Airliners International™ 2025 Atlanta Recap

2025 – Atlanta, GA, Delta Flight Museum/Renaissance Hotel. The Convention returned to Atlanta and the Delta Flight Museum. It was good to see so many new faces and young aviation enthusiasts! The tours of the ATL Ramp, Atlanta Air Exchange, Delta Pilot Training Center, Delta Tech Ops, and Delta DC-3 were quite popular.

Follow this link to view the Flight Operations Guide for AI-2025.

Seminar presenters included David Henderson (“A Picture History of Commuter Airlines of Georgia and Florida”, John Pullen (“Boarding Group Z: How Gen Z and Millennials are Changing Flying”), Matt Vance (“A Walk Through the Wonderful World of Paper Models”), Charles Kennedy (“The Jetliner Gliding Club”), David Velupillai (“The Story of the A320”), Guy Van Herbruggen and John Dickson (“44 Years in the Sky: the Flying Tiger Line Legacy”), Jon Jamieson (“Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: A Pictorial History of Past Airlines and Aircraft”), Brian Keene (“The Art of Building Airport Dioramas”), and numerous other fascinating seminars that furthered our mission to preserve this history of the world’s airlines.

Seminars will be posted soon on the WAHS YouTube channel.

The World Airline Historical Society held our annual membership meeting on Saturday morning at 7:30 am, where the board presented an update on the Society’s financial status, a review of activities for 2024-2025, initiatives for 2025-2026, and elected new Board members Lane Kranz (secretary/director) and Jason Seiple (director-at-large), before concluding with a spirited drawing for door prizes (all members attending the meeting received a free ticket). Thank you for getting up early and joining us!

Keith Armes received the 2025 Paul Collins Award for his many years of service and continued support and promotion of the hobby. Thank you, Keith, for all you have done for the Society and Airliners International™. The “Name the Plane” contest at the banquet won’t be the same without you.

David H. Stringer, noted airline historian, entertained the crowd during Saturday evening’s banquet. A former Southern Airways flight attendant, he gave an in-depth history of Southern Airways, Atlanta’s original “other airline,” and reminded us that “no one was second class on Southern!”

Banquet Trivia Contest – Hosted by Jim “JET” Thompson

1. Joe Wolf
2. Doug Bastin & James Wilson (TIE)
3. Michael Adkins

Banquet “Name the Plane” Contest – Hosted by Tom Livesey

1. Julian Martin
2. Chris Slimmer
3. Jordan “JJ Skippy” Raddiz

Airliners International 2025 Model Contest Results

This year, 16 modelers entered a total of 36 models. Mike Idacavage and Dave Michener each entered six models. One entrant brought two models he built nearly 50 years ago. Ken Bright presented the last entry just before the 10:00 am registration deadline.

View a slide show of all entries in the model contest winners by following this link.

View a slide show of the *winning* models by following this link.

Model Contest Winners

Large Prop and Jet

1. Ethiopian Cessna 172 – Mike Idacavage
2. Capital Viscount – Jerry Bunch

Medium Jet Boeing Split

1. Delta 757 – Dave Michener
2. Kingfisher 727 – Steve Villasenor
3. Avianca 720B – Bob Vendetti

Medium Jet Non-Boeing Split

1. Delta MD-90 – Dave Michener
2. Mohawk BAC 111 – Ken Bright
3. Delta CRJ-200 – Mike Idacavage

Small Jet

1. Lockheed L1011 House Colors – Dave Michener
2. Delta 747-400 – Mike Idacavage
3. Eastern 747-100 – Andrew Stiffler

Diorama/Collection

1. United 727 at ATL – Mark Shem
2. Jet2Holidays A321 at Funchal, Madeira, Portugal – Brad Meyers

Major Conversion

1. Southwest 737-700 – Dave Michener
2. Ozark FH-227 – Rick Neyland

Paper Resin & Vacuform

1. KLM L749 Constellation – Matt Vance
2. American Airlines Beech 18 – Andrew Stiffler
3. Eastern Express Beech 1900 – Andrew Stiffler

Flights of Fancy

1. Braniff/Air France Concorde – Mark Shem
2. Delta Lockheed L-500 – Ken Miller
3. Jeweled 727 – Paige Larsen

Youth

No entries this year.

Most Popular

People’s Choice Award

Jet2Holidays A321 at Funchal, Madeira, Portugal – Brad Meyers

Tom Stephany Memorial Best Georgia Airliner

Delta MD-90 Dave Michener

Clint Groves Memorial Judges Best of Show

Delta MD-90 Dave Michener

Photo Contest Winners

View a slide show of the *winning* photographs by following this link.

Best of Show

David Kasulas – Cargolux and Cherry Blossoms

Air Print

1. Stephen Griffin – Qantas and JetStar
2. Stephen Griffin – Erickson Aero Tanker
3. Stephen Griffin – Grand Caravan

Ground Print

1. Paige Larsen – Southwest
2. Stephen Griffin – Qantas at Night
3. Ashley Askew – Rainbow over Southwest

Aerial Print

1. Ashely Askew – Lufthansa A340
2. Ashely Askew – Virgin
3. Ashely Askew – MD11

Youth Award

1. Joshua Valin

People’s Choice

Ashely Askew – WestJet Winglet with Aurora Borealis

Thank you to all who entered both contests, contest administrators Ken Miller and David Grandy for providing the photos, and the volunteer judges.

There will be a photography and model contest at our 50th Anniversary Convention in Denver, CO, June 24-27, 2026. Follow this link to view the contest and display guidelines/rules.

Postcard Displays

The following postcard displays were prepared for educational purposes. Thanks to contributors William Demarest, Bill Baird, John Bretch and Marvin G. Goldman, and to Marvin for the photographs used below.

Below is a slideshow of candid photos from Airliners International™ 2025.

See you at Airliners International™ 2026 in Denver!

Rev 10/07/2025