Excel Airways FUE-MAN + PICS

This is my first trip report – on the last flight i took, last summer on 3rd August 2005.

Flight XLA205V Fuerteventura – Manchester T2
Departure Time: 18:20
Arrival Time: 22:30
Aircraft: G-XLAF
Seat Numbers(s) 14 A,B,C,D 15 A,B

Having had a great holiday in Corralejo, it was time to go home. Our minibus arrived to pick us up from our accomodation, and took us to Fuerteventura Airport. There was something about FUE that i liked, its layout, design and simplicity. The check-in queue was quite long, and seemed to take a while to go down, mainly due to only 2 desks being open. However, the time finally came to check in, and unlike on the outbound journey, we were seated close to each other this time (me and my dad booked extra-legroom seats, thus seated on row 15 adjacent the emergency exits on this 737-800).

We made our way through passport control and security, and then made our way up stairs into the departure lounge. My first instinct was to go and have a look at what aircraft where on the apron, and a TCX A320 had just arrived from Birmingham:

http://myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00662845

Whats great about FUE is at each end of the departure lounge is a ‘spectators terrace’ or smokers corner, but it did allow good views onto each end of the runway to shoot aircraft landing and taking off.

Soon, the time came for boarding, and as always with my family, we were one of the last to board. We were at gate 10, at the very far end of the terminal, which meant we had to walk to our awaiting aircraft, allowing me to take the following shots:

http://myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00662860

http://myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00743909

http://myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00743910

Flight departed bang on time, and as we departed, we headed over the capital of Fuerteventura, Puerto Del Rosario and then over the North coast heading back to Manchester.

Heres a pic of the Cabin:

http://myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00743911

(no guesses for whats on the IFE! lol)

In my opinion, the flight was great and very smooth. The cabin crew did everything in a polite manner, and were always on hand for assistance. The IFE was good, although i choose to listen to my own music during the flight and have a read of XLs inflight magazine ‘Altitude’, which i found very enjoyable!. The meal was good, chicken with potatoes and veg, although the kids in the family weren’t keen on theirs (ravioli!).

http://myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00743921

We commenced our decent into Manchester. Sorry i have no pics, i did take some but the quality was poor due to it being 22:30! landing on runway 24R was much smoother than at FUE, and soon, we had taxied to gate 212 at terminal 2. The doors were soon opened for passangers to disembark the aircraft.

Thanks XL for a great flight, both out and inbound. Hopefully travel again with Excel in the future.

Im going to Rhodes next week so i’ll file my next trip report in a few weeks!
Thanks for taking the time to read my first trip report, and please feel free to leave any replies! 🙂

Saul Sudworth