To Stuttgart with Germanwings

[airazurxtror]

Brussels-Stuttgart - flight 4U 2161 - 1st August
Scheduled : 08.35 - 09.40
Actual : pushed back at 09.05, engines cut at 10.15
Flight time : from 09.14 to 10.03 : 49 min
A319 D-AKNM

BRU was far from crowded, I arrived a bit early at gate A40, just at the beginning of pier A.
The A319 arrived half an hour late, having waited for a slot before departing STR, according to the captain.
The flight also was far from full : 40 to 50 passengers.
With 4U, it's possible to choose a seat (in the rear half for the low-priced seats) and print oneself the boarding pass from 72 hours before the flight, but few pax had taken that opportunity. Boarding through the airbridge.
Take-off from runway 20. A pleasant flight in sunny weather all the way to Stuttgart, with a 360° before the final approach.
The 4U usually park in the middle of the apron, next to Air Berlin, and the passengers are bussed to the terminal.

Stuttgart-Brussels - 4U 2164 - same day
Scheduled : 18.40 - 19.40
Actual : power on at 18.37, off at 19.45
Flight time : 18.47 - 19.38 : 51 min
A319 D-AKNR

Gate 325, bussed to the aircraft. There were only some 30-40 passengers.
Same as this morning :
- four flight attendants (not overworked !).
- in the seat pocket : the menu, flight magazine, safety card and the small bag in case of ...
- a communication from a pilot before departure and at mid-flight
Clouds before the border, first below us, then above us after beginning the descent in the grey.
I was in 24F, and I seemed to see (no guarantee !) : Visé - the Albert canal at Lanaye and then far on the right - above a "runway 23" (?) - Rumst - Willebroek - Mechelen before landing on runway 20. With quite a few changes of heading in the process.
Docked at the first gate on the south side of pier A - conveniently the closest to the exit.

Two very pleasant flights without any snag save for the slight delay in the morning.
(I had paid 77,98 euros for the return trip, booked in march, soon after Germanwings announcement).

Stuttgart airport has four terminals, they are in a row and one can pass from one to the other without difficulty.
The town can be reached by the S-bahn. The station is under T1. It takes 27 min to the Hauptbahnhof, and the trains are frequent.
There is a visitor's terrace at T3, level5. Access cost 2,5 euros (NO security check).
It provides an unobstructed view on the apron and the runway ( one end of the runway is just in front of the terminal, the other is farther on the left). There is a bar for the thirsty !
There are a few small airplanes on that terrace (in not too good a condition): Do27 D-PEPO, Harvard AT66 D-FOBY, Me108 Taifun D-EFAG, Piaggio P149D D-EAMG, Antonov An2 SP-ANL, a Polish helicopter Mi2, and a Junker F13 D1.

Rall Air ( T3, L5) offer tourism flights in light aircraft, from 99 euros/person :
http://www.flughafen-stuttgart.de/sys/i ... ntentId=70

[Established02]

Thanks for the report, airazurxtror.

Those loads may seem to be a bit worryful (for an A319), but on the other hand this is obviously not a regular business week.

In terms of pricing:

Germanwings goes a long way to make sure that their (all inclusive) fares ALL end with 9,99 or 9,00!.
Other airlines may do this kind of cosmetics for their promotional fares, but not for each and every fare.

Germanwings does not have a minimum stay, allowing day return travel starting from less than 100 EUR.
However closer to departure their fares also enter the 400-600 EUR range (return).

[sn26567]

Thanks for reporting!

I always thought the A319 would be an overkill on this route. Not so long ago I flew with an LH CRJ200, and that was the right size of plane. I wonder if 4U will continue with such low load factors; they cannot change to a smaller plane: they don't have any!

[airtrainer]

Thanks for your report, the schedules and the presence of a visitor terrace look nice for a daytrip

[Inquirer]

Those loads may seem to be a bit worryful (for an A319), but on the other hand this is obviously not a regular business week.

Those loads seem to be in line with what I've observed on the route too as a passenger.

Flown it many many times when it was still Lufthansa doing the flight and I also used Germanwings twice already: never saw more than medium dubble digit passenger numbers, ever.

I don't fully understand why Lufthansa decided to transfer this particular flight from their regional CRJ operations to Germanwings which has to operate it with Airbus now: is it because the Lufthansa regional base in STR closed down and they didn't want to axe the route, or what was the reason?

And why haven't they passed it on to BRU Airlines then, just like they did with Hannover?

[CRJ 900]

Hi,
Actually at STR waiting for a flight to ZRH. Came in earlier this week with LX noon flight from ZRH. If it may be of any comfort for the BRU flights, on this fligth there were only 25 pax (ARJ 100). Of course the holiday period could be a reason, but nevertheless I also noted that the A319 is way too big for the STR route to BRU. The CRJ700 of LH City Line or the F100 from Contactair were much more suited. Also the reduction to 2 flights, cancelling the afternoon flight was not ideal. This is the main reason why I 'm flying LX now.
Regarding the spotting: nothing really spectacular here. The most exciting things are a parked C5 Galaxy from the USAF and a B757 from UA to New York. For the rest a few A319/320 (Air France, Air Berlin, Germanwings), a Lufthansa B737, a F70 from KLM.
Rgds,
CRJ 900

[tolipanebas]

I don't fully understand why Lufthansa decided to transfer this particular flight from their regional CRJ operations to Germanwings which has to operate it with Airbus now: is it because the Lufthansa regional base in STR closed down and they didn't want to axe the route, or what was the reason?
And why haven't they passed it on to BRU Airlines then, just like they did with Hannover?

It's part of Lufthansa's plan to focus only on FRA, MUC, DUS and also BER in future, while spinning off all their "direct services" as they call them.

SN was considered an option for the BRU-STR route, but they don't have the right plane for this route at present. Wetleasing another Q400 for just this route alone isn't very efficient either as it is only twice daily (contrary to HAJ which is trice daily and thus pretty much occupies the plane the whole day) and on top of that STR happens to be the homebase of Germanwings which had ample capacity available for two short hops to BRU, so contrary to the flight to HAJ, STR didn't make it onto the SN network. However, who knows wat the future may bring?

[Comet]

Interesting report. I only wish more airports would provide a visitors terrace, there used to be a good one at BHX (along with an excellent bookshop) but that has closed according to the website. In three weeks I will be flying from what is probably the worst airport in the UK for viewing - Leeds Bradford. I wish they had provided a viewing facility in their much-publicised "improvements". (I suppose a viewing area is asking a bit much for an airport which has apparently closed down the only place before security where you could have a hot meal!)