PRESTWICK
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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As to Stansted, it ought to be possible given a will and some understanding to go back to Plan A which predated the base at PIK. Operate the route from the London end which would allow somthing like this at the Scottish end :
0810-0840
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2110-2140
Stansted is their biggest base !
0810-0840
1310-1340
2110-2140
Stansted is their biggest base !
Join Date: Mar 2008
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As previously reported earlier this week
http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...izzair-18.html
http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...izzair-18.html
Join Date: Mar 2010
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skippy
As to Stansted, it ought to be possible given a will and some understanding to go back to Plan A which predated the base at PIK. Operate the route from the London end which would allow somthing like this at the Scottish end :
Join Date: Jan 2000
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I can't see the PIK-STN being droped, there are far too many aircraft moved between these bases for engineering purposes. They may reduce the service but if they drop it, they will be flying lots of aircraft up and down empty for maintainance.
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Dropping the Prestwick Route to Stansted would be an interesting move. I can remember when Ryanair were operating this route with a 50% restriction on capacity and they did it with 737-200s! It was quite a frequent route and at its peak I think there were as many as 8 flights in each direction and this wasnt cut back at all until the higher capacity 738s came in.
If the reason for dropping the route is the proximity (far away) to Glasgow of Prestwick, Ryanair need to start asking themselves should they be at Glasgow International? (yes I know there is an engineering base etc at PIK) but if a route that once was delivering 25K+ passengers per month (eg Aug 09 27k) is being dropped; Ryanair need to consider what is the real cost of operating at PIK, ie forfeited opportunities and Revenue. I do think/note that Easyjet has been growing the GLA STN numbers over the last number of year and I understand that some months easy have more numbers on the flights than Ryanair have on PIK.
However, the reason may be that the whole domestic air travel scene is being badly eroded in these recessionary times, It is rumoured that Easyjet is dropping Stansted Newcastle which had been a steady little earner, a route that came with GO. Most like the combination of reduced business travellers and lower yield may be influencing these decisions.
EI-BUD
If the reason for dropping the route is the proximity (far away) to Glasgow of Prestwick, Ryanair need to start asking themselves should they be at Glasgow International? (yes I know there is an engineering base etc at PIK) but if a route that once was delivering 25K+ passengers per month (eg Aug 09 27k) is being dropped; Ryanair need to consider what is the real cost of operating at PIK, ie forfeited opportunities and Revenue. I do think/note that Easyjet has been growing the GLA STN numbers over the last number of year and I understand that some months easy have more numbers on the flights than Ryanair have on PIK.
However, the reason may be that the whole domestic air travel scene is being badly eroded in these recessionary times, It is rumoured that Easyjet is dropping Stansted Newcastle which had been a steady little earner, a route that came with GO. Most like the combination of reduced business travellers and lower yield may be influencing these decisions.
EI-BUD
Join Date: May 2005
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PIK - STN and the wider market
Incredibly, PIK-STN peaked at over 70,000 passengers per month in late 2003. Since then there has been a steady decline in passenger numbers as you can see from this time series plot of CAA data:
However, if you look at the wider Glasgow - London market you can see that PIK-STN is not the only route having problems. The market has declined by 24% since its peak in 2003 and is now at its lowest level since the late 1990s. Almost every route between Glasgow and London has suffered, including GLA-STN, which peaked in 2006 when Air Berlin flew alongside Easyjet:
However, if you look at the wider Glasgow - London market you can see that PIK-STN is not the only route having problems. The market has declined by 24% since its peak in 2003 and is now at its lowest level since the late 1990s. Almost every route between Glasgow and London has suffered, including GLA-STN, which peaked in 2006 when Air Berlin flew alongside Easyjet:
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Times must be tough at PIK. It's 10am on a weekday, and the bar maid is going from person to person sitting in the lounge asking if they want anything from the bar. As a frequent FR passenger I'm fairly certain that those who don't fancy a pre-flight pint at 10am aren't going to be persuaded.
Join Date: May 2006
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Pax numbers at pik will probably be up this year on last year i would expect. Albeit slightly after the icelandic volcano.
Having said that, I will be very disappointed if the route is canned. Have used it as a passenger many times. Its very good to use for connecting to other flights from Stansted. I know that Ryanair doesn't take this into account because it is a "point to point" airline, but the fact is many people fly on to other destinations from Stansted, and some even from other london airports.
It'll be a nightmare for Ryanair crew positioning to/from PIK as well!
The argument made earlier regarding aircraft positioning for maintenance is also valid. However, PIK does serve many of the newly opened bases in bucket and spade destinations so I would imagine the plan is that PIK will maintain aircraft from bases such as AGP, FAO, ALC etc. There will be less need for aircraft to position via STN.
Edited to add: The route being canned is not confirmed just yet though! Lets keep fingers crossed that the exact frequencies for winter have not been decided yet and once they are the route will appear!
Having said that, I will be very disappointed if the route is canned. Have used it as a passenger many times. Its very good to use for connecting to other flights from Stansted. I know that Ryanair doesn't take this into account because it is a "point to point" airline, but the fact is many people fly on to other destinations from Stansted, and some even from other london airports.
It'll be a nightmare for Ryanair crew positioning to/from PIK as well!
The argument made earlier regarding aircraft positioning for maintenance is also valid. However, PIK does serve many of the newly opened bases in bucket and spade destinations so I would imagine the plan is that PIK will maintain aircraft from bases such as AGP, FAO, ALC etc. There will be less need for aircraft to position via STN.
Edited to add: The route being canned is not confirmed just yet though! Lets keep fingers crossed that the exact frequencies for winter have not been decided yet and once they are the route will appear!
Join Date: Nov 2003
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The Stansted route isn't the only one that appears to be getting axed. There are no flights to Charleroi in December. I wish another airline would step in and resume these routes from Prestwick.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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Glasgow Prestwick Airport
Subsidised railway wants more taxapyers subsidy.
Arrrgh
It's all about "value for money" and nothing about making money !
Subsidised railway wants more taxapyers subsidy.
Arrrgh
It's all about "value for money" and nothing about making money !
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Staff told today that a 90-day consultation period will soon begin ("likely that there will be redundancies") on the back of a 52% cut in Ryanair's winter capacity. Link to news article here.
I hope those affected gain alternative employment soon.
I hope those affected gain alternative employment soon.
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Just noted that STN is back on the PIK Winter Schedule but at a greatly reduced frequency. There is a once daily flight at lunchtime using a PIK based aircraft with a second late evening service only on Friday and Sunday. I guess it's a lot better than nothing and the timing may result in good load factors.