LEEDS

[bmifox]

Going loco,
I'm sorry if you think that "the constant sniping at the LBA marketing team is getting a bit tedious" and i am to blame more than anybody who writes on these pages, but somtimes our (my) moans are heard. Only today the Marketing team announced a new publisher for LBAirmail. If you remember a few weeks back we criticised the current magazine for been full of adverts for local curry houses etc etc and not much info about the airport. Well it looks like that is changing! I am sure that they are good at some aspects of their jobs but when you look at BRS and what they have achieved with their marketing department you must see we have a problem!
Well from today i will not slag them off for the next 6 months...not a word, not a dickie bird! HONEST. i will just let them get on with what they do best...?????

[Leodis]

What you mean?

This is the 'Leeds Expansion' thread, in my eyes, expansion means development and development is linked with marketing, is it not?

The marketing team do seam to be making some progress now, so we will have to just wait and see what 'develops'.

It is good to see they're bringing a new magazine out, what BMIFOX said was spot on. Lets hope the new mag sells the airport to prospective new airlines and sells the airlines to its prospective new punters!

Passengers pick up an LBAirmail to see what flights are NEW, what airlines are NEW and what NEW destinations they can fly to from their airport!!

Lets see if they can stand on their own two feet for a while, without us having to nudge them all the time!

[Leodis]

Summer 05 Charters?

Just noticed the LBA website is showing Gran Canaria again for next summer! It is still early days but it is showing it as a based aircraft.

Some of the other threads for other airports have an IT flight listing on them for next summer. Does anyone have any sort of full IT listing so far for next summer at Leeds? BEST L/CONTROLER maybe???

[LBA]

Yep we still have Gran Canaria, on the LBA Yahoo group it was shown the MyTravel group flights would be operated by a Britannia 737-800, with a much reduced number of flights. I think LPA was the only place apart from the Costas and Balearics they are operating to next year.

Oh and a FUE flight, the official LBA website not showing Thomsons FUE flight yet operated by an a/c on a W pattern, probably one of the Spanish charter carriers.

Here it is:

REUS MON 08:00 MON 13:55 BY B738

ALICANTE TUE 08:20 TUE 14:50 BY B738
PALMA TUE 17:30 TUE 16:00 MON A320
MALTA TUE 19:10 TUE 18:20 KMC A320

FUERTEVENTURA WED 07:35 WED 17:05 BY B738

FARO THU 14:20 THU 13:15 FCA B757
ARRECIFE THU 14:35 THU 13:35 IWD A320

IBIZA FRI 06:15 FRI 12:35 BY B738
DALAMAN FRI 10:55 FRI 09:55 PGT B738
TENERIFE FRI 13:00 FRI 12:00 AEA B738
MAHON FRI 13:40 FRI 19:40 BY B738

ALICANTE SAT 06:05 SAT 12:35 BY B738
PALMA SAT 15:35 SAT 14:20 MYT A320
LAS PALMAS SAT 20:50 SUN 06:20 BY B738

MALAGA SUN 08:00 SUN 14:45 BY B738

[POL1W]

New Jet 2 Route ?

I reported in another thread about seeing slots for LBA - Gatwick, and MAN - Bournemouth applied for, in the respective slot database computers. These flights both have identical timings, which made me wonder if there was an ulterior motive in this. i.e. was the real application MAN- Gatwick, with the other two points being there as a smoke screen.
Over the weekend an additional mid afternoon LBA - LGW, and a MAN - BOH flight have appeared, again, with identical departure and arrival times. As the "flights" are planned to start in JAN 05, I think an announcement should be forthcoming shortly.
Are they going to be pleased at LBA, with a new thrice daily LGW flight?, or dismayed by an operational ploy used to deceive other companies into believing what they see, while upsetting airport authorities at the same time. I specify LBA here in particular, as they are the ones who provided Jet 2 with their fine start and launch pad into Lo-co operations.
Out of interest, there are 7 flights a day in each direction by BA from MAN to Gatwick, offering very lo-cost fares as opposed to Heathrow.
Myself, I can not imagine MAN airport authority allowing a 14 flights a day operation by flag carrying BA, be undermined by 6 lo-cost flights myself.
On the other hand LBA has no flights to Gatwick, with only 4 premium rate flights a day to Heathrow by BMI, and 4 London City flights a day starting next week, which after any initial publicity start-up cheapies go, will probably not see much change out of 200 quid.
So, let us hope that my fears are unfounded, and that Jet 2 will lead us with their cheap fares into London and the Brighton area, and that they remain the dominant lo-co operator at LBA.

