ABERDEEN
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Well from our experience just one 757 load through the customs part is an overload.Add any other aircraft arriving at the same time and its getting ugly.
The luggage belts are in exactly the same areas, when I was a baggage handler in the summer of 79.
The domestic belt is also a security risk.Anyone could wander in and place something on a belt.Often there are unclaimed bags left circulating there.
The luggage belts are in exactly the same areas, when I was a baggage handler in the summer of 79.
The domestic belt is also a security risk.Anyone could wander in and place something on a belt.Often there are unclaimed bags left circulating there.
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Aberdeen
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The airports twit*r (why is that censored!) says the same thing every time "we are working every day on leisure".
Great but are they actually getting anywhere? I think not.
In regards to the arrivals area I thought there was going to be a £4.25 million revamp of the international arrivals area this year but I haven't heard anything of late (well since January) so is this still happening?
Great but are they actually getting anywhere? I think not.
In regards to the arrivals area I thought there was going to be a £4.25 million revamp of the international arrivals area this year but I haven't heard anything of late (well since January) so is this still happening?
Last edited by CaptainDoony; 22nd Jul 2012 at 10:31. Reason: Pprune being weird
CH3CH2OH
Came back to ABZ from IAH via AMS yesterday, Oil & Gas related trip, Aberdeen still the weakest link in the chain and the arrivals/baggage capacity continues to be embarrassing. The relatively recent increase in covered walkways is positive but still far short of what is required to manage more than one international flight at a time.
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Dalaman
Notice that tonight's Pegasus to DLM went via LGW.
Strange considering that is non stop usually - must have been packed tonight.
Does anyone know what kind of a restrictions a 738 will have going direct to Dalaman from ABZ? (189 seats)
Strange considering that is non stop usually - must have been packed tonight.
Does anyone know what kind of a restrictions a 738 will have going direct to Dalaman from ABZ? (189 seats)
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LGW can more than fill an extra 737 to DLM esp at start of English School holidays. The seats may have been blocked. Its quite common for aircraft to be relocate for that very reason. TCX do it all the time.
I guess we'll never know the real reason.
I guess we'll never know the real reason.
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Aberdeen Airport @ABZ_Airport
A wee sneak peek at an exciting project that is in it's finishing stages. Intrigued? You should be
Twitter / ABZ_Airport: A wee sneak peek at an exc ...
They're teasing us!!!
A wee sneak peek at an exciting project that is in it's finishing stages. Intrigued? You should be
Twitter / ABZ_Airport: A wee sneak peek at an exc ...They're teasing us!!!
half the time)
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I agree Doony, there's a fair amount of filler on their Twi.tter!
I'm sure they are talking to airlines about routes, just that it seems to take much longer & much more persuasion to get them to come aboard, even with the success of the area with high disposal incomes, high employment thanks to the oil industry & so on. The two large deals that sees the Chinese acquiring interests in the North Sea being the latest example of the attractiveness of the region. There are also some 7,000 people signed up to play Trump's golf course - you can be sure not all of them are locals.
Other areas of the UK however can attract airlines/routes much more quickly.
Perhaps it is catchment area, location, availability of aircraft etc - I can't believe airlines wouldn't notice that ABZ has consistently posted good increases in passenger nos. over the past few months. But we seem (are?) down the pecking order, no doubt about that.
Do we still have a sizeable Polish population? What happened to that survey a few years back? They seemed clsoe to announcing a route to Poland, then it all went quiet.
I'm sure they are talking to airlines about routes, just that it seems to take much longer & much more persuasion to get them to come aboard, even with the success of the area with high disposal incomes, high employment thanks to the oil industry & so on. The two large deals that sees the Chinese acquiring interests in the North Sea being the latest example of the attractiveness of the region. There are also some 7,000 people signed up to play Trump's golf course - you can be sure not all of them are locals.
Other areas of the UK however can attract airlines/routes much more quickly.
Perhaps it is catchment area, location, availability of aircraft etc - I can't believe airlines wouldn't notice that ABZ has consistently posted good increases in passenger nos. over the past few months. But we seem (are?) down the pecking order, no doubt about that.
