Dublin Airport Historical Movements

Air Malta's first jet equipment was a pair of Boeing 720Bs leased from Pakistan International and these commenced a weekly charter series, still with Pakistani registrations until they were purchased by Air Malta a few years later. Aviaco's favoured equipment on its Dublin charter flights was the DC-8 series 50, several of which the company had inherited from Iberia.   The two former French Skyraiders which had arrived in March took to the air again on the 4th on the next leg of their flight to the USA, departing one after the other in noisy fashion from runway 35, destination Reykjavik.  Two French-operated aircraft arrived to be based for survey duties; one was the IGN's brand-new Super King Air F-GALP, while a lot more interesting was DC-3 F-OCUY of Hemet Exploration.  The latter was to be lost four years later when it disappeared south of Mallorca on 21 April 1981 with the loss of the four persons on board.  By then it was registered as F-BJBO.  Al...

From this month on my logs are more detailed so I'll be able to include flight numbers etc. for more visitors.  The main event of the month was the Ireland-France rugby match on 19 March, and this produced a good variety of operators, most of which were not regularly seen at Dublin.  Star item was the MEA Boeing 720B, some of that carrier's fleet being based at Paris during one of the many upheavals in Lebanon's recent history.  Of the British charter carriers, Dan-Air appeared in some strength, with two Comets visiting in addition to BAC 1-11s.  A soccer international against France at the end of the month saw several French visitors, with the Air France 747-100 a first visit of the type with that airline. The two ex-French Skyraiders rank as the most interesting ever visitors to Dublin, as far as I am concerned.  From memory, they pitched up on the Dublin frequency after diverting from Shannon in bad weather, and when they announced themselves to ATC as two ...