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My wife insists that she saw a four engine aircraft fly over today, the closest I can get ID wise is an A340, "it was long", but she could well be suffering "make up your own identikit" syndrome, any of you out there able to offer a suggestion?
Up until Covid, Norwegian and Tui had 787’s, Virgin had 747’s and BA had 777’s based there. There were also frequent visits from Emirates A380s (Multiple daily), China Airlines A350 (2/3 weekly, maybe more?), Cathay Pacific A350 (daily) and Qatar 787’s (2x daily I think). Also pretty sure another Chinese airline (China Eastern maybe) had begun a service just prior to C19. So Gatwick was handling plenty of widebodies. It’s still capable and used for such, just less so. I think Tui, BA, EK and QR are the only ones there currently.
Just had a look; it was an A340-642 but was unidentified on Flight Radar - only the type shown; it had come from Manchester.
There's no A340-642s listed in the VIP section of Airline Fleets 2022, so it was most likely either a military one or one which has been converted to VIP use since 15th March this year, that being the cut off date for the book.
Norwegian and Tui had 787’s, Virgin had 747’s and BA had 777’s based there. There were also frequent visits from Emirates A380s (Multiple daily), China Airlines A350 (2/3 weekly, maybe more?), Cathay Pacific A350 (daily) and Qatar 787’s
Other than the 747 and the A380 they've all only got two engines.
Goes to show how few four-engined planes there are now.
To answer the OP, I'd say the A340 is the most likely option, as it is quite narrow for a wide-body so it looks long and thin. There's no mistaking an A380, they are enormous.
If it's an A340-600 it'll be one of these "active" airframes. I suspect it's one of the European Cargo birds as they're based at Bournemouth & use solely A340-600s converted into 'Preighters'.
A visit to https://www.tasmanchester.com/ will currently reveal a picture and outline details of the aircraft in question (HZ-SKY, production no 924). It's definitely a VIP aircraft, originally for the King of Jordan but now operated by a private Saudi company, doubtless on behalf of the Saudi Royal Family. As with many VIP aircraft most of the transponder information is suppressed so that public aircraft tracking sites can't actually track them. But it was known that the sheer number of VIPs flying in for Her Majesty's funeral would overload the parking facilities at London airports meaning some of their aircraft went elsewhere including Manchester.
Yes Mostly utilised by easyJet now that British Airways (BA) has withdrawn all short haul flights apart from domestic ones. Long distance flights eg. to New York are still present and still offer exciting opportunities. But Gatwick is small compared to Heathrow and only uses 1 runway (despite having 2) so capacity is a massive setback.
Only quad jets are A380 (Emirates still flies here, saw one the other day) A340 (as others have mentioned it must be privately owned one as no airlines that operate into Gatwick use such jets) and 747 (practically retired, BA and most others , apart from regular freight use...
Quad jets are inefficient that is why there are so little. I can't get my head around the reason for 4 engines on an A340 when an A330 can do the job with 2 and the 340 is only a slightly longer plane.
777 Is also a better alternative to 747/A380 as you still have the range of a quad-jet, less maintenance of older jets with added machinery and all you are compromising is passenger capacity but that can be rectified
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Up until Covid, Norwegian and Tui had 787’s, Virgin had 747’s and BA had 777’s based there. There were also frequent visits from Emirates A380s (Multiple daily), China Airlines A350 (2/3 weekly, maybe more?), Cathay Pacific A350 (daily) and Qatar 787’s (2x daily I think). Also pretty sure another Chinese airline (China Eastern maybe) had begun a service just prior to C19. So Gatwick was handling plenty of widebodies. It’s still capable and used for such, just less so. I think Tui, BA, EK and QR are the only ones there currently.
I think Turkish are still operating but I will have to double check.
WestJet also does but this will soon end which is a shame I guess, as it helps provide a direct flight to Canada's largest city without having to travel to busy Heathrow.
Qatar as well
I hope not, I'm flying LGW-VCE next week on BA! Lots of BA short-haul back at Gatwick, there's a thread on FlyerTalk referring to BA Euroflyer which is the Gatwick short haul operation.
I hope not, I'm flying LGW-VCE next week on BA! Lots of BA short-haul back at Gatwick, there's a thread on FlyerTalk referring to BA Euroflyer which is the Gatwick short haul operation.
Yes Mostly utilised by easyJet now that British Airways (BA) has withdrawn all short haul flights apart from domestic ones. Long distance flights eg. to New York are still present and still offer exciting opportunities. But Gatwick is small compared to Heathrow and only uses 1 runway (despite having 2) so capacity is a massive setback.
Quad jets are inefficient that is why there are so little. I can't get my head around the reason for 4 engines on an A340 when an A330 can do the job with 2 and the 340 is only a slightly longer plane.
777 Is also a better alternative to 747/A380 as you still have the range of a quad-jet, less maintenance of older jets with added machinery and all you are compromising is passenger capacity but that can be rectified
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Gatwick does have 2 runways, however only one can be used at a time due to there close proximity to eachother. However, there are plans to rectify this.
The reason for the A340 having four engines is due to ETOPS (Extended Twin-engined OPerationS). When the A340 was built, twin-jets were able to operate 180 minutes away from diversion airfields. This was sufficient for trans-atlantic flights, but to cross the Pacific it required a more circuitous route as going straight across the Pacific took you too far from suitable diversion airfields. The A340, being a quad-jet, was exempt from these restrictions and could take a more direct path. That's why it was popular with Asian airlines. Since the 90's though, twin engined aircraft are now able to fly further from diversion airfields due to increasing reliability and system redundancy. I think the latest twin jets are able to operate 330 minutes from suitable airfields, meaning they can pretty much go anywhere!
One of the runways is only for use when the main runway is closed though. To all intents and purposes it is a single runway airport.
Ref the OP - if it was a Saudi plane, coming in ‘on the quiet’, could it have been something to do with the repatriation of the 5 ex prisoners of the Russian regime?
A visit to https://www.tasmanchester.com/ will currently reveal a picture and outline details of the aircraft in question (HZ-SKY, production no 924). It's definitely a VIP aircraft, originally for the King of Jordan but now operated by a private Saudi company, doubtless on behalf of the Saudi Royal Family. As with many VIP aircraft most of the transponder information is suppressed so that public aircraft tracking sites can't actually track them. But it was known that the sheer number of VIPs flying in for Her Majesty's funeral would overload the parking facilities at London airports meaning some of their aircraft went elsewhere including Manchester.
Ah.... now I know the registration I can see that is indeed in the Airline Fleets book, just not in the VIP section but instead under Sky Prime Aviation Services within the main Saudia Arabia section.
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