Champions Hockey League Semifinals - 7 January 2020

The Champions Hockey League is coming towards the pinnacle for this season as well. No less than three teams from Sweden have made it to the penultimate stage: Djurgarden, Frölunda and Luleå.

7 January 2020

Djurgårdens IF vs. Mountfield Hradec Kralove

The Czech team is based near Pardubice, so they are leaving from there on a direct flight that will take them right to Arlanda.

ENT505 PED 1200-1355 ARN B738 SP-ESC (06/01/2020)
ENT506 ARN 0105-xxxx PED B738 SP-ESC (08/01/2020)

Maastricht seeing double - UEFA Champions League GS MD5

Group E

Liverpool FC vs. SSC Napoli

Not quite sure yet how Napoli's very passionate away support will be traveling, but I am almost sure that there will be more flights added on to the sole Blue Panorama B737-300 yet:

BV8272 NAP 0945-1215 LPL B733 I-BPAG (26/11/19)

KRC Genk vs. FC Salzburg

One Enter Air Boeing 737-800 once again does not seem to be enough for the Salzburg Champions League and Youth League teams, so once again they will travel abroad using two planes. No supporter flights for once:

ENT547P BOD xxxx-1205 SZG B738 SP-ESG (26/11/19, ferry flt)

ENT547 SZG 1300-xxxx MST B738 SP-ESG (26/11/19)

ENT577P WAW xxxx-1200 SZG B738 (26/11/19, ferry flt)

ENT577 SZG 1315-xxxx MST B738 (26/11/19)

ENT578 MST xxxx-1315 SZG B738 (28/11/19)

ENT578P SZG 1300-xxxx SXF B738 (28/11/19, ferry flt)

ENT548 MST xxxx-1215 SZG B738 (28/11/19)

ENT500P SZG 1405-xxxx SOF B738 (28/11/19, ferry flt)

Group F

FC Barcelona vs. Borussia Dortmund

It seems to be the standard these days for Borussia Dortmund to use two planes at least for away trips. One of them is usually their "own" special A320 D-AIZR in the "Mannschaftsairbus" colours, though this appears to have been replaced for once:

EW1909 DTM xxxx-1300 BCN A320 D-AEWL (26/11/19)

EW5209 DTM xxxx-1310 BCN A320 D-ABNL (26/11/19)

Group G

RB Leipzig vs. SL Benfica

5K221 LIS xxxx-1315 LEJ A343 (26/11/19)

5K241 LEJ 1500-xxxx LIS A343 (28/11/19)

Group H

Valencia CF vs. FC Chelsea

AWC4071 LGW xxxx-1845 VLC B752 (26/11/19)

AWC4072 VLC 2300-xxxx LGW B752 (27/11/19)

A first A350 in Belgrade - Champions League Group Stage MD5

Group A

Real Madrid vs. Paris St-Germain

The media interest is very high, wherever Neymar and his PSG team are traveling. So BEINsports has once again hired planes from Aero4M to cater for this need, this time even two EMB-145 going to Madrid:

AXY2501 LBG 1115-1315 MAD B735 9H-AHA (25/11/19)

AEH971 LBG xxxx-1205 MAD E145 (25/11/19)

AEH951 LBG xxxx-1650 MAD E145 (25/11/19)

AEH952 MAD 0005-xxxx CDG E145 (26/11/19)

AEH972 MAD 0115-xxxx CDG E145 (26/11/19)

Group B

Crvena Zvezda vs. FC Bayern München

Quite possibly a first visitor to Belgrade, Lufthansa is sending an A350-900 with FC Bayern München. This looks rather extraordinary, as for similar trips in the past, the team would have traveled on an A321.

