The first article tells about the flight from Hong Kong to Singapore, for which I chose the flight airlines Jetstar Asia - Singapore-registered subsidiary of the Australian carrier Jetstar Airways.
Both the airports and the airline were very interesting to me. Therefore, the review turned out to be long. I will break it into several thematic sections:
1. Hong Kong Airport Terminal 2
2. Entertainment Center and Observation Deck
3. Departure from the apron terminal
4. Jetstar A320 flight
5. Porthole views
6. Arrival to Singapore
First I want to note that Hong Kong is a very good airport for traveling around Asia. A huge network of routes to almost all points of the continent, high frequency of flights and convenient connections. Transfer between flights will not be difficult even if arrival and departure are from different terminals. Since both terminals at the Hong Kong airport (there are 2 in total) are located opposite each other.
Flights from Moscow and other European countries arrive at the huge terminal 1. This terminal has already been seen many times in the reviews on this site. But terminal 2 is less known. It serves mainly flights on Asian routes.
1. Hong Kong Airport Terminal 2
My flight from Hong Kong to Singapore was just leaving Terminal 2. I had been in Hong Kong for several days before the flight. Therefore, I got to the airport from the city by Aeroexpress. To get to terminals 1 and 2, you need to get off at the same airport station, but through different doors. If you exit through the doors to the left, we will get to terminal 1. And if to the right, then to terminal 2.
In order not to be confused, special stickers are placed at the exits in the Aeroexpress cars.
Leaving the train.
For the convenience of passengers, you can take a free trolley for transportation immediately upon exiting the Aeroexpress luggage.
The railway station at the airport is located in a separate building, "sandwiched" between terminals 1 and 2.
This building is like a train station. The upper floor works as a platform for Aeroexpress trains:
And on the lower tier, a platform for boarding city buses:
From the street, the station building looks like this:
On one of the lower floors, a taxi is still boarding here. I will talk about airport taxis later, in the review about arriving in Hong Kong.
Southeast Asia is almost a paradise. I was in Hong Kong in January and the airport garden shone with different shades of greenery and flowers.
Christmas Corner even looked kind of ridiculous here.
After a wide ramp I return from the street back to the building.
Terminal 2 of Hong Kong Airport is quite small compared to the huge Terminal 1. But small for Hong Kong. Most of the world's airports and main terminals are smaller. On the layout below, you can evaluate the design of the terminal.
The main place here is occupied by a huge registration area in the center of the building. There will be about a hundred racks here.
In total, the seemingly small terminal 2 has as many as 6 floors!
The floors are interconnected by a powerful system of escalators.
Special information stands help you navigate inside.
In such a large airport, the information board about departing flights is also very helpful.
In front of the entrance to the terminal, there is a large lost luggage search area. In such a large airport as Hong Kong, a lot of luggage is lost.
At the entrance to terminal 2, we first find ourselves in a small "waiting room" ..
And behind it begins a large common hall of the terminal.
According to the established airport gradation, a floor is considered a check-in area 5. And the second floor with the departure area and the entertainment area is level 6. Such high nominal levels are due to the fact that the terminal is buried deep inside. On the lower levels, there are various communication areas of the airport (boarding buses and taxis, underground parking, inter-terminal shuttle train, etc.).
Terminal 2's common area looks rather dull. Unremarkable interior in light gray shades and a large number of check-in desks.
There are cafes and shops along the perimeter of the building on both floors.
I ate here before my flight in one of the cafes. Tasty and inexpensive. I liked it.
The upper floor is shaped like a "P" zone, laid out along perimeter of the building.
Most of the shops in Terminal 2 are located here - stretching one after another along the walls.
There is also a large food court with fast food:
2. Entertainment Center and Observation Deck
There is also a large entertainment area on the top floor of Terminal 2. As I understand it, the most interesting entertainments of the entire Hong Kong airport are concentrated here.
For example, such a children's development center was caught in some nook.
But the most interesting thing is the aviation discovery center with its own IMAX cinema. The entrance is designed in the form of a runway.
Inside this center you can find a variety of themes for pastime. Some Star Wars characters (I'm not interested in science fiction, so I don't even know who they are):
Flight simulator in the cockpit of an airliner:
For history buffs - a reconstruction of the passenger cabin of a DH-86 aircraft, an early 1930s liner
More hello from the 1990s. First class passenger seat, 1999 model .html]Cathay Pacific[/URL].
Photo exhibition of Cathey Pacific flight attendants (Hong Kong's main base carrier).
The photographs show the costumes of flight attendants from different decades.
"Cherry on the cake" - access to the observation deck of the airport.
The observation deck in Hong Kong is just great. Large rooftop area with panoramic views of the airport and surrounding area.
For a more detailed description of the observation deck and views from there, see my other review: Unexpected spotting in Hong Kong
Fortunately, I had half an hour before departure and I spent the rest of the time here on the roof of terminal 2.
3 . Departure from the apron terminal
Having hardly looked away from the contemplation of the plane, I hasten to check-in. You won't find the right counter right away.
Another useful board in Hong Kong. The screen displays an alphabetical list of all airlines departing from the airport. And to the right it is written in which terminal and in which sector the check-in for the flights of each carrier takes place. 2 in sector Q.
The registration procedure itself is standard. You stand in line, check in your luggage, get a tag and a boarding pass.
I pass through the control to a clean zone. First of all, they meet shops, as it has already become customary at many airports.
In Hong Kong, when departing from Terminal 2, there is a curious feature. This terminal does not have its own gates. The building is for passenger registration only. To board the plane, you need to go down to the shuttle train station, which then takes you to the island boarding terminal, built in the very center of the huge airport platform.
Along the train Shops follow the signs "Departures".
