LFC AIRLIFT with fans to the KIEV FINAL - May 2018
Jun 16, 2018 17:11:41 GMT 1
Beemer, dovermire, and 4 more like this
Post by viscount on Jun 16, 2018 17:11:41 GMT 1
Yes, I'll agree that this subject is hardly the territory of the 'Nostalgia' section - yet! However it will not be long before we are reminiscing about the weekend that brought in passenger carrying Boeing 787, Airbus A.340-600 and Airbus A.330-200 aircraft and airliners from operators as diverse as South African, Ethiopian, Jordan Aviation, Wind Rose, Ukraine International, Star East and Air Bucharest.
Having compiled reports and summary lists for the 4 previous LFC Cup finals in European Competition this century, it makes sense to now compile the lists and summaries for Kiev now in the same format. On a subsequent post I'll compare the airlift statistics for the 5 games, even though they are not really comparable!
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
Saturday 26th May 2018 KIEV
Liverpool FC v Real Madrid
Even Liverpool FC's manager Jurgen Klopp apparently commented that he was as surprised as everyone else that LFC were in another European Final. Certainly the Quarter and Semi-Final rounds their opponents, Manchester City and AC Milan were both tipped by the 'pundits' to be come out winner - but lost by a margin. With the defeat of AC Milan in an nail-biting match, Cup Final ticket fever swept Merseyside. There were two major problems, getting hold of a ticket and then getting right across the width of Europe to the Capital of the Ukraine. Travel agents acting for Real Madrid fans had a head-start finding airlines with aircraft and crews spare at a weekend. Previously Finals have all been mid-week when charter airlines have spare capacity, May being shoulder-season. While schedule airlines might have spare capacity Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning there was insufficient time to transport fans to Kiev. However some quick-thinking by British agents did see week-end stopping flights from Africa by both South African and Ethiopian being targeted and chartered. Overall there was a desperate shortage of available aircraft - a situation felt by the fans of both Madrid and Liverpool. While charter organisers desperately searched for aircraft, other fans with instincts already honed from earlier finals and away games around Europe looked on the Internet to connect flights, often by obscure routes to get to Kiev.
Not all went smoothly, on the Thursday before the game there was an issue over Ethiopian being refused slots into Kiev with appeals direct to the Ukrainian President. No sooner than those cancelled flights were 'on' again than another operator, using a leased-in MD-83 discovered the American crew could not operate within legal limits, so pulled out leaving fans frustrated on the Friday - getting your money back hardly makes up for the let-down.
Three new trends appearing this year when compared to previous across Europe finals in Istanbul and Athens. One the use of smaller aircraft eg Airbus A.319 and Boeing 737-300/700 rather than Airbus A.321 and Boeing 737-800s, previously the trend had been for ever larger aircraft (which could be linked with very few charter airlines having larger single aisle Boeings or Airbuses available. Secondly an increase in a new type of operator flying executive charter airliners - full size airliners fitted with executive low density seating eg Titan, Air X, GainJet and KlasJet. While thirdly, in the past a number of airlines have provided multiple return flights, no so this year, with only Vueling operating four return flights and TUI Netherlands with two return flights, most operators flying just the one round trip.
One must hope that UEFA sit down and think about the issues faced by the fans, not simply just how much income UEFA has generated for its own funds. Three weeks is a very short time for thousands of fans to arrange transport. The charter operators seriously struggled to find aircraft available over a weekend in Europe in May, so could not match the number of tickets allocated to them. With finding aircraft from airlines outside of Europe all sorts of licencing issues, clearances and political considerations come into play. Then there was the farcical issues of aircraft not being granted slots to land at Kiev. If Kiev's Airport(s) could not cope, why was Kiev ever selected as a host? The airlines did well to roster aircraft, crews, relief crews, accommodation for off-duty crews, fuel (Kiev Airport rationed fuel as not enough could be obtained), appoint ground handling agents, get diplomatic clearances, CAA clearance (in the case of non-EU operators) slots across Europe and at Kiev etc etc … phew, and all in a very limited number of days.
The final totals, while smaller than both Istanbul and Athens are still highly creditable. From LJLA alone there were 32 outbound and 32 inbound charters, plus a biz-jet. While no 'Jumbo' jets this year, there were 5 flights using wide-body aircraft: Airbus A.340-600, A.330-200, Boeing 787-9 and a double run by a Boeing 767-300. The 32 flights outbound used 28 different aircraft, inbound the 32 flights used 27 different aircraft - some 33 different airliners used in all. The airlift did bring into LJLA passengers on Airbus A.340-600 and Boeing 787-9 for the first time (although the types had visited before on crew familiarisation and route proving before. It also brought two global airlines: South African Airways and Ethiopian into Liverpool for the first time. As always, the Airport and staff rose to the occasion smoothly handling a vastly increased workload while not inconveniencing the normal scheduled passenger throughput.
FIRSTS AND LASTS
First aircraft to depart was GainJet's Boeing 737-400 SX-ATF with team and officials departing on Thursday 24th at 14:28.
