In Photos: Eurowings Discover Takes To The Sky With First Flight

Yesterday Eurowings Discover took off from Frankfurt for the first time as one of its Airbus A330-200 aircraft departed for Mombasa and then on to Zanzibar. Simple Flying was on hand as guests of Eurowings Discover to wave off the first flight.Itâ€™s not every day that a new airline takes to the skies, and with the ongoing pandemic, such flights have become even rarer. Despite this, the Lufthansa Group got a little larger yesterday as its newest creation, Eurowings Discover got underway with its inaugural service. Hereâ€™s what happened.

A slightly late departure

When we arrived at gate A69 yesterday evening, D-AXGE was already on the stand waiting to depart. The aircraft was being loaded with countless freight containers and pallets. There was even seemingly a pallet with several windows on. While this was going on, members of the crew posed for a photo outside the aircraft before the captain waved from the window.

Eurowings Discover, First Flight, Lufthansa Group — There was time to pose before the flight departed. Photo: Lufthansa News via Twitter

It was already clear that the aircraft wouldnâ€™t be leaving on time when the first of two jet bridges was removed behind schedule. Eventually, the second jetbridge was removed, and the tug began pushing the plane back at around 19:45. Once the aircraft started taxiing under its own power, it left the gate area to be greeted by a water cannon salute provided by the airportâ€™s fire department.

The flight, 4Y134, departed on Runway 18, the preferred runway for departures south to Africa. Having left the gate area after the Eurowings flight, it was a race against time to reach the runway ahead of it. Thanks to a very helpful Follow Me car, our bus was able to take a shortcut to the runway, allowing us to set up alongside the runway right where the aircraft would rotate.

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Rotate

At 20:02, roughly half an hour after its planned departure, the Airbus A330-200 began to hurtle down Runway 18 before becoming airborne shortly after. After departure, the aircraft flew south through Germany, over Switzerland and Italy before passing overhead Albania and Greece. The plane then flew above Egypt and Sudan before taking a slight detour overhead South Sudan to avoid Ethiopian airspace. The aircraft then arrived in Kenyan airspace, where it began its descent.

The aircraft touched down in Mombasa at 05:13 this morning, according to data from RadarBox.com. Its planned time of arrival was 05:10. The airport's operators, Kenya Airports, didn't allow the appearance to go unnoticed, with dancers and drum players on hand to welcome the aircraft despite the early hour.

After a turnaround in Mombasa, the aircraft was quickly in the skies again for a second hop down to Zanzibar. The aircraft was welcomed with another water cannon salute when it arrived at its final destination. Having flown back to Mombasa, the A330 departed for its last leg back to Frankfurt Airport.