MANCHESTER 1

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

Is this a complete swap from the B77W to A350 (with or without an increase in frequency) or the additional 4x weekly A350 on top of the 4x weekly B77W?

[brian_dromey]

The reason that Condor appears in the OTA and in the GDS is that Condor have agreements with these companies, but MT do not.
Historically, DE was part of the Lufthansa group and often used where LH couldn't be for political reasons. DE operated to Taiwan in place of LH, for example. DE has infrastructure closer to a scheduled airline, but MT has grown out of the UK charter industry and has never sold via GDS's as far as I know.

[rutankrd]

Code:

The reason that Condor appears in the OTA and in the GDS is that Condor have agreements with these companies, but MT do not. 
Historically, DE was part of the Lufthansa group and often used where LH couldn't be for political reasons. DE operated to Taiwan in place of LH, for example. DE has infrastructure closer to a scheduled airline, but MT has grown out of the UK charter industry and has never sold via GDS's as far as I know.

Exactly well understand the history and presence of the Condor brand and why they should use it for ALL their long haul scheduled offers today and going forward.

Hell there are ongoing but as yet unfounded rummers that Lufthansa Group could be interested in recovering ownership !

[spannersatcx]

Is this a complete swap from the B77W to A350 (with or without an increase in frequency) or the additional 4x weekly A350 on top of the 4x weekly B77W?

Yes! The plans change all the time, what is true one week may not be the next, too many factors involved, we tend to say when it's actually here then you know it's going to happen!

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

Originally Posted by spannersatcx

Yes! The plans change all the time, what is true one week may not be the next, too many factors involved, we tend to say when it's actually here then you know it's going to happen!

Cheers spanners. It seems odd to reduce capacity from B77W to A350 without a corresponding increase in frequency given the performance of the route to date (including cargo).

I have to say, I thought LAX_LHR was on to it - maybe the B77W is a more appropriate airframe for a daily operation after all?

[Ringwayman]

Quite good news out of Ryanair - they are closing their Oslo Rygge base but the MAN route is one of a around 10 route that have been "saved"... it's being transferred to Torp.

[LAX_LHR]

In other good Ryanair news, they have added some very late additions to the schedules.

Starting yesterday, Palma and Alicante gain 3 flights per week, making them both 17 weekly (3 daily some days).

Shows how much growth we have had when 6 extra flights (12 flights if you count each way), equalling over 2000 seats each week goes largely in noticed!

[Bagso]

Delta adds London nonstop from Portland, Ore.

And we made USAtoday !

No small feat when Dwight Diddly Bom Bom doesn't look much beyond Heathrow and "Her Majesty at Windsor!

[Jetaway]

Jet2 adding Almeria and Thessaloniki for summer 2017

[rkenyon]

Originally Posted by flightrider

As an armchair CEO, hopefully you'd be able to see that the above would be an absolute calamity in terms of crew efficiency and week-long layovers in destinations all round the network!

VS don't do week long layovers. The crew come back on alternative flights. For the BGI flights, they have one night in Barbados, and the return to Gatwick the following night as passengers. The get bussed back to MAN!

[Betablockeruk]

Re Virgin, are there still 2 days in the SFO/BOS rotation and 4 days in the LAS rotation to fill?

St Lucia returning and something entirely new perhaps?

[Ringwayman]

Thought the A330 was doing 2 weekly to Barbados in addition to SFO and BOS?

[Logohu]

Re Virgin, are there still 2 days in the SFO/BOS rotation and 4 days in the LAS rotation to fill?

For the early part of summer the A330s do
1/ SFO (Tu/Fr/Su), BOS (Wed/Sat), BGI (Mo/Th)
2/ ATL (daily)
3/ JFK (daily) - starts May

The 744s do
1/ MCO (daily)
2/ MCO (Tu/We/Fr/Sa/Su), LAS (Mo/Th)

I understand in peak summer the two 744s will do twice daily MCO, thus requiring a fourth A330 to do the 3x LAS and I don't know what else....

