VISITORS
Netjets Europe Citation 560XLS CS-DQB (5803) made its first foray to Gatwick this morning. Ryanair B738 EI-EBA (37516) was today's next newcomer, with EI-DYS & EI-DYZ of the more recent machines also appearing again this afternoon. The third first-timer of the day was Air Charter Scotland Citation 525A G-ODAG (0397), which dropped in this evening.
Austrian Arrows Fk100 OE-LVD (11515 ex N1473K, PH-ZFG) made its first visit to Gatwick yesterday evening after I had posted the day's roundup. It arrived from Vienna as AUA1569 to collect the passengers from the unfortunate OE-LVA.

FLEET NEWS
Astraeus B752 G-OJIB (24292) was ferried down to Lasham from Norwich as AEU666P at lunchtime today & I am reliably informed that it is now back in Iron Maiden scheme. This year's tour routing will be Belgrade, Dubai, Bangalore, Auckland, Christchurch, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico City, San Jose, Caracas, Bogotá, Quito, Manaus, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Santiago, Lima, Buenos Aires & Recife.
EasyJet A319 G-EZFA (3788) should be delivered to Gatwick from Finkenwerder tomorrow (snow permitting!).
Flybe DHC-8 G-ECOO (4237) is confirmed as having arrived at Birmingham on delivery at lunchtime today.
Rossiya will shortly receive a further two ex frontier A319s. N915FR (1851) was ferried from Greenville to Mirabel via Millington today after repainting, while N903FR (1560) was ferried from Mirabel to Greenville via Atlanta today for its paint job.

ROUTE NEWS
Finnair. Further to my snippet in the roundup for 21st January, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has blocked Go Travel Direct's plan to operate flights from Canada to Gatwick using Finnair B752s. According to the CTA, Finnair aircraft are only permitted to be used on flights between Canada & Finland & not to other destinations outside Finland. Perhaps they should stick them on the UK or Canadian register.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
January saw even more slots become available at Gatwick as we lost FlyLAL, KD Avia, Northwest, Oman Air & Virgin Nigeria plus one of the two daily Air Baltic flights & the evening Ukraine International service, while the seasonal Austrian DHC-8 flight was a no-show this year. In addition, some airlines seem to only operate their scheduled services as & when they have sufficient loads. On the plus side, we gained services to Copenhagen from Cimber Air & easyJet, the Ryanair Niederrhein route & the twice-weekly Mexicana B762 service from Mexico City. Air Comet reverted to using anything & everything other than its own aircraft (13 different aircraft from 6 airlines since 12th January).
Unusual late evening visitors were a pair of RAF Hercs, while there was also a morning appearance from a French A/F TBM700. The most exotic visitor of the month, however, was Securite Civile DHC-8-402Q F-ZBCM/73, which arrived from Le Bourget & departed to Villacoublay early on the 25th. It is thought that this was collecting a high-ranking French government official off the British A/W flight from Bridgetown. 
Despite the worldwide turndown in aviation & the noticeable slowing down of movements at Gatwick, we had no less than 51 first visits last month, a very pleasing 27.5% up on the previous January's total of 40. This breaks down to 30 airliners/transports, 13 biz jets, 6 biz props/twins & 2 helicopters. Other than the military movements already mentioned, there was little of particular note, other than the Sao Tome & Principe B763 (S9-DBY) currently operating on Thursdays for Cubana & the Novair A321 (SE-RDO), which diverted to offload a rowdy passenger. 

Plenty of diversions from Gatwick this evening & a few cancellations since the runway has now been closed since around 19.20 after attempts at de-icing/anti-icing failed. It is not expected to reopen before 22.00. I am sure that a lot of airline CEOs will be furiously demanding to know just how on earth this could happen again, exactly what the problem was & what steps are being taken to ensure that this never occurs again.

CREDITS
Dave Long, John Creasey, Ian Gawtrey, Ken Ede, Simon Pritchard, Martin Akerman, Yogi Bear, Mike Hooker, Mark Allday, Bob Kent, Gareth Abbott, Graham Stevens, Skyliner, the Pirates of Penzance & anybody else that I have forgotten.

 Happy spotting!
John (& "Mad" Max)   

MOVEMENTS SUMMARY (most from SBS)
AAW912 - A320 5A-ONB
ADR450 - diverted (S5-AAJ)
AMC116 - A319 9H-AEL
AUI501 - B734 UR-GAP
AWC5L - B752 G-ZAPU (also AWC5G)
AWE730 - B752 N204UW
AWE732 - A333 N275AY
AZW722 - B762 Z-WPE
BEL2121 - B463 OO-DWJ
BEL2129 - B643 OO-DWB
BMA7672 - A321 G-MIDL (also BMA7676)
BMA7674 - A319 G-DBCG (also BMA7678)
BMA7920 - diverted, delayed or cancelled
BMM314 - A321 CN-ROM
BRU851 - B735 EW-253PA
BTI651 - B752 YL-BDC
CIM265 - diverted to Stansted (OY-RJH)
CIM5765 - B733 OY-JTA
CLI8640 - A320 EC-KJD
CNO623 - diverted to Luton (LN-TUA)
CTN4494 - A319 9A-CTI
DAL012 - B764 N845MH
DAL036 - B752 N712TW
EIN242 - A320 EI-DEF
EIN244 - A320 EI-DEI
EIN246 - A320 EI-DET
EIN248 - did not operate
ELL101 - B733 ES-ABJ
EZS8569 - A319 HB-JZG (also EZS8571)
EZS8573 - A319 G-EZBN
EZS8575 - did not operate
ISS3531 - A319 EI-DEY
ISS3535 - A319 EI-DFA
HHI7195 - A319 D-AHIL (also HHI7199)
LZB495 - did not operate
MAH612 - B737 HA-LOR
MAH614 - B738 HA-LOC
MGX720 - F100 4O-AOT
MPD230 - A320 EC-KDD (also MPD232)
MXA1594 - B762 XA-MXO
NAX1318 - B733 LN-KKA
NAX1342 - diverted to Bournemouth (LN-KKM)
QTR075 - A332 A7-AFM
RYR1X - diverted (EI-DWE)
RYR112G - B738 EI-DHF (also RYR114G)
RYR116G - B738 EI-DYZ
RYR118G - diverted, delayed or cancelled
RYR1124 - B738 EI-EBA (first visit)
RYR1126 - diverted to Bournemouth (EI-EBA)
RYR1182 - B738 EI-DCF
RYR5562 - B738 EI-DPE
RYR5568 - diverted to Luton (EI-DPE)
RYR7102 - B738 EI-DCJ
RYR9228 - B738 EI-DYS
RYR9852 - B738 EI-DPB
SDM297 - B735 EI-CDE
TAP332 - diverted to LHR (CS-TTG)
TAP334 - A320 CS-TNJ
TAP344 - A319 CS-TTL
UAE009 - A332 A6-EKW
UAE011 - B772 A6-EMI
UAE015 - B773 A6-ECC
VIK176 - B738 SE-RHR (also VIK872)
 
BIZJETS, ETC
CS-DQB Ce560XLS (NJE646B - first visit)
G-ODAG Ce525A (EDC202 - first visit)
I-BOAT Ce525 (SIO061)
S5-ADD CL605 (arr 28/1 & dep today)