The airport shuttle train connects the terminals through an underground tunnel. To land, you need to go down to the lower floor of the building. The train route stretches from terminal 2 to the platform boarding terminal with two stops in terminal 1.
The boarding terminal turned out to be not just some pavilions, but another a huge building.
In the central hall there is an information desk where you can get answers to questions about flights.
2 long sleeves extend from the central hall in opposite directions, in which the boarding gates are already located.
The distances are rather big even here.
Travolators have been laid in the center to speed up movement.
Another interesting feature of the airport. In the center of the next photo you can see the counter with the @ sign. Here you can get free internet access.
Each gate has plenty of lounge chairs waiting to board.
My exit 206 ended up at the very end of the terminal. By the time I got there, the boarding was already over.
One of the last to go through security.
The landing sleeves are very long. Hong Kong! Everything here is done on a grand scale.
I chose a seat by the window in advance. Even while taxiing there is something to see in Hong Kong. All around are exotic.
Boeing 737 of Malindo Air.
And on the other hand, another 737th Boeing that arrived from Myanmar (Myanmar National Airlines).
Chinese carriers occupy an entire wing.
Caught an A320 from Brunei in the distance - national airline Royal Brunei Airlines.
Guest from Africa - Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 operated by Ethiopian Airlines.
At the same time, another flight to Singapore took off with us. For some time we even moved along the taxiway parallel to each other. The “brother” along the route was the whole Airbus A380 of Singapore Airlines .
4. Flight on Jetstar's A320
It's time to take a closer look at the aircraft. The cabin looks very presentable.
Jetstar airline positions itself as a low-cost airline. Therefore, there is no business class on the plane, only economy class.
At the same time, I really liked the seats. Soft, comfortable, with large headrests.
Because of the large seats, there is not much legroom. But for me it's better to sit in a comfortable chair with little legroom than tossing and turning on a "stool with a back" in thin newfangled chairs that give only a couple of centimeters of extra width.
The rest of the passenger compartment is typical for the A320 . Standard top panels and luggage racks.
The toilet is OK.
In the seat pocket I found a safety manual, a flight logbook and a menu.
Jetstar flight map caught my attention. This originally Australian carrier has several subsidiaries in other Asian countries. The integrated route network under the Jetstar brand covers major cities in Australia, Southeast Asia, China and Japan.
Meals on Jetstar flights are available for a fee . But the choice is good. The menu is a separate booklet.
Can be bought as light snacks...
... and a hot dish.
Jetstar flight attendants at work:
5. Views from the window
The flight time from Hong Kong to Singapore is almost 4 hours. My flight was mostly over the clouds. The most beautiful views opened only when taking off from Hong Kong and before landing in Singapore.]
Then the plane circled around Lantau Island, showing its mountain range in all its glory.
And went south. The city center of Hong Kong appeared in the distance. But already very far away and completely hazy.
The clouds briefly cleared over southern Vietnam. Below the coast of the South China Sea in the province of Binh Thuan.
Singapore itself was in dense clouds. The plane emerged from them already on the glide path. At dusk, an excellent view of the city center immediately opened up. In the center is the famous Marina Bay Hotel, the most recognizable building in Singapore.
City at sunset before landing:
6. Arriving in Singapore
Singapore airport is a huge area that could accommodate a small city. Jetstar flights are served at Terminal 1 (there are 4 terminals at the airport).
The terminal is a large almost square building, from which boarding galleries stretch in different directions.
Several photos of aircraft docked to arms:
Nearby you can find several more liners in the same color. Like, for example, this Boeing-787:
When leaving the plane, we find ourselves in a wide gallery that goes somewhere into the distance.
Immediately here you can take a free luggage trolley so as not to carry all your things.
It is interesting that the entire "sterile zone" is carpeted. That gives it some kind of homely cozy look.
The boarding gallery is located along the perimeter of the square building of Terminal 1 and occupies three of its four sides.
The closer to the center of the terminal, the more people around.
Built in the central part large spacious room for border control. The space has been allocated with a margin to accommodate a huge number of simultaneously arriving passengers.
To get to this hall, you need to go down the stairs or escalator.
Upon arrival in Singapore, I had an incident. Knowing about the possibility of a visa-free visit to Singapore within 72 hours, I did not bother to print out the confirmation of the hotel reservation. Didn't think it would be needed. But, the control at the border turned out to be quite strict. The border guard refused to let me into the country until I provided confirmation of my place of residence and a booking for a return flight from Singapore. I had to look for a place where you can access the Internet at the airport, go to your e-mail and print the reservation.
I found such a place at the airport. There are specially equipped points with computers and printers where you can use the Internet on your own and free of charge.
But the location of the nearest such point turned out to be far from close. It took a long time to get to it, since the distances at the Singapore airport are very large. Travelators come to the rescue at such large airports. Check out the photo below - the treadmill goes forward somewhere beyond the horizon.
Let me explain how the Singapore airport terminal complex works. Terminals 1, 2 and 3 stand next to each other in the shape of the letter "P". The clean area of Another terminal 4 is located at a distance, it can only be reached by bus.
To avoid confusion, all boarding zones are divided into sectors with unique letter designations. Sectors A and B are located in terminal 3, C and D in terminal 1, sectors E and F in terminal 2. In the central areas of the sectors there are large halls with information desks. Like this one in sector B:
In general, I got a real tour of the Singapore airport transfer zone. With all the adventures, I spent over an hour there.
Finally, again, the border guards and "Welcome to Singapore!"
The baggage claim area is located after the border control. Of course, this is again a huge hall with several dozen tapes.
After getting the luggage, take a taxi and drive to the hotel.
This is finally the end of my long story about the flight from Hong Kong to Singapore. In my next review, I will show the Singapore airport through the eyes of a departing passenger. Destination - Kuala Lumpur.
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