A full load of action - UEFA Europa League MD2 3 October 2024

3 October 2024

RFS vs. Galatasaray Istanbul

18.45h (19.45h local time), Daugava Stadium, Riga

They seem to like a big plane for their away games at Galatasaray, so why change the plan? An Airbus A330-300 of Turkish Airlines will take the team to Latvia for their away game at RFS.

TK3235 IST 1500-1810 RIX A333 (02/10/24)

TK3236 RIX 0015-0330 IST A333 (04/10/24)

Qarabag Agdam vs. Malmö FF

18.45h (20.45h local time), Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku

It is a long away trip for Malmö against Qarabag. Neither team had a victorious start into the league phase. Malmö lost at home against Rangers while Qarabag were beaten 3-0 away at Tottenham.

JTD045 MMX 1400-2025 GYD B738 OY-JYA (01/10/24)

ENT555 GYD xxxx-1450 MMX B738 (04/10/24)

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. FC Midtjylland

18.45h, Partizan Stadium, Belgrade

One of the teams to play in exile this season is Maccabi Tel Aviv, due to the tumultuous situation in the Middle East. They chose Belgrade as their home away from home and will host FC Midtjylland from Denmark there. Beaten in the first game against SC Braga, Maccabi will look to strike back right away. Midtjylland drew 1-1 in their opener against Hoffenheim from Germany.

FRO924 MMX 0915-1000 BLL SB20 OY-FSE (02/10/24, ferry flight)

FRO24 BLL 1135-1410 BEG SB20 OY-FSE (02/10/24)

Olympiacos Piraeus vs. SC Braga

18.45h (19.45h local time), Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus

Former finalists of the competition, Braga travel to Greece to face Olympiacos. The Conference League winners of last season got beaten 2-0 by Olympique Lyonnais in the first round and will look to get first points on the board while Braga enjoyed a winning start against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

MLM712 GRO 1310-1400 OPO B735 9H-MAC (01/10/24, ferry flight)

MLM712 OPO 1535-2145 ATH B735 9H-MAC (01/10/24) 

Slavia Prague vs. Ajax Amsterdam

18.45h, Fortuna Arena, Prague

Two winners from the first round face off at the Fortuna Arena in Prague. Ajax beat Besiktas 4-0, while Slavia had a 2-0 away win in Bulgaria against Ludogorets.

QS4342 AMS 1400-1525 PRG B738 OK-TVM (02/10/24)

QS4343 PRG 1500-1630 AMS B738 (04/10/24)

TSG Hoffenheim vs. Dynamo Kyiv

18.45h, Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim

Life is definitely not easy for Dynamo Kyiv at the moment. They can not play at home and they lost their first match of the league phase 0-3 against Lazio. Hoffenheim for their part were also misfiring in the draw in Denmark against Midtjylland, but at least they have a point to show for.

QS4588 LUZ 1445-1645 FKB B737 OK-SWT (01/10/24)

QS458F FKB 1745-1850 PRG B737 OK-SWT (01/10/24, ferry flight)

FC Porto vs. Manchester United

21.00h (20.00h local time), Estadio Dragao, Porto

This might be the biggest clash in the second round of the league phase. Two clubs that would usually hope to be in the Champions League face each other. United already have ground to make up after the disappointing draw at home against Twente Enschede. Porto are even worse off, having lost their first match away in Norway against Bodø/Glimt.

EZE586 LBA 1200-1225 MAN E170 G-CMPI (02/10/24, ferry flight)

EZE9301 MAN 1400-1630 OPO E170 G-CMPI (02/10/24)

FI1340 KEF 0850-1205 MAN B752 TF-FIA (02/10/24, ferry flight)

FI1340 MAN 1530-1750 OPO B752 TF-FIA (02/10/24)

AP1641 MAN 0750-xxxx OPO B738 (03/10/24)

AP1642 OPO xxxx-0150(+1) MAN B738 (03/10/24)

FI1341 OPO xxxx-1625 MAN B752 (04/10/24)

EZE9302 OPO xxxx-1710 MAD E170 (04/10/24)

Elfsborg IF vs. AS Roma

21.00h, Borås Arena, Borås

After a home draw against Athletic Bilbao, Roma face the trip up North to Borås for the game against Elfsborg. The Swedish runners-up from last season only got beaten 3-2 rather late in the game against AZ Alkmaar the week before. 

