Well a wee trip to Zurich and Lisbon lent the opportunity to see the new aircraft in the Swiss, Helvetic and Air Portugal fleets.
Starting off in EDI to LHR 320 YX with a pleasant flight down followed by an unexpected aircraft change to a 321 neo to ZRH on OT. The more I fly on these 321 neos the more I like them; today’s 757 replacement par excellence!
A very nice flight down to ZRH with lunch and a couple of G and T’s collect bags then head off to the observation deck to see those new 320 neos, 295s and lots of 221,223 in abundance. I stayed in the Holiday Inn Express Zurich Airport with a room with a magnificent view over to the ramp and midfield terminal. Joy! But the weather was cold, crisp, clear and…Baltic. Those four Air Baltic 223s operating on behalf of Swiss were quite at home. It was a sight to behold pushbacks nose to nose, one green 223 facing a red 295; red and green should never be seen except…in Zurich, all operating for Swiss.
The last day of January brought a new first for me. My flight to LIS on an Airbus 221. A window seat gave ample views of the spectacular, snowy Alps on a take off which evoked memories of the British Midland pocket rockets to EMA and LHR unfortunately no Diamond service but a Swiss fizzy white and salami pretzel were purchased at the princely sum of CHF 19! Life in Swiss land ain’t cheap!
Two hours twenty minutes later having crossed the cloud topped Iberian peninsula we descended into a cloudless, sunny sky into Lisbon.
Lots of lots of TAP,A330, 321,320 neos not to mention the CEO’s still in service as well as TAP Express Embraers all over the place including three leased from Bulgaria Air. Adding to the mix were SATA Azores with their 320/321 neos, easyJet with based 321 neos, Ryanair on lots of services including many domestic legs to Madeira and The Azores . AZUL, Latam , TAAG all added variety and colours to the ocean of red and green Air Portugal fleet. If IAG could/ did buy TP then they really could consolidate service to South America big style leaving air Europa as bit players.
Sunny Lisbon was lovely, the lounge had a fantastic view of the airfield but views were also very good from the gate areas too. 320 “UI” performed the return flight to LHR with a hot meal and hot and cold drinks served during the flight. Back to LHR for a quick transfer onwards to EDI on 320 “YD.”
It was good to see the 380s back in LHR again, something I didn’t see except on one service in ZRH to DXB but just before departure a new BA 787-10 taxied past. What an impressive aircraft…maybe my natural Boeing vibes are being reawoken!