Some planespotting for the very first weekend of 2013 - in anticipation of seeing the new United 787 services to/from Tokyo. (And I was far from alone - plenty of hardcore planespotters, all of male middle-aged persuasion except for yours truly.)

Newly delivered to Air China in 2012, this stretch 777 has taken over the Beijing - Los Angeles route from the 747. Despite being new, the aircraft still wears the tired old socialist livery of Air China, virtually unchanged from the 1970s' Civil Aviation Authority of China paint job. CAAC was the sole airline for China until 1988; CAAC left the day-to-day airline operations at that time, and half a dozen airlines were created to take them over, with Air China inheriting CAAC's initials (CA/CAA), lineage, and long-haul fleet. Even Air China's cursive Chinese titles, handwritten by Deng Xiaoping, are a call-out to CAAC's cursive Chinese titles, which had been handwritten by Zhou Enlai.

On this day this aircraft is running the daytime nonstop to Beijing, Air China 988.