Flying time was two hours and forty minutes.  Our cruising attitude was 34,000feet this morning, and our routing, according to pilot, took us towards Georgetown, Mt. Isa, Alice Springs, and then onto Ayers Rock Connellan Airport.

 

A hot breakfast was served on today’s flight today.  The meal was actually not too bad.  There was no choice of entrée, but at least it was warmed.  It consisted of a ham, egg, and potato frittata with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, along with a Wholemeal Raspberry Brekky loaf by temptation bakeries and an orange juice cup.  It was a bit on the salty side, but I finished the whole meal. 

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Tea, coffee, and water were offered after breakfast was served.  The three F/As were very friendly and the service was good, even better than Virgin Australia. 

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I took a few pictures of the rear of the aircraft, which was not occupied at all.

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Seat in recline position

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Rear engine – can’t get a good shot

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Legroom on regular seats – pretty tight – maybe 30”

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Legroom on exit row

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Entertainment on the flight:

Two Qantas inflight magazines – one for Regional flights and one for mainline flights, along with an extra safety card for exit row passengers

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The cabin crew came with water run about forty minutes prior to arrival. 

 

Descent soon began at 9:15am local time, and we passed both the Kuta Oja and Uluru. 

Many pictures on arrival

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We landed on R/W13 at 9:38am, and there was no parallel taxiway, so we backtracked through the runway.  That would be the theme for both Alice Springs and Ayers Rock Connellan Airport.  We parked at Bay number 1 at 9:42am. 

 

VH-NXE at AYQ – we were the first arrival of the day and the only flight there during our short layover.

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Ayers Rock Resort welcome sign

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There is a small baggage claim area, and Ayers Rock Resort representatives are already waiting to pick up their resort guests.  They have a complete monopoly over the four or five resorts here in Yalara, the town next to Uluru. 

 

Check-in hall

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FLIO – Jetstar, Virgin Australia, and Qantas all served Ayers Rock.

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After a brief security check, I was back at the small terminal area with a small café, a shop and some nice seats. 

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QF 1940 AYQ-ASP Lv1030 Arr1115 Boeing 717-200 VH-NXE

 

This segment was actually pretty full, as many passengers were connecting to other major Australian cities through Alice Springs. 

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Boarding started early at 10:03am, and here came more shots of the plane.  The flight attendants actually assisted in boarding.  Door was closed at 10:16am.  We were ready to start up soon. 

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We took off from R/W13 again at 10:26am, and flying time was thirty-five minutes with a cruising attitude of 35,000ft. 

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More shots during takeoff

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Uluru again

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There was actually an express beverage service on this short flight – mini bottled waters were handed out.  There used to be a small snack pack in the past, but given this short flight time, bottled waters are nice.  Maybe a pack of chips or a cookie will be nice too given how limited the offerings are at these airports.  But honestly most US airlines don’t even bother with service on this kind of short flights.  

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Descent soon commenced at 10:43am and we landed on Alice Srpings airport at 11:01am and parked at Bay “6” four minutes later.  This flight would continue to Darwin next.

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Farewell to my exit row seat – I suddenly realized that I never took a picture of my own seats so I did on disembarkation. 

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I spotted a Qantas Boeing 737-800 VH-VZV next door – heading to Melbourne. 

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Welcome to Alice Springs!           

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In conclusion, I am fairly impressed with Qantas Link Boeing 717-200s and its service. 

 

Carfield