Recently, Edelweiss celebrated their inaugural flight from Zurich to Seattle using an Airbus A340 (4 engines 4 long haul). I was double excited not only to see a new international carrier start service at my home airport, but they are also using an AvGeek favorite: the A340. Francis Zera (our Editor-At-Large and Director of Photography) and I tag teamed the event and I would say we had a pretty good time.
The fire trucks, ready to go!
Covering an inaugural arrival has become pretty routine: Decorations at the gate (check), you get to go on the tarmac and watch the plane arrive (check), you get to enjoy a water cannon salute (check), there are VIPs who speak at the gate (check), there is a ribbon cutting (check), and there are some sweet snacks to enjoy (check). Not to say inaugurals aren’t exciting, but with this one, I got to experience something new that I was not expecting.
Water cannon salutes are the norm, but this one had a surprise.
Not long before the Edelweiss inaugural to Seattle, I edited and published Francis’ SAS inaugural story. In his piece he described how he got a bit wet from the water cannon salute due to the wind shifting. I was entertained and even laughed, but brushed it off. When we were told where to stand for the Edelweiss’ Airbus A340’s arrival, I went as far as I could towards the runways… which was also very close to one of the fire trucks. I had a fleeting thought about Francis’ water experience, but I figured worst case it might be a little misty. Nope.
On most global airline rankings, a few elite airlines reign supreme. In recent years, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines have duked it out for the top spot. That pair of long-haul carriers are on top of their game, especially in premium cabins where they can dial the experience up to the max.
In this story I compare Singapore and Qatar on the basis of seats, service, food, drink, entertainment, amenities, and the ground experience at their respective hubs. And at the end, I do my best to crown a champion. That last task was tough, because it ended up being a VERY close fight.
Whether you’re a seasoned road warrior, an aspirational fancy flyer, or you just like pictures of pretty planes, you’ll enjoy this story. So click / scroll below and read on!
Flying is usually part of a larger trip, but there are some occasions where aviation IS the main destination. Think airshows, aviation museums, aircraft factories, and the like. Included in that category are the select few hotels out there that are major AvGeek sights in their own right. We’ve written about a few of them, like LAX’s H Hotel and the Excel Hotel at Tokyo Haneda. But maybe the biggest name in the game is the TWA Hotel at New York JFK International Airport.
We wrote about the TWA Hotel in a pair of stories back in 2019 — one about the hotel itself, and one about the TWA Silver Wings reunion held there. We had a blast during that visit but didn’t actually spend a night at the hotel. Making a return for an overnighter was on our to-do list, and recently we got a chance.
Join us as we put on our HotelReporter hats and explore everything that this one-of-a-kind terminal-turned-hotel has to offer. We’ll walk you through the highlights, including Eero Saarinen’s architectural masterpiece, exhibits on TWA’s golden age, a rooftop pool with a runway view, and a bar onboard a real Lockheed Constellation.
Read on, and then decide if this place earns a spot on your personal to-do list.
SAS returned to Seattle on May 21, 2025, to begin 5x weekly service between Copenhagen and Seattle after a six-year hiatus
With much fanfare, a turret salute from SEA airport firefighters, and plenty of pastries, SAS Scandinavian Airlines resumed it’s Copenhagen to Seattle service after a sixteen-year hiatus using Airbus A350s on the route.
SAS has a long history in Seattle, having inaugurated service to Europe back in 1966, becoming the first carrier to directly serve the Pacific Northwest from the Continent. The Port of Seattle had a publication named the “reporter,” which ran a three-page cover article about the new service in the October 1, 1966 issue.
Pages from the Port of Seattle Reporter, with an article of the 1966 SAS inaugural flight between CPH and SEA
That service ran from 1966 to 2009, when it stopped due to a downturn in passenger traffic due to the global recession.
Therefore, the May 21, 2025 return was something of a triumph for the airline. The event felt buoyant, like a genuine celebration.
Let’s be honest: window seat views are the best part of flying. We try to include plenty of photos in our stories. But did you know we have a YouTube channel with videos of some great inflight moments?
We’ve got takeoff views! We’ve got landing views! We even let some new airport terminals get a moment in the limelight. All in all we’ve got plenty to keep an AvGeek like you entertained.
In this story we’re compiling some of the more recent highlights from our channel. Those include an upper-deck A380 takeoff in Australia, views from both ends of the world’s longest flight, and a full-length feature on the world’s best planespotting hotel.
