Southend Impresses Again – Including African Boeings!

The last week at Southend has once again been rather good, especially for the time of year. The weather has also been excellent, with barely a cloud to be seen in all of the photos:

First, however not wishing to neglect the scheduled stuff:

EI-CPT from Dublin:

EI-CPT Aer Lingus Regional AT43 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

And G-EZGN off to Jersey:

G-EZGN easyJet A319 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

A nice arrival to Runway 06 from Lasham after storage was this 737, still resplendent in full bmibaby colours, at Southend for maintenance and painting, destined for Nigerian outfit Discovery Air. Looks remarkably good despite being stored for a year, and certainly a rare catch in flight now.

G-TOYK bmibaby B733 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

Next, the highlight – the Congo President’s private jet 9Q-CDC, a 48 year old Boeing 727 of course, returned to the hangar after some nice and noisy engine runs, in preparation for its first flight since arriving at Southend in December 2010. Showing off its recently acquired winglets.

9Q-CDC (Congo Government) B721 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

A very nice surprise for me was EI-FAU, Aer Arann’s latest acquisition operating a Dublin flight instead of the scheduled ATR42.

EI-FAU Aer Lingus Regional AT76 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

And Aero Contractors of Nigeria Boeing 737-500 5N-BKR departed back to Lagos via Algiers after maintenance:

5N-BKR Aero Contractors of Nigeria B735 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

5N-BKR Aero Contractors of Nigeria B735 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

Another Volotea 717 made an appearance on the weekly Plama flight for Thomson. Holding, waiting for a slot at busy Palma:

EI-EXA Volotea B712 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

And departing off Runway 06 – on another excellent day. The light is improving now too:

EI-EXA Volotea B712 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

And if 1 Nigerian 737 wasn’t enough, sister ship 5N-BLC departed on a test flight:

5N-BLC Aero Contractors of Nigeria B735 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

5N-BLC Aero Contractors B735 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

And to finish, a rather nice (and shiny!) BBJ, N92SR departed to Stansted:

N92SR B737 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

N92SR B737 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

As always, I hope these are of interest! Not bad at all for a week at your local!