LEEDS 5

[BKS Air Transport]

All the talk about roads to the airport being unable to cope with increased traffic is a smokescreen. Those of us who live round here know that the A65 has been notorious for years, but only in the morning peak with traffic going towards Leeds, and in the evening peak with traffic going the other way. The situation has been made worse in recent times with the large scale building of houses around Guiseley and Menston, and no thought being given as to how the increased commuter traffic can be coped with. Traffic surveys have shown that the airport's contribution to traffic levels has been insignificant.

[Keyvon]

Jet2 has discotinued its LBA-Albert (Picardy, France) flights even before commencing.

LS was supposed to be the only airline serving this French destination with a scheduled service.

Do somebody know the reason behind this cancellation ? Could be due to low booking ?

[Runway 32/14]

Albert!!!

News to me about jet2 cutting this service before it's even started......all i have information on is listed below:

Jet2 has announced that it will launch a unique new route from Leeds Bradford Airport to Albert-Picardie, to capitalise on the massive rise in battlefield breaks to World War I sites in Northern France. On sale from today, the airline will operate a twice-weekly service on Mondays and Fridays between April and June next year. Fares start from £60.99 one way inclusive of taxes.
The budget airline will be the first to offer scheduled flights from the UK to Albert in the Picardie region of France, most famous for the Battle of the Somme, and home to the city of Amiens with fantastic links to the city of Lille. Interest in visits to war graves and battlefield sites has risen sharply in recent years fuelled by notable anniversaries, such as this month’s 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. Growth in websites and TV programmes tracing family trees has also sparked interest in the Great Wars among those keen to follow in the footsteps of relatives...

[commit aviation]

No longer visible on the booking & timetable pages.....

Looks like the level of demand is comparable to Lille (i.e. not that great!)

Shame but I guess in the current economic climate it's better to knock it on the head now rather than lose your shirt on it.

[Runway 32/14]

Its still listed on the LBA website for summer 2009

[commit aviation]

Highly likely they haven't told the airport yet!
They may have pulled the plug late Friday & oddly enough airlines aren't so keen to shout about closing routes as they are about announcing new ones! I am sure things will be updated early this week.

[Flying Yorkshireman]

Nostalgia

Flying Yorkshireman, Have you got any pics which show the terminal building, airside and landside so we can see how much it has changed?

Thanks in advance!

Backtrack 32 - Initially I thought that I wouldn't have the sort of pictures you want. However, after some digging I have found a few. I also found some of the construction of the tunnel and runway extension work. I hope that these are of interest.

I have put them on the link below.


LBA Infrastructure :: Fotopic.Net

In addition, I have added quite a few more to my original web site, which now has over 100 pictures.

LBA Nostalgia :: Fotopic.Net

Regards,

FY

[roverman]

Albert

Can't see Albert listed anywhere on Jet2.com.

Adieu d'Albert. The Albert Memorial. Hardly a surprise really, LBA-Albert must count as one of the industry's 'thinnest' imaginable routes.

[682ft AMSL]

It was only ever intended to operate from 20th April to mid July which, as anyone with kids will know, is the duration of summer term and typically the period in which educational trips abroad are scheduled. Given the nature of the destination, it is highly likely that this was essentially set up as a charter to deal with these trips, with any excess capacity being sold as a scheduled route. On the basis that Jet2 usually adopt a conservative approach to the LBA market, I doubt they ever intended for this to operate on a stand-alone scheduled basis. If so, then I suspect too many of the intended educational trips have fallen through and Jet2 have had too many seats to sell themselves and they've decided to pull the plug.

[Runway 32/14]

Flying Yorkshireman

Once again thank you so much for sharing those images and memories....

I found them fascinating and intriguing....

[Runway 32/14]

LBA Expansion...read this

In 2007 the Civil Aviation Authority recorded that 3.7 million passenger journeys had taken place at Manchester, Liverpool, East Midlands and London airports by people who started or ended their journey in West & North Yorkshire. On average that’s 10,000 trips every day, 365 days a year travelling on the local road network to get to the M62 and M1 to get to other airports. It is the same number of passengers as currently handled by Leeds Bradford and Doncaster Airport combined. It means over 6 out 10 passenger trips that start or end in West/North Yorkshire don’t use Leeds Bradford. Whether we like it or not, demand for air travel to/from the region is high and will continue to be so whether Leeds Bradford expands its terminal or not. Any demand that can’t be met locally will simply continue to displace to other airports, creating traffic on the roads, contributing to the expansion of other airports and the growth of other regional economies. Locals who can’t fly from Leeds Bradford are not choosing to sit at home or take a local “green” holiday; they are getting in cars, taxis or mini-busses to undertake journeys of between 120 to 500 miles to get the flight they want. This will always be the same unless there is a consistently applied national policy from central government that restricts air travel across ALL UK airports. Given this is not likely to happen, it is only right to consider how we can achieve a better balance of how much of the demand that already exists across Leeds Bradford’s hinterland is met by Leeds Bradford Airport itself.

