Hello everyone, this time I'd like to share a flight to Lima I made on Avianca's 787.
I had to go for work reasons to Lima, which meant I could choose between Viva Colombia (LCC), LAN and Avianca. I didn't even think of riding on Viva, so it was between LAN and Avianca. At a point I thought my employer was going to send me via LAN because of the price, which meant riding a boring A319 on LAN's boring configuration. Avianca has a varied offer, ranging from an equally boring A320 on pm-TACA config (this means w/o AVOD), pm-AV config (AVOD) and 787s. Luckily I managed to score the 787!
I went early to the airport on a cab, check in was swift and painless and then off to check the traffic at the time, which was mainly from around the neighborhood:
A view of the terminal that day
LAN's boring airbus to Lima
Avior's 737 to Valencia, a route Avianca left aside because of the sequestered USD in Venezuela
TAME operates a route that used to be common in the 1990s: UIO-BOG-CCS, demand mustn't be so good as they've downgraded from A320s to E190s
AeroGal, which operates some flights for AV to Curazao, Panamá and Aruba, along with flights to Guayaquil and Quito. Don't know which of these destinations it was being sent to.
Copa, might be flying to Panamá
JetBlue getting ready for its BOG-FLL daily
An AV787, probably coming from MAD
A weir IAE engined AV A319 (AV has mostly CFM equipped airbuses)
The 787 that had just arrived
Jetblue is leaving
So is Avior
An unusual plane that flies mostly to the Llanos and Amazon regions:
Our plane getting ready
CC-CZT, we meet again on the day I ride a 787; I found this coincidence funny
Other visitors: AeroMexico and an AV A332 and A32X
The Dreamliner's fuselage while boarding
AA's 757 sporting the new livery getting ready for MIA (it's sad how AA has downgraded its service to BOG, 10 years ago it used to have 3 dailies (A300,752 and 763), then 2 dailies (757 and 763) then 2 752s and now 2 738s)
I find the Dreamliner's config a bit tight, but the pitch is acceptable enough
A Peruvian flagged AV A332 just arrived, most likely from EZE where it rotates then to LIM and then to MIA and back to BOG
PTV
Seat-pocket contents
Push-back shows that BOG is mainly dominated by AV a this hour, with the odd AM and NK planes
The flight preview on the moving map feature, I really like this feature on AV's new IFE
Another feat I like is the jukebox
Bye bye CZT
The new ATC tower…it was completed last December and is the tallest in South America
Collection of tails on the international concourse
AV's various liveries at their national concourse
Oddball Satena ATR in the middle of the Airbuses
We were going to depart from RWY 13R, the usual for southbound flights, after this little Easyfly ATR
Takeoff sequence
Then the photo tour of Bogotá:
After this photo everything became cloudy and so I missed the views over Sumapaz Páramo, then the Llanos and eventually the Amazon.
The crew fired up the mood lighting
And set the window tint on
Huge rivers and and an neverending green sea meant we're over the Amazon
By this time we were offered either beef or chicken…i chose beef and this is what I got:
Taste was passable (a bit too low on the salt BTW), but the fact that one can count with one's fingers the pieces of meat was a bit insulting for me, the size of the food overall is mediocre (its like a preview of food rather than a serious meal)
We kept passing over rivers, scattered towns and huge rivers…the amazon is really impressive
This is the largest settlement we passed between BOG and LIM: Yurimaguas, POP: 64k
Out of nowhere the Andes emerge
Crossing the Peruvian Andes is something out of this world, it looks like what I imagine is Martian landscape….with the odd andean valley with heavy agriculture and towns
As soon as we cross the mountains there is a huge and thick cloud…which gives Lima it's characteristic grey sky (something I found really odd, as in Bogotá we have this sky when we're going to have heavy rain, but in Lima, being in a desert, it seldom rains)
After this picture, my camera died on me.
Landing was soft and nice, we docked on gate on time and were on to Immigration quickly, as an Andean Community citizen we had a special lane and I was admitted into Perú painlessly. Then I waited for a short time for my bag, and then I changed some USDs into Soles so I could take a cab to Lima's San Isidro District (awful traffic BTW).
See more
Verdict
Avianca
8.0/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Meal/catering6.0
Bogota - BOG
8.8/10
Efficiency10.0
Access7.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.5
Lima - LIM
8.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access5.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness9.5
Conclusion
It's great to be able to fly the 787 on these short flights. I took it also on the BOG-SCL-BOG run and I fear it is not as cool on long hauls, but it seems that's the way the industry is going, sadly.
AV's service is nothing out of ordinary, but they manage to give a decent service. Catering on the other side is utterly disappointing. IFE is great.
BOG and LIM have been battling for the best airport in the region. Maybe I'm biased as a Colombian, but for me, BOG wins hands down. LIM is nice, but rather a very functionalist airport, aesthetically stale...whereas BOG is bigger with higher ceilings and better services.
Thanks for reading, saludos!
3 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Great plane spotting ! What is the type of the twinprop aircraft serving the Llanos and Amazon regions ? I did not identify it, nor the airline. The ACT tower doesn't look all that tall (292 ft - I checked), and I don't really like the design. Not much of a meal , indeed ! :( The urban layout of Yurimaguas is really unusual, with the runway right in the city center. Sorry you camera didn't make to the end of the flight (battery drained, or worse ?), but this is nevertheless a great report. Thanks for sharing !
Indeed, as Avionero has said, is an Antonov (thanks BTW); the new ATC Tower in BOG is not that tall, yet is taller than SCLs, the former tallest by around 10 metres. The tallest in Latin America is at CUN, which is 100 metres tall. The design has been very controversial here in Colombia, supposedly it evokes a precolumbian symbol called the poporo, I still don't see it.
Yurimaguas' design is the classic Amazonian city design, if it follows the trends in Colombian cities on the Amazon, it usually starts with a small trading post on an important river, then a runway is built, thus creating links to the Centre of the country, and then on colonists arrive and the town grows. That is why the runway is so central.
My battery died on me (I forgot to charge the camera the night before...doh)
The dessert was some mediocre cookie packet if I'm not wrong...I was really displeased with that meal. Sure, it is better to what one gets on North American flights...but this is supposed to be an international flight.
Very interesting report, Chibcha! The meal size was really disappointing. Not even big enough for children's meal... lol What about Lan's catering in the BOG-LIM route?
Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist. We understand that ads can be annoying, this is why we only display a maximum of 2 non-invasive ads per page.
To continue using Flight-Report, we invite you to add Flight-Report to your blocker's "white list".
#81 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
119 reviews
7 Comments
The ACT tower doesn't look all that tall (292 ft - I checked), and I don't really like the design.
Not much of a meal , indeed ! :(
The urban layout of Yurimaguas is really unusual, with the runway right in the city center.
Sorry you camera didn't make to the end of the flight (battery drained, or worse ?), but this is nevertheless a great report. Thanks for sharing !
Yurimaguas' design is the classic Amazonian city design, if it follows the trends in Colombian cities on the Amazon, it usually starts with a small trading post on an important river, then a runway is built, thus creating links to the Centre of the country, and then on colonists arrive and the town grows. That is why the runway is so central.
My battery died on me (I forgot to charge the camera the night before...doh)
Thanks for passing by, saludos!
Thanks for commenting!
The meal size was really disappointing. Not even big enough for children's meal... lol
What about Lan's catering in the BOG-LIM route?
Bet AV is trying to scavenge some bucks now that the Peso has been really devalued against the USD.
Login to post a comment.