Sandgrown

& Ernest is just...well...very Ernest..

Ernest Lanc's

Should the second Ernest not have been spelled Earnest?.

MUFC_fan should have some interesting stats for July August, doing a dummy booking run on the Jet2 website using 9 passengers, Alicante have full a/c - the rest do not even at this late stage. Faro, Malaga, Palma et al.

I will be flying as you know on the 27th July bound for Alicante for the first time, and will be reporting back to dada et al how the passengers faces lit up at the prospect of handing over just a tenner to have a nice smooth runway. With free parking to boot.

IB4138

You mean, there's more than one of you?

dada

ernest - do us a favour and carry out a survey amongst fellow travellers to see just how many of them own homes abroad. ask more than those immediately sat next to you though to get a truer pikture.

ola

MUFC_fan

Here they are folks and we have our first 90% 'er! Belfast (BFS) is currently not published so am waiting on those figures but never amazing. Another note is that Belfast City (BHD) operated 107 passengers to and from Blackpool in the month, obviously via IOM with either Loganair or Manx2. Brackets include month on month change.

Here we go then!

Isle of Man (IOM) - 3718 - 55% (+2%)
Dublin (DUB) - 1941 - 72% (+13%)
Faro (FAO) - 4321 - 86% (+1%)
Alicante (ALC) - 4301 - 85% (+2%)
Ibiza (IBZ) - 2127 - 80% (+21%)
Mahon (MAH) - 321 - 54% (N/A)
Malaga (AGP) - 5047 - 83% (0%)
Murcia (MJV) - 3392 - 88% (+2%)
Palma de Mallorca (PMI) - 5772 - 90% (+16%)

IOM - Now back to Manx2, lets hope the loads keep up as the capacity drops. Small increase month on month.

DUB - Large increase in capacity filled mainly due to Aer Arann using many of it's smaller ATR-42s on the route.

FAO - Second place goes to the Portuguese hotspot. Always good loads and prices to match!

ALC - Still at four times weekly this summer for the second year running and loads staying high as imagined from the original bucket and spade route from Blackpool.

IBZ - Big increase due to last month being the start of the summer service. Starting to fit in nicely having reached the 80% mark and expected to stay in this tenth for the rest of the summer.

MAH - New route and only four sectors in, it is expected to be so low as Ibiza was last month. I think it will increase somewhat come next month.

AGP - Stagnant month for Malaga which I find surprising. I think it will rise quite some in the coming months as the summer season gets into full swing.

MJV - Still flying high! A route, when first launched by Jet2 in it's original announcement of a base in Blackpool I was sceptical about but it has well and truly smashed my opinion into the ground and it doing better than some of the more conventional destinations!

PMI - Star performer for June. As the weather gets warmer more and more flock to the island. First route to break the '90' mark this summer and I would expect to be joined by two, if not three more come July and August figures.

Overall, Manx2 have their route back to themselves and loads seem good. Dublin is performing much better with a more suitable sized aircraft to meet the ticket prices while it is clear to see that Jet2 are making some money out of Blackpool and long may it continue!

dada

well mufc having read all that i think you should start righting the speel for horseracing.

MUFC_fan

"writing..."

Thanks for the ever fantastic input as always dada!

Ernest Lanc's

MUFC-fan.
Glad to see Dublin in the seventies - Who needs FR.

Virtual bet is that Alicante heads the percentages come the July Stat's.

Hope Mahon improve on the 54% - Would like BLK to keep that route.

dada: I posted some while ago that I found that most who used BLK I had spoke to including friends had properties in Spain, in that case Costa Del Sol.

Going to check on the bucket and spade Costa Blanca, and I still wager at least 50% own second or even first homes there.

And also give a first hand account on how pax are receiving the ADF, nobody cared in May when I went to Palma, no grumbles at all.

MUFC_fan

Service started in June and only 2 return flights. I doubt there were many on the inaugural MAH-BLK which will have brought it down somewhat. As I said before, I am sure it will follow suit and be up in the 70-80s come next month and beyond.

Sandgrown

There MAY be a God after all.....

TSR2

When you compare passenger numbers (as opposed to load factors) for June against May, a slightly different picture emerges on certain routes.

ALC - May 4419 June 4301 -2.67%
AGP - May 5654 June 5047 -10.74%
PMI - May 4848 June 5772 +19.05%

MUFC_fan

To the airlines, passenger numbers don't really matter - it is more about how full their aircraft are. Airports do but it is better to keep the airlines happy - without Jet2, BLK would be pretty much nothing!
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Does anybody know which airline is operating the Northern Lights flight on the 15th December? 8pm departure. Thanks

TSR2

Would be very surprised if it is not a Jet2 B733 as they operated these flights last year from Newcastle.

Ernest Lanc's

Without jet2. THE only none domestic route out of BLK would be Dublin, and the odd charter.

For appearance sake, they might have tried that bit harder to keep MOL a tad more happy, BLK would have had a more International Airport feel with the 737-800 parked alongside the others. Also there would have been more pax in the terminal.

TSR2

BB obviously thought that no passengers are better than passengers that cost you money.

Ernest Lanc's

Maybe so: But it's not unknown for businesses to use loss leaders in order to attract wider custom.

I can't see that BLK would have lost much, but FR was good window dressing for the airport.

BLK are totally reliant on Jet2, and IMO have to be seen to be looking the part, if they wish when the upturn comes to attract new carriers.

One scenario; Family normally use MAN, used FR to travel to Girona, liked the airport and booked further flights with Jet2.

dada

ernest
would you go to work for nothing just to look busy?
its the bottom line that counts, not passenger numbers, load factors, number of big planes parked together in a line etc etc
its a business, and businesses need to make money. simples.

MUFC_fan

Dada makes a very good point.

Loss leaders are ok if you are Tesco, selling soap for 2p less than it costs but Blackpool Airport is not in a financial position to play with it's money like that - and it is in a much grander way that 2p off a bar of soap!

Blackpool need to make money. It is clear that Jet2 won't be going anywhere in the near future. Once the ADF was announced they were soon enough to come out and say that they were committed and expected to expand (inc. new aircraft) for S10 - not guaranteed though.

They make too much money out of BLK to bugger off at this point.

MUFC_fan

Red Arrows and supporting Aircraft - Theatres and Shows - Red Arrows and supporting Aircraft - Blackpool - Blackpool

During the September show, they used to be a commercial fly past every year which was fantastic.

Would it be appropriate for Jet2 to do the same for this event? After all, they are the future of the airport and the advertising potential of this is superb! Especially considering it is basically an extended circuit from BLK - not high costs at all the promotional benefits would be very rewarding.

I suppose the date doesn't help thought - height of the summer etc.

EGBKFLYER

Great idea but I think a Display Auth would be needed for any kind of fly past and I can't see Ops having the time to sort that...