USAF F-15E "Gunfighters"

Two USAF F-15E Strike Eagles have been gracing the skies for a few weeks. Ship 90-0254 (c/n 1191/E156) of the 366th Gunbusters based out of Mountain Home AFB, Idaho is seen here returning to Hickam.

Garuda's PK-GMI

Garuda Indonesia's next 737-8U3, PK-GMI (c/n 30143), is making its delivery trek from BFI to CGK as GIA8011.

Sorry, no HNL photo ... though Drewski2112 got a photo of it departing BFI.

N131MS

A 737-242/Adv, N131MS (c/n 22074), owned by Michael Slabaugh (Miami, FL), is in town. It was once registered as YA-GAC with Kam Air (Kabul, Afghanistan), leased from Phoenix Aviation (Sharjah, UAE).

22074 was originally delivered to Nordair (Canada) in 11/1979 as C-GNDM, then integrated in the CP Air, then Canadian International as Canadian carriers consolidated. In 1991, it then went onto Cayman Airways as VR-CYB. Four years later, it went onto Aviateca as N127GU. 22074 was then acquired by Phoenix Aviation, and registered as EX-047, then leased to Kam Air. The most registration was XU-U4F with PMT Air (Cambodia).

FlightAware has flight tracked (so far) from MNL-GUM-MAJ-HNL ...

Mahalo to team member Lono68 for the above photo.

Blue Angels Return To K-Bay

The US Navy's Blue Angels Aerial Demonstration Team returns to Marine Corps Air Field Kāne‘ohe Bay on September 25 and 26 for the "Kāne‘ohe Bay Air Show".

Honolulu Advertiser article link.

Shandong's B-5526

Shandong Airlines' B-5526 (c/n 31717), is their newest 737-8FZ (leased from BBAM), and is making its delivery from BFI as CDG5526.

China Eastern's B-5265

China Eastern Airlines' B-5265 (c/n 36767), a 737-79P, in the "Better City, Better Life" special livery for the Expo 2010 being held in Shanghai, which is China Eastern's home base. It's making its delivery flight across the Pacific as CES299, and is seen above on the AirService Hawaii ramp.

China Eastern's B-2258

As China Eastern receives more Boeing 737NGs, they are retiring their McDonnell-Douglas MD-90 fleet. Delta Air Lines is acquiring their entire 9-plane MD-90 inventory. The first MD-90 went to MZJ (Pinal Airpark, Marana, AZ), while the second went to GSO (Piedmont Triad Intl Airport, Greensboro, NC) to be integrated into the DL fleet.

B-2258 (c/n 53584) is the third of these MD-90s is making its way from PVG to MZJ as CES599, and is seen above on the Bradley Pacific Aviation ramp.

ex-Far East Air Transport N646AL

A Far East Air Transport "FAT" (EF/FEA), 757-27A has made a tech stop at HNL on its way to the mainland from TPE. N646AL (c/n 29611), is owned by Aerolease 757 MSN 29611, LLC (Plano, TX). It was the former B-27021 in the Far East Air Transport fleet, and was delivered in January 2000.

B-27021 was also wet leased to EVA Air for a time between 2003 and 2004.

N646AL arrived earlier this morning, and will head for VQQ (Cecil Field Airport, Jacksonville, FL) after midnight.

Alaska Adds HNL-PDX

Alaska Airlines will add service between HNL and PDX beginning September 20.

Hawai‘i News Now link.

Shanghai's B-5269

Shanghai Airlines' B-5269 (c/n 35779), a 737-76D, is on its delivery flight from BFI to PVG as CSH269. It will make its over-night tech stop @ HNL today.

B-5269 is seen above taxiing to Rwy 8R to depart for MAJ.

Hawaiian Air Wins 2009 Award

Hawaiian Air has won the 2009 Airline Quality Award!

Hawai‘i News Now link.

