As I had some time last Saturday, and the weather in Tokyo was perfect, I decided to pay Haneda airport a visit.
When I checked FlightRadar and realized that Lufthansa’s Retro 747-8i was on its way to Haneda as well, my excitement grew further.
Busy International Terminal Observation Deck
My first stop after arriving at the airport was the international terminal’s excellent observation deck. It was a couple of minutes before noon, and given that it was weekend and the weather was great, there were many people taking photos and just hanging out.
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The first movement I got was a Garuda Indonesia 777-300ER taxiing for departure back to Jakarta as flight GA875. This was followed by JAL Dreamliner’s arrival from Beijing and Eva Air Hello Kitty A330’s departure to Taipei.
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Before the highlight of the day, Shanghai Airlines and China Eastern A330s arrived from Shanghai, and ANA’s 787 in R2D2 Star Wars colors departed to Munich.
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Finally, shortly after 1PM, the distinctive Lufthansa Retro Jumbo appeared in the distance, approaching runway 34R. After landing, it taxied past the observation deck before entering the apron and parking at gate 107.
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ANA, Air Do, and More
With the Lufthansa Retro at its gate, there were no more interesting movements that could be photographed from the International Terminal scheduled, and so I headed to the other side of the airport, to the Terminal 2 observation deck.
The goal was to stay there until the Lufthansa 747 would depart from runway 34R back to Frankfurt at 3:20PM.
During the time there, I was of course able to get some of the regular ANA and Air Do aircraft.
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Besides the regulars, I was able to get one of the ANA’s latest special colors – the Flower Jet 737, JAL’s Doraemon Jet, and one of the two ANA Star Alliance 777s.
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With the excellent visibility, Sky Tree could be seen in the background, and captured with some of the aircraft departing from runway 34R as well.
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Auf Wiedersehen, Lufthansa Retro!
After almost two hours at the terrace, waiting for the Jumbo, it finally appeared around 3:40PM. It lined up on runway 34R, and at 3:46PM, it departed back to Frankfurt as flight LH717.
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Once the Lufthansa Retro 747 was in the air, I decided to call it a day, and left the airport.
