My flight report Air Malta KM117 London Gatwick, UK - Malta 24th October 2016

Airline: Air Malta
Flight: KM117
Type: Airbus A320-200
Registration: 9H-AEP
Flight of origin: London Gatwick, UK South Terminal
Destination: Malta
Flight time: 2 hours & 50 minutes

It was a busy morning in London Gatwick, UK in South Terminal. Before I went to Gatwick while I was on my way to the airport, disaster happened in Malta International Airport. At 07:20am a small Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner aircraft registered N577MX has crashed during takeoff  but we'll get to that later on in the blog. During the incident, the airport in Malta was closed for roughly 3 hours causing more flights to delay & some cancelled from Ryanair until the airport was re-opened & start flying the delayed flight. Our flight time was mean't to be 11:55am we departed London Gatwick roughly gone 3:15pm UK time. Even though when my flight was delayed, you can still check-in but you have to take the luggage encase if flight is cancelled. When the airport was re-opened we dropped our bags at the desk & head straight to the departures for food.

And here she is! This was a lucky day at the gate because this was taken at the new Pier 1 when Gatwick made it smaller & less space. Once we started boarding my only complain is that I was sitting 5F, they boarded the flight from the back, middle & the front shouldn't it be the other way around? I mean business class & disabled comes first yes but not back row seats after business class comes first. I think it's out of order because business class up to emergency exit row should come first that is in my opinion. 

Unfortunately I don't have any cabin pics at this time but I have to say it's completely spotless. The cabin crew are alright although I do think some are polite with their smiles on their faces unless it was me trying to fall a sleep until one special cabin crew does during boarding, service in business class passengers and goodbyes after landing "Now that's what I call the REAL cabin crew!" If you remember on my Facebook before I went to the UK, back in the Summer she is a good friend of mine giving requests of me taking photos during her travel movements in the Summer "Thank you very much for this awesome flight! It's been a long time." I do think 3 months wasn't long compare if I miss someone special for 1 year or so.  

With food it's the same typical roll with water although when I smelt it, I start to feel a bit sick so I couldn't eat it "Sorry!" Believe it or not, some Full Service Airliners are ending full food like British Airways recently did on short haul flights only go for little snacks They had complimentary tea & coffee due to the delay of the flight although  I was sleeping I didn't see what happened so I have to give credit.

During the flight it was smooth like really smooth for takeoff and landing. Even though unfortunately it was classed as a night flight because my camera doesn't like night flights but I do enjoy seeing the sunset when the sun turns orange "Now it's my chance!" other than that it was a good flight I really enjoyed more than my Flybe flight from Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Southampton, UK. 

And so by 07:15pm I landed back in Malta in one peace (wrong calculation on flightradar24) because I was sitting on the right side of the aircraft I did see the crash site of N577MX I didn't want to talk about it makes my heart felt completely broken. And so that was my latest Air Malta flight I enjoyed it so much makes me want to forget my Flybe flight. Coming next Tuesday, flight KM100 to London Heathrow, UK.

My overall score from Aircraft Aviation in Europe:

• Cabin - 10/10
• Hygienic -10/10
• Food - 9/10
• Cabin Crew - 9.9/10
• Service 9.9/10

Overall: 9.9/10 

It's been a great pleasure as you're fellow aviation reporter on board this awesome Air Malta flight & I thank you for it. Keep it up & look forward next Tuesday.  

PS: I am not counting the delay on the rating as it's not the airlines fault. 

What happen to US Airways?

US Airways, how could we never forget America's best airliner besides Trans World Airlines (TWA). As I been seeing my US Airways photos on different aviation Facebook pages with their upset faces, I'm going to explain US Airways. Where shall we start?

US Airways founded as All American Aviation in 1937 & started operation in 1939 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania until in 1952, All American Aviation renamed the company to Allegheny Airlines in 1952 callsign Allegheny then it renamed again to USair in 1979 and finally US Airways in 1996 callsign US AIR until 2008 US Airways changed the callsign to Catus. US Airways went through two Alliances over the years it joined Star Alliance in 2004-2014 then Oneworld Alliance in 2014-2015.  

US Airways N280AY Airbus A330-200 new to US Airways in 2009 seen in London Gatwick, UK taken 23rd January 2013.

US Airways had modern fleets all from Airbus & some old fleets from Boeing. 