[Lucky Strike]

Will this be the third operator to operate LBA-LGW?

[BombardierCR7]

I think LS will be at least the 5th operator on LBA-LGW, Genair, Air Ecosse, Capital, CityFlyer/BRAL, and one would hope Jet2, but that isn't the point that POL1W is making.

POL1W has the same concerns as I do. Jet2 seem to be pointing to do the dirty on LBA with this one. I sincerely hope we have got this wrong, it seems ill advised for Jet2 to upset the LBA management at present, especially with so much loco interest hovering around LBA at the moment.

[Going loco]

FlyBe wanted to take over the LBA-LGW route following Citiexpress' pull out, but BA would only release the afternoon and evening slots - not the morning one. I wonder how much of this MAN vs LBA thing with the LGW slots is behind the scenes brinkmanship. LBA management would walk over hot coals to get a LGW service and I have no doubt that this desperation will have filtered through to the Jet2 camp. I can't quite fathom what Jet2 would be trying to get out of the LBA people by implicity threatening to launch MAN-LGW though, unless as Bombardier says, it's all to do with the other loco boys and girls that are paying visits to LBA these days.

All I do know is that it would be a huge public snub to LBA if Jet2 do go on the MAN-LGW route instead of LBA.

loco

[Leodis]

Jet2 Leeds

What a heated debate!

I can understand the feelings of everyone with talk about a new Jet2 Gatwick going to Manchester rather than Leeds. Arguably at the end of the day the LBA authorities are in an equally good position to bargain and negotiate their corner.

I feel Jet2 will be wanting to fill any gaps in the Leeds market before opening a new route from Manchester to Gatwick. I know that Jet2 have wanted to serve Gatwick from Leeds for a while but i'm not sure if their priorities have changed with the opening of their Manchester base. A low cost service to London would be a high profile route served by any operator. If another airline operated a low cost service from LBA to LGW, it would be sure to open the door into the LBA loco market.

To coin a phrase, 'at the end of the day', Leeds was the birth place of Jet2 and it has been the Leeds customer base that has lead the rapid expansion of Jet2. A move to transfer any services from LBA to MAN would be suicidal for Jet2.

I believe at least one route will be announced over the next week or so from LBA.

[wawkrk]

There is often talk about the runway at LBA, particularly about the so-called bump in the middle.
Check out the pics on key publishing forums,commercial aviation - Prestwick today.Stunning photos of what appears to be a skate boarders paradise! Also, the obstruction of the Chevin in comparison is a mere blip. Amazing what the camera can do!

[bmifox]

LBA-LCY NEW SERVICE

I know i said a few weeks back i wouldn't take the p*** or slag off the marketing department for 6 months but i feel i must share this with you all.
This morning i was on the 1st flight from LCY to LBA. At LCY the balloons and champagne were there for all 13 of us passengers to share before take off. I got chatting to a marketing lady ( i don't know if she was from LBIA or bmi).I asked her what type of aircraft we were flying on upto Leeds...i knew full well it was an ATR-42. Her reply brought a smile to my face. "you are travelling on a DASH-50" she told me Oh i thought to myself...i've never been on 1 of those before!
BTW 18 pax went south on the 1st flight and 13 return. The other 3 flights south all went with less than 8 on board. Early days though. The aircraft is really nice inside....leather seats, loads of legroom. The livery is a bit strange, with 2 palm trees going up the tail and a beach down the side with the words Manchester to Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia. Nice for a LBA based aircraft!!! Does that mean we will see an A3-30 at MAN with LBA to London City painted down the side???

