HiFly operating on behalf of British Airways

3 July 2017

BA348 LHR 1615-1925 NCE A343 9H-JAI
BA349 NCE 2040-2150 LHR A343 9H-JAI

BA632 LHR 1315-1855 ATH A343 CS-TQZ
BA633 ATH 2000-2150 LHR A343 CS-TQZ

BA902 LHR 0705-0940 FRA A343 9H-JAI
BA903 FRA 1055-1145 LHR A343 9H-JAI

Qatar Airways operating A320s on behalf of British Airways

Qatar A320s on BA flights

9 July 2017

BA696 LHR 0755-1110 VIE A320 A7-ADF

BA697 VIE 1155-1325 LHR A320 A7-ADF

8 July 2017

BA356 LHR 1740-2045 NCE A320 A7-ADA

BA357 NCE 2140-2240 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA388 LHR 0635-0850 BRU A320 A7-ADB

BA391 BRU 0945-1005 LHR A320 A7-ADB

BA675 IST 0850-1105 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA680 LHR 1740-2340 IST A320 A7-ADB

6 July 2017

BA356 LHR 1740-2045 NCE A320 A7-ADD

BA357 NCE 2140-2240 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA360 LHR 0640-0915 LYS A320 A7-ADG

BA361 LYS 1000-1045 LHR A320 A7-ADG

BA416 LHR 0820-1040 LUX A320 A7-LAA

BA417 LUX 1130-1200 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA696 LHR 0755-1110 VIE A320 A7-ADF

BA697 VIE 1155-1325 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA704 LHR 1540-1855 VIE A320 A7-LAA

BA705 VIE 1950-2115 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA710 LHR 0700-0945 ZRH A320 A7-ADD

BA711 ZRH 1025-1120 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA768 LHR 1730-2045 OSL A320 A7-ADA

BA769 OSL 2125-2235 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA846 LHR 0725-1050 WAW A320 A7-ADI

BA847 WAW 1145-1330 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA848 LHR 0815-1135 ZAG A320 A7-ADA

BA849 ZAG 1230-1400 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA850 LHR 1350-1715 WAW A320 A7-ADG

BA851 WAW 1815-1955 LHR A320 A7-ADG

BA856 LHR 1635-1935 PRG A320 A7-ADF

BA857 PRG 2020-2125 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA868 LHR 1450-1820 BUD A320 A7-ADI

BA869 BUD 1910-2050 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA872 LHR 1700-2030 KRK A320 A7-ADE

BA873 KRK 2120-2250 KRK A320 A7-ADE

BA918 LHR 0800-1040 STR A320 A7-ADC

BA919 STR 1120-1210 LHR A320 A7-ADC

BA948 LHR 0655-0945 MUC A320 A7-ADE

BA949 MUC 1030-1135 LHR A320 A7-ADE

5 July 2017

BA356 LHR 1740-2045 NCE A320 A7-ADD

BA357 NCE 2140-2240 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA360 LHR 0640-0915 LYS A320 A7-LAA

BA361 LYS 1000-1045 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA416 LHR 0820-1040 LUX A320 A7-ADI

BA417 LUX 1130-1200 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA675 IST 0850-1105 LHR A320 A7-ADB
BA680 LHR 1740-2340 IST A320 A7-ADB

BA696 LHR 0755-1110 VIE A320 A7-ADG

BA697 VIE 1155-1325 LHR A320 A7-ADG

BA704 LHR 1540-1855 VIE A320 A7-ADF

BA705 VIE 1950-2115 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA710 LHR 0700-0945 ZRH A320 A7-ADA

BA711 ZRH 1025-1120 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA768 LHR 1730-2045 OSL A320 A7-ADA
BA769 OSL 2125-2235 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA846 LHR 0725-1050 WAW A320 A7-ADF

BA847 WAW 1145-1330 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA848 LHR 0815-1135 ZAG A320 A7-ADC

BA849 ZAG 1230-1400 LHR A320 A7-ADC

BA850 LHR 1350-1715 WAW A320 A7-LAA

BA856 LHR 1635-1935 PRG A320 A7-ADG

BA857 PRG 2020-2125 LHR A320 A7-ADG

BA868 LHR 1450-1820 BUD A320 A7-ADI

BA869 BUD 1910-2050 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA872 LHR 1655-2025 KRK A320 A7-ADC

