Air-Passion.be

A few days off were spent at Larnaca, Cyprus. Ideal break to a very sunny and warm destination ! Three days without a cloud, blue sky “Antalya style”, and around 27 degrees … Not to be forgotten is the great Cyprus meals and very friendly pubs … great break before entering winter in Belgium !

On a spotting side, i wasn’t blessed … My first visit was based on a RWY22 usage (as it should be most of the time) but, this procedure wasn’t used on the four days i was there … The procedure was only switched when i entered the terminal on the way back home, when i saw a Belavia Tu154 taxiing to the Makenzy beach side.
RWY22 should allow good approach shots after 2-3 pm … But early November, the sun dissapears at around 4:40 !
The “morning” side of runway 22 cannot be reached except if you own a boat ; it is not allowed to try to walk on that side !
With such late start for pictures, you may consider visiting Larnaca in summer. The place is called Makenzy beach and is very friendly ; lots of pubs with various equipments from classical seats to … beds ! A sandy beach, with restaurants of all sorts and … very high temperatures. Last august, t° climbed to 45° with peaks at 50°C. too much for me ! Even locals were bored …

A few time spent close to the Cyprus technical building (short walk from the end of Makenzy beach and airport fence) provided some interesting shots.

Really surprised to see a chinese Airbus nightstopping on it’s way to China !

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Also surprised to see a veteran Tupolev 134 ! It spent three days on the apron and was caught prior to departure.

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And then the Cypris Police came back … good catch for me also !

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The whole Eurocypria fleet was still grounded at LCA. Newspapers were all talking about the rejected proposition of merger between Cyprus and Eurocypria. They codeshared flight a few days in the beginning of the week, then were removed from the timetable.

As for the traffic there, it is sloooow ! Only wednesday afternoon and saturday proved to be more active (don’t know for sunday till tuesday).
Half of the traffic is dominated by Cyprus airways, and like other charter places, you can have Air Berlin, Monarch, Thomas Cook, CSA A321 … However, some airline types were of interest ; like Royal Jordanian Emb190, GulfAir Emb170 …
Only a few russian flights seen during daylight ; Aeroflot A321 and Rossia A320. Later in the evening Aerosvit Boeings showed up.
Two russian build aircraft seen ; a Tu154 of Belavia, and the Syrian Tu134.

The quality of the pictures is not great at all … you have to shoot trough the fences, and the public side is lower than the airport side … so, not very friendly. I did not wait to taste the mood of local Police to go deeper in the relationship with Cyprus people !