Do we still have a sizeable Polish population? What happened to that survey a few years back? They seemed clsoe to announcing a route to Poland, then it all went quiet.
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I would imagine there is still a pretty sizeable Polish population in ABZ's catchment area, certainly enough for a 2x weekly op.
If OLT Express is still kicking around in 12 months and their UK routes do reasonably well could they be tempted by ABZ?
If OLT Express is still kicking around in 12 months and their UK routes do reasonably well could they be tempted by ABZ?
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Spin Spin Spin
For Example:
Aberdeen Airport Flights
Flybe operates flights from Aberdeen Airport to the following destinations:
Amsterdam
Belfast City
Bergen
Bergerac
Birmingham
Brussels
Dusseldorf
East Midlands
Exeter
Guernsey
Hamburg
Hannover
Isle of Man
Jersey
Kirkwall
Leeds Bradford
London Gatwick
Manchester
Milan Malpensa
Nantes
Newquay
Norwich
Paris CDG
Southampton
Stuttgart
Sumburgh
What a load of utter balony!
Aberdeen Airport Flights
Flybe operates flights from Aberdeen Airport to the following destinations:
Amsterdam
Belfast City
Bergen
Bergerac
Birmingham
Brussels
Dusseldorf
East Midlands
Exeter
Guernsey
Hamburg
Hannover
Isle of Man
Jersey
Kirkwall
Leeds Bradford
London Gatwick
Manchester
Milan Malpensa
Nantes
Newquay
Norwich
Paris CDG
Southampton
Stuttgart
Sumburgh
What a load of utter balony!
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I think Richard T has made a god point - the total population of Aberdeenshire is less than 250,000 - let's be generous and say the Aberdeen Apt catchment area is 400,000
This is less than a quarter of that of (say) Newcastle - and they struggle to expand as well. In fact it's only because of the distance to London and the high value oil related travel that ABZ does as well as it does . Ideas of major expansion are dreams -- if they're lucky they might eventually get an Emirates flight 2-3 times a week
This is less than a quarter of that of (say) Newcastle - and they struggle to expand as well. In fact it's only because of the distance to London and the high value oil related travel that ABZ does as well as it does . Ideas of major expansion are dreams -- if they're lucky they might eventually get an Emirates flight 2-3 times a week
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Catchment Area
I've always maintained that although ABZ has a large catchment area, it does suffer from a small catchment population.
ABZ should be attracting passengers from Inverness round to Dundee, but until the transport links are sorted out it will never happen.
The A96 needs to be dualled all the way to Inverness. There is, of course, a bus, but that doesn't even stop at the airport now. And although there is a reasonably good rail service, it's already been discussed on this thread about getting from the station to the terminal.
The AWPR will mean getting to Dyce from the south will be a whole lot easier, but who knows if/when that will start/open.
Simples. Problem solved! All this is, of course, beyond the control of AAL
And Richard, be fair, Flybe do fly to Jersey - once a week!!
ABZ should be attracting passengers from Inverness round to Dundee, but until the transport links are sorted out it will never happen.
The A96 needs to be dualled all the way to Inverness. There is, of course, a bus, but that doesn't even stop at the airport now. And although there is a reasonably good rail service, it's already been discussed on this thread about getting from the station to the terminal.
The AWPR will mean getting to Dyce from the south will be a whole lot easier, but who knows if/when that will start/open.
Simples. Problem solved! All this is, of course, beyond the control of AAL
And Richard, be fair, Flybe do fly to Jersey - once a week!!
Last edited by Inverurie Lane; 26th Jul 2012 at 08:08.
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Heathrow Harry
None of us here expect the likes of FR or U2 to open up a super base here in ABZ.
I get frustrated though when viable opportunities in leisure (since that's what the airport claims they are focussing on) are completely overlooked time and time again.
Malaga carried near enough 50,000 pax p.a. on a 3x weekly service yet now we have a crap charter on a E190 that operates once a week for three months!!!
There's tens of thousands of poles living in ABZ - I'm sure the estimate was >40k but yet there is no word of a route to Poland with Wizz, OLT or LOT.
