Hi all,
Was off on a photo trip in the last 24 hours, courtesy of Germanwings, the
low cost offshoot of Eurowings.
14 May
4U373, D-AKNJ, A319
Germanwings started into Edinburgh at the start of the European summer
schedule, their website www.germanwings.com had been offering deals you
wouldn't believe. This is my first time with them, paying 13GBP (about US
$20) round trip, later in the year I'm going again for 2GBP (about $3 US)
round trip, all including taxes!!
The aircraft 'NJ is only a few months old, so was in pristine condition.
Fold down video screens take the place of cabin crew for the safety demo.
Leather seats in a Y142 configuration sounds a lot, but legroom was not a
problem. Being lo cost, snacks and drinks are available at a cost. Our
scheduled time was 1230 out of Edinburgh, to arrive 1535 at Koln/Bonn, the
Germans being an hour ahead. I'd heard GWI had allowed bags of time for late
departure within their schedules, this meant a 2hr 5 minute trip.
We pushed back on time at 1231, and were airborne to the southwest at 1239,
turning east over the eastern edge of Britain. We headed down the coast to
Hull, then out over the North Sea towards Amsterdam in Holland. We arrived
at CGN at 1510, and were at the gate at 1515. The stands at this airport
hark back to the 1960s and 1970s, because they are largely parking side on
to the terminal, although there are jetways meeting the aircraft. As a
consequence, the aircraft taxi extremely close to the buildings.
Koln has a free terrace, although its facing the right way for sun in the
afternoons, photos are through glass, albeit clean glass. The main operators
are Lufthansa Cityline, Lufthansa, Hapag Lloyd Express (another new low
cost), Deutsche BA, and GWI.
This airport is a hub for UPS in Europe, but there are not many accessible
views either during the day or at night when everything starts to happen.
I knew Dusseldorf was much busier, so after an hour I headed off.
Incidentally, if you ever rent a car in Germany, you usually get pretty good
quality. My girlfriend could not believe that in Florida they are still
dishing out Chevy Cavaliers, she thought they'd died long ago!!
I had asked for a compact wagon (US translation of midsize estate),
expecting a Ford Focus or a VW Golf wagon, but got an Audi A4 1.9TDI Avant,
which is a diesel. Now you may or may not know that Germany has large
stretches of highway with no speed limits. I managed 220 km/h, whatever that
is!
Off to Dusseldorf, an hour away, which was much better. The rail station has
probably the best viewing deck in Europe, an Embraer 145 is 150mm lens,
looking slightly down. Amongst other things, I got shots of:
D-ALAM 321 Aero Lloyd
D-BHAT D8B Augsburg Airways
D-AHFX 738 Hapag Lloyd in their new TUI livery
D-IKBA D28 LGW Air
EC-GPS SWM Hahn AL
I-EXMA EM5 Alitalia Express
LN-RCT 736 SAS
OE-LFP F70 Austrian
OE-LCI CRJ Tyrolean
OE-LFJ F70 Tyrolean
OH-LVE 319 Finnair
OH-SAI RJ8 Air Botnia (first one I've ever seen of theirs)
OK-XGL 735 CSA (80th anniversary colors - a gem!!)
SE-LIF HS7 Westair Sweden
SP-LGK EM5 LOT
V2-LFQ L10 Caribjet Cargo
Z3-ARF 733 Macedonian AL
Then, as I wanted to really make use of the car, another 220kph blat up the
highway into Belgium, to Liege, which is another cargo hub, mainly TNT. This
field is dead during the day, but lights up like a Christmas tree after
11pm. I got there at 1145. A recently built double wire fence prevents
photos, but there's no problem watching the action unfold. I noted between
1145pm and 0200am:
B-2473 744 China Southern Cargo (brand new and very nice)
EC-ELT 142 PNR (TNT colors)
EC-HJH 142 TAY = TNT Airways
EC-HQT 300 TAY
EC-HVZ 300 TAY
G-BPND 722 GCR = Cougar Cargo
G-OKJN 722 GCR
G-FIZU LOF AAG = Atlantic Airways (yes that is an Electra)
G-LOFE LOF AAG
N528MC 742 GTI
N453PA 744 PAC
OE-ILA LOF AMK = Amerer Air (and yes, another 2 Electras)
OE-ILB LOF AMK
OE-ILW F27 AMK
OO-TAA 143 TAY
OO-TAF 143 TAY
OO-TAH 143 TAY
OO-TAJ 143 TAY
OO-TAR 142 TAY
OO-TAS 143 TAY
OO-TAU 142 TAY
OO-TAW 142 TAY
OO-TZA 300 TAY
OO-TZB 300 TAY
OO-TZC 300 TAY
SU-EAG 204 CCE = Air Cairo Cargo (gawd, a TU204, my fave)
TF-FIG 752 ICE = Icelandair Cargo, the rare 757F.
TF-ELS 313 ICB = Islandsflug
4X-ICL 742 Cargo AL
4X-ICM 742 Cargo AL
So off back to Dusseldorf, which is where the wagon came in. Unfold the
sleeping bag, and its bedtime. Well, 3 hours ain't worth a hotel, is it?
The Dusseldorf terrace is helpfully open from 6am to 9pm, so I shot:
D-AICI 320 CFG = Condor Flug
D-AHLX 313 HLF = Hapag Lloyd
D-ALSA 321 LTU (my first LTU A321)
I-BIMI 319 AZA = Alitalia
LZ-MIS 154 VIM = Air Via of Bulgaria
OE-LSD CRJ STY = new Austrian operator Styrian Spirit
Then back to Cologne, sweating a bit in the busy traffic to catch my flight
home.
G-BIKC 757F DHL - ex British AW
N253UP M11 UPS - my first one of those
UK-76426 IL76 UZB - didn't shoot these as they were too far away
UK-76359 IL76 UZB
VP-BBU 737 FOB - Ford Motor Company Europe
15 May
4U372, D-AIPD, A320
Scheduled return flight was 1055/1155, this time we were bussed to the gate,
and although it looked like we'd be late leaving, the aircraft self
manoevured away from the stand at 1103, and took off at 1111.
'PD is leased from Lufthansa, and has just two more rows of seats than the
A319s Germanwings own, making 150 seats vs 142. Better legroom, as the
interior is all Lufthansa, with grey leather 1980s style seats (their
current seats are dark blue, much more contemporary, at least on CRJ 700s.)
There are no fold down video screens on these.
We landed at 1137, after 1hr 26mins in the air, and were at the gate for
1142, well ahead of schedule again.
Jim
Jim