Review of Ryanair flight from Bologna to Barcelona in Economy

WELCOME BACK

Hi AvGeeks, welcome back to a new Flight Report from Bologna, in Emilia Romagna, Italy! Today I will be flying Ryanair's B737-800 to Barcelona El Prat Airport but before that, I am taking the Italo Treno train from Florence (Tuscany, Italy) to Bologna Centrale, and then the Marconi Express to get to the airport from Bologna city centre after a couple weeks spent in Tuscany.

This is a one and a half hour journey and there are 3 daily flights operated by Ryanair and 2 other flights operated by Barcelona-based airline Vueling. RYR often operates one of the three daily flights with a Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 (B38M) and the other ones with classic B737-800 while Vueling operates its flights with the Airbus A320 and sometimes Airbus A321neo or even the Airbus A319.

For this trip, I will be flying on the Ryanair's flight. Let's get started!

FLORENCE STATION - SANTA MARIA NOVELLA

My journey started around 09:00AM at Florence Santa Maria Novella train station, which is located in the city centre and from where I took the Italo Treno option to reach Bologna. There was a slight delay but everything went good!

ITALO TRENO TO BOLOGNA CENTRALE AND MARCONI EXPRESS

I booked a Standard economy seat on this short train ride of about 35/40 minutes, but still at very high speed. The transfer from Florence to Bologna is really super fast, especially if coming from Florence city centre. Italo Treno operates from South to North of Italy, for instance, the train I took was arriving from Napoli (in Campania region) and was heading to Torino. But from Florence to Bologna, it is a non-stop sector.

From Bologna Centrale to BLQ airport you need to take the Marconi Express, which is a small train with 2/3 wagons that takes you directly in front of BLQ entrance doors. The ride on the Express lasts around 5/7 minutes and there's only one stop between Bologna Centrale and the airport.

BOLOGNA BLQ AIRPORT

Bologna BLQ Airport
IATA code: BLQ
ICAO code: LIPE
Runway(s): 12/20 orientation (2803 metres in length)
Airlines operating with most flights: Ryanair and Wizz Air
Creation year: 1933

Customs in Bologna were pretty fast on this day and I was soon airside. The Terminals access begin with several shops of all kinds, from magazines to high-end clothing brands. Then, I got to the Gates area where there is a nice view over the apron and can spot some aircraft. The flight had some delay so I took advantage to buy a sandwich and some water while waiting for boarding to get started.

RYANAIR B737-800 EI-EMJ

Manufacturer: Boeing
Aircraft type: B737-800 (B738)
Age: 14.4 yo (at the time of this report)
Engines: 2 x CFMI CFM56
Previous flights: BCN - BLQ
Following flights: BCN - VNO

Ryanair, including Buzz and Malta Air, (at the time of this report) operates a full-Boeing fleet dispatched between classics B737-800 (410 units) and B737 MAX 8-200 (156 units). For this flight, it was a B737-800 which flew only for Ryanair since its delivery in May 2010. The aircraft was arriving from Barcelona and after my flight, it went to Vilnius (Lithuania) and back to Barcelona. The particularity of this B737-800 is the double-winglet on the wingtips that we don't always find on classic Boeing B737-800 but rather on Boeing B737-900.

BOARDING

After checking IDs and Passports at Gate 3, we were boarded in several buses to reach the aircraft.

Once onboard, crew were very friendly and I took my seat at 18A window seat with a nice view on the wing and on the engine as well. I found that the legroom was quite good and well enough for this one and a half hour flight.

TRAFFIC AND OTHER AIRCRAFT

While waiting for pushback, it was very nice viewing other aircraft arriving and departing, for instance:

KLM's Embraer E190 off to Amsterdam AMS on flight KL1664 which started pushing back few minutes before us;
Emirates' B777-300ER (B773) arriving from Dubai DXB on flight EK93 (Emirates operates a daily flight from Dubai to Bologna);
Turkish Airlines' A321neo (A21N) off to Istanbul on TK1324 which is sometimes operated on Boeing (B737-900 or B737 MAX 8);
as well as several other Ryanair's Boeing aircraft.

TAKE-OFF

After some more wait, it was time for us as well to take to the skies. We lined up on runway 12, take-off thrust, V1 and rotate! We then made a two left turns procedure to climb out from a rainy Bologna to go and reach cruise altitude.

CLIMB-OUT AND CRUISE

We reached a cruise altitude of 33000 feet (FL330) after crossing the clouds layer. As I already ate a sandwich for lunch, this time I opted not to take anything to eat onboard but there was a wide choice of sandwiches, snacks and beverages offered on the menu by Ryanair.

After cruising over Genova and Nice, we encountered some light turbulences and increased altitude to FL350 (35000 feet). The rest of the cruise went smoothly until the beginning of the descent into Catalunya. 

In-flight I took some time to read, take some pictures of the landscape and enjoy the flight time.

DESCENT AND APPROACH

We reached top of descent shortly after overflying Marseille in southern France. Barcelona approach includes two turns: first one to the right as a base turn (at around 6000 feet) and then a left turn to take the landing runway heading and start the final approach phase (at around 3000 feet).

As we were making these turns, we could see other aircraft making the same pattern and approaching for landing. All this with a very nice and clear sky over the sea.

LANDING IN BCN

And it was touch-down time with a landing on runway 24R and we parked at Terminal 2 just next to Volotea's A319 that was just arriving from Nantes. 

BARCELONA BCN AIRPORT

Barcelona BCN Airport
IATA code: BCN
ICAO code: LEBL
Runway(s): 06L/24R, 06R/24L and 02/20
Airlines operating with most flights: Vueling (especially from Terminal 1) and Ryanair
Creation year: 1916

Barcelona Airport was really crowded with loads of aircraft departing all over Europe (mostly Vueling, Ryanair and Wizz Air) but also to the United States with Delta Airlines for example to New York JFK, to the Middle East with Qatar Airways B788 to Doha and Emirates A380 to DXB, and to Asia with Air China A330 to Beijing.

Barcelona Airport has plenty of shops to take souvenirs and bars and restaurants to eat something.