jlemon

27. Great guess! But nope times four! And the routing for the JFK- ___ - ___ - LAX - HNL flight in question took a more direct path heading west and thus did not stop at an airport located in Florida or Texas.

WHBM

… and like an old pair of blue jeans they lasted for a surprisingly long time - though not on this route, which came and went.

jrl767

27- JFK-XXX-YYY-LAX-HNL ... Western, DC-10, Salt Lake City (SLC) and Las Vegas (LAS)

WHBM

Cardiff airport sounds a bit of a dreary backwater here, with just one jet a day and a handful of small turboprops. But it also, not in the OAG (they progressively crept in over subsequent years) was actually a base for several of the holiday flight operators to the Mediterranean etc. Britannia Airways were always there, with a 757, and in the summertime two, while Thomas Cook's predecessors, maybe more than one, with 757s and 737s, ran in parallel. These all used to depart early morning, depending on the return flight length they would make a second run sometime in the afternoon, and at summer weekends fit in a third rotation, departing at about 10pm and getting back just as the sun was coming up next morning, ready to start off again.

Cardiff is also the centre of the Rugby game in Wales, where it is regarded particularly fervently, and when they periodically play France there all sorts of charters turn up there, often including an Air France 777-300, one of the high seating ones normally employed to the French Caribbean.

Also there is, which may come as a surprise, the British Airways main 747/777 maintenance base, which moved from Heathrow to a substantial facility here across from the terminal in about 1990, and you will commonly find two or three BA aircraft there. This is where the biggest checks and cabin refurbs take place. And guess what, the BA staff there even have their own amateur rugby team, which in the airline rugby team world championships (yes there is one) of course comes out generally near or at the top. (Can't believe I'm writing about rugby; had to do it at school. Hated it).

Bonus question : What was the largest aircraft to have served Cardiff, all through the 1980s. Airline, type and destination (hint, if you get the airline the destination is pretty apparent).

KT550

Thanks for the clue. I'll try Denim Air.

jlemon

Indeed.....

jlemon

27. Western operating a DC-10 is correct; however, Salt Lake City wasn't the first stop (it was the second stop) and this flight did not stop in Las Vegas. Please guess again!

jrl767

27- Washington Dulles (IAD)

jlemon

31. Correct! Here are the eastbound scheds....

2D 702: London City (LCY) 8:00a - 10:10a Eindhoven (EIN)
Op: Daily except Saturdays and Sundays
Service class: Y
Equip: Fokker 50

2D 708: London City (LCY) 7:10p - 9:20p Eindhoven (EIN)
Op: Daily except Saturdays
Service class: Y
Equip: Fokker 50
Note: 2D 708 departs LCY five minutes later and arrives EIN ten minutes later on Sundays

BONUS quiz item.....

42. At this same time in 1996, this airline was operating nonstop service between London City (LCY) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) with an aircraft type featuring an all business (C) class cabin with two round trip flights every weekday. Identify the air carrier and the equipment. ANSWERED

jlemon

27. Yep! Here's the sched.....

WA 561: New York Kennedy (JFK) 11:15a - 12:30p Washington Dulles (IAD) 1:00p - 3:33p Salt Lake City (SLC) 4:57p - 5:32p Los Angeles (LAX) 6:30p - 9:00p Honolulu (HNL)
Op: Daily
Service classes: F/Y
Meal services: Snack in F only JFK-IAD, Lunch in F/Y IAD-SLC, Dinner in F/Y LAX-HNL
Equip: DC-10

jlemon

Lady K and yours truly participated some years ago in an airline sailing regatta in the British Virgin Islands. We were on one of the sailboats (a 52 foot catamaran) that was part of the American Airlines team. A jolly time was had by all.....and I must say the young ladies on board the Emirates airlines sailboat were especially fetching.

Bonus: I'll guess Dan-Air operating a BAe 146 to Amsterdam....

WHBM

Um … we were actually looking for the largest ...

WHBM

Denim Air started up as a scheduled F-50 operator on this Eindhoven-LCY route, but soon changed their business to an ACMI operation (Aircraft Crew Maintenance Insurance) substituting for other airlines in various ways. It was begun by ex-VLM personnel, who also did this work, and both could be found standing in for an unserviceability, new route, major maintenance or whatever all around Europe. Denim gave up their schedule to LCY, and for a while did a lot of commuter work for Iberia, but they occasionally came back to LCY, and when KLM started a service here they actually provided the aircraft initially, done up in KLM livery. All F-50s for some years, they later moved on to Dash-8 and Fokker F.100 aircraft. They suspended operation last year.

And speaking of the F-50 and London City, it's back ! New operator Air Antwerp with a striking new livery on good old OO-VLS, as apparent from the registration a former VLM aircraft, which after previous service with Lufthansa and Iberia turned up as an LCY regular in 2001, merged into CityJet and it's colours, came back as the "second time round" VLM a few years ago, that operation closed down but now it's here again running to old haunt Antwerp, which is virtually a suburb of Brussels, but as there's no Brussels service from LCY it's the only route to Belgium. London and Antwerp are the two European, if not world, centres of the diamond trade, and there's long been some good business traffic between the two, a number of traders having offices in both places.

Air Antwerp’s Inaugural Day – Fokker 50 between London City and Antwerp

Seat 2A

26. You've successfully concluded your business in Oklahoma City and have now been invited to join friends for dinner at Muriel's Restaurant on Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Ah, here's a convenient direct flight from OKC to MSY which makes one stop en route. Name the air carrier, the stop and the equipment. It wasn't Southwest, Braniff or Continental and the stop was not made at DAL or DFW. Aircraft was a 727 and first class was available on this flight.

This is sounding an awful lot like Northeast International except for the First Class cabin. Houston would seem a geographically logical stop, but not if Continental's not in play. Let's try Delta via Tulsa...

jlemon

26. Yet another great guess! However, the air carrier in question wasn't Delta and the stop was not made at TUL.

And as you point out, the airline we are looking for wasn't Continental, either.....but here's a hint: the stop was made at Houston Intercontinental (IAH).