NEWCASTLE - 8

[VentureGo]

Scottish referendum: ?Yes? vote would end APD in Scotland

Interesting comments from contributor at end of article:

"Newcastle view on APD

Newcastle Airport has benefited for as long as I can remember from passengers travelling down from Scotland to take advantage of lower flight costs ex Newcastle. Didn't hear NCL complain then"

Well !
I know of at least 4 families who have travelled up to Edinburgh this summer to avoid higher fares from Newcastle. One family of four saved over £350 on flights to Turkey (Bodrum) - Fares ex Edinburgh can be cheaper without change in APD

[SWBKCB]

Agreed - I also know people who have travelled north to EDI. Works both ways depending on when the relevant school holidays fall and the resulting impact on prices.

[10 DME ARC]

The price difference now is nothing to do with APD but school holidays! And yes it works both ways at the moment!
No APD would permanently make it a one way street!

[Ph1l1pncl]

BA Self Checkin

I haven't seen this been mentioned, but when I flew down to Heathrow the other day I noticed that BA have removed the self service checkin desks. Does anyone know why? Or when they were removed, on the Glasgow and Aberdeen threads people have mentioned the same. We maybe getting new machines so they've removed the old ones but it just seems a little strange.

[Heathrow Harry]

very few people will drive all the way to EDI or GLA just because of APD - you are adding 2.5 hours to your trip either way

[N707ZS]

You would be surprised Harry DTVA used to get Scottish people driving South to save a few penny's.

[fa2fi]

When I was crew there the flights would have significant amounts of those from north of the border onboard. The school summer holiday period lasts longer at NCL probably more than any other English airport due to those crossing the border seeking cheaper flights due to the school holiday periods being different. Similar to half term too. People can save hundreds by driving a couple of hours. I doubt APD will have an impact. First you need airlines to pass the saving on to the consumer and second it is not that much of saving by the time you've factored in fuel, motoring costs and hassle factor.

[10 DME ARC]

You would be amazed! Years ago I had a neighbour in the NE who would drive his family to Glasgow and Liverpool all just to save £100!!

[fa2fi]

I should imagine people like that are in the minority, especially given the price of petrol these days.

[EK77WNCL]

Reet the stats are oot!!! (or some are anyway)

Domestic Increases:
Gatwick - 8436 +21%
Luton - 77 N/A
Aberdeen - 2333 +9 (39 charter)
Birmingham - 460 +37% (69 charter)
Bristol - 14963 +10%
Manchester - 74 +3%

Domestic Decreases:
Heathrow - 40617 -5%
Stansted - 0 -100% (2013 - 67)
Belfast City - 3076 -31%
Durham Tees Valley - 0 -100% (2013 - 48)
Exeter - 0 -100% (2013 - 3016)
Farnborough - 0 -100% (2013 - 85)
Isle of Man - 480 -3%
Jersey - 2526 -13%
Manston - 0 -100% (2013 - 3)

Belfast International, Cardiff, Newquay and Southampton are missing their pax numbers, this leads e to believe that those above stated as "0" may also have some statistics missing

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport...tic_Routes.pdf

International coming up

[EK77WNCL]

International Increases:


International Decreases:
Salzburg - 0 -100% (2013 - 1459) - Correct? I wasn't aware TOM ended it???
Dubrovnik - 0 -100% (2013 - 2246) - O.o
Pula - 0 -100% (2013 - 1072) - hmmmmm......
Brussels not listed, something afoot....
Cyprus, Larnaca/Paphos - NO STATS
Denmark, Billund, Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Karup - NO STATS
France, Limoges, Nice, Paris, Lourdes - NO STATS
Germany, Dusseldorf, Hamburg - NO STATS
Greece, Corfu, Heraklion, Kefalonia, Kos, Rhodes, Skiathos, Zakynthos -GUESS
Ireland, Cork, Dublin - NO STATS
Italy, Naples, Pisa, Rome, Venice, Verona - NUFFIN
Malta - INCOMPLETE
Netherlands, Amsterdam, Rotterdam - NO STATS
Portugal, Faro, Porto, Funchal - NO STATS
All Spain including Canaries - NOTHING
Norway, Stavanger - NO STATS
Turkey, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Izmir - NO STATS
Bulgaria, Burgas, Varna - BUGGER ALL
Czech Republic, Prague - NO STATS
Poland, Krakow - NO
Egypt, Sharm - SURPRISINGLY NOT
Tunisia, Enfidha -
UAE, Dubai - NEG
USA, Sanford - NO STATS
Mexico, Cancun - NO STATS

Well... That's annoying... I think I'll come back to this one later

[SWBKCB]

Lufthansa to transform Eurowings into all-Airbus carrier - 9/17/2014 - Flight Global

Eurowings will use the A320s to replace its Bombardier CRJ900s.

