The new Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International Airport has opened for flights and will eventually become the world’s largest airport.

Initially it will only handle cargo flights (from 27 June 2010). Passenger flights will start in 2011. The first flight into the facility was an Emirates Cargo Boeing 777-200

Airline Business blog has all the details and pictures. Click the link below…

PICTURES: The big new Dubai airport accepts its first flight – Airline Business.

It closed following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but this weekend LAX’s old control tower observation deck, in the building often known as the Theme Building, will reopen!

We don’t know yet whether the views will be as good as they previously were, but this is a major positive step for anyone wishing to watch aircraft at Los Angeles International.

At the moment, the opening hours will be limited to Saturdays and Sundays from 8am to 5pm.

There will be an official opening ceremony for the refurbished building on 21 June 2010.

Despite constant threats to retire the aircraft, Aeroflot are keeping the Ilyushin IL-96s on various routes over the Summer and Winter timetables.

In particular, you can see (or fly) them from Moscow SVO to Salzburg on the following services (according to Airlineroute.net):

SU175 SVO0530 – 0640SZG IL9 6 25DEC10-
SU177 SVO1205 – 1305SZG IL9 6 25DEC10-
SU173 SVO1510 – 1620SZG IL9 6 01JAN11-

SU176 SZG0810 – 1310SVO IL9 6 25DEC10-
SU178 SZG1435 – 1930SVO IL9 6 25DEC10-
SU174 SZG1750 – 2250SVO IL9 6 01JAN11-

From 30DEC10 to 09JAN11, SU175/176, SU177/178 also operates on Day 467

This summer, the IL-96 will be flying occasional services into Antalya, Heraklion and Larnaca from Moscow SVO

British Airways are eagerly awaiting delivery of their first Boeing 777-300 model, which has recently been snapped in the final assembly line at Boeing Field, Seattle.

The aircraft is due to enter service on 10th August 2010, with it fully featuring in the new Winter 2010/11 timetable. It will appear on the following routes:

London Heathrow – Chicago O’Hare BA296/297,  20 August-30 October
London Heathrow – Delhi BA256/257, 20 August-30 October
London Heathrow – Dubai BA106/107, 20 August-March 2011
London Heathrow – Mumbai BA138/139, 22 August-March 2011

Singapore A380 9V-SKA seen from London Heathrow Holiday Inn Ariel hotel

I recently had the fortune to spend a night at London Heathrow’s Holiday Inn Ariel hotel, so I thought I’d check it out as a spotting location.

I did a bit of research first, and found out that rooms  270, 274, 276, 278, 280 and 284 are all good (thanks to Plane Spotting Hotels website). I even rang ahead to request one of these rooms and was told it was not a problem.

However, upon arriving at the hotel I was told these rooms were not possible with my reservation. BUT there was an upgrade option available to room 376 for £15, or £20 with unlimited internet access. So I snapped up this offer.

These rooms are one level higher, so I think they will actually be better than those in the 27x range. They are billed as Executive Rooms, with a double bed. However I’m not sure if they’re any different to the ones on the floor below.

The view from the window was fantastic. It’s not as close as the Renaissance is, and my room didn’t have a view of the western end of the airport or runways, but you could easily see most movements and a lot of aircraft parked on the ground.

In particular, it had a view of Terminal 3, Terminal 4 and the maintenance areas. Runway 09L/27R is right in front of you, and 09R/27L in the distance.

On my visit, 09L was in use for arrivals, which meant I missed a lot of them as they exited the runway early. But I’d catch them on departure later on from 09R.

It helped to have FlightRadar24 on my laptop the whole time. Having a SBS box would be just as handy. This way, when it got dark I was still able to log departures.

Photographs are good for larger airliners, especially if they taxi from 09L to Terminal 4, as the picture below testifies.

So, there’s a good example of an affordable (if booked in advance) hotel at London Heathrow!