3 reviews
This series covers a trip to China for our first "post-COVID" TPAC expedition. Please refer back to Part 1 for the full background.
This will incidentally be the first report on the site for NGB, a rare airport in China that Marathon did not set his measuring tape. My report will not be as comprehensive as his are, but it will offer a glimpse into this new airport for the site.
This flight was booked a couple days before departure since there was a need for me to go up to Beijing for work with a coworker. Most of Zhejiang is not as conveniently networked onto the high speed rail lines, so air travel is still competitive from a cost/time perspective. NGB was the closest airport from where I was at the time so it got the nod ahead of HGH. Since we needed to be in eastern Beijing, we opted for flights to PEK over PKX, which limits the flight options to CA. CA has 5x daily service NGB-PEK dispersed throughout the day. Since we didn't want to deal with rush hour getting to the airport, we opted for the 12:00 departure hoping that it would also reduce the likelihood of IRROPs that are highly prevalent in China during afternoons/evenings especially with inclement weather. To highlight price comparisons, a first class ticket on the high speed train is 1000 RMB ($140) from Shanghai to Beijing, and this flight in Y was 890 RMB ($125) so air travel is still highly competitive in China.
One novelty of this flight is that it is operated by C4, so this will be a good chance to try a new carrier albeit it being a subsidiary of CA. As standard with Y fares in China, there is 20kg of luggage included as well as a meal service (snack/brunch).
This report will cover the domestic hop from Ningbo to Beijing. As a reminder, the routing for this series:
The day before departure, I tried to check-in online and do my seat selection using the CA website.
The flight looked fairly full already so I picked a window seat in the back, 34L, hoping that they would continue to fill seats along the aisles/windows and leave me with an empty middle seat. It would also let me deplane last for better chances to photograph the cabin.
Progressing to complete check-in, however, led to this error message saying it failed. My seat selection looked like it was saved, so I gave up and figured I’d deal with it at the airport since I have bags to check anyways.
Day of departure, we arrived at NGB by transfer from our hotel at 10:00.
The airport is partially owned by Fraport, and the main terminal is only ~20 years old so has a nice modern glass facade.
All passengers were directed to enter through door 25, where we were swabbed for explosives and informed that there was a mask mandate in the terminal. After having my suitcase and backpack swabbed, I was directed into a cordoned off area of ~25 passengers. We waited about 3 minutes for the test results come back and then were released into the terminal.
Inside, there are no airline specific check-in counters. You just have to force your way into one of the airport managed counters labeled as "Baggage Drop-Off" to check-in and drop off bags. Despite being *G, we did not see any priority check-in line that looked like it would accept us.
The agent was very nice, and asked if I wanted a window or aisle seat. I confirmed that I had reserved a window, but was moved from 34L to 13A. She then tagged the bag to PEK applying a *A priority tag and directed me to go to the business/first counter to validate my ticket for priority security.
The red carpet leads the way of course. The agent confirmed my status and stamped my boarding pass.
The stamp provides access to the “VIP” security line, which was marginally shorter. I asked if I needed to take off my belt, and he said no. Of course, I set off the metal detector because of my belt and have to do a very thorough hand screening.
Air side, the FIDS is showing our flight on-time from Gate 222.
Walking to the gate. Our gate will be at the very end of the terminal.
Our gate for today. No plane yet since it was still enroute from PEK.
There was a lounge right next to our gate, the Yongyi VIP Room that serves CA amongst others.
After scanning into the lounge, you take the elevator down a floor to this quite small and crowded space.
I noticed our plane arriving from PEK as I was making my way towards the food.
The limited “buffet” of cup noodles, packaged snacks, and non-alcoholic drinks. There were 2 chafing dishes, but they were both empty.
I grabbed a glass of chrysanthemum tea and sat for a bit in one of the side areas.
The remnants of my boarding pass on NGB card stock after the frivolous stamping at Chinese airports.
The lounge is well decorated and has lots of pictures along the walls, including this vintage CAAC Aerospace BAe-146-100.
Around 11:00, our flight was announced for a delay to 12:41. We decided to leave the lounge and grab food at a restaurant to tie us over.
We found a pretty good restaurant down by the bus gates with Lanzhou cuisine. For ~90 RMB ($13), a quite substantial meal can be had.
At 11:45, another delay to 12:55 was announced. To kill some more time, I did a walk to the end of the terminal and back to see what was on the ground. The current local fauna.
CZ A333 in China International Import Expo livery.
