Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
This FR, being the final in the series of FRs about my trip from Spain to Ecuador in the eve of the pandemic, covers an intra-EU flight from Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) to Madrid Barajas (MAD) on Air Europa B789. This flight was a part of the single AFKL ticket MAD-CDG-UIO + GYE-AMS-MAD.
The previous FRs are: MAD-CDG on AF A319, CDG-UIO on AF B789, GYE-AMS on KL B77E.
As the connection time between GYE-AMS and AMS-MAD flights was almost 22 hours, I spent this layover in Rotterdam. Schiphol airport is incredibly well-connected with virtually any part of the Netherlands, as it has railway station, located on one of the trunk lines and integrated into the terminal. In the pre-pandemic era, when I lived in Russia, I had quite a number of long daytime layovers in AMS when flying between EU and Moscow and always used these opportunities to visit different towns of the Netherlands. This time was no exception.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)
AMS, located south-west of the Dutch capital not far from the city, has 6 (!) runways (for comparison, LHR, the busiest airport of Europe, has only 2) and single terminal with multiple piers. Whereas the layout of the terminal is extremely convenient for connections compared, for example, with CDG, its architecture is very dull. Only the main plaza is spacious and lofty, but all the piers itself are dull boring in terms of its architecture. But every part of the terminal have good planespotting possibilities due to the direct access to the windows.
I arrived to AMS by train from Rotterdam and, already having boarding pass, proceeded directly to the airside.
My flight to Madrid was departing from pier D.
This is how AMS terminal looks at its best outside of the central plaza.
A historic photo. B2 since late 2020 (you know what happened in Belarus in August 2020) is no longer allowed to fly to EU; old AZ was discontinued in 2021 and replaced by new AZ - ITA; RO from 2024, when Romania was accepted into Schengen zone, is a "domestic" airline.
The famous "product" of the Netherlands.
The entrance to the immigration in the main plaza. I was glad that my flight was intra-Schengen this time. When arriving from GYE a day before, it took quite a long time to pass through immigration.
Pier D in all its dullness.
Planespotting in AMS
Whereas the architecture of the AMS terminal is nothing to be excited about, the most interesting here is planespotting due to sufficient variety of airlines and aircraft types. Here I'll show, how the traffic in AMS looked like 5 days before the pandemic.
A row of KL B738s near C pier. As KL has quite a number of old NGs, it started to replace them with new A21Ns. So, in early 2030s KL's narrowbody fleet will be (almost) fully Airbus.
A319 (OK-NEO) of Czech Airlines, which was returned from Eurowings just 1.5 months before, and QR Cargo B748F on the backdrop. 5 days later this A319 was phased out and then scrapped in 2021. OK, which was already struggling, shortly before its centennary in 2023, was intergrated into Smartwings group.
BT A223 (YL-CSE).
CR9 (D-ACNF) of LH CityLine. Of the EU3, LHG has by far the most number of subsidiaries, purposed to pay less to the employees, which result in regular strikes, whereas, for example, in well-run AFKL group strikes are thing of the past.
DHL A332F near one of the cargo terminals.
KL Cargo B744F and KL B77E and A333.
E190 (PH-EZS) of KL Cityhopper.
E175 (PH-EXM) of KL Cityhopper.
A sad sight of Jet Airways B77W (VT-JEW), which was impounded in AMS from April 2019 (when 9W went bust) to October 2021 and was rotting under the Dutch climate, then it was flown to MHV, probably for scrapping for parts. Most of 9W B77Ws were scrapped - due to improper maintenance and storage nobody wanted to lease them for passenger service and thus they were worthy only in parts (engines and avionics).
KL B737 (PH-BGT) near D pier.
AF A321 (F-GTAZ) near C-pier.
KL Cityhopper E190 (PH-EZY) taking off.
Another AF A321 (F-GTAH). It was phased out in 2023 and then scrapped.
The tail of KL B77E (PH-BQM) in the KL Asia livery and DL B763 (N185DN).
DL A333 (N827NW) and KL B77E (PH-BQM).
Tails of KL and DL widebodies near the international E-pier.
1997-built DL B763 (N196DN).
IAE-powered JU A319 (YU-APE).
B738 (PH-CDH) of Corendon Dutch. It was phased out in 2023 and joined BBN Airlines Indonesia.
