Post by viscount on May 12, 2018 16:58:08 GMT 1
In European competition EFC and particularly LFC have been successful in reaching the Cup Final stage 14 times over the years (that includes Kiev 2018). The 9 Finals in the period 1966-1985 have been covered on the thread derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/28359/liverpool-airport-football-aircraft-1962, with Rome in 1977 having its own thread derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/17375/airlift-rome-1977-european-final and EFC at Rotterdam and LFC at Brussels, both in 1985 their own thread derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/15237/european-football-finals-airlifts-images . However, for various reasons the last four LFC finals in European Competition have had no current ‘Nostalgia’ section entries. Dortmund 2001, Istanbul 2005, Athens 2007 reports and photos were all ‘lost’ when forum host xsorbit shut-down in 2009 and again when Dave Graham closed down his NWAN website in 2014; while Basel 2015 has to be discovered many archived pages back of the LJLA ‘daily’ threads. My intention in May 2018, in the run-up to the Kiev final, is to put that right with a summary of the aircraft used and comments, then with the help of the photographers lined up on 27 mound at the time, hopefully plenty of images to recall the sight of so many aircraft and operators involved in each fans’ airlift. So having already prepared and posted Liverpool FC’s first European final of the 21st Century, the now largely overlooked match at Dortmund 2001. This then is coverage of the well remembered Istanbul Final of 2005.
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
Wednesday 25th May 2005 ISTANBUL
Liverpool FC v AC Milan
Some 20 years after their previous appearance in a Final of the (then) European Cup at Heysel Stadium, Brussels in 1985 when beaten by Juventus and disgraced by their own “fans”; in 2005 LFC played themselves into the Final of the Champions League again. The 2005 Final was being played in the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, their opponents AC Milan. Over the years ticket allocation rules have been amended by EUFA, with an increasing number allocated to the participating team’s supporters rather than spread across all the Nations in EUFA. While LFC’s excursion to Dortmund in the EUFA Cup in 2001 involved around 19 return flights, for Istanbul in 2005 this doubled to around 42 flights – and many using larger aircraft.
The easiest way of getting to Istanbul was by charter flight. Low cost carriers had yet to make major inroads to the countries on the East side of Europe, so the routes and frequencies offered by National scheduled carriers were limited. Adventurous fans booked on Bulgarian I/T holidays and travelled to Istanbul from the Black Sea Coast. Some got to Northern Greece as tourists then made their way across the notorious Greek-Turkish border to Istanbul. The majority of LFC fans opted to fly on chartered aircraft into Istanbul’s new Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Only the team and a biz-jet used the main Ataturk Airport.
The final totals are staggering, including the team aircraft there were 42 flights outbound and 43 back, with 33 different aircraft involved (34 back) involving around 23 airline operators. In all 42 different aircraft registrations noted during the airlift. No less than 12 wide-body flights (all twin engine types) flew outbound (13 back). The stats are easy to summarise, however the actual detail is confusing as a number of plane loads of passengers departed with one airline and returned with another, sometimes on a totally different aircraft type too. In addition a considerable number of flights operated from Manchester and a few from the London region. As Liverpool Airport (since 2002 more correctly John Lennon Airport) had a ban in place on 4-engined wide body types (see the 2001 Dortmund thread for the reason why) a number of flights, including the largest capacity aircraft operated from Manchester Airport .
Liverpool Airport had planned well for the exodus of fans, which worked well through the recently greatly enlarged (in 2002) terminal building, which though stretched at times coped well. If memory serves me correct (I cannot find this written anywhere in the 2005 NWAN magazine) the departure from the Airport by the team on open-top double-decker buses caused great congestion on the airport approach road – and around much of the City of Liverpool too!
FIRSTS AND LASTS
First departure outbound was an Excel Airways Boeing &37-800 G-XLAF at 1017 on Monday 23rd
Last departure outbound was the LTU Airbus A.330 at 1053 on Wednesday 25th
Team and staff flew out on Titan Boeing 757-200 G-ZAPU 1439 on Monday 23rd, back 1626 on Thursday 26th
First arrival back a Monarch Airbus A.330 G-SMAN at 0611 on Thursday 26th
Final arrival back was the Volair Airbus A.321 EC-IXY at 0900 on Friday 27th
22 airlines were involved, of 14 different registration nationalities, using 7 aircraft types (or 10 different variants of aircraft if you want to swell the number!), with 42 different aircraft involved. There was just the one biz-jet flown from Liverpool, a Challenger 600 D-BUSY to add to the airline tot
als.
