.
2008 has been another classic year at Birmingham - BHX - and as
usual the local enthusiasts have had a busy time recording the
ever changing scene at the airport
.
This photographic review is set up to work in several ways - you
.
.... or just looks at the "highlights" which are set out below with
a single "click" bringing all the photos in each particular category
together on one page
.
Alternatively just look down the index (in the panel on the right)
for a photo of a particular aircraft at BHX in 2008 - this is split
into three categories -
A - airliners
B - business and general aviation
C - military
No introduction would be complete without thanks to BAEG's
dedicated team of photographers (again see panel on right)
who not only made this review possible but also record the
daily goings on at BHX and other Midlands airfields on -
http://baeg.blogspot.com/
http://bhxflightguide.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
Gordon Stretch
The Highlights -
Star movements
"Star" movements at BHX during 2008 included -
- Tasilli DH4 7T-VCN
- Saudi/Atlas Jet TC-OGT
- Centre-Avia Yakovlev Yak 42D RA-42423
- Samsung Boeing BBJ HL7770
- Belavia Boeing 737-500's EW-251PA and EW-252PA
- Cairo Aviation Tupolev 204-120 SU-EAI
- Falcon 900EX PR-FRU
- Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan G-VLCN/"XH558"
- Air Caraïbes Airbus A330-200 F-OPTP
To find out what all these aircraft where doing at BHX
and to see see photos of them click here -
The above can only be a personal choice - other "stars"
are included in the following -
New at BHX
Always something "new" at BHX - even if only the next
Ryanair delivery! - during the year Air Bee, AMC, Koral
Blue, Loganair and Turkish Airlines were "new" operators
to the airport....
... while KLM introduced their new Boeing 737-700's and
Embraer 190's onto their BHX services
To see photos of these operators at BHX click here -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20New
Air India Express deliveries
Unfortunately there was only one Air India Express delivery
via BHX - VT-AXV - to see this at BHX click here -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20AIX
Diversions
2008 was a good year for diversion! - to see some of the
aircraft that diverted to BHX click here -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20Diversions
flybe have a maintenance base at BHX which covers their
based fleet, usually receives new DH4's on delivery from
Canada and now deals with an increasing amount of third
party work
2008 visitors to the hangars included DH4's of Augsburg,
and a Cimber CR2. To see the photos click here -
Kenn Borek Air/Maldivian Air Taxi transits
The Kenn Borek Twin Otters that ferry back and forward
between the Maldives and Canada returned to BHX this
year - for more information and to to see them at BHX
click here -
Sport charters
European football returned Birmingham - and what was
even better news was than Aston Villa made it through to
the next stage of the UEFA Cup! -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20UEFA
There were also various other sport charters at BHX and
to see a selection of these click here -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20Sport
Sub charters
"Things change...!!"
.... and it was another good year for subcharters! - to
see some of these click here -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20Sub%20charter
Trooping flights
Our armed forces are now active in many parts of the
world and with the UK only having a limited airlift capacity
this often results in some interesting charters - click
here to see some that visited BHX this year -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20Trooping
Star colour schemes
Some aircraft are interesting just of the colour scheme they
are in - here are just a few that have visited this year -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/0%20-%20Star%20scheme
Norwegian special schemes
Norwegian have a number of "logo jets" all of which visited
BHX during 2008 - see them click here -
http://bhx2008-baeg.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20-%20Norwegian
Farewell
2008 has been a very difficult year for the aviation
industry - by the time the year ended European,
Flightline, LTE and XL Airways - all longstanding
operators to BHX - had gone out of business.
The airport had also said goodbye to its Air Malta
"Least we forget"
Unfortunately BHX also continued to receive regular visits
of RAF medivac flights from Afghanistan and Iraq carrying
injured service personnel on their way to the Royal Centre
for Defence Medicine, based at Selly Oak Hospital
To see some of the aircraft that have visited click here -