KL B789 (PH-BHA) - the oldest KL's Dreamliner - being towed from the gate.
DL A359 (N509DN) and Transavia B738 (PH-HSC).
DL A339 (N404DX). Before the pandemic A339s still were a rare sight.
Another KL B789 (PH-BHG).
KL A332 (PH-AOD). BTW, KL A333s and A332s have the same business class seats (Collins Diamond Parallel) as in old LH business on B748s and A346s.
One more DL B763.
One more DL A359 (N506DN).
2019-built KL B738 (PH-BCK) - one of the latest KL B738s. Most of KL B738s are old and will be replaced by A21Ns, but the last 2019-built ones will probably stay for longer (or will be transferred to AFKL's LCC Transavia).
KL B77E (PH-BQO).
KL A333 (PH-AKE).
1991-built KL B744 (PH-BFL) - the 888th B747 built. It was phased out 3 weeks later, in late March 2020 and then stored in MHV. It was the last time I saw a KL B744.
B738 (OO-TNC) TUI fly Belgium, DL B763 and KL A332.
B738 (OO-TUP) TUI fly Belgium and KL A332 (PH-AON).
AC B788 (C-GHPU) in the old "mint toothpaste" livery.
Two EI A320s: EI-DEF in the old livery, EI-CVA in the new livery.
KL B738 (PH-BXT) and AF Hop E190 taking off.
An AA B788.
KL B737 (PH-BGL).
One more DL A333.
The Aircraft
And here comes my aircraft - 2019-built B789 (EC-NBM) in C30_Y303 layout. Only 4 UX B789s (the older ones: EC-MSZ, -MTI, -NBM, -NBX) have this layout, the other 13 have C32_Y307 layout, and the last one, which is AV ntu, has C28_Y281 layout with AV-ordered cabin.
All the UX Dreamliners are RR-powered.
Boarding
Boarding was from D79 gate.
The Business Cabin
The first 4 UX B789s, including this one, has one of the most unusual business cabins you can find in Dreamliners: it consists of 30 Stelia Equinox 2D seats in 2-2-2 layout. Not only this cabin significantly differs from the typical 1-2-1 reverse herringbone Dreamliner business, but this seat model itself is very rare (BTW, AF A332s, which are becoming extinct, also have similar business class seats). So, I was lucky to see such a cabin in a Dreamliner.
The Economy Class
The economy consists of 303 seats in the standard 3-3-3 layout, distributed between 2 large cabins: the front one between 2L/R and 3L/R doors, and the rear one between 3L/R and 4L/R doors. When I took a few shots of the seats, guess what happened next? The famous hostility of Spanish crews towards the FRists: the purser came to me and told me that taking photos onboard is illegal according to Spanish laws. I immediately remembered the satanic IB crews that ruined my experience on MAD-SCL-MAD flights a year before and, despite having stopped taking photos for a while and having proceeded to my seat, started to boil like volcano before the eruption…
The Economy Seat
My seat (randomly allocated at check-in) was 26A in the front economy cabin over the wing. The first 4 UX B789s stands out not only by their non-trivial business cabin, but also for very decent economy seats: the seat model is Collins Pinnacle, one of the best modern long-haul economy seats, with decent padding and excellent ergonomics (for comparison, the other 13 UX B789s, except the one from AV, has abysmal Recaro CL3710 seats in economy). The seatwidth is 17.2", which is standard for 3-3-3 Dreamliner. The seat has "leather" adjustable headrest, fabric upholstery, Panasonic eX3 IFE with USB port, single-piece tray table and lower seat pocket. What an irony of civil aviation: on the longhaul GYE-AMS flight on KL B77E I was sitting in abysmal Recaro CL3710 seats, on the short-haul hop AMS-MAD I'm sitting in very good Collins Pinnacle seats! Needlees to say that I had the whole seat triplet at my disposal, which only boosted the level of comfort.
The (in)famous window control button, which is absolutely useless when the crew locks the windows in the blackout mode, turning Dreamliner into Blindliner. These buttons tend to wear out very quickly; though, back then the button of my seat was in good state.
The seatpocket content was abundant: safety card, inflight- and travel magazines, duty-free magazine, instruction for IFE, buy-on-board menu (needless to say that UX provide zero service on its intra-EU flights, on par with the most EU carriers, except AF/KL) and waste bag.
