Aviation at London Heathrow, UK 28th May 2019

Welcome to another blog, this time we are re-visiting London Heathrow Airport at Terminal 4 Observation Deck departures where all are taken on 28th May 2019 before I had a flight due. In his particular blog I'm going to show you foreign airliners instead of locals from British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Flybe so just a little change for the topic.

Emirates A6-EUK Airbus A380 delivered in 2016 taken 28th May 2019.

First off is the mighty Airbus A380 touching down at runway 21L of an Emirates flight from Dubai, UAE. As we've seen terrible news from Airbus ending A380 production so this has to be included for tribute.

Qatar Airways A7-AME Airbus A350-900 delivered in 2018 taken 28th May 2019.

Qatar Airways what I see looks like the best & gentle landing I've ever seen since I've first saw an Airbus A350 of Qatar Airways at Heathrow. 

KLM Cityhopper PH-EZT Embraer ERJ-190 taken 28th May 2019.

Since Fokker 70 have retired from KLM Cityhopper, it's all Embraer where ever you go across UK airports on regional airliners. Every time I get akward landing photos of small airliners, the observation deck I was at is perfect for close ups. I believe KLM Cityhopper sends out almost every Embraer family aircraft while Boeing 737NG's are still operating Heathrow at Terminal 4. 

Singapore Airlines 9V-SWP Boeing 777-300ER delivered in  2008  taken 29th May 2019.

Singapore Airlines sends out Boeing 777's and Airbus A380's during different times at the same day from Changi, Singapore.

China Eastern Airlines B-2025 Boeing 777-300 delivered in 2015 taken 28th May 2019. 

At Heathrow, you do see a lot of flights from China compare to Gatwick so more chances of spotting you'll see more of these flights from Mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan (Eva Airways). China Eastern Airlines seen starting to touchdown using Boeing 777-300ER from Shanghai Pudong, China.

Oman Air A4O-SG Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner delivered in 2018 taken 28th May 2019.

At Terminal 4, their isn't many heavy aircraft while the the rest are Terminal 2,3, and 5. One great photo parking to the gate is Oman Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner arrived from Muscat, Oman. 

Korean Air Line HL7643 Boeing 747-8 delivered in 2017 taken 28th May 2019.

Taken from my mobile phone, Korean Air is a daily visitor at Terminal 4 with a flight from Seoul  Incheon. South Korea using the Boeing 747-8. This time from my logo, I've added a blue background instead of placing the text & logo in any strange position. 

Royal Air Moroc CN-RGN Boeing 737-800 delivered in 2013 taken 28th May 2019.

Another mobile phone image is Royal Air Moroc before I was checking in my flight, the only decoration was on the fuselage is 50 meaning this is the 50th Boeing 737 to Royal Air Moroc.

Air Malta 9H-NEO Airbus A320neo delivered in 2018 taken 28th May 2019.

And finally we have my flight of Air Malta while it arrived from Malta, the close up view is the best option. During this time of the Summer evening, Air Malta sends out another Air Malta flight for KM106/7 while mine was 103. As you've seen on my flight report, this was my first Airbus A320neo flight. 

Those are the airliners on this blog at London Heathrow Airport. If you like to see more of various airliners, more are on my social media sites.

My Flight Report British Airways flight BA2645 Malta - London Gatwick, UK 14th June 2019

Airline: British Airways
Flight: BA2645
Type: Airbus A320
Registration: G-GATR
Flight of origin: Malta
Destination: London Gatwick, UK
Terminal: South Terminal
Date: 14th June 2019
Flight time: 2 hours & 35 minutes
Type of Travel: Non-Schengen flight within the European Union

Welcome to another flight report this time we are heading back to London Gatwick on a night flight once again. Just to remind everyone by the time these photos are taken, UK is still in the European Union so if your a British Citizen, you still have free movement when passing through passport control in Malta International Airport. It's been a year since I was last on British Airways with their Boeing 767 so I decided to travel with BA again & use my Avios I last used last year.

I didn't take many photos for the rest of the flight so what you see is less photos.

The cabin unfortunately is pretty outdated & show some of it's age of the overhead panel. The aircraft is a seventeen year old Airbus A320 originally delivered  to TAM in 2002 & joined with British Airways in December 2015. At first, I was expecting something special with BA like modern layout cabin with blue lighting to feel more British in the aircraft & have boarding music, sadly it hasn't. The only good thing I have to say it has a nice giant BA logo in silver looking on the business class & nice seats in all classes.

 As the flight closes and  cabin crew did their safety demo, we had an announcement from the captain our flight will be delayed for under 50 minutes due to a legal slot at Gatwick & maintenance on the runway so we left in under 40 minutes late. After the announcement the captain turned off the seat belt sign so we can stretch our legs & off to the toilets which is nice of him.

The cabin crew slowly walked around the cabin to entertain some passengers on why we are leaving Malta late & try to make sure their is no worry about the aircraft. So I have to give the crew credit on that because I've never seen any cabin crew on different airliners to entertain us. 

After takeoff, cabin crew started their flight entertainment so before we continue on their are a couple of problems I've just discovered which will be second part of this report. First their is no inflight entertainment throughout the flight it's just left it when it was first built & delivered to Brazil. Second that we are going to talk about is money for food & duty free. Normally for me I rather pay cash in GBP, Euro, USD or JPY in the past. Unfortunately if you are not a credit or debit card person or don't have enough funds in your bank account you're out of luck! As I've read more in the M&S menu about payment, British Airways if you're on short or long haul flight (if it's true on long haul) you are required to pay in GBP with credit & debit card contacless or not even if you give the cabin crew cash in local & foreign currency they won't except it. Which is a big disappointment to me because I rarely use debit cards on-board a flight I'm more of carrying cash so this is to be aware in the future on short haul flights for M&S menu.

The M&S menu is more of a typical British sandwich I'm not really keen on M&S nor cold sandwiches because sometimes I get Lactose intolerance. I was hoping to order a Greek or Turkish style sandwich but sadly it's for medium haul flight only.

Would you pay £100 just for a teddy bear!? 

And so I arrived at London Gatwick just before midnight. The pilot did an amazing job landing the aircraft without any rough landings. I had a bit of a rush getting picked up so going through passport control with no issues as a Maltese passport holder using the egates so this might been my last encase I can't use it after Brexit.

My overall rating from Aircraft Aviation in Europe:

• Cabin: 7/10
• Hygienic: 10/10
• Food: N/A - No food for me but due to credit/debit card required this will be 0/10 
• Cabin Crew: 10/10
• Service: 7.9/10 - No flight entertainment but excellent crew to entertain some passengers on delay.  

Overall: 7.9/10

Thank you British Airways the flight was a bit average for me but I still enjoyed it.