A misconception has been circulating in news and on social media for weeks that the NASA astronauts who flew the Boeing Starliner -named Calypso- to the International Space Station are “stranded in space”. It’s easy to make comparisons with airline passengers stranded mid-itinerary in unfamiliar airport terminals.
But it’s wrong.
STARLUX Airlines added Seattle as its third North American destination on Aug. 16, 2024, following Los Angeles and San Francisco, which saw service starts in 2023.
The fledgling Taiwan-based airline was launched in 2018, with its first services from Taipei to Macau, Penang, and Da Nang having started in 2020. The carrier positions itself as a luxury airline, with four service classes on each of its 23 aircraft. STARLUX’s Airbus 350-900s feature 306 seats, spread across four cabins: four first-class suites, 26 business-class pods, 36 premium economy recliners, and 240 economy seats.
The airline also serves 23 Asian destinations via its all-Airbus fleet of A321neo, A330neo, and A350 aircraft.
Alaska Airlines signed a strategic partnership with STARLUX in 2023, allowing each airline’s loyalty program members to earn points on one another’s flights. The partnership will allow customers of both airlines to book connecting flights on a single ticket.
The current flight schedule calls for three flights a week, with plans in place to increase the frequency to daily service in early 2025.
It’s always an absolute joy to get rampside access for the arrival of a big jet.
With this new route, SEA now hosts 53 nonstop international services on 27 different airlines. We’re hoping to provide you with more STARLUX coverage in the future.
It’s an exciting time for New York City’s airports. We’ve already written about the amazing planespotting from the new skybridges at LaGuardia and the huge New Terminal One project at JFK. Across the Hudson River at Newark International there’s major work going on too. The first phase there was a from-scratch rebuild of the 50-year-old Terminal A. We dropped by, and we can say from firsthand experience that the result is impressive.
Join us on a photo and video walkthrough of the new terminal, with an eye towards the AvGeek appeal and planespotting potential.
The new Terminal A, which opened in late 2022, is the airport’s southernmost terminal.
The new Terminal A was built alongside the old one, to allow a gradual operational transition from one to the other. In the satellite image below you can see both the new terminal (bottom) and the old one (top). The latter has since been decommissioned.
I try to get to airports on public transit whenever I can. One issue with the new Terminal A is that its temporary AirTrain station is a fifteen-minute walk from the terminal, or a short extra bus ride. This will eventually be fixed when the current cramped and unreliable EWR AirTrain gets rebuilt. But that’s years away, and so for now the public transit access situation is a hassle.
But once I got to the new terminal I completely forgot about the AirTrain situation. Compared to the old dark and cramped Terminal A the new building is full of light and bursting with Jersey-themed art.
The terminal’s TSA security checkpoint features big status screens and some futuristic-looking neon-trimmed bag scanners.
Once you get through security the terminal layout is fairly straightforward. Most gates are along the terminal’s main east concourse, with a few on the smaller north and south concourses.
As of now there are five airlines operating out of the new Terminal A: American, United, Delta, JetBlue, and Air Canada. The first three each have their own lounge here.
And now for the part you’ve been waiting for: the planespotting. There must have been some #AvGeeks on the terminal design committee because there are a TON of beanbag-type seats in prime spotting positions right up against the windows.
The best views are at the very end of the main terminal pier, where you’re closest to the airport’s runways.
Bring a camera with a good zoom lens and you can score some shots with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
We spent a great hour taking in the views from the terminal before boarding an outbound flight on a United 737 MAX. The timing of our takeoff roll lined up perfectly with a gorgeous golden sunset.
The new terminal cost nearly $3 billion, and is forecasted to serve 15 million flyers a year. So the stakes were high for Newark to get this right. Luckily the new Terminal A seems like a winner. It’s airy, bright, and full of decorations and local flair.
It’s not just us. Terminal A was honored as the best new terminal in the most recent Skytrax World Airport Awards. And the general public reaction to the terminal during its first year of operation has been very positive, sometimes hilariously so:
The only gripe for now is the AirTrain situation. Between the 15-minute walk from station to terminal and the fact that Terminal A is already the farthest station from the railway link, factor in an extra 20 minutes to get here on public transit.
Overall though it’s a great place to fly from, and to planespot from too. If you’ve swung by already let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) celebrated its 75th anniversary on July 9, 2024, followed by welcoming its fifth new international route this year, with China Airlines’ Taipei (TPE)-Seattle route just a few days later on July 14, using an Airbus A350-900.
The schedule is as follows:
SEA commenced flight operations on July 9, 1949. Things were a lot different back then – the general public was allowed on the ramp to view the aircraft, and the terminal was tiny compared to what it’s become.
In 1949, the airport had eight gates and served 130,549 passengers that year. Fast-forward to 2024, and SEA has 89 gates and serves an average of 140,000 passengers every single day.
More interesting factoids: SEA’s first international service was with Japan Airlines in 1959. Today, there are 25 international carriers serving 33 global destinations.
Which nicely leads us back to … airplanes!
China Airlines Cargo has long served Seattle; the recent inaugural passenger flight is the airline’s sixth North American destination, and its debut for passenger service to the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
China Airlines is the third airline to offer direct service to Taipei, competing for passengers with Delta Air Lines and EVA Air.
It’s always a fantastic experience to get out onto the ramp for an aircraft arrival, especially an inaugural.
And congratulations to SEA for 75 successful years!
Copa is an interesting airline to get to know. Based at the junction of two continents, the Panamanian carrier found its niche connecting the Americas from north to south. It operates a single-type fleet of around 100 Boeing 737s. But compared with other all-737 airlines that follow a low-cost carrier model, Copa is a different beast. It’s a full-service airline with premium cabins and some of the lengthiest 737 routes out there.
As with most of the world’s 737-based airlines, Copa went in big on the MAX, and it was heavily affected by the past few years’ MAX drama. On the bright side, the airline put its best foot forward with the MAX, debuting a brand-new premium cabin branded as “Dreams” business class. The Dreams seat was designed for Copa’s medium-haul services, the four- to seven-hour flights where quality sleep is a big deal.
We got a chance to try Copa and their new MAX seats on a recent trip. We also got to explore the relatively new terminal at the airline’s Panama City hub. The trip hit a snafu midway through, which we’ll get to later. But in the end we still got a good feel for the airline, its new seat design, and the freshest updates to its home airport.
Read on for more on our time flying with Copa and exploring the airport in Panama City.