Paradise Island Airport - Nassau, Bahamas

In Casino Royale, Bond arrives in Nassau, the Bahamas, in a small seaplane. He gets off at Paradise Island and the iconic Hotel Atlantis is seen in the background. Bond is on his way to the One & Only Ocean Club to track down Mr Dimitrios.

The small airport with a seaplane facility that once was located on Paradise Island is gone today and not a trace remains. But the airport was there at the time of filming in 2006 and the field is still accessible today.

Bond's seaplane lands in the canal in Nassau Harbour, between Paradise Island and Nassau. The opening shot pictures the British Colonial Hilton hotel by the beach as the seaplane flies over.

British Colonial Hilton

The scenes from Casino Royale were filmed in 2006. The airport in Paradise Island mainly operated one airline at the time, namely Chalk's Ocean Airways. Not much information about the airport is available, but Chalk's suspended operations in 2007 after a crash in 2005 and one can imagine that the sea-plane facility stopped being used regularly when Chalk's Ocean Airways ceased operations.

Chalk's was one the most legendary commuter airlines in America, it billed itself as "The World's Oldest Airline". Chalk's flew seaplanes in south Florida and the Bahamas for over 8 decades. The airfield actually played a small part in the Pierce Brosnan movie After the Sunset with Salma Hayek. As her character Lola is about to leave Max (Pierce Brosnan) and take the sea plane from the Bahamas, Brosnan stops her from getting on the plane and asks her to marry him. The seaplane is from Chalk's.

Various airlines

In addition to the posts in the travel section on this blog, where some of the airlines from the films are described in more detail, a few other airlines with considerably less screen time (than for instance Pan Am or British Airways) will be covered here briefly.

Royal Air Maroc

In The Living Daylights, two Boeing aircraft, a 727 and a 767 from the Moroccan airline 'Royal Air Maroc' (RAM) are seen in the background at the airport in Tangier. This scene was actually filmed at the airport in Ouarzazate, in the south western part of Morocco and not Tangier. I do not know if RAM had a promotional collaboration with the film production, but it is likely since the two RAM airplanes are featured rather prominently in the film.

Royal Air Maroc - Boeing 727

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Air France

A brand new Eurocopter EC 135 (worth £1.6 million at the time) had been flown in from France

When Q delivers the BMW to Bond at the airport in Hamburg, Bond takes it for a test drive in an adjacent hangar. A BAe 146 airplane from Air France Express, belonging to 'CityJet' or 'Jersey European Airways', is seen in the background. CityJet is a regional (Irish) airline that operated on the Paris - London route on behalf of Air France at the time of filming Tomorrow Never Dies. The airline is still in operation today and Air France was its main owner between 2002 and 2014 when it was sold to Intro Aviation. Jersey European Airways, today known as 'Flybe', is the largest independent regional airline in Europe, based in Exeter, that also had a code share agreement with Air France at the time of filming.

The British Aerospace 146 (BAe 146) is a short-haul airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace from 1983 until 2002. Another BAe 146 airplane belonging to 'Titan Airways', which receives maintenance work, is also seen behind Bond and Q in the hangar.

An advertising poster for Air France is also visible at the entrance of Hotel Oriental, which is Bond's hotel in Bangkok in The Man With the Golden Gun. The text on the poster is promoting Air France's new airplanes and reads: "Europe and Far East - 5 Super B747's, 2 Boeing 707".

In Dr. No, a small flag with the winged seahorse, which is the logo of Air France, is visible on the reception desk at Bond's hotel in Jamaica, along with a few other props including Air India and Alitalia.







A Concorde from Air France also featured rather prominently in Moonraker as Bond lands in Rio de Janeiro.

                                                       KLM and Scandinavian Airlines 

West Berlin - The KLM office seen in the background

In Octopussy, Bond, posing as Charles Morton, and M are travelling down Kurfürstendamm in West Berlin. The headquarters or a travel agent belonging to KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines - is seen very briefly behind Bond and M through the rear window. This KLM travel agent was located at the intersection of Joachimsthaler Strasse 39-40 and Kurfürstendamm at the time of filming in 1983. Today the Azimut Hotel is housed in that building. 

The KLM logo would also feature in Never Say Never Again, as seen below.

KLM in front of Nicole and Bond - The SAS logotype is seen on the wall to the right

Produced in the same year as Octopussy, the logotype of KLM was visible above a travel desk at Nice airport in Never Say Never Again, where Bond meets with agent 326, after arriving from the Bahamas. In the same scene, a travel desk belonging to SAS - Scandinavian Airlines System - with the old Viking logo on the wall can be seen in the background.

