ZBAD/PKX - Beijing Daxing - Fairfield by Marriott - May 2025.

There’s a half-hourly shuttle bus which you take from level 4F. We asked the info desk to call the hotel to let them know we had arrived, they sent a black Merc just for us. Thinks, we’ve made a good call here… The 5 minute drive took us to the hotel which is direct north of the terminal and slap bang in between the N-S runways. Check-in staff seemed delighted to welcome UK visitors and gave us a 6th floor (highest) room facing south (8638). The whole process took 1 hour from touchdown to getting to our room, sweet! Having cased the joint, any room ending number ending in 23 to 39 inclusive, from floor 3 and upwards would do you fine.

Photos sadly are not possible through the windows as they are slightly distorted.

There are plenty of eateries within walking distance, including a KFC if that’s your thing! There’s also a local style cook your own BBQ food at your table, located on floor -1 under the Fairfield. Plenty of local cold beers to choose from too!

Daxang airport is HUGE, and is clearly set up for expansion, all movements can be seen from the Fairfield assuming there is no smog which fortunately for us did not impact us other than to take the military base out of view for most of our time there. There is empty land in front of the Fairfield and at some point in the future this will be built on and the views will be lost but I don’t anticipate this will be for a few years yet. Like all Chinese airport there is no ground coverage on FR24 and movements drop out and appear at about 1500FT.

When looking from the Fairfield there is what I understand to be Nanjiao Airbase on the right and although a number of sites refer to this being part of Daxing airport it is a standalone facility adjacent to the airport (see below).  We were there at a weekend and nothing was seen moving and for most of the time is was out of vision due to the smog, as far as I can see there were no views to be had from ground level so it was going to be arrivals and departures only. 

Moving to the left there is the hanger complex which did not seem to be well used and then two parallel runways 17/35 R/L all arrivals and departures can be seen on these runways whichever configuration is in use, departures from 17L can be read off with a telescope but not minis, arrivals at night on 35R/L will come into view after landing so can be seen.

Moving to the left again is the terminal which is vast and contains 4 horseshoe parking ramps, the nearest two of these to the terminal are domestic and the furthest two are international.  

Continuing to the right is another runway 19R/01L arrivals on 01L towards the terminal can be seen before they dip below the terminal and most, but not all,  will come into view again as they taxi in. At night arrivals on 01L will be just bulbs and whilst I will stretch the definition of “seeing” an aircraft it was a step to far for me. To the left of the runway is a large ramp where the biz seem to park and where SinoJet seem to be based.   

Continuing to the right again will bring the final runway 11L/29R into view which was exclusively used for departures whilst we were there, there is a brief view of aircraft taxiing out to this runway and they seem to line up from holding points at both sides of the runway, this runway was in constant use throughout our stay and required constant attention to avoid missing something. Spotting from this runway is an electronic affair as its too far away for optics. To the left of the runway there is a large long term parking ramp and cargo stands.

There is a realistic full scale B737 training aid near the threshold of R/W 11, having taxied past it, it isn’t real! 

There were 5 runway end changes in the 24 hours we were there which seemed excessive as there were only minor changes in the wind strength and direction.  

The airport has been built as a skyteam hub and traffic is dominated by China Southern, China Eastern and none member China United although I also made a few Air China, Capital Airlines, Hebai and Xaimen

As a relatively small amount of the overnight Russian traffic was needed we slept through these and the next morning made 47 frames before our departure on BA back to Heathrow. One final note about Daxing is that all movements  be seen from within the terminal although we were very low key and the BGS executive lounge used by BA in the international area allows all runways to be see and nothing will be missed

Another aspect to look out for is another parallel runway to the right (west) of the airfield which is in fact a military base. Most of the base is behind a tree line when viewed from the hotel, but over the 2 days I saw 3 737s, 3 Y8s and a CRJ850 flying in and out of there. Sadly only the CRJ was picked up on ADSB/FR24 (B-4069) whilst the others didn't register. If you have a portable SBS then it might be worth bringing just for those. On arrival, we landed from the South and easily visible during our landing roll are 5 Air Force Tu154s stored there nose-on, presumably those that escaped from NAY.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/fq3TCFbsbi8Rpf7q8

ZBAA/PEK - Beijing Capital - Cordis Hotel - March 2024

Immigration was slow again, we spent about an hour queueing at the transit visa desk and when the paperwork was completed we then went to the main immigration queue where they then analysied the documentation before allowing us in. then roughly two hours after arrival it was across to the Cordis, where we were allocated room 6011, which faces out over runway 36L/R with runway 01 being behind you and out of view.

Much of the detail below will already be known but I will repeat if for completeness.  The prevailing landing runways are 36L/R and 01 past the hotel with departures away from the hotel and they were in this configuration for the entire duration of our visit. There is no ground coverage and departures start tracking at about 2000ft after departure. With the opening of Daxang airport almost all of the China Southern and China Eastern flights have left Capital making runway 36L the quietest of the three runways for arrivals and departures, some departures will be missed as, has already been mentioned they don’t appear until about 2000ft into the climb. It is the preferred landing runway for most of the T2 operators there are some departures from this runway as well. 

Runway 36R is the preferred departure runway for most of the T2 and T3 operators, the threshold can be seen from the Cordis rooms with a little bit of effort. The runway also handles some arrivals.  

Runway 01 is primarily a landing runway for T3 but there are some departures and some T2 arrivals using the runway as well. The departures from this runway cannot be seen from the Cordis but the  arrivals can be seen from the lift lobby where there are large windows. Any departures will remain unseen.  