AZ8950 FCO 1530-1830 GOT A20N EI-HOM (02/10/24)

AZ8951 GOT 0100-xxxx FCO A320 (04/10/24)

Rangers FC vs. Olympique Lyonnais

21.00h (20.00h local time), Ibrox Park, Glasgow

Both these teams won their first matches of the competition 2-0. Rangers did the job away in Malmö while Lyon beat Olympiacos 2-0 at home. 

EUP421 LYS 1015-1115 GLA E145 F-HBPE (02/10/24)

Real Sociedad San Sebastian vs. RSC Anderlecht

21.00h, Anoeta, San Sebastian

Anderlecht may seem lucky to travel to Spain only on Wednesday this week. After all, a major strike went on at Brussels Airport which may have disrupted their departure to the Basque Country. They will fly in and out of Bilbao instead of San Sebastian.

SN1183 BRU 1000-1155 BIO A320 OO-SNK (02/10/24)

SN1184 BIO 1100-1300 BRU A320 OO-SNQ (04/10/24)

Athletic Bilbao vs. AZ Alkmaar

21.00h, San Mamés, Bilbao

Another Benelux team to travel to the Basque Country is Alkmaar. They will enjoy the luxury of a KlasJet Boeing 737, once again flying under an AirExplore callsign.

ED8101 AMS xxxx-1240 BIO (02/10/24)

ED8102 BIO 1100-xxxx AMS (04/10/24)

Besiktas JK vs. Eintracht Frankfurt

21.00h (22.00h local time), Besiktas Stadium, Istanbul

Traditionally a club with a big follower base, Eintracht Frankfurt continue that tradition and travel to Istanbul not by themselves. The team will be joined by two plane loads of supporters on the trip to Istanbul.

XQ6698 FRA 1040-1425 IST B738 TC-SPM (02/10/24)

DE9198 FRA 1345-1735 IST A20N (02/10/24)

DE9298 FRA 0600-0945 IST B753 (03/10/24)

DE9299 IST xxxx-0620 FRA B753 (04/10/24)

DE9199 IST xxxx-1340 FRA A20N (04/10/24)

XQ6699 IST xxxx-1640 FRA B738 (04/10/24)

Viktoria Plzen vs. Ludogorets Razgrad

21.00h, Doosan Arena, Plzen

It is Czech opponents for the second time in this league phase for Ludogorets. The first time up, they lost 0-2 against Slavia Prague. Will they fare better away at Viktoria?

BUC1945 VAR xxxx-1200 PRG A320 (02/10/24)

BUC1946 PRG 1505-xxxx VAR A320 (04/10/24)

Union St-Gilloise vs. Bodø/Glimt

21.00h, Stade Roi Beaudoin, Brussels

Flying high after a home win over the big FC Porto, Bodø will look to continue their great streak and beat Union St-Gilloise in Brussels. The home team is using the bigger Roi Beaudoin stadium as their own ground is not fit for UEFA competitions.

ENT589 BOO xxxx-1505 BRU B738 OM-HEX (02/10/24)

ENT590 BRU 1200-xxxx BOO B738 SP-ESF (04/10/24)

Fast props and fuel stops - UEFA Europa League Play-Off 1st leg 22 August 2024

22 August 2024

Dinamo Minsk vs. RSC Anderlecht

in Mezökövesd, Hungary

Dinamo Minsk play their international home fixtures in Hungary these days. Anderlecht traveled to Debrecen and proceeded to Mezökövesd by land transport. For the Belgian team, it will be a very early morning arrival back into Brussels on Friday.

SN1183 BRU 1000-1210 DEB A319 OO-SSU (21/08/24)

SN1184 DEB xxxx-0405 BRU A319 OO-SSU (23/08/24)

Jagiellonia Bialystok vs. Ajax Amsterdam

Bialystok is quite far away from the next major airport in Poland. Therefore, Ajax had to fly to the outskirts of Warsaw and then travel another 200km further North-East to Bialystok for their first leg in this tie. Whether we will be up for another epic penalty shoot-out as in the previous round maybe?

