Some information I picked up over the past month:
- The May issue of Aviation news carries a two page article about LCY:
-- reference is made to the planned inauguration of flights to Copenhagen, Madrid, Milan, Stockholm and Vienna over the next 18 months plus new domestic services to Glasgow and Newcastle. This is in line with the current survey on the LCY website about possible flights to CPH, VIE and STO. I could imagine that over the coming months Austrian Airlines could spare a Fokker 70 for such a route as more Fokker 100 are phased in. Copenhagen might be a route for Cimber Air's ATR42-500. Not so sure who could be in the pipeline for flights to Milan and Madrid as turboprops are out of the question and I don't see any Italian or Spanish carrier with BAe 146s, ER3, F70 or FRJs.
-- The article also has an interesting drawing of the planned expansion in two steps, including in step one additional terminal space to the west, an expansion of the apron to the east and minimal expansion of the jet centre. Stage 2 shows a significantly enlarged jet centre including a dedicated taxiway, an expansion of the terminal to the east, a multi-storey car park next to it and another expansion of the apron over the current water area - plus a lot of new buildings to the southeastern end of the dock area which are difficult to interpret.
-- Finally, the airport's CEO goes on the record that flights to LCY by A318s and A319s are desirable and the type can operate safely from the runway. Current problem is the apron space, but once the problem is rectified after the planned expansion of the apron area, the airport wants to look into a possibility of larger lfights operation into LCY again.
-- As for the ERJ170, the article only says that it is expected to undertake trials in the future.
-- the airport projects 1.9m pax for 2004, but eventually hopes to break through the 2m barrier for the first time if business continues to thrive at the current level.
- In its March 20 issue, The Times reported some interesting 2004 results:
-- operating profits before depreciation rising 14.7% to £16.2m.
-- plans to increase passenger numbers to 3.5m by 2010.
-- in the first two months of this year, traffic grew 18%, bringing the rolling 12-month total above 1.7m for the first time.
-- in 2004, about half the traffic was carried by Swiss International Airlines, VLM and Scotair.
-- VLM carries a third of all traffic into the airport.
-- Edinburgh has replaced Dublin as the most popular destination
- As it appears, the OLT flights to/from Bremen are now to be operated by the smaller Saab 340 as the previously used Saab 2000 is to be used on AF-code share services from BRE to CDG. There is, however, talk about an increased schedule.
- VLM is adding an afternoon depature to its recently introduced AMS route, now offering 4 daily departures
VG 221 STD 14.30
VG 222 STA 17.35
KLM still has seven daily departures.
- Last but no least, I read somewhere - cannot remeber where exactly - that Eastern Airways is taking a closer look at possible operations into LCY and has been linked to a possible new route to NCL.
Last edited by virginblue; 18th Apr 2005 at 12:42.