Andy Bowden of Plane Spotting Hotels website reports on what is regarded one of the best hotels for aircraft spotting at Singapore’s Changi Airport. He writes…

I would rate this hotel as probably one of the best all round hotels in the world for aircraft viewing and photography. As an added bonus, from the rooms mentioned below the occasional movement from Seleter Airport can seen in the distance. The hotel is situated in an excellent location, connected to terminal 3 at Singapore airport. The hotel is a short walk from the terminal 3 viewing area. The viewing areas on terminal 1 and 2 are a short 5 minute ride on the airport monorail, the station of which is a 2 minute walk from the hotel. The airport restaurants are expensive, however a wide range of food courts, as well as a supermarket can be found in the terminals. If you decide to order room service to allow you to eat and spot a typical American Style breakfast of ham, eggs and hash browns is around £8, a pizza for dinner is around £11.

For the ideal views you require a room on the 7th, 8th or 9th floorending in *02, *04, *06, *08, *09, *10, *11, *12. These rooms give a fantastic view over the right hand runway in front of terminal 3. The hotel corridor is open plan allowing you to walk out of the room into the corridor to see movements on the busy central runway (SBS and a scanner is helpful for you to monitor movements on the central runway as you do need to leave your room to see this runway). At busy times the right hand runway is used for arrivals only, however in moderate to quiet times a mixed mode operation is in force therefore you do require a means of monitoring the central runway to ensure that you do not miss the movements. Be warned, the above rooms all are reported to have the one large queen size bed, therefore if there are 2 of you be prepared to get cosy (or a roll away bed is available for a costly £30 a night). Photos can be taken from the room although the windows are tinted. A 10 second walk from the room will take you to an opening on the outside corridor where superb outdoor shots can be taken (80-200mm for aircraft on the taxiway, 200-400mm for runway shots). Morning to early afternoons are best with the sun behind you. Examples of the view from the rooms can be seen at http://www.plane-spotting-hotels.com/plane_spotting_singapore_airport.htm.

The aim of the rip was to see as many Singapore 777 as possible prior to them withdrawing the older ones. After two and a half days we came away with all but 8. All of the A380′s were seen within the first day and a half. The new A330′s were harder with the final 1 of the 5 seen at lunchtime of the finalday. All A340′s were also seen, these creep in early (0500ish) and depart mid morning, and are away from base for a couple of days due to the length of the flights to New York and LAX.

Things get a little quiet between 1100-1400 giving you the opportunityto wizz into Singapore on the local train (about £2 each way) and see the sights.

Antalya in Turkey is a major international gateway to the country. It handles a lot of international flights, as well as a healthy mix of domestic and military movements. The busiest times are in July and August, when a lot of European charter airlines pass through the airport, especially from Germany.

The airport has two parallel runways.

Views are possible over the ramp from the International Terminal, although many aircraft park in awkward positions so you have to wait for them to move.

The Domestic Terminal isn’t much use, although there are a few spots around the perimeter where you can see aircraft. Be warned, however, that security is tight with this being a military base.

The IC Airport Hotel has views over the action from odd-numbered rooms on upper floors.

I’ve been an avid fan of Johnny Jet’s weekly newsletter for quite a few years now. It always makes a fascinating read as he travels week-by-week around the globe, taking up frequent flier deals with airlines and hotels, and often trying out new services, routes and aircraft.

Whilst his reports are geared around travel, and the places he sees around the world, I thought I’d give it a mention here because he travels almost exclusively by air. Therefore in each of his weekly newsletters, you get an account of at least two airports, and an airline.

Whilst this doesn’t help you much with spotting aircraft, it will surely be useful in giving you an overview of the various airports he visits (he covers everything from how modern the terminal is, to the price of a bottle of water). i know a lot of you travel by air to spot at different airports.

He runs a large website known as Johnnyjet.com, and has his free newsletter which you can sign up to. I really recommend it!

Liverpool Airport is quite busy these days, with based easyJet and Ryanair aircraft, plus a number of charter and cargo airlines passing through each day.

A recent visit allowed me time to check the place out for spotting locations. I found the following:

Inside the Terminal. Upstairs in the arrivals section, there is a food court. This has windows overlooking most of the main apron where airliners park.

Outside the Terminal. Turn right into the car park. From here you can see a couple of gates not visible from inside.

GA Car Park. Walk or drive along perimeter road to the right after leaving the terminal. You will come to the General Aviation car park, from where you can log aircraft parked there.

Speke Business Park. At the old airport site to the north west of the current terminal, there is now a business park. The old terminal is now a Marriott hotel. Outside it there are two aircraft:

G-JMAC Jetstream 41
G-ANCF Bristol Britannia

Many people have enquired about what the spotting facilities are like in the new Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport.

I’ve compiled the following information from reports received:

Car Parks
The short stay car parks have views over runway 09L/R arrivals from the upper floors.

Landside
Costa Coffee on the north side of the terminal has windows overlooking the threshold of runway 09L
A view of runway 09R is possible from the south side of the terminal.

Airside
Once airside you can freely move between piers.
The best views can be had at gate A7 over the northern runway.
Gate A18 has views of the cargo area and runway 09R threshold.
Pier B has some acceptable views, but these will decrease as Pier C is built.

As always, please post your comments and reviews of travelling through Terminal 5. It is new to Heathrow, so information is needed on good spots and experiences with your binoculars!