BA873 KRK 2115-2245 KRK A320 A7-ADC

BA918 LHR 0800-1040 STR A320 A7-ADE

BA919 STR 1120-1210 LHR A320 A7-ADE

BA948 LHR 0655-0945 MUC A320 A7-ADD

BA949 MUC 1030-1135 LHR A320 A7-ADD

4 July 2017

BA356 LHR 1740-2045 NCE A320 A7-ADD

BA357 NCE 2140-2240 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA360 LHR 0640-0915 LYS A320 A7-ADI

BA361 LYS 1000-1045 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA416 LHR 0820-1040 LUX A320 A7-ADF

BA417 LUX 1130-1200 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA675 IST 0850-1105 LHR A320 A7-ADB

BA680 LHR 1740-2340 IST A320 A7-ADB

BA696 LHR 0755-1110 VIE A320 A7-ADG

BA697 VIE 1155-1325 LHR A320 A7-ADG

BA704 LHR 1530-1850 VIE A320 A7-ADF

BA705 VIE 1935-2100 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA710 LHR 0700-0945 ZRH A320 A7-ADD

BA711 ZRH 1025-1120 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA768 LHR 1730-2045 OSL A320 A7-ADA

BA769 OSL 2125-2235 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA846 LHR 0725-1050 WAW A320 A7-LAA

BA847 WAW 1145-1330 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA848 LHR 0815-1135 ZAG A320 A7-ADC

BA849 ZAG 1230-1400 LHR A320 A7-ADC

BA850 LHR 1350-1715 WAW A320 A7-ADI

BA851 WAW 1815-1955 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA856 LHR 1635-1935 PRG A320 A7-ADG

BA857 PRG 2020-2125 LHR A320 A7-ADG

BA868 LHR 1450-1820 BUD A320 A7-LAA

BA869 BUD 1910-2050 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA872 LHR 1655-2025 KRK A320 A7-ADE

BA873 KRK 2115-2245 KRK A320 A7-ADE

BA918 LHR 0800-1040 STR A320 A7-ADE

BA919 STR 1120-1210 LHR A320 A7-ADE

BA948 LHR 0655-0945 MUC A320 A7-ADA

BA949 MUC 1030-1135 LHR A320 A7-ADA

3 July 2017

BA356 LHR 1740-2045 NCE A320 A7-ADD

BA357 NCE 2140-2240 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA416 LHR 0820-1040 LUX A320 A7-ADG
BA417 LUX 1130-1200 LHR A320 A7-ADG

BA680 LHR 1740-2340 IST A320 A7-ADB

BA696 LHR 0755-1110 VIE A320 A7-ADI
BA697 VIE 1200-1330 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA704 LHR 1530-1850 VIE A320 A7-ADI
BA705 VIE 1935-2100 LHR A320 A7-ADI

BA710 LHR 0700-0945 ZRH A320 A7-ADD

BA711 ZRH 1025-1120 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA768 LHR 1730-2045 OSL A320 A7-ADC
BA769 OSL 2125-2235 LHR A320 A7-ADC

BA846 LHR 0725-1050 WAW A320 A7-LAA
BA847 WAW 1145-1330 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA848 LHR 0815-1135 ZAG A320 A7-ADC
BA849 ZAG 1245-1415 LHR A320 A7-ADC

BA850 LHR 1350-1715 WAW A320 A7-ADF
BA851 WAW 1815-1955 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA856 LHR 1635-1935 PRG A320 A7-LAA
BA857 PRG 2020-2125 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA872 LHR 0855-1255 KRK A320 A7-ADA

BA873 KRK 1335-1505 KRK A320 A7-ADA

BA948 LHR 0655-0945 MUC A320 A7-ADE

BA949 MUC 1030-1135 LHR A320 A7-ADE

BA986 LHR 1530-1825 TXL A320 A7-ADE
BA987 TXL 1915-2015 LHR A320 A7-ADE

BA1324 LHR 0710-0820 NCL A320 A7-ADB
BA1325 NCL 0900-1020 LHR A320 A7-ADB

1 July 2017

BA356 LHR 1740-2045 NCE A320 A7-ADB

BA357 NCE 2140-2240 LHR A320 A7-ADB

BA388 LHR 0635-0850 BRU A320 A7-ADA

BA391 BRU 0945-1005 LHR A320 A7-ADA

BA464 LHR 1645-2010 MAD A320 A7-ADD

BA465 MAD 2100-2215 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA710 LHR 0655-0940 ZRH A320 A7-LAA

