SPOTTING COMMERICAL AIRLINERS AT MITCHELL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Story and photos by Scott Jankowski
In this second installment of spotting highlights at my hometown airport of General Mitchell International Airport, we are going to take a look at some of the more unique and unusual commercial and cargo airlines that have recently visited. As mentioned in my first article we are very fortunate to have many locations in which to spot and photograph these aircraft. Most if not all of these aircraft will park either at the International Arrivals building, the West Ramp across from the Air Wisconsin and Air Cargo Carriers Maintenance Hangers. Avflight and Signature Flight Support also provide ground handling services as well. The North end of the parking garage (Long Term Parking) levels 5 and 6 will provide an unobstructed view of these ramps.
Boeing 737-8MAX aircraft are becoming more common place, including another aircraft in the Honoring Those Who Serve colors.
Boeing 737-9MAX’s including aircraft in the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners color schemes.
Several Boeing 737-8Max’s are painted in special color schemes including the only Max 8 to wear the Canyon Blue colors. This aircraft honors Colleen Barret, President Emeritus of Southwest Airlines. The other special paint scheme seen is Imua One, which is dedicated the employees and customers of the state of Hawaii.
Another Airbus product is this A321-231 in the Stand Up to Cancer livery. This special livery features 22,627 names of survivors, patients and loved ones. The aircraft serves as a flying tribute to raise cancer awareness and funds for cancer research.
A recent visitor was this Boeing 737-823 that wears the vintage American Airlines Astrojet livery see arriving from Charlotte North Carolina on Runway 25 Left.
From time to time the Boeing 737-8MAX will be used on the Milwaukee to Dallas flights.
United Airlines serves Denver Colorado with twice daily nonstop service also with a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Here we have an Airbus A320-232 painted in the Stars and Bars, Friendship retro livery.
Several aircraft wear the Star Alliance color scheme including Boeing 737-824, United is a founding member of this airline alliance.
This Boeing 737-924 wears a special livery to honor Continental Airlines, who merged with United Airlines in 2010.
Less common to Milwaukee are the Boeing 757-324’s these have been used for Major League Baseball charters or during diversion events. This particular aircraft wears the new United Airlines color scheme.
Even less common is the Boeing 777-222 seen landing on Runway 19 Right operating a Major League Baseball charter. This aircraft also wears the new United Airlines color scheme.
Delta Airlines also has quite a few aircraft that wear a special color scheme or have special stickers on the nose. Boeing 737-832 is one such aircraft It wears a special sticker on the nose to commemorate the Atlanta Braves winning the 2021 World Series. They serve several destinations from Milwaukee including Atlanta Georgia, Detroit Michigan, Minneapolis Minnesota, and Salt Lake City Utah.
Allegiant Airlines operates college sports charters in Milwaukee; here we have an Airbus A320-214 wearing the airlines new colors taxiing to Runway 19 Right.
Sun Country Airlines operates scheduled and charter flights to Milwaukee with the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Scheduled flights include Fort Myers Florida, Las Vegas Neveda, Minneapolis Minnesota, Orlando Florida and Phoenix Arizona. Charter destinations include Bullhead City Arizona, Cancun Mexico and Punta Cana Dominican Republic. This Boeing 737-8Q8 wears a special color scheme of the Minnesota Gophers, which is the name of the athletic teams that play for the University of Minnesota.
JetBlue serves Boston Massachusetts and New York John F. Kennedy with seasonal nonstop service. They are in the process of changing their color scheme which is seen on this Airbus A220-371.
Avelo Airlines also flies college sports charters to Milwaukee; here is Boeing 737-8F2 taxiing to Runway 7 Right.
Breeze Airlines is a frequent visitor operating college sports charter as well. Seen taxiing to Runway 1 Left is an Airbus A220-371
The other aircraft in the Breeze fleet is the Embraer E190-100IGW taxing to Runway 7 Right.
Appleton Wisconsin based Air Wisconsin which has a maintenance base at Milwaukee and flies the Mitsubishi CRJ-200 for sports charters and for ICE with flights to Alexandria Louisiana and El Paso Texas. Air Wisconsin was recently acquired by CSI Aviation and currently flies CRJ’s in full Air Wisconsin colors and in an all-gray color scheme.
Operating college sports charters is Eastern Air Express with their Boeing 737-300’s in a variety of color schemes. Here we see a Boeing 737-7BD in an all-white color scheme, this aircraft was formerly operated by Conoco Phillips. The other Boeing 737 that we see is a Boeing 737-3H4 in the airline’s full colors.
