Plane Spotting At CDG -- Part II

And the final round of Plane Spotting At CDG is back. And I am quite pleased as we have spotted some pretty exotic and stunning birds here today...

As we approached Terminal 1, we spotted an Air France Concorde from our taxi. This aircraft has been put up on a static display after the entire Concorde fleet was retired by both Air France and British Airways in 2003 following the crash of Air France flight AF4590 (F-BTSC) at Gonesse after  its departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, en route to New York JFK, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew members. Rising costs following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and a decision by Airbus to discontinue maintenance support aggravated matters further...

The aircraft had a stellar accident-free operational since 1969 and the end of its operations were pretty tragic. A little known fact is while there were only two long standing operators of the Concorde, over a dozen had evinced interest or placed orders for the supersonic jet, including our very own Air-India - indeed those were the heady days for Air-India when it was regarded as one of the finest carriers...

Another quick glimpse of the Concorde from our speeding taxi...

Air China Airbus A330 being towed...

There comes taxiing a United Boeing 777...

An Air Transat Airbus A310 - I never expected to spot an Airbus A310, which is a species nearing extinction. Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec...

An Air France Airbus A320 on the taxiway...

We pushback now...

An exotic bird from Greece - an Aegean Airlines Airbus A320...

There she is again, the Air China Airbus A330. Hey wait a minute, I just spotted something more interesting - an Air Tahiti Nui Airbus A340...

There she is, the blue bird from Tahiti, Polynesia...

The flower motif in the tail and the white and blue design makes the livery fresh and striking...

A couple of Air Transat Airbus A330s...

There she goes, the pretty bird from Tahiti...

Air Tahiti Nui operates from Paris CDG to Papeete in Tahiti, via Los Angeles...

And there us a Air France Airbus A380 on the centre-right of the frame...

A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380...

I cam never forget my amazing flights on the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380...

There is a Malaysian Airlines Airbus A380...

It seems like an Airbus A380 day today...

We taxi towards the runway...

It is a lovely Parisian morning...

The Air Tahiti Nui Airbus A340 holds short of the runway...

The sight of this bird pleased me endlessly...

I've heard Air Tahiti Nui has placed an order for Boeing 787-9 Dream)liners to replace the aging Airbus A340 quad-jets...

The replacement / fleet renewal should happen in 2018...

And visiting Tahiti is on our bucketlist and we hope to fly on Air Tahiti Nui soon...

Neeti also loved this livery...

I was very "trigger-happy"...

She is pretty...

And she turns towards the runway...

And a complete view. And I now realise my iPhone lens was a little smudgy...

There she is on 09R-27L...

And she's off to LAX - Los Angeles...

Look at that...

What a sight!

And I follow her till she's out of sight...

Hope to see her soon, again...