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)
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)
