China Eastern Airlines (Wuxi Airport to Guangzhou MU2927)

_ Route: Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport (苏南硕放国际机场)to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 14:40pm in January 2012

Flight Number: MU2927

Flight duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A320

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at Wuxi airport. Chinese Eastern Airlines have 6 specified check-in desks allocated for their airline. There are also specific desks for Shenzhen Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Air China.

There were around 15 AWACS surveillance aircraft belonging to the Chinese Air Force at the airport (they were mostly Russian made IL-76/Antonov aircraft).The Chinese Air Force use Wuxi airport as a training field, as well as a base for surveillance aircraft that do sorties over the South China Sea, Taiwan, Korean, and around the Hong Kong peninsula.

Wuxi is a beautiful and small airport located only 14 miles from Suzhou, and is equipped with excellent western style facilities for passengers. It is after all an international airport that serves the two main cities of Suzhou and Wuxi. Passengers can fly to far away destinations such as Japan, Korea, and all over China.

From Wuxi city centre you can take a taxi which costs around 60RMB and takes around 40 minutes. The airport’s only runway 21/03 is 3,200 meters by 50 meters (10,499 × 164 ft), and can handle aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 747-400 or even a Boeing 777 (Yangtze River Express use their Boeing 747-400 for cargo operations) . But most of the civilian aircraft are of the size of a Boeing 737-900, and Airbus A321. The airport was built in 1955 for military use, and commercial flights only started in 2004 hence why so many military aircraft can be seen here. When runway 03 is used for take-offs (as was the case on our flight), aircraft have to taxi down runway 21 and then turn around at the threshold piano keys to perform the take-off run (because the taxiway is too close to the military hangers so for safety reasons civilian aircraft are not allowed to go close to them). 

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including tea and coffee.  

Comments regarding the first meal:

For this two hour flight, Chinese Eastern Airlines provided just a hot ham burger. The meal service started around 20 minutes after take-off from Wuxi airport. Honestly, more food could have been provided for a 2 hour flight. A bun was not enough.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The Cabin Crew seemed proud to work for China Eastern Airlines  and were very welcoming. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Airbus A320 plane had a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too.

Economy Class seats have a pitch of 31 inches, and a width of 18 inches (159 seats)
Business Class seats have a pitch of 40 inches, and a width of 21 inches (8 seats).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10