First rain of the new year

Winter brings some beautiful sunrises at LAX. This one wasn't particularly spectacular, but it was paired with this:

The forecast called for rain, but it's unusual to get to enjoy the rainbow before enduring the rain. Have no fear; we didn't have to wait long:

By early afternoon, it was all over:

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2015! I'll start the new year off with a collection of noteworthy heavy jet shots taken over the holidays. These first don't seem so notable at first, until you consider that we hardly ever get Delta or United B747s at LAX anymore. These two both showed up and then left again on the same day.

KLM still brings in a daily B747. This one is marked to commemorate their 95th anniversary:

Next, the latest carrier to replace their B747s at LAX with B777s:

China Airlines (callsign: Dynasty) has recently started operating B777s between LAX and Taipei

Air Canada's Rouge normally operates A319s at LAX, but during the holiday season they've also shown up in a B767:

Besides the Rouge B767, also notable in this shot is the TACA Airbus; we don't see this livery at LAX much anymore; most of the TACA aircraft we see now bear the new Avianca paint scheme

Gratuitous dragon photo:

More TBIT pix

After my previous post about the construction on the Tom Bradley International Terminal, it occurred to me that I had neglected to show you the newly-opened gates on the east side of the southern wing of the new TBIT. These gates are accessed via the C-10 alley, which also serves the west side of Terminal Four. In this shot, taken early this morning, all four of the new gates are occupied. The Qantas B747 is on gate 159, which can handle an A380. Next is a United B777 on gate 157; the adjacent United Dreamliner is on gate 155; and the American B777 is on gate 153. To the right of American, you can see where there is provision for one more gate (151), although it clearly is quite some time in the future.

Those of you who have been keeping track have no doubt noticed that we lost a gate in the process: Before the renovation, the C-10 wing of the TBIT had six gates: 101 through 106. Right now, we have the four you see, with a fifth to come. This loss is certainly offset by the five new gates on the west side of the southern wing (148-156). 

Meanwhile, on the north side, the jetways have been removed from the recently closed gates in the D-10 alley:

Shot of the day

I know the colors look funky, but I promise that I've done no fiddling with this shot except adding the watermark; this is how it came out of the camera.