NEWCASTLE - 7
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Caviar House
Yields and Load Factor are key indicators in aviation -are there any stats on occupancy of seats in the new designer Caviar house Prunier dining facility occupying the space where I used to be able to sit whilst waiting for the flight ? I have yet to see anybody using it.
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Gate Aviation
New handling agent due to commence operations in next few weeks, handling the busy programme of Eastern Airways - but anyone got any ideas why there is equipment large enough to handle 737/757 sized aircraft, are they about to gain something else?
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Originally Posted by transwede
but anyone got any ideas why there is equipment large enough to handle 737/757 sized aircraft, are they about to gain something else?
mind you, not much given the current recession and the not so helpful airport tax increase expected next year
maybe they know something we don't ...
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Summer 2009
Ryanair on sale Girona 4x weekly as 2008
Dublin 2x Daily Tue Wed and Thur--- 3xDaily Sat Sun and Mo
Shannon 2x weekly.
KLM --- Winter changes mainly due to aircraft availability not demand i dont think, but 4x daily revised service will have about the same or even slightly more seats than the original 5x daily due to 733 and 738 being used, instead of F70s
Dublin 2x Daily Tue Wed and Thur--- 3xDaily Sat Sun and Mo
Shannon 2x weekly.
KLM --- Winter changes mainly due to aircraft availability not demand i dont think, but 4x daily revised service will have about the same or even slightly more seats than the original 5x daily due to 733 and 738 being used, instead of F70s
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Ryanair
Perhaps finally Ryanair are beginning to realise that money can be made in NCL. Five more flights a week (DUB 3, SNN 2) is hardly opening a floodgate but let's hope that it at least puts Tyneside in their field of vision when they consider which new routes they should launch from their existing bases.
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AMS
mmeteeside yes
originally 733-F70-F70-733-F100
Now 733-F100-F70----738
So perhaps a few less seats overall, but not a lot I think about 36. My counting is obviously not good. But still believe reduction mainly due to aircraft availability.
originally 733-F70-F70-733-F100
Now 733-F100-F70----738
So perhaps a few less seats overall, but not a lot I think about 36. My counting is obviously not good. But still believe reduction mainly due to aircraft availability.
Last edited by fl dutchman; 16th Oct 2008 at 11:30.
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Passenger figures down over summer months
From the Newcastle Journal.
Caravan beats the hassle of Tenerife
Going through to departures at Newcastle airport earlier this year, we were met with instructions to "get in line", "you take your shoes off". I replied, My shoes? A person with a plastic card round his neck said, "Yes, the things on your feet." He made us really welcome.
When you go to the departure lounge, you have to have a mortgage for tea and a bacon sandwich. Meanwhile the car park is a total joke. You have five minutes to get in and out, if you miss that, bang goes another mortgage. It seems to be just another way to rip people off.
My daughter comes from Dublin six or seven times a year and I used to park the car and go in for a cup of tea and a sandwich while I waited for her, same when I dropped her off. Not now. You are forced to wait in a lay-by until she phones and pick her up as a matter of urgency.
Low cost airlines are not low cost anymore. It costs £39 out to Tenerife and £159 back, must be a longer way on the return. On board the planes, it's £2 for a cup of tea made with warm water and the drinks cost more than a nightclub in Newcastle.
Do these people think we are a bit stupid? Can't they see if something is good value we will buy it?
We used to go to Tenerife three times a year, now we have a caravan in Northumberland. There's no hassle, you just go when you want and come back when you want.
I can see airports going out of business especially if they continue to pay their managers £200,000 a year. Tell them to go and ask people their views, they will get a big surprise.
Comments like above do not give a good image of our airport, what do you think?
From the Newcastle Journal.
Caravan beats the hassle of Tenerife
Going through to departures at Newcastle airport earlier this year, we were met with instructions to "get in line", "you take your shoes off". I replied, My shoes? A person with a plastic card round his neck said, "Yes, the things on your feet." He made us really welcome.