CZ B738.
Water dispensers are of course abundant with hot/cold options and cups.
The CA B738 in Dalian Airlines livery we are taking up to PEK. This plane was delivered to CA in October 2012 before being transferred to C4 in October 2019, which makes it the “newest” of their 12 B738s.
Dalian Airlines, CA1840
Equipment: Boeing B737-800 [B-5681, delivered October 2012 (ex-CA)]
Departure: 12:00 (ATD: 12:53)
Arrival: 14:25 (ATA: 15:06)
Flight time: 2:14
Abruptly, boarding started at 12:05 with a “last call” immediately. I guess in theory I could have barged my way to the front with *G status, but decided to join the end of the Y queue.
Last look at our plane before heading into the jet bridge.
Down we go.
Boarding passes were checked again by staff before boarding with the air marshal recording the headcount.
Fuselage shot.
Entering, two FAs greet me with a “nihao, hello”. A photo of the bulkhead seats in Row 11. The air marshal would occupy 11C.
My seat in 13A, which is blurry since I got bumped in the back taking the photo. These planes are ex-CA so have the older Recaro seats. They are moderately padded, better than most ironing boards. I didn’t feel any discomfort on this 2h hop. I actually like this color scheme. The phoenix looks a lot better in these blue tones than the purple of F/J cabins or the old grey seats.
The seat pitch is reasonable at 31-32” in my estimate. You can cross your legs even when the person in front reclines.
The recline button and audio controls are in the armrest. There are no charging ports of any type that I saw in these cabins, so make sure you are fully charged.
The seat back contents complete with a very rare in-flight magazine (CA's Wings of China) and Dalian Airlines branded safety card on this B738.
Wings of China
Nothing interesting in terms of route map or fleet information, but there was a small article about the route expansion post-pandemic.
Safety card on this B738.
The cabin looks well maintained for a >10 year old plane. This plane has BSI and was retrofitted with WiFi. The J cabin was 6/8 load factor and Y was ~80% load factor with a decent amount of empty middle seats. The middle seat in my row remained empty so it will be Euro J for me.
The middle seats have IFE boxes that block some storage space. As I said, these seats do not have any charging ports (AC or USB).
Boarding completed at 12:19 as the doors closed and final preparations were completed outside as the rain continued to fall.
We sat at the gate while the video monitors can down and played the safety video.
The captain announced a delay for ATC. While waiting, the FAs came through cabin twice to check seat belts and even buckled all the empty seats. We finally pushed back at 12:40.
The ground crew wave goodbye as we head out on our taxi across the domestic terminal showing off some good diversity.
CZ A333.
BK B738 and CZ B738.
3U A320 and CA A321.
Cargo operations with several SF Express B767s.
We pulled up short of Runway 13 to let a MU A320 arrive.
We aligned and took off to the southeast on the wet tarmac.
Lifting up led to some nice views of the southern suburbs of Ningbo before we looped to the right into the cloud layer.
Leveling off, the overhead monitors came down and started playing the moving map.
We pierced the thick cloud layer as we crossed the Hangzhou Bay which is when the seat belt sign was turned off and service started as we approached Shanghai.
Curtains were closed and then the crew came down the aisle with headphones, which I declined since I had no intention of watching the CCTV they played mid-flight. It's also probably time to update the curtains, since China is homogenizing it's fares to move away from the US model and call the forward cabin Business.
The instructions for the WiFi-enabled streaming services played on the monitor. They are also available in the back of the in-flight magazine.
The WiFi was easy to connect with a dubious privacy statement.
The content is not amazing, but more than sufficient for a 2 hour domestic flight. There are ~20 movies, ~15 TV series with several episodes each, games, and sports shows. The major criticism is that there is no flight information and the overhead monitors only play CCTV during the flight.
The crew then came down the aisle with carts for service. There was no option, I was just handed the very hot entree as “beef noodle” along with the snack box.
Lucky 380mL bottles of water were then handed out.
My tray table was less than clean, luckily I had some wipes in my backpack.
The catering as received. Not only is this seat better than Euro J, the catering is better too.
The snack box packaged in NGB and its contents: wet wipe, spork/napkin, pickles, orange, and muffin.
The beef noodle unveiled. True to its name, it’s beef and noodles in a brown sauce along with a small amount of carrot and bok choy. The meal was satisfying, albeit not amazing. For domestic economy, there is nothing to fault.
The advantage of the snack boxes is they second as trash containers so the crew can easily collect and store them.
