Air Berlin's Santa Claus Tour 2012

After last year lapse made by Air Berlin, by not sending the Santa Claus Tour 2011 to LPMA / FNC, unexpectedly and after some expectation, finally Madeira Island had the opportunity to see Air Berlin's Christmas 'logo-jet' 2012 version.

Last year's version.
D-ABMC / Boeing 737-86J/W / Air Berlin

This year's version.

D-ABMJ / Boeing 737-86J/W / Air Berlin

Friendly crew waving to the spotters.

And some traffic of this morning.

CS-TJF / Airbus 321-211 / TAP Air Portugal

F-GZHV / Boeing 737-85H / Transavia France

D-ABOL / Boeing 757-330/W / Condor

D-AICL / Airbus 320-214 / Condor 

N228RM / Mooney M-20K 252 / Private

Icelandair

This Tuesday we had a visit of a B757 from Icelandair. This is not a first at Madeira airport, the last time this airline stopped around here, with a B757, was in May 2010. Unfortunately the last time I photographed this airline was in March 2008.
As I've already mencioned, the flight was made by a B757 with registration TF-FIP.
Arrived at LPMA/FNC at 13:45 from Reykjavik and about one hour later took off to the Canary Islands, more precisely to GCLP/LPA. From Gran Canaria it would fly back to Reykjavik this time without stopping by Madeira Airport.
TF-FIP / Boeing 757-208 / Icelandair

The shortest takeoff I've ever seen performed by a Boeing 757, just used 800 meters of runway.

Edelweiss

If this wasn't a blog dedicated to aviation, just by looking at the title of this message you could think that I would be writing about a flower (although it's somehow related), a beer, a grape type, a glider model among many other things. But no, today I'm writing about Edelweiss Air (which logo it's a edelweiss flower which is the origin of the airline name) that made it's premiere in LPMA/FNC.
It arrived at 11:41 from Zurich as flight WK284 and was entitled to a water cannon salute and the passengers were gifted with some souvenirs. Departed about one hour later, also to Zurich, as flight WK285.
HB-IHZ / Airbus 320-214 / Edelweiss Air
Touchdown for the first time in LPMA.
Water cannon salute performed by Madeira airport fire brigade.
Rotating on rwy 05.

B737 KLM Skyteam logojet and other traffic.

After more than a month away from the plane spotting, here's the return with a nice surprise, at least for me. It's the first time I see the KML's Skyteam logojet, this one being a Boeing 737-9K2 registration PH-BXO. It was also nice to see SATA's A310.

EC-KRA / Boeing 737-3Y0(SF) / Swiftair

CS-TOA / Airbus 340-312 / TAP Air Portugal

OE-LEX / Airbus 320-214 / Niki

D-ALEB / Boeing 757-236(SF) / DHL (European Air Transport)

D-AISU / Airbus 321-231 / Lufthansa

F-GTAS / Airbus 321-211 / Air France

EC-LFZ / Embraer ERJ 190-200LR / Air Europa

CS-TNP / Airbus 320-214 / TAP Air Portugal

CS-TKJ / Airbus 320-212 / SATA International

CS-TTM / Airbus 319-111 / TAP Air Portugal

CS-DRQ / Raytheon Hawker 800XP / NetJets Europe

CS-TKN / Airbus 310-325/ET / SATA International




PH-BXO / Boeing 737-9K2 / KLM

Spotting @ LPMA 14 / 08 / 10

Here's some photos from this Saturday afternoon, this time from Madeira airport and not Lisbon, because this month of August I'm at Madeira island on vacation.

It was a really nice afternoon although the wind was a bit strong, which made the approach to LPMA a little bit tricky for the pilots.

EC-JZS / Bombardier CRJ-900ER / Iberia Regional (Air Nostrum)

F-HCZI / Airbus 319-112 / Aigle Azur

CS-TRD / Bombardier Dash 8-Q402 / SATA Air Açores

CS-AIC / Piper PA 28-180 Cherokee C / Aero Clube da Madeira (Madeira Air Club)

D-ALTE / Airbus 320-214 / Air Berlin

D-ALTK / Airbus 320-214 / Air Berlin

N533GA / Gulfstream G200 / Private

SE-RIL / Cessna 560XL Citation XL / WaltAir Europe
This one made the bumpiest approach of the afternoon due to the strong wind.
Preparing the aircraft to spend a few days at Madeira.