Hmm, really? Quite an increase in capacity - wonder what the impact on NCL-DUS will be??

[Jamesair]

The CAA stats will be updated next week, so the missing numbers including the actual Airport figures will all appear. The airport gives August totals as (with Aug 13 in brackets) Dom. 99,775 (102,793), IT 162,855 (165,908) Int Sched. 275,518 (262,869)

[EK77WNCL]

Blood, sweat and less tears than expected

Howay then I'll try again... Stats should now read as follows

Destination - 2014 pax (2013 pax) percentage increase (notes)

Domestic Increases:
Gatwick - 8436 (6982) +21%
Luton - 77 (0) N/A
Aberdeen - 2333 (2136) +9 (2014 - 39 charter)
Birmingham - 460 (336) +37% (2014 - 69 charter)
Bristol - 14963 (13603) +10%
Manchester - 74 (72) +3%
Belfast International - 16193 (15929) +2%
Newquay - 759 (753) +1%
Southampton - 8490 (7901) +7%

Domestic Decreases:
Heathrow - 40617 (42698) -5%
Stansted - 0 (67) -100%
Belfast City - 3076 (4446) -31%
Durham Tees Valley - 0 (48) -100%
Exeter - 0 (3016) -100%
Farnborough - 0 (85) -100%
Isle of Man - 480 (496) -3%
Jersey - 2526 (2908) -13%
Manston - 0 (3) -100% (2013 - 3)
Cardiff - 734 (872) -16%

Not looking too bad on the domestic side of things, Heathrow always seems to decrease more than in increases but still very healthy numbers. Birmingham boosted by charters but still a shadow of it's former self unfortunately, same applies for Isle of man and I think probably a few others. BHD must be in trouble and unfortunately I can't see it lasting if it keeps the consistent double digit drops. Pleased to see Bristol doing well (for now, until the stupid winter schedule) and Southampton looking healthy. I would be pleased with Gatwick but... It's somewhat irrelevant.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport...tic_Routes.pdf

International Increases:
Amsterdam - 34968 (32146) +9%
Brussels - 1730 (0) N/A
Copenhagen - 1562 (1561) 0%
Dubai - 20831 (18544) +12% (best month so far, very good news!)
Dublin - 15871 (11887) +34%
Dusseldorf - 3387 (2858) +19
Paris - 14361 (12639) +14%

Arrecife - 8987 (8096) +11%
Barcelona - 6808 (6721) +1%
Cancun - 2316 (2043) +13%
Dubrovnik - 2578 (2246) +15%
Fuerteventura - 4437 (4293) +3% (TCX down about 800, LS carried 1022)
Funchal - 2848 (1446) +97% (TOM up and LS carrying similar numbers)
Kavala - 815 (0) N/A (Not sold from NCL, I think inbound JSI pax are down as Kavala, also explaining JSI drop)
Kefalonia - 3080 (1403) +120%
Kos - 3328 (1669) +99%
Larnaca - 5634 (4683) +20%
Malaga - 21916 (21775) +1% (Torremolinos, Marbella and Puerto Banus making a comeback???)
Naples - 1845 (1838) 0%
Palma - 47657 (45540) +5%
Prague - 2586 (2529) +2%
Pula - 1081 (1072) +1%
Reus - 8705 (7277) +20%
Rhodes - 6657 (5030) +32% (TOM/TCX up 1800 pax, LS down 250)
Rome - 2582 (2544) +1%
Sanford - 2285 (2041) +12%
Venice - 2460 (2420) +2%
Zakynthos - 6117 (5091) +20%

Bearritz - 76 (0) NA
Deauville - 22 (0) NA
Munster - 46 (0) NA
Goose Bay - 123 (0) NA (Miltary charters?)
Lourdes Tarbes - 255 (232) +10 (Pilgrims)

International Decreases:
Alicante - 28950 (32474) -11% (bigger drop by charter, almost 3000 pax)
Antalya - 4854 (5547) -12%
Bodrum - 4988 (5401) -8% (TOM/TCX down, LS up)
Bourgas - 6406 (6463) -1%
Corfu - 8878 (9157) -3% (LS up, TOM/TCX down)
Cork - 1818 (2112) -14%
Dalaman - 25167 (25904) -3% (both down)
Enfidha - 6828 (6915) -1%
Faro - 17897 (17940) 0% (TOM down 300 exactly, LS/EZY up 250 ish)
Girona - 4473 (5834) -23%
Hamburg - 0 (124) -100%
Heraklion - 4872 (6747) - 28%
Ibiza - 15924 (17080) -7% (again charter accounts for most of the drop)
Izmir - 0 (219) -100% (what flight was this? 1 charter? Series of business flights? Don't remember it...)
Krakow - 2594 (3590) -28%
Las Palmas - 5491 (5517) 0%
Limoges - 0 (647) -100%
Mahon - 9603 (10363) -7%
Malta - 3908 (3958) -1% (Both drop, Air Malta negligible drop of 11 pax)
Murcia - 6146 (7987) -23% (shame to see such a big drop)
Nice - 3869 (3952) -2%
Paphos - 6934 (8031) -14% (scheduled (LS) up 150, charter (TOM/TCX) down over 1200 pax)
Pisa - 2332 (2374) -2%
Salzburg - 1415 (1459) -3%
Sharm El Sheikh - 4856 (5040) -4 (gradually making a return?)
Skiathos - 1259 (2283) -45% (hopefully explained by Kavala)
Stavanger - 1851 (2009) -8%
Tenerife - 11897 (12139) -2% (LS up, TOM/TCX down)
Varna - 0 (886) -100% (have to see how TCX do next year)
Verona - 3199 (3222) -1%

