A week in Corfu

[graham]

An early holiday for us to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary which I had booked as a surprise for the good lady. We were booked onto EZY8207 out from LGW at 0555am on the 13th May, our chariot being A321n G-UZME. The flight took just over three hours and upon landing at CFU, we braked harder than any other flight I can ever recall being on and cleared the runway within 20 seconds of touching down. Not a great deal there to get excited about, another easyJet, a SAS, an Enter Air, a Finnair, a TUI and a Condor.

There was a mix up regarding the transfer I'd booked - the agent told us to get on to minibus 534, the driver then said that his run didn't go as far as Ipsos where we were staying, so we got off again, went back to the agent's kiosk, she was most apologetic, made a phone call and within five minutes, had arranged a taxi for us.

We've visited many Greek islands over the past twenty years and like them all, it's not really so much about what goes in and out of the island airport, but more about the overflights. Rather like Rhodes, Corfu appears to sit on a busy crossroads with a lot of north/south,south/north and west/east, east/west traffic. For the seven full days we were there, everything trailed for five of those days, the rest of the time it was the usual job to see where they were going over in relation to a tree, a TV aerial or wherever, which them allowed me to home in with the bins.

The VRs had good coverage, all four I use on my phone worked well, FR24, PlaneFinder, PlanePlotter mobile (which is set up to only show needed frames) and the new ADS-B one that came out soon after the sale of ADS-B Exchange

I have to say that it was a great haul for a week, there were German AF A400 flights every day heading towards the boot of Italy and a couple of times, the Italian AF MB339s from Lecce put in an appearance, all showing on the VR. There were two USAF C130s within half an hour of each other on one day, albeit in opposite directions. Stars of the show were the four Moroccan AF C-=130s which went over line astern, if I recall on the Tuesday. Having said that, other than taking the bus to Corfu Town one morning to see the sights, we stayed at the apartment and made good use of the pool and facilities. It was intended to be a lazy holiday and it was although the other guests probably thought I was a bit of a narna camped out by the pool with bins.

I decided for the first time to email my daily logs home using the facility provided by PlaneBase. However, something didn't quite go to plan and when I looked yesterday evcening, everything had been placed into one date, the first date I sent stuff home on the 13th. So, it's an alphabetical list rather then split by day.

Three queries - firstly, for two days, an Egyptian registered heli was buzzing around. The VRs gave it as HZ-HC82 but I'm getting no hits for that. Secondly, biz jet N539GS, again plotting on VR but no hit. Last, when we arrived at CFU to come home, there was a Falcon 7X parked next to a C680. The Cessna OK-UGJ was read off from the cab ( it wasn't needed either) but the Falcon defied ID-ing and it wasn't listed as "being on the ground" by FR24.

At the end of our week, we were again spoilt when a huge E Class AMG Mercedes arrived to whisk us to the airport. All was smooth, albeit rather a long wait for security but we were through inside of 15 minutes to catch easyJet EZY8208 A321n G-UZMC back to LGW, our second ride on her as she brought us home from Rhodes last September.

This list is of the frames made...I also saw 40 scrapes. AS you can see, very much an "Airbus Fest".

