Already three weeks since my last message... those who waited won't hopefully be disappointed. This is indeed the first of three messages about a flight I took last week-end from Paris to Madrid on LAN Airlines A340, as well as some spotting I did in CDG and MAD. This message will be the trip report on the flights themselves, the spotting at both airports will be posted later.
Background
Beginning of March, I read a thread on Airliners.net about 5th Freedom Flights in Europe, and discovered that LAN Airlines' flights from Santiago de Chile to Paris were doing an intermediate stop in Madrid, and that it was possible to book the CDG-MAD-CDG leg for a very reasonable price (around 95 Euro return). Having never flown on an A340 as well as with LAN, I decided to book my tickets for the first week-end of April. I would fly CDG-MAD on 01/04 and fly back on 03/04.
CDG-MAD - 01/04/2011
After an uneventful drive from Brussels to Paris, I arrived in CDG 4 hours before departure, and after having parked my car, I was quickly in Terminal 2C thanks to the efficient automated train "CDG-Val". Check-in was not due to open before 3 hours prior to departure, so I needed to wait one hour in that unpleasant and very warm terminal. Fortunately, with a good book time passes rapidly, and soon I was in the queue to check-in for flight LA723 to Madrid. Check-in was quickly done by the friendly staff and I passed security in a few minutes. There, I could find more interesting occupation, i.e. spotting the planes through the windows (see the report I'll post after this one in a few days).
Around 17:30, I could see the LAN Airlines' A340 land on runway 26R and turn to our gate:
LAN Airlines - Airbus A340-300 - CC-CQE
CC-CQE
CC-CQE - almost there!
CC-CQE
90 minutes of spotting later, boarding began, with the rows being called in batches of ten.
Rows 40 to 30 can proceed to boarding
Having the seat 36A, I was in the first batch and walked through the jetbridge to get on my first A340. Finding my seat was not complicated, and I quickly made myself comfortable, knowing that I would have to wait 40 minutes before take off.
Leg room was more than sufficient, even for tall people! Relaxing music and pictures on the PTVs were giving a smooth atmosphere.
The cabin was soon to be full. Load factor was above 95% in Y-Class
40 minutes later, after several announcements and the safety demo being showed twice on the PTV's, we felt our A340 being pushed back, starting its 4 engines a moment later and beginning to taxi towards Runway 08L, the wind having changed in the mean time.
Lining up on 08L
Take off was very smooth, and we quickly took the direction to Spain.
Leaving CDG
Some minutes later, the PTV's main menu went on, and we could begin to play with LAN's IFE.
LAN Airlines IFE main menu
There was a reasonable choice of movies, series, CD's and games, as well as information on LAN Airlines and its destinations, and the inflight map. I selected the best of Ennio Morricone and the in flight map, not wanting to spend the 1h40 of my flight watching TV. What was to be seen outside was better than that!
Above the clouds, the blue sky!
In flight information
I soon noticed something I had never seen before while flying, i.e. the contrail made by our own plane! It was the first time I saw such thing and I looked at it during long minutes!
Both "white lines" are our contrail.
I also took a video of it (click on it if you want to watch it on Youtube's page in HD):
Moments after, the on-board service began, consisting in a snack with a soft drink:
What shall I find in the box?
Answer: a cheese and ham sandwich and a small KitKat!
Opening the pack in which the sandwich was was not very easy, but at least I managed to open it without making it explode like my neighbour who sent pieces of bread and ham all over his tray table ;-) The sandwich was OK for this short leg. I hope however that the meals are more consistant on the long ones to Chile!
After this short interruption, I continued listening to Ennio Morricone until it was announced that the IFE would be switched off in a few minutes, prior to the descent to Madrid.
We are approaching our destination.
Descent was smooth, and we soon landed in Madrid Barajas. After a short taxi, we parked at our gate and I patiently waited to disembark (that is the disadvantage of being at the back of the plane). While deplaning, I quickly took a pic of the Business Seat:
C Seat. Seems comfortable.
Off CC-CQE, I had quite a surprise: parked at Terminal T4 Satellite, it would be a looooong way to the exit!
This is only the beginning of the journey!
We had first a long walk through all the nice terminal, then had to go down several levels, pass customs controls (this being a Non-Shengen flight) that was really quick, again a bit of walking and down other levels to take an automated train (like the CDG Val) to Terminal T4, go up several levels, and keep on walking until luggage claim (fortunately I only had a carry-on!) and finally the exit to the arrival hall. I was complaining on the "long" walk between Pier A and Pier B in Brussels Airport... I won't do it anymore!
After that, I quickly find the metro station, got off at the station Barajas and checked-in at my hotel around 23:00. Knowing that I was out of the plane at 22:15 and that it took me only 15 minutes from the arrival hall to the hotel, it took me 30 minutes inside the airports, and I never stopped walking (except at customs and in the automated train). It was objectively not that long, but all these stairs, trains, long walk made it feel neverending!
MAD-CDG - 03/04/2011
After a nice week-end in Spain's capital, it was time to fly home. I arrived at Terminal 4 of MAD 3 hours before departure, and took some pictures of the nice terminal before going to the check-in desk.
Nice terminal, clear and clean
Check-in rows
Arrived at the LAN check-in desk, I was not alone, a flight to Quito being scheduled one hour prior to mine.
Not alone!
The queue was advancing quite fast, as it took me only 15 minutes to get my boarding pass, with the window seat 30A as pre-booked online. After that, I passed security quite rapidly, and began the journey back to Terminal 4 Satellire (stairs, automated train, long walks etc). 20 minutes later, I was at the gate and saw that my plane was already there.
LAN Airlines - Airbus A340-300 - CC-CQC
I spent the following hour spotting around (see the following reports) and time passed rapidly until boarding of flight LAN 722 to Paris was announced. Being in the first batch (row 30), I was among the first to board the plane, leaving me the time to take some cabin shot.
View from C class seat
Y class cabin
I found my seat and waited for the boarding to be completed and took some pics from my window.
Our sistership, CC-CQF, would be leaving just before us towards Frankfurt
Weather had been nice all week-end until then
10 minutes late on schedule, we pushed back and taxied to Runway 15L. Take off was smooth... but just after, we hit some strong turbulences during long minutes, until we finally passed through the clouds.
Banking left just after take-off and before hitting turbulences
The flight was identical to the first one, with the same snack and IFE, and went uneventful. 1h30 after take-off we began our descent, and saw the French soil under our wings.
Reducing speed over France
Flaps extended
After a sharp turn to the left, we were aligned with the runway
About to touch down
Touching down
The IFE was still on
Thrust reverser in action
While taxiing to our gate, I took a quick picture of this beauty:
Air Austral - Boeing 777-300 - F-ONOU "Léon Dierx"
Getting off the plane and the airport was fast, and I was soon back behind the wheel of my car, beginning the 3 hours drive to Brussels.
Bye-Bye Paris!
Conclusion
Flying the A340 and with LAN Airlines was a very pleasant experience and I would not reject this airline should I want to fly to South America. However, if I were to fly back to Madrid, I would of course choose a direct flight from Brussels in order to avoid three hours drive, a long wait at the airport, and long boarding process. I knew what I was up to for these flights, so that was not a problem, being part of the experience!
CDG Terminal 2C was not the most pleasant one, but the staff was very friendly. MAD is a nice airport, even though the long journey inside T4 & T4S were a tiring surprise after the long day I had last Friday!
I will post (probably next week) the spotting reports in CDG and MAD, with some nice airplanes! Thank you for reading!
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 ;-)
