Trip report: Antwerp - Barcelona and back

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PttU
Posts: 419
Joined: 24 Nov 2015, 15:07

Trip report: Antwerp - Barcelona and back

Post by PttU »

After enjoying reading others' flight reports on this forum, I decided to try and make a first trip report myself. A short trip for a long weekend in Barcelona seemed an ideal opportunity. Member Shengenzone seemed to have made a similar tripreport about a year ago, even with a video report which can be found in http://luchtzak.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=58062, I'm afraid I can't beat that on my first attempt ;-)

TUI fly, previously known as Jetairfly has several flights between Antwerp and Barcelona each week: in the current winter schedule there are flights on Wednesday (on the early afternoon), Friday and Sunday. The outbound flight we chose was Friday, early in the morning to enjoy as much time as possible in Barcelona:
Flight: TB5535
Date: 24/3/2017
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-190STD OO-JEB "Navigator"
From-To: Antwerp - Barcelona (ANR-BCN)
Seat: 21D/F
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 06:30/06:42 (GMT+1)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 08:25/08:30 (GMT+1)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 1hr 55min/1 hr 48 min

After the end of VLM, Chalair and previously other flights, the departures screen looks quite empty nowadays...
Image

Arriving at the airport around 05:30 it only took a few moments to walk through security and wait at the gate. Boarding started at 6:00 AM and at 6:37 the aircraft started rolling. With a light wind from the east, take off would be from RWY 11. After a short taxi to the beginning of the runway, full power to the engines and at 6:42 we were airborne, leaving Antwerp behind us. With a gentle turn to the right we were heading south, with the last views on the southern suburbs of Antwerp, heading for Barcelona. After a turbulent first few moments, the rest of the flight was smooth.
Load factor was about 95%, leaving only a few empty seats in this 112-seat airplane. About 1.5 hours later, the flight deck informed us Barcelona could be seen as we approached BCN airport from the north. Touching down on RWY 25R at 8:30, and arriving a few moments later at gate U33 where passengers for the return flight were already waiting. We left Terminal 2 and made our way to the city to enjoy the weekend.

And back...
The return flight was the Sunday-flight, conveniently late in the evening.
Image
The incoming flight was parked at remote stand 132, so a short bus trip brought us from gate U41 to the same airplane that brought us to Barcelona a few days before. This OO-JEB operates all rotations to and from Antwerp since end of January, probably until it's time for maintenance...

Flight: TB7358
Date: 26/3/2017
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-190STD OO-JEB "Navigator"
From-To: Barcelona - Antwerp (BCN-ANR)
Seat: 19A/B
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 19:55/20:04 (GMT+2, DST...)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 22:00/21:57 (GMT+2)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 2 hr 05 min/1 hr 53 min

The bus-trip to the airplane wasn't that far, but the aircraft took a long way to the runway for departure. At 20:01 the engines were started and at 20:04 we started taxiing around 25R/07L towards 25L where we took off at 20:16. After a sharp turn left we took a long turn right to fly north, back over land towards Antwerp, the setting sun at our side.
Just as in the outbound flight on Friday, the load factor was again around 95%, with just some empty seats, and the first part of the flight was bumpy due to turbulence, and smooth later on.
As Night has fallen and skies were clear, we had a nice view on the lights of Flanders, with Ghent clearly visible and an approach over Antwerp, with a bright lit harbor and city center. We touched down at 21:57, turning at the end of the runway and taxiing back to the terminal, arriving at the apron at 22:01.
With only hand luggage, you could walk right out of the terminal, leaving the airport maybe 10 minutes after landing. Having check baggage, we waited at the belt. Even with a small delay due to a problem with a baggage cart, it only took a few moments to get our bags, super fast compared to big airports like Barcelona or Brussels. As the crew passed by while waiting, it seems this flight had an all-female crew.

The experience?
For the ANR-BCN flight we only had hand luggage, and after checking in on-line we could walk straight to the security checks which didn't take much time. All passengers were for the same flight, so not too busy, and checks went smooth. Construction works at the gates are still in progress, I'm eager to see the results. For the smaller flights from CityJet/VLM, there was enough space at the gates, but with the Embraers of TUI, there are more passengers, needing more space. When arriving back in Antwerp, the baggage reclaim area seems to be part of the construction site as well.
It certainly looks promising, looking like an up-to-date airport.

On-board there was a buy-on-board choice of food and drinks, served with a smile, only interrupted by the turbulence.

For only a short flight for a short trip, we didn't need more on board, and the short waiting times at Antwerp Airport (and being close to home), combined with the optimal timings of out- and inbound flights made this an ideal opportunity for a nice trip.

I hope you liked my trip report as much as I liked the trip. You want more trip reports from me? :)
Last edited by PttU on 28 Mar 2017, 08:26, edited 1 time in total.

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sn26567
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Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
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Re: Trip report: Antwerp - Barcelona and back

Post by sn26567 »

Thanks for your first report. Always nice to get new experiences.

It is certainly encouraging to see TUI getting high load factors to/from Antwerp. But a pity to see the ANR timetables so empty, although I'm surprised to see still 4 CityJet flights to LCY.

Just one small error on your first flight: "Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 1hr 55min/2 hr 12 min" -> I calculated an effective duration of 1hr 48 min :)
André
ex Sabena #26567

PttU
Posts: 419
Joined: 24 Nov 2015, 15:07

Re: Trip report: Antwerp - Barcelona and back

Post by PttU »

Indeed, corrected.

I think the CityJet flights to LCY are doing quite well, last time (in december) I flew this line, both in- and outbound flights were near fully booked, even with the ATR's of DAT being slightly bigger than VLM's F50s.

User avatar
sn26567
Posts: 40827
Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
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Re: Trip report: Antwerp - Barcelona and back

Post by sn26567 »

PttU wrote: 28 Mar 2017, 00:13 You want more trip reports from me? :)
Yes, keep them coming. I'll advertise them on our Facebook page. :)
André
ex Sabena #26567

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