SOUTHAMPTON
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That would seem a really strange thing to do as that would almost certainly kill them off the route to Palma
Going head to head with Ryanair on a daily flight and Thomson as well in the mix
Going head to head with Ryanair on a daily flight and Thomson as well in the mix
Join Date: Nov 2015
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Congratulations to the airport for surpassing 2 million passengers for the first time.
Also there seems to be proposals for the airport to expand ,plans to be announced in the Autumn.
The plans I hope will include the 450 feet north end runway extension formally proposed in 2014.
Stands will also have to be increased,and enlarged to accommodate Airbus sized aircraft,and obviously terminal enlargement.The question to be asked is will these proposals be acceptable to council planning permission and public support?.
Finally for the airport to move forward from its present successful position,big decisions need to be made,exciting times ahead!
Also there seems to be proposals for the airport to expand ,plans to be announced in the Autumn.
The plans I hope will include the 450 feet north end runway extension formally proposed in 2014.
Stands will also have to be increased,and enlarged to accommodate Airbus sized aircraft,and obviously terminal enlargement.The question to be asked is will these proposals be acceptable to council planning permission and public support?.
Finally for the airport to move forward from its present successful position,big decisions need to be made,exciting times ahead!
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Last edited by Buster the Bear; 31st May 2017 at 10:44.
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To increase the stands and enlarge them and the terminal I wonder if the Royal Mail building will be bought and demolished, Maybe even stands on the NE side of the Airport if that's possible. I Certainly look forward to seeing this plan and hope it can live up to expectations of something we'd all like. Here's hoping the ambition will draw in new airlines with larger AC or the new CS series, even Swiss would be a great edition.
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Souspotter96
I don't think we should be to excited by this news,as we have been here before with the master plan dating back to 2005.I believe that this is a revision of this plan,and as such will probably never happen.
There has been plenty of opportunity to improve much needed airside projects like stand size, additional taxiway etc,but sadly investment has not been provided.The airport will continue to make money for the shareholders,but without the investment for improvements there will be limited opportunity for additional airlines and routes.
I don't think we should be to excited by this news,as we have been here before with the master plan dating back to 2005.I believe that this is a revision of this plan,and as such will probably never happen.
There has been plenty of opportunity to improve much needed airside projects like stand size, additional taxiway etc,but sadly investment has not been provided.The airport will continue to make money for the shareholders,but without the investment for improvements there will be limited opportunity for additional airlines and routes.
#1484 "....it will announce its full expansion plans later in the year"
Here we go again? Another Terminal makeover, additional parking spaces in the short term car park (by reducing the width of spaces, again!), another car park, more baggage trollies.......?
If it doesn't involve a runway starter strip, and more apron parking space (on the west side of the runway) it will be yet more hot air and a total waste of time, effort and money.
We've been there so many times before.
Here we go again? Another Terminal makeover, additional parking spaces in the short term car park (by reducing the width of spaces, again!), another car park, more baggage trollies.......?
If it doesn't involve a runway starter strip, and more apron parking space (on the west side of the runway) it will be yet more hot air and a total waste of time, effort and money.
We've been there so many times before.
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TCAS FAN: Exactly what I was thinking. With the grinning goon still at the helm (it has to be a decade by now surely?) I expect the stagnant and underwhelming progress to continue. Perhaps the investment constitutes a new pencil sharpener for the office or new scented toilet blocks for the urinals? On a serious note, I am willing to bet any concrete investment will be one of the following three things:
1. A larger costa coffee or duty free shop;
2. Refresh to the toilets or security/baggage areas;
3. Improvements to the car parking.
Basically, some redecorating. The message i get is that they feel that their existing master plan is too ambitious and they are therefore going to announce a less ambitious one in the autum. This is classic PR spin from SOU and the grinning goon (the man that takes credit for investment by network rail and the highways authority) as in fact rather than proposing credible investment they are in actually going to take their own master plan down a few notches.
If I was in charge I would be ensuring the following is now happening:
1. Royal Mail are pursuaded to sell their building to SOU. Perhaps even offer them one of the units that is planned for the north east of the airport on better rates. Not a given but if incentives are offered who knows.
2. Larger aircraft stands are built to the north east. The fact SOU can only handle 2 larger sized aircraft at the same time is both laughable and crippling. Most airports bus passengers to stands so the distance from the terminal is not an issue.
3. Build taxiways to stop aircraft having to backtrack the runway. Again this is both laughable and crippling.
4. Enlarge the runway to the north within the airport boundary. This would be to allow larger aircraft to operate without restrictions not increase their number. This would improve safety and allow aircraft to operate quieter. If this was properly explained then residents and the council would have no issue.