LH2570 MUC 1230-1400 BEG A359 (25/11/19)

TUI8976 MUC 0900-1030 BEG B738 (26/11/19)

TUI8977 BEG 0500-0635 MUC B738 (27/11/19)

LH2571 BEG 1100-1230 MUC A359 (27/11/19)

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Olympiacos Piraeus

Spurs have a new manager in José Mourinho. He will be put to the test right away, facing a very tricky opposition in Olympiacos, who are traveling as usual, with Aegean Airlines:

AEE4010 ATH 1000-xxxx STN A320 (25/11/19)

Group C

Atalanta Bergamo vs. Dinamo Zagreb

OU8392 ZAG 1000-xxxx MXP A320 (25/11/19)

Manchester City vs. Shakhtar Donetsk

PQ8301 KBP 1400-1740 MAN B738 (24/11/19)

Group D

Juventus Turin vs. Atlético Madrid

UX1903 MAD xxxx-1805 TRN B738 (25/11/19)

A Czech invasion in Barcelona - CL Group Stage MD4

5 November 2019

FC Barcelona vs. Slavia Prague

Barcelona will look to win in better fashion than in the first leg in Prague, where they needed some luck to get two goals behind Prague. The Czech football fans seem to show great interest in this game, traveling down with no less than five chartered aircraft:

ENT518 PRG xxxx-1025 BCN B738

ENT581 PRG xxxx-1045 BCN B738

ENT528 PRG xxxx-1055 BCN B738

ENT579 PRG xxxx-1100 BCN B738

OK1688 PRG xxxx-1435 BCN B739

OK1689 BCN 2350-xxxx(+1) PRG B739

ENT519 BCN 0930-xxxx PRG B738

ENT580 BCN 1040-xxxx PRG B738

ENT582 BCN 1900-xxxx PRG B738

ENT529 BCN 1915-xxxx PRG B738

Zenit St. Petersburg vs. RB Leipzig

The team from Leipzig has been playing fairly strong so far, keeping up with some much more fancied outfits. The trip to the Krestovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg is never an easy one though. SR these days stands for the German airline Sundair.

SR8814 LEJ xxxx-1500 LED A320 (04/11/19)

SR8825 LED 0130-xxxx LEJ A320 (06/11/19)

SSC Napoli vs. RB Salzburg

Qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever as this club, RBS is on its way to Naples to restore some pride after losing a couple of tight matches against Liverpool and at home against Napoli.

ENT598P LNZ xxxx-1200 SZG B738 (04/11/19, ferry flt)

ENT598 SZG 1300-xxxx NAP B738 (04/11/19)

ENT518P WAW xxxx-1205 SZG B738 (04/11/19, ferry flt)

ENT518 SZG 1300-xxxx NAP B738 (04/11/19)

TUI8928F PAD xxxx-0810 SZG B738 (ferry flt)

TUI8928 SZG 0900-xxxx NAP B738

ENT599 NAP xxxx-1230 SZG B738 (06/11/19)

ENT599P SZG 1315-xxxx KTW B738 (06/11/19, ferry flt)

ENT519 NAP xxxx-1230 SZG B738 (06/11/19)

ENT519P SZG 1325-xxxx WAW B738 (06/11/19, ferry flt)

TUI8929 NAP xxxx-1305 SZG B738 (06/11/19)

TUI8929F SZG 1355-xxxx STR B738 (06/11/19, ferry flt)

Liverpool FC vs. KRC Genk

TB910F LIL 1015-1100 MST B738 OO-TNC (04/11/19, ferry flt)
TB9200 MST 1200-1215 LPL B738 OO-TNC (04/11/19)
TB930F LPL 1330-1545 LGG B738 OO-TNC (04/11/19, ferry flt)

Borussia Dortmund vs. Inter Milan

AZ9018 MXP 1615-1800 DTM A321 (04/11/19)

Olympique Lyonnais vs. SL Benfica

HFM211 LIS xxxx-1215 LYS A343 (04/11/19)

On an Airbus to San Siro? - UEFA Champions League Group Stage MD3

23 October 2019

RB Leipzig vs. Zenit St. Petersburg

The young German team from Leipzig faces the current pool leaders from St. Petersburg. Zenit will use Rossiya, as they usually do.

