Originally Posted by
Mooncrest
At Leeds Bradford in the 1980s, it was common to have a 737 or three on the deck at the same time, from the likes of Orion, Air Europe, Britannia, Monarch and latterly, Dan Air. None of them based but passing through on W patterns.
Normal operating practice at the time was to have a summer morning departure from base at about 0800 to Spain etc, next rotation departed at about 1500, and if there was a night rotation one at about 2200, getting back to have a few hours maintenance and recovery time before starting the next day.
If going to do a W to a lesser point, this was typically done that the morning outbound routed back through there, and the return to base was in the evening. It was therefore standard that most W arrangements worked in and out of the lesser point in mid-afternoon, so the medium-sized places like Leeds or Cardiff that were not a base might well get several together. Must have challenged the handling agents.