Leipzig has grown into one of Germany (and Europe’s) largest cargo airports. It is the main hub on the continent for DHL Airways and their various subsidiaries and partners, allowing them a central location to receive, process and send on packages from around the world.

Aside from cargo, Leipzig is a moderately busy airport for passenger services, with around 2.3 million passengers passing through each year on domestic, intra-European, and holiday flights.

But naturally the vast majority of movements are those affiliated with DHL, and cargo carriers such as Bluebird, Swiftair, Kalitta, Europe Air Post, Air Atlantique, ABX, RAF Avia, Aerologic, Aviastar etc. This sees a lot of A300, B737, B757, and B777 types, but most interestingly also a lot of AN-12, AN-26 and TU-204 aircraft operating from countries to the east.

Cargo movements are largely between 10pm and 2am, but some operate during the day and it’s often possible to see many aircraft parked up during the day.

Spotting
The best place to spot at Leipzig is the viewing terrace atop the Administration Building next to the terminal. The outdoor terrace is open 24 hours a day, making it ideal for catching those nighttime movements (if a little chilly in winter!). It costs €2.

You can also get good views from the top of the car park.

Hotel
If you want to watch the cargo movements from the comfort of your warm hotel room (with SBS or Flightradar24), try the Globana Airport Hotel. It has rooms facing the airport, but some have restricted views.

Elsewhere
Whilst in Leipzig, remember to look out for the former Interflug IL-18 and TU-134 aircraft at the airport, which are easily seen from the viewing deck. There’s also an IL-62 in the city used as a cafe, and an IL-18 at one of the city’s museums.

DHL Timetable
You can download a handy DHL flight timetable from this link.

Credit goes to Mark Allday for the information in this article.

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.

According to a report today, building a new London airport in the Thames Estuary is becoming more and more likely, with David Cameron showing significant interest.

This is a major u-turn from previous statements, and it seems we might just get this development. The government has also reiterated that Heathrow will definitely NOT get a third runway.

Naturally there are still a lot of skeptics about the project, especially since it will take many, many years to approve, plan and build, during which the problems at Heathrow and other London airports won’t go away.

What are your thoughts on the plans?

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?

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?

Although we haven’t yet had anything like the snowfall experienced over the past two winters here in the UK, airports across the country are nevertheless preparing so that they don’t experience the same problems.

Belfast City George Best Airport has invested  in two £500,000 in two snow clearing machines from Norway. The huge apparatus can remove 6 inches of snow from the entire runway in less than an hour.  Seamus MacMahon, Belfast City Airport’s Senior Fire Officer, is pictured receiving the equipment from Jan Eric, Service Engineer at ØVERAASEN.

So this airport, which is a vital link close to the heart of Belfast for business passengers in particular, should remain open should the white stuff appear again!

Harrisburg International Airport is a relatively new facility in Pennsylvania, USA.

We recently spoke to the airport’s Marketing Manager, Stephanie Gehman about the airport, which is relatively unknown to our European readers, but offers an interesting alternative to the other airports on the Eastern Seaboard. So, here’s a bit of information from Stephanie:

Check out this cool time-lapse video from Frankfurt Airport!

Frankfurt Airport Time Lapse Video

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

Taoyuan is Taipei’s international airport and handles all the flights that come to Taiwan from overseas.

The airport is very busy, with an extensive mix of airlines from Asia, North America and Europe visiting regularly. It is also one of the world’s busiest cargo airports, and many cargo airlines pass through every day. In particular, it is a hub for China Airlines Cargo and EVA Air Cargo.

There are two parallel runways and two passenger terminals at Taoyuan. Terminal 1 has recently undergone an extensive renovation project. Terminal 3 is expected to open by 2014.

For the spotter, there are a few places that have good views. These include:

1. South Crash Gate
Where a rough taxiway links Taoyuan Airport with Taoyuan Air Base, a crash gate can be found in the fence alongside runway 06/24. You can drive, or walk if blocked, along the taxiway to the gate from the main road which runs between the airport and base. When heading away from the terminal, take the first left off the motorway and follow along. From here you’ll have a good vantage point of aircraft on the runway, and it’s possible to take good photographs. Other spotters congregate here.

2. “Miracle” Cafe
On the north side of the airfield is a cafe dubbed the “Miracle” Cafe due to the face it narrowly escaped damage when an Airbus A300 crashed alongside. It has views over the northern side of the airfield, and from its rooftop you can take acceptable photographs from afternoon till sunset. The cafe is situated on the main ’15′ road running along the northern perimeter.

3. Aviation Museum
You can see aircraft on the northern runway and taxiway from the Aviation Museum, although to photograph you’ll need steps as there’s too much in the way. Nevertheless, a good spot to note what’s coming and going.