When you go to the departure lounge, you have to have a mortgage for tea and a bacon sandwich. Meanwhile the car park is a total joke. You have five minutes to get in and out, if you miss that, bang goes another mortgage. It seems to be just another way to rip people off.
My daughter comes from Dublin six or seven times a year and I used to park the car and go in for a cup of tea and a sandwich while I waited for her, same when I dropped her off. Not now. You are forced to wait in a lay-by until she phones and pick her up as a matter of urgency.
Low cost airlines are not low cost anymore. It costs £39 out to Tenerife and £159 back, must be a longer way on the return. On board the planes, it's £2 for a cup of tea made with warm water and the drinks cost more than a nightclub in Newcastle.
Do these people think we are a bit stupid? Can't they see if something is good value we will buy it?
We used to go to Tenerife three times a year, now we have a caravan in Northumberland. There's no hassle, you just go when you want and come back when you want.
I can see airports going out of business especially if they continue to pay their managers £200,000 a year. Tell them to go and ask people their views, they will get a big surprise.
Comments like above do not give a good image of our airport, what do you think?
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Well as regular SLF at Newcastle, usually 4 times a week both short and long haul, a few thoughts.....
I agree the staff are occassionally poor at the customer relations side but no more or less so than any other busy airport.
Whilst it is expensive you don't have to eat there and in reality it's no more or less than say a typical motorway services area. You are a captive customer expect to pay more. Same applies at anything of that ilk where you have limited choice; pop concerts, airshows, motorways, football matches etc, it goes with the territory. Eat before you go if you don't want to pay those prices.
I travel the same route every week. Car parking is extortionate and poor reliability on the barriers and ticket machines. You aren't forced to wait in a lay-by you do it by choice. Incidentally the "stottie" van on the layby on the A697 does a mean bacon sandwich for less than £2 if you are waiting there. People blocking the access roads, turning circles and site entrances are actually making it worse for everyone whilst they dodge paying £1 as they delay the traffic flow around the airport.
I have to disagree. Low cost is exactly that. Try pricing an alternative route to say Tenerife with either a charter (crazy flight only prices for less room than EZY or RYN and even higher charges for food and drink) or perhaps go to LHR and then onwards with BA or Iberia. I suspect it will cost a lot lot more. It's simple supply and demand. Book early, get a bargain. Again, where else are you going to buy a decent cuppa in town for £2. It's the same (or similar prices) at Costa, Starbucks etc. You don't have to buy one remember.
I think you're either having a bad day or a distinct lack or perspective. You exercise your choices according to your wishes, preferences and budgets.
Airports will not go out of business until the personal hoverplane arrives or the green party get elected, either way, no time soon. Paying top executives top money is what happens in every line of business so get used to it. It also has no bearing on the cost of the flights or the price of a brew in the scheme of things.
I think you are a million miles away from the reality. Every business has positive experiences for customers and negatives. Such a generic swipe at the airport isn't going to achieve anything. If you don't want to pay those prices you're doing well going caravanning. Just watch out for them hiking the prices in high season, charging for electricity, water, extortionate site shop prices etc.....ah no, they are in business too !
Relax and instead of airing it here alone, write to the £200k CEO and tell him what you think, otherwise, how will he know?
Going through to departures at Newcastle airport earlier this year, we were met with instructions to "get in line", "you take your shoes off". I replied, My shoes? A person with a plastic card round his neck said, "Yes, the things on your feet." He made us really welcome.
When you go to the departure lounge, you have to have a mortgage for tea and a bacon sandwich. Meanwhile the car park is a total joke. You have five minutes to get in and out, if you miss that, bang goes another mortgage. It seems to be just another way to rip people off.
My daughter comes from Dublin six or seven times a year and I used to park the car and go in for a cup of tea and a sandwich while I waited for her, same when I dropped her off. Not now. You are forced to wait in a lay-by until she phones and pick her up as a matter of urgency.
Low cost airlines are not low cost anymore. It costs £39 out to Tenerife and £159 back, must be a longer way on the return. On board the planes, it's £2 for a cup of tea made with warm water and the drinks cost more than a nightclub in Newcastle.
