NEWCASTLE - 8
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: NCL
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UA
United pay for an unbelievable amount of staff bearing in mind that they only have a 757 operating the route. They can easily have 5/6 desks open. I just find it bonkers that they haven't given the route a fair crack of the whip, especially in November/December time for Christmas shoppers etc. It's a shame, but when you can get to the US via Heathrow, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels for significantly cheaper, is it any real surprise?
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Somewhere up there
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This is such a shame if true. Pity they couldn't have tried a longer season to thoroughly test demand.
It would be easy to blame a number of factors but the marked drop in the pound vs the dollar recently after Brexit must have two main effects:
1. Brits going to the States will find it much more expensive to do so, possibly leading to people planning holidays elsewhere.
2. People paying GBP to buy seats from an airline that does its accounting in USD will mean yields get hammered even if they were good to start with.
I don't know but at a guess I would say the majority of pax on NCL-EWR would fall into both categories.
All sad.
It would be easy to blame a number of factors but the marked drop in the pound vs the dollar recently after Brexit must have two main effects:
1. Brits going to the States will find it much more expensive to do so, possibly leading to people planning holidays elsewhere.
2. People paying GBP to buy seats from an airline that does its accounting in USD will mean yields get hammered even if they were good to start with.
I don't know but at a guess I would say the majority of pax on NCL-EWR would fall into both categories.
All sad.
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Durham
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RE. Handling agent rumour - There are 3 Agents servicing at Newcastle:
Swissport: Aer Lingus, Air France, Balkan, Citywing, Eastern Airways, Emirates, Eurowings, KLM, Ryanair, SAS, Thomas Cook, Thomson, Wideroe (United?)
Aviator: Air Malta, bmi regional, British Airways, easyJet, Flybe, Onur Air
Jet2.com: Jet2 (Their own agent inhouse)
from: Lost Baggage - Newcastle Airport
Swissport: Aer Lingus, Air France, Balkan, Citywing, Eastern Airways, Emirates, Eurowings, KLM, Ryanair, SAS, Thomas Cook, Thomson, Wideroe (United?)
Aviator: Air Malta, bmi regional, British Airways, easyJet, Flybe, Onur Air
Jet2.com: Jet2 (Their own agent inhouse)
from: Lost Baggage - Newcastle Airport
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: ,
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Shame if true, but not a surprise. Pax figures have been inconsistent, sometimes respectable while well below 50 on other occasions. Pricing has been high to accommodate the low loads, although there have been bargains to be had with £400 returns.
As someone mentioned before, it would take an awful lot to entice business/frequent travellers to use UA and abandon the air miles with other carriers and nobody is going to commit to this route as it only runs for 3 months and isn't daily...and is always delayed 2 hours. I've been in a position to use it 3 times since it started and on all 3 occasions have ended up using an alternative. The first time was due to price, the other 2 I could get one way but not the other (Wednesday/end of service)
I think if they're going to do it then do it, as EK did, don't waste time with a half @rsed effort. Run it year round, doesn't have to be daily, just try to get people to be confident using it, not a small window of opportunity.
As someone mentioned before, it would take an awful lot to entice business/frequent travellers to use UA and abandon the air miles with other carriers and nobody is going to commit to this route as it only runs for 3 months and isn't daily...and is always delayed 2 hours. I've been in a position to use it 3 times since it started and on all 3 occasions have ended up using an alternative. The first time was due to price, the other 2 I could get one way but not the other (Wednesday/end of service)
I think if they're going to do it then do it, as EK did, don't waste time with a half @rsed effort. Run it year round, doesn't have to be daily, just try to get people to be confident using it, not a small window of opportunity.
Join Date: Apr 2007
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On a brighter (slightly) note, BMI Regional are looking into adding Bergen, however at this stage I'm told the plan is NCL-SVG-BGO-SVG-NCL, (or BGO first) though so no extra flights as such, from NCL at least
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Gateshead, UK
Age: 25
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I knew they were going to try that 
I could see it a mile off with the long turnaround in Stavanger
I hope they do... If there's demand they could split them, 37 seats per day, per destination isn't really very much but it's a start to test the water, and at a good frequency... Would be nice to get the Norwegians coming over to shop again, although cheap as chips flights to London probably mean that's an extremely niche market now
I could see it a mile off with the long turnaround in Stavanger I hope they do... If there's demand they could split them, 37 seats per day, per destination isn't really very much but it's a start to test the water, and at a good frequency... Would be nice to get the Norwegians coming over to shop again, although cheap as chips flights to London probably mean that's an extremely niche market now
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: newcastle
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VentureGo - Handling Agents
VentureGo, you are behind the times with your information.
Wideroe, Air Malta and Onur Air no longer operate out of Newcastle and Jet2.com have never been self handling - they only use their own staff for check in.
Wideroe, Air Malta and Onur Air no longer operate out of Newcastle and Jet2.com have never been self handling - they only use their own staff for check in.
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Durham
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VentureGo, you are behind the times with your information
.from: Lost Baggage - Newcastle Airport
Also, I see they've not yet updated the passenger statistics for June of this year:
Domestic passengers quoted as 9691, where a previous poster has indicated he received a response from NIA who said the true figure was 96910, which seems more in line with year on year comparisons:
Passenger Statistics
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Sunderland
Age: 44
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Can anyone help me out with a quandary myself and my work colleague are having. I know it's a bit of a long shot with the information. When TCX chartered in a Mint Airways a/c to be based at NCL, the a/c went tech and another one was subbed in. The flight was going to EFL, and he thinks the airline started with a 'B'. The crew refused to fly in as there was only a few pax booked on the OB flight as it was just after the May half term holiday but the IB flight was pretty full. The a/c flew out the next day. Does anyone know which airline was covering the Mint Airways a/c? Thanks in advance
Join Date: May 2002
Location: SW Scotland
Age: 40
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A lot of people on here seem to be asking for United to operate a longer summer schedule, or even year round. How exactly is this going to help the route be a success? If you can't fill a 757 in the busy summer months, how exactly are you going to fill it in the winter months?
Apart from a possible peak around Christmas time, there's very little demand in winter. Look at EDI for example - 5 daily flights to the US in the summer, dropping to just 1 (possibly 2) in the winter.
Year round may be better for attracting the loyalty of business passengers, but you still need the tourism traffic to be there in the summer to make the route viable.
Like every other route they have started, it's summer only to gauge demand. Once they see the demand is there, then they will try and operate a winter schedule too.
Apart from a possible peak around Christmas time, there's very little demand in winter. Look at EDI for example - 5 daily flights to the US in the summer, dropping to just 1 (possibly 2) in the winter.
Year round may be better for attracting the loyalty of business passengers, but you still need the tourism traffic to be there in the summer to make the route viable.
Like every other route they have started, it's summer only to gauge demand. Once they see the demand is there, then they will try and operate a winter schedule too.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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Like every other route they have started, it's summer only to gauge demand. Once they see the demand is there, then they will try and operate a winter schedule too.
All their UK regional stations were launched as year round from Day One with the exception of Newcastle where they struggled to do well in the summer peak, perhaps confirming their initial preconceptions. This one's been an oddball tbh from day one.
Last edited by Skipness One Echo; 8th Aug 2016 at 11:13.