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                                        "CRUISING THE MED"       BY DAVE ROSE

I thought I would treat "er indoors" to a cruise to celebrate 25 years of bliss!! so off we went bright and early to Newcastle on 27th Sept. Sleazy 737 G-EZJP whisked us to Barcelona in 2 hrs 10 minutes, landing on 07L after a very smooth flight in clear sky's.

At Newcastle were -

G-EOMA 330 MONARCH / G-JEDR-G-JECU DH8D FLYBE / G-OBYG 763 THOMSON / PH-BTB 734 KLM / F-GRZC CRJ 700 AIR FRANCE / G-FDZG 738 THOMSON

Barcelona were in the middle of the Saturday "Russian Invasion" and we parked in the middle of it. The new Biz Jet Terminal has been built since my last visit and you can read most off from the side fence. One highlight was a GOL 738 PR-GIW on delivery from Jet Airways in India which was parked beside the new Terminal on the south side which is also nearly complete.

G-TOYI 733 BMI BABY / VP-BGU 743 TRANSAERO / EI-EAR 763 ROSSIYA / EI-DZH 763 ROSSIYA / RA-85629 TU154M ROSSIYA EI-DBW 763 TRANSAERO / EI-UNB 763 TRANSAERO / EI-CXZ 762 TRANSAERO / EI-DON 733 KD AVIA(SINCE W/O) / VP-BTM 310 S7 / OY-GRL 757 AIR GREENLAND /    

Biz present -

EC-KJS G5 / EC-HVV Falcon 100 / EC-JIL Globex / EC-KMT 125 / EC-JTH, KPE, HRH, GIE, JZK, IVJ, N100JS, D-ISEC Citations / EC-JJH Falcon 20 / EC-JVM, G-CPRI Learjets /  XA-GNI Falcon 2000ex / OE-GNY Challenger / N930JG Falcon50 / N721HM Falcon 900 / EC-KRN Galaxy

Then it was by Taxi to a City Centre Hotel for the night and a look round the city, next morning we joined the beautiful Norwegian Gem. The ship is only a few months old and weighs 93,000 tons and carries 2,500 passengers. The Cruise Terminal is just off the approach onto Runway 25R and I logged the following as we sailed out -

EC-IZR 320 Iberia / EC-IPI 320 Spanair / CS-TTP 319 TAP / EC-JBL 738 Air Europa / EC-JZI 320 Vueling 

After sailing across the Med we arrived in Malta, I had looked at the excursion brochure and saw a Floatplane Trip of 1 hour for $1,300 and wondered where the plane was?. It was parked next to our ship!!

9H-AFA DHC3 Turbo Otter - CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO

Our next port of call was Naples, I remembered that departures come straight over the port and got the following after we returned from a day out in Capri.

EI-CRW MD80 MERIDIANA / EI-DRJ, DRK, DOU CRJ900s AIR ONE / OM-NGC 737 SKYEUROPE / EI-DSD, DSE, DSI 320 AIR ONE I-DATU, DATU MD80 ALITALIA / I-FDED BEECHJET

Spotting opportunities then became limited, we worked north to Rome and Florence/Pisa. We passed Pisa Airport on a train and I grabbed the following shot  -

We arrived in the beautiful port of Villefranche on Saturday and I realised that they were arriving towards the southwest at Nice so managed to pole the following off the ships sun deck -

7T-VJU 737 AIR ALGERIE / VP-BUO 320 AEROFLOT / D-ALTG 320 AIR BERLIN /SP-LDC E170 LOT / CS-DNO 125 + Many more I just could not read off such as CCM ATR72s x 6 and about 20 Biz!!  Whilst sailing out I managed a distant shot, count the Biz!!!!!

And so it was back to Barcelona, I managed 3 hours spotting whilst "er indoors" splashed the cash in the Duty Free!! and I got the following -

IBERIA -  DHC8 - PH-DMU, EC-IIA / 319 EC-JXV,KBJ / 320 EC-HGZ, HUJ, KNM / CRJ EC-HYG, ITU / CRJ900 EC-JOY

CLICKAIR - EC-GRG, GRH, GRI, HHA, HTD, ICR, ICS, ICT, ICV, KCU, KHN

VUELING - EC-JAB, JSY, JTR, KBU, KDG, KLB, KRH

SPANAIR - MD80 EC-GOU, JTK, JSU, KJE, KHA / 320 EC-IIZ, IOH / 321 EC-HRG / 717 EC-KRO

AIR EUROPA -  738 EC-III, JEX, IYI / 330 EC-JZL

LTE - 320 EC-JRX          ORIONAIR - 146 EC-JVO       SWIFTAIR - ATR72 EC-KJA  EMB120 EC-JBD

OY-MRO, MRP 737 STERLING / N839MH 764 DELTA / TC-JGR 738 TURKISH / D-ABAS 738 AIR BERLIN / G-EZAB, EZBP, EZIM 319 / C-GSAT 310 AIR TRANSAT / CS-TTN 319 TAP / D-AISL 321 LUFTHANSA / N452FE 310 FEDEX / N250AY 762 USAIR / 4X-EKA 738 ELAL / N17104, N34137 752 CONTINENTAL / LN-NOF 738 NORWEGIAN / YR-BGI 737 TAROM / 9V-SWI 773 SIA / N399AN 763 AMERICAN / OO-VEK 734 SNB / TC-APJ 738 PEGASUS / VP-BUM 320 AEROFLOT / YL-BBK 733 BALTIC / OE-LVG FK100 AUSTRIAN / EI-DUX CRJ900 MYAIR / D-AKNG 319 GWI / LN-RRB 737 SAS / JY-AYD 320 RJA / TC-JRI 321 THY / N786AN 763 AVIANCA / EC-JIP, GPS GXJ METRO

Biz - EC-ILK LEAR / EC-JVI DA2000 / CS-DRJ, EC-KMT, EC-JNY 125 / HB-VNY, D-ISEC, EC-ISQ, D-IDMH CITATIONS / EC-JGN GALAXY

And finally, a long way from home G-FPLD Beech 200 was calibrating the ILS on 07R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to Newcastle on G-EZJP again, the Red Arrows were parked up after flying for the Great North run, nothing else of note. 

CLICK HERE For some shots of Barcelona.