Since 1996, reliable daily arrival of British Airways jet has captivated Phoenix aviation enthusiasts
Like clockwork, Deborah Ostreicher’s eyes wander toward the sky each day around 5:20 p.m.
Sometimes, Phoenix’s assistant aviation director spots what she is looking for right away. Other times, it’s late by an hour or more. But certain as the sunset, the darkened silhouette of a Boeing 747-400 soon glides into her peripheral vision: British Airways Flight 289.
July 1 marks the 20th anniversary of the once-daily direct flight from London to Phoenix. The flight’s schedule has shifted over the years, but its reliable arrival has always remained sometime in the late afternoon, the airborne equivalent of Old Faithful for the Valley’s aviation geeks and plane-spotters.
British Airways agreeing to begin direct service between London and Phoenix in 1996 was, to borrow the words of Ron Burgundy, kind of a big deal for the Valley. Ostreicher had just arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as an air service development manager, charged with recruiting international airline service.
“While I like to take credit, it happened about 90 days after my arrival,” Ostreicher said. “And it was years in the making. The team before I arrived had literally been working for many years, pitching the service, talking to the British Airways (team), working together to try to make it happen.”
Sky Harbor already had flights that served Canada and Mexico — legitimizing the “International” in its name — but the BA arrival from London and the departing return flight would be the first overseas non-stop route the airport had ever obtained.
“I'd say it was one of the most exciting times in Phoenix,” Ostreicher said.
Its inaugural flight on July 1, 1996, was feted as such. The airport hired a Beatles impersonation band and costumed “Bobbies” (British police officers) to pose with guests near a photo booth near the “high B” gates. Outside, a pair of water cannons flanked the runway, framing what was then a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 with arching jets of water as it taxied to the gate.
Paradise Valley resident Michael Krysztofiak, 72, made it a point to get a seat on the inaugural flight that day to celebrate no longer having to make a connection whenever he flew back to his native England.
"What I saw was, at last ... Phoenix Sky Harbor had truly become, as it described itself, an international airport," Krysztofiak said. "That was exciting. And I think it has opened up wonderful economic advantages, not only to Phoenix but to British Airways."
Brett Snyder, who blogs about the airline industry as the “Cranky Flier,” remembers that day well, too, though he was not on the inaugural flight. Those were the days anyone could walk through airport security, and Snyder, then a Phoenix resident who had been obsessed with planes since he was a child, strode right through Sky Harbor’s Terminal 4 to join the festivities.
“It was a big deal back then,” Snyder said. “I mean, it was a huge deal.”
Shortly afterward, Snyder began working for America West Airlines, in the tower next to Tempe Town Lake that eventually became the U.S. Airways headquarters. The building’s location on Rio Salado Parkway gave its employees a prime vantage point from which to spot approaching planes — and for years, the British Airways flight was the star of each day’s show.
“Without fail, most days, at least one person on the floor would say, ‘Oh, it’s coming! It’s coming!’” Snyder said. A bevy of his co-workers would flock to the panoramic windows and gaze at the jet as it made its slow descent. Sure, he was working at an airline company blocks away from the airport. But there was something about that flight that captivated everyone's attention.
For Snyder and his co-workers, there was never any question that this plane that descended each afternoon was the British Airways flight arriving from London.
“There was one person on the floor — I’ve forgotten her name — but everyone would wave at the plane and she’d do, like, the queen’s wave,” Snyder said, laughing. “It was a nice afternoon break.”
Today, the arriving British Airways Flight 289 is one of the most distinctive things a Phoenix resident can spot, with regularity, in the sky. (Departing Flight 288 would be, too, but it typically leaves past dark.)
Part of the reason is that the airline now uses a Boeing 747-400 for the route, and there is simply no mistaking the 747-400. The wide-body jet is enormous, with four engines mounted on the wings and a telltale hump toward the front of the plane that accommodates double-decker seating. The big plane has a bigger home, too — today it arrives not from Gatwick but from London's Heathrow Airport. The flight numbers, through the years, have stayed the same, Ostreicher said.
