A little bit of rare FUNBIRD rare bird nostalgia

From the archives comes this Aloha Airlines 737 N570GB from 1968. This is how Aloha's retro bird should look with the original black titles near the tail. Groovy baby!

Polet AN-124

Here's the Polet AN-124 that stopped off in HNL today. RA-82077 parked at the North Ramp right next to a pair of Asia Pacific 727-200F. I was able to drive up and get a good look at the aircraft. Surprisingly, the huge wings of the AN-124 only extend a couple of feet over the lines of the hardstand.

Hawaii Air Ambulance's N13GZ

Hawaii Air Ambulance has brought in N13GZ, a King AIr C90B (msn LJ-1590), to assist with inter-island air ambulance ops. N13GZ and N438CA (see the June 06 archives) are both owned by Eagle Air Med of Blanding, UT.

UA 744

Today's United flight UA72 to SFO was a 744. Registration was N197UA, which is still in the old gray livery. Sorry, no picture since it was spotted as it was leaving.

US Marines' 160047

Occasionally, the US Navy or the US Marine Corps will park their transport aircraft visiting Hawai‘i on HNL's South Ramp. Today is no different. This McDonnell-Douglas C-9B "Skytrain II", BuNo 160047 (c/n 47687) basks under the Hawaiian sun. As you can see, there is no tail code, nor squadron insignia on 160047. This C-9B is most-likely assigned to the VMR-1 "Roadrunners" of Marine Corps Bases East, and based at MCAS Cherry Point, NC. According to sources, VMR-1 is the only USMC unit that C-9Bs are assigned to.

Eventhough a C-9B "Skytrain II" is a military version of a DC-9-32CF ... it still qualifies as an HNL RareBird.

Xiamen Airlines' B-5159

B-5159 (c/n 35044) is the newest addition to the Xiamen Airlines' 737-85C(W) fleet. It stopped off at HNL yesterday, as reported by team member Je89_w, on the Volume X thread. The 73H departed HNL this morning for MAJ.

Sorry, no photo available.

Air China's B-5171

Another one of Air China's new 737-808s, B-5171 (c/n 34706), makes its customary stop @ HNL, as it island hops across the Pacific to its new home.

Viva Macau's B-MAV

Viva Macau (Macau Eagle Aviation Services dba) has leased this 767-284ER (B-MAV, c/n 24716) from AWAS as one of 2 767s they will use to begin flights from/to Macau. This 767-284ER was previously with AeroMexico (AM), and was registered as XA-RVZ while south of the border. During it's delivery flight, it wears the temporary registration of N716AN.

Viva Macau's Launch News

737NG Deliveries From PAE

Boeing will switch their 737NG operations to PAE (Paine Field, WA) while BFI's runway undergoes construction work over the next few weeks.

"Boeing Shifts 737s to PAE" thread.

TSA Raises Threat Level Alert

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) & Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has raised the security threat level alert at all Hawai‘i airports to Orange, due to a foiled terrorist plot in the UK, to blow up US aircraft flying between the UK and the continental US.

The Honolulu Advertiser's AP article and Local Coverage

Kudos to the government agencies in both the UK, and the US who foiled the plot, and captured the bad guys. Great job!

Korean Air's HL7495

One of Korean Air's (KE) 40 747-4B5s, HL7495 (c/n 28095), departs HNL from Runway 8R as KAL052 to ICN (Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea).

KE is substituting the 747-4B5 in place of the usual 777-2B5ER for the month of August. (See the 05 Aug post by Ha763.)

GoAir A320

A new A320 for GoAir of India stopped in HNL. It was parked next to the CO hangar on 08 Aug. This A320 apparantly was an ex-TACA aircraft as a search for the registration N483TA brings up pictures of a TACA A320.

NZ AKL-HNL schedule change

Originally I thought Air New Zealand had a delayed flight, but after reading an a.net thread Air New Zealand changed their schedule. After looking at the Air New Zealand website, they have indeed changed their schedule into HNL. The new schedule:

NZ12 AKL-HNL
STD-21:10
STA-07:55

NZ11 HNL-AKL
STD-09:15
STA-16:30+1

Frequency is Monday and Sunday

Today was the first day for the schedule change and the following picture of is that arrival. ZK-NCJ arrived at 08:00 into Gate 33. Now both Qantas and Air New Zealand have changed their flights from late night HNL arrivals to morning arrivals.

Korean 747-400 in HNL

For the month of August, Korean has upgaged KE51/52, ICN-HNL, to a 747-400. It returns to back to the normal 777-200 on Sept. 6th.

Continental 767-224ER

Continental Airlines has subtituted a 767-224ER on their run from/to NGO (Chubu Centrair International Airport, Nagoya, Japan). Continental Micronesia's CMI904/905 is normally operated by a 767-424ER. Not sure how long the 762 will be doing the run. The 762 arrived @ HNL on the 3rd as COA9971 from EWR (Newark International Airport, NJ), and put into service yesterday. Are summer loads that low?

As far as 767-200s @ HNL go: AA will subtitute a 762 on one of their west coast flights; and AC has one of their seasonal winter flights (ACA043/044) from YVR with a 762.

Saudi Arabian's HZ-AKF

Saudi Arabian Airlines' 777-268ER, HZ-AKF (c/n 28349) arrived @ HNL on the evening of July 31st, and has camped out on the south side while it's occupants and crew enjoy their Hawaiian vacation. This flight, SVA7522, was routed from CMN (Mohammed V Airport, Casablanca, Morocco) to HNL via LAX. This aircraft looks like it had its paint sandblasted by the Arabian desert sand. In the top photo, notice the lack of glossiness on the fuselage. Definitely needs some new paint.

According to sources, members of the Saudi royal family were not on this 772. They said the interior was like a typical airliner, nothing special.

Air China's B-5229

Air China's next 737-79L(W), B-5229 (c/n 34543), taxies to Runway 8R on T/W C as CCA058. It seems as if there has been one CA 737NG here a week for the past 5 weeks.