ANA welcomes Portuguese football team with Arch of Triumph

Although it can’t win the weekly Arch of Triumph title – because you have to start a new route to be able to enter the competition – this FTWA is very special indeed, as it was created on 11 July at Lisbon Airport in the national colours of Portugal to welcome home the all-conquering Euro 2016 winners ‒ the Portuguese football team. Parabéns!

The idea of having coloured water jets for an FTWA is not new, we’ve had a few sent to us in our time, but never has it meant so much as it did this week in Lisbon. With a green and red water jet to represent the national colours, ANA, the operators of the Portuguese capital city airport, gave the victorious Portuguese football team a very fitting welcome home. After a big ceremony at the airport, the team then departed on an open top bus victory tour, before thousands of Portuguese fans turned out to welcome Ronaldo and his team-mates home on the streets of Lisbon. While the FTWA is not permitted in the competition, because it is not for a new route, the anna.aero judges can confirm that it would have won this week’s title. Whether it would have troubled the leader of the 2016 Arch of Triumph competition – also Lisbon Airport – is unlikely, but it may well have broken into the top 10. Keep Monitoring!!

Norwegian Barcelona to Bilbao 8 July

A staccato water jet from the left-hand tender…

Judge’s Comments: Yep…that’s definitely a staccato burst from the left-hand tender, which means its losing points. For those of you that don’t know what staccato means: it’s a direction in music meaning that the notes should be performed in an abrupt, sharp, clear-cut manner. Note: The term staccato has been applied generally to things that occur in rapid bursts, such as gunfire (or indeed FTWAs)…

Jonny: 7.6; Marc: 7.2; Paul: 7.4; Ralph: 7.3.

Cobalt Larnaca to Athens 7 July

Προσοχή στο κενό…or please mind the gap for our non-Greek speakers…

Judge’s Comments: Where would we be without Google Translate? I’ll tell you where we’d be…we (as in the four ill-educated anna.aero judges) would not be able to insult fire fighters around the world about the FTWAs which they produced to herald the start of new routes in their mother tongue…that’s where we would be. Crikey, you could almost fit an A320 through the gap in that arch…oh, you have…

Jonny: 5.5; Marc: 5.7; Paul: 5.9; Ralph: 6.6.

Volaris Guadalajara to Seattle-Tacoma 7 July

Thank goodness the ground staff member wore his waterproofs…

Judge’s Comments: I know it rains a lot in Washington State where this picture was taken…and by contrast it can rain very little in Mexico…but blimey this Volaris aircraft is getting a right drenching upon arrival in Seattle. One can only surmise that the airport’s fire fighters were trying to mentally prepare the passengers on the first flight for the weather they should expect…although this time of year it can be very pleasant as we found out last June…

Jonny: 6.0; Marc: 5.1; Paul: 5.6; Ralph: 5.8.

Etihad Regional Venice Marco Polo to Paderborn 9 July

FTWA photobombing by a…errrrrr…lamppost…

Judge’s Comments: We could pull holes in this FTWA from Paderborn in Germany…but even before that we must take issue with the photographer’s location…did he/she not see the blummin’ great big lamppost in the foreground and demand to be taken to a better spot for the picture?? Unless of course it’s one of those lampposts with legs…

Jonny: 5.5; Marc: 6.2; Paul: 5.7; Ralph: 5.5.