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

I'd have thought vS are getting close to the point where a critical mass of A330s based at MAN gives sufficient scheduling freedom to make far better use of the available aircraft (and not have the situation where one sits on a stand for half of the week unused).

Perhaps this may see some more options open up?

[AvGeek1]

I thought of how American could really grow their operations at Manchester, like by adding a 4 weekly Los Angeles on the 787-8 or a 2-3 weekly Miami 767-300ER service. I know that most of the locals at Manchester would say they wouldn't like this to happen as they want TCX to keep on these routes, but I'm afraid airlines don't think of your personal opinion when they are opening up of new route. If it's viable and could be a success they will do it.

[roverman]

Originally Posted by AvGeek1

I thought of how American could really grow their operations at Manchester, like by adding a 4 weekly Los Angeles on the 787-8 or a 2-3 weekly Miami 767-300ER service. I know that most of the locals at Manchester would say they wouldn't like this to happen as they want TCX to keep on these routes, but I'm afraid airlines don't think of your personal opinion when they are opening up of new route. If it's viable and could be a success they will do it.

American tend not to go for fragmented frequencies but for a daily operation from the outset of a new route. The routes you suggest, given that there is already a carrier on them and a heavy leisure focus, would be unlikely to sustain a daily service just yet. AA have three flights a day from MAN offering excellent onwards connections within North and Central America. Perhaps better that TCX and VS build up frequency out of MAN, as they are doing, fed by the interline and code-shares at MAN. Too much, too quick, is a risk on MAN-USA at the moment.

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

I think AA's next move at MAN is likely to be a service to the Dallas hub. Even so, I don't beleive it to be imminent because:

1 - ORD is still seasonal (I beleive?); and
2 - PHL has struggled over the last few years in terms of PAX (although I beleive cargo has done well).

[AvGeek1]

Surely a service to Los Angeles would be more popular and convenient for people to connect to the U.S West Coast, to places like San Francisco, Las Vegas, Hawaii & many others. Since the airline is well known in the US it will bring in a lot more U.S originating traffic, but also because it is known internationally and has close ties with BA, it will also capture UK originating traffic and maybe even traffic connecting at MAN. There has been growth in AA LAX long-haul operations with the 787-8 which would be a perfect aircraft for this route.

I don't really see how if Chicago cannot even sustain a year-round service and demand is not that strong, how a route to Dallas is going to work. I know it is an AA hub but connections to other Western and Central American destination s can be accessed through the New York and Chicago hubs.

New York is the only one performing well as you said, with Chicago down 23% in 2015 and Philadelphia down 11%.

[rutankrd]

AvGeek1

Given that Americans only European route is LAX to Heathrow i doubt Manchester comes close to being in their thoughts.

Actually LAX- Europe is rather poorly served by US carriers

Delta - None on own metal - AFKL and VS codeshares
American - Just LHR and BA with seasonal IB codeshare
United- Also just LHR with LH Group codeshares -SFO is their West Coast hub BTW

Oh and Air New Zealand to LHR

The alliances are represented largely by the Europeans .

Then you have the Flexible Fares none aligned Thomas Cook/Condor, Norwegian and XLF from Paris.

So the only candidate is Virgin Atlantic and thats quite likely in the new term.

Now for Miami now American does connect with London of course and Madrid Barcelona Milan and Paris the later largely ethnic traffic .

Problem with Miami is it's sometime seen as a seasonal route and it has previously operated in the winter from Manchester - That said i think the Americans miss read the UK market and it would actually do better in the northern summer !

Could it return maybe.

The third and in my opinion most likely AA addition remains Dallas

[rutankrd]

The Chicago service has been suspended between January and March in the last few years largely because the 75w deployed in the shoulder season has performance issues.

Chicago gets pretty messy at times and the 75w operating at the limits means significant risk of diversion and disruption.

Lightly loaded this makes it unviable at the moment so they combine/route you over Phili or JFK or even heaven for fend Heathrow for those eight weeks.