Dubai - Hong Kong 27th - Oct 5th November       Ian McMaster

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It was as long ago as 2004 that I started to think about a trip back to Hong Kong, somewhere that I had not visited since 1995 (with operations then being out of Kai Tak) however work commitments were to prevent me taking this any further until 2007. In August this year the planning started in detail with flights being booked on Emirates new Dubai route out of Newcastle. The flight from Newcastle to Dubai on A330-243  'A6-EKR' took approx 7hrs and 10mins routing across Denmark, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey and then down the western edge of Iran with an arrival into Dubai at midnight local. On departure from Newcastle the following were noted.

We parked on a remote stand at Dubai and bused to the terminal, allowing most of the aircraft on terminal 1 to be logged The Emirates terminal is internally very impressive, but is fast approaching its handling capacity during the peak hours of arrivals and departures between midnight and 0400 in the morning. I had a 9 hour lay over in Dubai and took advantage of this to do a little more spotting from the designated 'Quiet areas' within the terminal. At 0940 local I boarded A330-243 'A6-EAI' for the 7 hour flight to Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Airport. The following were noted at Dubai between flights

For the duration of my stay in Hong Kong, all landings were from the sea, on runway 07L with 07R normally being used for departures. The newly opened viewing terrace on top of Terminal 2 affords very good views of the whole airfield. The following were noted during my 7 day stay

The flight on the return leg to Dubai onboard B777-31H 'A6-EMN' routed via Bankok, approx 1.5 hours on the ground yielded only a few more airliners

My return trip through Dubai again involved parking on a remote stand, transit time on the return a very short 2 hours, the following were mainly noted on the bus to the terminal whilst going to / from the aircraft, finally the last flight back to Newcastle on A330-243 'A6-EKZ'

And the trip ends back at Newcastle arriving to some typical North East November weather, wet and windy, all in all a productive trip