FV4101 LED xxxx-1330 LEJ A319 (22/10/19)

FV4102 LEJ 2230-xxxx(+1) LED A319

Inter Milan vs. Borussia Dortmund

Once again, the nicely painted "Mannschaftsairbus" will take Borussia Dortmund on an away trip, this time to the iconic San Siro in Milan. Or at least as far as Malpensa airport.

KLJ6115 DTM 1100-xxxx MXP B735 (22/10/19)

EW1909 DTM 1115-xxxx MXP A320 (22/10/19)

KRC Genk vs. Liverpool FC

The holders from Liverpool will have to look for maximum points from the next two matches against the Belgian champions Genk. They will travel as usual, using Titan Airways:

ZT4081 LPL xxxx-1830 MST B752 G-POWH (22/10/19)
ZT4082 MST 1400-xxxx LPL B752 G-POWH (24/10/19)

Slavia Prague vs. FC Barcelona

UX937 BCN 1600-xxxx PRG B738 (22/10/19)

SL Benfica vs. Olympique Lyonnais

FPO857 LYS xxxx-1135 LIS B737 (22/10/19)

ENT511 LYS xxxx-1100 LIS B738 (22/10/19)

OSC Lille vs. Valencia CF

YW5014 VLC 1500-xxxx LIL CRJ2 (22/10/19)

YW2011 VLC 1715-xxxx LIL CRJX (22/10/19)

Atalanta on the move! - Champions League Group Stage Matchday 3

I may have been out of action for a few weeks, but that was because there was no time available. I have been following things a bit, but unfortunately I missed on reporting about the Air Caraïbes A330s in Liverpool the other week. There are some nice things moving about this week again though, with particularly the travelling support for Atalanta Bergamo looking really substantial:

22 October 2019

Shakhtar Donezk vs. Dinamo Zagreb

The Ukrainian team plays its home games in Kharkiv still, with Donezk obviously not deemed safe enough after all the trouble with Russia.

OU8358 ZAG 1040-xxxx HRK A320 9A-CTK  (21/10/19)

OU8358 ZAG 2030-2330 HRK A320 9A-CTJ (22/10/19, ferry flt)
OU8359 HRK xxxx-xxxx ZAG A320 9A-CTJ (23/10/19)

Galatasaray Istanbul vs. Real Madrid

The White Ballet made its way to Istanbul with a point to prove. Real are no strangers to using big aircraft for their away travel, so rocking up in Turkey with an A340? Why not!

IB2800 MAD 0900-1410 IST A346 EC-JFK (21/10/19)
IB2801 IST 1630-1915 MAD A346 EC-JFX (21/10/19, ferry flt)
IB2800 MAD 1915-0015(+1) IST A346 EC-JFX (22/10/19, ferry flt)
IB2801 IST 0205-0535 MAD A346 EC-JFX (23/10/19)

Atlético Madrid vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Bayer are off to the mighty Atlético Madrid, once again using TUI, this time from Cologne, where they also travelled from Düsseldorf in the past.

TUI8952 CGN xxxx-1330 MAD B738 D-ABKI  (21/10/19)

Olympiacos Piraeus vs. FC Bayern München

The German serial champions used to impress at quite a few places using Airbus A340-600s or even A350-900s recently. Now they revert back to type (i.e. boring the proverbial out of the punters) and travel down to Greece on what feels like a convoi of Lufthansa A321s.

LH2570 MUC 1035-1400 ATH A321 D-AIDD (21/10/19)

LH2572 MUC 1030-1355 ATH A321 D-AIDC (21/10/19)

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Red Star Belgrade

The champions of Serbia are off to London with their national carrier of course, but the Youth League commitments also mean that a second plane is required along with the A320.