BA711 ZRH 1020-1115 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA762 LHR 0745-1055 OSL A320 A7-ADC

BA763 OSL 1135-1305 LHR A320 A7-ADC

BA872 LHR 1600-1930 KRK A320 A7-ADC

BA873 KRK 2020-2150 KRK A320 A7-ADC

BA877 LHR 1550-2045 TLL A320 A7-LAA

BA878 TLL 2135-2240 LHR A320 A7-LAA

BA882 LHR 0820-1335 KBP A320 A7-ADF

BA883 KBP 1425-1605 LHR A320 A7-ADF

BA890 LHR 0800-1310 MAD A320 A7-ADD

BA891 MAD 1405-1535 LHR A320 A7-ADD

BA948 LHR 0655-0945 MUC A320 A7-ADB

BA949 MUC 1030-1135 LHR A320 A7-ADB

BA strike ops 9-11 February 2017

9 February 2017

BA468 LHR 1600-1900 BIO A320 (Titan)

BA469 BIO 2000-2050 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA846 LHR 0825-1145 WAW A320 (Titan)

BA847 WAW 1240-1430 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA848 LHR 0830-1150 ZAG B752 (Titan)

BA849 ZAG 1235-1410 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA854 LHR 0720-1015 PRG B752 (Titan)

BA855 PRG 1105-1225 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA866 LHR 1325-1650 BUD B752 (Titan)

BA867 BUD 1740-1925 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA920 LHR 1610-1845 STR B752 (Titan)

BA921 STR 1930-2020 LHR B752 (Titan)

10 February 2017

BA370 LHR 1700-1955 MRS B752 (Titan)

BA371 MRS 2040-2140 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA468 LHR 1600-1900 BIO A320 (Titan)

BA469 BIO 2000-2050 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA500 LHR 0705-0955 LIS B752 (Titan)

BA501 LIS 1045-1335 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA846 LHR 0830-1150 WAW A320 (Titan)

BA847 WAW 1240-1430 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA882 LHR 0750-1305 KBP B752 (Titan)

BA883 KBP 1400-1555 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA Strike Ops 5-7 February 2017

British Airways strike ops February 2017

5 February

BA850 LHR 1520-1845 WAW B752 (Titan)

BA851 WAW 1935-2120 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA882 LHR 0755-1310 KBP A320 (Titan)

BA883 KBP 1405-1600 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA938 LHR 0925-1145 DUS B763 (Titan)

BA939 DUS 1255-1330 LHR B763 (Titan)

BA1312 LHR 1430-1610 ABZ B763 (Titan)

BA1313 ABZ 1650-1830 LHR B763 (Titan)

BA1314 LHR 1655-1830 ABZ A320 (Thomas Cook?)

BA1315 ABZ 1910-2045 LHR A320 (Thomas Cook?)

6 February

BA468 LHR 1600-1900 BIO A320 (Titan)

BA469 BIO 1955-2045 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA846 LHR 0830-1150 WAW A320 (Titan)

BA847 WAW 1240-1430 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA854 LHR 0720-1015 PRG B752 (Titan)

BA855 PRG 1105-1225 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA866 LHR 1325-1650 BUD B752 (Titan)

BA867 BUD 1740-1925 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA932 LHR 1715-1935 DUS B763 (Titan)

BA933 DUS 2030-2055 LHR B763 (Titan)

BA1306 LHR 0800-0935 ABZ A320 (Thomas Cook?)

BA1307 ABZ 1035-1210 LHR A320 (Thomas Cook?)

BA1312 LHR 1430-1610 ABZ A320 (Thomas Cook?)

BA1313 ABZ 1650-1830 LHR A320 (Thomas Cook?)

7 February 2017

BA468 LHR 1600-1900 BIO A320 (Titan)

BA469 BIO 1955-2045 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA750 LHR xxxx-1630 BSL B763 (Titan)

BA749 BSL1715-xxxx LHR B763 (Titan)

BA790 LHR 0740-1035 GOT B763 (Titan)

BA791 GOT 1140-1300 LHR B763 (Titan)

BA846 LHR 0830-1150 WAW A320 (Titan)

BA847 WAW 1240-1430 LHR A320 (Titan)

BA854 LHR 0720-1015 PRG B752 (Titan)

BA855 PRG 1105-1225 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA866 LHR 1325-1650 BUD B752 (Titan)

BA867 BUD 1740-1925 LHR B752 (Titan)

BA1306 LHR 0800-0935 ABZ A320 (Thomas Cook?)

