INTRODUCTION
Hello everyone
I'm writing this report after many months since I've been very busy with university.
Last Easter my family and I decided to visit Prague, since neither my father nor I have been there,
We booked the flight about one month before with CSA-Czech Airlines and Alitalia. While I've flown AZ many times in Europe, it would have been for me the first time with CSA
Here is the itinerary
13th April Rome Fiumicino - Prague Ruzyně with Czech Airlines A319 (YOU ARE HERE)
16th April Prague Ruzyně - Rome Fiumicino with Alitalia A320
AT THE AIRPORT
As usual we left our car at a long term parking close to Rome Fiumicino International Airport
The service is very good since they have a shuttle bus that brings you in front of the main terminal
Even if is part of SkyTeam, CSA flights departs from Terminal 3 instead of Terminal 1, AZ's base
The airport was quite crowded for Easter holidays
Since we made online check-in at home and had only cabin baggages we headed straight to security checkpoint.
Despite the crowd the security was a breeze and in no time we were airside
Time to turn right, towards boarding area D
FIDS showing our flight to be on time. Boarding gate D3
Boarding area D handles most of European flights operated by non-SkyTeam partners
Most of Alitalia's flight plus some AF and KL are handled at boarding area B
Pianos spreaded in the waiting lounges, a very nice idea
We went upstairs to have lunch…and to make some photos from the only decent spotting point of the entire concourse
AZ A320s and E-Jets at boarding area B
After lunch we returned downstairs to discover that the boarding gate was changed from D3 to D10, on the opposite corner of the concourse
Fortunately boarding had not started yet
Time to go…
Our ride for today, OK-MEL, delivered to Czech Airlines in Aprile 2007
W6 A320 heading to the RWY
LH A320 with sharklets just landed
AZ A321 I-BIXN, dedicated to "Piazza del Duomo, Catania"
Mandatory fuselage shot…
…and wing shot
THE FLIGHT
This A319 is configured with 8 seats in business class and 126 seats in economy class, for a total of 134 seats
I took my seat 15F
Even if the seats are a bit old they were very comfortable and soft
The pitch was also correct (I'm 1.80m tall)
The view from my seat during boarding
Cabin while boarding came to end
Iberia A320 next to us
Pushback was on time, and we headed to RWY25 for take off
AZ A321 taking-off
Boarding area B
AZ remote stands
Meridiana MD-82
AZ old and new livery
FedEx ATR42-300 in front of the CargoCity
Vueling A320 just landed
Alitalia E175
There was no queue for TO and we started to run on RWY 25
Crossing RWY 16R/34L
Roman coastline
Banking over Focene town
The airport
Somewhere on the Tirrean Coast…
…and over mainland
Adriatic Coast
A sea of white clouds
Airshow: after flying over Venice we headed towards Austria
In the meantime the cabin crew started the paid Food&Beverage service
Crossing Alps
About half a hour before scheduled landing we started to descent over Czech countryside
Because of the cloudy weather and the bad state of the window I didn't take good pictures
OK-MEL
Almost on the land
We landed on RWY24
Air brakes
Leaving the runway
Crossing RWY12/30, at the moment closed for renovations
CSA ATR42
Air Dolomiti E190 and CSA A319
Welcome to "Václav Havel Airport Prague"
While the European Pier seemed a bit more "populated" the International area where we parked lacked of planes
Our stand
We parked at an International gate, to be bussed later to the Schenghen Terminal
While disembarking I asked back the Flight Report from the Purser
ARRIVAL IN PRAGUE
Disembarking through the glass jetway
Last views of our bird
Bye Bye OK-MEL
We were bussed to the Schenghen Terminal
Vítejte v Praze - Welcome to Prague
The airport seemed quite clean and new
Having no hold baggage we headed straight to the exit
Baggage reclaim hall
Meeters and greeters hall
We took a taxi to our hotel, located quite close to Charles Bridge
See you for the return flight and thank you for the attention!