JU9024 BEG 1000-xxxx LTN A320 YU-APK (21/10/19)

KRP3085 BEG 1000-xxxx LTN F100 YR-FKA (21/10/19)

Manchester City vs. Atalanta Bergamo

Novices to the Champions League, Atalanta have a large travelling support. The fact that Bergamo is quite a few miles away from the big airports of Milan should help the air traffic to Manchester. The fans are travelling with AlbaStar, Enter Air, Neos and Air Horizont:

AP5935 BGY 1100-1150 MAN B738 EC-NAB (21/10/19)

ENT596 BGY xxxx-0855 MAN B738
AP7737 MXP xxxx-0910 MAN B738

AP5443 BGY xxxx-0950 MAN B738

ENT556 BGY xxxx-1005 MAN B738
BV8842 BGY xxxx-1015 MAN B738

NO2270 BGY xxxx-1015 MAN B738

HAT4007 BGY xxxx-1015 MAN B734

ENT591 BGY xxxx-1035 MAN B738
TDR322 BGY xxxx-1230 MAN F100 9A-BTE

Juventus Turin vs. Lokomotiv Moscow

Lokomotiv decided to put the long way from Moscow to Turin behind them a day early, so they arrived in Piemonte on Sunday already:

GZP149 VKO 1730-xxxx TRN B737 RA-73004 (20/10/19)
GZP150 TRN 1500-xxxx VKO B737 RA-73004 (23/10/19)

Ready to go - Champions League Group Stage MD1

17 September 2019

Group E

FC Salzburg vs. KRC Genk

Missing out on the Champions League for ten years, Salzburg has finally made it to the main event as a result of Austria's improving country coefficient. They will play against Genk first up, an opponent that should not be underestimated, because after all, Belgium's national team is the number 1 in the world. There will be two flights for the team and the staff traveling to Salzburg, with Jet Netherlands and TUI Belgium:

JNL927 MST xxxx-1230 SZG E145 (16/09/19)

TB9200 MST xxxx-1240 SZG B738 (16/09/19)

JNL927 SZG 1200-xxxx MST E145 (18/09/19)

TB9300 SZG 1245-xxxx MST B738 (18/09/19)

SSC Napoli vs. Liverpool FC

Last season's winners Liverpool start their title defence in Italy, away at the refurbished San Paolo. There is only a hint yet of what they will fly with, which should be one of the spectacularly painted KlasJet Boeing 737-500s.

Group F

Borussia Dortmund vs. FC Barcelona

Two heavyweights of European football clash in Dortmund, where the Borussia takes on the mighty FC Barcelona. As usual, Barcelona will travel with Air Europa, while their supporters will have to make do with a Vueling flight. The late night departure is still not possible from DTM, so these flights will depart from Cologne instead.

UX937 BCN 1555-xxxx DTM B738

VY4008 BCN 0810-xxxx CGN A320

VY4009 CGN xxxx-1325 BCN A320

UX938 CGN xxxx-0300 BCN B738

VY4018 BCN 2200-xxxx CGN A320

VY4019 CGN xxxx-0315 BCN A320

Inter Milan vs. Slavia Prague

The Czech champions have come through the qualifiers, while Inter of course are well-known guests in the Champions League.

Group G

Olympique Lyonnais vs. Zenit St. Petersburg

FV4102 LED xxxx-1330 LYS

FV4101 LYS 2230-xxxx LED

SL Benfica vs. RB Leipzig

KLJ3189 LEJ 1230-xxxx LIS B735 LY-FLT

Group H

Ajax Amsterdam vs. OSC Lille

Much was written about Ajax and them having to qualify for the competition again, even though they had almost made to the final last season. But here this young team is again, looking to put smiles on the fans of Dutch football again.

Chelsea vs. Valencia CF

Valencia face a difficult task straight away, traveling to Stanford Bridge for a game against the Europa League winners from last season.

YW2011 VLC 1155-xxxx STN CRJX

YW2014 VLC 1700-xxxx LGW CRJX

YW2015 STN xxxx-0350 VLC CRJX

YW2012 STN xxxx-0430 VLC CRJX