KLJ2262 AMS 1300-1435 WMI B735 LY-JMS (21/08/24)

FC Lugano vs. Besiktas Istanbul

in Thun

Another club playing in exile at the moment is FC Lugano. Their stadium Cornaredo back home in Lugano is under redevelopment but should then finally be able to host international football again. For the time being, they play on an artificial pitch in Thun, quite a long way from Lugano. And for the second time this season they are hosting a visiting team from Turkey. Besiktas flew in from Sabiha Gökçen to Zurich, with nearby Bern's runway being too short for the Boeing 737-800 with a good load of passengers on board.

TK3303 SAW 1430-1625 ZRH B738 TC-JVO (21/08/24)

Linzer ASK vs. FCSB Bucharest

A rather small aircraft for the FCSB team and staff on their trip to Linz. On the way back to Romania, FCSB will travel directly to Sibiu, where they will play their next league fixture on Sunday evening.

TLJ304Q OTP 1015-1055 LNZ E145 F-HFCN (21/08/24)

TLJ748X LNZ 1150-1330 OST E145 F-HFCN (21/08/24, ferry flight)

TLJ748X OST 1220-1350 LNZ E145 F-HFCN (23/08/24, ferry flight)

TLJ304Q LNZ 1600-xxxx SBZ E145 F-HFCN (23/08/24)

RFS vs. APOEL Nicosia

It would appear that Latvia is particularly guest-friendly with their visitors from Cyprus. An Air Baltic Airbus A220-300 picked up APOEL from Larnaca on Wednesday and the same company will fly them back after the game on Thursday. Flights from and to Larnaca are very special to track at the moment. GPS spoofing means that they often get displayed with wrong positions and therefore the usual flight trackers pick up wrong flight patterns in the region around Cyprus.

BT7701 LCA 0655-1100 RIX BCS3 YL-CSE (21/08/24)

BT7702 RIX 0100-0450 LCA BCS3 YL-CSI (23/08/24)

PAOK Saloniki vs. Shamrock Rovers

It is a long trip for a small club if Shamrock Rovers have to travel to Greece. No wonder their charter aircraft had to make a fuel stop along the way from Dublin to Thessaloniki. The Embraer EMB-145's range was not enough, so the flight had to refuel in Liège.

AGR1901 DUB 0935-1205 LGG E145 PH-DWA (21/08/24)

AGR2901 LGG 1235-1620 SKG E145 PH-DWA (21/08/24)

Air Charter Europe Embraer EMB-145 PH-DWA seen at Corfu in June 2023

FK Molde vs. IF Elfsborg

By coincidence, two Nordic teams got drawn against each other. Yet, it still is quite some journey from Elfsborg near Gothenburg to Molde in Norway. A quick Saab 2000 propeller plane was chartered by the Swedish team, taking them to Molde in just over an hour.

FRO033 GOT 1130-1240 MOL SB20 OY-FSB (21/08/24)

FRO034 MOL 1230-1345 GOT SB20 OY-FSB (23/08/24)

SC Braga vs. SK Rapid Wien

Braga in the North of Portugal is known for its very particular stadium, with one end opening a view onto a rock formation. Whether Rapid Wien's players will have a spare second for this? In any case, they flew down to Porto with Austrian Airlines in just over three hours.

OS2651 VIE 1050-1310 OPO A320 OE-LBK (21/08/24)

OS1422 OPO 1355-1805 VIE A320 OE-LBK (21/08/24, ferry flight)

OS1421 VIE 0655-0920 OPO A320 OE-LBR (23/08/24, ferry flight)

OS2652 OPO 1000-1405 VIE A320 OE-LBR (23/08/24)

Viktoria Plzen vs. Hearts of Midlothian

One can only guess that the supporters of Hearts were happy to learn about their opponents for the play-off round. While they will certainly hope for more of the same in whatever league stage is to come for them, Prague and Plzen would be pretty popular amongst them. Meanwhile, the team traveled to Czechia with Eastern Airways, on an Embraer EMB-170.

EZE9581 EDI 1330-1635 PRG E170 G-CMLI (21/08/24)

EZE9582 PRG 1145-xxxx EDI E170 G-CMLI (23/08/24)

Austrian takeover at Anfield - UEFA Europa League Group Stage Round 5 - 30 November 2023

The upcoming 5th round of group stage games will see one of the bigger airlifts in recent times for a game at that stage of the competition. Supports of LASK Linz will travel in large numbers to Anfield Road to see their team play away at Liverpool FC. After Liverpool's away loss in Toulouse, the group is still nicely open for many different outcomes. Yet, Liverpool would have to be favourites over their Austrian counterparts.