At about 11PM runway 01 seems to close for operations and all arrivals move to the 36’s and continue to about 1AM when it gets quiet.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/HBQGQ9pPaHYEw8UYA

RJAA / NRT - Tokyo Narita - Narita Airport Hilton - March 2024

We made our way via a taxi straight to the Airport Hilton which whilst not one of the normal hotels used by spotter was going to give us a view of both runways we were allocated room 1232 which was perfect but +/- 5 on this room number would be fine. The view is from a slightly offset position just past the threshold of runway 16R and over Cargo and T1. With runway 34R/16L in the background. So nothing will be missed. 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/QoB9pJGT5boFis7o9

ZSPD/PVG - Shanghai Pudong - Ramada Pudong Airport - March 2024

After a lot of looking on line during the planning stage of the trip we decided not to book the regular Dazhong Airport hotel as google maps was showing that two new hotels have been built in front of it impacting the view and instead we booked the Ramada Pudong Airport. We arrived at the hotel at 11:30AM and were able to check without difficulty even though the check in time was 15:00, we were also able to negotiate a late checkout four hours after the normal check out time and we very much got the impression that the hotel was fairly empty.  We had booked an executive floor room and were given room 711 which has a double bed but they delivered a rollaway for a small fee,  

A few notes - the Executive lounge was closed for refurbishment although no refurbishment looked to be going on, The hotel has 9 floors with the executive floor being located on the 7^th Floor.  any room facing the airport between 706 and 717 would do, 711 being in the middle is the perfect option. If they are landing on the 34/35’s then aircraft can be seen on short finals flying towards you subject to visibility, if they are landing on the 16/17’s then inbounds can be seen on finals At night landers on the 34’s  will be bulbs however landers on the 35’s will rollout full length so will still be seen. The smog/fog will make or break your trip, we were relatively lucky that it cleared by 09:00 on both days we were there and did not reappear until the early hours of the following morning.

As a side note. The COMAC factory is located some distance from the airport and connected by a long taxiway and remote runway, don’t expect to see anything unless you are on the Right Hand side and landing on the 34’s even then only on finals. between 11:30 and 14:00 I made 104 new frames,  

One final note on Pudong, the airport is HUGE and busy with movements, I can’t see how you would be able to effectively spot there except from a hotel room with electronics. FR24 works in China but there is no ground coverage and aircraft drop off FR24 at about 1500FT and don’t appear until a couple of minutes after departure. We made it work by one of us managing the arrivals and other one departures and both of us ensuring we saw everything. As well as tactical use of FR24 and the SBS.  

https://maps.app.goo.gl/d7xvM8F97ymrM6iz5 NOTE: locations in China are frequently inaccurate

VHHH/HKG - Hong Kong - Marriott Sky City - March 2024

My Hotel was the Marriott Sky City. Aside from being a points slave and having Marriott status I had chosen this hotel because of the reviews on the now dead plane spotting hotels website The first thing I will say is that there is a new building in front of the hotel that has removed any views and therefore everything written about the hotel is no longer valid. The executive lounge has no view, (but still good food and drink) and even numbered rooms no longer offer any views. The good news however is that all is not lost, Odd numbered rooms offer a view of the approach to 25L and the new 25R so nothing will be missed from a high floor room. The hotel has 15 floors and I was on floor 12 but almost any floor would work. Sadly they were on the 07’s during my visit which makes it more complex but not impossible.  In this runway configuration 07R is used for all departures and the aircraft come into view a few seconds after departure flying away from you. If there is low visibility they may well have disappeared into the clouds at this point. After a while (and 2 missed B77F’s ☹) I discovered that the lift lobby has a distant view of the new runway allowing aircraft to be seen but certainly not read off. On balance  I would choose the Novotel Citygate hotel.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dKA9TKghNXAZyYrq8

WSSS/SIN - Singapore - Aerotel T3 - March 2024.

Immediately after landing the widows fogged up with condensation blocking any views during taxi in. The trip was planned at relatively short notice and when I looked at Hotel prices I was shocked at the results, the Crone Plaza was over £400 a night for a non-airport view and the Changi Beach was over £300 and sold out before the trip started. I therefore decided to take the non standard option of booking a transit hotel and remaining airside for my 19 hour transit, the Hotel was £127 for 9 hours including a meal. It's worth noting the since covid Singapore has introduced an electronic ETA that must be completed prior to arrival but is not required for Transit passengers. They were landing on 02L and departing on 02C throughout the trip and I used various locations in the terminal to ensure very little was missed. After seven hours of wondering round  was time to check in to the Aerotel, in T3 which was simple enough, the rooms are small with no window and paper thin walls, the room I had booked did not have ensuite bathroom facilities but there were showers at the end of the corridor. Following an incident a few years back of someone living airside you are required to present your onwards booking prior to being allowed to check in. Having dumped my bags I then returned to the windows for three hours to pick off a bunch of needed 9V frames. By midnight I was down to just three in service local passenger frames, all of which were either already in Singapore or due in the next morning After four hours it was up and about to find my missing 9V frames.  At this point its worth highlighting the FR24 is very poor for advance notifications of flights throughout Asia and the aircraft only show their next flight when they start pinging, There are exceptions to this such as when aircraft are filed for Australia and show in advance, fortunately my Last Singapore Max was headed to Australia so I could walk down to the gate and pick it off. With all my in service 9V frames cleared up it was time to head to KL for the work element of the trip. Just a couple of final notes, the Singapore Airlines B77F's don't frequent Singapore much and only one or two will be seen in any 24 hour period,