There are maybe 7-8 routes that could be operated in summer as a scheduled route and certainly a few of them could be year round as well.
I get frustrated though when viable opportunities in leisure (since that's what the airport claims they are focussing on) are completely overlooked time and time again.
Malaga carried near enough 50,000 pax p.a. on a 3x weekly service yet now we have a crap charter on a E190 that operates once a week for three months!!!
There's tens of thousands of poles living in ABZ - I'm sure the estimate was >40k but yet there is no word of a route to Poland with Wizz, OLT or LOT.
There are maybe 7-8 routes that could be operated in summer as a scheduled route and certainly a few of them could be year round as well.
Last edited by CaptainDoony; 26th Jul 2012 at 08:44.
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CaptainDoony
I can understand your frustration. I think the challenge is not so much are the said routes you mention viable or profitable. The question increasingly is with airlines, what markets can we make the most from the aircraft and a route such as say ABZ AGP is fairly long sector and most of a day is gone when the flight is completed. I think this will be more the case going forward as airlines consolidate and like in the UK there are just less and less airlines as time goes by. so many names vanishing from the scene. Would eligible airlines such as Jet2 consider it based on a limited enough flying program when they see opportunities around population centres such as MAN, EMA etc areas where opportunities have arisen with the immiminent closure of bmibaby etc
My guess would be that if a local airline came about it would be the best vehicle to serve ABZ better with the right size of aircraft, a niche could be created that few other airlines would go after. Perhaps bmi regional will unveil plans for such routes and aircraft in due course. as it stands it seems that they havent made clear what their strategy will be etc.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
I can understand your frustration. I think the challenge is not so much are the said routes you mention viable or profitable. The question increasingly is with airlines, what markets can we make the most from the aircraft and a route such as say ABZ AGP is fairly long sector and most of a day is gone when the flight is completed. I think this will be more the case going forward as airlines consolidate and like in the UK there are just less and less airlines as time goes by. so many names vanishing from the scene. Would eligible airlines such as Jet2 consider it based on a limited enough flying program when they see opportunities around population centres such as MAN, EMA etc areas where opportunities have arisen with the immiminent closure of bmibaby etc
My guess would be that if a local airline came about it would be the best vehicle to serve ABZ better with the right size of aircraft, a niche could be created that few other airlines would go after. Perhaps bmi regional will unveil plans for such routes and aircraft in due course. as it stands it seems that they havent made clear what their strategy will be etc.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
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CaptainDoony
I can understand your frustration. I think the challenge is not so much are the said routes you mention viable or profitable. The question increasingly is with airlines, what markets can we make the most from the aircraft and a route such as say ABZ AGP is fairly long sector and most of a day is gone when the flight is completed. I think this will be more the case going forward as airlines consolidate and like in the UK there are just less and less airlines as time goes by. so many names vanishing from the scene.
I can understand your frustration. I think the challenge is not so much are the said routes you mention viable or profitable. The question increasingly is with airlines, what markets can we make the most from the aircraft and a route such as say ABZ AGP is fairly long sector and most of a day is gone when the flight is completed. I think this will be more the case going forward as airlines consolidate and like in the UK there are just less and less airlines as time goes by. so many names vanishing from the scene.
This is absolutely spot-on.
I work with a lot of airports and a constant theme is "we've done the business case for this route, it looks quite reasonable, so why can we not get an airline to operate it?" As EI-BUD says, there are simply fewer candidate airlines out there these days, especially in the regional sector. Consolidation, fuel prices, and the march of the LCCs have all taken their toll. So you can have a business case for a route which genuinely looks as though it will turn a reasonable profit for an airline...but few or no appropriate carriers to pitch that route to. And having a theoretical strongly profitable route or routes is not much consolation for an airport!
Unless a carrier has some local roots or is actively seeking out a niche it can dominate, it is hard to make the case for low-frequency routes into smaller markets (especially if the block time is relatively long). I'd agree that the likes of bmi regional perhaps offers the best opportunity for at least some routes - they have aircraft available, they have local knowledge, and they are (presumably) in search of defensible niches.