Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this FR I'd like to present a detailed review of an Helvetic Embraer E2-190 on intra-EU flight from Madrid (MAD) to Zurich (ZRH), taken on 13 March, on a brink of pandemic.
Intro
This flight was the penultimate leg of my trip to Ecuador from Russia in February-March 2020. The main ticket was an AFKL one with MAD-CDG-UIO + GYE-AMS-MAD (GYE-AMS leg has been already reviewed), and the positioning ticket was a Swiss one: DME-ZRH-MAD (with the 2nd leg being operated by A221, the FR coming soon) + MAD-ZRH-DME (initially planned for 11 March).
When I arrived to Madrid in the afternoon 10 March on a very frustrating AMS-MAD flight on Air Europa B789, I discovered that my MAD-ZRH flight for the next day was cancelled, which was a surprise, but at the same time gave me flexibility. After some research I discovered that Lufthansa's website was telling that an Helvetic E290 will operate morning MAD-ZRH flight on 13 March and I put the trigger, because it was much more interesting than standard dull LX or LH A32Xs. Having 2 full days to spare, I went to Cuenca, when spring was in full bloom, and returned to Madrid in late evening on 12 March (back then I could'n even imagine how precisely I chose the return date: I arrived to Moscow early morning 14 March and the next day the pandemic was declared and shut down the world!).
Helvetic Airways (2L) is a small regional all-Embraer subsidiary of Swiss, based in ZRH and operating under the parent code LX. The 2L fleet currently includes 4 E295s, 8 E290s, 4 E195s and 6 E190s. Back in March 2020 the new-gen part of 2L fleet consisted of just 3 E290s.
Embraer E2-190 Operators
E290 was the first member in production of the new-gen E2-jet family. It would be useful to list the current E290 operators and their layouts (mostly all-economy, as this jet is small and serves short- to mid-haul flights) and number of currently grounded (presumbaly due to PW engines problems) jets.
As E290 is smaller and less versatile than its larger sibling E295, there are very few operators of the type:
1) Helvetic Airways: 8 units (Y110). 3 units are grounded.
2) Hunnu Air: 1 unit.
3) Placar Linhas Aereas: 1 unit (Y98).
4) Royal Jordanian: 4 units (C12_Y82). 1 unit is grounded.
5) Scoot: 7 units (Y112).
6) Wideroe: 3 units (Y110). WF is the world's first operator of E2-jets.
Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD)
MAD, located east of Madrid, is well-connected with the city by suburban trains called "cercanias". MAD consist of 2 groups of terminals: modern and spacious T4 + T4S, from where Iberia operate (as well as British Airways, Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific) and dull, ugly and obsolete T1 + T2 + T3, reminding ugly MEX T1, or a bus station (at least these outdated MAD terminals provide quite good planespotting possibilities). The connection between these terminal groups is provided by free bus shuttles. The cercanias station, to where you arrive from the city, is located at T4.
All the Lufthansa Group flights, including Swiss / Helvetic, operate from T2.
The Aircraft
My flight from Madrid to Zurich was operated by 2019-built HB-AZB with Y110 layout - the 2nd E2-jet in the Helvetic's fleet. From September 2024 it's grounded due to infamous PW engines problems. On 20 February 2020 in ZRH, when I was waiting my ZRH-MAD flight (on Swiss A221), I spotted HB-AZB in the best light:
And here is HB-AZB, arriving to MAD from ZRH in the morning of 13 March 2020:
Boarding
The flight was boarder via bus gates. A view of the portside PW1919G engine from the stair:
The Cabin
The cabin consists of 110 seats in Embraer's standard 2-2 layout.
The Economy Seat
My seat was 27A in the penultimate row. De-facto, due to the flight being far from full, I had the two last rows - 27 and 28 - entirely at my disposal. The seat is comfortable, albeit without headrest (which is no surprise on short-haul flights). The seatwidth is 17.8", which means a bit of waste of the cabin width into the aisle, considering that standart E-jet seat width is 18.0". But with having the entire row for myself, it was not a problem. The seat has hard and soft seat pockets and tray table. The seat pitch is OK.
The content of the seat pockets: safety card, inflight magazine and duty-free magazine.
The E2-style overhead panel is minimalistic, but with personal airvents.
The overhead bins are stylish.
The Flight
We departed on time, and on takeoff from my left side our shadow on the ground was seen.
Cabin view inflight.
The lavatory is modern and clean.
I was blessed with magnificent views during this flight.
Landscapes of the eastern Spain through beautiful veil of transparent clouds as we're nearing the Pyrenees.
The meal service was good for the flight of this length: warm quiche was served. The crew were very nice, as always on Swiss-based airlines.
Breathtaking views of Pyrenees with their peaks towering over clouds.
One more inflight cabin view.
E290 wing over France.
Sunlit lakes and rivers somewhere near French-Swiss border.
At the beginning of descent to ZRH crew handed small Swiss chocolates.
The icing on the cake view-wise were during the descent - the incredible views of the snowy Andes, towering over the clouds.
Maneuvring over Swiss pastorales before final approach.
The Cabin After The Flight
Some views of the cabin upon disembarkment.
The 1L door.
Then I had long layover in Zurich and in the late evening a dull Swiss A321 flew me to Moscow, and it was my last pre-pandemic flight. Just a day later the pandemic hit…
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