“The plane cuts a large swath of the Valley when it’s coming in,” Snyder said. “It just sounds different. It's a big, louder type of airplane that grabs your attention. … I do think frequent fliers, regular travelers, people who even have a base level of airplane knowledge probably know: ‘Oh, that’s the British Airways flight.’”
The other reason is that there simply are no other overseas, non-stop flights arriving in Phoenix that would require such a large plane. Other trans-ocean international routes have come and gone at Sky Harbor: LTU International offered direct service between Phoenix and Dusseldorf for two years in the ‘90s, though it flew on an Airbus A340.
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“Unfortunately, sometimes that was met with poor economic times, here and in other countries,” Ostreicher said. “The one that has been here with us for all of these years has been the British Airways flight.”
There was a short period of time during the recession when, while most airlines were downsizing, British Airways cut the service of its Phoenix-London route down to five days a week. However, it is now back up to seven days a week and the plane still uses the same gates that it did 20 years ago. It can almost always be found parked on the corner of the "high Bs," where there is the most space to accommodate the jet.
Ostreicher said what most people don’t realize is that British Airways actually uses two airplanes for this route, because it takes 10½ hours to fly to London and 11½ hours to fly from London to Phoenix. When the plane from London lands at Sky Harbor around 5 p.m., passengers waiting to fly to London board that same plane around 7:30 p.m.
“But while you're flying (to London), they're already loading up another one in England to come to Phoenix,” Ostreicher said. “It's a pretty big commitment for an airline to fly to Phoenix from Europe because of the distance.”
Though the route seem secure, for now, the 747 itself is “an endangered species,” Snyder said. Over the past several decades, newer and more efficient airplanes have rendered the 747 almost completely obsolete, like a Lincoln Town Car in a sky full of Kia Souls. Likewise, most of those newer airplane models are “mostly boring, twin-engine airplanes," Snyder lamented. "Nobody cares if they look good or not.”
“Everyone who has 747-400s now, they are all retiring their aircraft, some more quickly than others,” Snyder said. “It’s just kind of the way that the world is going with that, and BA is no exception.”
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British Airways has gradually been phasing out its fleet of 747-400s but not specified when it will stop using the jets for the Phoenix-London route. (The airline recently refurbished the first-class cabins on the planes that service the route, Ostreicher said.)
When the 747's last day does come, Snyder said Valley plane enthusiasts will have to be content with trying to spot things like military and cargo aircraft, custom-decorated airplane tails or the occasional specialty planes that make stops in Arizona.
Until then, Snyder said, the 747 "is certainly the most interesting commercial airplane you can see out of Phoenix these days."
On Friday, July 1, the airport is planning a small celebration at the British Airways ticket counter to mark the 20th anniversary of the Phoenix-London route. There will be costumed "Beefeaters" (the regally dressed Yeoman Warders who guard the Tower of London), balloons, bagpipers, cookies and a photo backdrop — this time for selfies. A trivia contest is underway. Michael Krysztofiak, the man who was on the inaugural flight, will attend the party but not actually board a plane this time. (He tried to book another celebratory flight, using frequent-flier miles, but the seats were sold out. "Their words were, the flight is chock-a-block," he said. "So it is a very popular flight.")
The arriving 747-400 will be greeted with a water arch, reminiscent of the one from 1996.
“This is an enormous milestone for Phoenix,” Ostreicher said.
Ostreicher’s own career has taken her through various offices at Sky Harbor, to Phoenix City Hall, and now back to the airport, where she’s fortunate enough to sit by a window with a nice view of the north runway.
“I’ve gotta tell you… for 20 years, I am as excited today when I see that plane land,” she said. “It's such a glorious sight. It’s so large and it has that beautiful British Airways tail. I’m usually sitting there and I see it and I’m happy every single time. It makes me smile. I just have a sense of pride every time that plane lands on our runway.”