BA1307 ABZ 1035-1210 LHR A320 (Thomas Cook?)

BA1312 LHR 1430-1610 ABZ A320 (Thomas Cook?)

BA1313 ABZ 1650-1830 LHR A320 (Thomas Cook?)

Der Preis

Ich werde langsam alt. Oder ich habe an Weihnachten zu viel Gutes gegessen. Entweder das eine oder das andere oder beides.

Die Geschichte wiederholt sich jedes Jahr, meistens im Frühjahr. Dieses Jahr war es Ende Januar, bei gefühlt frühlingshaften Temperaturen, eitel Sonnenschein und doch noch den letzten Schneeresten in den Sundgauer Vorgärten. Die erste Fahrt mit dem Velo zum Flughafen war bloss ein paar Kilometer lang, aber dennoch die übliche Qual.

Aller Anfang ist stets leicht. Da geht es den Berg runter in Richtung Landesgrenze. Die paar Kurven bis dort hin beherrsche ich wie im Schlaf. Lediglich die Grenzpassage ist wie eine Skirennpiste. Alle paar Wochen stehen die Absperrungen leicht anders und man muss sich eine neue Linie einprägen, damit man möglichst wenig Schwung verliert und danach auch den zwei, drei fiesen Löchern ausweichen kann. Jenseits der schweizerisch-französischen Grenze ist ein Geschwindigkeitsverlust fatal, denn der Strassenbelag in Frankreich hat es in sich.

Im vollgefressenen und untrainierten Zustand spielen auch die paar Zentimeter Höhenunterschied von einem Dorf zum anderen eine Rolle. Mal kurz rüber cruisen? Denkste! Da ist harte Arbeit angesagt, kurbeln, kurbeln und noch mal kurbeln. Am nächsten Ortsausgang trennt sich der Veloweg von der Hauptstrasse und es ist Zeit für einen Schluck aus der Flasche. Oder es wäre Zeit dafür. An manche Dinge wagt man im Winter einfach nicht zu denken. Also weiter …

Der Kopf wird schwerer, die Atmung noch schwerer und die zweistündige Foto-Pause am Flughafen kommt immer näher. Kurz vor dem Ziel geht es runter vom befestigten Weg auf eine Seitenstrasse, die zum Glück noch halb gefroren (und nur deshalb nicht schlammig) ist. 300m tue ich mir das an, dann steige ich ab. Einen Crash will ich nicht, dazu bin ich spontan grad zu erledigt. Dann taucht hinter den Bäumen in der Ferne ein Flugzeug auf, welches ich unbedingt fotografieren will. Also doch wieder zurück auf den Drahtesel!

Besagtes Gefährt kurzerhand am Wegrand parkiert, renne ich den Fotohügel hoch und konstatiere, dass ich im Eifer des einsam geführten Gefechts ein fliegendes Ziel anvisiert hatte, das mit meinen ursprünglichen Vorstellungen nichts zu tun hatte. Stattdessen gibt mir mein Körper zu verstehen, dass ich demnächst am heiterhellen Nachmittag den Sternenhimmel zu sehen bekommen werde, dürfte er nicht bald einmal an einer Cola rumnuckeln. Und da ich nichts davon halte, live aus einer Ambulanz zu bloggen, habe ich auch brav die Flasche angesetzt!

Als Beweis dafür, dass der Aussetzer keine bleibenden Schäden hinterlassen hat sollen die beiden Bilder gelten, von einem Airbus A319 in privater Hand, der mir so unbekannt war, dass ich sogleich eine Fata Morgana bei 5°C vermutete und von einer spanischen Boeing 757 auf einem Frachtkurs aus Madrid.

Fifty shades of grey

While others are just sailing the seven seas of booze and visiting places that make my heart (yes, I do have one!) go wild, I am sitting here in the freezing fog and once more pointing my verbal gun at my sorrows … ;)

It has been a shit few days if you allow me some colourful language. For the first time in what has felt like half a century I found my way out to the airport this week. I arrived there in half sunshine, half fog, expecting the latter to clear, given it was hardly lunchtime still. That grey old bastard had other plans though, but being as optimistic as only I can be out there, I was not yet ready to give up. Meeting a few old friends can make waiting time exciting time too.

