European and US airports battle it out in Week 32 of the Arch of Triumph 2018
It was the battle of Europe and North Atlantic in Week 32 of the 2018 Arch of Triumph competition, with six airports (four US; two European) battling it out for FTWA supremacy. This week saw Alicante and Liverpool represent the continent of Europe, with the Spanish Costa Blanca airport and the mighty city on the River Mersey going up against Buffalo, Hartford, Jacksonville and Norfolk in the US. While the six threw down an average score of 31.2, a very respectable effort indeed, they still fell shy of the top 10 leaderboard, with this week’s winners 0.9 points away from lying in tenth place…Keep Monitoring!!
| Date | Route | FTWA Airport | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-May | Delta Air Lines Atlanta to Lisbon | Lisbon (LIS) | 39.7 |
| 30-May | Donghai Airlines Shenzhen to Darwin | Darwin (DRW) | 38.0 |
| 10-Jun | TAP Air Portugal Lisbon to Florence | Lisbon (LIS) | 37.9 |
| 2-Jul | LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw Chopin to Billund | Billund (BLL) | 37.6 |
| 15-Jun | Air Canada Rouge Montreal to Lisbon | Lisbon (LIS) | 37.2 |
| 01-May | Ukraine International Airlines Kiev Boryspil to Delhi | Delhi (DEL) | 37.2 |
| 08-Apr | flydubai Dubai to Krakow | Krakow (KRK) | 37.1 |
| 05-Jul | Aigle Azur Paris Orly to Sao Paulo Viracopos | Sao Paulo Viracopos (VCP) | 36.7 |
| 24-Jul | Copa Airlines Panama City to Salvador de Bahia | Salvador de Bahia (SSA) | 36.5 |
| 18-May | AirAsia Kuala Lumpur to Hua Hin | Hua Hin (HHQ) | 36.5 |
Widerøe Bergen to Liverpool 10 August
A water salute based on the waterfalls of the Norwegian Fjords…
Judge’s comments: One of anna.aero’s esteemed judges took this shot on Friday 10 August at Liverpool Airport, having been invited to attend Widerøe’s first flight from Bergen in person. Seeing the arch in person, that judge automatically gives the arch a 9.0 (can you tell who was there?). Despite his rule of thumb, Liverpool still produced a splendid arch to greet its newest airline partner, just missing out on a place in the anna.aero top 10 by 0.9 points. With both tenders visible and in full flow, plus a symmetrical arch, this FTWA is a great homage to the waterfalls of the Norwegian Fjords…
Jonny: 9.0; Kerry: 8.9; Marc: 8.9; Nick: 8.8.
Southwest Airlines St. Louis to Hartford 7 August
The Arch of St. Louis it is not!
Judge’s comments: When anna.aero received this image, it was hoping that the water arch would be shaped in a similar way to the iconic Arch of St. Louis. However due to either the photographer snapping at the wrong moment, or the tenders being too far apart to finish the arch, this looks like it was heading more towards the arch of MacDonalds once water jets reach full squirt. ‘Ba Da Ba Ba Bah, I’m Lovin’ It?’ Not this time Hartford…not this time…
Jonny: 7.2; Kerry: 7.5; Marc: 7.1; Nick: 7.5.
LEVEL Vienna to Alicante 11 August
LEVEL lands to a splashdown at its seventh Spanish destination…
Judge’s comments: With LEVEL’s latest launch from Vienna, Alicante becomes the seventh Spanish airport to grace the airline’s network. However, our records show that this is only the second FTWA that we have received from a Spanish airport for the carrier’s inaugural flights. So it looks like it may be a while before a LEVEL inaugural leaps into anna.aero’s FTWA top 10…
Jonny: 8.4; Kerry: 8.2; Marc: 7.8; Nick: 7.2.
Frontier Airlines Norfolk to Denver 12 August
The first of three FTWAs for Frontier.
Judge’s comments: Frontier Airlines launched a whopping 22 routes this week, but unfortunately only three water arches were conducted, two being for the same route! The first to kick-start proceedings for the ULCC’s expansion was Norfolk in Virginia. While airline branding is well represented and the blue sky gives a perfect background, it’s just a shame that both tenders were not in shot. We blame the photographer’s location on this image, which could have scored much higher if taken from head on…
Jonny: 6.8; Kerry: 7.0; Marc: 7.1; Nick: 7.2.
Frontier Airlines Jacksonville to Buffalo 13 August
Jacksonville has to settle for second this week…
Judge’s comments: This route between Jacksonville and Buffalo was fortunate enough to receive two water arch salutes, one each from the origin and destination airports. While the sky is very dampening in Florida, the airport produced a sound FTWA to send-off the new service. Unfortunately Liverpool stopped Jacksonville from claiming this week’s win, by only 4.3 points.
Jonny: 7.9; Kerry: 8.1; Marc: 8.0; Nick: 7.9.
Frontier Airlines Jacksonville to Buffalo 13 August
1,408 kilometres later….and N324FR receives another washdown.
Judge’s comments: N324FR, a brand-new (December 2017) A320neo decorated in Summer the Swan Livery, was the aircraft of choice for Frontier Airlines’ inaugural service between Jacksonville and Buffalo. It was fortunate enough to receive two water salutes (one at either end of the route), however with a score of 29.1, Buffalo’s efforts were some 2.8 points behind that of the Jacksonville fire crew…
Jonny: 7.6; Kerry: 6.8; Marc: 7.2; Nick: 7.5.
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