OPERATORS, TYPES AND REGISTRATIONS
Well that just leaves a plea for others to illustrate this thread – and there is plenty of potential with so many aircraft involved, or for anyone who went to the Istanbul final to recount their adventures.
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
Wednesday 25th May 2005 ISTANBUL
Liverpool FC v AC Milan
Some 20 years after their previous appearance in a Final of the (then) European Cup at Heysel Stadium, Brussels in 1985 when beaten by Juventus and disgraced by their own “fans”; in 2005 LFC played themselves into the Final of the Champions League again. The 2005 Final was being played in the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, their opponents AC Milan. Over the years ticket allocation rules have been amended by EUFA, with an increasing number allocated to the participating team’s supporters rather than spread across all the Nations in EUFA. While LFC’s excursion to Dortmund in the EUFA Cup in 2001 involved around 19 return flights, for Istanbul in 2005 this doubled to around 42 flights – and many using larger aircraft.
The easiest way of getting to Istanbul was by charter flight. Low cost carriers had yet to make major inroads to the countries on the East side of Europe, so the routes and frequencies offered by National scheduled carriers were limited. Adventurous fans booked on Bulgarian I/T holidays and travelled to Istanbul from the Black Sea Coast. Some got to Northern Greece as tourists then made their way across the notorious Greek-Turkish border to Istanbul. The majority of LFC fans opted to fly on chartered aircraft into Istanbul’s new Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Only the team and a biz-jet used the main Ataturk Airport.
The final totals are staggering, including the team aircraft there were 42 flights outbound and 43 back, with 33 different aircraft involved (34 back) involving around 23 airline operators. In all 42 different aircraft registrations noted during the airlift. No less than 12 wide-body flights (all twin engine types) flew outbound (13 back). The stats are easy to summarise, however the actual detail is confusing as a number of plane loads of passengers departed with one airline and returned with another, sometimes on a totally different aircraft type too. In addition a considerable number of flights operated from Manchester and a few from the London region. As Liverpool Airport (since 2002 more correctly John Lennon Airport) had a ban in place on 4-engined wide body types (see the 2001 Dortmund thread for the reason why) a number of flights, including the largest capacity aircraft operated from Manchester Airport .
Liverpool Airport had planned well for the exodus of fans, which worked well through the recently greatly enlarged (in 2002) terminal building, which though stretched at times coped well. If memory serves me correct (I cannot find this written anywhere in the 2005 NWAN magazine) the departure from the Airport by the team on open-top double-decker buses caused great congestion on the airport approach road – and around much of the City of Liverpool too!
FIRSTS AND LASTS
First departure outbound was an Excel Airways Boeing &37-800 G-XLAF at 1017 on Monday 23rd
Last departure outbound was the LTU Airbus A.330 at 1053 on Wednesday 25th
Team and staff flew out on Titan Boeing 757-200 G-ZAPU 1439 on Monday 23rd, back 1626 on Thursday 26th
First arrival back a Monarch Airbus A.330 G-SMAN at 0611 on Thursday 26th
Final arrival back was the Volair Airbus A.321 EC-IXY at 0900 on Friday 27th
22 airlines were involved, of 14 different registration nationalities, using 7 aircraft types (or 10 different variants of aircraft if you want to swell the number!), with 42 different aircraft involved. There was just the one biz-jet flown from Liverpool, a Challenger 600 D-BUSY to add to the airline tot
als.