The now defunct New Pacific Airlines brought the St. Louis Blues Hockey Team to Milwaukee in one of their Boeing 757-2B7.
The Houston Rockets Basketball Team fly their own Boeing 767-322ER, it is seen parked on the West Ramp.
The San Antonio Spurs Basketball Team arrived in a Gridiron Air Boeing 777-232, seen parked up at the Signature Flight Support FBO (Fixed Base Operator).
Operating a charter for the United States Military was a National Airlines Airbus A330-343X landing on Runway 19 Right. This Airbus ended up taxiing to the 128th Air Refueling Ramp.
Milwaukee has had a partnership with Airbus Industries for many years where Airbus will bring its aircraft to Milwaukee with new engine configurations. Here we have the first production A350-941 taxiing to the International Arrivals Building to clear Customs after arriving from Toulouse France.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport is a very close 72 miles away from Milwaukee, as a result Milwaukee will see a fair number of diversions due to weather, traffic, or aircraft incident. The majority of the diversion traffic is from American, American Eagle, United, and United Express Airlines, however we do see more exotic traffic from time to time. Seen taxiing after diverting from Bogota Columbia is an Avianca Costa Rica Airbus A320-251N NEO in their new color scheme.
WestJet Boeing 737-8CT in the carrier’s old color scheme, diverted in from Calgary Alberta Canada.
Cargolux Airlines Boeing 747-4EVF (ER) is seen departing from Runway 1 Left after diverting into Milwaukee from Anchorage Alaska.
Scheduled cargo airlines that serve Milwaukee include locally based Freight Runners Express and Air Cargo Carriers operating for United Parcel Service (UPS). They serve medium to small size cities such as Traverse City Michigan and Menominee Michigan, Green Bay, Rhinelander, Wausau, Baraboo, and Madison Wisconsin. Pro Aire also flies for United Parcel Service (UPS) flying to and from Oshkosh Wisconsin, Toledo Ohio, and DuPage Illinois. FedEx serves Memphis Tennessee and periodically Indianapolis Indiana. United Parcel Service (UPS) serves Louisville Kentucky, and DHL serves Cincinnati Ohio. Seen arriving on Runway 25 Left is ABX Air Boeing 767-223BDSF in the airline’s new color scheme operating a flight for DHL.
United Parcel Service (UPS) just retired their Boeing MD-11F’s, they used this aircraft into Milwaukee quite frequently. This aircraft arrived on a daylight flight from Louisville Kentucky.
Milwaukee based Air Cargo Carriers operates a fleet of Short 360-200 aircraft and also has a maintenance base here. They operate flights on behalf of United Parcel Service (UPS). Parked at their hanger on the West side of the airport is a Shorts 360-200 in the tail colors and front fuselage colors of its former operator Pacific Coastal Airlines of Canada.
Kalitta Charters II operates into Milwaukee on behalf of DHL with a flight Omaha Nebraska destined to Cincinnati Ohio. They use a mixture of Boeing 737-300 and 400 type aircraft with an arrival normally around 2200 Monday through Friday. Here we have some rare daylight movements including Boeing 737-375 BDSF on approach for Runway 7 Right in the airline’s old color scheme. This shot was taken from my driveway. We also have Boeing 737-3Y0 (BDSF) seen departing from Runway 25 Left in the carrier’s new color scheme.
Cargo charters will periodically stop in, Avflight does the ground handling for the majority of cargo charters into Milwaukee all though occasionally Signature Flight Support gets in the action as well. Such is the case with this Lockheed Martin L100-30 (L-382G), the civilian version of the C-130 Hercules. This aircraft is currently operated by Cardinal Services INC., which is likely a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) shell company.
Operating a charter flight to Mexico with a fuel stop in Shreveport Louisiana is an Aeronaves TSM Fairchild Swearingen SA227-AC Metroliner III.
Taxiing to Avflight we see a USA Jet MD88 (SF) in the airlines new color scheme.
With Milwaukee being a non-major hub airport due its close proximity to Chicago O’Hare Illinois, Minneapolis Minnesota and Detroit Michigan we still get our fair share of interesting aircraft and airlines. In part three our final installment in this series we will take a look at some of the Business Jets and Props as well as additional charter airlines that have stopped into Milwaukee recently. Until then, “Blue Skies To All!”