[PTH needs tarmac]

LBA-LCY

bmifox

Give LBA Marketing some credit. They have managed to post a Press Release on the website about the new service on it's first day of operation rather than 2 weeks later as was the case with the Jet2 CDG service.

http://www.lbia.co.uk/newsstory.php?storyid=20041101

Some important questions need to answered though -

bmifox - 1) were you one of the two wearing the Beefeater costumes?
2) what was in the goodie bag?
3) did you get a certificate too?

re LBA-LCY advertsiing on bmi A330. Hmmmmm I doubt it. Isn't advertising of bmi services ex LBA illegal?

PTH

[baps]

I'd say it's a miracle that lba website has posted a press release about any other airline other than Jet2. Sometimes you get the impression they're the only one who operate out of leeds.

[682ft AMSL]

I think PTH's criticism was levelled at bmi rather than LBA. I've been amazed at the lack of their advertising for the LCY route but assumed that this was because the route was 'selling itself'. The appalling passenger numbers in the first few days suggest this has not been the case, and so what exactly are bmi playing at? Given the huge volumes of passengers that GNER shift between Leeds and Kings Cross, it should not be difficult to attract a small % of that market into the air. This is especially so given that a disproportionate amount of the business market for Leeds-Kings Cross starts its journey in the northern suburbs of Leeds and the outlying affluent areas round Harrogate etc and should therefore find driving to/from the airport far easier than driving to/from the centre of Leeds

The secret to pulling this traffic off of the train will be down to the schedule, the fares and the advertising. The schedule is OK'ish, but I'd have preferred to see the whole thing kicked off an hour earlier. Arrivals into LCY at 07:30 and 10:30 strike me as better than 08:30 and 11:30. The fares range from some very attractive restricted economy day returns of £80 (fully inclusive) to some scandalous £320 flexible day returns which means there's nothing pitched in at the £150 mark, which is the cost of a standard open return with GNER. The advertising is virtually nonexistent. So add together a slightly iffy schedule, a fare structure that shifts from £80 to £300 with no middle ground and the fact that no one knows about the service, and what do you get? Well this morning, 1 business passenger and 12 in economy!!

FlyBe adopted a similar approach and lasted 5 months (and they were filling their peak services). At this rate, bmi will be lucky to achieve that.

682

[Frankfurt_Cowboy]

bmifox,
more importantly, were you sat next to the bmi marketing lady???

[bmifox]

FC
No i kept well clear...i don't get on with marketing people as you will no doubt know. After the DASH-50 remark i just drank my champagne and walked away.
PTH,
What's in the goodie bag...well a bmi mug, EMB135 model, toy bmi bird, pen, post it notes and my certificate.

[INKJET]

682

bmi have never spent much in the way of promoting new routes, but they rarely shut down routes they start, Knock is the only one i can think of? some may point at MAN/NWI & ABZ/NWI but i understand that was all about giving Eastern something to think about.

LCY advance booking are not bad for a business route, 4 rotations a day is perhaps one too many, but time will tell, i wish them well.

Does anyone know how CDG is going for both Jet2 & bmi? when will Jet2 start selling Paris on their Summer time table, i can't get a price after Easter with Jet2.

When do Ryanair plan to take the 200's off the Leeds route, they are so noisey

Cheers

[Leodis]

It's all quiet here!

Anyone know whats goin on?

The NEWish supa dupa check-in facility has had its lights turned off, looks like it's for the winter!!

Looks like it could be used as a function room after all

[POL1W]

The NEWish supa dupa check-in facility has had its lights turned off, looks like it's

I believe they are using the new check in area this morning. Looks like it is used for TUI and MYT or anything checking in larger than an A320. So I don't think it has been mothballed for the winter !.

[bmifox]

Just seen the loads for the new LBA-LCY flights for today. Starting to pick up a bit from last week anyway!
BD503 6/15 BD505 4/10 BD507 -/11 BD509 2/17
Sorry but i didn't get the northbound loads.