We used to go to Tenerife three times a year, now we have a caravan in Northumberland. There's no hassle, you just go when you want and come back when you want.
I can see airports going out of business especially if they continue to pay their managers £200,000 a year. Tell them to go and ask people their views, they will get a big surprise.
Comments like above do not give a good image of our airport, what do you think?
Relax and instead of airing it here alone, write to the £200k CEO and tell him what you think, otherwise, how will he know?
Last edited by andrewmcharlton; 21st Oct 2008 at 14:01. Reason: typo
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Relax and instead of airing it here alone, write to the £200k CEO and tell him what you think, otherwise, how will he know?
Hi Andrew,
The chap was airing his views in a letter to the Journal this morning.
As it happens I agree with your comments, however the car parking can cause a problem if there is a delay, plane or luggage. I think if you are polite to airport staff, in general they tend to return their politeness. I have only used Ncl once this year, found airside could have been better, but on a whole not too bad.
Hi Andrew,
The chap was airing his views in a letter to the Journal this morning.
As it happens I agree with your comments, however the car parking can cause a problem if there is a delay, plane or luggage. I think if you are polite to airport staff, in general they tend to return their politeness. I have only used Ncl once this year, found airside could have been better, but on a whole not too bad.
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I have to say I am one of those SLF who swan up as late as possible now to make the whole airside experience shorter !
Car parking is an abject disaster, walking in the hissing rain because no buses are running to long stay etc
Airside is ok as long as you don't want a hot meal after 8pm, I actually would pay the price just to get one but seemingly that's unreasonable.
On the whole it's a good airport and I want to see it do well. I don't know the ins and outs of the airside operational responsibilites, most of it is operated by licensees and franchisees so outwith the remit of the airport management but hopefully next time round on contracts they can do something.
My own personal rant is against the vermin that promote credit cards everywhere hijacking my right to a peaceful transission to the shopping mall, er I mean airside.
Rant ends.
Car parking is an abject disaster, walking in the hissing rain because no buses are running to long stay etc
Airside is ok as long as you don't want a hot meal after 8pm, I actually would pay the price just to get one but seemingly that's unreasonable.
On the whole it's a good airport and I want to see it do well. I don't know the ins and outs of the airside operational responsibilites, most of it is operated by licensees and franchisees so outwith the remit of the airport management but hopefully next time round on contracts they can do something.
My own personal rant is against the vermin that promote credit cards everywhere hijacking my right to a peaceful transission to the shopping mall, er I mean airside.
Rant ends.
Newcastle Airport settles with former boss
breaking news from the Journal:
NEWCASTLE Airport and its former chief executive have reached an out-of-court settlement in their £6m High Court case, The Journal can reveal.
The case was due to be heard tomorrow but has been called off after the parties reached agreement today.
It centred around a financial package worth £8.5m, which was paid to Mr Parkin before he resigned from his post last May and to the estate of former finance director Lars Friis, who died in 2006.
He was suspended in March last year, three months after a major re-financing deal which released £80m to the five Tyne and Wear councils and Northumberland and Durham county councils, which between them have 51% of the airport's shares.
Mr Parkin, who went on to take charge of Leeds Bradford Airport, had previously insisted he would clear his name at court.
The High Court confirmed the case has been settled and removed from its listings. Mr Parkin’s spokesman offered no comment to The Journal. The airport has told The Journal it is preparing a statement.
NEWCASTLE Airport and its former chief executive have reached an out-of-court settlement in their £6m High Court case, The Journal can reveal.
The case was due to be heard tomorrow but has been called off after the parties reached agreement today.
It centred around a financial package worth £8.5m, which was paid to Mr Parkin before he resigned from his post last May and to the estate of former finance director Lars Friis, who died in 2006.
He was suspended in March last year, three months after a major re-financing deal which released £80m to the five Tyne and Wear councils and Northumberland and Durham county councils, which between them have 51% of the airport's shares.
Mr Parkin, who went on to take charge of Leeds Bradford Airport, had previously insisted he would clear his name at court.
