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Alan K | all galleries >> Sydney >> Sydney Aviation > 150131_061816_3058 Bringin' It In
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31-Jan-2015 AKMC

150131_061816_3058 Bringin' It In

Kingsford Smith (Sydney) Airport, Mascot, NSW

The main gear is down and the nose gear is about to make a gentle descent to the tarmac. Singapore Airlines A330-343 9V-STN completes this day's journey on SIA251, Singapore Changi to Sydney.

The cranes of Port Botany can be seen in the distance.

9V-STN was relatively new in this photo was taken; it had been delivered to Singapore Airlines in May 2010. It would continue in service with Singapore for another 5 years or so, being withdrawn from use on 5 April 2020. Hong Kong Airlines then picked her up (as B-LNU) and operated her up to 10 January 2020. That was very early in the pandemic, and before the full impact on air travel was felt. Either Hong Kong Airlines could see what was coming... or the plan to flog the plane off was already in train anyway.

After spending most of 2020 being refitted as a cargo plane she re-entered service as DHL cargo plane M-EKSL in December 2020. "M", you ask? It's the registration code for the Isle of Man. No, I am not kidding. Apparently it's a legal red tape thing. According to one source:
"Even though the Island is considered ‘offshore’ and regulates its own affairs separate from that of the UK or EU, it is still considered part of the EU for VAT and customs duty purposes. This affords owners registering their aircraft in the Isle of Man the unique benefit of holding their aircraft through an offshore single purpose vehicle, trust or partnership, as well as affording them the ability to import the aircraft into the EU for VAT purposes, allowing for free circulation within the EU."

It didn't stay with DHL long through, for the following month it was transferred to Air Hong Kong (which apparently is not the same airline as the one mentioned earlier) and as far as I know in August 2022 it is still with them.

In reality it wasn't much of a move since DHL was a shareholder in Air Hong Kong along with Cathay Pacific. Cathay Pacific announced that it would be acquiring DHL's stake in July 2017, but I don't know whether that happened.


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Julie Oldfield14-Feb-2015 02:58
Fantastic shot. Love the composition and capture of the landing. V
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