Special Flights Archives

Air Tindi Dash 7s: Seeing the Canada-Made Workhorses in Action & Flying on One

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / July 18, 2023 July 18, 2023

Over the years, the number of Dash 7 four-engined turboprops flying around the world has dwindled. With airlines like Air Greenland retiring the type out of their fleet, only two airlines operate the type on scheduled passenger flights today – Yellowknife-based Air Tindi and Nairobi-based Airkenya Express. Recently, I had a chance to spend …

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All About Asiana 747s (& Flying on HL7428 – the Last Passenger One)

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / May 2, 2023 May 2, 2023

While there are still plenty of cargo 747-400s flying, that cannot be said about the passenger version of the aircraft. As such, I found it hard to resist catching a flight on Asiana’s sole remaining passenger 747-400 when it got scheduled to fly from Seoul to Tokyo back in April. Continue reading this article to …

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Solaseed Air Nassy (Exeggutor) Jet Onboard Items

Nassy Jet: Flying on Solaseed Air’s New Pokemon Jet on Its First Day

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / March 8, 2023 March 8, 2023

When Pokemon celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021, I had a feeling that Pokemon-themed aircraft would make a comeback in one way or another. At that point, however, I had no idea that over the next couple of years, there would be multiple such special liveries featured on aircraft belonging to multiple airlines not only …

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ANA’s Demon Slayer Jets: All You Need to Know & Flying on the Third Jet’s Inaugural

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / October 13, 2022 October 13, 2022

Unlike Pokemon which I used to watch as a kid and am still a fan of and Star Wars where I can at least recognize the characters, I have never seen an episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. That said, as an aviation enthusiast living in Tokyo, I definitely took note of ANA introducing …

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Flying Honu Joyride: Trying Out ANA A380’s Premium Economy in a Fun Way

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / August 3, 2022 August 3, 2022

ANA dedicated its three “Flying Honu” A380s to one purpose – flying between Tokyo and Honolulu. Unfortunately, the demand on the route dropped to near zero when Japan closed its borders at the beginning of the pandemic. As a result, the A380s were grounded. Unlike other airlines which simply sent their A380s to storage, however, …

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Skymark’s Pikachu Jets: All You Need to Know & Flying on BC2’s Inaugural

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / June 9, 2022 June 9, 2022

Having grown up watching and playing Pokemon, ANA’s now-gone Pokemon Jets are my all-time favorite special liveries. With Peace Jet’s retirement in 2016 and the introduction of ANA Star Wars Jets, however, it became clear the era of ANA Pokemon Jets has come to an end (for the time being). Still, I was hoping that they would …

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Goodbye, BB-8 ANA Jet! (A Dramatic Last Day and a Great Last Flight)

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / April 2, 2022 April 2, 2022

Aviation enthusiasts in Japan and around the world got great news in mid-2015 when ANA announced a partnership with The Walt Disney Company to launch the ANA Star Wars Project which would include painting aircraft in special liveries. Eventually, four aircraft – Star Wars ANA Jet, R2D2 ANA Jet, BB-8 ANA Jet, and C3PO ANA …

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Farewell, Bear Do Hokkaido Jet! (& All About Air Do’s Bear Do Jets)

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / December 26, 2021 December 29, 2021

Whether it is Pokemon or Mickey Mouse-themed aircraft, Japan is well-known for colorful special liveries. Perhaps the lesser-known of those were the Bear Do aircraft operated by Air Do. While none of the Bear Do aircraft is in operation anymore (Air Do now operates the Rokon Jet), there were three generations of the livery between …

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Air Do Rokon Jet Inaugural: Flying on Japan’s Latest Pokemon Jet

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / December 3, 2021 December 3, 2021

Loving aviation and having grown up watching and playing Pokemon, I was sad to see ANA’s last Pokemon Jet retired in 2016. While ANA introduced its Star Wars-themed aircraft in the meantime, I never liked them quite as much as I did the Pokemon Jets. As such, I was really excited to see Skymark paint …

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