A grand old lady powers out of Taoyuan International on her way to Ningbo. Built in 1999 as a passenger aircraft for Wuhan Airlines, she’s spent her whole life in China and was converted to freighter in 2016.
She’s a busy old thing, this departure was her sixth of the day.
Smiley
For a long time, ever since the aircraft museum closed, the only place to go aircraft spotting at Taoyuan International Airport was from the aiport hotel: the Novotel. All that’s changed now though as Terminal 2 has not one, but two viewing observatories.
Both are free of charge to enter and can be accessed from the departures level (L3) of the terminal. There’s one at each end of the building.
If you are just spotting, either one will do but I prefer the northern one as it gives views of the cargo areas. The southern one does give a view of the EGAT and China Airlines maintenance areas, so both are probably worth a visit.
For the photographers, if it’s cloudy then either one is fine. But on sunny days, it’s northern in the morning, and southern sometime around 2pm.
If it’s too hot to venture out for prolonged periods, there’s plenty of space inside with good views and there are resturants, toilets etc.
All in all, a very welcome addition to the airport.
Smiley
HK Express A320-271N B-LCS taxis out for departure to Hong Kong as HKE111 while retro-themed Malaysia Airlines B737-8H6 9M-MLV arrives from Kuala Lumpur as MAS366.
Bigger photo here.
Smiley
That’s my baby! Always happy to share a photo of one of my charges!
B-58501 (msn 480) taxies for depature to Tokyo, Narita as SJX802 on December 8, 2024.
There’s a bigger photo here.
StarLux now have 8 A350-900s having recently taken delivery of B-58507 (msn 698) and B-58508 (msn 705). Number 9 is due in February/March of 2025.
Smiley
EVA Air have recently come over from the dark side and have ordered some Airbus A350s. You’ll need to a wait a while for photos of them on this blog or anywhere else for that matter.
You’ll have to make do with this one instead. B-17883 departs Taoyuan for Shanghai PVG as BR712.
Smiley
Aero-K are a fairly new South Korean airline. They currently operate twice a day into TPE from Cheongiu. HL8562 (msn 2620) is seen operating arriving on the morning flight, EOK611, on December 8, 2024. This aircraft started out operating with another Asian operator, Starflyer, as JA01MC before a spell with Vueling.
Smiley
I guess nothing can beat a strong, instantly recognisable brand identity for an airline. Or maybe not.
Batik Air Malayisa B737 MAX 8 9M-LRP arrives in Taoyuan from KUL as MXD882 on December 8, 2024.
Eva Airways Hello Kitty-themed A321-211, B-16217 (msn 6585) being towed to stand at Taoyuan on December 8, 2024. She later departed to Sendai as EVA118.
The aircraft has only recently been painted in this scheme.
Photobomb! China Airlines B777-F B-18771 arrives in Taipei, TPE as CAL5165 from Osaka, KIX while Starlux Airlines A321-251NX B-58210 is taxying for departure for Macau as SJX201.
Xiamen Air Boeing 737-85C B-5688 (msn 41792) seen taxying out at Taipei for departure to Fuzhou as CXA880. The aircraft wears special 100th Boeing Aircraft for Xiamen Airlines titles. At the time of posting Xiamen had operated a total of 236 Boeing aircraft.