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After flying for almost 12 hours, cramped in that tiny cattle-class aeroplane chair, all one yearned for after a long absence from home was a hot shower and comfort food such as pap, wors, cabbage and atchar.
Coming home after my recent travels, my adrenalin spiked when I looked out of the window after our plane had landed at OR Tambo International Airport. Taxiing next to our plane was a magnificent sky blue Boeing 787. Resplendent in the badges and colours of the Premier League champions, it boldly proclaims Manchester City Football Club.
When everyone rushed for their overhead luggage to disembark as soon as possible, I grabbed my face refreshment pouch. I rushed to the toilet and tried my best to liven up a tired face after hours of flying. A swirl of mouthwash, a dash of eyebrow and a splash of bright lipstick, and I was confident to step out and meet the superstars.
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In this age of bragging about what you have on your breakfast plate, I was already planning a few provocative headlines to post on my social media platforms. My ingrained journalistic instinct that has taught us to triple check facts before we can share them saved me major embarrassment.
After sending a colleague from our sports department the supposed scoop of pictures and the videos I had taken from my window seat via WhatsApp, my balloon was quickly deflated when I learnt from said colleague that Etihad Airways were leveraging their sponsorship with City.
I know of Etihad Airways’ sponsorship of the Premier League champions since 2009, which also saw their stadium renamed after the United Arab Emirates’s national airline, but – silly me – was totally unaware of this marketing gimmick. A quick Google search revealed the airline had launched this plane back in 2011.
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Their first one was the Airbus A-330, named Blue Moon Rising, celebrating their second daily route from Manchester Airport to Abu Dhabi International Airport. The one I spotted in OR Tambo is the second plane after the Airbus was retired.
This one I saw has been spotted at various airports around the world, including Zurich, Singapore and Bangkok, and I guess it was its turn to liven up our African skies.