OPERATORS, TYPES AND REGISTRATIONS
Prefix Nationality Aircraft Types Code used
9H- Malta Airbus A.300 AMC Air Malta Charter
D- Germany Airbus A.320 ARF Aero Flight
EC- Spain Airbus A.321 AWC Titan Airways
EI- Rep. of Ireland Airbus A.330 BLE Blue Line
F- France Boeing 737-400 EIR Eir Jet
G- Great Britain Boeing 737-800 FJE Fly Jet
HB- Switzerland Boeing 757-200 FUA Futura International
OK Czech Republic Boeing 767-300 GRE Air Scotland Greece
OM Slovakia MDD MD-83 IWD Iberworld
OY- Denmark MDD MD-90 LTE Volair
PH- Netherlands LTU LTU
SX- Greece MNB MNG Airlines
TC- Turkey MON Monarch Airlines
TF- Iceland OHY Onur Air
SCY Air Scandic
SEU Star Airlines
SVK Air Slovak
TRA Transavia
TVS Travel Service Airline
VKG Air Greenland
VVF World Focus
XLA Excel Airways
Airline code Flights operated Aircraft, registrations and legs operated (return unless stated)
Excel Airways XLA 3 x o/b only flts Boeing 737-800 G-XLAF (x2 o/b), G-OXLA (x1 o/b only)
Fly Jet FJE 2 x return flights Boeing 757-200 G-FJEA (x2 returns)
Monarch Airlines MON 7 x ret flts & 1 i/b Airbus A.300 G-MAJS, G-OJMR, G-MONR
Airbus A.330 G-SMAN (a return flight) , G-EOMA (i/b only)
Boeing 767-300 G-DIMB (x2 returns)
Boeing 757-200 G-MONJ (o/b), G-MONK (i/b)
Titan Airlines AWC 1 x return flt Boeing 757-200 G-ZAPU (team & staff)
Aero Flight ARF 1 x return flt Airbus A.320 D-ARFD (o/b), D-ARFF (i/b)
Air Greenland VKL 1 x return flt Boeing 757-200 OY-GRL
Air Malta AMC 1 x outbound only Airbus A.320 9H-AEF
Air Scandic SCY 9 x return flights Boeing 757-200 TF-FIW (x3 returns)
MDD MD-83 F-GMLI (x2 returns) of Blue Line
MDD MD-90 HB-JIC (x3 returns), HB-JIA (1x return) both of Hello
Air Scotland GRE 1 x return flight Boeing 757-200 SX-BLW
Air Slavakia SVK 1 x return flight Boeing 757-200 OM-SNA
Blue Line BLE 1 x return flight MDD MD-83 F-GMLK
Eir Jet EIR 1 x return flight Airbus A.320 EI-DIJ
Futura Intern'l FUA 1 x return flight Boeing 737-800 EC-JGE (o/b), EC-DGZ (i/b)
Iberworld IWD 1 x ret flight & 1 i/b Airbus A.320 EC-GZD & EI-DIG (i/b only)
LTU LTU 1 x return flight Airbus A.330 D-ALPB
MNG Airlines MNB 2 x ret flights & 1 i/b Airbus A.300 TC-MNE
MDD MD-82 TC-MNO
Boeing 737-400 TC-MNI (i/b only)
Onur Air OHY 4 x return flights Airbus A.300 TC-ONU, TC-OAA, TC-OAB, TC-OAG
Star Airlines SEU 1 x return flight Airbus A.320 F-GRSN
Transavia TRA 1 x inbound flt only Boeing 737-800 PH-HZG
Travel Service TVS 1 x return flight Boeing 737-800 OK-TVC (o/b), OK-TND (i/b)
Volar LTE 2 x return flights Airbus A.321 EC-IXY (2 x returns)
World Focus VVF 1 x extra i/b flt only MDD MD-83 TC-AKL (extra i/b only)
FLIGHTS OPERATING FROM MANCHESTER
Excel Airways XLA 1 x inbound flt only Boeing 737-800 G-XLAC
Flying Colours FCA 1 x return flight Boeing 757-200 G-CPEV
Fly Jet TJE 1 x outbound flight Boeing 757-200 G-FJEA
Air Atlanta Eur' EUK 4 x return flights Boeing 747-200 TF-ABP (2 o/b, 1 i/b), TF-ARO (1 o/b, 3 i/b), B.747-300 TF-AME (1 o/b).
Fly Air FLM 1 x return flight Airbus A.300 TF-FLK
Freebird Airline FHY 1 x outbound flight Airbus A.320 TC-FBE
Futura Airways FUA 1 x return flight Boeing 737-800 EC-JFB (o/b), EI-DIT (i/b)
MNG Pax MNB 1 x return flight Airbus A.300 TC-MNY
Onur Air OHY 1 x return flight Airbus A.321 TC-OAL (o/b), TC-OAK i/b)
Pegasus PGT 4 x return flights Boeing 737-400 TC-APR (3 o/b, 2 i/b), TC-APD, TC-AAP (i/b only)
Swissair SWR 1 x return flight Airbus A.321 HB-IOK
Turkish Airlines THY 3 x return & 1 x i/b Airbus A.340 TC-JDK (i/b only - extra flight?)
Boeing 737-800 TC-JFF (ret), TC-JFT (o/b), TC-JFC (o/b), TC-JFN (i/b), TCJFD (i/b)
Volar LTE 1 x inbound flt only Airbus A.321 EC-IXY (i/b only)
Well that just leaves a plea for others to illustrate this thread – and there is plenty of potential with so many aircraft involved, or for anyone who went to the Istanbul final to recount their adventures.
