Our chosen carrier this time was Southwest Airlines, who provided elderly Boeing 737-300 N317WN for the two-hour flight from Denver International to San Diego International/Lindbergh Field.
Why elderly? Well, this particular airframe had entered service with Dan Air as G-BNNJ, back in February 1988! It even had a spell with EasyJet as G-EZYE before passing to Southwest in 1999.
I have to say that Southwest was a bit of an eye-opener: I had been expecting a sort of over-the-top Ryanair, but instead was pleasantly surprised to find that checked baggage goes free, soft drinks and snacks were provided without charge, and the cabin crew didn’t spend the entire flight trying to hawk everything from scratchcards to e-cigarettes.
The other noticeable difference was in the boarding process. With Ryanair you get the usual undignified scramble for seats, but on Southwest you are allocated a boarding letter/number when you check in. At the gate, you join your ‘letter’ queue and each queue is then allowed on the aircraft in turn.
The flight itself was excellent. There was some turbulence over the Rockies as would be expected, but the rest of the journey was smooth, and clear skies allowed us views of the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert from 37000 ft before our descent into San Diego.
The following photos were taken at various times during the next six days. There is no viewing area at the airport as such, but the authorities do permit photography from a public car park adjacent to the threshold of runway 27, though a double fence doesn’t do much for ‘taxying’ shots. It is also possible to take landing shots from the city’s Balboa Park.
This link may be of interest – usual Wikipedia provisos apply!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_ ... al_Airport
But first, a few from Denver.
Preserved in the terminal at Denver is Lear Jet 35 N10BD.
Southwest Boeing 737-700 N214WN carries a special ‘Maryland One’ colour scheme.
Canadair Regional Jet 200 N956SW is operated by SkyWest Airlines on behalf of United Express.
En route to San Diego, N317WN passes over the Grand Canyon.
On finals to San Diego, newly-delivered sharklet-fitted Airbus A320 N361VA of Virgin America.
Delta Boeing 737-800 N3746H.
Japan Air Lines operate a daily service 787 service from Tokyo. This example is JA829J.
Another SkyWest operated aircraft is Embraer 120 Brasilia N290SW.
Another low-cost carrier is Spirit Airlines, operating a fleet of Airbus A319s and A320s. Here, one of the latter, N616NK wearing a revised colour scheme, flies over Balboa Park.
Being only 12 miles from the border with Mexico, San Diego does attract Mexican-registered aircraft. One such is XA-JFE, a Bombardier 604 Challenger.
SkyWest also operate feeder services for American Airlines under the banner of American Eagle. N435SW is a Canadair Regional Jet 200.
Alaskan Airlines are regular visitors to San Diego, using both the Boeing 737 and Dash 8-400. N788AS is an example of the former and N404QX is one of the latter.
A type I’ve not seen for a long time and don’t have many pictures of is the Beech 99, so it was particularly pleasing to capture Ameriflight’s N4299A in pixels.
Two extremes from FedEx. Cessna 208B Caravan N790FE and Airbus A300 N692FE.
Bombardier Global Express N804AS.
American Airlines Boeing 737-800 N818NN in the polished-metal scheme.
The new American Airlines livery has raised some eyebrows, but I rather like it and it looks particularly fetching on Canadair Regional Jet 700 N537EA.
Through the fence (and the heat haze) now. Spirit Airlines Airbus A319 N526NK is still in original colours. For the ornithologists amongst us, the grass in the foreground is actually a protected bird reserve, specifically for the California Least Tern – more info can be found at:-
http://www.san.org/sdcraa/airport_initi ... urces.aspx
Boeing 767-300 freighter N745AX of ABX Air operates on behalf of Japan Air lines – you may be able to make out the small JAL logo on the starboard fuselage
Another 767 freighter is UPS’s N334UP, parked alongside two FedEx A300s and an MD10.
Three shots of JAL 787 JA830J. The aircraft landed and taxied to stand as we waited to board our Air Canada flight to Toronto, operated by A319 C-GAQZ.
One final shot. This is Air Canada’s Boeing 767-300 C-GHLK on the gate at Toronto and which would be our ride back to Heathrow, operating AC858.
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