Last aircraft to depart from LJLA with fans was South African A.330-200 ZS-SXW at 11:38 on Saturday 26th, although a biz-jet left even later.
First aircraft to arrive back was a biz-jet, first airliner was Danish Air Transport Airbus A.320 OY-LHD at 04:08 Sunday morning
The only aircraft not to return on Sunday was Ethiopian Boeing 787/9 ET-AUP landing at 14:47 on Monday 29th.
There were 22 different airlines/operators involved, wearing 17 different registration nationalities (18 if the biz-jet is included!), using 9 different aircraft family types (or 15 aircraft type variants if you want to produce a larger number), with 33 different airliner aircraft used in all. The sole biz-jet was Legacy 500 M-ORIS.
OPERATORS, TYPES AND REGISTRATIONS
In addition there are known to have been flights from Manchester and Birmingham operated by Transavia France Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Likely others - if you kept a list, please PM me so I can add them here.
Having compiled reports and summary lists for the 4 previous LFC Cup finals in European Competition this century, it makes sense to now compile the lists and summaries for Kiev now in the same format. On a subsequent post I'll compare the airlift statistics for the 5 games, even though they are not really comparable!
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
Saturday 26th May 2018 KIEV
Liverpool FC v Real Madrid
Even Liverpool FC's manager Jurgen Klopp apparently commented that he was as surprised as everyone else that LFC were in another European Final. Certainly the Quarter and Semi-Final rounds their opponents, Manchester City and AC Milan were both tipped by the 'pundits' to be come out winner - but lost by a margin. With the defeat of AC Milan in an nail-biting match, Cup Final ticket fever swept Merseyside. There were two major problems, getting hold of a ticket and then getting right across the width of Europe to the Capital of the Ukraine. Travel agents acting for Real Madrid fans had a head-start finding airlines with aircraft and crews spare at a weekend. Previously Finals have all been mid-week when charter airlines have spare capacity, May being shoulder-season. While schedule airlines might have spare capacity Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning there was insufficient time to transport fans to Kiev. However some quick-thinking by British agents did see week-end stopping flights from Africa by both South African and Ethiopian being targeted and chartered. Overall there was a desperate shortage of available aircraft - a situation felt by the fans of both Madrid and Liverpool. While charter organisers desperately searched for aircraft, other fans with instincts already honed from earlier finals and away games around Europe looked on the Internet to connect flights, often by obscure routes to get to Kiev.
Not all went smoothly, on the Thursday before the game there was an issue over Ethiopian being refused slots into Kiev with appeals direct to the Ukrainian President. No sooner than those cancelled flights were 'on' again than another operator, using a leased-in MD-83 discovered the American crew could not operate within legal limits, so pulled out leaving fans frustrated on the Friday - getting your money back hardly makes up for the let-down.
Three new trends appearing this year when compared to previous across Europe finals in Istanbul and Athens. One the use of smaller aircraft eg Airbus A.319 and Boeing 737-300/700 rather than Airbus A.321 and Boeing 737-800s, previously the trend had been for ever larger aircraft (which could be linked with very few charter airlines having larger single aisle Boeings or Airbuses available. Secondly an increase in a new type of operator flying executive charter airliners - full size airliners fitted with executive low density seating eg Titan, Air X, GainJet and KlasJet. While thirdly, in the past a number of airlines have provided multiple return flights, no so this year, with only Vueling operating four return flights and TUI Netherlands with two return flights, most operators flying just the one round trip.
One must hope that UEFA sit down and think about the issues faced by the fans, not simply just how much income UEFA has generated for its own funds. Three weeks is a very short time for thousands of fans to arrange transport. The charter operators seriously struggled to find aircraft available over a weekend in Europe in May, so could not match the number of tickets allocated to them. With finding aircraft from airlines outside of Europe all sorts of licencing issues, clearances and political considerations come into play. Then there was the farcical issues of aircraft not being granted slots to land at Kiev. If Kiev's Airport(s) could not cope, why was Kiev ever selected as a host? The airlines did well to roster aircraft, crews, relief crews, accommodation for off-duty crews, fuel (Kiev Airport rationed fuel as not enough could be obtained), appoint ground handling agents, get diplomatic clearances, CAA clearance (in the case of non-EU operators) slots across Europe and at Kiev etc etc … phew, and all in a very limited number of days.
The final totals, while smaller than both Istanbul and Athens are still highly creditable. From LJLA alone there were 32 outbound and 32 inbound charters, plus a biz-jet. While no 'Jumbo' jets this year, there were 5 flights using wide-body aircraft: Airbus A.340-600, A.330-200, Boeing 787-9 and a double run by a Boeing 767-300. The 32 flights outbound used 28 different aircraft, inbound the 32 flights used 27 different aircraft - some 33 different airliners used in all. The airlift did bring into LJLA passengers on Airbus A.340-600 and Boeing 787-9 for the first time (although the types had visited before on crew familiarisation and route proving before. It also brought two global airlines: South African Airways and Ethiopian into Liverpool for the first time. As always, the Airport and staff rose to the occasion smoothly handling a vastly increased workload while not inconveniencing the normal scheduled passenger throughput.