N941LF

An Airbus A320-323, N941LF (msn 461) , owned by ACG Acquisitions LLC (Newport Beach, CA), made a brief tech stop at HNL yesterday. It's headed westward toward Asia.

N941LF was originally delivered to LACSA, with both the original and the Grupo TACA liveries. In 2003, it then went onto airTran, though the A320 flights were operated by Ryan International (titles by main entry door).

UA & US In Merger Talks

United Airlines and US Airways are currently in "advanced merger talks" in another attempt to combine forces.

Wall St. Journal, and L.A. Times coverage.

Should the merger be approved, there's no word on how it will affect flights to/from Hawai‘i. Currently, US serves PHX from HNL (2), OGG (2), and KOA, plus HNL and CLT. UA serves HNL from NRT, KIX, LAX (4), SFO (5), DEN, and ORD; LIH from LAX and SFO; OGG from ORD (return via KOA), LAX (3), SFO (3), and DEN; and KOA from LAX (2), SFO (2), DEN, and ORD (via OGG).


US Airways also announced that their non-stop service between CLT and HNL (AWE807/808) will end in September.

Continental 757-33N

Ex-ATA N550TZ, Continental's N73860 (c/n 32584/972) made a tech stop this morning on its way to Cleveland as CO1941 after receiving new paint, interior and winglets in Hong Kong. I believe that this is the fourth (or possibly third) ex-ATA metal that Continental acquired.

JAL To Cut 16,000+ Jobs

In order to streamline their operations, Japan Airlines plans to eliminate over 16,000 jobs and over 30 flights. Some reports have flight cuts reaching 50.

The only possible affect on Hawai‘i is the NRT-KOA flight, JAZ70, operated by a 767-346ER. The return flight, JAZ79, makes a stop at HNL before returning to NRT.

With the addition of the 787, Japan Airlines also plans to retire their 747-446 fleet within the near future. Their fleet types will be simplified to the 737-846, 767-346ER, 777-246, 777-346, and 787-846.

The Yahoo! / Reuters news link.

Flickr Photostream

I just started a Flickr Photostream of my HNL RareBirds photos. Currently, it's a work in progress, as I add older RareBirds photos. Please pardon the lack of info on some of the photos, I'll be adding them soon. The photos will be be categorized by year. I may do airlines later.

As soon as I post photos here, I'll also post them on the Flickr HNL RareBirds Photostream page.

I'll post an update on our Twitter Page, as to which photos have been uploaded.

Virgin Blue Orders 105 737NGs

Virgin Blue (Australia) has ordered 105 737NGs, with deliveries beginning in June 2011.

ATW Online article link.

Though HNL rarely sees Virgin Blue delivery flights, OGG and LIH should see their share of the red-clad baby Boeing delivery flights.

Alaska's Retro-Bird

Alaska Airlines retro jet arrived from Seattle as ASA859 Sunday evening. N569AS (c/n 35184/2192) a 737-890, was delivered new to Alaska Airlines back in 2007 already wearing this "Starliner75" paint scheme to commemorate 75 years of service.

VDA6202

A Volga-Dnepr (Волга-Днепр) Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 (Илюшин ИЛ-76ТД-90ВД) is en route to HNL as VDA6202 from FHU (Sierra Vista Municipal Airport, Fort Huachaca, Sierra Vista, AZ). Its ETA to HNL is 13:00HST.

The aircraft arrived around 1220HST, and taxied to HIK ... so much for the photo op! The cargo jet sure looked small.

The above photo courtesy of team member MKU ADX, shows RA-76951 (msn 2073421704), an Il-76TD-90VD. The -90VD series is the new-build, re-engined (Perm PS-90A-76 engines) variant of the classic Soviet-era freighter. In fact, Volga-Dnepr was a financier and launch customer of the Il-76TD-90VD.

China Eastern's B-5501

China Eastern Airlines is taking delivery of B-5501 (c/n 39388), a 737-86N. It's flying from BFI to PVG as CES789, with stops at HNL, MAJ and GUM.