On my recent trip to Africa, I flew through London where I arrived at Gatwick Airport on an Air China flight from Beijing and departed from Heathrow on a Eurowings flight to Stuttgart.
A smooth bus ride between the two airports left me with a few hours to spare before I had to check in for my flight to Germany. While I was hesitant about going plane spotting due to bad (read cloudy) weather, I decided to go anyways. A decision I certainly did not regret as it turned into a fun two-hour plane spotting session full of special liveries.
Hatton Cross – a station that most plane spotters heard about at least once.
How Things Changed Since My First Plane Spotting Visit to Heathrow in 2007
Since runways 27L and 27R were in use, after getting off the bus from Gatwick at Heathrow’s Central Bus Station and buying a snack and a bottle of water at the station’s WHSmith (and being shocked at the 10+ GBP the two combined cost), I made my way to the Tube station to catch the Piccadilly line to Hatton Cross.
With aircraft landing on 27R in the morning, I then walked about ten minutes to a spot on Eastern Perimeter Road where aircraft approaching the runway can be seen.
The spotting session started with a quick ride from the airport to Hatton Cross.
It was a short and cloudy but enjoyable session.
Getting to the spot, I could not not remember my first plane spotting visit to London Heathrow (and third overall since I transferred at the airport twice as a kid) back in the summer of 2007 (and some of my later visits). So much remained the same. But so much was different.
By far the biggest difference was, of course, the average number of engines per aircraft that I saw.
Back in 2007, both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic operated large 747 fleets, with the latter also operating a good number of A340s. This time, the the British Airways 787s and A350s and Virgin Atlantic 787s, A350s, and A330neos were the most common UK-registered heavies, though, to be fair, there were a couple of British Airways A380s in between.
Back in 2007, British Airways still operated a large fleet of 747-400s.
British Airways A350-1000.
Virgin Atlantic operated 747-400s too.
Virgin Atlantic A350-1000.
British Airways A380.
Most other airlines operating long-haul flights to Heathrow went from sending their quad jets to twin jets. Air India now sends 777s instead of 747s, Malaysia Airlines A350s instead of 747s, Kuwait Airways 777s instead of A340s, and Cathay Pacific A350s instead of A340s to name a few examples.
Other airlines, like Air Mauritius, Air Jamaica, and Olympics Airlines, all of which at some point used to operate their A340s to the airport, disappeared from Heathrow altogether. While the latter two went bust, Air Mauritius continues to fly to London but to Gatwick using A350s.
Yet some airlines, like Qantas and Singapore Airlines, went from once sending their Queens of the Skies to Heathrow every day to now sending the A380.
Air India 747-400s used to be a regular sight at Heathrow too.
Air India 777-300ER.
What I could not stop thinking about the most during my two-hour stay at the airport, though, was how monotonous the overall long-haul fleet composition has gotten worldwide.
Having regularly visited London Heathrow and other major European airports, as well as Tokyo in the late 2000s, there was a fairly clear distinction between the long-haul aircraft that could be seen in Europe versus in Japan, especially those from North America. While Europe was dominated by 767s and other smaller widebodies (and 777s in the case of Heathrow), Japan was dominated by 747s and 777s.
Now things have converged. Plane spotting at London Heathrow, I saw the exact same United, American, and Air Canada 787s, and Delta A330neos that I am used to seeing in Tokyo. Perhaps that’s good for airlines’ economics and the environment but it certainly makes things quite a bit less fun for plane spotters!
Air Jamaica’s A340-300 wore a stunning livery.
Air Canada 767-300ER in the airline’s old livery.
Air Canada 787-8.
Delta Air Lines A330-900.
Gray But Colorful: Special Livery After Special Livery
In spite of what I wrote above, not all is doom and gloom (although the weather was close to that…). While the number of engines an airliner sports these days is generally two and the variety of types and shapes is nothing like it used to be before, there is still a good variety of both regular and special liveries flying around.
During my two hours at plane spotting at Heathrow, I was especially reminded of the latter.
Looking at FlightRadar24, I was happy to see not one, not two, but five aircraft in special liveries headed my way and arriving before I had to catch the Tube back to the terminal.
The first of those was Finnair’s A350 sporting a Moomin decal celebrating the airline’s centenary. In addition to it being a special livery aircraft, it was also nice to see a wide-body aircraft operating a short-haul flight, something common in Asia but not so much in Europe. During my two hours at the spot, an Iberia A330 from Madrid and a Turkish 777 from Istanbul arrived as well.
Another wide-body wearing a special livery was an Air Canada 787-9 in the “2024 Employee Excellence Awards recipients” livery which, in addition to big “CONGRATULATIONS” titles on the rear part of the fuselage also features the names of the recipients on its tail.
Finnair A350-900 in the Moomin livery.
Air Canada 787-9 in the 2024 Employee Excellence Awards livery.
The three other aircraft in special liveries were a LOT 737-8 wearing the airline’s “Poland’s Independence” livery; one of Brussels Airlines’ “The Belgian Icon” series aircraft, an A320-200 in the Amare livery promoting the Tomorrowland music festival arriving from Brussels; and an Aer Lingus A320-200 wearing a retro livery arriving from Dublin.
As a side note, LOT also operates a 787-9 in the “Poland’s Independence” livery, which I had a chance to fly twice (from Tokyo to Warsaw and from Budapest to Seoul) during a trip to Europe last Christmas. I was also lucky to fly a different aircraft in “The Belgian Icon” series, the one promoting Tintin, a few years back.
LOT 737-8 in the Polish Indepence livery.
Brussels Airlines A320 in the Tomorrowland livery.
Aer Lingus A320 in a retro livery.
Catching Up on the Non-UK Regulars
In addition to seeing some of the new aircraft operated by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways like the former’s A350-1000s and the latter’s A330neos and A350-1000s, and lucking out with the special liveries mentioned above, I also had a chance to see some regular non-UK liveries, airline-aircraft type combinations, and even one new airline for the first time.
Starting with the last, I caught one of RwandAir’s two A330-200s arriving on one of the airline’s seven weekly flights from Rwanda’s capital Kigali. Interestingly, while the flights operate daily in practice, technically they operate only on four days of the week in the direction to London since three of the week’s seven flights depart at 1:45AM and the remaining four depart at 11:15PM.
I had a chance to see a RwandAir aircraft for the second time, a 737 for change, just a few days later in Johannesburg.
RwandAir A330-200.
Lastly, four from the former two categories included KM Malta Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines A320neos and Air Lingus and JetBlue A321neos.
KM Malta Airlines A320neo.
SAS A320neo.
Aer Lingus A321neo.
JetBlue A321neo.
Summary
While plane spotting at London Heathrow Airport is nowhere near as exciting as it once used to be, the matter of the fact is that it is still one of the busiest airports in the world and still offers a lot to see.
Despite the cloudy weather, I thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours I spent next to runway 27R before catching my onward flight. It was great to not only be able to see some of the regular UK and foreign airline-aircraft type combinations I haven’t seen before but also to see a good number of special liveries from Europe and beyond.