Cluj-Napoca clobbers the competition in S16 FTWA public vote; Vienna takes this week’s title

Perfect symmetry. Cluj-Napoca Airport not only has master bakers – it won the Cake of the Week public vote – but it also has some master firefighters too. Amassing over 900 votes, 300 more than second airport Iasi (also in Romania), the airport was head and shoulders above the competition.

The results have been counted and verified. There were over 4,500 of them. So it took a while! Cluj-Napoca Airport becomes the ninth European airport (in the nine public votes held so far) to win a public vote in the illustrious Arch of Triumph competition. It joins eight other airports from the region – Budapest, Bucharest, Gran Canaria, La Palma, Amsterdam, Athens, Iasi and Lille – and also becomes the third Romanian winner. The airport secured 20% of the votes, beating off former public vote winners Iasi (14%) and 2015’s Arch of Triumph competition winners Birmingham (13%). Heavyweight opposition indeed. It also managed to secure the Cake of the Week public vote win too – check out the full results for that competition here. Keep monitoring!!

N.B. The airport names which are underlined are the FTWA creators in question.

Air India Delhi to Vienna 6 April

A classic Viennese Waltz style FTWA…or is it??

Judge’s Comments: A true Viennese Waltz FTWA is one that consists purely of turns and change steps. However, there is the hint of a fleckerl coming from that right-hand tender which has distracted the anna.aero judges’ eyes…and there looks to be a bit of side sway coming from the left-hand tender too. However, these are minor points which are only noticed by our highly-experienced judges…

Jonny: 7.9; Marc: 9.3; Paul: 9.5; Ralph: 9.0.

United Airlines Denver to Richmond 5 April

“Give me a great FTWA or give me death…”

Judge’s Comments: During the Revolutionary War period, several notable events occurred in Richmond, Virginia, including Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech in 1775 at St. John’s Church. There are unconfirmed reports that the airport’s fire station commander uttered a similarly weighty remark just prior to the arrival of United Airlines’ inaugural Denver flight…

Jonny: 8.5; Marc: 7.6; Paul: 8.0; Ralph: 7.8.

Allegiant Air San Diego to Stockton 7 April

You stay classy…Allegiant Air aircraft from San Diego…

Judge’s Comments: Rumours that Ron Burgundy was on board this first Allegiant Air flight from San Diego (discovered by Germans in 1904) were unconfirmed. However, the MD-80 did have a pungent, residual smell of Sex Panther (60% of the time, it works every time). Apologies to any people who are not fans of Anchorman…

Jonny: 5.0; Marc: 6.1; Paul: 5.2; Ralph: 4.4.

Regent Airways Dhaka to Muscat 7 April

A perfectly-lit night-time shot in Muscat…

Judge’s Comments: This is the first entry we have received for the weekly Arch of Triumph competition from Oman’s capital city airport. And it’s a tricky assignment for the airport’s firefighters, with this night-time shot to deal with. It’s a great initial effort…and something for the airport to build on, especially with the Eurowings launch from Cologne Bonn next month…

Jonny: 5.5; Marc: 6.8; Paul: 6.3; Ralph: 6.5.

Lufthansa Munich to Debrecen 11 April

A classic ‘Big Boy, Little Boy’ on display in Debrecen…

Judge’s Comments: While we shudder at the lack of firefighter co-ordination on display here at Hungary’s second city airport, we do like to see a classic FTWA style – a very stark example of a ‘Big Boy, Little Boy’. We will put this error down to the sheer excitement that must have been buzzing through all of the airport staff on this day…as they don’t get new services all too often in Debrecen…

Jonny: 4.5; Marc: 5.7; Paul: 4.7; Ralph: 3.9.