I spent the rest of the flight watching TV using the streaming service, which worked quite well.
The clouds break to show some glimpses of northern Jiangsu as we cross over Huaian. At 14:30, the crew announced our descent into PEK and began preparing the cabin for arrival as we crossed over Jinan and the Yellow River.
The FA in our section must have been new, she carried a note pad in her hand and referred to it as a cue card before addressing any passenger as they prepared the cabin for arrival.
The Chaobai River as we loop around Beijing to the east to approach PEK from the north.
We landed on Runway 19 and began our long taxi over to Terminal 2, which is used for all domestic arrivals.
Final descent into PEK:
A CA B789 at a remote stand as a NH B788 leaves to return to HND.
Taxing past a very empty T3C, only a JL B788 and CA B77W were at gates.
We looped around T3E, which was completely empty and looked closed as we continued our taxi to T2.
We abruptly turned right into a remote stand next to a CA A319. Not sure why we took a remote stand at T3 since our plane was off to DLC next.
Our stairs arriving.
Once the forward doors were opened, the FAs blocked off the Y cabin until J was out and in the VIP bus. We then had our turn to deplane out onto the tarmac.
Our gorgeous CA B738 as we waited for the bus to arrive.
View of our plane from the bus.
Once full, we headed out on the long 15min drive to T2. Plenty of diversity in China domestic operations at PEK, but still mainly CA/HU being their hubs.
CA B737-700, love the black noses of the CA B737s.
HU B787-900.
CA A320neo.
A6 A319, my first time ever seeing this airline.
CA B737-800 in Yellow Peony livery.
After being deposited at the dark, drab baggage claim in T2, I found our carousel and immediately collected my bags which were already circulating. Not quite sure how the bags beat us, but I'm not complaining.
Straight out the exit where our driver was waiting to transfer us to our hotel.
I'll leave off this series here as I start my short stay in Beijing. Thanks for stopping by!
Dalian Airlines, aka Air China, offers a good domestic product when you aren’t hit with an IRROP. Pleasant journey other than the unexplained delay. CA offers an above average product, but definitely relies more heavily on narrow-bodies than some of their key competitors.
NGB: Modern and clean airport, but not very many amenities. The check-in process is tedious without dedicated airline counters. The lounge situation is pretty mediocre and nothing that you should plan to spend time at.
Cabin/IFE: The older Recaro seats are comfortable, they have good seat pitch, and having the empty middle seat made it very comfortable for a 2h flight. China is 5-10 years behind the rest of the airline industry, but BYOD streaming is a fresh addition to CA’s fleet. No moving map, but at least there is now entertainment beyond the in-flight magazine and CCTV broadcasts on the overhead monitors. Still no charging available though (USB or AC).
Crew: Nothing really to note, English ability was good. They were really only active in cabin ~40 minutes since the cabins are prepared for landing 50 minutes out, so very minimal interaction.
Catering: No option for food (only beef noodle) and no drink option (only water bottles distributed). Other than that, the hot meal was good and the snack box had a good variety. Very glad to see there has been no change in meals during the pandemic, but they are competing with the train so can’t cut too much service in order to remain competitive.
PEK: No surprise to get paxbus. Bus ride was long, but the bags were off before we got there so no complaints on overall efficiency. T2 looks old, but likely no refresh coming with the push to move flights to PKX.
2 Comments
I don't really get all the Chinese carrier sub-brands, I'm sure there are financial reasons involves, but it just makes for brand confusion IMO.
Hah, will take your word for it. I assume it looks better IRL because it looks a bit blah-grey
Yup! You're right on the money there. And yeah, this is as good as pitch gets on short-haul narrowbodies anymore
Better service in Y than European or North American short-haul J/F really puts Western carriers to shame.
Honestly US and European carriers are so overwhelmed with the post-Covid surge in demand they also suck at handling IRROPs these days.
A nice look at a "new" carrier, Thanks for sharing!
Probably also related to regional market branding, but agree that it creates a big mess at airports when there are >30 carriers since each carrier can't support it's own check-in counters and instead default to this airport-wide check-in system that leads to long lines and confusion amongst passengers.
Compared to the old washed out grey seats, these blue tone ones look a lot better. When you consider the ugly seats abounding through China's domestic network, these actually rate higher in visual appearance ;)
Totally agree, other than the reduced drink options, the domestic offering on CA has not missed a beat and even added BYOD streaming, which is a welcome surprise. Thanks for stopping by Kevin!
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