A big surprise at Zaventem! (BRU/EBBR) 01/08/2020

Well hello there everyone, I hope you’re all having an amazing day today!

To start off the month of August I decided to go spotting again, it had been a long time since I went and the weather was pretty good so I thought it wouldn’t hurt, boy was I happy I went.

Brussels is a pretty nice airport for spotting with dedicated spotting platforms for runway 07R/25L and 01/19, this day I was at my usual spot on the 07R/25L platform which has a very nice view of the touchdown zone of 25L.

I didn’t come here for anything specific but I sure did get a very nice surprise a ways trough my session!

Some basic information:

  • Landing runway: 25L (was switched to 19 for about an hour until it was switched back.)
  • Departing runway: 19
  • Camera used: Fujifilm X-T2
  • Lens used: Fujifilm XF 100-400mm

Without further ado, here are some of the pictures I took!

To start off the day I caught this Blue Air Boeing 737-800 (YR-BMG) coming in from Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP/LROP).

I was very excited to see this one, a Middle Eastern Airlines (MEA) Airbus A321neo (T7-ME2) that is 0,1 years old touching down after flying from Beirut
International Airport (BEY/OLBA).

Now this, this was a very pleasant surprise, a Sichuan Airlines Cargo Airbus A330-200F (B-308Q) that came to runway 25L to take off, headed to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU/ZUUU) since 25L is a longer runway than 19.

After that very nice surprise I got to see this Qatar Cargo A330-200F (A7-AFI) touching down with that gorgeous truck-tilt after flying from Entebbe International Airport (EBB/HUEN).

Now here is one that I absolutely adore, a Brussels Airlines Airbus A320 (OO-SNB) in one of the Belgian Icons liveries, this one was the Tintin livery, also known as “Rackham”, this one came from Málaga Airport (AGP/LEMG).

Another pleasant surprise was this, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 (G-VMAP) that came from Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGGL), this was only the third flight on this route, it had the flight number VS505. At this point the landing runway was switched to 19 which was unfortunate but hey, you can’t have everything you like.

After the landing runway was switched back to 25L I was able to catch this beautiful Eurowings Airbus A320 (OO-SNN), which is operated by Brussels Airlines, that came from Heraklion International Airport
“Nikos Kazantzakis” (HER/LGIR).

Immediately after that came another Brussels Airlines Airbus A320 (OO-SNA) in another Belgian Icons livery, this time the Belgian Red Devils football team livery also know as “Trident”, this one came from Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS/LPPT).

Next up was this absolutely stunnning Egyptair Airbus A320neo (SU-GFK), that is 0,5 years old, that came all the way from Cairo International Airport (CAI/HECA).

Now, the moment I probably least expected and was the most excited about, my first ever “queen” spot, this Asiana Airlines Cargo Boeing 747-400(BC)F that came from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK/KJFK).

And that’s about it! I was extremely happy with the outcome and I hope you liked the pictures.

Please do note that there was a lot more that came by, I was there from around 9:30 untill 16:30 and came home with almost 1700 pictures!

If there’s anything I can improve upon please do let me know, that goes for both this topic and pictures itself.

Until next time!

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Beautiful pics Tim, great job!

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Thank you very much mate!

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Such a cool spotting point with a great variety of planes. Very well done!

This is one tells the story of how Brussels nearly was renamed Eurowings, but in the end just one plane was (apart from some long haul planes operating for EW and now back for Brussels) making it an unique Belgish Eurowings A320. Great catches all around, thanks for sharing!

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Indeed there is quite a lot of variety, all the way from CRJ-900’s to the queen, I had some private jets come about as well but with the 10-picture limit I decided to go with some of the airliners instead, I appreciate your comment mate and I’m glad you like the shots!

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That’s one beautiful livery.

They say AF and UA planes are dirty.


Anyways, nice shots!

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Love this livery, I was addicted to Tintin when I was younger lol

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I personally am glad you did being more of an airliner person myself. Thanks once again!

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That indeed is a very gorgeous livery, the plane itself is brand new too, thanks for the comment mate!

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I love it as well, in total Brussels Airlines has 6 Belgian Icon liveries I believe, but I know for a fact that at least two of them are parked, the Tomorrowland “Amare” livery and the Smurf’s “Aerosmurf” livery. Thanks for the comment!

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So good to see so many planes back in the air again

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Yeah I was contemplating it for a while, I might put some private jets on my next topic since I went spotting two days in a row (01/08 and 02/08).

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Yeah I’m happy for that, a lot of Brussels Airlines planes are still grounded, primarily their long haul fleet and some airlines have cut their Brussels route for a while but all in all it’s close to back to normal I’d say.

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Please don’t let my comments stop you, I do also enjoy private planes as do many others. Already looking forward to your next topic!

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Love these shots, especially the MEA 321N and the Trident Brussels Airlines The one that has eluded me. I flew on all lf the the special liveries last year, except for that one

Plus i wonder why Virgin Atlantic is doing short hops to Brussels

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Oh no no your comment didn’t stop me, I decided myself to go with the Eurowings instead of a private jet, after comparing the two images I noticed the private jet one was slightly too dark for my liking and I don’t really have the skill to use photoshop so it was all my choice really, and I’m glad you’re exited for my next one!

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Good to hear!

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Thank you very much, the trident is possibly my favorite Belgian Icon livery of them all.

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Great pics.

Does anyone have any info on why Virgin Atlantic is doing short hops back and forth between LHR and BRU? I’ve never seen that before but it seems to be happening every 2 days or so and isn’t bookable on their website.

Update After some digging of my own it turns out that Virgin Atlantic have greatly increased their cargo flights to try and make up for the loss of passenger traffic. So as strange as it seems, they’re flying 2x return flights per week between London Heathrow and Brussels as well as a range of new destinations too and are using passenger configured planes rather than dedicated cargo planes to do it. See the example pictures below… crazy!

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Wow! Lovely pictures!

And it’s in Belgium so bonus points for that!

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