Athens Airlift- the Champions League Final 2007
Back in business - Boeing 747s seen at Liverpool after an absence of six years. These are the first -400 variants to visit the airport.
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Management and staff at Liverpool John Lennon Airport were well prepared for what was to be the airport's busiest 48 hour period ever as over 13,500 Liverpool fans flew out to Athens ahead of the Champions League Final against AC Milan. All these extra passengers were in addition to the normal busy May schedule and charter traffic.
Codenamed 'Operation Zorba' by Airport Management, plans were first drawn up ahead of the semi-final 2nd leg at Anfield and following Liverpool FC's success these were successfully implemented.
The airport expected to handle an additional 57 charter flights to Athens over the period Monday 21st to Wednesday 23rd May with around 8,000 fans expected to depart on 37 flights on the morning of the match. This represented a considerable increase in the numbers of fans leaving from John Lennon Airport when compared to the exodus to Istanbul two years ago, when 10,000 fans set off on 40 flights.
The outcome of the match was sadly not the incredible nail-biting victory of two years earlier when the teams met in Istanbul, but the returning fans on the Thursday turned the airport red once again...here's to next season!
Below is a selection of the aircraft which took part in Operation Zorba
Corsair Boeing 747-400 F-GTUI touches down
The second Corsair Boeing 747-400 F-HLOV arriving
Two Corsair Boeing 747-400s on the ground at Liverpool
Two Corsair Boeing 747-400s on the ground at Liverpool
Two Corsair Boeing 747-400s on the ground at Liverpool
Two Corsair Boeing 747-400s on the ground at Liverpool
Viking McDonnell Douglas MD-83 SE-RDF
Transavia Boeing 737-800 PH-HZG
A general overview of the airport early 23rd May
Belair Boeing 757-200 HB-IHR
Condor Boeing 757-300 D-ABOF
Hamburg International Boeing 737-700 D-AHIB
Condor Airbus A320 D-AICE
LTE Airbus A320 EC-JRX
Air Mediterranee Airbus A321
F-GYAO
bmi British Midland Airbus A330
G-WWBM
Neos Boeing 737-800 I-NEOX
Travel Service Boeing 737-800
OK-TVF
Air Slovakia Boeing 757-200
OM-ASB
Thomas Cook Belgium Airbus A320 OO-TCJ
Corendon Airlines Boeing 737-400 TC-TJC (operating for Travel Service)
Two B747-400s and an A330 !
Brussels Airlines A330 OO-SFO
SAS Boeing 737-800 LN-RCZ
Dubrovnik Airline MD-83 9A-CDC
Corsair Boeing 747-400 F-HSUN
TUI Fly Boeing 737-800 D-AHLQ
Excel Boeing 747-300 TF-AMK
Excel Boeing 747-300 TF-AMK
Corsair B747-400 F-HKIS
Many thanks to Bill Hodgson, Andy Hulme, Adrian Thompson and Rampy who kindly submitted photographs for this special feature.