sunday and the
aircraft is now enroute to Goose Bay where it will presumably
nightstop as it did on the way out - it should then continue to
BHX via Keflavik tomorrow/Monday - please see below for the
BHX stopover timings
.
The handling request indicates it should be EZ-A106 - as to what has
happened to EZ-A107 and why it is going back to Turkmenistan!?
.

MONDAY 2 APRIL 2012

.

2100/2200 TUA3210 717 from Keflavik/to Kiev

- ferry flight - aircraft departs in early hours of

Tuesday morning after an extended stopover

.
Day of operation/timings subject to change
as these are ferry flights
.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Thursday 29 March 2012

Hughes 369E G-MUDD was a colourful visitor to the Elmdon apron
Photo: Mike Hollick
.
More photos soon!!

Deputy Prime Minister visits Birmingham Airport‏ to be briefed on Runway Extension

Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg,
visited Birmingham Airport on Friday 23 March 2012, to learn
more about the planned runway extension and what it will
mean for local businesses in the area
.
The Deputy Prime Minister was joined by the Liberal Democrat MP
for Solihull, Lorely Burt and Birmingham Council Group Leader
Paul Tilsley, for a whistle stop tour of the airport and a meeting
with local business representatives
.

The aim of the visit was to demonstrate the enormous potential
Birmingham Airport has to grow in the immediate future, as well
as the excellent facilities it already has available to passengers
who fly from Birmingham
.
The Deputy PM was on hand throughout the morning to listen to
plans about the runway extension programme and the A45
Transport Corridor Improvement Scheme, learning more about
how it will benefit passengers and local businesses not only
in the local area, but also across the entire Midlands region
.

Mr Clegg was also told how Birmingham Airport can double the
amount of passengers which currently pass through the terminal
each year to 18 million, and can climb even higher to 36 million
using the existing runway. It is hoped this visit will convince the
Government that Birmingham Airport can provide a credible and
immediate solution to the current aviation crunch, felt especially
in the South East of the UK
.
CEO of Birmingham Airport, Paul Kehoe, said: "We believe that

Government should take a lead in examining what the long-term
aviation solution for UK Plc actually is. This is an issue of economic
development, and the outcome will have a significant impact on the
nature and distribution of the UK economy for decades to come"
.

Friday 23 March 2012

Tower Watch - Monday 26 March 2012 - Sunset over Birmingham Airport!!

The sunsets behind Birmingham Airport's new ATC Tower....
.

.... and then sinks over the Elmdon site

.
Warning - do not look directly into the sun with a camera etc!!
.

Monday 26 March 2012

Saturday 24 March 2012 - Turkmenistan Challenger C-GZQQ visits on delivery flight

Turkmenistan Canadair Challenger 870 C-GZQQ made a transit
stop at Birmingham on its delivery flight from Canada parking
on the Elmdon apron. After refuelling at departed to Kiev

.

Photo: Mike Hollick