Antalya June Weekend

[Speedy]

Good Morning,
I managed to place a tick on one of my aviation Bucket lists over the weekend with a trip to Otel Lara under the approach to Antalya Airport in Turkey. The weather was very hot which made it a very enjoyable weekend. The position of Antalya is also very interesting also for the many high altitude overflights transiting from Europe to North Africa and beyond ( and vice versa). I have posted a few pictures below of my visit.

C-GJLQ Jetlines by Paul Speed, on Flickr
A7-AHC QATAR A320 by Paul Speed, on Flickr
EX-32008 A320 Aero Nomad AL by Paul Speed, on Flickr
RA-64043 TU204 RED WINGS by Paul Speed, on Flickr
RA-89022 SSJ RED WINGS by Paul Speed, on Flickr
RA-89140 RED WINGS SSJ by Paul Speed, on Flickr
AFL B737 by Paul Speed, on Flickr
DSC05416 by Paul Speed, on Flickr
DSC05496 by Paul Speed, on Flickr
Fly One ER-00009 A321 by Paul Speed, on Flickr
IMG_2884 (003) by Paul Speed, on Flickr
SkyUp Airlines by Paul Speed, on Flickr
HB-JGQ Challenger 300 by Paul Speed, on Flickr
There a more pics on Flikr.

[Airbus A346]

Been there, done that, glad you enjoyed it 😊

[jonesy73]

Hello Paul,
Hope you are well, I was also on Antalya that weekend 22nd arrived and dept in the 29th. Did you get the regs of the Onur air and another in the middle presume stored please.
Great place especially with all the Russians, struggled on my phone to get regs though no internet.
Thanks again

[Speedy]

Hello A346 & Jonesy,

Yes I had a great weekend spotting from 0500 to nearly midnight over the few days (its a lot simpler when the Mrs is not in attendance).
The two aircraft which I think you are on about are TC-OBS the A320 of Onur Air and next to it was a Vim Airlines B757 RA-73011. Regarding the Internet I did a some investigations about the signal strength at the Hotel and it appeared the Wi Fi did not have great reviews amongst other terrible hotel reviews. I decided to buy a sim for £10 which covered my stay in Turkey and was a god send as it was well used and worth every penny.
Regarding the airport its self I have never seen so much un used apron space which seemed to go on for miles they must have had a great deal on the local concrete dealership. Also the airport must not employ a Flow control ATC person as we seemed to hold circling for about 30 minutes before we made an approach. I would not have minded if we arrived in the hold late but we got there about 10 mins before our arrival time then proceeded to spin around in the hold. This holding is not a one off if you look at FR24 it happens daily at Antalya. Surely a flight from the UK which takes 4 hours to get to Antalya can have some sort of stepped approach directly in if the flow was managed correctly. It must cost the airlines a fortune burning fuel in the hold. Not sure where to go next on the bucket list possibly Atlanta but might be a bit costly going on my own.
Thanks, Paul