First Singapore Airlines A350-900 In Adelaide

Today, 18th December 2018, The Inaugural Singapore Airlines A350-900 landed in Adelaide. This service was Singapore Airlines’ A350-900 medium haul aircrafts first scheduled service. More info one the Singapore Airlines Adelaide flight in the Farewell Singapore A330 post below. Today’s inaugural service was served by 9V-SHB and touched down in Adelaide at 8:13am Adelaide time (52 minutes before schedule) after a 5h 52 minute flight. The flight was welcomed with a water canon salute unlike yesterday’s Fiji Airways 737 MAX Inaugural. Landing photos have been taken by me and are copyright. Water canon photo is property of Adelaide Airport Instagram.

First Fiji Airways 737 MAX 8 in Australia - DQ-FAB First Commercial Flight

Today, December 17 2018, Fiji Airways brought their first Boeing 737 MAX 8 to Adelaide. Fiji Airways have received their first 737 MAX two weeks ago and today, it had it’s very first commercial flight. This flight was significant for many reasons, it was the first 737 MAX in Adelaide and the first Fiji 737 MAX in Australia! Previous to Fiji Airways new operations, Darwin and Cairns were the only cities in Australia to have the 737 MAX land there with Silkair servicing flights from Singapore.  This was also DQ-FAB (Fiji’s first 737 MAX) first commercial flight with previous flights only being test flights and delivery flights. Unfortunately there was no water canon salute for this occasion.

Adelaide Farewells Singapore Airlines Airbus A330

Singapore Airlines have been operating their Airbus A330-343 aircraft to Adelaide on their daily SQ278/279 flight from Singapore to Adelaide and return for a very long time now! Sadly, the reliable old A330s time on the SIN-ADL route is now coming to an end as the A330s are being replaced by newer, more efficiant and luxurious Airbus A350-941 aircraft. From the 18th December 2018, SIA will start servicing A350s to Adelaide. Today, 17th December 2018 was the last Singapore Airlines A330 service to Adelaide on the SQ278/279 route. From February 2019, Singapore Airlines will start a seasonal 3 times weekly additional service which will be serviced by Singapore’s A330s.

Qantas Freight Boeing 737 Services to Adelaide

On 10th December 2018, Qantas Freight restarted Boeing 737-300F services to Adelaide. Previous to 737 operations, Qantas Freight operated BAe-146-300 freighters to Adelaide along side VA Freight BAe-146-200F, Toll Priority 737-400F and MASkargo A330-200F. From now, Qantas Freight will operate a once daily service to Adelaide on top of the BAe-146 services. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive from Sydney at 12:05am as QF 7398 and head out to Perth as QF 7399 at 1:30am. The inaugural service was operated by VH-XMB, a 32.5 year old Boeing 737-376 (SF).

RAAF P-3C Orion Low Passes over Adelaide 30/11/18

Today, three RAAF Lockheed P-3C Orion Aircraft made a low pass over Adelaide at just 750 feet. This special event was to farewell the Orion from Adelaide as they are now all being withdrawn from service. The Squadron 10 Orion’s made today’s pass over, which are now more than 50 years old

Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 ZK-NZE All Blacks livery visits Adelaide

On 20th November, 2018 Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 ZK-NZE made a visit to Adelaide Airport. This aircraft is painted in ANZ’s All Blacks livery and this was only its second scheduled visit to Adelaide. ZK-NZE has diverted to Adelaide before, however only the world’s oldest 787 has only been scheduled to Adelaide twice. ZK-NZE is one of seven aircraft painted in All Blacks livery along with a Q300, ATR72, A320, A321neo, 772ER and a 773ER. 20th of November 2018 was a great day to spot in Adelaide. There was a strong crosswind which made aircraft make extraordinary landings, including a Qatar Airways A350 landing almost sideways! Along with this rare ANZ 787-9 livery, Adelaide also got a Cathay Pacific A330-342 in the old livery and Virgin Australia A330-243 VH-XFH headed back to Melbourne after it’s diversion to Adelaide.

China Southern Airlines A330-323 B-5928 SkyTeam livery makes multiple visits to Adelaide Airport

China Southern A330-300 B-5928 has made multiple visits to Adelaide over the past few weeks. It operates on the CAN-ADL and return route as CZ663 and CZ664. The China Southern SkyTeam A330-300 was previously a rare sight at Adelaide but it has now visited more than 5 times in the last 2 weeks.

Virgin Australia A330-243 VH-XFH diverted to Adelaide

Virgin Australia A330-243 VH-XFH was en route from Perth to Melbourne when it diverted to Adelaide due to bad weather in Melbourne. The aircraft arrived in Adelaide at 23:34PM (local time) as VA694 and departed back to Melbourne at 11:50AM after a one night layover as VA9900.

RAAF Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Visits Adelaide

On Thursday, 1st November, A Royal Australian Air Force Boeing C-17 Transporter Aircraft visited Adelaide Airport. These aircraft are based at the RAAF base in Amberley, QLD however they are not a rare sight around Darwin. It is extremely rare to see one of these aircraft in Adelaide and the reason it was here is unknown. It is quite rare to see any RAAF aircraft at Adelaide Airport as most of the aircraft land at the Edinburgh RAAF Base. At Adelaide Airport, RAAF KC-30 (A330 MRTT) and C-130J Hercules aircraft are about the only military aircraft that come apart from the occasional touch-and-go from RAAF P-8 Poseidon aircraft. Here are a few photos of the RAAF C-17 (these photos are sourced from Jetphotos, and are not from the aircraft’s visit to Adelaide):

Cathay Pacific new flight schedules info

Cathay Pacific Airways, the flag carrier of Hong Kong have been serving from Hong Kong to Adelaide 5 times weekly with an Airbus A330-300. flight CX173 departs HKG at 6:45pm (local time) and arrives in Adelaide at 6:05am (local time). This was the schedule as of the 25th October and earlier. The new schedule for CX173 is to depart HKG at 9:25am and arrive in Adelaide at 8:35pm. Cathay Pacific have also started a new flight to Adelaide, CX175 which comes into Adelaide at 11:40am. Here are some photos from CX175s inaugural flight to Adelaide on the 28th October:

All photos copyright. Photos by me from 28th October. Do not use without permission

Emirates changes to 777-200LR on Dubai to Adelaide route

From October 28 to November 30 2018 and from January to April next year, Emirates will change from B777-300ER to B777-200LR on their Dubai to Adelaide route. The B777-200LRs feature new, wider seats in buisness class, giving a more luxurious experience however the iconic Emirates first class suites will be removed

The Emirates B777-200LR 

Photo source: Jetphotos

Emirates Last Boeing 777-300ER service to Adelaide until December

As well as today being the last service for CZ A332s, it was also the last day that Emirates operated their B777-300ER to Adelaide until December (this year). From tommorow until 30th November the daily service between Adelaide and Dubai will be taken over by the B777-200LR, with new buisness class seats. Throughout December the B777-300ER will take back on the service, and then from January (2019) to April, the B777-200LR will return to Adelaide (daily). The aircraft that operatedtoday’s service was A6-EPZ.

Night 777-300ER Landing photo by me. 777-200LR photo from jetphotos. Flight path photo from Flightradar24

Final China Southern A330-200 service to Adelaide for 2018

Today, China Southern Airlines performed their final Airbus A330-200 service to Adelaide for the year. The A332s have been operating to about 6 months now, and the service will now be replaced by their A330-300s. The aircraft that flew in today was B-6526, which landed at 9:55am 

Photo sources: Jetphotos & Flightradar24