Glw Apt 2016 June

It was announced this month that Glasgow International Airport, in its 50th year of operation, has experienced its busiest May on record with almost 830,000 passengers travelling through, an increase of 5.5% compared with the same period a year ago. Domestic services were boosted by new Flybe services to Newquay, Cardiff and Exeter while increased demand for European destinations including Berlin, Milan, Bucharest and Budapest, contributed to the increase in international passenger numbers. Several South Korean flights, a first for Scotland, are scheduled for later this year and Delta Airlines confirmed it will begin a new daily summer service to New York in May 2017. Meanwhile, Air Canada Rouge kicked-off their thrice-weekly Glasgow - Toronto service when Boeing 767-333ER C-FMWU (above) touched down on Tuesday 14 June...

Notable civilian visitors which I didn`t manage to capture on camera include Citation Mustang G-FFFC, AS 355s G-NETR and G-BYZA plus Challenger 605 9H-VFD (1st); A321-211(WL) G-TCDM Thomas Cook (f/v), Boeing 737-3YO YR-BAP Blue Air (f/v), Citation Mustang N42LJ (f/v), Dassault Falcon 2000EX CS-DLG, Diamond DA-42 Twin Star G-DOSA overshot Runway 05 at 15:30hrs, plus all-white Boeing 737-3U3 9H-AJW touched down at Glasgow for the first time at 10:50hrs to collect Bruce Springsteen and his entourage after his concert at Hampden Park (2nd); Embraer Phenom 300 G-JMBO (3rd); Boeing 737-73SW F-GZTO of ASL Airlines (f/v) (4th); Pilatus PC-6 Porter D-FIPS passed over the airfield and continued operating in local area for much of the day, apparently on survey work. Other notables were Alba Star Boeing 737-4Y0 EC-MFS, Phenom 300 G-JMBO, Citation XLS+ G-CHUI, and SOCATA TBM-930 N930FL (f/v). Germania Airbus D-ASTA returned with the Scotland football team after a 3-0 defeat against France. ATR 72-201 LY-MCA of Dot LT arrived late afternoon (5th)...

Flybe DHC8-402 G-PRPE (f/v), BN-2 Islander G-JPEG, Learjet 45 G-GMAA, Dassault Falcon 2000EX CS-DLG and Challenger 350 CS-CHA (6th); Cessna Citation Excel G-SIRS, Citation Mustang G-FFFC, Citation Bravo G-CGEI, Embraer 135BJ Legacy 650 G-SUGR arrived at 13:25hrs with Coldplay, NetJets Europe Raytheon Hawker 800XPi CS-DRU, Dassault Falcon 2000EX CS-DFK, BN-2A G-JPEG, Castle Air AgustaWestland AW-109 G-POTR, HM Coastguard Sikorsky S-92A G-MCGL (7th); Challenger 350 9H-VCJ and Atlas Executive Air Raytheon Hawker 750XP 9H-BSA (8th); First visits by Air France A320-214 F-HEPA, Westjet Boeing 737-7CTW C-GWJG, Challenger 300 C-FFBC and Bombardier BD700 Global Express N393BV plus Cessna Citation XLS G-ZENT (9th); Air France A318-111 F-GUGJ (f/v), Challenger 350 9H-VCG, Vans RV10 G-RVGO (f/v), plus Embraer 505 Phenoms G-JMBO and CS-PHE (10th); First visits by ASL Airlines Boeing 737-73V(WL) F-GZTC and Air Dolomiti Embraer ERJ-195LR I-ADJO, the latter operating the Lufthansa flight from / to Munich, plus Citation Mustang G-FFFC and Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain G-VIPP (11th); YR-BMG Boeing 737-86N Blue Air (f/v), A320-211 LZ-BHJ BH Air, Gulfstream 280 M-INTY and Gulfstream 550 M-USIC (12th); British Airways Embraer 190-100SR G-LCYW (f/v), Cessna Citation Excel G-IPAX of Air Charter Scotland, and NetJets Europe Cessna Citation XLS CS-DXS (13th); Embraer Legacy 650 G-SUGR (14th); Citation Bravo G-CGEI, Citation Mustang G-FFFC plus first visits by Challenger 350 9H-VCC and Raytheon 390 Premier 1 N390DP (15th)...

