A deLUXe FTWA wins this week’s trophy

By this stage of the competition last year, the average weekly winning score was just 29.0. However, this result has already been surpassed in 2016, as the first nine weekly victors have mustered an impressive 290.5 points in total between them, to produce an average winning result of 32.3. In 2014, the sum of the first nine weeks’ of winners was only 252.4, or an average of 28.0. So clearly standards in the Arch of Triumph world are rising year-on-year. The geographical split between the 31 entries received so far in the 2016 competition remains diverse, with Europe and Asia leading the way with seven efforts each (23%), followed by Australasia with six (19%). The remaining 11 efforts are then split between North America (13%), Africa (10%), with the Middle East and South America both with 6% each. Keep monitoring!!

LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw Chopin to Luxembourg 1 March

Should points be deducted for use of follow-me vehicles…?

Judge’s Comments:  Is extra guidance from follow-me vehicles in the spirit of the Arch of Triumph battle…where surely a pilot’s craft in steering the inaugural aircraft through the apex of the FTWA is all part of the competition between those jockeys of the air and those employed to protect them and their precious cargos on the ground? Needless to say, a huddle lasting several hours in the anna.aero offices delivered no successful resolution to this question this week…but then we have been arguing for several years on whether a Jaffa Cake is a biscuit or indeed a cake…

Jonny: 8.2; Marc: 9.2; Paul: 5.9; Ralph: 9.4.

IndiGo Delhi to Dehradun 1 March

FTWA photo-bombing at its finest (or worst??)…

Judge’s Comments: The body count on this Arch of Triumph image from Dehradun is pretty much one of the highest in the four years of anna.aero’s competition, with six individuals disrupting the integrity of what is actually a finely-worked FTWA. However, such is the level of photo-bombing, the eye is drawn to the selfish people in the picture rather than FTWA itself, and the scores are also impacted. I bet one of those guys is the Ops Director…they think they own the apron don’t they?

Jonny: 8.1; Marc: 9.1; Paul: 6.2 ; Ralph: 9.1.

Qatar Airways Doha to Sydney 1 March

This new Australian route is sure to be golden for Qatar Airways…

Judge’s Comments: The kangaroo route from Europe to Australia has long-been considered a money-spinner for airlines, and now that Qatar Airways has gained access to arguably the most lucrative destination (and its third) down under – Sydney – it will certainly hope to be getting a return on its no doubt substantial investment. Whether the oneworld carrier expected to find the pot of gold quite as easily on the apron during the welcome for the first flight is still unknown…

Jonny: 5.4; Marc: 3.8; Paul: 7.8; Ralph: 4.7.

Lufthansa Frankfurt to Panama City 2 March

A local flavour for this FTWA in Panama…or is it…?

Judge’s Comments: To the untrained eye, this is of course a Panama hat style FTWA. However, the more educated amongst you will have not been seduced by this effort, knowing full well that these traditional brimmed straw hats are actually of Ecuadorian origin, and have been since the mid-1600s, although their name was not cemented into world fame until much later. These hats woven in Ecuador, like many other 19th and early 20th century South American goods, were shipped first to the Isthmus of Panama, before sailing for their destinations in Asia, the rest of the Americas and Europe, subsequently acquiring a name that reflected their point of international sale. Panama (or should that be Ecuador) hat lesson over…

Jonny: 6.0; Marc: 6.0; Paul: 5.3; Ralph: 6.6.

American Airlines Phoenix to Midland 3 March

Looks like someone has had a heavy night…

Judge’s Comments: Looking at this wind-affected FTWA, one can only presume that it was also strong enough to blow over the cone in the foreground too. Either that, or the cone had had one tequila slammer too many at the travel trade party the night before to promote American’s new route. Perhaps his cohorts for the last night’s revelries, standing in the shade of the GPU, are having to use the apron equipment to keep themselves vertical…

Jonny: 5.7; Marc: 5.9; Paul: 5.4; Ralph: 5.7. 

Pobeda Moscow Vnukovo to Memmingen 3 March

Rather than ‘Where’s Wally’…where’s the aircraft…?

Judge’s Comments: This is a FTWC. A Fire Truck Water Curtain. The clue as to what the anna.aero judges are looking for is in the name of the competition – Arch of Triumph – not Curtain of Triumph. Who ever heard of a Curtain of Triumph? Is there one in Paris? In the Louvre maybe? The result is we can’t see the arriving Pobeda aircraft at all…

Jonny: 6.5; Marc: 7.8; Paul: 5.6; Ralph: 6.0.

Qatar Airways Doha to Budapest 3 March

What is that funny bump above the nose wheel for…? Crew rest area one presumes…answers by e-mail please…

Judge’s Comments: This is only the fourth ever new cargo route FTWA that we have received. That said, it is the third one created to herald the start of a Qatar Airways Cargo service, with the previous two being in 2014 for new routes to Dubai Al Maktoum and Brussels. The only other cargo FTWA was for Ethiopian Airlines Cargo in December last year at Bengaluru. In terms of where this one ranks…with a score of just 27.5…it’s the worst FTWA so far for a Qatar Airways Cargo inaugural…but it did beat the Ethiopian one, which mustered a lowly 16.7…

Jonny: 6.9; Marc: 6.7; Paul: 6.8; Ralph: 7.1.