BA's Special Guests in 2016!
During the 2010s, British Airways regularly employed various ACMI Airlines to operate limited services for them during the summer for various reasons, but in the Summer Season for 2016 (March to October) the airline sought the services of a Danish Charter Airline called JetTime.
JetTime is a Boeing 737 operator based in Denmark. The airline was formed in 2006 and is still operating in 2026, however it hit a turbulent period in 2020 when the airline went into bankruptcy, however unlike other airlines it was able to restructure and relaunched with a new brand identity in 2021.
British Airways hired them to operate selected routes for them during the Summer 2016 season from London Heathrow, so the airline provided crews and two Boeing 737-700, OY-JTT & OY-JTY for short-haul flight services to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Copenhagen.
Me and my friend were interested in a day out to Edinburgh for plane spotting and seeing the city, so we went booking- flying an adventure featuring the JetTime Boeing 737-700 and British Airways Boeing 767-300ER, which for us was an ideal trip, our trip was booked in for June 9th & 10th 2016 and we were off on an adventure to pursuit some Boeing jets!
A Look at LHR T5 in 2016!
A little throwback to enjoy, flying from Terminal 5 a decade ago in 2016! Not much has changed in the departures area before you go through security, its still the same old Terminal 5 that's been the home of British Airways since 2008! Though take a look at the Self-Service kiosks from 2016, they've definitely been upgraded since!
Airside, there has been some amazing plane spotting opportunities, despite the fact you're shooting through glass and metal bars, but in 2016 there wasn't an Airbus A320neo in sight and British Airways still had regular opportunities to spot a Boeing 767 or Boeing 747! We spotted one of the JetTime Boeing 737-700, OY-JTT parked up on a remote stand.
I spotted our flight on the departure screen. Stood out nicely as the flight was marked as being operated by JetTime… Not a lot has changed from the destinations on the departure screen. Iberia still operate Madrid services from Terminal 5 (alongside BA), British Airways no longer flies Muscat and Abu Dhabi together as a 5th Freedom Flight and obviously the airline has suspended its St Petersburg services… indefinitely.
We had a bus gate for our aircraft, which allowed for some nice plane spotting shots from the bus, luckily I picked a seat on the bus which allowed me to get some aircraft around us as we headed to our Boeing 737!
Flying a BA Shuttle on a JetTime 737!
We ended up with the Boeing 737-700(WL) OY-JTY for our flight from London to Edinburgh. This Boeing 737-700 was built in November 2001 and delivered brand new to Air Seychelles as S7-SEZ where it flew until May 2005 where it ended up flying for Air Sahara and Jetlite as VT-SJE until April 2011 where it ended up flying its final decade with JetTime as OY-JTY until its retirement in March 2020 at the start of the Pandemic, it was stored at Ciudad Real International Airport in Spain where it was finally broken up in 2023, by then it was re-registered as <i style="">OE-IOA for a company called Deucalion Aviation.
As Terminal 5 at London Heathrow doesn't cater for Boeing 737s, the JetTime Boeing 737s had to rely on remote stands, in this case we were given a bus ride around Terminal 5 over to our Danish Charter aircraft, which I was very pleased by!
My seat for this flight was in Seat 9F, so I got a window seat overlooking the right wing and Engine 2. I had enough legroom for myself as well as storing my backpack under the seat in front of me.
It should be noted that in June 2016, British Airways had an all-economy class operation on its UK Domestic flights, so there was no Club Europe as that wouldn't be introduced onto domestic flights until late-2016 or early-2017.
Overall the interior is what you'd expect from a European operated Boeing 737, it was basic but did the job. The JetTime safety cards were in the pocket, but the other magazines were provided from British Airways as they offered physical copies of High Life and Business Life back in 2016- remember physical inflight magazines at BA?
Seat 9F was not an exit row, we were the Row ahead, but for some reason we had the card informing us of the emergency exit procedures, maybe as a back up if something happened, but I'm not sure why?