First visits by BH Air A319-112 LZ-AOA, Aer Lingus ATR72-600 EI-FSK and Dassault Falcon 2000EX N331DC (16th); Titan Airways Boeing 767-36N(ER) G-POWD covering BA Cityfler flights, Pilatus PC-12 VP-CPX, Challenger 300 SE-RMA (f/v) and Bombardier BD700 Global 5000 M-SAID (17th); A318-111 F-GUGO Air France (f/v), Raytheon Hawker 900XP TC-CLG (f/v) and PA-31 Navajo G-VIPP (18th); Boeing 767-33A(ER)(WL) C-GHPN Air Canada Rouge (f/v), Bombardier BD700 Global 6000 CS-GLF (f/v) and Atlas Executive Air`s Raytheon Hawker 750XP 9H-BSA (19th); ATR-72-201 LY-MCA Dot Lu, and Gulfstream V-SP CS-DKH (20th); A pair of ASL Airlines (Europe Air Post) Boeing 737s touched down in the evening, namely F-GZTC and F-GZTA. Another 737, A6-FGB, stopped off on its delivery flight from Boeing to Flydubai. The last one through Glasgow was A6-FGA on 27 May. Cirrus SR22 N583CD, Cessna Citation CJ3 G-YEDC and Gulfstream 4SP N800AR (21st); A330-243 C-GUFR Air Transat, Cessna Citation XLS CS-DXP and King Air 200 G-CWCD. Hi Fly Airbus A330 CS-TFZ (below) arrived at 23:20hrs and will be covering some Thomas Cook flights from Glasgow during the peak summer season (22nd)...

BH Air Airbus A330-223 LZ-AWA, Titan Airways Boeing 757-256 G-ZAPX and NetJets Europe Raytheon Hawker 750 CS-DUB (23rd); Air France A319-111 F-GRHU (f/v) (24th); A320-211 LZ-BHJ BH Air, Embraer EMB135BJ D-AHOX (f/v) and Pilauts PC-12 M-SAIL (25th); Boeing 737-86Q(WL) EC-IDA Air Europa, Boeing 737-4K5 EC-LNC Alba Star, Airbus A330-223 LZ-AWA BH Air, Embraer 505 Phenom M-HPIN and BA Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner G-ZBJD (f/v) operated an evening Shuttle (26th); Boeing 737-382(QC) OY-JTF JetTime and Boeing 787-9 G-ZBKD, each operating a Shuttle flight made their first visit to Glasgow in the process, The British Airways Dreamliner was also the first of the '9' variant to appear. Plus A319-111 F-GRXM Air France (f/v), Fokker F100 YR-FZA Carpatair left with Celtic FC, CitationJet CJ2+ G-PEER, Citation XLS G-OMEA, King Air 200s M-OTOR and N61AY, Vans RV-10 G-RVIO (f/v) and HM Coastguard Sikorsky S92A G-MCGL (27th); Boeing 737- EC-LTG Alba Star, Saab SF340F HA-TAG Fleet Air (f/v) arrived and departed in the early hours, Citation Mustang N862GS (f/v) and Bell 206 Long Ranger G-PTOO (28th); British Airways Dreamliners G-ZBJH (f/v) and G-ZBJE, plus Gulfstream 150 D-CGEP (29th); A320-214 F-GKXM Air France and A321-211 LZ-BHK BH Air, both (f/v) (30th).

Jet Airliners

Boeing 747-41R G-VXLG of Virgin Atlantic Airways departs Runway 05, Saturday 4 June.

British Airways A320-232 G-EUUM.

Thomson Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner G-TUIH lining up for a Runway 05 departure on Thursday 2 June.

Thomas Cook Airlines A330-243 G-VYGK.

Snapped on Wednesday 15 June, N940AU (above) is the second ex-Lufthansa Boeing 737-530 to call in at Glasgow recently with N943AU having night-stopped 1/2 May. Both airliners have been acquired by Blue Air, a Romanian low-cost airline headquartered in Bucharest, with its main hubs at Henri Coandă International Airport and Turin Airport. N940AU`s previous identity was `Oberhausen`, bearing the German registration D-ABIP, and the aircraft will no doubt receive its YR- registration in the near future.

