Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this short FR I'd like to present a review of Lufthansa CityLine E190 on a short hop from Frankfurt (FRA) to Bologna (BLQ) flight, taken on 14 February 2019.
Intro
This flight was the 2nd leg in the Lufthansa ticket DME-FRA-BLQ-FRA-DME, with the 1st leg operated by a dull A320, the 3rd leg operated by CR9 and the 4th leg operated by a dull A321. I used this ticket for positioning to Iberia ticket BLQ-MAD-SCL-MAD-BLQ (its 1st leg on CRX and its 2nd leg on A346 have already been reviewed).
I chose routing via FRA (which is far from my favourite among EU hubs) to have possibility to fly E190 and CR9, which I hadn't flown before.
Embraer E190 Operators
E190, being the most versatile (capacity-to-range-wise) member of the E1 family saw the most success in the world outside US (US market is closed for any Embraer large than E175 due to scope clauses, thus E175 have seen a huge success in US, making in the most produced Embraer ever). The number of its operators is twice bigger than of E195 operators. It would be useful to list them.
1) AeroItalia: 1 unit (Y100).
2) Aerolineas Argentinas: 24 units (C8_Y88).
3) AeroLitoral: 35 units (C11_Y88), operating for AeroMexico connect.
4) AirBurkina: 1 unit (C6_Y92).
5) AirCairo: 3 units (Y110).
6) Air Dolomiti: 9 units (CY108).
7) Air France HOP: 21 units (Y100) + 5 units (Y110).
8) Airlink: 4 units (C11_Y88) plus 25 units (C6_Y92).
9) Airnorth: 5 units (Y100).
10) Air Peace: 1 unit (C12_Y84).
11) Alliance Airlines: 14 units (C10_Y84) operating for QantasLink, plus 16 units (C9_Y88) operating for QantasLink, plus 17 units (Y100).
12) Amelia International: 1 unit.
13) Azerbaijan Airlines: 7 units (Y106).
14) BA CityFlyer: 20 units (CY106).
15) BermudAir: 2 units.
16) BestFly Aruba: 1 unit.
17) Breeze Airways: 8 units (Y108).
18) Bulgaria Air: 4 units (CY108).
19) Colorful Guizhou Airlines: 7 units (W3_Y108) plus 2 units (Y104).
20) Conviasa: 15 units (Y104). 9 units are parked.
21) Eastern Airways: 2 units (Y100) plus 1 units (Y106) plus 1 unit (Y114). 3 units are parked.
22) Enugu Air: 1 unit.
23) German Airways: 4 units (C12_Y88) plus 1 unit (C6_Y92) plus 2 units. 4 units are leased to KLM Cityhopper.
24) GX Airlines: 8 units (Y106).
25) Helvetic Airways: 6 units (Y112).
26) Hunnu Air: 2 units (C6_Y92).
27) Ikar: 4 units (Y110).
28) J-Air: 14 units (C15_Y80).
29) Kenya Airways: 13 units (C12_Y84). 6 units are parked.
30) KLM Cityhopper: 21 units (CY100).
31) LOT Polish Airlines: 8 units (CY106).
32) Myanmar Airways International: 2 units (C6_Y92).
33) National Jet Express: 5 units (Y104) plus 3 units (Y110).
34) NORRA: 12 units (Y100), operating for Finnair.
35) Portugalia Airlines: 12 units (CY106), operating for TAP Express.
36) Royal Air Maroc: 4 units (C12_Y84).
37) SKYhigh: 4 units (C9_Y88).
38) Tianjin Airlines: 2 units (C6_Y92) plus 35 units (Y106). 7 units are grounded.
39) Titan Airways: 1 unit (C9_Y88).
Frankfurt International Airport (FRA)
FRA, being one of the largest EU hubs, consists of 2 terminals - T1 and T2, with Lufthansa Group flights being operated from large (but not airy in the airside) T1. FRA is well-connected with Frankfurt city centre by railway station and, having 6-hour layouver between DME-FRA and FRA-BLQ, I was planning to briefly visit the city. But everything went wrong: firstly, I lost one and half hours at the immigration ("thanks" to Deutsche Gehirnficken!); second, when I eventually made it to the train station, I discovered that trains to the city were heavily delayed because somebody was walking somewhere on the railway (hi, Deutschebahn!). It was a sign that Frankfurt city didn't want me, and I decided to wait in the airport. To return to the airside, I had to pass through a huge queue and at the scanners I also experienced traditional Deutsche Gehirnficken, thus my mood fell very low. The remaining time (about 3 hours) I was just sitting in A-gates concourse and watching the planes on the apron and on the runways.
The Aircraft
My flight from Frankfurt to Bologna was operated by 2009-built D-AECD (re-registered I-JENF from 2024), which back then had CY100 layout. In 2024 all the Lufthansa Cityline E190s were transferred to Air Dolomiti (aren't you feeling crazy from these constant movements between LHG member airlines, constant renamings and rebrandings, conditioned by the top management' will to cut the labor costs?!), re-registered in Italia and reconfigured to CY108 layout.
Boarding
Boarding was via bus gate and stairs. I decided to board via the rear stair, thus a bit unusual angle of view.
The 2L door.
The Cabin
The cabin back then consisted of 100 seats in the standard 2-2 layout with some front rows (this time 4) occupied by "eurobusiness" depending on the load. Some cabin views during boarding:
The Economy Seat
My seat 5F was located in the front of the cabin, right after the "eurobusiness". The seat was quite slimline, but with quite comfortable seatback with enough padding. The seatwidth was generous: 18.2" - this is one of the largest seatwidth in Lufthansa Group (hi, B748 with abysmal narrow seats!). Only LX A223/A221 seats are even more spacious.
The seat had leather upholstery, tray table, upper hard and lower soft seat pockets. The row pitch was good.
The seatpocket content: safety card, inflight magazine and duty-free magazine.
The overhead panel is standard for E1-jets.
The Flight
Taxiing to the runway in the evening light.
Pre-sunset views during climbout out of FRA.
Reaching the cruise FL.
The crew served pretzels and drinks, including wine, which was nice for the flight of this length. The crew were quite friendly.
Cheers!
Wing and engine view in the last rays of the sun as we're starting to cross the Alps.
The Alps at sunset.
An inflight cabin view.
The 2R door.
The galley.
Beautiful wing view in twilight as we're descending to BLQ.
The Cabin After The Flight
Some detailed cabin views upon disembarkment.
The Aircraft After The Flight
The portside GE CF34 engine view from the stair with a BA A319 passing by.
View of the aircraft from the bus, taking the passengers to the arrivals.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
