Andrew Potter is delayed and downgraded by British Airways while travelling from London to Berlin, and finds himself inside a flying museum piece with a touch of New Zealand history
The plane: It was supposed to be on an Embraer 190, a modern, snappy short-hauler made in Brazil. But as I pulled up at the airport I received a text from British Airways saying my plane had been changed to an “alternative aircraft” operated by some outfit called Jota Aviation because of some mysterious “operational reasons”. The alternative aircraft turned out to be an Avro RJ85, a very close relation to the British Aerospace 146 Whisper Jet operated by Ansett New Zealand in the late 80s and early 90s.
Class: Business and Economy, I’m in Economy.
Price: $888 return
Flight time: 1 hour 27 minutes in the air. But we left two hours late because of the change of aircraft, so I’m going to say the flight actually took 3 hours and 27 minutes.
My seat: Entering this aircraft felt like stepping back in time, back to when I flew on Ansett Whisper Jets in New Zealand as a kid. I’m much bigger now, but this model of aircraft hasn’t grown at all. It felt cramped. As I slid into my aisle seat (10C) my hips rubbed against the side of the seat and my knees were pressed against the seat back in front.
Fellow passengers: On the window seat of my row was a disgruntled German complaining loudly about our standin aircraft, how late we were, and how tightly we were wedged in. And he was just getting started (more to follow). Thank God the seat between us was empty.
Entertainment: I tried to look out of the window but there was one of the Whisper Jet’s four engines in the way. The BA146 family of jets has a high wing arrangement, which seems almost purpose designed to block the view, on row 10 at least.
Departure: London City is in a great location in the Docklands area. By British standards it’s a small, userfriendly airport, roughly the same size as Auckland domestic. The Whisper Jets which used to fly around New Zealand were quiet compared to the Boeing 737s of the day. But this thing was positively loud as we sat at the end of the runway with the throttles wide open. The runway is pretty short at City, meaning the pilot had to give the jet heaps of gas before releasing the brakes. When he did it was like being shot from a steam catapult on an aircraft carrier, and I was pushed back into my seat. Quite a thrill! Against my expectations the old jet leapt in the air and we were off to Berlin, finally.
Arrival: After an unremarkable 90 minutes I was alerted that we weree getting ready to land by a massive thump on the side of the plane as the wheels were released then locked in position. It sounded like a large ship dropping anchor. Once on the ground we pulled up to an air bridge… but our pilot parked a couple of metres too far away, meaning we had to wait a further 30 minutes for airport ground staff to find a tractor to push us back. By this stage my German chum on Row 10 was shaking his head furiously and cursing the pilot.
The service: The flight attendants work for Jota Aviation and were very courteous and attentive. There was no coffee though, for some technical reason. We were served a salmon salad, which was nice enough.
Final word: I paid for a British Airways flight, and didn’t even end up riding in a British Airways aircraft. Although the Whisper Jet experience was a nostalgic treat, it wasn’t a comfortable way to fly.