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Boeing 737-73W BBJ N946BC was an afternoon arrival from Bangor - the first aircraft for conversion to an E-7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning aircraft for the Royal Air Force by STS Aviation Services in their hangar at Birmingham Airport.... Photo: Mike Hollick |
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.... the aircraft was previously operated as a Boeing BBJ by Deer Jet as B-5273 before being acquired by Boeing and prepared at Georgetown, Delaware, from where it had departed on Wednesday morning using flight number "BOE126" Photo Andrew Fellows |
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.... after night stopping at Bangor, Maine, it continued onto BHX for a late afternoon arrival landing on Runway 33 and taxying to the STS Aviation Services hangar which it soon disappeared into - it is due to enter service with the Royal Air Force in 2023 |
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| Emirates Boeing 777-31HER A6-EPE operated their "EK040" flight to Dubai.... |
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| .... the aircraft is in their Expo 2020 green "Sustainability" colour scheme |
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.... on a day when aircraft appeared and disappeared as banks of fog moved across the airfield Photos: Matt Kidgell |
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| easyJet Airbus A320-251N G-UZLF operated their flight "EZY203" from Belfast International |
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| SAS Airbus A330-343 LN-RKM was a morning departure operating another freight flight to Brussels |
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Beech King Air D-IBFS was an afternoon arrival from Coburg - after a short stop on the Elmdon apron it departed to Nuremburg and onto Coburg Photo: Andrew Fellows |
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| Turkish Airlines Airbus A321-271NX TC-LSC operated their flight "TK1967" from Istanbul |
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| KLM Boeing 737-7K2 PH-BGH operated their morning flight "KL1422" to Amsterdam |
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| easyJet Airbus A319-111 G-EZDA operated their flight "EZY202" to Belfast International |
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| Embraer Phenom 300 2-EMBR was a lunchtime departure to Liverpool |
US Army Beech C-12U Huron 84-0158 was a lunchtime visitor to
.... it departed back to Wiesbaden in Germany
Turkish Airbus A321-211 TC-JME operated their flight to Istanbul
Blue Line MD 83 F-GMLU which wears a smart black scheme.... 
.... positioned in to operate the final student charter back to Malaga
Air Berlin Boeing 737-86J D-ABKL operated their
Saga Airlines Boeing 737-86J TC-SGI was an evening 
Flairjet Embraer Phenom 100 G-RAAL was a
Lagunair Embraer 145 EC-KBI operated a charter flight from
Top Fly ATR 42-300 EC-IDG was an evening arrival bringing in
Cimber Canadair CRJ200ER OY-RJJ positioned in from Manchester
RAF Super King Air ZK454 made an ILS approach
Citation CJ3 D-COWB was a morning visitor to the Elmdon apron
Aegean Avro RJ 100 SX-DVE was an early morning arrival
Lufthansa Regional Canadair CRJ 200 D-ACLY operated
Fly Excellent MD 83 SE-DJE operated the Air Bee/Itali Airlines 
flybe chartered Jet2 Boeing 737-377 G-CELA to operate their
Blu Express Boeing 737-31S EI-DXB positioned in from Milan Linate
Mistral Air Boeing 737-33AQC EI-DVC positioned in from Rome
Air Transat Airbus A330-342 C-GCTS operated their flight to Toronto
Austrian Arrows/Tyrolean Dash 8Q-402 OE-LGI operated the mid
RAF Puma HC1 XW226 overflew the airfield during the morning
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| Air India Boeing 787-8 "dreamliner" VT-AND was an early evening arrival.... Photo: Ron Kosys |
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| ....operating their inaugural flight from Amritsar via Delhi Photo: Robert Jones |
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| .... the first Being 787 "dreamliner" to land at Birmingham Airport |
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| .... touching down on Runway 15 |
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| The aircraft rolled passed the Elmdon site.... Photo: Mike Hollick |
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| .... and Birmingham Airport's new Air traffic Control Tower |
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| The "dreamliner" then turned onto Taxiway Charlie.... |
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| .... to receive a water cannon salute from Birmingham Airport's |
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| .... new "Striker" Fire fighting vehicles Photos: Laurence Jones |
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| From the other side the salute was a little wetter! - with a strong southerly wind you can see the wall of water already moving across the apron and the awaiting crowd had a good soaking! |
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| Air India Boeing 787-8 "dreamliner" parked on Stand 42C.... Photo: Mike Hollick |
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| .... at the end of the International Pier |
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| Now the aircraft is on stand Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport, leads out the VIP's.... |
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| .... with the cake cutting being performed by Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council, Rohit Nandan, Chairman of Air India, and Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport |
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| The cake! |
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| All this took place at the rear of the aircraft as the baggage was unloaded |
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| Meanwhile the "Dholl Blasters" provided musical entertainment.... |
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| .... and certainly kept the media occupied! |
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| No point having "787" painted on the stand if you don't have a "dreamliner" to park on it! |
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| Time now to have a look on board the Boeing 787 "dreamliner".... |
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| .... the cockpit |
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| Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport is interviewed about the new Air India service and other developments at the airport by Derek Pedley of airteamimages.com .... |
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| .... in the spacious Business Class section of the aircraft |
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| All Economy passengers have a seat back video entertainment system |
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| Time to say goodbye - the return flight was checking in.... |
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| .... the inaugural service back to Delhi and onto Amritsar |
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| A big well done and thank you to the team from Birmingham Airport for organising another very successful launch event!! |
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| Thursday 1 August 2013 |
