Perth Airport poses with its Arch of Triumph certificate; another Oz airport makes last ditch effort for 2015 title

Malindo Air recently launched services to Perth from Kuala Lumpur, and it was greeted by a first class FTWA from the resident Australian firefighters. The boys in blue from Down Under are ‘made-up’ with their Arch of Triumph certificate – the first to adorn their station walls – but hopefully not the last.

Is it the case of always the bridesmaid but never the bride for Sydney Airport?! In last year’s Arch of Triumph competition it finished second to Munich (with a score of 37.6) and this year it seems destined to repeat that ‘oh so close performance’. The Australian airport was already in second spot behind the table-topping Birmingham with another score of 37.6 for October’s FTWA for the arrival of Indonesia AirAsia X from Denpasar. This week it has bettered that result with a score of 37.8, no doubt small comfort for the Sydney ARFF team. For those of you keen to see the Birmingham FTWA again to compare with this week’s winner – here you go. Arch of Triumph purists will appreciate the perfect symmetry of the Birmingham FTWA proves that it is still a worthy leader of this year’s competition. Sydney’s win does achieve something, especially after Perth winning last week, Australasia is now tied with the Middle East on three wins each in the inter-regional competition. Keep Monitoring!!

Xiamen Airlines Fuzhou to Sydney 29 November

Sydney gets its chopper out for FTWA near-perfection…

Judge’s Comments:  We can confirm that none of those nasty drones (which seem to be plaguing the world’s airports these days) were used to get this aerial image of the Xiamen Airlines aircraft arriving in Sydney – it was a good old-fashioned chopper. The result is visually stunning from above…and enough to earn them #2 spot on the overall leader board…forcing…err…umm…Sydney into third…

Jonny: 8.5; Marc: 9.8; Paul: 9.9; Ralph: 9.6.

AirSWIFT Cebu to El Nido 26 November

The fine mist created in Cebu almost hiding the all-white aircraft…

Judge’s Comments:  This is the first time that Cebu in the Philippines has entered the Arch of Triumph competition and it shows…but still, there is plenty of room for improvement. It’s not the first Filipino entrant though, as Manila has graced this competition twice before with scores of 27.2 in October 2013 and 24.2 in July this year…so local bragging rights remain with the capital city airport so far…

Jonny: 5.5; Marc: 5.1; Paul: 5.5; Ralph: 5.8.

Lucky Air Kunming to Sihanoukville 26 November

Better late than never…I guess…

Judge’s Comments: This FTWA looks more like an afterthought than something that was planned to help celebrate the start of a new route. It’s almost like the fire truck was trundling past on the apron and the crew thought…’hey what’s going on over there…oh a new service you say…do a fire truck what? Like this…?’

Jonny: 4.0; Marc: 2.8; Paul: 3.4; Ralph: 3.3.

Cayman Airways Cayman Brac to Holguin 28 November

The first of two FTWAs that have sparked a new genre…

Judge’s Comments:  In honour of ‘Her Royal Bootyness’ Kim Kardashian, the anna.aero judges have decided to name this type of FTWA after her…when a picture is taken from the rear with the aircraft’s tail prominent. Perhaps the bigger the tail the higher the score???

Jonny: 7.8; Marc: 8.3; Paul: 8.4; Ralph: 9.2.

Japan Airlines Tokyo Narita to Dallas/Fort Worth 30 November

Two days later…another Kim Kardashian-style FTWA in Dallas/Fort Worth…

Judge’s Comments:  Wow, this new style of FTWA is catching on fast. In just two days, word of this breaking new genre has spread 2,250 kilometres north-west to Dallas/Fort Worth. What is clear though, like many things, although the Japan Airlines 787-8’s booty is bigger (and considerably younger)…it isn’t better than the smaller (and older) Cayman Airways 737. Will the craze continue and spread further next week…stay tuned folks…

Jonny: 4.8; Marc: 4.9; Paul: 4.6; Ralph: 4.1.