13 May 2023 Corfu

12-5768 Lockheed HC-130J Hercules 5768 United States Air Force
166712 Cessna UC-35D Citation 560-0672 United States Marine Corps
18-5914 C-130J-30 Hercules 5914 United States Air Force
22701 Leonardo AW.109 S Trekker 22701 Greek Air Force
3C-TM06 Ilyushin IL-76 TD 1023412418 Equatorial Guinea Air Force
4X-CUZ Raytheon 125 800XP 258514 Arrow Aviation Ltd
54+04 Airbus Military A400M 035 German Air Force
54+12 Airbus Military A400M 057 German Air Force
54+20 Airbus Military A400M 074 German Air Force
54+21 Airbus Military A400M 079 German Air Force
54+25 Airbus Military A400M 085 German Air Force
54+33 Airbus Military A400M 100 German Air Force
54+34 Airbus Military A400M 103 German Air Force
54+37 Airbus Military A400M 113 German Air Force
54+39 Airbus Military A400M 125 German Air Force
57-1483 Boeing KC-135R 17554 United States Air Force
822 CASA C-295 W 182 United Arab Emirates Air Force
9H-GKK Airbus A320 232SL 6865 Vistara
9H-MLX Airbus A320 232 4888 Avion Express Malta
9H-MSA Airbus A320 214 4349 Medsky Airways
9H-TAU Boeing 737MAX 8 43001 SmartLynx Airlines Malta
9H-WAW Airbus A321 271NXSL 11087 Wizz Air Malta
9H-WAY Airbus A321 271NXSL 11233 Wizz Air Malta
9H-WAZ Airbus A321 271NXSL 11250 Wizz Air Malta
9H-WDH Airbus A321 271NXSL 11217 Wizz Air Malta
9H-WDI Airbus A321 271NXSL 11303 Wizz Air Malta
9H-WDK Airbus A321 271NXSL 11266 Wizz Air Malta
9K-AKO Airbus A320 251NSL 10082 Kuwait Airways
9K-AKQ Airbus A320 251NSL 10060 Kuwait Airways
9K-AKR Airbus A320 251NSL 11014 Kuwait Airways
9M-MUD Airbus A330 223F 1180 Malaysia Airlines
9V-SMB Airbus A350 941 30 Singapore Airlines
A6-ATE Airbus A321 251NXSL 9265 Air Arabia
A6-EIY Airbus A320 232SL 6226 Etihad Airways
A6-FMJ Boeing 737MAX 8 60980 flydubai
A6-WZB Airbus A321 271NXSL 9429 Wizz Air Abu Dhabi
A6-WZC Airbus A321 271NXSL 10371 Wizz Air Abu Dhabi
A6-WZD Airbus A321 271NXSL 10391 Wizz Air Abu Dhabi
A6-WZH Airbus A321 271NXSL 11121 Wizz Air Abu Dhabi
A7-BHH Boeing 787 9 64219 Qatar Airways
A9C-NF Airbus A321 253NXSL 11221 Gulf Air
B-8023 Dassault Falcon 7X 133 Brilliant Jet Co
CN-AOG Lockheed C-130H Hercules 4713 Royal Moroccan Air Force
CN-AOJ Lockheed C-130H Hercules 4738 Royal Moroccan Air Force
CN-AOM Lockheed C-130H Hercules 4875 Royal Moroccan Air Force
CN-AON Lockheed C-130H Hercules 4876 Royal Moroccan Air Force
D-AIEL Airbus A321 271NXSL 10715 Lufthansa
D-AIEN Airbus A321 271NXSL 10859 Lufthansa
D-AIEP Airbus A321 271NXSL 11027 Lufthansa
D-IVIV Cessna Citation CJ2+ 525A0518 Atlas Air Service AG
E7-GPS Cessna Citation CJ4 525C0317 Government of Republic of Srpska
EC-NJI Airbus A321 251NXSL 10071 Iberia Express
EC-NKH Cessna Citation Latitude 680A0251 Global Jet Austria GmbH
EC-NMT Air Tractor AT-802 A 802A-0850 Private
EI-IGZ Boeing 737MAX 8 200 62354 Ryanair
EI-INA Airbus A320 271NSL 11201 Italia Trasporto Aereo
EI-INB Airbus A320 251NSL 11261 Italia Trasporto Aereo
EI-SIZ Airbus A320 251NSL 11374 Scandinavian Airlines Connect
EP-IFA Airbus A321 211SL 7418 Iran Air
