Turkish Delight - the Champions League Final 2005

The Airport Fire Service send their best wishes!

It started with an Excel Airways Boeing 737-800 departing to Istanbul at 10:47am on Monday 23rd and ended with the arrival of a Volar Airbus A321 from Istanbul at 09:00 on Friday 27th. The astonishing operation (code-named "Turkish Delight" by airport management) that took around ten thousand Liverpool fans to and from an equally astonishing European Champions League final against AC Milan was the largest airlift of football fans that the airport has ever witnessed. The busiest day was Thursday 26th, with no fewer than 32 football flights bringing the jubilant supporters (and team, and cup!) back from Turkey.

Speaking prior to the airlift Neil Pakey, Managing Director of Liverpool John Lennon Airport said, "We have seen nothing like this before. It is as though half the City is moving out to Istanbul for the day. This is a great example of what the Airport can handle and how in partnership with the tour operators, airlines and their representatives we can work as a team to accommodate so many supporters to fly from their local airport". There is no doubt that the airlift was a complete success and it is in no small part due to the organisation and planning that had been put in place by the airport management who are to be congratulated for taking on this huge operation and making it run so smoothly.

The facts speak for themselves - 22 different airlines: Aero Flight, Air Greenland, Air Malta, Air Scotland, Air Slovakia, Blue Line, Eirjet, Excel Airways, Flyjet, Futura, Hello, Iberworld, LTU, MNG Airlines, Monarch Airlines, Onur Air, Star Air, Titan Airways, Transavia, Travel Service, Volar and World Focus. Aircraft used were registered in 14 different countries: Czech Republic (2), Denmark (1), France (3), Germany (3), Greece (1), Iceland (1), Ireland (2), Malta (1), Netherlands (1), Slovakia (1), Spain (3), Switzerland (2), Turkey (8) and the UK (13).

Of the 42 different aircraft used in the airlift (some of them operating more than one flight), the types were as follows: Airbus A300 (8), Airbus A320/321 (8), Airbus A330 (3), Boeing 737 (8), Boeing 757 (8), Boeing 767 (1) and MD-80 - 90 (6). There follows a selection of photographs of aircraft taking part in Operation Turkish Delight...

The view from a very damp apron