[Flight Report] Dragonair Fuzhou - Hong Kong

I got to the Apollo Hotel at 5:15pm, well in advance of the 8:20pm flight departure, anticipating waiting or traffic delays and a quick bite at the airport. There is a separate ticketing office next to where the buses are parked. 25 yuan later, a bus was about to depart and the ticket collector told me stoically to wait for the next one as the 5:20pm departure pulled out early. The board said the next bus would leave at 5:35pm, but immediately, the next one pulled up and let us board.



An hour later of abiding by the speed limit, we pulled into the departures level at sunset.





Fuzhou's airport is not big at all. I first walked around the domestic check-in area. The building is not an architectural masterpiece but rather functional.







The international section is separated off requiring entering into the restricted area for passengers only. There, a long line snaked around Dragonair's counters, which already occupied half of the section. An agent was at the front of the line directing people around, including making use of the exclusive Marco Polo lines when they were free. Good to see proactiveness.



Next to it is immigration, which required a short wait, and then 2 lanes of security, where the agent directed us to the priority line when it was empty. All the formalities were done within 10 minutes and I exited into the waiting lounge.





There were only 3 international flights on the board, one to Kaohsiung that was delayed, my flight, and a Xiamen Airlines flight to Sydney past 10pm.



This airport's toilets are also probably the cleanest public toilets in the city, thanks to the sparse traffic. They automatically flushed, didn't smell of cigaratte smoke, and there were paper towels available. A water dispenser for both lukewarm and hot water was available outside with cups in case you didn't bring your own bottle.





There isn't much in terms of shops or restaurants. I stopped by the fish ball restaurant for my last chance to eat this local delicacy for double the price of the city. 20 yuan wasn't too bad. The cooking station was right at the front so it caught some attention of passers-by. The restaurant also served other types of food but the prices were a bit more out of whack.





The incoming plane arrived at 7:30pm, so there was no way we could start boarding according to the official time of 7:40 on my boarding pass. Boarding eventually began at around 8 and we pushed back just 10 minutes behind schedule at 8:30. The A330 was again quite full and most passengers were mainlanders, who needed more attentive care from the flight attendants on the basics of flying - no hand bags in the exit row, seat belts, staying seated during taxi.





There weren't too many airport movements and we took off after a short 10-minute taxi. Our flight would take about an hour and 15 minutes in decent weather. After the seat belt sign turned off, the crew went into action to distribute a plane-load of meals. It was a sandwich once again but different from the inbound. The chicken was surprisingly moist and juicy, and tasted much better than it looked. There was no drinks service and I had to ask for additional juice. It is really a short flight anyway and they were quick to respond.















Our flight time increased as we were airborne and we were due to land at 10pm. I didn't finish too many episodes of Sex in the City by the time we started descending. The monitor showed the typical connection screens but what caught my attention was the arrival gate. We were going to end up at a remote bus gate today. Great.

This isn't Hong Kong Express or its LCC friends.



I helped myself to taking a few more photos of the premium cabin during the slow exit to the bus, which they stuffed like a sardine can. I left the airport with only hand baggage at 10:30pm.







Thanks for reading. More photos : http://www.globalphotos.org/ka-fuzhou.htm