Ex Ryanair EI-DPO

Air X World Cargo, flying continously Vatry to Hong Kong and back. Belly cargo only! This A340-600 is ex Iberia EC-INO. That was my ride to Buenos Aires in 2005.

Delivered to the Soviet Air Force in 1968. Transferred to the Ukraine Air Force as 53 red around 1992. To Scorpion Air as LZ-MNK in 2003 then to Aero Charter as UR-DWF in 2007, Meridian Avia in 2010 and Ukraine Air Alliance in 2012. In fatal crash after takeoff from Tamanrasset, Algeria in 2014.

One of a Trio of Russian Air Force IL-76 present at Châlons-Vatry having been support aircraft for Russian exhibits at the Paris Air Salon in 2013.

The control tower and some offices and cargo buildings.

The terminal building.

A view at the impressive tower of this former NATO Dispersed Operating Base. The airfield opened in 1956 and aircraft from United States Air Force fighter-bomber wings deployed here, normally one squadron at a time. No flying unit was ever permanently assigned, it was used for dispersal training only. In 1967 the US forces left after the French withdrawal from the NATO structure. It was then used by the French Air Force for training. From about 2000 it was rebuilt as a civil airport. During my visit there wasn't a single aircraft.

A view at the tower and some cargo buildings.

'Why isn't anybody coming?' Air Turquoise was moving its flights from Reims to this place on this very day, 28 June 2006. It is so far from Reims that the selling point was flight times reduced by ten minutes for southbound flights! Coincidentally or not, Air Turquoise folded within a month. Ryanair's 'Paris - Vatry ' is almost 150 km from Paris and over 100 km from Disneyland. The airport handled less than 40,000 passengers in 2020.

Checking out this eerie airport on a summer evening I heard this rare bird spooling up its deafening D-30K engines. I climbed on a pile of pallets and hoped she might taxi past this spot, which she did in the last usable light at 9.30 PM.