It’s nearly time for that annual event in Switzerland which sees spotters flocking to see an abundance of biz jets in one place, and some of them quite rare! The Davos conference is held in January, with most dignitaries flying into Zurich Airport. This year the dates covered are Tuesday 26 January to Sunday 31 January.

Most aircraft arrive on the first day (Tuesday), often positioning to Basle or Geneva to park up for the week, before returning to Zurich to pick up their passengers on the Sunday and returning home.

Buchair offer a number of ramp tours at Zurich during the event, giving you the opportunity to get up close and personal with the biz jets (and other airliners) in attendance. You can find the schedule and booking details at: http://www.buchairnet.ch/de/tour/2010_schedule.pdf

Following complaints from aircraft owners over the taking and subsequent use of photographs of their stored airliners at Mojave Airport, photography by spotters on their airside tours are now firmly banned.

The airport has run tours on request for many years, giving spotters the chance to ride out to the lines of stored airliners at the desert airfield in California. This offers the chance to catch up with many older types stored here either permanently or temporarily. It can be difficult to log registrations from the perimeter road, so this tour is a major bonus.

Being able to step out of the van and take photographs at close quarters was also welcomed by spotters, but owners are apparently sick of seeing their aircraft in YouTube videos and social networking sites. It is not clear whether this is a result of malicious use, or simply enthusiasts sharing photos and videos.

The airport now encourages spotters to leave behind video and photo cameras before getting in the van to take a tour.

If after this news you are still interested in taking a tour at Mojave, you can do so by reporting to the Control Tower and asking at reception. In most cases the driver (Javier) can accommodate you for a spontaneous tour immediately.

Fancy a trip away to pursue some spotting with like minded enthusiasts in 2010? Aeroprints, one of the longest established aviation spotting tour firms in the UK, have released their 2010 brochure, listing all of the tours you’re able to book on, along with details of which aircraft/flights involved in each trip, and the day-by-day opportunities for spotting.

I’ve personally used Aeroprints for a tour a few years ago and highly recommend them.

You can download the brochure here

As a way to combine trips to (sometimes) far-flung places, with like-minded enthusiasts for company, aviation tour companies offer a great outlet for our hobby.

Some of the better known companies operating in the UK are:
Aeroprints
Ian Allan Tours
The Aviation Society

The immediate benefits of taking one of these tours, first and foremost, include the potential quality of the aircraft you’ll see. Whilst everyone’s logbooks contain different aircraft, the beauty of aviation tours is that you can pick somewhere that will be beneficial to you.

Another big benefit is that most organisations pre-arrange access to areas that would otherwise be restricted to the enthusiast, such as airside ramp tours at airports, access to private collections and museums, or manufacturers. Having all of this takes a massive headache out of organising trips on your own, and is undoubtedly more beneficial to your logbook and photograph collections.

The biggest arguments many have for not using tours tends to be cost – tours are usually expensive, and the thrifty can usually find cheaper ways to travel by themselves. Although many of the extras wouldn’t be included.

Touching further on this, others cite not wishing to travel with a bunch of unknown people, when they can just as easily travel alone, or with their friends.

Whatever your stance on the matter, the tour companies are already offering more and more elaborate and tempting tours for 2010. Here are some tasters:

Aeroprints have a Round-the-World trip at £2595, and a Japan-Korea trip at £1445 planned.

Ian Allan also have a Round-the-World trip planned at £2839 with different destinations.

The Aviation Society has not announced any 2010 trips yet, but has three main 2009 trips, to Dubai Air Show, Paris Air Show, and China.

What are your thoughts on aviation tours? Have you taken them? What were your experiences?

BUCHairTours have organised a number of special airside tours for enthusiasts at Zurich airport during the period when the original observation deck closes.

These run between Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 and Sunday, February 1st, 2009 with a very similar schedule as in January 2008.
Starting mid-November 08, exact schedule, prices and procedures will be published on their website www.buchairnet.com. At the moment, they can not yet accept any reservations nor payments for the tours, therefore, please be patient until November.

Tickets for special ramp tours may only be bought through Bucher & Co., Publikationen, either electronically on the internet or in our shop, buchAIRcenter, “Wilbur Wright”, Schaffhauserstr. 76, CH-8152 Glattbrugg (pick-up) or last minute on the terrace at Terminal E. From, Monday January 26th, 2009 through Sunday, February 1st, 2009 BUCHairTOURS will have some kind of temporary stand on top of Terminal E, in order to handle the special bus tours and to sell last minute tickets.

An alternative way to see the action at Vienna airport is to take an airside tour. This covers most parts of the airfield and gives you an opportunity to log (quickly!) what’s in and take some photos.

The tours are offered Monday-Saturday (including holidays) from 09:00-17:00.
There are no tours on Sundays.
The tour is about an hour long. Price for adults: EUR 7.

The tours start at the new Visitair center which is located northwest of the terminal, adjacent to the parking lot 4.