As we taxied over to the Runway, I got a few more photos of parked up Iberia and British Airways Airbus A320-family aircraft preparing for their next missions into Europe! I do miss the "Three-Stripe" Iberia livery, it was most certainly iconic compare to the rubbish IAG introduced around the time I took this flight.
We took off from London Heathrow and began our way towards Scotland, I got talking to my seat neighbours- two Chinese ladies visiting the UK from Shanghai, they were going to visit the Lake District and Edinburgh- so I recommended them to visit Manchester if they possibly could. We had a nice chat on this short flight. The flight was quite full, but still a few empty seats could be found through the cabin.
The Danish JetTime crew came around with the breakfast for this flight, we got the cooked English breakfast offered by British Airways which I personally enjoyed and I do miss this from the airline in 2026… The breakfast included a Hot Drink, Orange Juice, sausage, bacon, scrambled egg, grilled tomato as well as bread and jam!
A few months after we did this trip, British Airways made the announcement that they were introducing their M&S Buy on Board partnership which lasted until the pandemic… BA did back track their European onboard service slightly by 2022 with them retaining a small snack with a bottle of water with other more substantial items for purchase, but if you want a fully cooked breakfast, then you'll have to fly their London Heathrow to Scotland routes in Club Europe!
Despite the short hop, it was a fun experience getting to fly a Boeing 737 from an Airline that you don't usually get to fly with. British Airways on and off has employed Titan Airways and in 2017 they bought in several Qatar Airways Airbus A320s to cover industrial action during the Summer of 2017… It would be almost 9 years before I got another chance to fly another ACMI Airline on behalf of another UK Airline!
Eventually the flight came to an end and we arrived into Edinburgh Airport. It was a lovely clear day in the Scottish Capital, despite the cloudy day we left behind at London!
Once we landed and parked up, we were quick to find ourselves with another remote stand for an open disembarkation this time, which was amazing for us given the lovely weather in Edinburgh! I grabbed a quick final shot showcasing the seats a bit better from this Boeing 737-700, we asked for a flight deck visit before leaving- but were told it wasn't allowed under Danish regulation according to the crew, as the airline and plane is registered in Denmark- they follow their rules and guidance, even if the UK side is more lenient.
Overall it was a fun experience, something different to what we were used to, and it was something we would tick off our AvGeek bucket list. I got a few more photos of the Boeing 737 as we left the plane and went into the Terminal area. It has been quite the hit of nostalgia reporting on this flight some 10 years later!
As we got dropped by the Cargo area, I spotted a TNT BAe-146 freighter parked up between flights, as well as an departing Boeing 737 from Ryanair which was likely off somewhere a bit more exotic in Europe, notice the DHL Boeing 757 freighter behind it!
It was a busy day at Edinburgh Airport, we arrived right as the second wave of the day (the mid-morning) rush was underway. Luckily as a UK Domestic Flight we didn't have to worry about the passport control formalities and went through domestic arrivals, its an easy walk from almost anywhere in Edinburgh Airport.
Once we left the Airport, we went for a walk towards a plane spotting location called "Ingliston Market" which has a mound that allows you to see aircraft movements from the West-side of the Airport. We walked past the Hampton by Hilton Hotel which has a fibreglass model of a Supermarine Spitfire displayed outside, it was still there on my last visit to Edinburgh in 2025!
Our walk took us past the Air Traffic Control Tower at Edinburgh Airport and we saw a few aircraft parked on one of the piers behind a gate, leading the line-up was an Avro RJ100 of Brussels Airlines with a HOP! Embraer ERJ-190, Iberia Express Airbus A320, Boeing 757-200 of United Airlines and a Delta Airlines Boeing 767.
We made it to the Spotting Mound and within a few minutes of us arriving we spotted our Boeing 737-700(WL) taxiing along for its return trip to London Heathrow and we duly saw OY-JTY off after a safe and smooth flight between UK Capital Cities!
