EDINBURGH

[CabinCrewe]

I dont agree
Air Canada operate hundreds of "part -week" flights. Lots of them international, previously included, Tel Aviv, Kingston Jamaica, Athens, Tokyo. A 757 and 762 have very similar seating capacities in international configurations, just compare US 75/76 and AA 75/762.
The real issue here is the overall agenda of Star Alliance.

[GrahamK]

4eyedspotter,

EK also chose to go to NCL, whose runway is about 7ooft shorter than EDI, your point about runway length is?

[4eyed spotter]

GrahamK

My point being that when Emirates anounced that they were starting services from GLA they stated that the runway length was an important factor compared to EDI and when they started services from NCL it became clear that B.A.A. politics were afoot.

[MUFC_fan]

I doubt it was simply the cause of BAA.

EDI and GLA are quite close together (1 hour between the two airports) and from EDI to NCL it is 2.5 hours.

EK could probably serve EDI with an A332 but why go to the expense of serving the same community as GLA takes while it also means most likely affecting GLA's load?

I would like to see EK at EDI as I think they could make a success of it but I just can't see, in the current climate, them being able to maintain their GLA loads with an A332 into EDI.

[theredbarron]

EK are getting excellent load factors out of GLA and must be looking to increase capacity. However, I think that another daily 773 service would be just too big a step up and so I suppose the obvious option would be to go to 2 x 332 services. We then have the interesting possibility of them being persuaded to operate one of these from Edinburgh. If they saw someone like Qatar or Etihad eyeing Edinburgh up then they might just decide to pre-empt them.

[jimbo canuck]

Air Canada

AC used to operate year-round to GLA from YYZ. I used the service fairly often in the 90's when I made business trips to Europe, having a short stopover in GLA to visit family. Loads were generally high, even in business class. In winter the service was less than daily and also served MAN. Aircraft used was a 762, domestic configuration. AC no longer have 762s and the 763 or 330 is just too big, except possibly in summer peak. That's when competition from the charter carriers is greatest. With GSM and OOM gone, the market is currently underserved, but I think AC will be quite happy to provide connections through LHR for the foreseeable future.

Jimbo

[Exasperated]

EK are getting excellent load factors out of GLA and must be looking to increase capacity. However, I think that another daily 773 service would be just too big a step up and so I suppose the obvious option would be to go to 2 x 332 services. We then have the interesting possibility of them being persuaded to operate one of these from Edinburgh. If they saw someone like Qatar or Etihad eyeing Edinburgh up then they might just decide to pre-empt them.

I agree and said something similar way back in 2005 on a separate thread as follows

The GLA route has been very successful and proves there is a considerable market out there for O & D and hub traffic from Scotland. This will not have gone unnoticed by their competitors.

I am certain that Emirates would prefer not to operate from two airports so close together as this would incur higher costs, but the last thing Emirates would want is a competitor who may not want to go head to head at GLA and choose to operate from EDI against the Emirates GLA route.

Operating from both airports may be a spoiler to prevent this and ensure that fares are controlled by one operator.

Think about how Continental have developed in Scotland, who could easily have continued to grow their GLA-EWR route. By operating into EDI it has prevented competition from another US major as the route definitely would not support two carriers at this moment in time.

Having the monopoly to New York has helped enable CO to maintain higher fares than flights from other UK airports where competition exists.

Since then we have seen Delta come and go to New York so the plan for Continental seems to work.

We will just have to wait and see what EK do next in Scotland (unless someone in the know can provide us with a clue).

Ex

[Flightrider]

This debate is missing the fundamental point that air services do not depend on the size of the city but on the market potential for the service in question. The two do not always coincide as neatly as you may think. In the case of Emirates, Glasgow works because the catchment area has a much higher proportion of residents whose ethnic origin is in the Indian subcontinent and Far East than Edinburgh. This is a key factor for Emirates to make the Dubai hub work [and it's also why you have PIA at Glasgow and not Edinburgh, but I don't see anyone arguing to try to get them to Edinburgh on here].

