LO333 WAW-CDG 2015.06.19

June is the month of the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. After a couple of years I finally got the possibility of flying for it. As the name says it takes place in Paris, so I had to get there somehow. My money went to LOT Polish Airlines. To Paris Charles de Gaulle with LO333 and the return on LO332 but each flight will have its own entry.

19 June 2015
LO333 (1940-2205) WAW-CDG
SP-LIB Embraer 175

I arrive at the airport as usual, one hour before departure which gives me at this time of the day enough time to drop off my bag, go through security and have a little walk around for some photos. Boarding starts as planned and we arrive with a bus to the plane. Everybody boarded rather quickly and so we managed to depart more or less on time. The flight itself was rather smooth, no special sights or events. Just another great flight on a Embraer with LOT. In Paris we docked at a jetway at Terminal 1 and I proceed on to the baggage claim. The tunnels that take you to them are fantastic. You get a long moving sidewalk which goes both up and down. Later you find yourself in a area with multiple slides going different directions through tubes. After claiming my bag I head for the train that will take me downtown. And so my three days in Paris start. What will they bring? You'll see in the next entries.

Emir of Dubai and his Boeing 747

At the start of June 2015 the Emir of Dubai, the vice president and prime minister of the UAE Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum visited Warsaw for a couple of days. The main reason was business talks. As it frequently happens, together with his arrival, some private jets had to arrive so all the people that needed to come could do so. And so, his highness arrived with a Boeing 747-400 A6-MMM and from the cooler things there was a 737BBJ registered as A6-AIN. He arrived on the 7th of June and departed two days later.

A6-MMM departing from the wet runway

SAS CRJ900

After the one way flight to Geneva I had to get back home somehow. LOT flies nonstop but the OW price was high for my date. After all the best combination was with SAS via Copenhagen. Both flights on the CRJ900 operated by Cimber. First flight in the evening of the same day that I've flown on to GVA and spotted later on at the airport. SK618. Scheduled departure time at 20:10 and a two hour flight time. Second flight the next day in the morning at 08:30 and a 1h20min flight time. Why the sleepover? Well, if all would go according to schedule I should make it for the last flight to WAW that departs at 22:55 from CPH but I needed a backup in case of a delay because the flights were on separate tickets. Luckily for, I ended out being right, my flight to CPH was delayed by over an hour on departure thus I would have no chance to make it for me second flight. But now, back to the flight experience. Overall the CRJ is a small plane with not much space for the passenger. The toilet is cramped, the overhead baggage compartments also are small (in my opinion this is a feature of all Bombardier made airplanes). What makes up for those problems is the friendliness of Cimber crews. As in every plane with tail mounted engines, the more to the front, the quieter. Unluckily the CRJ doesn't give you the opportunity to look into the engine (what is possible on the Fokker or the T134/T154/IL62). More details about the the flight experience, the seat and the interior itself in a video at the end of the entry. What I did like about the two flights is the check-in at Copenhagen where you firstly print your boarding pass (if needed) at a kiosk together with the baggage sticker and later you drop your bag on to the belt by yourself. That was cool! And fast.

OY-KFI

Copenhagen spotting, EKCH/CPH 2015.05.30

During my return trip to Warsaw from Geneva via Copenhagen with SAS (both flights on the CRJ900) I had some time for behind the window spotting at the airport. Mornings are always fun, with a nice sunrise which slowly illuminates the sky and the planes on tarmac. So here is a small set of photos made while waiting for my flight. All the locations may be accessed by every passenger, you just have to find the right spot. From the more "fun" things I saw there was the Danish Air Transport ATR72, Icelandair 757, the 6000th Boeing 737 (flying for Norwegian) and a alsie express ATR72.

