VISITORSThree more first visits today. THY continues to oblige with A321 TC-JRO (4682) in a very smart special Turkish A/L Euroleague scheme arriving on the lunchtime service. Mid afternoon saw a rare type these days in the shape of RAF Tristar C2A ZE706 (1177 ex N503PA) of 216 Sqdn at RAF Brize Norton arrive at Gatwick for the first time from RAF Akrotiri before continuing to its home base. We even got two looks at it as it performed a go-around! This is only the fifth RAF Tristar to visit Gatwick & I have to wonder whether we will ever see another one here. Another newcomer, a bit later in the afternoon, was an old friend with a new identity, Gulfstream 5 ZS-AJZ (634 ex ZS-AOL), still operated by Anglo Operations after receiving its new registration on 20/12. The company has now purchased a Gulfstream 550, which has been registered ZS-AOL & is due for delivery to South Africa any day now (no c/n details yet). Maybe this will be the only glimpse we get of the reregistered Gulf 5 if Tony Blair insists on switching to the new machine as his Blair Force One? On a second visit today was Emirates B773 A6-EGI.A piece of totally useless information is that we have already seen as many first visits from airliners this month as we saw in the whole of a disastrous January last year!FLEET NEWSBritish A/W B752 G-CPES (29114) was sold this afternoon & will be delivered to FedEx as N955FD in the very near future (it was moved to the north side this morning). G-CPET (29115) is due to follow as N956FD before the end of the month.British A/W World Cargo/Global Supply Systems. Correcting yesterday, B744F G-GSSC (29255) was ferried to Manston from Dubai not Stansted. It is due to ferry to Luxembourg tomorrow to operate a flight to Atlanta, GA on behalf of Lufthansa, after which it will ferry to Miami, FL on return to Atlas Air.Emirates B773 A6-EGM (41073) made its first flight yesterday.Jet2 B738 G-GDFF (28385) was ferried from Norwich to Oslo today following painting (possibly for further cabin modifications?).Pegasus B738 TC-AZP (38176) made its first flight yesterday.ROUTE NEWSAeroflot. Amazingly, according to the Gatwick Airport website, the airline is to start a four-weekly A333 service (two each on days 3 & 4) between Moscow/Sheremetyevo & Gatwick from 25/7, increasing almost immediately to eight-weekly from 13/8 as follows:AFL2600 eta 12.30 days 1,2,3,4AFL2602 eta 17.00 days 1,2,3,4 Flights are scheduled to depart an hour later as AFL2601/3 respectively. The carrier currently operates nine A333s, with seven more due this year & a last one in 2013. It also has five A332s. Well spotted by John Creasey & let's hope that it actually happens!MISCELLANEOUS ITEMSToday I have a tale of woe, with thanks to the Aviation Herald:"A Thomson Airways Boeing 767-300, registration G-OBYF performing flight BY-832 (dep Jan 4th) from Billund (Denmark) to Phuket (Thailand) with 292 passengers, was en route over Afghanistan when the lavatories began to malfunction prompting the crew to divert to Delhi (India). However, the aircraft could not land in Delhi due to weather and further diverted to Kolkata (India), where the aircraft landed safely.The aircraft was refuelled and the lavatories repaired, however, the aircraft could not continue due to crew duty time limitation. The passengers were taken to hotels over night, the aircraft continued 24 hours later and reached Phuket with a delay of 33 hours".In the annual battle between the two main airframe manufacturers, Airbus outperformed Boeing in 2011 for the ninth year in a row, delivering over 530 aircraft to Boeing's 477. Although final year-end figures are awaited, Airbus also received significantly more orders than Boeing due to the runaway success of the A321neo, giving Boeing its lowest share of the market in the 40-year rivalry between the two companies, though the gap is expected to narrow this year as Boeing rack up further commitments for the B737 max. A few for tomorrow:CS-DFF DA2000EX etd 10.30 as NJE850FM-HARP PC-12 eta 06.45, etd 07.35 (second visit)Regulars - DLH896/D-ABIO, TSC522/C-GTSRNAX flights - 10G/NOJ, 14X/KKS, 32A/KHA, 38W/KKO, 51ZC/DYK, 5816/DYOCREDITSAl Watson, Martin Hemington, Kevin Herpe, John Creasey, Colin Wright, Ian Terry, Gerry P, Rob Hotchkiss, Malcolm Baldry, Robbie Shaw, Simon Shoubridge, Flyingant, Mr Anon, Jethro, Skyliner, ATDB, Jonathan Creek & anybody else that I have forgotten.Happy spotting! John (& my cat Mad Max) http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/blogs/john_dyer/default.aspxMOVEMENT HIGHLIGHTSAIRLINERSAEA1013 E195 EC-LKXAEA1015 E195 EC-KYPAEW225 A320 UR-DAKAMC116 A319 9H-AEGAUI501 B738 UR-PSDAWE732 A333 N270AYBAW2232 B772 G-YMMABER8596 B737 D-ABLEBER8598 B737 D-AHXJBRU851 B733 EW-283PABTI6G1 B733 YL-BBXCIM191 did not operateCIM193 CRJ2 OY-RJFCIM195 CRJ2 OY-RJJCTN4494 A319 9A-CTGDAL12 B763 N182DNDLH896 B735 D-ABICDLH898 B733 D-ABEF (aircraft change from the predicted D-ABIK)EIN23A A320 EI-DVFEIN232 A320 EI-DVE (also EIN236/244)EIN238 A320 EI-CVCEIN246 A320 EI-DVKEIN248 eta 22.10EXS034E B733 G-CELKEZS43LJ A319 HB-JZNEZS8463 A319 HB-JZO (also EZS8467)EZS8481 A319 HB-JZUHCC501 A320 OK-HCAHVN145 B772 VN-A141 (third visit)ISS355 A319 EI-DFP (also ISS351)MAH612 B738 HA-LOMMAH614 B738 HA-LOKNAX6EX B738 LN-NOINAX10G B738 LN-NOL (also NAX12J)NAX14X B738 LN-NOXNAX18Z B738 LN-NORNAX32A B733 LN-KKDNAX36C B738 LN-DYN (also NAX31F)NAX51ZC B738 LN-NIBNAX55YB B738 LN-NOTNAX59ZA B738 LN-NOUNAX351L B738 LN-NOHNAX5818 B738 LN-DYORYR4RB B738 EI-DYERYR5FE B738 EI-EKARYR6MN B738 EI-DLK (also RYR1ZR/2MU/5ZG)RYR6XB B738 EI-DLVRYR7NH B738 EI-EBWRYR8BA B738 EI-DHYRYR71FX B738 EI-DWSRYR1112 B738 EI-ESY (third visit)RYR5301 B738 EI-DLR (also RYR76VT)SDM297 A319 VP-BIUTAP334 F100 CS-TPATAP338 A319 CS-TTOTAP342 F100 CS-TPFTHY1997 A321 TC-JRO (first visit)TSC422 A333 C-GTSOUAE9 B773 A6-EGK (third visit)UAE11 B772 A6-EMLUAE15 B773 A6-EGI (second visit)XAX14 A343 9M-XAC GA & OTHER MOVEMENTSCS-DFF DA2000EX (NJE946P) CS-DNW Ce560XL (NJE252L, dep as NJE010W)CS-DXS Ce560XLS (arr 4/1, dep today as NJE245Q)OE-GVH Lear 60 (arr 5/1)ZE706 L101 (RRR3241, first visit, dep with same callsign)ZS-AJZ Gulf 5 (AJZ505, first visit)