Luton Airport is planning to increase its capacity to 18 million passengers a year and improve efficiency in a bid to capture some more of the demand at London’s airports, especially since the Government is adamant there won’t be a third runway built at Heathrow, and the Thames Estuary Airport is just a dream at the moment.

Luton is already a popular low-cost gateway for easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air and others, and it has also made a mark for itself as THE place for biz jets visiting London. On any given day there are up to a hundred biz jets present (admittedly a number are based, or are in for maintenance). So to expand on this seems a good idea.

This article states the airport will look to “consider where modifications are required to optimise capacity, including taxiways, aprons, piers and parking stands, the road network, car parking and the passenger terminal.”

It’s not clear when these changes will take place – presumably it will need a lot of planning. But I anticipate one of the improvements they’ll look to add is a full-length parallel taxiway for the runway, which will instantly increase the hourly capacity of the runway.

Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan has opened a new observation area for watching aircraft.

Built for people to wave off family, and watch them arrive, it’s also perfect for the enthusiast with its views over one of the runways and many of the parking stands at the terminal.

The area is believed to be indoors, which makes it sheltered and air conditioned, but it’s likely to mean photography is through glass.

Have you visited? What’s the observation area like?

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner World Tour continues, with new destinations and dates announced.

The aircraft used is ZA003, and is fitted out to best show off the interior possibilities to airline customers it visits.

The new dates are:

20-23 January – Wichita, KS
23-25 January – Rockford, IL
25-27 January – Dublin, Ireland
27-30 January – Huntsville, AL

Keep an eye out here for more dates as they become known!

London Southend Airport is really taking off. After years living in the shadows of London’s other airports, the once-popular airport is now on the way back up.

Although for many years it’s been a place to find mouth-wateringly rare aircraft in storage and between owners (which to some extent continues to this day), the airport finally has some scheduled routes to shout about, and a bunch of new infrastructure being built ready for this year’s London Olympic Games. Southend is one of the closest airports to the games, so I expect it will be pretty busy around that period.

Here’s an update on the airport’s growth and plans:

- Runway extension has now been built, with the taxiways all improved and new lighting added. Full runway will be in operation from March.

- Scheduled services to Ireland have started with Aer Arann.

- easyJet begin routes to 9 European destinations from April, with 3 based Airbus A319 aircraft.

- The new control tower and railway station (with fast links to London) have been opened.

- New terminal under construction, to be opened in February. Extended apron and stands almost complete.

- New Holiday Inn under construction at the airport.

I’ll be visiting this year to check out the new facilities and to see what the viewing situation is like with the new roads, runway, hotel and terminal. You may want to schedule a visit to Southend during the Olympics as I think it will get quite busy.

Why not send us a trip report if you use one of the new easyJet routes?

Perth Airport in Western Australia has a brand new viewing area built with the aviation enthusiast in mind.

The special paved area, with shelter, seating and interesting information boards has been constructed alongside the main runway, and is very close to the action.

It is perfect for logging movements, and is great for photography.

The viewing area is open daily between 6.30am and 7.00pm (October to March) and between 7.30am and 5.30pm (April to September).  It is accessed from Dunreath Drive (the link road connecting the International and Domestic Terminals).  A signed entry point is located approximately half way along Dunreath Drive and car parking at the site is free.

Fantastic news for spotters visiting Perth! Have you visited?

Perth Airport is featured in Airport Spotting Guides Far East and Australasia.

Fantastic news for those in the USA – ANA (All Nippon Airways) will start flying their Boeing 787 Dreamliners on scheduled services to the USA from April 2012.

The three routes announced are from Toyko Narita to San Jose, CA, Seattle, WA, and Washington DC Dulles.

Flights begin on 1 April 2012.

Great news for spotters over there, and I think this proves to some degree (San Jose) that the 787 will be used to try out more niche long haul routes.

As a side note, there will, however, be a delay to the planned Beijing and Frankfurt 787 services due to a delay in delivery of the third aircraft to ANA.

Ryanair continues to expand in Europe, and today announced their 49th base will be Palma de Mallorca.

They already fly 30 routes from the airport, but will be adding 17 new ones when the base takes effect from the Summer 2012 season.

The new routes are:
Aarhus, Cork, Gothenburg, Haugesund, Kaunas, Krakow, Maastricht, Malaga, Magdeburg, Marseille, Oslo, Paris Beauvais, Poznan, Santander, Santiago, Stockholm, and Tampere.

Hong Kong Airport’s brand-new Midfield Terminal is on it’s way. A ground-breaking ceremony took place recently, and work is set to take place until 2015.

The new facility is situated in the middle of the airfield, between the runways, and linked to Terminal 1 via a people mover. It is five storeys high, and has 20 aircraft gates.

The new structure is being billed as incredibly environmentally friendly, with solar panels across its roof, and waste/energy recycling schemes being built in.

It will also see the airport’s capacity increased, and no doubt lots of big windows to watch the action through!

Photo (c) Wylkie Chan

Boeing have announced that their 787 is to go on a world tour that lasts 6 months and takes in many different countries.

The purpose of the tour is to raise public awareness, and in particular to demonstrate the aircraft to potential customers and those airlines that are awaiting their first deliveries of the type.

The tour will involve the third production aircraft ZA003 (N787BX) in a special livery, and with a lavish interior designed to show off the capabilities of the aircraft from a passenger experience.

The tour will begin on 4th December when the aircraft reaches Beijing . It will go on to visit Guangzhou and Haikou. Then, between 11-16 December, it will visit African destinations including Addis Ababa and Nairobi.

Between 16-19 December, the aircraft will visit the Middle East and demonstrate to Qatar Airways in Doha.

Further stops will be announced. Keep an eye on Randy’s Journal, who I credit for the info on this page. With any luck we’ll see the aircraft at a number of European airports, and more of the US and Canada. For official news, check out the Boeing website for the tour http://www.newairplane.com/787/dreamtour/

Sadly Astraeus Airlines ceased operations this week due to financial problems and the lack of work over winter months.

There may be hope, as celebrity pilot and Marketing Director for the airline – Bruce Dickinson (of Iron Maiden fame) – has vowed to save it in some form, and secure the jobs and operating style of the airline.

But in the meantime, it has left Iceland Express in the lurch as they used Boeing 737s of Astraeus on a number of routes. Therefore, they have drafted in the help of Holidays Czech Airlines and their Airbus A320s, which will be operating on routes out of Keflavik to places such as Copenhagen, London Gatwick, Alicante, Oslo, New York, Berlin and Warsaw.

I don’t yet know whether this is an interim measure, or if the deal will last indefinitely, but it at least gives those of you at those airports something interesting to look out for!