The High Court confirmed the case has been settled and removed from its listings. Mr Parkin’s spokesman offered no comment to The Journal. The airport has told The Journal it is preparing a statement.
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Newcastle Report
A SECRET deal involving millions of pounds of public money was last night agreed between Newcastle Airport bosses and their former chief executive.
MPs and unions reacted with fury over the secrecy of the arrangement – revealed yesterday at JournalLive - North East news, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, The Journal newspaper – and demanded to know where the cash had gone.
A High Court case was due to begin today in which the airport was claiming £8.5m from ex-boss John Parkin and the estate of former finance director Lars Friis, who died in 2006.
But the parties reached a confidential 11th-hour out-of-court settlement yesterday over the bonus payments made to the former directors after they remortgaged the airport in 2006 in a £163m deal.
Newcastle Central MP Jim Cousins said: “It is our money, not theirs and we have a right to know what sum of money was involved.”
More than half the cash – £83m – was shared among the five Tyne and Wear councils and Durham and Northumberland county councils, which collectively own 51% of airport shares. The remaining £80m went to the other shareholders at Copenhagen Airport. But the confidentiality deal signed yesterday means council tax payers will have no idea how much of the bonus payments will now return to public funds and what Mr Parkin and Mr Friis were alleged to have done wrong.
Mr Parkin was suspended in March last year, three months after the refinancing deal, before moving on to take charge of Leeds Bradford Airport. He had insisted he would clear his name at court.
He secured a bonus and wages worth £5.956m and Mr Friis the remainder of the total bonus of £8.547m.
Yesterday the High Court confirmed the case had been settled and removed from its listings. The case had been due to last up to three weeks.
A Newcastle Airport statement said: “The trial due to begin on October 22, 2008, will not now take place.
“Newcastle International Airport Ltd, Mr Parkin and Mrs Friis have reached agreement as to terms of settlement of their dispute.
“The terms of their agreement will be subject to a court order to be made in the next few days and are confidential. No further press release or comment will be made by any of the parties regarding the dispute or the settlement.” Mr Parkin’s spokesman would not comment, nor would South Tyneside Council, which is “lead authority” for the airport councils.
Graham Eastwood, spokesman for Unite, the union for airport staff, said: “I now have to try, on behalf of the workforce at Newcastle Airport, to press the new chief executive and the directors to come clean – which of course they are not going to do if it’s going to jeopardise a significant amount of money.
“The workers at Newcastle Airport and the people of the North East have a right to know what has happened.”
Labour’s Mr Cousins said: “The sums of money involved are clearly substantial. The issues that lie behind them are also important issues that bear upon the decision-making of the airport authority.
“It doesn’t surprise me that this has been settled out of court. The airport authority was clearly going to settle out of court because they wouldn’t have wanted to have all of this in a public arena.”
A Commons Treasury Committee member, he said: “But in the end, it is our money, not theirs and we have a right to know what sum of money was involved.
“We don’t need to know the exact details of the deal, but we do need to know the cost to the airport of the settlement as a whole.”
North East Minister Nick Brown said: “I am deeply disturbed by the arrangements as reported. They seem to me to be fundamentally wrong. I cannot comment further because I believe the matter is before the courts.”
Tyne Bridge Labour MP David Clelland, a Commons Transport Committee member, said: “I think that if there is that much money involved, the public deserve much more transparency than seems to have been the case so far.”
MPs and unions reacted with fury over the secrecy of the arrangement – revealed yesterday at JournalLive - North East news, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, The Journal newspaper – and demanded to know where the cash had gone.
A High Court case was due to begin today in which the airport was claiming £8.5m from ex-boss John Parkin and the estate of former finance director Lars Friis, who died in 2006.
But the parties reached a confidential 11th-hour out-of-court settlement yesterday over the bonus payments made to the former directors after they remortgaged the airport in 2006 in a £163m deal.
Newcastle Central MP Jim Cousins said: “It is our money, not theirs and we have a right to know what sum of money was involved.”
