Flying the Belavia Boeing 737-300

After a long day spotting I had to quickly get to the airport to catch my flight to Minsk.

27 May 2015
B2896 (1505-1715) WAW-MSQ
EW-407PA B733

I needed to get somehow to Minsk for my flight to Geneva on board the Tupolev 154 so I decided to fly earlier and take the chance to visit the city aswell. The T154 was on Friday, I arrived in Minsk on Wednesday on a Belavia Boeing 737-300 registered as EW-407PA. The plane first took flight in 1996.
First, at the airport, waiting for my flight I made a couple of pictures through the glass walls, as usual. It just is something I do before most of my flights. Boarding was smooth and rather without any special problems. A quick pushback after making sure that everyone is on board and we taxied to runway 29 beside many unusual liveries for Warsaw (they arrived for the UEFA Europa League Final) and departed without stopping and after a couple of turns we directed ourselves north-east towards Belarus. Sometime during the flight service was started. Well, let's say so. Drinks: tea/coffee and a small chocolate was everything in Economy. As a matter of fact I did hope for more. Luckily I ate a snack before the flight so I didn't have to starve.
A regular landing in Minsk. Just nice to see some very eastern planes, the Il76, T154, T134s and more, not forgetting about a cargo 747. Deboarding, bus transfer to the terminal and a quick immigration control. Welcome to Belarus. My bag has arrived after just a couple of minutes and I could proceed for the bus that would take me to the train station where I did catch a train to the city and made to my sleeping place.
To sum up Belavia, a rather regular airline with little arguments to convince fliers to fly them (especially when talking about western people). The fleet is in fact being renewed, but everything else connected with the flight is rather poor. I had no problems with the crew. The catering (I know it was a short flight, but my next flight MSQ-GVA was much longer and had a "meal") is poorish. The only things that would make me choose B2 over, lets say LO is either a big price difference or a better schedule.

Europa League Final 2015

Wednesday, the 27th day of May 2015. In the evening a football game is going to be played at the National Stadium in Warsaw. Not any game. It is going to be the Europa League Final clash between Sevilla and Dnipro Dniepropetrowsk. For the occasion thousands of supporters had to arrive somehow to Warsaw. Tens of charters have been scheduled for the day. From small private jets to Boeings 747s. Most of the planes were 737s and A320s (many from Vueling) with the stars of the day being: 2xB744 from Wamos, a UIA B763, a Air Europa A333 and some of the traditional traffic like the Emirates A332 or LOT B787 and for me the LOT B737. Nevertheless the day was going to be a nice one. Why? The airport organized a entry for a group of spotters to one one the roads located near the active runway giving us a rare opportunity to spot from a very close distance with almost no obstacles on our way. Part of the group can be seen on one of the photos although I was part of it. It is because wanting to catch all the planes I decided to shoot the first 747 and the UIA 767 from a known location due to the slowly moving queue at the entrance to the airport.
Standing near the runway gave me also a different view on regularly operating planes, like the Embraers and Dreamliners belonging to LOT which made a photo or two of them worth the time :P
Big thanks to the airport authorities for organizing the entry and I sincerely hope for more similar events soon.
Apart of all that spotting, I had a Belavia flight to catch shortly after the second 747 landed.

EI-FFW

UIA Boeing 767 touching down at runway 33 UR-GEB

Belgrade Aviation Museum

During my stopover in Belgrade on the way back to Poland from the UAE after sightseeing in the city center I have planned to visit the Belgrade Aviation Museum before the final flight. The museum is located near the airport. During shorter stopovers (~4h) you can easily go out of the terminal, visit the museum and return back on time for your next flight. All the details about prices and opening hours can be found on the website of the museum. The place itself isn't very big but has a lot of planes both inside and outside the building. Including shot down fighters from the past. There is also a section dedicated to JAT, the national airline of Yugoslavia and later Serbia. Historical routes, photos, information, plane models and more. In a different part you can find the history of Belgrade Airport together with a small model of it.
From the trip, see also the flights with Air Serbia and spotting in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.