Vueling

[Sean123]

Thanks Jerry - was hoping for a sat/Fri pmi but Mon should still be OK

 

[Jerry]

Thanks Jerry - was hoping for a sat/Fri pmi but Mon should still be OK

Hopefully this is just a first draft and they'll add extra flights later in the year. With TUI expanding in summer 19 then let's hope Vueling will do the same but if they don't then hopefully the airport will have another airline available to add some frequencies to some of the Spanish routes which will help the airport continue to grow.

 

[Jerry]

I just had a look at Vuelings fleet and it looks like they still have around 40 A320 neos to be delivered so hopefully they'll expand at bases like ALC, AGP and PMI and increase their frequencies to CWL.

 

[Jerry]

Earlier today i took my first flight with Vueling and overall it was a good experience.
The boarding was a bit slow due to using the airbridge on stand 10 and walking through there for the first time i found it ironically funny that inside was covered in Flybe advertisement yet they can't use it.
My original seat was 31F at the back and the legroom wasn't the best but would've been fine for a short flight. Luckily i got upgraded for free! The extra legroom seats at the front weren't all full so to balance the plane the cabin crew moved about 4 or 5 of us at the back to the front so i ended up with extra legroom and a whole row to myself! Unfortunately the flight couldn't serve hot food because there was someone onboard with a nut allergy onboard but the snacks were reasonably priced and they provided people with a rubbish bag which the airlines i've flown with haven't done before. The crew were friendly though i noticed unlike KLM and Flybe pilots the pilots didn't do a pre flight announcement that i heard but they did do a pre arrival one. The load looked like it was between 160-170 passengers with quite a few Spanish accents amongst them and the A320 we traveled on was generally in good condition and quite quiet as an aircraft. All in all it was a good flight and i definitely would recommend them to people and fly with them again.

 

[Jerry]

Yesterday's 13.30 departure to Alicante was cancelled after the aircraft EC-KRH went tech. The flight will be departing at 07.30 today on an A320 that Vueling flew in from BCN this morning.

 

[superking]

The tech aircraft still on stand in CWL then. Waiting for spare parts by sound of it.Out of interest do you know who is doing the repair work.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yesterday's 13.30 departure to Alicante was cancelled after the aircraft EC-KRH went tech. The flight will be departing at 07.30 today on an A320 that Vueling flew in from BCN this morning.

That's good to know. Some airlines would simply have cancelled the flight.

 

[Jerry]

The tech aircraft still on stand in CWL then. Waiting for spare parts by sound of it.Out of interest do you know who is doing the repair work.

According to FR24 the aircraft is still at CWL. I honestly don't know who handles Vuelings engineering needs in the UK. I wonder if it could be whoever BA use? Or BA engineers from Heathrow?

That's good to know. Some airlines would simply have cancelled the flight.

Yes it is especially considering it would cost them a fortune.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

It is good to see an Airline not cancel a flight. EZY cancel flights at the drop of a hat.
On the other FR are fairly good at not cancelling at the last minute and using the private jet to ferry engineers or find another spare aircraft from their huge fleet. Well done VY!
It might be a good sign that the flight was busy and there were few other options going into peak summer. Even tho the tech aircraft isn't fixed they still have a stranded crew that can operate the flight back.
I would suspect if there isn't a standard agreement, then Storm would do ad-hoc work as they have Airbus engineers on sight for TCX.

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

BCT used to be the engineers for Thomas Cook when I was there 2 years ago. They would also look after the Vueling. If the issue was more complex and is aircraft engine type specific then they may need to use BA engineers from Heathrow.

Looks as if Vueling don't have an AOG aircraft to carry engineers/parts but if they have then this is the 2nd Overnight AOG aircraft where it has not been used.

EasyJet have an AOG aircraft they use one King Air 200 based in Luton and the other is based in Malpensa. (2 different companies supply the King Air). One of which is based at Cardiff.

I believe Jet2 use Nial Jets and the King Air is based at Leeds Bradford.

Some of other companies like TCX & TUI use brokers on the day.

Ryanair have 3 x Learjets which operate under their own callsign and believe it's used to give new recruits Jet time before going on to the 737's.

 

[Jerry]

Just seen a post online saying that Vueling have flown in 2 sets of engineers from Spain to fix EC-KRH

 

[Jerry]

EC-KRH has finally departed and is heading to BCN. Also apparently about an hour ago there were 4 Vueling aircraft on the ground at the same time would be nice to see more of that in the future!

 

[superking]

Cant remember 4 on the ground be fore only 3. I wonder if anyone got any pics.

 

[Jerry]

I'd imagine that the Champions league final was the only time before that there was 4 Vueling aircraft on the ground at once.

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

Wasn't there four on the ground the same time during the Super Cup final when Seville played Real Madrid at Cardiff City Stadium? I know Vueling brought in the Seville supporters across a number of flights.

 

[Jerry]

Here is my first ever video trip report!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thoroughly interesting and enjoyable video, Jerry. Many thanks.

When I went into BCN a few years ago on a gloriously sunny November morning the track of the final part of the flight was as yours - parallel with the coast out to sea and like you I was sitting on the right-hand side of the aircraft. I knew Barcelona was a big city, in a beautiful setting, but I hadn't realised how large the urban area is. We seemed to be flying for over ten minutes parallel with the unbroken city, suburbs and satellite towns.

Another point I noted is that CWL seems to have plenty of space to build further aircraft stands on the spacious, flat areas currently covered in grass.

I look forward to your next video trip report.

 

[Jerry]

I look forward to your next video trip report.

Thanks. Next one will from BCN to AMS and i'll probably release it next week.

When I went into BCN a few years ago on a gloriously sunny November morning the track of the final part of the flight was as yours - parallel with the coast out to sea and like you I was sitting on the right-hand side of the aircraft. I knew Barcelona was a big city, in a beautiful setting, but I hadn't realised how large the urban area is. We seemed to be flying for over ten minutes parallel with the unbroken city, suburbs and satellite towns.

It is quite a large city and i didn't realise that until i flew into it. When arriving by the boat i guess you don't get the scale of the urban landscape that way.

nother point I noted is that CWL seems to have plenty of space to build further aircraft stands on the spacious, flat areas currently covered in grass.

Yes it does! There is a fair bit of room for expansion. The Masterplan is due out soon so it will be interesting to see if that space is earmarked for anything in the future.

 

[Sean123]

Funny enough I was looking at satalite images of cwl only this week and thinking bout the possibility of more stands but wouldn't have the first clue as to the cost of such a project

 

[Cardiffbay]

Funny enough I was looking at satalite images of cwl only this week and thinking bout the possibility of more stands but wouldn't have the first clue as to the cost of such a project

Well a 3 lane motorway costs around 30M a mile so an area for 3 aircraft must be up at 10M or so when you think of the weight it must take plus all the drainage and electrics.