Also worth remembering is that the council sold the airport to the current owners because they wanted a developer to come in and develop the airport. Having sold the airport as a development opportunity and pocketed the money to fund their dream of a city centre arena, I’m struggling to see how the council can legitimately keep this cash but stop any development of the airport.

[Strelnikov]

RW32/14.

You've made your point well though I would observe that Leeds is not actually blocking the planning application. The delay is procedural, effectively seeking higher authority on an important planning application.

I'm not on the inside on this one but I would hope that any good LA will also be doing their level best to extract as much as possible out of the private promoter to get the best deal for the council taxpayer.

Lets sit tight and be patient - like it or not developing airports is a very sensitive issue and it has to be handled carefully.

MDB

[roverman]

The whole issue is a lot more complicated. We, in the UK, have chosen to adopt a market-led air transport system rather than one which works in accordance with any strategic, integrated transport plan. LBA is not alone in witnessing the effects of this. How many passengers per year drive from their homes close to Manchester Airport to take flights from Liverpool, Stansted, Gatwick, or EMA because it is cheaper? Market-led solutions to the provision of any public service have similar outcomes - short-term consumer value and choice, medium term chaos, long-term damage.

[Andy_S]

In 2007 the Civil Aviation Authority recorded that 3.7 million passenger journeys had taken place at Manchester, Liverpool, East Midlands and London airports by people who started or ended their journey in West & North Yorkshire. On average that’s 10,000 trips every day, 365 days a year travelling on the local road network to get to the M62 and M1 to get to other airports.

Not everyone, of course, will have taken a car or taxi. And you're also assuming that the 3.7 million are travelling singly, rather than in groups.

It's also not clear how that 3.7 mill splits between the airports you named. I'll bet the lions share is London and Manchester though.

I realise that this isn't what you want to hear, but not everyone living in Yorkshire can be catered for by LBA. That's not just to do with runway length, weather, topography or ground access, but is also related to demand for various onward destinations. The fact is that London, and to a lesser extent Manchester, will always be able to offer a wider range of destinations than LBA, so some of the local population are going to have to travel beyond the LBA catchment area to find flights to destinations for which there is not sufficient demand in Yorkshire alone.

As Roverman says, it's a market driven business.

[backtrack_32]

Thanks a lot Flying Yorksman, Brilliant site and pics!

[BYALPHAINDIA]

Quote
I realise that this isn't what you want to hear, but not everyone living in Yorkshire can be catered for by LBA. That's not just to do with runway length, weather, topography or ground access, but is also related to demand for various onward destinations. The fact is that London, and to a lesser extent Manchester, will always be able to offer a wider range of destinations than LBA, so some of the local population are going to have to travel beyond the LBA catchment area to find flights to destinations for which there is not sufficient demand in Yorkshire alone.

Reply
90% of the population of W & S Yorkshire are automatically programmed robots into travelling over to MAN in their big 4x4's /People carriers etc!!

As a 'Pressing priority' LBIA needs to Urgently educate the people of Yorkshire that it is uneccassary to drive an hour to MAN just to save 10.00 each or whatever little money (If any)they save?

It has never made sense to me??

But educating the people of Britain, Is like educating pork!!

Most people are simply 'Brain dead' when it comes to Airports and how they work & function etc, Or they have no 'interest' in it whatsoever, Good for them.

As they say on a daily basis - 'It is just like sitting on a bus' yeah right!!

Very similar Lol!!

(Stopping the people of Yorkshire travelling to MAN Airport is like stopping dogs peeing in a park)Lol!!

They are already programmed into doing it, So really they will not change will they?

(If people knew as much about Air Travel than their precious mobile phones then the Industry would blossom)Lol!!

[Shiver me timbers!]

Excuse my ignorance but why don't wide-body aircraft land at Leeds anymore given that they used to?

Is it legislation i.e. noise, prices, commercial reasons i.e. not enough bums on seats, competition i.e. Manchester?

[pug]

If im not mistaken, the PIA A310's are wide bodies and operate 3xweekly.

[Shiver me timbers!]

Sorry should have been more specific - B747s.

[BigT2207]

Quiet protest@LBA

Just to follow up on this story

Quote from the BBC website "Protesters ate cucumber sandwiches and gingerbread aeroplanes"

Now as Cucumbers are not in season yet in this Country do these so called green protesters realise that the cucumbers they are eating where flown into the UK or do they think they came on a slow boat from China. Just imagine how much C02 was produced so that they could have Cucumber sandwiches.

IDIOTS