KLM and SAS

The Persuaders! - Bromma Airport, Stockholm

In the 19th episode of The Persuaders! called "The Morning After", Brett wakes up in his suite at Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, covered earlier. He discovers that he has married a woman during what appears to have been a very wet previous night. When Brett takes a flight back to London, he leaves Stockholm from Bromma Airport, Stockholm's city airport.

Bromma Airport is located only 7 kilometers from the city centre and is closest to the city compared to all the other commercial airports in Stockholm. It was opened in 1936, by King Gustav V, when Stockholm urgently needed a proper airport and it was the first airport in Europe to have paved runways from the start. During World War II Swedish and British aircraft flew to the United Kingdom from Bromma Airport.

Bromma Airport around 1972

Bromma Airport in 2018

However the runway of Bromma was too short for the jet age and for intercontinental traffic in the 1960's (e.g. DC-8), and the capacity limit of Bromma could be foreseen. Therefore Stockholm Arlanda Airport was built. The flight between Stockholm and London in 1972, at the time of filming of The Persuaders! would most likely have taken off from Arlanda. Even though there are several international flights from Bromma today, there are no flights to London.

It is unlikely that any of the principle cast ever were in Stockholm for the filming, since neither Sir Roger nor Curtis are seen outdoors. The interior scenes in the episode were most likely shot in Pinewood with a back projection from various Stockholm locations. Interestingly enough, the back projection from the airport shows airplane hangars from Stockholm's largest airport, Arlanda instead of Bromma. A DC-9 airplane from Scandinavian Airlines is briefly seen in the background.

We do not learn which airline Lord Brett is using, although a billboard from SAS is visible in the terminal in one scene as well as the DC-9 from SAS.

The old terminal building in 2018

At present there is a political campaign run by the environmental party, presently in power, to close down the airport, although there is a strong resistance against it. Hopefully the airport will remain open for many many years to come, because where else would Lord Sinclair land the next time?

Noble House: British Caledonian Airways

Another of the many connections between James Bond and the television mini series Noble House is an airline. British Caledonian Airways is one of only a few product placements in Noble House, just like it was Bond's choice of airline in Never Say Never Again, 1983. Since British Caledonian no longer exists, I personally think the product placement is a nice piece of history. In one of the first scenes in the first episode, Lincoln Bartlett and Casey Tcholok arrive in their private jet at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport. The camera pans over from a 747 that belongs to British Caledonian, to the private jet from Par Con Industries.

In the second episode, Quillan Gornt picks up Bartlett in his Daimler and they drive across the Central district in Hong Kong. One of the trams is striped with logotypes of British Caledonian Airways and it has the same tartan livery that could be found on the Stewardesses' uniforms at the time. It is obvious that Gornt is driving at the same speed as the tram in order for the brand to be visible.

Sometimes the product placement gets a little ridiculous though.
After having invited Casey for dinner on board a djonk in Hong Kong Harbour, Ian Dunross is sending her away in his Rolls Royce. The Rolls is parked next to a bus stop where a bus with the British Caledonian logo is conveniently parked.




For one of the final scenes, the Shaun Tak centre in the Central district (which today houses the Macau ferry terminal) was remodeled as the departure terminal of Kai Tak airport. None of the interior scenes taking place at the airport were filmed on location at Kai Tak. One of the top floors of the Shaun Tak centre was converted to look like the departure terminal at the airport and signs of British Caledonian Airways were put up to give the right feeling.

The ferry terminal Shaun Tak Centre converted to Kai Tak Airport

Because BCal was one of only a few product placements in the series, you do not get the same "cheap feeling" as you sometimes get in a few of the Bond films like Moonraker and Die Another Day. 

British Caledonian existed between 1970 and 1988 and was an independent airline that operated out of Gatwick airport. British Caledonian Airways had daily flights to Hong Kong before it was taken over by newly privatised British Airways in 1987/1988. Since Noble House was produced in 1988 this was probably the last time the airline featured in a film or TV-series.

Ocean Sky - The Private Jet Company

With this 101st post I will reach 100 000 pageviews since my blog inauguration! Hopefully it will take less than 2 years to reach another 100 000.

Ocean Sky Bombardier Challenger 604

In Quantum of Solace, the CIA is meeting with Dominic Greene in Haiti to make a deal with the Quantum organisation. The section chief, Gregory Beam together with Felix Leiter are discussing the deal during a flight from the Aerogare in Haiti to Bregenz in Austria. The CIA have chartered a plane from the private jet company Ocean Sky. Greene is assured that the CIA will do nothing to stop General Medrano's coup in Bolivia and in exchange they get the lease to any oil found in the country.

