Lisbon Spotting
By Dave Rose
22/10/21 - 24/10/21
Lisbon had been on my list for a while, as reports were good for movements and photography. I took the opportunity of a free room when my better half was asked to attend a conference, and I “tagged” along!!
I took a circuitous route to get there, MAN-FAO-LIS as it was a late booking, and the only option. Departing at 06:05 on Ryanair B738 EI-EVM for the 2:20 journey to FAO, I stayed airside, as I was taking the TAP flight at 11:15 to LIS, which was a very full Airbus A320 CS-TNR. Faro was busy with the usual IT stuff, and a few decent bizjets. I took the following shots, with a decent taxying shot of long term resident Boeing 727 9Q-CMC, stored here for many years.
The flight was only 24 minutes in clear skies, landing on Lisbon’s runway 03 and into terminal 1. The excellent website - https://www.spotterguide.net/planespotting/europe/portugal/lisbon-portela-lis-lppt/ helped identify the best spots for photography, and I headed for spot 1, taking about 20 minutes in gorgeous weather. Basically, you are next to a fuel station which has a KFC in it, and great for final approach shots onto 03, in the morning. You can climb up to the perimeter fence above the fuel station and view across the field, and get good taxying and line-up shots. I wasn’t bothered at all by security at this spot. Obviously food, drink and toilets are available here. Shots below-
In the afternoon I moved around to the north side of the runway, to spot 5. This is an elevated mound offering great shots of arrivals and line-ups. There are some lamp posts but its easy to find the gaps. I stayed here till dusk, and got the excellent Metro into the city from Campo Grande station, which is a 15 minute walk.
Next morning I did the same again, with clear blue skies and temperatures in the low 70’s, its an ideal spot. Traffic is obviously dominated by TAP, with the fleet completed in 3 days, as some are based in Porto. Long haul is mainly to South America but eventually returns. AT76’s are used extensively on domestic and Spanish routes. SATA are based here, along with EuroAtlantic using 767’s.
Other items of interest are TAAG Angola, with 2 77W’s arriving first thing and day stopping everyday. Royal Air Maroc AT76’s visit daily, along with AZUL with A339’s and LATAM with B763’s. Aeroflot have a daily B738 rotation and Capital Airlines of China currently have a Saturday service. Most European main-line operators visit, with Swissair using a 77W and along with low cost operators, Ryanair, Easyjet, Wizz, Transavia and Vueling.
Biz is steady, and is often from South America, although the Biz airfield for Lisbon is at Cascais, about 20 miles away.
In summary, a great place for a weekend spotting break, good photography opportunities and nice weather. An extra day could be spent at Cascais and the interesting Alverca, which are both close to the city. If you are holidaying in the Algarve, then its easy to do a day return from either Faro with TAP or with SevenAir on a Dornier 228 from Portimao.
The return flight was my first one on an Airbus A320NEO, G-UZLL doing the honours, they are very quiet!! This was from T2, the low cost “Shed” designed for departures only? Well it is Portugal!!