Welcome to the fourth part of the trip to Asia. This report will cover the return flight from Kagoshima to Hong Kong with Hong Kong Airlines. After 5 days in Japan, it was time for me to return to Europe.
1. Part 1 MUC to DUS: Here!
2. Part 2 DUS to HKG: Here!
3. Part 3 HKG to KOJ: Here!
4. Part 4 KOJ to HKG: You are here!
5. Part 5 HKG to LHR: Here!
On the day of flight, I took the shuttle bus from Kagoshima central station to the airport. It took about 40 minutes and I arrival the international terminal at 14:25pm. Since it was still quite early, the terminal was almost empty.
The arrival hall of international terminal.
Next to the arrival hall. Here is the checkin area for international flights.
Since the counters were not open yet, I decided to visit the domestic terminal
ANA checkin area.
The domestic arrival hall.
Japan Airlines checkin area.
Somehow I found an elevator that brought me to the observation deck on third floor.
Next to the observation deck, there is a small area call "Sora Stage" which exhibits a small part of the wing and the engine. There are also some information about the history and also the airlines that came to Kagoshima Airport.
The fan blade from Japan Airlines B747-300
The winglet of ANA B747-400. Then I thought it was time to return to the International terminal.
The counter was finally opened at 15:07pm, it took about 10 more minutes until I finished the checkin process. Then I returned to the domestic terminal again. I brought an ANA original strap at the ANA festa on second floor. Then I took the escalator to the third floor and visited the observation deck again.
The departure hall for domestic flight.
Solarseed Air B737-800 was preparing its flight to Tokyo Haneda.
Soon it was time for me to returned to international terminal. The departure area was on the second floor.
Passengers were already queuing in front of security check. I noticed that the couple that was seating next to me on the previous flight was queuing in front of me.
The whole process was very smooth. I got my bag checked and then passed through the immigration in no time. Since there is only one gate (bridge) in international terminal, this is the only waiting area in front of the gate. There was nothing else but only one souvenir shop, those Hong Kong tourists took the last chance and keeping buying until the last minutes. Boarding was started at around 16:30pm.
This was my ride to Hong Kong, B-LPN, A320-200 with winglet. This plane was delivered to Hong Kong Airlines in April 2015, the different thing was that this plane was assembled in Airbus Tianjin.
Aircraft view before embarking
My seat, 37A.
View from my seat. A Skymark Airlines B737-800 was parked next to us.
back of the seat, same as the previous flight, no cup holder, no coat hanger, no PTV.
Cabin during boarding.
overhead monitor were lowered and safety video was showned.
Pushback started at 17:02pm.
While we were taxing to runway, an ANA B767-300 was taking off.
Entering the runway and we took off at 17:12pm.
Shortly after takeoff, our plane made a 180 degree turn and kept heading south. This allowed me to have a good view of the Kagoshima airport.
Soon we passed through Kirishima city (霧島市) and Aira City (姶良市)
And here came the most valuable part of this flight. We were flying next to Volcano Sakura. The volcano is still active and two small eruptions were recorded on 5th October.
Then our plane turned slightly turned towards southwest and we also had a nice view of Kagoshima city. Soon, the clouds started to gathered. In the photo below, it was also able to observe the Mount Kaimon (開聞岳). This is also an active volcano which looks very much similar to Mount Fuji therefore it is also know as "Satsuma-Fuji"
The overhead monitor was playing some Hong Kong TV program, but as far as I can see nobody cared about it.
At 17:52pm, dinner was distributed.
I asked for a cup of coffee for the drink. However I saw that they just used normal plastic bottle to hold the coffee, this explained why the coffee was not hot.
The winglet of Hong Kong Airlines.
The view was stunning!!!
Flying over Taiwan.
Outside it was getting darker and I soon fell asleep.
At 19:16pm, I was waken up by the PA announcement. We were informed that the landing time will be at 19:00pm Hong Kong time.
During the descend, we can observed the lightning in distance. At 19:06pm we landed on RWY07L. Total flight time was 2 hours 54 minutes.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for your flight. Kagoshima airport's international security area looks too small.
The Photos of scenery was quite beautiful. I often fly to Hong Kong, however, I had never seen the Mount Kaimon from such a low altitude.
Thanks for your reply. There are only a few international flights in Kagoshima, so don't expect too much in the international terminal. I am really glad that the weather was so good during departure.