Fleets were:

• Airbus A319 (93)
• Airbus A320 (56 also the largest operator worldwide of the Airbus A320 Family)
• Airbus A321 (114 with 7 orders being transferred to American Airlines)
• Airbus A330-200 (15)
• Airbus A330-300 (9)
• Airbus A350-900 (Was planed but now 22 on order transferred to American Airlines in 2017)
• Boeing 757-200 (15)
• Embraer 190 (20) 

During the later years for US Airways it seems it had financial difficulties (bankruptcy) when in 2012 was interested to take the airline to American Airlines it was reported in March 2012 that US Airways was open the bid to merge the airline. In December 2012, US Airway announced it will finally be merged to American Airlines similar role what TWA did when it was merged to American Airlines. If you remember as a US spotter from ATC you might notice some US Airways fleets callsign used to American Airline even for the customers some were still in US Airways optional till we come to 2015.

US Airways N202UW Boeing 757-200 new to American Airlines 1995 ex N633AW seen in Dublin, Ireland taken 7th February 2014.

On 13th July 2015, American Airlines announced that all US Airways flights will be discontinued & when the merged happened by 17th October 2015 and finally the final flight for US Airways was Flight 774 from London Heathrow, UK - Philadelphia, USA. US Airways had a very flight safety record then any other American Airliners with only 6 accidents & incidents NEVER forget the Flight 1549 incident when it ditched into the Hudson River. As we now come to 1 year when US Airways ceased operation, US Airways will be a loving memory American airliner in the American History.

Next travel movement for October & November 2016 and spotting news

As we come two weeks till I return home to Malta I like to update what is going happen with my two movements. While I'm doing my training, I will be heading to Malta every time during my break off college and some other destinations. So lets talk about the movement.

First flight from London Gatwick, UK I won't be doing a Full Flight video at this time because of a special guest from Air Malta I met in the summer rather not to be identified the name this is between me & her. Other than that, I will continue to do some of my airport spotting & update photos from the sky. With my London Heathrow flight, I won't do Full Flight video UNLESS Air Malta uses the RetroJet 9H-AEI or Valletta livery 9H-AEO if it's those two I might include that if not I will do spotting photos from my flight.

In other news about spotting. When I get home to Malta I will ONLY focus on doing Air Malta RetroJet on YouTube due to lack of views while my Full Flight videos is still popular to my channel. Be sure to check my Facebook for news & updates. 

What happen to Air One?

 Almost 2 years since Air One was ceased operations from 30th October 2014 so today I will explain about Air One. Shall we start where it began?

Air One EI-COI Boeing 737-400 new to Lufthansa in 1992 ex D-ABKC seen in Malta taken 11th August 2005. 

Air One first started in 1983 callsign Heron based from a bird from the tail. Air One first started as a flying school and provide air-taxi service; however in June 1994 Air One strarted to operate for passenger service with their Boeing 737-200 as a charter & full scheduled service. It operated 36 destinations to the European Union countries, Africa and the United States with flights from 5 Italian airport bases in Venice, Pisa, Verona,  Catania and Palermo connecting Alitalia flights across the world. In 2000 Air One announced it joined partnership with Lufthansa with all Air One flights was code-shared with Lufthansa as you see my photo on top "Partner of Lufthansa" for example I fly with Air One from Palermo to Frankfurt, Germany I get a connecting flight with Lufthansa when I land in Rome. In June 2006, Air One operated it's first regional airliner under the name Air One CityLiner (before Alitalia CityLiner) with a brand new Bombardier CRJ900.

The fleets Air One had were:

• Airbus A320 (2006-2010 Air One A320's moved to Alitalia) 
• Airbus A330-200 (2008-2009)
• Boeing 737-200 (1993-2008)
• Boeing 737-300 (1995-2010)
• Boeing 737-400 (1997-2010)
• Boeing 737-800 (2002-2004)

Air One EI-DSR Airbus A320-200 new to Air One in 2008 seen in Catania, Italy taken 12th April 2013.

During it's later years in August 2008, Air One almost went bankrupt so the airline wanted to merge with Alitalia until 13th January 2009, Air One become officially part with Alitalia 2 airlines in 1 it's kinda what Alitalia is or was dealing with Air Malta recently I think it was scrapped the idea. That also means Air One withdrawn the partnership with Lufthansa & focus to be part with Alitalia. After Air One joined with Alitalia that also means for Air One more destinations equipped by Alitalia & more Italian airport bases. For example of more destinations Air One operated to London Gatwick, UK but not served  by Air One since the airline ended in Milan Malpensa, Italy. Does it mean Air One operates by Alitalia in Air One livery? the answer was yes. After Air One ended Milan Malpensa, the airline moved to it's new base in Palermo in March 2014. 

