TRIP REPORT: Aegean, Belgrade - Larnaca via Athens

TRIP REPORT

Submitted by Nemjee

Greetings!

It was time to take a break from work so I decided to go to Cyprus for the weekend. This winter our options are rather limited as it all boils down to either flying on the regional hegemon's Friday flight at midnight or on Aegean via Athens.

I wanted to combine JU and A3 but unfortunately their code-share agreement is extremely expensive. I looked at flying non-stop on JU with the return via Athens but the fare came out to be some €450. Thanks but no thanks.

In the end I decided to fly on Aegean, heading out on Friday and coming back on Monday. Initial price was €176 (no luggage) but when I went to book it I noticed they had a sale so the price dropped to just €153- a bargain.

We were not off to a good start. BEG airport employees are some of the worst in Europe... if not the world. They are rude, arrogant and hostile towards passengers. This is the perfect example of this phenomenon. A Turkish couple had some issues with their passport so both airport employees worked on it while the line grew and grew until it reached the very end of the departure area- all the way to the stairs/escalators. We were standing for 15 minutes like this until a guy wearing an Air Serbia tie came and started checking our passports and boarding passes. Luckily the passport control took a minute and I was in the gate area.

C gates with some modest Christmas decoration.

A couple of Russians and Pegasus taking off to SAW in the background. From what I saw, Aeroflot departed packed while Red Wings arrived with some 65 passengers.

Air Serbia has finally discovered the art of marketing.

LH times two, MUC flight was fully booked while the FRA one arrived with 156 passengers. Not bad for the last day of November.

easyJet to Berlin being pushed-back from A6 while stepmother's A319 is here for a refuelling stop on its way to the UK where it will be stored.

A gates.

A nice lounge area between gates A5 and A6 with a nice view of the planes outside.

KK A321 that went a bit too far so they had to push it back since A6 is a fixed air-bridge. In the background you can Jat Tehnika with four JU aircraft parked: 1 A332 and 3 A319.

Gates A7-A10, depressing.

It was time to go to the gate.

Our ride for today, the ten year old A320, SX-DVU. It arrived from Athens with 144 passengers and it returned with 96.

Once all passengers were seated crew went through the plane handing out candy.

By the time were were pushed-back the airport was almost completely empty. Only two aircraft remained, a Swiss A319 and ULS Cargo A310.

Communist urban planning in all of its glory.

Overflying Belgrade - Vinci's upcoming noise pollution crusade

Leaving Belgrade behind us. Pictured below is Avala where the Zrnov (Жрнов) castle used to stand until it was blown up in the 1930s so that in its place they could build the monument to the unknown soldier.

A light snack was served on this one hour flight.

Flying west of SKP

Overflying Thessaloniki, to the right you can see SKG. JU A319 was somewhere down there.

Explanation of different forms of connecting possibilities at ATH and what to expect each time.

Overflying Athens from the west... then from the south until we turned northwards and landed on the runway 03R some 40 minutes ahead of schedule.

Upon boarding our A321 to LCA I noticed this sticker which I found to be pretty cool. Especially the part where they inform you that they can warm up your baby's meal.

Conclusion:

Aegean is in my opinion a fine airline. Their crew is fantastic, friendly and overall pleasant. You can see that they pay attention to little details most other airlines ignore. Their inflight app is also great as it allows you to chat with fellow passengers, there is a wide range of music, films and various videos. They even have a section for aviation lovers where you can watch a video of the delivery process of their brand new A320s. Another is from the Athens flying week...

Flight back to Belgrade was operated by an A320 that was almost fully booked, I think there were maybe 2, 3 empty seats on the flight. We were served a cheese-spinach pie with homemade baklava.

Interestingly enough, Aegean maintained four weekly flights to BEG until the end of November. Will be interesting to see if, by the time summer comes, they add even more flights to Belgrade.

EX-YU Aviation News

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