MANCHESTER - 9

[LAX_LHR]

Was just reading an internal piece regarding the Lufthansa-Air Livery deal.

All the adhesive transfers are still produced in Hamburg, and then shipped to MAN in advance of an aircraft arriving, and whilst the aircraft is on for paint, a member of LH Technik are based at Air Livery and oversee the project.

Apparently, Lufthansa are working with Air Livery to make the MAN hangar 'A380 ready'. Whilst they do not need to be repainted yet, they are looking ahead to the time when they will need such work.

Seems the deal is a permanent one!

[nigel osborne]

LAX-LHR.. Re Air Livery A380.

An A380 tail height is almost 20 feet higher than a 747, am intrigued to know if the hangar has that sort of height ?

perhaps there is enough room to somehow cut a notch out the middle top of the hangar as other airports have done ?

Nigel

[LAX_LHR]

Hi Nigel.

Im not sure what the plan is, the small extract is the extent of my knowledge on the matter at the moment.

I think it needs the whole roof at 'the doors' to be raised, as it needs the scaffold rigs to be able to be put alongside the tail.

Its a large amount of modifications which seems a lot for 1 aircraft type, but I suppose a few paint hangars around the world need to be modified eventually otherwise there will be nowhere to paint them in the future, unless they take them back to airbus?

[Skipness One Echo]

BA spent a fair bit on modifying two hangars at LHR in a similar way, however each was wfu for a period necessitating B744s heading off to Singapore for maintenance.

[LAX_LHR]

Yes BA did have some work done for the maintenance hangars, which is very similar to what is needed at MAN.

However they are another operator who do not have a hangar for painting big enough for the whalejet, just one for maintenance, so another reason the money spent at MAN could be worthwhile if Air Livery could pick up the contract.

[OltonPete]

Charter

Thank you for all the replies.

I was trying to get a feel for the 2013 capacity compared to 2012 for IT especially Thomson and Thomas Cook. I have gleaned some information from various threads but it seems in general Thomson have less seats due to the 757 dropping to 221 seats and more 738's in place of the 757/321. This seems to have happened across all the main bases (GLA, MAN, BHX, EMA) although I believe utilisation has increased.

Thomas Cook despite much negative publicity at times seems to have held up at most bases although I belive at least three 757's have left over the winter so some seat loses must have occurred even when considering the aircraft leased in this summer.

Flybe

Five based at Manchester which in terms of units is small compared to BHD, SOU & BHX and even EDI will overtake it soon but due to the hub and spoke system in place it was actually the busiest in terms of flights but not sure if that is the same now.

Pete

[LAX_LHR]

Thomas Cook despite much negative publicity at times seems to have held up at most bases although I belive at least three 757's have left over the winter so some seat loses must have occurred even when considering the aircraft leased in this summer.

Thomas Cook seem to be trying a new approach now, at least at MAN. They have codeshared with Condor and moving BGI/SFB/ANU/LAS and UVF flights over to a 'scheduled' format, in a similar way to Condor.

Hopefully this will prove popular and they look to other destinations for this format.

I have gleaned some information from various threads but it seems in general Thomson have less seats due to the 757 dropping to 221 seats and more 738's in place of the 757/321

I think it is a pattern we have to get used to. The B757's are no spring chickens and the B737 seems to be the aircraft of choice for Thomson to replace the B757 fleet.
Jet2 seem to be going down a similar path where B737-800's have replaced B757's, noticed most on MAN-TLV which used to be a B757 route but now almost always the B737-800 these days.

Five based at Manchester which in terms of units is small

That is very surprising, I always thought it was at least 8 (4 DH8 2 E95 and 2 E170).
As you say, obviously based elsewhere, but, if the number of flights is high then its all by-the-by.

[OltonPete]

flybe

LAX_LHR

The based operation in the week (first out in the morning)

195 - CDG
175 - CDG
175- BHD (new swapping with DUS)
Q400- ABZ
Q400 - DUS

However early morning inbounds in the week are: -

ABZ, INV, EDI, GLA, BHD, IOM, SOU, EXT & NWI*

*D328

INV is now a 175

Pete

[Skipness One Echo]

so another reason the money spent at MAN could be worthwhile if Air Livery could pick up the contract.

Wasn't the Air Livery hangar built for BA in the first place then discraded before opening? Another balls up at MAN for Big Airways.

[LAX_LHR]

Wasn't the Air Livery hangar built for BA in the first place then discraded before opening

Certainly was. The only time I remember it being used was to fix a Dragonair B747 when it scraped the engines on the runway during landing. (Im sure it was used other than that time, but its the only one I remember.)

[chaps2011]

Yes it sat empty for quite a while with just a few emergency repairs by various operators done on a rent by the hour basis

Chaps

[nigel osborne]

LAX-LHR ,

Thanks for the update, getting a large contract from LH is great news and ifthey want to chip in to modify the hangar for an A380 all the better.

At BHX the huge MAEL 2 Bay 77W/747/787 hangar is going up fast, although don't think it will get an A380 in re height, but I stand to be corrected.

Nice to see the regional airports getting good upgrades of World class hangar facilities.

Nigel

[rampman]

Air Livery hangar

The air livery hangar is to narrow and to low to take a A380 i have put many a 747 in that hangar and they only just fit they will have to do a lot of mod work on that hangar to make it ready but where will the space come from!

BA used it for many years before they pulled out they were still paying for it whilst it was empty. cathy and dragon air used it a few times. but the hangar was always op ready as it was also where the morge was (don't know if it still is) for a major insident.

rampman

[chaps2011]

Don`t ever remember any BA aircraft in hangar on a regular basis after the old
BA hangar was pulled down which from memory was only just big enough to
put 2 1-11s in fully or B737 tail out as it was an old second world war building.
Must dig out my old photos

Chaps

[spannersatcx]

whose Cathy?

[LAX_LHR]

A very interesting comment about easyjet MAN-DME, hinting that the yield is higher from MAN than LGW to DME:

Watkins: A little bird tells me that the yields from here to Moscow are better than those being achieved in London?

Spratt: Are they? I couldn’t possibly comment on actual figures, but it does
makes sense, as London to Moscow is a far more competitive market than what we face up here, where we are the only airline serving the route direct

Some other good tidbits in the article, including the indication that expansion at MAN is far from done, and that there could be more flights to Russia.

30 Second Interview: easyJet Head of Sales UK, Ruth Spratt has a slice of route launch cake with anna.aero | anna.aero

[TURIN]

The BA Hangar at MAN was used for several years by BA for major 737 maintenance of the MAN based fleet. It was also a "centre of excellence" for the A319s. The dedicated JFK 767 was also serviced there along with plenty of ad hoc 3rd party casualty work. At its peak before it closed over 170 engineering staff were working there and across the ramp. There are 16 left.


Posted from Pprune.org App for Android

[ballyctid]

British Regional also used it on an AD HOC basis for tech aircraft prior to taking over the old Dan Air hangar. I worked on a few Embraers in there now and again.

[fjencl]

Avion Express

Which holiday companies are going to be using Avion express.

[LAX_LHR]

Seems MAN can look forward to yet another new link to Antigua:

Meanwhile, the Tourism minister said his team is in discussions with an airline to get direct flights out of Manchester, England.


Although he did not disclose which airline , he said they hope to confirm this soon and put it on the schedule

Read more: American Eagle Flights to be Covered | CARIBARENA ANTIGUA