Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this short FR I'd like to present a detailed review of an AirConnect ATR72-600 on a short intra-Romanian hop from Bucharest Otopeni (OTP) to Sibiu (SBZ), taken on 5 April 2023.
Intro
I planned my trip to beautiful Romania for the 1st half of April 2023. Close to the date of departure, checking the weather forecast, I discovered that large snowy cyclon will hit most of the country during the first days of my trip. It seemed that the north-west of the country will suffer the shortest impact of this cyclon compared to the central part of Romania. And then I discovered that there were domestic flights from Bucharest to Sibiu on a small Romanian carrier AirConnect with quite adequate price of 50 EUR. So, I put the trigger and reshaped my routing.
Back then in 2023 AirConnect was an independent airline, operating just 2 ATR72-600s. In 2024 it became a part of AeroItalia group, and its branding was eliminated.
Currently, AeroItalia is a small Italian-based airline with 9 B738s, 1 B737, 1 E190, 1 E175 and 2 ATR76s. Boeings and ATRs are Malta-registered, whereas Embraers are Greek-registered, being leased from Marathon Airlines.
Needless to say, that AT76, being a very versatile turboprop, is extremely popular among regional carriers, and the number of its operators is huge. So, a flight on AT76 stands out only if it's a some non-trivial airline, like in my case.
Bucharest Otopeni Henri Coanda International Airport (OTP)
Bucharest has two international airports - smaller and old Baneasa (with very interesting architecture of the terminal, but very small number of the flights), just north of the city, and larger and more modern Otopeni further north of the city, from where almost all the airlines, serving Bucharest, operate. OTP is connected with Gara de Nord (northern railway station) by convenient rail service (the city plans to make this service faster and more frequent) and by bus service with the city centre.
OTP has single terminal, rather spacious in the landside, but already feeling dated. In the airside it feels a bit cramped, especially in the domestic gates area.
Worth noting that Turkish airlines serves OTP with its widebodies - from A332 to A359 (the largest aircraft OTP can handle), and it's a good opportunity for avgeek to experience TK widebodies on one of their shortest international flights (I flew a PW-powered ex-TAM A332 and an ex-Skymark A333 this way, but it's a theme of separate reviews).
The Aircraft
My flight from Otopeni to Sibiu was operated by 2014-built YR-ACA (re-registered 9H-MMU in late 2024). Its layout is Y68. During the boarding time it was still dark in OTP and I made decent photos of the aircraft later in SBZ.
The Cabin
The cabin consists of 68 seats in the standard 2-2 layout.
Some detailed photos of the cabin during the boarding and before the departure (when blueish cabin lighting was turned on). The flight was almost empty - just a few passengers including me! The crew told me off for taking pictures - they seemingly were not very friendly…
The Economy Seat
My seat 14F was after the wing. The seat has fabric upholstery, antimacassar with now-gone AirConnect logo, hard upper seat pocket and tray table. Simple and basic. The row pitch is good for such a short flight.
The seat pocket content: safety card and waste bag.
The overhead panel in quite newly-built AT76s looks stylish…
… as well as the overhead bins.
The Flight
As the cyclon was in its full swing over Romania, there was almost nothing to see but clouds.
Only water was served on this flight.
An inflight cabin view. You see, how empty was the cabin!
Tour de lavatoirie.
Final approach over snowy outskirts of Sibiu (fortunately, the first day of my trip was the only snowy day, and further the weather improved). It's still early morning on the ground.
Taxiing to the stand after landing.
The Cabin After The Flight
Some cabin views upon disembarkment. Note that a couple of duos were INOP.
The Aircraft After The Flight
And finally, a couple of decent photos of our AT76 in SBZ.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
