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Air Force One visited Seattle and we were there

Air Force One approaching the ramp at SEA
Air Force One approaching the ramp at SEA

It’s arguably the most iconic livery on the most iconic aircraft in service. It’s blue-and-white livery is instantly identifiable to both AvGeeks and those who view planes as simply flying buses.

Officially designated the VC-25 by the U.S. Air Force, two heavily-modified Boeing 747-200s have been in service since 1990.

Air Force One moments from landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Air Force One moments from landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

By now, most AvGeeks know that any aircraft can be designated as Air Force One – the callsign is only active if the president is on board. Thus the modified 757s (officially C-32As) can also carry the callsign when the president is aboard.

The Seattle area sees C-32As fairly regularly, as high-ranking officials other than the president often visit the region, such as the vice president. The VC-25 hasn’t been in these parts since 2018, and we last wrote about a visit

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Frontier ditches phone customer care… who’s to blame?

Some cuties on on the tails of aircraft - Photo: Frontier Airlines
If you want to complain about Frontier needing more otters, you are gonna need to do it online!

I sometimes use my mom (who loves birds, but not really planes) to help guide what we cover on AirlineReporter. Typically if she mentions “Hey did you see this story about an airline?” we have a nice conversation about it, but that typically means it has been well covered and unless we have a unique opinion, we move on. So, it feels special when my mom brings up a story she saw, and I have a few thoughts to add.

If you missed it, Frontier Airlines has opted to ditch their customer care call center, while still providing online support – all in the name of bringing down costs. Unless you are new to following the airline biz, we have seen this sort of thing a few times now. An airline

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Finnair adds Seattle to North America destinations; 8th new international at SEA since 2020

Finnair began service from Helsinki to Seattle on June 2, 2022

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport added its 8th new international carrier since the pandemic began in 2020, as Finnair started service from Helsinki on June 2.

Finnair's A330 received the traditional water cannon salute from the SEA fire department on arrival.
Finnair’s A330 received the traditional water cannon salute from the SEA fire department on arrival

Finnair will operate the 9.5-hour flights three times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays using an A330. The inbound flight will be numbered AY033, and the return flight to Helsinki will be AY034.

Finnair is also part of the oneworld alliance, allowing connections either onward from Seattle or Helsinki via the local partner airlines, including Seattle’s own Alaska Airlines.

Finnair is a member of the Oneworld alliance, as is daily Seattle visitor Qatar Airways
Finnair is a member of the oneworld alliance, as is daily Seattle visitor Qatar Airways

Finnair’s European network connects 70 cities on that continent. SEA is the sixth U.S. airport served by Finnair; other American destinations include Chicago, Los Angeles,

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From Our YouTube Archives: My Favorite Takeoff Videos

Most of our AirlineReporting time and energy goes to this website and Twitter, but we also have a YouTube channel that we don’t want you to forget about. Over there we have some of our favorite window seat views, airport highlights, and other clips saved for your viewing pleasure. We’ve dabbled in some short video trip reports, like on JetBlue Mint and Finnair’s long-haul business class. There’s also some on-scene coverage of major airport infrastructure highlights, like Sea-Tac’s over-taxiway skywalk getting hoisted into place.

For fun, I lined up my three favorite takeoff videos from flights I’ve flown for the website. It was tough making the picks. Some strong contenders — like this Dreamliner #wingflex takeoff or this fine example of Newark parallel runway ops — didn’t make the cut.

This 787 takeoff view over New York didn’t make the toplist, but another Dreamliner takeoff did

Read

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JFK is Breaking Ground on a New Terminal One

Few US cities need their airports renovated more desperately than New York does. Its three primary airports have terminal facilities that may have been world-class decades ago, but are congested messes today. Fortunately the powers that be got the memo and are using this decade to get JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia back into shape. The LaGuardia work is well underway, with large parts of a shiny new terminal B already open. And recently, a project at JFK hit a major milestone.

An aerial rendered view of the planned New Terminal One – Photo: PANYNJ

A consortium of airlines, funding partners, project management companies, and other partners are breaking ground this month on JFK’s New Terminal One (NTO). It will cover the footprint of the current terminal one (a smattering of mostly international airlines), Delta’s terminal two, and the footprint of the demolished terminal three. For an overview of the