The Greek Cypriot bus picked us up at 06:30 at the hotel in Kyrenia in the Turkish North, early enough to take care of the administration at the border on the Green Line (with UN soldiers watching) and the rush hour traffic jams in Nicosia.
Arrival at the airport at 08:10, two hours before departure, and plenty of time to queue with a huge crowd in front of the Cyprus Airways check-in desks.
- The queue in front of the CY check-in desks
- Our flight announced together with a CY/VS flight to LHR
Our gate 48 was the most remote one, but the airport is small and the distance is not comparable with what you have to log if you want to go to the T gates at Brussels.
- Larnaca, home to Cyprus Airways
- The departures table: noy many flights, CY334 easy to find
- Our A320 at gate 48
Date : 29/10/2012
Aircraft: Airbus A320-232 5B-DCJ "Amathus"
From-To: LCA-BRU (Larnaca-Brussels)
Seat: 23F (window right side, after wing)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 10:15/10:15 (GMT + 2)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 13:50/13:35 (GMT + 1)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 4 hrs 35 mins/4 hrs 20 mins
Friendly welcome by the 5 cabin crew (three ladies and two men). The economy class (nicely called "Aphrodite class") was full again, as during the outbound flight. But this time we had a higher density configuration with less leg room, although it was still at the limit of acceptability.
- Full load
- CY A319 at gate
Take-off to the East, followed by a 180° turn towards Nicosia in order to avoid flying over the Northern part of the country occupied by the Turkish Army. I could follow the route with a Google map until the coast of Turkey surrounded by Greek islands, but later we were over clouds until arrival at Brussels.
One hour after departure, a drink was served (free soft drinks - I chose apple juice -, alcoholic drinks at cost), followed by the dale of duty free goods. And two hours after departure we got a hot lunch (stewed beef with brown sauce and rice) and a dessert (pistachio custard), together with second drink.
- Nice hot meal
Landing in Brussels on 25L. But 50 metre before the gate the captain stopped the aircraft, took the microphone and said we had to wait for the optical guidance system to be switched on! First time this happened to me. After 5 minutes we could finally proceed to the gate in Terminal B, next to a JetairFly Boeing 737-700 (OO-JAO).
- Arrival next to OO-JAO, a JetairFly B737-700
Altogether a second nice flight on Cyprus Airways, despite the reduced leg room, but with a hot meal, a timely departure and an early arrival.
One word about Cyprus Airways to conclude. The airlines has been trimmed after financial difficulties. They have abandoned long-haul flights and got rid of their A330s. They kept a dozen A320 family aircraft:
- A319-132: 12C in dedicated 2-2 seating, 114Y
- A320-231: 15-25C in 2-3 seating, 131-143Y
- A320-232: 20C in dedicated 2-2 seating, 132Y
- A321-231: 20C in dedicated 2-2 seating, 171Y
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