Originally Posted by
Jay Sata
Can someone please explain why Norwich has never encouraged a competitor to KLM on the Amsterdam route?
Originally Posted by
NickBarnes
Flybe did it briefly before the £10 fee even came in. It failed. I paid around £30 one way to AMS back in 2006, earlier KLM flight that day was near full, My Flybe flight 26 pax, need I say anymore.
Flybe had some quite healthy loads on the route, and at one point were operating lots of flights out of Norwich all over the place until they had a spat with the airport manager at the time and it all went bad.
Originally Posted by
ara01jbb
The handful of passengers who are flying to Amsterdam are happy to pay roundtrip fares that start at £120 for a weekend return.
I'm not, well £120 is at the better end of the scale - I've paid double that at short notice before to attend a funeral. What choice do I have though? It's an easier option that travelling to Stansted.
I've flown NWI to AMS 2 to 3 times a year for the past 30+ years on Air Anglia, AirUK and now KLC as I have family there and I think the fares are a rip off but I do prefer the experience over Stansted. If I travel further afield I often connect via Schiphol too for convenience, and do find it unfair that the cost of the NWI- AMS leg then goes down significantly.
In the beginning the development fee was just £3, then £5 and they remodelled the airport substantially (the departures hall was horrible when it had the toilets and offices in the middle). I agree it does look a bit unloved now though. There is also definitely a lot of resentment locally at the £10 departure tax.
Cant agree with some of the other points, security have always been fine and in line with any other airport I have used (in fact friendlier than many). The Fokker's were always well turned out, and the Embraers are really nice aircraft. Majority of cabin crew are young, and provide a good service. It's been eroded significantly over the past 15 years but it isn't just KLM doing that and on a 30 minute flight I don't think many people really care.
The lack of public transport to and from the airport for the past 30 years also doesn't help at all, I'm in Norwich and a pre booked minicab doesn't set me back too much but the lack of a dedicated bus route must be perplexing to passengers not from the area. Often there aren't even taxi's hanging around (although I would advise anybody to use a local company as it's far cheaper).
You could argue there isn't the demand for a dedicated bus route and probably be right, but with 1 or maybe even 2 trains an hour direct to Stansted (extended from Cambridge) in the next couple of years negating the change at Ely the lack of one isn't helping the airport at all.