FIRSTS AND LASTS
First aircraft to depart was GainJet's Boeing 737-400 SX-ATF with team and officials departing on Thursday 24th at 14:28.
Last aircraft to depart from LJLA with fans was South African A.330-200 ZS-SXW at 11:38 on Saturday 26th, although a biz-jet left even later.
First aircraft to arrive back was a biz-jet, first airliner was Danish Air Transport Airbus A.320 OY-LHD at 04:08 Sunday morning
The only aircraft not to return on Sunday was Ethiopian Boeing 787/9 ET-AUP landing at 14:47 on Monday 29th.
There were 22 different airlines/operators involved, wearing 17 different registration nationalities (18 if the biz-jet is included!), using 9 different aircraft family types (or 15 aircraft type variants if you want to produce a larger number), with 33 different airliner aircraft used in all. The sole biz-jet was Legacy 500 M-ORIS.
OPERATORS, TYPES AND REGISTRATIONS
Prefix Nationality Aircraft types Code Airline/Operator
9A- Croatia Airbus A.319 AAF Aigle Azure
9H- Malta Airbus A.320 AUI Ukraine International
D- Germany Airbus A.321 AWC Titan
EC- Spain Airbus A.330-200 AXY Air X Charter
ET- Ethiopia Airbus A.340-600 BAY Bravo Airways
F- France Boeing 737-300 BMS Blue Air
G- Great Britain Boeing 737-400 BUR Air Bucharest
JY- Jordan Boeing 737-500 CSA Czech Airlines
LY- Lithuania Boeing 737-700 DTR Danish Air Transport
OK- Czech Republic Boeing 737-800 ENT Enter Air
OY- Denmark Boeing 757-200 ETH Ethiopian Airlines
PH- Netherlands Boeing 767-300 GNJ GainJet
SP- Poland Boeing 787-9 JAV Jordan Aviation
SX- Greece Fokker 100 KLJ KlasJet
UR- Ukraine MDD MD-83 PAV Pro Air
YR- Romania SAA South African Airlines
ZS- South Africa SEK Star East Airlines
plus TCX Thomas Cook Airlines
M- Isle of Man TDR Trade Air
worm by a biz-jet TFL Arklefly/TUI Netherlands
VLG Vueling
WRC Wind Rose
Airline Code Flights operated Aircraft type, registration and legs operated (return unless stated)
Aigle Azur AAF 1 return flight Airbus A.320 F-HBAO
Air Bucharest BUR 1 return flight Boeing 737-300 YR-TIB
Air X Charter AXY 1 return flight Boeing 737-500 9H-YES
Arklefly/TUI Netherlands TFL 2 return flights Boeing 767-300 PH-OYI (double runs)
Blue Air BMS 1 return flight Boeing 737-700 YR-BMA
Bravo Airways BAY 1 return flight MDD MD-83 UR-COC
Czech Airlines/CSA CSA 1 return flight Airbus A.319 OK-NEO
Danish Air Transport DTR 1 return flight Airbus A.320 OY-LHD
Enter Air ENT 1 return flight Boeing 737-800 SP-ESA
Ethiopian Airways ETH 1 return flight Boeing 787-9 ET-AUO (o/b), ET-AUP (i/b)
GainJet GNJ 3 o/b & 2 i/b Boeing 757-200 SX-RFA
Boeing 737-400 SX-ATF (double run o/b, 1 x i/b)
Jordan Aviation JAV 1 return flight Boeing 737-300 JY-JAX
KlasJet KLJ 1 return flight Boeing 737-500 LY-KLJ
Pro Air PAV 1 return flight Canadair CRJ-200 D-AGRA
South African Airways SAA 2 return flights Airbus A.340-600 ZS-SNC
Airbus A.330-200 ZS-SXW (o/b), ZS-SXY (i/b)
Star East Airlines SEK 1 return flight Boeing 737-400 YR-SEB
Thomas Cook TCX 1 return flight Airbus A.319 LY-VET (Avion Express a/c)
Titan Airways AWC 2 o/b & 3 i/b Boeing 737-400 EC-LNC (Alba-Star a/c) o/b; G-POWS (2 x i/b)
Boeing 737-300 G-POWC
Trade Air TDR 1 return flight Fokker 100 9A-BTD
Ukraine International AUI 1 o/b & 2 i/b Boeing 737-800 UR-PSZ (o/b), UR-PSM (i/b)
Vueling VLG 4 return flights Airbus A.320 EC-MJB (2 x o/b), EC-MXP (1 x o/b), EC-KLT (1 o/b + 2 i/b), EC-LQM (2 x i/b)
Wind Rose WRC 3 o/b & 2 i/b Airbus A.321 UR-WRJ (double runs)
Airbus A.320 UR-WRM (1 x o/b)
plus Liverpool based Embraer EMB-550 Legacy 500 biz-jet M-ORIS
In addition there are known to have been flights from Manchester and Birmingham operated by Transavia France Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Likely others - if you kept a list, please PM me so I can add them here.