Flying a Sundair A320 from Lanzarote to Düsseldorf (Trip Report)

Sundair, a relatively new German carrier that was founded in 2016, operates four aircraft to (mainly) holiday destinations. They started operating back in September 2017 with their first two Airbus A320s (D-ASEF and D-ASEE), and the airline received two additional A320s (D-ASGK and D-ASMR) in 2018.

On 5 January 2019, I was lucky to see D-ASEE operating my flight from Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, to Düsseldorf.

I arrived around two hours before departure. At Lanzarote Airport, a long queue was already waiting in front of the Check-In counter. Unfortunately, Sundair offers no Online Check-In. There were only two counters, and all 169 passengers had to Check-in.

After this step, which featured nothing really special, I was heading straight to the security check, which was completed quickly.

Boarding was scheduled half an hour before departure, so I had enough time to explore the airport. After paying around €8 for a small sandwich and a softdrink, I headed back to the gate, where boarding already started. My seat for the four hour flight was 21F, a window seat.

Sundair’s cabin was welcoming with a modern image, new grey-red seats, and a typical 3-3 layout. There was no advertising inside the plane, which was satisfying since my flight to Lanzarote was operated my Ryanair.

Boarding completed five minutes before scheduled departure. The captain welcomed us onboard the aircraft and told us that our slot was half an hour away, which allowed us to chat with the crew or enjoy the sunny weather outside the aircraft.

After the 30 minute wait, the captain had more bad news: as the aircraft was heavy this flight, we were only allowed to take off towards the Atlantic and not the mountains. The problem: the arriving planes were landing incoming over the Atlantic, so we had to wait until there was a small break in arriving planes so that we could depart safely.

The good news: the crew allowed us to talk with the pilots and visit the five-year-old A320’s cockpit.

After waiting another hour inside the aircraft, we got takeoff permission and took off with a total delay of 1 hour, 35 minutes.

The flight wasn’t spectacular. Sundair offers no Inflight-Entertainment or no WIFI, and snacks were only available for purchase.

What should be mentioned was the hospitality of the friendly, funny crew. They were always willing to help and even helped my father find his phone after it fell down during departure. They had always wore smiles and were professional. Crew members seemed to truly love their jobs and were not just there to sell products to passengers like machines as many crews normally do.

30 minutes before landing, every passenger was given some peppermint tablets, which was a nice giveaway.

We arrived in rain one hour late in Düsseldorf. I reclaimed my baggage and was rode home on the train.

Summary: Sundair offers an average product on board their A320. The seats are thin and not that comfortable and there are no free snacks, but the aircraft interior as a whole is convincing and the crews are exceptional and superior to those of Ryanair, TUIfly or Condor. Despite our delay, I am looking forward to fly Sundair in the near future again, hopefully with such a friendly crew again.

All images by Simon Müller/Aeronautics Online