Liverpool FC vs. LASK Linz

Two Enter Boeing 737-800s will position from Leipzig (previous UCL duty for RB Leipzig supporters) to Linz early on Wednesday already. Another one of Thursday's aircraft will arrive at Linz on Wednesday in D-ANNA of Sundair, painted in the "Katta macht Urlaub" scheme.

ENT576P LEJ xxxx-0800 B738 (29/11/23, ferry flt)

ENT578P LEJ xxxx-0805 B738 (29/11/23, ferry flt)

HV95 AMS 1035-1210 LNZ B738 PH-HXK (29/11/23, ferry flt)

HV7611 LNZ 1400-1525 LPL B738 PH-HXK (29/11/23)

SR806F KSF 1555-1645 LNZ A320 D-ANNA (29/11/23, ferry flt)

SR8224 LNZ 0540-0700 LPL A320 D-ANNA

ENT583 LNZ 0715-0835 LPL B738 SP-ENQ
ED4402 LNZ 0820-0935 LPL B738 OM-HEX

HV95 AMS 0640-0800 LNZ B738 PH-HXC (ferry flt)
HV7847 LNZ 0900-1015 LPL B738 PH-HXC
ENT561 LNZ 1000-1120 LPL B738 SP-ESI

ED432P BTS 0935-1015 LNZ B738 OM-KEX (ferry flt)
ED4404 LNZ 1100-1220 LPL B738 OM-KEX
TDR9380 LJU 0945-1025 LNZ A320 9A-BTH (ferry flt)

TDR380 LNZ 1145-1310 LPL A320 9A-BTH

QS441 PRG 1040-1130 LNZ B38M OK-SWD (ferry flt)
QS4414 LNZ 1245-1415 LPL B38M OK-SWD

General Aviation:

OE-KAR LNZ 0645-1112 LPL DA42 (30/11/23)

Smartwings Boeing 737-800 OK-TVW seen at Corfu in August 2021.
Two such aircraft will fly from Linz to Liverpool in late November 2023.

Liverpool and LASK are not the only teams battling it out for knock-out spots in spring however. Many other teams are still heavily involved in the competition and there are some interesting charter flights elsewhere too.

Olympique Marseille vs. Ajax Amsterdam

OR9529 AMS 1100-1255 MRS B38M PH-TFN (29/11/23)

OR9530 MRS 1130-xxxx AMS B38M (01/12/23)

Sparta Prague vs. Real Betis Sevilla

PVG1907 SVQ 1000-xxxx PRG B772 (29/11/23)

Sturm Graz vs. Rakow Czestochowa

RR9059 KTW xxxx-1715 GRZ B738 (29/11/23)

Toulouse FC vs. Union St-Gilloise

SN1179 BRU xxxx-1610 TLS (29/11/23)

BK Häcken vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen

KK6110 CGN 1430-1615 GOT A320 D-ANNE (29/11/23)

KK6111 GOT 1100-xxxx CGN A320 (01/12/23)

Molde FK vs. FK Qarabag Agdam

AHY4019 GYD xxxx-1430 MOL (29/11/23)

AHY4020 MOL 0045-xxxx GYD (01/12/23)

Backa Topola vs. West Ham United

BRO868A STN 1500-1820 BEG B733 G-SWRD (29/11/23)

BRO868B BEG 1030-xxxx STN B733 G-SWRD (01/12/23)

SC Freiburg vs. Olympiakos Piraeus

AEE4080 ATH 1015-1215 LHA A320 SX-DVV (29/11/23)

AEE4081 LHA 0005-0335 ATH A320 SX-DVV (01/12/23)

AEK Athens vs. Brighton & Hove Albion

HAT2360 LGW 0930-1515 ATH B734 9H-ZAZ (29/11/23)

HAT2471 ATH 0000-0150 LGW B734 9H-ZAZ (01/12/23)

Maccabi Haifa vs. Stade Rennais (in Budapest)

MLM712 RNS 1515-1720 BUD B735 9H-MAC (29/11/23)

Villarreal CF vs. Panathinaikos Athens

AEE4020 ATH 1000-1215 CDT A320 SX-DVI (29/11/23)

Servette Genève vs. AS Roma

AZ8950 FCO 1700-xxxx GVA (29/11/23)