Planespotting at Perpignan & the advantages of small airports

A far cry from the grandiosity of Barcelona airport (BCN), or even the super-fast growth of neighboring Girona-Costa Brava (GRO) airport, the small airport at Perpignan, in the South of France right next to the Spanish border, has preserved some of the obvious advantages of small regional airports.

If commercial offering is almost non-existent in the terminals, the no-crowds, no hassle, fast boarding experience is a strong positive point. With only a handful of flights per day (namely Air France to ORY, Ryanair to Stansted and Charleroi and the new several-times-a week Flybe routes to Birmingham and Southampton and BmiBaby to Manchester), airport transit procedures are quick and efficient.

Perpignan (Perpinya in the local Catalan language) is the entry point to the wine-growing Roussillon area, which has many important, if a bit underrated, tourist attractions, such as the Cote Vermeille (with the magnificent seaside town of Collioure/Cotlliure) and the Pyrenees. With Girona airport becoming ever more congested (although this might change again as a result of Ryanair's recent landing at BCN), Perpignan can be given serious consideration (provided you have a car) as an alternative entry point to the Costa Brava.

Planespotting at Perpignan is quite limited given the small number of regular flights at the airport, nevertheless, in my recent visits to the airfield I could see how some roadside areas on the approaches to the airport are always packed with spotters at the times when there is some air traffic at the airport. So I joined the crowd and here are the pics!

Ryanair's Boeing 737-800s are regular visitors at PGF since the Irish low-cost airline operates daily flights to London-Stansted (STN) and Charleroi (CRL)

A view of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 by the PGF control tower

Air France A320 landing at Perpignan as seen from the airport access road. Air France operates several daily flights to Paris-Orly (ORY)

A view of the small terminal at Perpignan-Rivesaltes (PGF) with an Air France A320 in the foreground

Planespotting at Perpignan airport (PGF): the Patrouille de France

Perpignan/Perpinya (PGF) is usually a pretty quiet airport but this week was different, as it was hosting the “Patrouille de France”, the acrobatics team of the French Air Force (Armee de l’Air), that was training ahead of an upcoming air show near Perpignan, where it was scheduled to perform alonside the Breitling Jet Team.

This visit by the “Patrouille de France” was an outstanding opportunity that local planespotters did not miss (as you could see the crowd gathering all along the road that leads to the airport. The “Patrouille’s” Alpha Jets performed their exercises at low altitude and right over the airport, including the traditional display of the French tricolour, and several other acrobatic moves.

Another unusual sight at Perpignan was a C-160 Transall from the Armee de l’Air, that was there supporting the “patrouille’s” temporary deployment to the Catalan airfield.

The timing of the exercises was also coincident with the arrival of the two most frequent visitors of the airport, Ryanair’s Boeing 737 from London Stansted (STN) and Air France’s A320 from Paris-Orly (ORY), not a bad planespotting afternoon for such a small airport!

One of the Patrouille de France Alpha Jets on the tarmac at Perpignan

Air France A320 arriving from Paris-Orly passing by the Patrouille de France Alpha Jets



A view of the terminal and control tower at Perpignan, with a Transall C-160 in the foreground and a Ryanair Boeing 737 in the background

An unusual sight: a Boeing 737, a C-160 and several Alpha Jets together at PGF

Ryanair's Boeing 737 preparing to depart for London Stansted (STN)


A Transall C-160 of Armee de l'Air

Patrouille de France deployed to Perpignan airport

Two of the Alpha Jets were painted in a more military grey-green rather than the tricolour livery worn by the rest of the "Patrouille"

The tricolour

Perpignan airport fly-over

An Alpha Jet in its ascending path over Perpignan airport

Around Europe with Ryanair

First stop: Stansted (STN)


Boarding the flight at sunrise

Second stop: Girona (Barcelona) (GRO)



It's amazing to think that Girona airport used to be always literally empty all winter less than a decade ago...

Third stop: Orio al Serio (Bergamo-Milan) (BGY)


Judging from the view, Bergamo has become an important base for Wizz Air, the main low-cost from Eastern Europe.


More Eastern European conection at Bergamo: a Boeing 737 of Romanian carrier Blue Air, serving the demand that arises from the important demographic and economic links between Italy and Romania


Next Stop: Madrid (this deserves an entirely separate post...)

Travel pics

I have already said in other occasions that I do not find Stansted airport to be a particularly interesting place for planespotting, but the other day I was traveling Ryanair to Trieste, the day was sunny and the light was good so I took a few pics before and during the flight...


Ryanair Boeing 737 on the tarmac at Stansted, ready to go to Trieste (TRS)


Over the Alps


The way back, the Bodensee and a snowy Bavaria

Aurigny (& 2)

In a previous post I wrote about this Guernsey-based airline called Aurigny Air Services after I spotted one of its aircraft at Stansted. Well, last week I had another sighting, this time at Gatwick (LGW) and took this rather nice pic. I hope you like it.


Foto: Aurigny Air ATR-72 next to an Easyjet A319

Planespotting in Trieste

Air One Boeing 737 at TRS (see the Alps in the background!)

I recently had the chance to travel to the city of Trieste, in the North-Eastern tip of Italy. Here are some pics I took. Trieste airport(TRS) is actually some way off the city (about 40 km North of it, in the city of Ronchi dei Legionari) as it is actually the airport of all the Friuli-Venezia-Julia region. It is a small airport serving a limited number of destinations. At the time of my arrival only to commercial aircraft were on the tarmac, mine, the Ryanair flight from Stansted, and an aircraft from the Italian airline Air One covering the route to Rome (FCO).

Ryanair is the largest operator at TRS with connections to Brimingham, Cagliari, Brussels and forthcoming Trapani and Weeze, other available routes are Lufthansa's (Air Dolomiti) to Munich, Air One to Rome, Catania and Naples, JAT Airways to Belgrade and Belle Air to Tirana. Air France recently announced its suspension of services to CDG and domestic airline Skybridge Airops is opening a new service to Foggia.

The location of the airport, although a bit far off the center makes it an ideal starting point for trips into the plains and mountains of Friuli, an area of great natural beauty and many sites of historical significance, specially those related to the battles of WWI (the airport is actually located almost on what used to be the front line) and as an alternative entry point to Slovenia, Ljubljana is about one hour and a half away by car. Another attractive of the airport are its magnificent views of the Carnian Alps, as you can see in the picture I posted. The airport itself ahs a great website where you can find many more interesting pictures about TRS.

Aurigny

I use Stansted airport (STN) very often and I have never found it to be particularly interesting for planespotting, given the dominance of Easyjet and Ryanair with their homogeneous fleets, however, this time as a bit different, maybe because I was flying around midday instead of the usual peak hours, there were some interesting sights, like this Aurigny Air Services ATR-72. I felt some curiosity about this airline so I did some research.



Aurigny operates out of the Channel Island of Guernsey and ts network covers the Channel Islands as well as some airports in mainland Britain and France. This ATR-72 is one of the three the airline currently has, they entered service in 2009. As a curosity, Aurigny Air Services is the longest standing operator of Britten Norman Trislander aircraft. I have to admit I had never heard of this aircraft type, I found its engine configuration remarkable, to say the least.


Foto: Britten Norman Trislander, by Wikipedia

Another curious fact of this airline is that, according to Wikipedia, the name Aurigny comes from the local French/Auregnais name for Alderney, one of the lesser Channel Islands, a language that was made extinct by the evacuation of islanders during the occupation of the Channel Islands in World War II.