Geneva spotting, LSGG/GVA 2015.05.29

After my flight on the Belavia Tupolev 154 from Minsk, I have decided, together with a friend of mine, to go spotting and catch the departure back to Minsk before we go to to city. And so we did. Using the spotterguide for Geneva we directed ourselves to spot #4 which was already had a couple of visitors. The departure itself got delayed by over two hours. All in all it was a good thing. Thanks to the delay we've manged to catch a couple of planes we would surely miss if the plane would have departed on time, like a Islamic Republic of Iran A321, or the 200th Easyjet Airbus. Between them there was a Swiss A319 performing a go-around, a United 767, a Swiss A333, a MEA and Royal Jordanian alliance liveries plus something I've been looking out for a little bit: the Etihad Regional Saab 2000.
Later that day I had to return to the airport to catch my next flight. This time it was to Copenhagen on a SAS CRJ900.

I-PBRA

HB-JXC

Flying the Belavia Tupolev 154

Arrived in Minsk two days earlier just for this day. Early morning wake-up, I take the first train from the center to the airport and am the only passenger on it :) . At the airport I have over two hours to my flight, I check my bag in and go for a short walk around the terminal. There is a couple of old planes in front of the terminal building, a Il-76, a T154, a T134, a An-24, a An-2 and a Yak-40. Later I go through the security and passport control and walk around the interior.

29 May 2015
B2871 (0820-1010) MSQ-GVA
EW-85748 T154

After a short walk around the area of the terminal and one shot of a aircraft standing near the terminal it is time to board. We take the bus to the plane. Total of around 30 people on board (the return flight was full). We are just about to get on board (some even do) but well, the authorities tell us that we can walk around a bit and many do. It looks like if we wouldn't want to fly the T154 and preferred the standing nearby 737. Boarding completed. Engine start-up is accompanied by a majestic hum of the engine. A short taxi to the runway and off we are in the air. Flat climb. 2 hours later we reached Geneva but before that we could experience the plane in all it's majesty. Walk around the cabin, chat. Plenty of room for everybody. There was even a cameraman from a Belarusian TV station making a material about those last commercial flights. Sometime during the flight a meal was served. Cold turkey (or so I think) with  cucumbers, a bun, ketchup and a sweet waffle bar as dessert.
A picturesque approach to Geneva airport with view on the Alps to the left, and a bit to the right. Deboarding, picking-up baggage and together with a fellow traveler we headed to one of many spotting locations in order to catch the departure back to Minsk (which got delayed due to a slot loss due to enthusiasts activity while boarding :D ) and later on to the city for some sightseeing. Later that evening I had my first leg of the return flight back to Warsaw. GVA-CPH with SAS.

Slowly boarding todays ride

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.

Air Serbia experience

Back in January I flew with Air Serbia from Warsaw to Abu Dhabi via Belgrade. Why? A couple of reasons. New places to see, new airline to fly and more. 4 flights on the Airbus A319, 3 of them Air Serbia and one Etihad but operated by Air Serbia so it counts as Air Serbia as well. The routing was very simple. A round trip WAW-BEG-AUH-BEG-WAW. On the short flights (to and from Warsaw) the service was modest. A bag with a sandwich, a cookie, a little bottle of water and tissues was handed to every passenger. On the longer flights we had a full meal, we could even choose :P Most of the flights were during night hours. We had sun shining only for the landing in Abu Dhabi. This is the reason for not so many pictures from the flights. This and the fact that those have been simple A319s, so photographing every detail made no sense.
My opinion about Air Serbia? Why not. The service is of decent quality, planes have been rather clean, crew made no problems. The food might not be of highest quality but it is eatable so ok. As you can see the sandwiches were pretty poor. I'd surely prefer to pay a little bit more and get a properly made bun. Transiting in Belgrade is easy and as JU has good connections from WAW to AUH. I might use them again on that route. One thing that might bother some passengers is that you fly a A319/A320 for a long time, and on the night flights you've got to sleep on it. Well, in business class there are proper seats (if anyone is interested) but in economy it's nothing special.
During my stay I also had an occasion to go for spotting both in Abu Dhabi and in Dubai and visited the aviation museum in Belgrade. Check the links for more. There is a seat review video at the end of the entry.

JU635 (2045-2225)
WAW-BEG
YU-APJ A319

The food bag