More than half the cash – £83m – was shared among the five Tyne and Wear councils and Durham and Northumberland county councils, which collectively own 51% of airport shares. The remaining £80m went to the other shareholders at Copenhagen Airport. But the confidentiality deal signed yesterday means council tax payers will have no idea how much of the bonus payments will now return to public funds and what Mr Parkin and Mr Friis were alleged to have done wrong.
Mr Parkin was suspended in March last year, three months after the refinancing deal, before moving on to take charge of Leeds Bradford Airport. He had insisted he would clear his name at court.
He secured a bonus and wages worth £5.956m and Mr Friis the remainder of the total bonus of £8.547m.
Yesterday the High Court confirmed the case had been settled and removed from its listings. The case had been due to last up to three weeks.
A Newcastle Airport statement said: “The trial due to begin on October 22, 2008, will not now take place.
“Newcastle International Airport Ltd, Mr Parkin and Mrs Friis have reached agreement as to terms of settlement of their dispute.
“The terms of their agreement will be subject to a court order to be made in the next few days and are confidential. No further press release or comment will be made by any of the parties regarding the dispute or the settlement.” Mr Parkin’s spokesman would not comment, nor would South Tyneside Council, which is “lead authority” for the airport councils.
Graham Eastwood, spokesman for Unite, the union for airport staff, said: “I now have to try, on behalf of the workforce at Newcastle Airport, to press the new chief executive and the directors to come clean – which of course they are not going to do if it’s going to jeopardise a significant amount of money.
“The workers at Newcastle Airport and the people of the North East have a right to know what has happened.”
Labour’s Mr Cousins said: “The sums of money involved are clearly substantial. The issues that lie behind them are also important issues that bear upon the decision-making of the airport authority.
“It doesn’t surprise me that this has been settled out of court. The airport authority was clearly going to settle out of court because they wouldn’t have wanted to have all of this in a public arena.”
A Commons Treasury Committee member, he said: “But in the end, it is our money, not theirs and we have a right to know what sum of money was involved.
“We don’t need to know the exact details of the deal, but we do need to know the cost to the airport of the settlement as a whole.”
North East Minister Nick Brown said: “I am deeply disturbed by the arrangements as reported. They seem to me to be fundamentally wrong. I cannot comment further because I believe the matter is before the courts.”
Tyne Bridge Labour MP David Clelland, a Commons Transport Committee member, said: “I think that if there is that much money involved, the public deserve much more transparency than seems to have been the case so far.”
Last edited by Brad the Impaler; 23rd Oct 2008 at 08:34.
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Jamesair
Well done 'Brad'
shouldn't think that you have too much to worry about on this one !
Jamesair, do you by any chance hold a position at NCL ?
Problem is that the truth hurts! & there are a number of parties involved in this have looked for an easy exit (or should I suggest 'escape') ! Perhaps what you should consider is that a reasonable proportion of the £8.5M if it had instead been reinvested in pax facilities, security, parking & immigration may have gone a considerable way in addressing many of the adverse comments of the various respondants on this thread over the past year.
Looking forwards then this deal has done nothing to dispel the earlier allegations of corruption and one hopes that this matter will not be allowed to drop. Unfortunately the down side is that once again Newcastle is being projected in the public domain for all the wrong reasons
You need to choose your words more carefully. don't forget that Libel law is applicable to the written word on the internet.
shouldn't think that you have too much to worry about on this one !Jamesair, do you by any chance hold a position at NCL ?
Problem is that the truth hurts! & there are a number of parties involved in this have looked for an easy exit (or should I suggest 'escape') ! Perhaps what you should consider is that a reasonable proportion of the £8.5M if it had instead been reinvested in pax facilities, security, parking & immigration may have gone a considerable way in addressing many of the adverse comments of the various respondants on this thread over the past year.
Looking forwards then this deal has done nothing to dispel the earlier allegations of corruption and one hopes that this matter will not be allowed to drop. Unfortunately the down side is that once again Newcastle is being projected in the public domain for all the wrong reasons