EAST MIDLANDS - 6

[ematom1]

just a few questions realy.
- I heard the aerologic are starting more cargo routes
when do these strat where are they flying to and what time will they be landing and departing if anyone has information?

- when will the extension to the runway begin and be finished for they seemed to be in a rush to get the planning but since it was accepted nothing has been done?

Thanks.

[FR-]

Boarder control mid afternoon. Twice this week I have had landed and sent my pax off, only to find a massive queue. On Wednesday, the pax were all the way back to the catle pens, also on thursday i had several pax who needed to catch a later flight with WW to EDI, should of had an 1hr10mins to clear it and check in again.

I also experienced this problem as pax a few weeks back when I flew back from TFS. Only two staff on at first which went up to 3, took us over 40mins to clear. This is putting people off flying again from EMA, can someone from EMA please sort this out.

Fr-

[davedog]

do you mean 'border control'? have you not heard government cutbacks! it can only get worse!

[0523 cov man]

ema

ema is a good airport. 0523 covman

[egnxema]

FR-

Clearly you have not travelled through STN recently!!

[mikerawsonderby]

We arrived last night on the TCX from MAH (7+ hour delay because of the broken a/c at Antalya) and although we started queuing at the door it was probably only 15 minutes to get through. Surprised how thorough the check was though.
Mike

[ATNotts]

Border Controls

For as long as government policy is formulated by the Daily Mail, Daily Express and the Telegraph UK border control is only going to become a bigger and bigger problem.

Those lucky people in virtually all other EU countries, save for Ireland and the Balkans enjoy free movement through something called the Schengen Agreement which means the intra-EU travel is about as difficult as crossing the border between England and Scotland (by road or rail)! Its another of the benefits of living in the EU that is deprived UK citizens.

If you don't want this nonsense to carry on lobby your MP!

[Mr Angry from Purley]

ematom1
ref aerologic
Go back a few posts and you'll see the new S3 schedule (all in the dark)

[davedog]

If we had more faith in the external border control of the Schengen states, we wouldn't need our own border controls. The majority of the unwelcome people in this country enter via Schengen countries, and in particular they get to the french coast by the very free movement you talk about!
The EMA Immigration arrivals hall is no great welcome entry into the UK, but the facilities are provided by the airport, so investment must come from here, and the government need to invest in staff to man the border if they continue to screen every arriving passenger.
The perfect asnwer will never happen, but the relevant stakeholders must stride to improve on the current one.

[stuart-travel]

update Travel service flights

From the end july to early sep 2010

mon pmi a/m lpa p/m
tue pmi a/m tfs p/m
wed rho a/m
thur nil ?
fri tfs a/m cfu p/m
sat fue a/m pmi p/m
sun ibz a/m ace p/m

If any person has details on the thur ops please advise, the info is as per Thomas cook flights.

regards
stuart

[OliWW]

From my understanding Thursdays was due to be ACE in the morning, and DLM in the afternoon

[INKJET]

TCX seem to be having a rough time of it at EMA with a lot of very long delays on Turkey flights 12+ hours in some cases, is there an underlying reason or a spot of bad luck, Jet2 seem unaffected

[aidoair]

TCX seem to be having a rough time of it at EMA with a lot of very long delays on Turkey flights 12+ hours in some cases, is there an underlying reason or a spot of bad luck, Jet2 seem unaffected

TCX aircraft are worked to the very bone during the summer months, more so than the majority of aircraft in say TOM's fleet.

As for the EMA based aircraft schedules, they are very tight. There is only a couple of nights during the week where at least one aircraft at a time gets to have a 'break' overnight.

The average time the aircraft is scheduled to be on the ground during a turnaround during the summer is just 1hr15 as the aircraft does late night flights and then straight out again the next morning. If there is any tech delays / slot delays etc then there is very little slack in the schedule to pick up the time.

I personally wouldn't say the aircraft are really overworked, as they are trying to get the most out of them over the summer, which is what aircraft are built for. Though when it comes to having some slack in the schedule for things like delays, then I guess they have tried to fit too many routes into a 2x aircraft base. Though obviously it's not just the EMA base that's effected by this nor just TCX, it just seems to be more clearer why here.

[OliWW]

In some cases the TCX timetable is reduced to a 55 minute slot, where as most of TOM's are 1hr 30mins. The servisair staff do a good job to get the flights turned around in that time, so credit to them. Most of the delays are caused by tech problems, and as nearly all of the A320's are in full time operation all over the UK, delays do add up, just one of them things...

[mikerawsonderby]

Whilst we were waiting for our TCX flight back from Mahon on Sunday, we were given various excuses. Initially we were told there would be a 2.5 hour delay because of the fog, then it changed to 4 hours for operational reasons, with the same reason then being used for the final 7 hour delay. I got the best information by calling the EMA information desk! We eventually got an A320 that had been sent from MAN. The captain was very apologetic (unlike the cabin crew) and explained that the a/c that we should have had went tech soon after take off from Antalya, and had to return (those poor passengers got home 26 hours late). They had looked at subbing the flight out, but there was nothing available on a Sunday morning.

Mike

[Mr Angry from Purley]

Mike
Sounds about right to me, single aircraft base if it goes tech / late it struggles to make up lost time unless TCook dump another aircraft in (as you head towards peak summer less chance of that happening particularly as a few of the sub airlines have already leased their aircraft to easyjet like Titan etc). Also when times are hard it's cheaper to pay for 300 pax meals than a 30k subcharter.
The good side is had you been flying on Ryanair you'd still be in Mahon if they took fancy to cancelling the flight. To the credit of the charter airlines as we saw with the ash crisis they'll get you home, safely and eventually...

[OliWW]

The issue which occured with the Mahon flight is that EMA has 2x A320's, and on the Sunday the timetable is like this...

EMA-MAH-EMA-LCA-EMA
EMA-MIR-EMA-DLM-EMA

So as usual the flight to Monastir departed on time, leaving the aircraft which should have done the Mahon flight stuck in Antalya. The Monastir aircraft then operated the Larnaca flight, with about a 2 hour delay on this, as the Dalaman flight actually has a 2/3 hour turn around. A spare A320 was then brought in to operate the Mahon flight, which then finally operated the Dalaman flight which was about 4/5 hours late in the end. I feel sorry for the passengers on the early morning Zante flight the most, who had to go and check in at like 11pm, to find out the flight had a 2hr 30 min delay on it, and didn't leave until about 3am :|

[EGAC_Ramper]

Mr Angry,

To say Ryanair would just cancel is quite false. Yes at times they do but also it has to be said they do position aircraft/call out crews to fly back passengers etc to/from their destination.

[OliWW]

On another TCX note... why is TCX512L going to Belfast tonight and not back to EMA? what will happen to the EMA pax, and it looks like the replacement A320 is coming up from LGW after operating TCX814L which was flying from Antalya?

[Mr Angry from Purley]

Egac
Occasionally perhaps, but it's fair to say any sign of trouble and FR cancel (lack of crew, tech,ATC,strikes,ash)