Alaska Airlines 1st Flight To HNL

Alaska Airlines inaugurated service to HNL from SEA today as ASA851. N559AS, a 737-890 with winglets, landed around 11:30 and blocked into Gate 23 at 11:36. And yes, this aircraft does have Chester wearing his half-lei on the tail. The photos below were taken by ha763.




Here's N559AS turning into Gate 23. (Sorry for the poor photo. I was waiting between Gate 19 and 20 for a much better shot, but my battery decided to die just as they taxied by.)


Here's a close up of Chester and his half-lei on the tail of N559AS.

Air Nippon's JA15AN

Air Nippon's latest 737-781(W), JA15AN (c/n 33888) takes a break at HNL after arriving from BFI as ANK9984.

China Southern's B-5340

China Southern's B-5340 (c/n 35381), a 737-81B, arrived at HNL as CSN340 on its delivery flight from BFI.

Hong Kong Express' B-KXH

Hong Kong Express Airways' B-KXH (c/n 34971), a 737-808(W), was in town on its delivery flight.

Sorry, no HNL photo available ... camera malfunction.

ANZ 747-400

On Sunday, October 7, Air New Zeland flew a charter to KOA for the Amway convention being held in Kona. The aircraft then flew to HNL to RON. Here's ZK-NBV parked on the North Ramp today, October 8.

Correction on the status of ZK-NBV. It was still parked on the North Ramp on October 9. Looks like it may be here until the convention is over to fly the charter back to New Zealand.

Delta's 767-300s

I was under the impression that the Delta Air Lines 767-300 fleet were all painted in the 2000 colors. I was mistaken. Just as I got toward the Gen Av parking lot, I saw a 1997 colors DL 763 depart from 8R. This is the HNL-LAX flight, that was mentioned a few months back.

N315NE

A Boeing 727-223F registered as N315NE (c/n 20190) is scheduled to stop at HNL from OAK. It's destined for somewhere in Asia. The flight originated in OPF (Opa Locka, FL) with a stop at TUL (Tulsa, OK), before going to OAK (where it's been for the past few days). It's scheduled for a brief fuel stop here, before continuing on to MAJ later in the day. The flight is then scheduled to go onto BIK/WABB (Frans Kaisiepo Airport, Baik, Indonesia) from MAJ.

20190 began its life with American Airlines as N6837 from 1969 to 1993, then went to Express One International & Emery Worldwide, where it was converted to a freighter and re-registered as N315NE from 1993 to 2003.

Sorry ... no HNL photo available.

US Navy's 165835

The US Navy is replacing their aging C-9 fleet with newer Boeing C-40As (or 737-7AFC). BuNo 165835 (c/n 33826) is seen here departing HNL's Reef Runway, devoid of any markings.

Shanghai Airlines' B-5353

Shanghai Airlines is taking delivery of its next ILFC-leased 737-8Q8(W), B-5353 (c/n 30728), which is flying as CSH353. It will leave tomorrow for MAJ.

I finally got a shot of Shanghai's new colors!

N982JM

A 727-277F registered as N982JM (c/n 21695) stopped at HNL from APW (Faleolo International Airport, Apia, Western Samoa) on its way to MHV (Mojave, CA). It was previously with Australian Air Express - JetEx (VH-VLF) and Ansett (VH-RMN). It's now owned by JM 21695 LLC in Kansas City, KS.

N982JM arrived yesterday afternoon, and departed early this morning to be stored in the California desert. Sory, no HNL photo available.

Here is The Thunderbirds doing a pass over the Arizona

US Air Force Thunderbirds

The US Air Force's Air Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds, performed twice over Waikiki today, as part of Air Force Week, and the 60th Anniversary of the US Air Force. These Lockheed-Martin F-16C Fighting Falcons roared over metro Honolulu and Waikiki at speeds reaching 500mph at altitudes about 500 feet!

Air traffic in and out of HNL was halted while the Thunderbirds performed their survey flight this morning, and its performance this afternoon.

In today's photo, the Thunderbirds make a pass in their six-ship delta formation over Waikiki as they began survey flights in this morning. The two solo pilots, Thunderbirds 5 and 6, break away from the delta. They performed later in the afternoon, and included a pass over the USS Missouri and the USS Arizona Memorial at Naval Station Pearl Harbor.

The Thunderbirds are also performing on Saturday with show center fronting Fort DeRussy in Waikiki.

China Southern's B-5339

China Southern Airlines' newest 737-81B, B-5339 (c/n 35380) is seen here taxiing to Runway 8R for departure to MAJ on its next leg of its delivery flight.

Hawaiian interisland 767 flight

Saw a Hawaiian 763 depart from OGG this afternoon at 1554 HST enroute to HNL. According to FlightAware, it had an unusual 4 digit flight number .... HA1245. FlightAware also listed several other dates this flight has operated. Different day of the week each time.  The HA online schedule does not show this flight.

Hainan 73NG at OGG

Saw a Hainan twinjet preparing to depart OGG this morning. It looked just like the 738 photographed by Blue Wave 707 in his 04 August posting. Sorry, no reg # or picture.

Northwest Airlines To Retire 747-200s

Northwest Airlines will be retiring the remainder of their passenger 747-200Bs with a final flight on Wednesday, September 12, 2007. The flight, according to an Airliners.net forum thread will route from NRT (Narita International, Tokyo, Japan) to SEA as NWA008, and SEA to MSP as NWA170. Northwest will retain two -200Bs to be used for civilian and military charters.

The -200B series was relegated to back up status over the past few years, as NW mainly used the 747-400 and DC-10-30 for their HNL-Japan service. The DC-10-30s were retired at the beginning of this year, and replaced with the Airbus A330-300.

The 747-251B NW will be using, is N624US (c/n 21706), built and delivered to NW in 1979. "6624" (NW's fleet number) is seen above reversing thrust on HNL's Runway 4R as it arrives from KIX as NWA016, back in 2005.

Arrival and departure of Air Force One

After the APEC meeting in Australia, President Bush has stopped over in Hawaii for a very short stay. Air Force One arrived around 11:00 and headed to HIK. The President only stayed for less than 4 hours before taking off a little before 15:00.

As someone who works at the airport, it is always interesting to see everything rush around to get as much done before security stops all airport activity. Then see everything stop and everyone just waiting and watching for Air Force One. Then finally seeing everyone get back to work.

Air China's B-5327

Air China is taking delivery of another 737-86N, B-5327 (c/n 35219) which is leased from GECAS. It's scheduled to depart for MAJ this morning.

Sorry, no HNL photo available.

Another AS ETOPS test flight

Alaska has done another ETOPS test flight today again as AS9531. According to information from airliners.net, it as scheduled to leave around 16:00 as AS9532. This time it was parked on the North Ramp. Sorry, no picture this time

Picture of N250TR back in service for AQ

And here's a picture of the ex-Hooters 737-200 back in revenue service for AQ. This picture was taken on Sept. 5th, the first day N250TR went back into service. Unlike last year, there is no 'Aloha' titles on the fuselage.

Just as a refresher, here's what N250TR looked like last year with the 'Aloha' titles. This picture was posted here last June by Bluewave707.

http://hnlrarebirds.blogspot.com/2006/06/alohas-n250tr.html