That time became longer and longer and to be frankly honest, my friends were about everything I could see. Hats off to those flight crews who made it down in one piece and hats off to those who made the right decision not to force things when maybe they could have and caused trouble in doing so. Flying must have been a nightmare that day and so was taking pictures.

F-GLZR, Air France, A340-300

On the way back I met another old friend of mine and we had a chat over a coffee about what we had just seen - or more essentially, about what we could hardly see in the mist out there. If you have any doubts about that grey rectangle above, this was as bad as things got and let me tell you, it was not only dull, it was windy, moist and freezing!

The next day things did not get better. In fact, they got dramatically worse. This time the talk about courageous flying with hardly any visibility was not the talk of disappointed planespotters, this time death had struck. Over dinner I found out about a homebased Piper PA-34 aircraft that as it would turn out to be crash-landed within the airport boundaries. They say pilots don't die, they just fly away and don't come back. But what exactly can you say if he actually comes back but does not make it from the airport fence to the terminal?

HB-LSD, Piper PA-34, crashed at BSL, 7 Dec 2016

I spent considerable time trying to gather information to have some basic imagination about events. Said information includes straightforward things as maps, weather, radar tracks, but also tougher stuff such as an airband radio transcript from right when the accident happened. To the trained ear, airband radio is nothing special unless there are non-standard proceedings or for those who like it, particular language accents. This time I was listening to a record knowing that one of the voices would suddenly drop out for all the bad reasons. I have listened to the same record again since, but the first go was a really tough one.

Crashes do happen and I do not have any illusions about that whatsoever. It is the particular context that made me slow down just a bit now in this case. Having been just a few hundred metres from the crash site not only the day before, but on so many other occasions, some wild thoughts came across me. What if this had happened on a sunny Sunday afternoon with so and so many people watching live? These are a kind of thoughts that comes up naturally, but should still not lead to knee-jerk reactions. I can definitely assure you that I will be back at the Belvédère, even if there is proof now that the sky may fall down on you.

A night and a day have passed since and the sky has cleared, at least for a few hours. The authorities have done their job and got their evidence on the spot which appeared to look as messy as messy can be. Where exactly on the scale of messiness this will, only they will know for now. As for everyone else, it seems appropriate to take a deep breath and look into the future. Time is moving on and I sincerely hope that the blue skies of today were only the start. I did not go without some more grey though, owing to one of those aircraft that had to avoid the crash site last night and got diverted as far away as Liège in Belgium:

A7-AFV, Qatar Airways Cargo, A330-200F

That basically should have been grey as their aircraft are very grey, but for some reason, this fella decided to show me the belly only …

The Alpha!

Vittu, perkele and saatana! Another one of those planes that has haunted me in my dreams and even more in my nightmares.

A is commonly known as the first letter in our alphabet. The Alpha, this is where it all begins. In planespotters terms, A is the first one of most fleets. Any registration number that ends on A is the oldest one in the group, the great-grandmother of all … of all those planes, eh!

Not matter how crazy they might be up north in Finland, even they stick to that principle. In a fleet of Airbus A321s that counts eleven units, I managed to catch the B, C, D etc. with no problem whatsoever. Even the more recent batch, that was not really meant to be flying the easy continental European routes, found its way into my collection as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

One of those bastards misbehaved. A!

When I first started to list my sightings about ten years ago, things seemed to be falling into place quite nicely. One gap after another was filled quickly and quite frankly, if five out of six get done within a year or two, why should the sixth as it were not pop up in front of me? Some vodka-drinking dispatcher must have stalked me from his office sauna and kept sending A anywhere, but not where I had my pixel gun ready to shoot the thing.

An unplanned run-in in Barcelona must have lead to that guy having been sacked now. Just as I was about to leave Barça this summer, I managed to catch a glimpse of what I just thought that it could be A. Upon verification through my very own stalking software (which only works for aircraft, just to make that clear to you girls out there!), it turned out to be A. Things turned around sharply. Within ten days, A decided to come and see me again, this time in London. And this time there was no escape from my camera any more …

OH-LZA, Finnair, Airbus A321

On that note, happy Independence day to all my friends from Finland!

Better safe than sorry!