ES-MBU Airbus A320 271NSL 6799 Marabu Airlines
ES-NAB Airbus A320 214 4347 Nordica
ET-ALO Boeing 767 360ERBDSF/W 33768 Ethiopian Airlines
EZ-A778 Boeing 777 22KLR 42296 Turkmenistan Airlines
F-HANE Piaggio P.180 Avanti II 1177 Oyonnair
G-EJCE Airbus A320 214 6107 easyJet UK
G-TTNU Airbus A320 251NSL 11403 British Airways
HA-LZX Airbus A321 271NXSL 10993 Wizz Air
HA-LZY Airbus A321 271NXSL 10933 Wizz Air
HB-JOP Airbus A320 214 3374 Chair Airlines
HZ-AS55 Airbus A320 214SL 7550 Saudi Arabian Airlines
HZ-AS56 Airbus A320 214SL 7608 Saudi Arabian Airlines
HZ-AS61 Airbus A320 214SL 7927 Saudi Arabian Airlines
HZ-AS68 Airbus A320 214SL 8081 Saudi Arabian Airlines
HZ-AS72 Airbus A320 214SL 8161 Saudi Arabian Airlines
HZ-AS75 Airbus A320 214SL 8298 Saudi Arabian Airlines
HZ-AS77 Airbus A320 214SL 8346 Saudi Arabian Airlines
HZ-NS52 Airbus A320 251NSL 10911 Flynas
JY-ABC Embraer Legacy 600 14500975 Arab Wings Ltd
LX-FMA Dassault Falcon 900LX 329 Flying Group Luxembourg
LY-ABT Antonov An-2 TP 1G233-20 Svedijos Prekyba
LY-CCK Airbus A320 232 2210 Marabu Airlines
LY-NRU Airbus A320 214 3596 Heston Airlines
LZ-ASR Piaggio P.180 Avanti II 1159 Aviostart
M-LION Hawker 900XP HA-0099 Excel Aviation Ltd
MM55064 Aermacchi MB.339 CD 6862 Italian Air Force
MM55069 Aermacchi MB.339 CD 6871 Italian Air Force
MM55073 Aermacchi MB.339 CD 6877 Italian Air Force
MM55086 Aermacchi MB.339 CD 6955 Italian Air Force
MM62287 Piaggio P.180 Avanti II 1163 Italian Air Force
N5PF Gulfstream GVII-G500 72010 Paul Foster
N18HA Bombardier Global 5000 9198 Corporate
N29PF Embraer Praetor 600 55020130 Latitude 33 Aviation
N173S Cessna Citation CJ1 525-0525 Green Tooth LLC
N233LT Gulfstream G550 5551 Honeyflower International Ltd
N970SJ Gulfstream G550 5194 KNC Equipment LLC
OE-GLC Cessna Citation Latitude 680A0235 International Jet Management GmbH
OE-HCU Bombardier Challenger 350 20878 Sparfell Luftfahrt GmbH
OE-LZA Airbus A320 214 3234 Austrian Airlines
OY-JYA Boeing 737NG 8KN/W 40253 JetTime
P4-AAG Bombardier Challenger 605 5886 Prima Aviation SRL
S5-BBV Cessna Citation XLS Gen2 560-6335 Air Adriatic
S7-PTI Airbus A320 251NSL 9394 Air Seychelles
SU-AAI Airbus A320 214SL 6782 Air Arabia Egypt
SU-BQC Airbus A320 232 3219 Nile Air
SU-BUP Airbus A320 251NSL 11302 Air Cairo
SU-BUQ Airbus A320 251NSL 11307 Air Cairo
SU-BUR Airbus A320 251NSL 11322 Air Cairo
SU-BUS Airbus A320 251NSL 11254 Air Cairo
SU-BUT Airbus A320 251NSL 11205 Air Cairo
SU-BUX Airbus A320 251NSL 10791 Air Cairo
SU-BUY Airbus A320 251NSL 10837 Air Cairo
SU-BVG Embraer EMB-190 LR 19000775 Air Cairo
SU-BVH Embraer EMB-190 LR 19000776 Air Cairo
SU-BVI Embraer EMB-190 LR 19000774 Air Cairo
SU-GFR Airbus A321 251NXSL 11164 Egyptair
SU-GFS Airbus A321 251NXSL 11231 Egyptair
SU-TMO Boeing 737NG 846/W 35342 flyEgypt
SX-FDK Cessna Citation III 650-0192 Life Line Aviation
SX-GRA Airbus A321 251NSL 8014 Sky Express Greece
SX-MAT Boeing 737 446 28831 Air Mediterranean
SX-NAG Airbus A321 271NXSL 11011 Aegean Airlines