Boeing 767-300(ER) C-FMWY taxis past Citation Mustang G-FFFC to line-up for departure via Runway 23 on Tuesday 21 June.

Grass-cutting continues as Air Transat Airbus A330-243 C-GTSJ touches down on Saturday 25 June.

On Friday 24 June, Virgin Atlantic`s Orlando-bound 747 G-VAST holds at `Alpha One` while a Thomas Cook `Kestrel` flight lands.

Air Transat Airbus A330-343 C-GTSD operated the Toronto/ Glasgow service on Thursday 9 June.

Eurowings CRJ-900LR D-ACNU ready for take-off.

Wizz Air A320-232(WL) HA-LYQ (f/v) on the 25th, waits for a Flybe Dash 8 to land before lining up for a 05 departure.

Air France Airbus A320-214 F-GKXJ, another first-timer, is seen here arriving on Saturday 25 June.

Lufthansa Airbus A320-214(WL) D-AIUU made at least two visits to Glasgow this month.

Prop-liners

Biz-Jets

NetJets Europe Dassault Falcon 2000 CS-DLG climbing steeply after a `05` departure on Friday 3 June.

Bombardier BD700 Global 5000 M-SAID parked on Taxiway `Yankee`. 04:00hrs, Saturday 18 June.

Bombardier Global 6000 9H-VJC of VistaJet was parked on Area R on Saturday 4 June.

Area `J` occupants when I passed by on the morning of Monday 13 June were (L to R) Cessna Citation XLS G-ZENT, Luxwing Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 9H-FAM (f/v), Gulfstream 450 N461QS (f/v) and Cessna CitationJet CJ2 M-IWPS.

General Aviation

Fairchild Metro 23 OY-NPF is one of three of this type operated by North Flying which is based at Aalborg in Denmark. It called in at Glasgow on Monday 20 June. Metro production ended in 1998 but a large number are still flying with a wide variety of civilian and military operators across the globe.

Aerospatiale AS-365N-2 Dauphin 2 G-LCPL featured in the 2015 James Bond movie Spectre. An action sequence involving a high-speed chase with a boat containing Daniel Craig a.k.a. 007, plus Bond girl Léa Seydoux, vs the helicopter was filmed on the River Thames close to Westminster Bridge in May last year. G-LCPL can also be spotted in a recent Jaguar "It's Good To Be Bad" TV commercial.

Military

BAe 146-200 ZE708 called in at Glasgow on Thursday 2 June. This is one of two ex-civilian aircraft previously operated by TNT Airways and modified to military C.3 operating standard prior to delivery to the Royal Air Force in March 2012, the other being ZE707.

This Beechcraft 350 King Air, pictured on the morning of Saturday 4 June, arrived the previous afternoon. It bears the military serial number 16-2801 so I presume it`s on delivery to the US Army or US Air Force.

RAF Tucano T.1 ZF491 landed at 14:06hrs on Tuesday 7 June and night-stopped.

US Army Cessna UC-35A Ultra 97-0102, call-sign `Duke 51`, stopped off for an hour in the afternoon of Monday 13 June.

RAF Marham-based Tornado GR.4 ZA553(045) `Monster 11` touched down at 14:00 hrs on Saturday 12 June and night-stopped into Monday morning on what was its first visit. Irish Air Corps Learjet 45, serial number 258, appeared on Friday 17 and Monday 27 June.

And finally, along at Greenock...

The P1 Scottish Grand Prix of the Sea was a two-day event held off the Greenock Esplanade on Saturday 18 / Sunday 19 June. I opted to head down on Sunday when, unfortunately, low cloud and drizzle contrasted with the previous day`s fine weather when sunshine brought out the crowds in their thousands. Just like Formula 1 motor racing, heats take place at various venues throughout the year, in this case in the USA and UK, with the winning crew being the ones with the most points accumulated at the end of the season.

US-registered Hughes 369HS N2742Y was acting as camera ship for the first P1 race but it had to call a halt when the visibility deteriorated. With no hope of an improvement the remaining power boat heats were cancelled but it has been suggested that the event could be hosted at Greenock annually, so let`s hope the mixed weather won`t deter the organisers from agreeing to a return next year.