5. Market the land to the north east to an aircraft builder, maintenance provider or business aviation company. How many airports have the option of brand new land ready to be unlocked with direct access to a runway? Why couldn't it be used for aviation activities rather than some pointless industrial units unrelated to aviation use.
Time will tell but I look forward to winning my bet.
1. A larger costa coffee or duty free shop;
2. Refresh to the toilets or security/baggage areas;
3. Improvements to the car parking.
Basically, some redecorating. The message i get is that they feel that their existing master plan is too ambitious and they are therefore going to announce a less ambitious one in the autum. This is classic PR spin from SOU and the grinning goon (the man that takes credit for investment by network rail and the highways authority) as in fact rather than proposing credible investment they are in actually going to take their own master plan down a few notches.
If I was in charge I would be ensuring the following is now happening:
1. Royal Mail are pursuaded to sell their building to SOU. Perhaps even offer them one of the units that is planned for the north east of the airport on better rates. Not a given but if incentives are offered who knows.
2. Larger aircraft stands are built to the north east. The fact SOU can only handle 2 larger sized aircraft at the same time is both laughable and crippling. Most airports bus passengers to stands so the distance from the terminal is not an issue.
3. Build taxiways to stop aircraft having to backtrack the runway. Again this is both laughable and crippling.
4. Enlarge the runway to the north within the airport boundary. This would be to allow larger aircraft to operate without restrictions not increase their number. This would improve safety and allow aircraft to operate quieter. If this was properly explained then residents and the council would have no issue.
5. Market the land to the north east to an aircraft builder, maintenance provider or business aviation company. How many airports have the option of brand new land ready to be unlocked with direct access to a runway? Why couldn't it be used for aviation activities rather than some pointless industrial units unrelated to aviation use.
Time will tell but I look forward to winning my bet.
Rivet Joint
We certainly appear to be on the same frequency, unlike The Grinning Goon and one of his predecessors, The Hobbette, who did not even appear to be on the same frequency band!
I had the misfortune to suffer both watching the latter destroy any significant apron expansion when he went ahead, against our advice, to build the short term car park extension up to the boundary fence adjacent to Stands 7-10.
We certainly appear to be on the same frequency, unlike The Grinning Goon and one of his predecessors, The Hobbette, who did not even appear to be on the same frequency band!
I had the misfortune to suffer both watching the latter destroy any significant apron expansion when he went ahead, against our advice, to build the short term car park extension up to the boundary fence adjacent to Stands 7-10.
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As I have stated in the earlier post,I fear this is just an excercise in updating the woefully unusable master plan 2005.One thing is clear and that is unless the airport has significant airside improvements,and that means all the recent quoted posts list,then it will not sustain passenger growth that it has seen in recent times.
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Rivet
Agree with all your points except I do not see the RM building being moved and instead, why cannot the airport reduce the 5 cul de sac stands to 4 and incorporate larger stands to accommodate 319/320 size. This means only the loss of 1 stand that I am sure can be worked around?!
Agree with all your points except I do not see the RM building being moved and instead, why cannot the airport reduce the 5 cul de sac stands to 4 and incorporate larger stands to accommodate 319/320 size. This means only the loss of 1 stand that I am sure can be worked around?!
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On a side note, just had G-OSRA (B727) go over at 4500ft and what a sound that was, shame 727's are rarely used now.
Any news on W17 sun routes as Flybe have not confirmed Malaga or Faro, only Alicante and they suggested all timetables would be released by end May?
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Who knows with Flybe , last year they never announced the Malaga / Faro and Alicante continuation until July when they re scheduled the Manchester flight to continue onto those destinations
I would imagine with most people it was a little to late to book by that stage but loads seemed adequate throughout the winter
I would imagine with most people it was a little to late to book by that stage but loads seemed adequate throughout the winter
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Judging by their financials disclosed today, Flybe's sun routes are very unlikely to return anytime soon and a large scale de-fleet and route rationalisation must be a priority. Come on Volotea, you know you want to!😉
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BEs results are for me a final warning to SOU to get their act together and invest airside. I believe having two aircraft of that size in at once is a big stretch for airside operations and for these long standing sun routes to continue SOU need to create better infrastructure for them ASAP. I have my doubts that Volotea could make the routes work on an A319 as Vueling didn't seem to make the Barcelona route work with similar equipment. Does anyone know if a fully loaded A319 can operate on SOU's runway? Does anyone know whether the CRJ 700/900 or 1000 can operate? I know I keep going on about it, but the C series is the answer and Volotea seem like the perfect customer. They operate from secondary bases that other airlines don't see a market from. The c series was created for long thin routes.