Some examples of content from these magazines.
UX fleet in the eve of the pandemic.
UX vast network to Latin America. Notice how many secondary Latin American cities are connected with Madrid by direct UX flights! Meanwhile, the number of UX destination in North America is close to zero (only JFK and CUN).
The Flight
A dull safety video (preceded by a promotion of Canary islands) is played at the start of pushback.
DL A332 (N860NW) at the adjacent gate.
DL B763 (N185DN) departing for one of US secondary cities.
View of D-pier during the pushback.
KL A332, the famous observation deck with F100 (accessible from the landside; I was there during my very first visit to AMS back in 2017) and the ATC tower.
Pegasus A21N (TC-RBA) - the first A21N in PC fleet, and one more DL A333. As you may have noticed, AMS is not only the reign of KL, but also of DL due to DL-AFKL transatlantic joint venture.
A KL B78X being towed. It was the first time I saw an B78X. Back then KL had just 5 B78Xs, but now their number in KL fleet is more than the number of B789s.
A UA B763. The presence of UA and AA in AMS is very small compared to DL's.
Pass some interesting cargo aircrafts near the cargo terminals during the takeoff roll: DHL A332, KL Cargo B744F, Saudia Cargo B77F, Suparna B744BCF and FedEx B752F.
Takeoff from AMS.
As we're reaching the cruising FL, there's nothing but dull "milk" outside.
Wing view through the semi-tinted window.
The seatback view inflight.
Let's explore the IFE content. Main menu, "recommended" content, movies, music, games and magazines. Overall, very broad selection.
Inflight view of the overhead panel and cabin moodlighting.
I decided to take inflight photos of the economy cabins, but this time with smartphone to not to draw attention of the crew. Though, it didn't helped: they noticed me and started threaten me in a well-known (from IB flights) hostile manner. Then I exploded I started to tell the crew that their hostile rules are stupid. In their turn, the crew told me that upon arrival to MAD the Spanish police will meet me.
Here I'll show some inflight photos I managed to take. Sorry for the subpar quality, because the camera of the smartphone I had back then really sucks. Views of the front and rear economy cabins:
The protrusion of the crew rest bunk in the rearmost part of the economy.
2R door and the crew's jumpseat near it.
The lavatory is standard for Dreamliners.
Due to the threats from the crew the rest of the flight I was taking photo on my subpar smartphone. I apologize again for the quality.
Desending to MAD.
Taxiing past beautiful T4S with an EK B77W near it. There were no iconic IB A346s in sight, because the midday departure bank was over.
The ATC tower of the ugly south terminal complex and E195 (EC-LEK) of UX Express. It was phased out in 2022 and then joined TAP Express fleet. After ditching Embraers and ATRs after the pandemic, the narrowboby UX fleet became Boeing-only.
UX A332 (EC-LQP) in the Skyteam livery. It was phased in less than 2 weeks after and then scrapped in 2021. After ditching these old A332s during the pandemic, the widebody UX fleet became Dreamliner-only (18 B789s plus 10 B788s). Honestly speaking, the current UX looks like a parody on AeroMexico (AM, having quite similar fleet structure - though, with substantially more percent of narrowbodies - is 10 heads above UX in terms of the crew hospitality and service).
After The Flight
When we arrived to the gate, I was really thinking that I'll be immediately detained, but the crew's threats turned to be bluff: there was no police at all. While disembarking the aircraft, I told the purser, that I'll never fly any Spanish airline again due to such abysmal attitude and I hold my word ever since. Moreover even though I spent the following 2 days in beautiful Cuenca and managed to return to Russia, where I lived back then, just 1 day (!) before the pandemic was declared and the world stalled, I've never visited Spain again since. Even the rich heritage of Spain cannot counterweight memories of hostile and satanic attitude of IB and UX crews to FRists.
From T2, where my UX flight arrived, I spot PW-powered Wamos Air A332 (EC-MTU), taxiing to the south terminal complex. This A332 was phased out in February 2022 and is stored since.
Madrid Barajas International Airport, Terminal 2
Airlines, operating from MAD T2 back then.
UX check-in hall in T2.
I discovered that the toilets of T2 were promoting some sightseeings of Madrid. Though, I skipped the city entirely and went to Cuenca.
Thank you for you attention and see you in the next FRs!