Finally on August 25th 2014, Air One announced that a parent company to Alitalia shutted down Air One by October 30th 2014 due to Alitalia's new partnership with Etihad Airways. Some of Air One routes have been taking over by Alitalia even for Air One's Airbus A320 fleets.To me, Air One might not be my thing to travel on a Italian low-cost airliner it's interesting what the plane looks like. Air One will have a loving memory for Italy.

Air Malta 9H-AEI Retro Livery

Today from Aircraft Aviation on Europe we are going back where Air Malta livery started it all till we work to the top (No history about the airline yet.)  

Air Malta started with this logo was introduced in 1974 the livery had red with purple background located south east of the Maltese Cross and the text font with Air all red and Malta in purple. With the Maltese Cross it's located at the tail through today's generation symbols our country same goes for pilots and cabin crew lets say in my opinion a Maltese Cross board Air Malta uniform brings me luck have a safer journey if I was an Air Malta employee of a pilot or cabin crew. Anyway the Maltese Cross is at the tail like the Air Malta logo from 1973 then the purple on the south east stretches from the rear, all the way towards the fuselage towards the nose & back up to the tail the purple colour is at the middle while the two reds are on top and bottom then Air Malta logo is next to the door and Malta flay by the flight deck also there is black at the bottom of the front cockpit window with a black circle on the nose cone. As 1989 arrived, it's time for the airline to have a brand new look of their livery with only 11 years till the 21st century we come to this logo.

Air Malta's second livery was introduced in 1989 with Boeing 737-200 and Airbus A320 in 1992 with 3 blue stripes all around the bottom of the fuselage starting from the end of the rear all away round to the other side, Air Malta font next to the front doors then the aircraft has coat of arms from the villages of Malta we will mention about one aircraft later, red background & Maltese Cross at the tail same for the engine. When I was a kid I, I use to go mad of Air Malta in a shocking way I saw in TV, online and airline magazines because I love the airline so much when I spot the tail. And now the logo at the present time. 

In March 2012 we have a brand new look for Air Malta however I'm not going to mention about the look of the currently Air Malta livery because I have already mentioned a million times I don't want my blogs to look boring about Air Malta all the time as I am focusing on something else with different airlines for Blogger. The font of the logo is not in capital letters at the start with A then M also it's a one word sentence just like the 1973 livery but I have to respect it being the first one. Also with the font it's strange "air"is different than "malta" that's because with Malta it's in bold font as Air is not. The Maltese Cross reminds me of the last two Air Malta logos somehow a bit smaller with beautiful background with green, blue and orange stripe look.

Air Malta needed to think "What can we do for Air Malta to make this special for the airline? We have 9H-AEO in special Valletta brand but something else we need to promote our company." Until a light bulb flashes that Air Malta is reaching 40 years in 2014 but Air Malta need to pick one of their fleet to be in "Retro Livery" All of their fleets are now in current livery till they released there is one airliner from Mexico has borrowed their aircraft by Interjet for 2 year leased period by Air Malta till we come at my photo. Also this wasn't also requested by Air Malta, it was also done & requested by a Facebook Group for anyone wants Air Malta in retro livery. The first part isn't official it's in my opinion.

(Somehow my scanner doesn't work so I just took a picture from my phone.)

What we have here is 9H-AEI "Rabat - Citta Vittoria" new to Air Malta in 26th April 2004.  The photo I took this was in late August 2005 until November 2010  it spend 4 years with Interjet as XA-SOB it has interesting destinations within Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Peru and the United States of America. When an airline gets to their new home country, it felt like the airline gets homesick if the country the airline is from is wonderful & travel safer destinations. However, this is when Air Malta reaches it's 40th Anniversary in 2014. After XA-SOB was withdrawn, the project was underway.

In 10th February 2014, Interjet withdrawn's XA-SOB, the aircraft returned back to Air Malta on 6th April 2014 still in Interjet livery then it went to Ostrava, Czech Republic being painted into 1974 livery that is until 16th April 2014 Air Malta flight KM40 was ready to head back home to Malta with a low flying pass on Runway 31 then flew over Valletta Grand Harbour, Sliema, Mosta, Qrendi San Giljan and Birzebbugia. As we are coming up to 2017, 9H-AEI is still going strong for Air Malta continuing to have her flying future all over the Maltese Islands. If you wan't to find out more about the history of Air Malta, click the link will explain more about Air Malta with the livery & the history of our only airline.