SX-NAM Airbus A321 271NXSL 11085 Aegean Airlines
SX-NEF Airbus A320 271NSL 11013 Aegean Airlines
SX-NEG Airbus A320 271NSL 11132 Aegean Airlines
SX-NEJ Airbus A320 271NSL 11384 Aegean Airlines
SX-NEK Airbus A320 271NSL 11382 Aegean Airlines
SX-NEL Airbus A320 271NSL 11399 Aegean Airlines
SX-NTE ATR 72 600 1575 Sky Express Greece
T7-ONEX Dassault Falcon 8X 469 ExecuJet Middle East
T7-RCW Dassault Falcon 2000 195 Eagle Express
TC-KAM Embraer Legacy 650 14501121 TAV Havacilik
TC-KLN Bombardier Challenger 605 5914 Kly Air
TC-KNK Dassault Falcon 2000S 723 Super Air
TC-KRA Raytheon 125 850XP 258793 Genel Havacilik
TC-LCH Boeing 737MAX 8 60040 Turkish Airlines
TC-LCU Boeing 737MAX 8 60068 Turkish Airlines
TC-LGH Airbus A350 941 596 Turkish Airlines
TC-LTL Airbus A321 271NXSL 10878 Turkish Airlines
TC-LTP Airbus A321 271NXSL 11148 Turkish Airlines
TC-LUM Airbus A321 271NXSL 10973 AnadoluJet
TC-RBG Airbus A321 251NXSL 10007 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RBS Airbus A321 251NXSL 10953 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RBT Airbus A321 251NXSL 10924 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RBU Airbus A321 251NXSL 10917 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RBV Airbus A321 251NXSL 10925 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RBY Airbus A321 251NXSL 10976 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RBZ Airbus A321 251NXSL 10938 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RDB Airbus A321 251NXSL 11100 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RDC Airbus A321 251NXSL 11104 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RDD Airbus A321 251NXSL 11166 Pegasus Airlines
TC-RDE Airbus A321 251NXSL 11240 Pegasus Airlines
VP-CIF Bombardier Challenger 605 5807 SAMCO Aviation
VP-CJK Gulfstream GVII-G600 73093 Huachi Investments Ltd
VQ-BNZ Gulfstream G650 ER 6158 Government of Jordan
VT-MXJ Boeing 737MAX 8 64509 SpiceJet
YR-WIN Airbus A321 271NXSL 10948 HiSky Europe
ZS-ABB Embraer Legacy 650 14501210 Cape Jets

[graham]

Update, having done this week's updates on PlaneBase, the Egyptian heli is now recognised as an Airbus H160

[graham]

Next update, seems the Falcon 7X is a regular visitor to the island and is PH-GWS which isn't needed.

[graham]

Looks like I forgot to add those made at LGW

12 May 2023 London Gatwick

F G-EJCA Airbus A320 214 5874 easyJet UK
F G-EJCC Airbus A320 214 6004 easyJet UK
S G-EJCG Airbus A320 214 4033 easyJet UK
S G-EJCV Airbus A320 214SL 6651 easyJet UK

[deke]

A phenomenal haul there Graham, thanks for sharing it.

[mick]

I'm going out to Corfu Friday.
Hopefully a similar haul to yours Graham

[graham]

Good luck Mick, fingers crossed for you, it seems to have warmed up a bit too from when we were there

[graham]

Deke, I did virtually nothing other than sit by the pool on five of the seven days. When we visited Corfu Town we climbed to the top of the old fortress which gave great views across to the airport.