Flying to Madeira Island with the Airbus A330

January 2022

It's not very common to do very short flight with widebody equipment. But during the holiday season, every year, there is a surge in the demand for flights between Portugal mainland and Madeira island. Not only because of families and students wanting to go back home for Christmas but because Madeira NYE's fireworks is a huge attraction to tourists.

Air Luxor used to send their A330s to the island during this season and I was fortunate to land there with this type of widebody a few times between 2003 and 2005 flying with both CS-TMT and CS-TQF aircraft.

17 years later here I am again, with different colors, and with a different motivation to be on this flight.

Airbus A330-941 | CS-TUN | "D. Fuas Roupinho"

Also an unusual fact nowadays, I was one of most senior members in my category, which means I was assigned to work in business class again. Before the pandemic, with the company's growth we witnessed a fast moving seniority list and most of the times I was the most senior member in my category. These days, with the fleet reduction and with the recent dismissals, it's totally the opposite: I'm usually part of the "youngest" team.

So that was the way the new year started for me: doing a turnaround flight to Funchal. I made photos of this flight available in the following gallery:

• Air Portugal - Airbus A330

And if you got nostalgic when I referred to Air Luxor, those photos are also online:

• Air Luxor - Airbus A330

Let's hope 2022 is the year when we definitely get rid of this pandemic.