On board the jet is a small fridge visible, containing Heineken beer and Bollinger Grande Année champagne. A Sony TV is also visible, all brands are part of the sponsorship deals for the film. The tail number is G-OCSC and the plane in full Ocean Sky livery is a Bombardier Challenger 604.

Ocean Sky was formed in 2003, originally as an aviation broker, but the company changed their business model to a private jet company in 2005. At this time they bought a fleet of new aircraft but also managed privately owned jets on behalf of other owners. In 2012 Ocean Sky were the subject of insolvency proceedings and on 3 September that year, their operating licence was suspended by the Civil Aviation Authority. Today Ocean Sky is a group that consists of a number of UK and international limited companies with offices in London, Geneva, Moscow and New York involved in e.g. agriculture, aviation and real estate. Weather they still have a private jet service is unclear, but it is not likely that they have their own fleet of aircraft anymore. 

Beam and Leiter leave Bregenz.

The product placement by Ocean Sky was one of the bigger sponsorship deals in the film. The company lent five of its business jets to the film production. The planes, valued at £100 million each and with the standard rate of £5000 per hour, were used to fly the cast and crew to Panama. How much the product placement did amount to is unknown however.

For some reason an Ocean Sky jet with Black livery is pictured at the Bregenz Airport
instead of the one that Greene, Beam and Leiter arrive on. Not a clue why...

                   "Ocean Sky, guten abend!"

Greene leaves on a Gulfstream after the shootout at the opera.

After attending Puccini's Tosca at the Bregenz opera, Greene leaves on another private plane, this time a Gulfstream. Since Ocean Sky did not have a Gulfstream in its fleet, this is evidently another jet company or Greene's own jet. Bond is trying to follow Greene by chartering a jet from Ocean Sky, but M has cancelled his card so it is denied at the Ocean Sky desk. Instead Bond goes to see Mathis in Italy. How Bond could travel to Italy, buy a Tom Ford cardigan for a few thousand dollars and charter a boat to Talamone without a single credit card is beyond me. But then again, the plot in Quantum of Solace has more holes than the Titanic so it is probably better not to go down that road...

                              "Could you do me a favour, you're gonna get a phone call in a minute, would you                                    mind telling them I'm headed for Cairo?" 

In return for providing the planes, the Ocean Sky jets featured prominently in the film, including an Ocean Sky service desk at Bregenz airport. The logotype has several minutes of screen time. 

Drax Air Freight - Varig Brazil

In Moonraker Bond goes to Rio to investigate the affairs of Hugo Drax. In a warehouse belonging to the importer firm 'C&W' (Carlos & Wilmsberg) in downtown Rio, Bond learns that Drax is moving his merchandise through his cargo airline 'Drax Air Freight'. Manuela tells Bond that 'Drax Air Freight' operates out of San Pedro Airport and Bond gets up to the Sugarloaf mountain to check it out.

The airport can be seen from the viewpoint on top of the mountain, no doubt one of the most famous tourist attractions in Rio. In reality the airport is called Santos Dumont Airport, after a Brazilian aviation pioneer. Why San Pedro was used instead of the real name is unclear.

The Varig star logo can vaguely be seen on the tail.

The Drax Air Freight plane however is a Lockheed L-188 Electra, in reality belonging to Varig Airways, the leading Brazilian airline at the time. The dark blue plane livery can be recognized if you compare Drax's plane with the Varig plane in the picture below. Santos Dumont airport was one of the main airports that Varig used in Brazil. In 1959 together with two other airlines, Varig had initiated an "air shuttle service" between Rio-Santos Dumont airport and São Paolo airport. The three airlines coordinated their schedules and operations and shared their revenue. Due to the success of this shuttle service led by Varig, it was abandoned only in 1999. The interesting fact is that this route was served exclusively by Varig's Lockheed L-188 Electra between 1975 and 1992 and the aircraft used on this route did not have the Varig name on the fuselage for the sake of neutrality to the other two airlines. This would have made it easy for the filmmakers to use one of Varig's aircraft in the film and put the name "Drax Air Freight" on the side, since the fuselage didn't have the Varig logo on it.

Copyright Bill Hough, used with permission. 

The Lockheed L-188 was developed in the 1950's by the American manufacturer Lockheed. It first flew in 1957 and was the first large American turboprop airliner. However, the engines would soon be replaced by turbojets and many of the aircraft that still used this engine type were modified as freighters.

Copyright Bill Hough - airliners.net. 

Another Varig aircraft, or at least the tail, can be seen behind the Concorde when Bond arrives in Rio. The Concorde did not land at Santos Dumont Airport however, but at the larger Galeão International Airport. Varig also receives a thank you in the end credits of the film.