A few comments on international, good to see all the Euro hubs doing well and the EK numbers are looking impressive. It's a shame to see quite a lot of drops in charter in some areas, but then again they have some pretty impressive increases in other areas. IMO the ones I'm most pleased about and think are the most exceptional are Kefalonia, Kos, Zante, Rhodes, Reus, Dubrovnik, Sanford and Cancun. Very pleased to see Jet2 and Thomson cohabiting very nicely on the Funcal route, although I am extremely disappointed about Jet2's move to Monday mornings for next year. That will definitely cause problems I think. They are much better off on Fridays... More friendly competition. I think the 1-2% drops are probable just anomalies, i.e the way dates fell meaning there are 1/2 less flights in that month, some like Air Malta are stable, 11 pax isn't much to cry over I don't think. Some of the really disappointing ones are Alicante, Antalya, Gerona, Haraklion, Krakow, Murcia and Paphos. Spain seems to have had quite a lot of overall drops this year, people changing to long haul or places like Greece which have seen stunning rises? But one notable mention is Cork... Why can't it seem to sustain last year's Jet2 pax numbers? I would have thought that the 2 extra frequencies would have improved things. The same amount of seats are still on sale for the route. Overall though, things look good and I hope some of 2015's new routes make an improvement again.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport...nal_Routes.pdf

Finally here are the Airport's stats:

4347 flight movements this month, -0.2%
42909 flight movements rolling year, -0.6%
534026 passengers this month +1.2%
4480171 passengers rolling year +2%

Looking good. 4.5 million this year? I've probably jinxed it now though, we'll get 4.495 or something.

[EI-BUD]

Interesting commentary and numbers EK77wncl

BHD NCL in decline and I note your suggestion about whether it lasts. However it surprises me that BE enjoy some success on other competing routes at similar frequency to ezy ex Belfast (ie BHD over BFS ), such as EDI, GLA. But what is different about BHD NCL?

Is it that ezy put 320's on ncl flights to fill gaps between international ncl flights and offer lower fares to fill the seats?

It would seem that on any competing route ex Belfast BE V EZY where BE has huge frequency over ezy , they are growing the route eg BHX MAN, but it could be argued that the reason is that these are so well established. Equally connecting traffic on these May be driving performance.

[Fairdealfrank]

BA Self Checkin
I haven't seen this been mentioned, but when I flew down to Heathrow the other day I noticed that BA have removed the self service checkin desks. Does anyone know why? Or when they were removed, on the Glasgow and Aberdeen threads people have mentioned the same. We maybe getting new machines so they've removed the old ones but it just seems a little strange.

Not just NCL, appears to be everywhere on the BA network except LHR-5.

Not enough people travelling hand baggage only?

Someone must know the reason, plse tell us why.

[CabinCrewe]

it was SSCI maintenance cost and usage/analysis of transfer of potential workload/labour to main check-in decision, all UK regional points will lose them at some point when contracts etc expire. There is no other weird or wonderful underlying theory Im afraid. The use of shared 3rd party machines was dismissed.

[Rain dog]

The system requires new hardware which cannot be applied to the current machines, requiring a completely new set-up - it's just not cost effective for the airports, nor is the maintenance of the current machines.

Strange that EZY would drop LGW now, don't you think?

[VentureGo]

Newcastle Airport to campaign against Scotland being given power over Air Passenger Duty - The Journal

I would have thought Mason should be campaigning against APD from all UK airports, or at least a reduced rate for regions outside London & South East

[simonwa]

Strong long-haul performance

I wonder if the Dreamliner had an effect on the long-haul passenger numbers for August.

Cancun - total of 2328 seats available for the month - figures show 2316 = average 99.4% loads.
Sanford - same number of seats available = figures show 2285 = 98.1% average loads.
Dubai - total of 26536 seats available for the month - figures show 20831 = 78.5% average loads.

Strong figures here for the month of August, particularly Cancun and Sanford. Will we see more long-haul from Newcastle when they introduce 2 more new dreamliners to the fleet early in 2015?