MAN 31st May 2013 - Thomson Airways takes delivery of their first 787!

Thomson's first 787 G-TUIA arrived at 11am local time on delivery from Seattle, this is the first 787 to join the British register.

MAN 28th May 2013 - Moroccan Air Force CL415 and an Antonov Airlines An124.

Royal Moroccan Air Force CL415 C-GSYE (to be CNA-TP) was delivered through Manchester early evening, unfortunately the weather was far from good!

Antonov Airlines An124 UR-82072 departed early evening after a night-stop.



MAN 28th May 2013 - RAF A330 MRTT021 out of the paint shop.

Rolled out of Air Livery in the pouring rain early afternoon, Royal Air Force A330MRTT MRTT021 (to be ZZ335) is now wearing the full grey scheme having arrived on the 16th in primer.

MAN 26th May 2013 - Airblue A340 AP-EDE arrives in the sunshine!

With the longer summer evenings finally here, there are chances to photograph the Airblue A340's on their 3 x per week service, AP-EDE seen here arriving slightly ahead of schedule.



MAN 26th May 2013 - Orbest A320 CS-TRL makes its first visit.

Arriving early afternoon, Orbest A320 CS-TRL made its first visit to Manchester, operating the first of their weekly summer charter programme, this is also the first Orbest aircraft to visit MAN in the full new colour scheme.

Also arriving around the same time was Qatar Airways B.777-200LR A7-BBC which was a type change from the usual A330.



MAN 26th May 2013 - BA Cityflyer's 700th titles Emb.190

BA Cityflyer used Embraer Emb.190 G-LCYN on their charter flights this weekend, this carries 700th titles as it was the 700th "E-Jet" to be delivered.



MAN 26th May 2013 - A pair of "Ambulance" Challengers!

Making its first visit late evening on the 25th, German Air Ambulance (FAI) D-AFAI was joined shortly after midnight by Swiss Air Ambulance (Rega) HB-JRB.

MAN 25th May 2013 - Tunisair A319 and Aegean's "Acropolis Museum" A320

Making its first visit to Manchester this evening was Tunisair A319 TS-IMK,

and Aegean Airlines commenced their new summer scheduled service to Athens, using the special scheme A320 SX-DVU which carries titles and logos for the "Acropolis Museum".



MAN 24th May 2013 - Air nostrum CRJ-200 EC-JNX

Air Nostrum CRJ-200 EC-JNX was parked up in the evening after arriving on a Rugby Charter, unfortunately the aircraft is painted all white and has no titles after returning from its lease to Binter Canarias.

MAN 23rd May 2013 - Monarch take delivery of brand new A321 G-ZBAE

Arriving late evening on delivery direct from Hamburg Finkenwerder, brand new A321 G-ZBAE is the last of the factory fresh aircraft to join the fleet this year.

Later on the same evening, Jetairfly B767-300 OO-JAP was seen parked up for the night.

MAN 23rd May 2013 - Small Planet debuts their A320.

The first visit of a Small Planet A320 occured this afternoon when SP-HAD arrived on their new weekly charter service, 

MAN 23rd May 2013 - Jetairfly begin weekly Palma charter for the summer season.

Jetairfly (Belgium) began a once weekly charter to Palma today, using 737-800's, with OO-VAC operating the inaugural flight and making its first visit to MAN.



MAN 20th May 2013 - Qatar Airways 787 A7-BCB

Our second Qatar Airways 787 in two days, (this time A7-BCB) arrived early afternoon under grey skies that matched the aircraft's scheme!

MAN 19th May 2013 - A visit to the new ATC Tower.

I was very fortunate to receive an invitation to take a look inside the new Air Traffic Control Tower at Manchester today, a thoroughly enjoyable visit and a superb view from the top as you can see from this selection of photos. My thanks to my host for showing me around!

What an inconsiderate place to put a lamp post!

Sadly, the Trident 2 G-AVFG which has resided by the Fire Station for many years is now in the process of being scrapped.

MAN 19th May 2013 - Qatar Airways operate the first "Scheduled" 787 arrival!

Arriving early morning (and almost an hour early!), Qatar 787 A7-BCC became the first of the type to operate a scheduled passenger service in to Manchester.



MAN 18th May 2013 - Vizion Air Fk50 PH-JXJ

Parked up overnight after operating a charter, Vizion Air (leased from Denim Air) Fokker 50 PH-JXJ.

MAN 17th May 2013 - Canadian Air Force Challenger 144617

Arriving very late evening and well after the light had gone, Canadian Air Force Challenger 144617 making its first visit.



MAN 15th May 2013 - DHL A300 departs after painting.

After painting in to full DHL colours by Air Livery, A300-600F D-AEAI departed in the evening,

Nordwind 767-300 G-OBYD (VP-BOQ) was also seen parked up in the sun awaiting delivery.