30 minutes in PRG with a Korongo - 12/03/2011

Hello everyone!

First of all, a small warning: this message will be long, with more pictures than usual!


Introduction

Beginning of last week, a discussion went on on the forum of the website www.luchtzak.be concerning a flight to Prague and return with the plane bearing the registration OO-MJE. What is so special about this plane? It is the first to wear the (beautiful) livery of Korongo Airlines. Korongo Airlines? Yes, the new African company created (inter-alia) by Brussels Airlines that will operate in Democratic Republic of Congo. The name "Korongo" means migrating bird in swahili.

And it will be a true migration that this Bae 146-200 will do in two months to start a new life, and for which we wish a lot of success!

Back to the discussion on Luchtzak: thanks to one of its member, a meeting with 15 aviation enthusiasts was organized, consisting in a flight BRU-PRG-BRU and, nice surprise, in a visite "airside" of Brussels Airport! This was announcing a very exciting day... and it was!

BRU-PRG


After meeting each other at Brussels Airport at 6:30AM, we headed through security and joined gate A35, where other members of our group were already waiting... as well as our plane. To quote the organizer of the event: "It was great to talk in our language (Avro's, winglets, CRJ's, flaps, oil temperatures, jumpseats, recaroseats, A32X, etc..) without people turning their eyes in big circles around !" The discussions were just interrupted when planes where taking off from Runway 25R nearby, followed by dozens of eyes before comments on registration, airline, destination aroused.

Finally, boarding was called and the 27 passengers (amongst them, the 15 of our group!) soon boarded the bus that took us around the airport before getting us to the Korongo plane that was standing almost in front of our gate!

Of course, before boarding the plane, we all took pictures of "our" plane:

Korongo Airlines - Bae 146-200 - OO-MJE

No jetway, what a pleasure!

Boarding was quickly completed, and we soon began our taxi to Runway 25R

A Brussels Airlines B737 landing on 25R

Close up on the flaps

Belgian Air Component - Airbus A330-300 - CS-TMT (preparing to fly to the Middle East)

After a rolling take-off, we reached the sky and headed towards the capital of the Czech Republic

Close-up on one of the engines

What were we doing on board? Well, we searched the sky around to find other planes...

A Lufthansa Boeing 747 in the area of Frankfurt Airport

... or were discussing the interior of the plane...

Superstitious passengers: you have nothing to fear!

... or taking pictures of it!

Old but still comfortable leather seats

In Prague

After 1:15 of flight, we landed softly in Prague Airport. A short moment of hesitation ("Do we stay on board or do we disembark?"), and we all deplaned at the request of the crew, for security reasons. We had 20 minutes before boarding back to BRU. What could we do? Well... spotting planes of course!

You can hide, we still see you! A Korongo bird in Prague: a rare, maybe unique, sight!

KLM (Cityhopper) - Embraer 190 - PH-EZS

CSA - Airbus A319 - OK-OER (in the background, CSA's Skyteam Logoprop ATR42 - OK-JFL)

BMI - Airbus A321 - G-MEDG

G-MEDG

CSA - Airbus A320 - OK-LEG

Wizz Air - Airbus A320 - HA-LPF

Lufthansa - Airbus A319 - D-AILP

PRG-BRU

Time flies when you spot planes with other enthusiasts! We boarded again in OO-MJE and noticed that there were more passengers on this flight. After a long taxi (where our plane was photographed by some Czech Spotters), we took off and headed West to Brussels. The flight was smooth and soon I fell asleep. I woke up when the plane began its descent to the Capital of Europe.

Landing was smooth, and we were greeted by the cameras of other members of Luchtzak.be.

OO-MJE parked in front of the "Satellite" terminal, and we deplaned.

A last picture before boarding the bus

In BRU

Off the bus, we walked in the long tunnel connecting Pier A and Pier B and arrived in the Arrivals hall. There, we were greeted by the employee of Brussels Airlines who organized the visit of the airport, and by Brussels Airport's spokeman, who would be our guide. As a gift, we were given some goodies from SN (scale model, inflatable cushion, luggage tag, etc), and for the visit, a high visibility vest and the mandatory visitor badge. So equipped, we took the direction of... Pier A, meaning again the long walk and passage through security...

Before boarding a bus who would lead us accross the airport, we were given some very interesting explanation of the architecture of Brussels Airport Pier A building, with features we had not even thought of. After that, time to take the bus and begin the tour. First stop, pier B where some widebodies where still waiting for departures, although most of them had already left.

Delta Airlines - Boeing 757 - N-****

I could not take lots of picture from inside the bus, as the windows were far from clean. The second stop was the "satellite" terminal where we found back... OO-MJE. We got off the bus and begun a new photography session.

OO-MJE in front of Satellite building

The beautiful color scheme fits perfectly with the shape of the Bae 146

It is not everyday you wan take a close picture of an undercarriage...

... or of the back of a jet engine!

Clean, freshly painted plane = good chances of nice reflexion on the fuselage!

Brussels Airlines brand will be reinforced in Africa

I admit, it is not the most advantageous angle to take a picture of a Bae 146!

This angle is much more better!

After this photo session, we headed towards the DHL Apron, where several cargo planes where parked.

Atlantic Airlines - Bae ATP(F) - G-BTTO

DHL - Airbus A300-B4 - EI-EAC

Brussels Airlines - Boeing 737-300 - OO-VEH

Then, we had the chance to have a RJ100 parking just in front of us!

Brussels Airlines - RJ100 - OO-DWK

OO-DWK

OO-DWK

Close up on an Avro's airbrake (OO-DJX)

Swift Air - Boeing 737-300 - EC-KVD

The next step was at Brucargo. While we went just off the tunnel under Runway 25R/07L, we saw a Saudian 747 taxi just in front of us. We litteraly jumped off the bus to take the pictures.

Standing behind a Jumbo jet with all engines running... that is a great experience!

Saudi Arabian Cargo - Boeing 747-400 - TF-AMI

After that, we headed to Lufthansa Technik and SN hangar, where other interesting birds were present

Behind this white B757, Brussels Airlines' new A-320 (OO-SNA) and A-319 (OO-SSQ)

Lufthansa Technik Hangar

Finally, before continuing our tour, we passed in front of OO-DJJ, wearing the livery of the airline that never flew: AirDC.

Another nice livery, but that will never see the African skies - OO-DJJ

We continued our tour around the airport, with sudden stops and springs out of the bus to catch a SN A330 taking off, or see the DHL A300 pass over our heads, to finally be back where we started, in the arrival hall, after two hours of pure happines in our local airport!

Conclusion

Well, this was one of the best days of my life as a spotter, and for that I would like to thank Lex, Kim and Jan for the organization of the flight, of the visit of the airport and for the guided tour! I also would like to thank Brussels Airlines and Brussels Airport for the great welcome... and wish all the success to Korongo Airlines!

Thank you for having read this until the end! I promise that the next message will be shorter ;-)