[Exasperated]

Flightrider

I agree with you to a point and logically Emirates would expand at GLA when the time comes but this may leave a door open at EDI to a competitor and such competition may remove the level of price control that Emirates currently enjoys at GLA. Ironically should they choose to close the back door they may end up with competition in their face at GLA which may be a worse situation but we are all just guessing.

You are correct about the ethnic population in Glasgow but the figures are still very small at just 3% (2001 census) and no asian country figured in the top 20 final destinations from GLA on the 2005 CAA survey.

Logic says expand at GLA but looking at recent route decisions in Scotland airlines seem to have had logic bypass surgery.

Ex

[edinv]

X-winds and cross runway closure

I also had a flight SYY-EDI where there were a lot of crosswinds and after landing, the pilot came on sounding very shaken to say that we may have noticed the wing came close to the tarmac but assuring us we had not been in any danger. It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than to convince us

I've had 2 aborted landings @ EDI. One on easyJet when about 10 feet above the run way and far to far along it to even think about landing due to the lack of stoping distance and the fact the plane was going from side to side due to the cross winds. 2nd attempt was far better. There was a notable gasping from a lot of the pax as we went back up

The above statements came from recent passenger comments on Flyertalk. Such comments would have been common years ago when the main runway was 13/31 (now12/30). With the opening of 07/25 now 06/24 the X-wind issue should have gone away, except in exceptional circumstances. It appears that runway 12/30 is now always closed and the cross wind problem has re-surfaced!

Can anyone out there provide the background and reasoning behind the runway 12/30 closure?

[atomicflight]

The closure was due to the uncontrolled roadway about half way along, several vehicles crossed with the lights to red, meaning the crossing was closed and aircraft were using the runway. Supposedly vehicle came very close to a crash with a helicopter, so they decided to close the entire runway to takeoffs and landings, allowing only taxiing.


Also this now frees up block 33 for parking at all times, this maybe something to do with it as well.

Others may have a better idea.

atomicflight

[Carnethy]

Can't find the previous EGPH thread, so apologies for starting a new one.

Has anyone got any photos of the new £40m departure lounge that was officially opened this week? Would be interested to see the improvements.
Any news on the SE Pier extension as I believe a taxiway is currently being upgraded to the SE pier?
One more thing....... whatever happened to the Easyjet expansion that was being mooted a couple of months ago. So far, Basel is the only new route.

[Captain Kerthorse]

http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...nburgh-35.html

hth

[4eyed spotter]

The JAL 747 that was at EDI on the 8th July was that the first time JAL have visited EDI or will this be an ongoing charter throughout summer?

[CabinCrewe]

No. 2 only. One way Japanese tourist charters

[theredbarron]

definately not the first JAL visit. I recall a JAL DC8 coming in on a tourist charter many many moons ago when I worked at EDI - and I havn't done that for around 30 years !

[Bartek]

Easyjet confirms 2 x weekly EDI-Paphos (commencing 3 November) and 4 x weekly EDI-Cologne/Bonn (commencing 26 November)

Extra Paphos certainly welcome following Globespan's demise, but I wonder what Easyjet's thinking is going head-to-head with Germanwings on the Cologne route? Having said that, is the Germanwings route summer only?

[virginblue]

What I find more interesting is that they have chosen CGN over DUS as EZY recently has built up some routes from DUS (FCO, LGW, BSL etc.) and axed EMA and LPL from CGN.

[Bearpit]

Paphos - A320

Does this mean EZY will be flying A320 in winter? Can't see A319 being right a/c for Paphos. Wonder what else it will be doing?

[Reader not a writer]

From The Horses Mouth.(AMB brief)

It is not an additional aircraft at EDI!
The Paphos will be a LGW rotation; the Cologne I dont know the rotation.

Hope this helps