Varig was the leading and almost only international airline in Brazil between the years 1965 and 1990. Beginning with the new millennium, Varig experienced financial difficulties and after a reconstruction and two failed attempts to auction the airline, Varig was split into two companies. The call sign ceased to exist in 2008.

On a Lockheed related subject, both the president and Goldfinger have private planes from the Lockheed company in Goldfinger. As Pussy Galore points out:
    "The humming means you're in Mr Goldfinger's Lockheed Jetstar heading for Baltimore."

Virgin Atlantic, updated - still red hot

Casino Royale

The pin-up girl, called the Scarlet Lady, carrying the Union Jack is seen on every Virgin aircraft. 

Mi6-hq.com reported in late 2011 that Virgin Atlantic would once again be flying Bond in Skyfall. I thought it appropriate to look at the airline's previous engagements with the Bond series and I have now updated the post to include Skyfall. Virgin has featured in all three of Craig's film. Casino Royale 2006, marked the change not only from Brosnan as Bond, but also from British Airways as Bond's choice of airline (featured in Die another day and GoldenEye).

Virgin's Airbus A340-600 seen in the background

Even though Bond never flies with Virgin in the film, several airplanes and a Virgin Atlantic catering truck can be seen during the action at Miami airport. The airplanes featured in the film are all the biggest and longest in the Virgin fleet. All the scenes were filmed at Prague International airport doubling for Miami, something that becomes obvious when, at one point, a plane from Czech airlines (CSA) is seen in the background. This airline does not fly to Miami.

Virgin's Boeing 747-400

Sir Richard Branson, the founder and owner of Virgin even has a cameo in the film. Branson is being searched by a security guard when the terrorist enters the airport, watched by Bond. Since British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been bitter rivals for many years, both the Virgin airplanes and Sir Richard himself were edited out of the in-flight movies shown on board of all British Airways flights. No hard feelings eh?
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Quantum of solace
Bond and Mathis are flying to Bolivia in pursuit of Dominic Greene. They have chosen the upper class at Virgin Atlantic, which can be described as other airlines first class sections. The upper class features a bar and other amenities like seats converting to fully flat beds. The overhead compartments indicates that they are supposed to be flying on a Boeing 747.

Bond is spending most of his time in the bar during the flight. A flight attendant is behind the bar with a Virgin name tag visible. He is serving Bond Vespers made from Smirnoff black, Gordon's gin (for the UK market) and Lillet Blanc. The bottles, among others like Bacardi and J&B can be seen in the bar. Bond drinks at least six Vespers instead of sleeping and still manages to look more alert than Mathis upon their arrival in La Paz. It must be the suit...
                             "Six of them..."
                                       -Flight attendant to Mathis-

The logo is visible behind Bond in the cabin but a Virgin airplane is never seen in the film. Quantum qualifies as one of the worst films in the series (together with Die another day and Diamonds are forever), due to the poor story, extreme cutting, lack of dialogue and too much action. It is a pity that a scene with a Virgin airplane in-flight or filmed landing in Bolivia (similar to the scene in Die another day) didn't appear in the film.

Upper class at the Boeing 747-400

Since Virgin does not fly to any destinations in South America (a factual error in the film), it is possible that Bond and Mathis have changed airline in the USA or the Caribbean. But of course in the world of Bond, Virgin flies everywhere.
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Skyfall

Virgin Atlantic has a very brief encounter with Bond in Skyfall which only includes the presence of some Virgin Atlantic signs at Shanghai Airport. It is probably meant to look like check-in counters but upon closer inspection it's just signs with the logotype. They are only visible for a second in the background to the left of the 'arrivals exit'. Bond is posing as a chauffeur in order to blend in with the crowd when Patrice arrives. The reason why they didn't use real check-in counters is due to the fact that the airport scene was filmed at the Royal Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire that doubled for Shanghai airport.

Patrice is arriving in Shanghai on EWA flight 226. This can refer to 'EVA air', an airline based in Taiwan and the second largest Taiwanese airline. It would make sense since the action is taking place close to Taiwan.  But since the 'EVA air' flight number should have been EVA not EWA, it is more likely that the flight number has no relevance.

A 747 from EVA air, a likely choice when flying to Shanghai

An airline that actually used the abbreviation EWA was the Australian airline 'East West Airlines'. This was a domestic airline that ceased operations in the early 1990's. The fact that no airline uses this abbreviation today can be the reason why they choose to have it in the film.






Virgin Atlantic did a Bond style commercial in 2011, well worth watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hbib-A6NpW8

and another one celebrating their 25th anniversary. Both are excellent and funny commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cM4EOeJzHA