Plane Spotting At BKK

It's Plane Spotting time again at Bangkok's massive Suvarnabhumi Airport.

A view of Suvarnabhumi as I touch down from Mumbai...

The airport is massive and covers 8000 acres of land nearly 40 kilometres from the city of Bangkok. It has 120 parking bays - 51 with aerobridges and 69 remote gates, two parallel runways and presently has the fourth biggest terminal building in the world after Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok, Beijing's Capital International and Dubai...

Suvarnabhumi officially opened for operations in September 2006, replacing Don Mueang as Bangkok's principal international airport and is pretty modern though it isn't too great from a spotter's point of view...

A taxiing Emirates Boeing 777...

An exotic bird - Ural Airways Airbus A320...

Suvarnabhumi is the homebase for Thai Airways - two Thai Airbus A380s are parked on a remote stand as the Ural Airways A320 taxis past them. Thai has a fleet of six Airbus A380s today...

The name Suvarnabhumi comes from the classical Indian language, Sanskrit and literally means "Land of Gold". The name for the airport was chosen by the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, and refers to the ancient Hindu-Buddhist golden kingdom, which is believed to have been located here, in the land we now know as Thailand.

A clear view of the exotic bird from Yekaterinburg...

Taxiing past the Thai super-jumbos...

O wow! When I left Mumbai earlier today, there was an El Al Boeing 767 and I couldn't believe my luck when I saw an El Al Boeing 747-400 here!

Austrian Boeing 777...

Thai Boeing 777...

Qatar Airways Airbus A380...

A Thai Boeing 747-400...

Voila! We parking next to this beauty!

Boarded for Incheon and there she is - a Korean Air Airbus A330...

Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dream)liner...

Thai Boeing 747-400. She's such a beauty...

A Cathay Airbus A330 in the distance...

Passing by an Emirates Airbus A380 and an Ethiopian Boeing 787 Dream)liner...

A busy evening at Suvarnabhumi!

สวัสดี ครับ, กรุงเทพมหานคร - Sawadee Krap, Bangkok...

The flight to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport went off in a blur. I spent a lot of catching up on sleep and watching a movie. And in about four hours, we landed in Bangkok...

Thick clouds over Thailand...

The Monsoon clouds look incredible...

Our flight flew over the Bay of Bengal, north of the Andaman islands, and crossed Yangon to dscend into Bangkok...

Dusk was setting in as awe descended into Bangkok...

And there lay green fields and industrial developments below us...

On the final approach...

And here I am in Bangkok, and as they say in Thai - สวัสดี ครับ  กรุงเทพมหานคร - Sawadee Krap, Bangkok...

It was an incredible experience bumping into an old college friend on the flight. I had not met her for the last 17 years but we were in touch on WhatsApp and Facebook. After we landed in Bangkok, we spent a good time talking and reminiscing about the times in college. She now lives in Bangkok and proceeded to immigration, while I headed to the transfer desk. 

After completing my transfer security check, I headed to the food court on the third floor of the terminal building to have an early dinner...

A Thai fish salad...

And the famous Hainanese chicken rice...

Catching up on the news with a copy of the Bangkok Post - this edition carried a full pager on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the conspiracy theories surrounding his mysterious disappearance after the Second World War...

And now it's Incheon Ahoy!

Plane Spotting At BOM -- Part X

The toughest thing is to say bye...

It's the time I am heading back to Songdo - I am here at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport waiting to board my Jet Airways flight to Bangkok from where I would transfer to a Korean Air flight to Incheon.

And I am already feeling sad about leaving Mumbai. But then with an hour to spare, I got time for Plane Spotting and that cheered me up!

That's the Jet Airways Boeing 737 "stubby" that will fly me into Bangkok today, and behind that an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 getting ready to leave for Addis Ababa...

It's a busy morning here at BOM...

There goes the Ethiopian Boeing 737...

A Vistara Airbus A320...

And a Royal Thai Air Force Boeing 737 taxis towards the runway to fly off to Bangkok's Don Muang airport...

This is a royal flight!

VT-JEM - Jet Airways' Boeing 777 - this aircraft was acquired in 2007. When the airline hit a rough patch in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, it was leased out to Turkish Airlines and was christened Marmara after the Sea of Marmara in Istanbul. The aircraft returned to the Jet Airways fleet in 2014!

Behind that a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 leaves for Singapore...

An Air India Boeing 777 getting ready to head to Riyadh!

And a Speedbird - British Airways Boeing 777 boarding for London Heathrow...

And we are on our way...

There she is - VT-JEM...

It's a pity she had to be away from home for a long time...

An El Al Boeing 767 arrived from Tel Aviv earlier this morning...