That is obvious Tom!! Thanx for the comments.

Part 3 MLA-MXP
AZ885 – 27/10/04
Aircraft: I-BIMF
STD: 17:45
ATD: 17:52
STA: 19:40
ATA: 19:24
After a wonderful few days in Malta, it was time to return to stormy Britain. So, we packed our stuff and left our hotel at 15:15 for the half hour drive to Luqa Airport. When we got there, there were no queues so we could check in straight away and head to security. There were no queues at security either so we proceeded straight through to departures where there was very few people. On the apron, there was 1 KM 320 and that was it. Time passed slowly and nothing happened on the airfield until at approximately 16:58, there was a rumbling sound and an AZ A319 appeared, some 8 minutes late from MXP. This was to be our plane and was registered I-BIMF. So, we watched the turnaround happen, until at 17:20, we were called forward for boarding at Gate 1. We boarded a bus and headed off to our aircraft. On this flight, there appeared to be a significant number of Brits, so we weren’t alone unlike the outbound flight. The bus came to a stop outside the A319 and we got off and boarded the aircraft via the front set of steps. We took our seats in row 12 and I got the window seat again (a common theme running here 😀 ). The doors were soon shut and the crew carried out a manual safety demonstration. We taxied slowly to the end of the runway and turned and immediately commenced a rolling take-off. We were soon in the air and the crew commenced the service with drinks. As we flew past Rome, we got our meal, which again was an omelette and then we got duty free. All too soon, it was time to descend into Milan. It was a bumpy descent with airbrakes and also going through clouds but we were soon touching down with a bump and plenty of the reverse thrust. We taxied in and parked up next to I-BIMD.

Overall summary: Another good flight, pleasant crew, nice seats and good food.

Part 2 MXP-MLA
AZ884 – 23/10/04
Aircraft: I-BIKD
STD: 14:50
ATD: 15:03
STA: 16:50
ATA: 16:43
After arriving in Milan on the Manchester flight, we went to the Flight Connections Centre and entered the departure lounge. We found seats by the window and we watched the movements through the window. With such a long wait until the next leg of our journey, it became quite tedious, especially with Alitalia dominating the movements. Eventually, after almost 2 hours in the departure lounge, the screens told us to proceed downstairs to the buses as our plane was parked on a remote stand. The bus we were on became crowded with Italian people off on a holiday to Malta. We went across almost half the airport before coming to a stop by I-BIKD. So we got off and boarded by the front set of steps. We got welcomed by the purser and we headed down to our seats near the front of this A320. I got the window seat again. 😀 The Italians were very noisy and didn’t like sitting down until they got told to by the captain. The purser then welcomed us on board, first in Italian and then in English. The crew then did the safety demonstration manually in both Italian and English, and we set off for the runway. We were followed out by I-BIKE and I-BIMD, the aircraft we had flown earlier. We halted at the threshold to let an AZ DC9 land. Then we turned on to the runway and we got thrown back in our seats as the engines were put into full forward thrust. After 40 seconds, we lifted off for this 1 hour 45 minute journey down to Valletta. The crew almost immediately began the service with a drinks service. As we went down the west coast of Italy, we got our meal which was a cheese omelette. This was better than the rolls we got on the MAN-MXP leg. Duty free came round and then another drinks service before we commenced a steep descent over Gozo. About 10 minutes later, we were flying low over villages and farm land before we got thrown down on the runway by the captain and full reverse thrust followed. We taxied back and parked up next to an Air Malta A320 (9H-AED). We disembarked by steps and we got onto a bus that transported us over to the terminal. Our bags were the first on the conveyor belt and we were out of the airport 15 minutes after our arrival.

Summary: This was a better flight and again, the seats were excellent and the legroom was sufficient for me to stretch my legs out. Food was better and the service was great too.