"Better safe than sorry!" they say. For a good reason:



Going around was the best option in this case, despite the landing gear already touching the runway (18R at Amsterdam that is, for those who might be interested). The possibility of causing extensive damage is just too high when you try to roll out the correct heading on the ground at some stage and at this angle, this was just too much. Hope they had more luck upon their next attempt ... :)

The last mohican

The last mohican of special-coloured Swiss Avro RJ100s is one HB-IYU in the colours of Star Alliance. All its brothers and sisters in the same design as well as that outfreaked alpine cow parade fella have left the scene. If you want to keep IYU some company or just take a picture of it, follow this post:

Schedule for 08/12/16:

LX442 GVA 0720-0800 LCY
LX443 LCY 0830-1115 GVA

LX2813 GVA 1545-1640 ZRH
LX758 ZRH 1725-1825 LUX
LX759 LUX 1900-1955 ZRH
LX818 ZRH 2055-2210 HAJ

Schedules should usually be available after 19.00 CET, except for when I have no time to take care of them. And yes, they are extremely subject to drastic changes, but please don't blame me for that. ;)

I hate Qantas!

When little Joel first took to the air, he was a little fella who probably knew one train from another, but did not know much about airplanes. So, when he first arrived in Frankfurt, he thought that all those fancy Starlifters and Galaxys on the far side of the runway were from the Swiss Air Force. After all, the term "air force" was mentioned and to his knowledge, there was only one air force in the world.

That Frankfurt place felt like one big jungle and to be honest, things have not changed a great deal since. That airport has just grown bigger, but mind you, there are some other places in the world where an airport is a lot more associated with a nightmare. At least everything was still pointed out in German (so little Joel could read it) and the shopping was awesome. Oh well, yea, the things little Joel could look at, such as model trains and maybe something else, which pretty sure was nowhere near as fancy.

Bedtime approached, but there was no bed to be seen anywhere. Instead it was time to head towards the gate lounge to wait for one massive steel bird to arrive from Paris. Those were the days when one long-haul aircraft would still cover several destinations far away from home. Or en-route, as little Joel was about to find out. Whether little Joel knew about the Jumbo at the time is unknown, but one thing is sure, he does now.

About 24 hours later, little Joel arrived in Sydney, having found a way through a package of pretzels, through some airline catering and surely one or the other can of coke. To be an addict of said deliciously refreshing black poison does not come by chance, one has to start early! Things went as bad an overly-caring flight attendant asking whether it wasn't too early for little Joel to have one of those mean cans at 8am a few weeks later. Little Joel still has not forgiven her.

To imagine that the big cabin screens on aircraft are slowly becoming a dying breed in the wake of the introduction of on-demand entertainment on a personal screen was absolutely unthinkable in those days. To little Joel and many other six-year-olds in this world, being able to watch movies (albeit in that strange language they call English) hour after hour was just great. Particularly if those movies involved intellectual icons such as one Mr. Bean.

I bet, little Joel would never ever have said this:



;)

Dangling the carrot!

Just in case you have been wondering where all the fancy easyJet aircraft with their special colours are flying around, here is the magic list of their current bases, last update 18 September 2017:

A319:

G-EJAR (UNICEF Change for good) -> Bristol (BRS)

G-EZBF (Tartan) -> Milan (MXP)

G-EZBG (Hamburg flag) -> Bristol (BRS)

G-EZBI (Romeo Alpha Juliet - Shakespeare portrait) -> London (STN)
G-EZDL (Europcar) -> Milan (MXP)

G-EZDN (Amsterdam) -> Glasgow (GLA)
G-EZDR (Europcar) -> Berlin (SXF)

G-EZDW (Venezia) -> London (LGW)

G-EZEZ (Napoli) -> Venice (VCE)

G-EZIO (UNICEF Change for good) -> London (STN)

G-EZIW (Linate-Fiumicino per tutti) -> London (LGW)

A320:

G-EZUA (semi-new colours, small titles) ->  London (LGW)

G-EZUG (Moscow) -> Manchester (MAN)

G-EZUI (all orange, 200th Airbus) -> Berlin (SXF)

G-EZOL (250th Airbus) -> Porto (OPO)

G-EZOX (how 20th years have flown) -> London (LGW)

G-EZPC (Europcar) -> Berlin (SXF)

G-EZPD (Europcar) -> London (LGW)
G-UZHA (NEO) -> London (LTN)
G-UZHB (NEO) -> London (LGW)

A click on the registration leads you to a fancy picture of the respective aircraft. Bases can change any time upon short notice, though I really try to keep this as up to date as somehow possible.

Credits go out to all the valuable sources like flightradar24.com, jethros.co.uk or skyliner-aviation.de