CAMBRIDGE
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Many of us would crawl through fire to avoid LHR
I lived in Cambridge's (western) catchment area for a few years and my car literally knew it's own way for the less than one hour journey along the A14 & M6 to BHX for, throughout the day, a much better variety of services than Cambridge will ever offer.
Stop thinking that London is the only reasonable alternative to Cambridge ... It isn't!
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Quite agree Phileas. I live by the A14 and the next two flights I have are from BHX. 1hr20mins, LHR is crippling to get to from here. Even LTN which is only 5 miles more than STN is a pain to get to. Even EMA is feasible A14,M1. I worked by EMA for a month a few years ago and many times I could do it in 1hr30, a very straight forward 1hr30 not changing roads constantly.
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Cambridge's (western) catchment area for a few years and my car literally knew it's own way for the less than one hour journey along the A14 & M6
(Either that or I hope the police understood when you explained to them that it was the car driving itself ;-) )
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I based that on only a rough application of the speed limit
In my 1000cc ''thundering fart'' Higham Ferrers to Hampton-in-Arden rail station was 59 miles with the vast majority of the route being dual carriageways.
I would regularly complete the journey in less than the hour to then park my car at Hampton-in-Arden rail station for free to take the 3 minute train journey in to BHX airport for something like 80p each way.
And Higham Ferrers most definitely falls within Cambridge's catchment area were there a realistic functioning airport at Cambridge.
As mart901 pointed out London airports can be a pain in the butt to get to and from Higham Ferrers LTN was OK to drive to/from, just an unpleasant experience when one arrived there
, to get to/from STN one would be driving past Cambridge and if any journey involved the M25 it wouldn't possibly be quicker than driving to/from BHX or indeed EMA.
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Willie,
I think you've missed the Jet Set by a long mark.
The discussion wasn't about what is within an hour of Cambridge, moreso what was within an hour of Cambridge's catchment area and if you're suggesting that LCY is within an hour of such locations as Ely, Huntingdon, Kettering, to name but three, then you are very much mistaken.
I think you've missed the Jet Set by a long mark.
The discussion wasn't about what is within an hour of Cambridge, moreso what was within an hour of Cambridge's catchment area and if you're suggesting that LCY is within an hour of such locations as Ely, Huntingdon, Kettering, to name but three, then you are very much mistaken.
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Not actually driving to the airport makes the extra few miles past Kettering possible! However I'd still say it's not in Cambridge's catchment because it's almost as close to an airport that will always be a bigger draw.
I'd say Cambridge's catchment is Cambridge, villages west of Cambridge before the A1, villages north of Cambridge until before Peterborough and Kings Lynn, villages east of Cambridge up to Bury, and perhaps a few miles south of Cambridge at the very most.
I don't see this as an insurmountably massive inherent problem because there is so much within that area, and a lot of people travelling back and forward from abroad to get to it.
And I was surprised that people I met on Darwin flights had come from Norwich as the airport development fee there upset them, so the catchment might be bigger than I think!
I'd say Cambridge's catchment is Cambridge, villages west of Cambridge before the A1, villages north of Cambridge until before Peterborough and Kings Lynn, villages east of Cambridge up to Bury, and perhaps a few miles south of Cambridge at the very most.
I don't see this as an insurmountably massive inherent problem because there is so much within that area, and a lot of people travelling back and forward from abroad to get to it.
And I was surprised that people I met on Darwin flights had come from Norwich as the airport development fee there upset them, so the catchment might be bigger than I think!
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01475,
So which airport's catchment area does Higham Ferrers fall into ... Luton?
Actually if falls within the catchment area of the airport that has a flight where one wants to go, offering the level of service that one finds acceptable, at a price that one is happy to pay and at a time of day that one finds acceptable to travel at.
So in that respect, for the years that I lived there, BHX served my needs for my travels to such places as ARN, KBP, MXP, FCO, CDG, DUS, TSR, RIX, AMS and probably others that I have forgotten.
LTN would fail on just about all of my requirements!
So which airport's catchment area does Higham Ferrers fall into ... Luton?
Actually if falls within the catchment area of the airport that has a flight where one wants to go, offering the level of service that one finds acceptable, at a price that one is happy to pay and at a time of day that one finds acceptable to travel at.
So in that respect, for the years that I lived there, BHX served my needs for my travels to such places as ARN, KBP, MXP, FCO, CDG, DUS, TSR, RIX, AMS and probably others that I have forgotten.
LTN would fail on just about all of my requirements!
Last edited by Phileas Fogg; 3rd May 2014 at 07:31.
There was a short piece on "Look East", the local BBC news programme yesterday, highlighting the new services to Dublin and Amsterdam. I thought Suckling used to do an early (very) service to Amsterdam before the Manchester rotation? Anyway good luck to the new operator with it's Fokker 50.
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(*) not that this Cambridge operation makes sense in the first place, but that's a separate topic.
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Just booked a bunch of flights, carefully checked each of them from Cambridge first.
Some of the Cambridge versions could have worked really well despite the unconventional timings of the CityJet flights; CBG > AMS > TLL works out quite nicely.
Bbut... £1,003 from Cambridge. Or £101 from Stansted? Ryanair's worth paying to avoid, but not that much :-(
Some of the Cambridge versions could have worked really well despite the unconventional timings of the CityJet flights; CBG > AMS > TLL works out quite nicely.
Bbut... £1,003 from Cambridge. Or £101 from Stansted? Ryanair's worth paying to avoid, but not that much :-(
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BBC reports safety problems at Cambridge Airport
The BBC reports ATC working excessive hours, too many AIRPROX, poor runway maintenance.
It doesn't paint a good picture.
It doesn't paint a good picture.
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False Allegations
This is a non-story. The reporter is the brother of a disgruntled bitter ex-employee. Cambridge is as safe as any other small airport. No one has whistle-blown to the CAA because they have no grounds to. Simple as that.