MANCHESTER 1

[Betablockeruk]

Manchester's first ever direct flight to Houston will take off this year - Manchester Evening News

All that positive spin. Bah! Not very representative of public opinion

[chaps1954]

You can never please some people
Gain a US route on widebody, gain a non stop Asia route loose a
stop which most people compain about anyway and moan that the service
has reduced by 2 a week for 6 months
Oh well I`m happy as it seems to me as gain, gain for MAN and the travelling public

Ian

[MANFOD]

I would have thought that business trips could be accommodated around a 5 x weekly schedule in most cases, providing perhaps the 2 non-op days are not consecutive. But heaven help us if there are ignorant and inefficient agents who assume there are no direct flights just because there happens to be none on a particular day or have a vested interest in routing their clients through London.

A service which is only 4 x weekly is more marginal I admit for business, and it would be interesting to know just how many business travellers are not using CX's non-stop flights to MAN both ways or indeed are still using LHR when MAN would be more convenient geographically. Given the high LF's on HKK and freight carried, it's been disappointing that CX so far have not managed to squeeze even 1 extra weekly flight for the MAN route.

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

Originally Posted by All names taken

I would say the priority for the MAN route development team in the next 2-3 years is getting the rest of the long-haul portfolio up to year round daily (leisure routes excepted). I'm talking Hong Kong, Beijing, Washington etc - and now Singapore....hope it does revert to daily in the summer.

I agree. Add to that VS to SFO hopefully becoming a daily year round flight, and I hope they introduce LAX on a similar basis in time as they build their hub at MAN.

CX should go daily within the next 12 months or so, and there are hints at an Indian carrier and further far eastern carriers that will want to establish themselves in the marketplace.

[Shed-on-a-Pole]

You can never please some people

With respect, this is not an amateur fan forum provided for the purposes of cheerleading. Discussion here isn't about pleasing people. It is about reasoned dissection of the known facts in the interests of improving our knowledge of the industry generally and MAN specifically. Many readers here are professionals in the business, and as such should welcome forensic examination of new developments. The SIA changes include many positives, but loss of daily frequency to SIN and beyond is a resounding negative for those reasons cited earlier. It is appropriate to discuss all aspects of the route change - positive and negative - in the interests of becoming fully-informed. In a business environment, one should not be subjected to criticism for highlighting a retrograde aspect of a broadly positive strategic change. It is important to maintain a balanced perspective even at the risk of upsetting some wild optimists.

[viscount702]

Can anyone tell me which booking engine has MAN-IAH for sale or even showing a schedule. Even the SQ website was not showing anything although it show the changes to MAN-SIN

[MANFOD]

On the web site for SIN-IAH and IAH-SIN (9Nov /19 Nov), it shows the MAN stop both ways but still includes the Moscow route as well for the return. But it doesn't come up with anything for MAN-IAH-MAN as Viscount702 says.

I assume the web site is still being updated, but it was stated elsewhere that the new flights were now bookable which I took to mean MAN-IAH. Whether or not that is correct, the M.E.N article and Ken O'Tooles's comments certainly affirm that MAN-IAH is a new route.

[chaps1954]

Shed business routes don`t have to be daily to work and as I used to work in business travel I know the industry very well
I am certain that the gaps will be filled by SQ,CX and HU in time when aircraft are available and loads are high enough, I think from a glance it is just a swap of airports and sticking with same number of flights a week with the promise of extra flights next year, from what I heard it was originally going to start next year so it looks as if they have actually bought it forward

Ian

[Shed-on-a-Pole]

Shed business routes don`t have to be daily to work

True ... they don't have to be. But they're a much stronger proposition to prospective customers if they are.

[GavinC]

when this is up and running, what will the longest (non-stop) routes be out of MAN? I suspect the Top 10 longest will be a little different to even a few years ago.

[MANFOD]

If MAN is clearly the UK airport of convenience for customers, then 5 x weekly is probably OK for the most part as I suggested. Where MAN is more likely to lose out is on those business travellers where MAN is more convenient, but LHR, or other options, are not inconvenient. In those instances, LHR with multiple daily flights and choice of timings will probably win out.

I guess the same holds for pax originating in or via SIN or IAH coming to the UK, provided the MAN option is sufficiently advertised and promoted by agents.

[easyflyer83]

I'm pretty confident that most business travellers (and not all are high flying suit wearing execs Incidentally) find the MUC stop more irritating than a 2 weekly reduction during the northern hemisphere winter.

[wesleyscott]

i can see it in Amadeus....1015 depart 1435 arrive on a 777 SQ052 5 times a week, no monday or thursday

[Betablockeruk]

when this is up and running, what will the longest (non-stop) routes be out of MAN? I suspect the Top 10 longest will be a little different to even a few years ago.

Top 5, all by the long distant crow flies:

SIN 6810
MRU 6206
HKT 6205
HKG 5988
PVR 5599

[Mr A Tis]

Confusing? Do we actually have flights to Mauritius, Phuket & Puerto Vallarta?

[LAX_LHR]

We do Mr A Tis, all courtesy of Thomson.

[TURIN]

Discussion here isn't about pleasing people. It is about reasoned dissection of the known facts

Did you type that with a straight face?

[110Cornets]

On the web site for SIN-IAH and IAH-SIN (9Nov /19 Nov), it shows the MAN stop both ways but still includes the Moscow route as well for the return. But it doesn't come up with anything for MAN-IAH-MAN as Viscount702 says.

Yup - not updated in the GDS yet.

Both flights loaded at the moment - the old SQ327 and the new SQ51 - but both zeroed out in discount economy.

1 MAN SIN 1135#0820 SQ 51 F4 A3 Z4 C4 J0 U0 D0 Y9 B0 E0#77WC*E
2 MAN1SIN 0845#0740 SQ 327 F0 AC Z0 C0 J0 U0 D0 S0 T0 P0#77WC*E

Same for Houston:

1 MAN IAH 1015 1535 SQ 52 F4 A1 Z4 C0 J0 U0 D0 Y9 B9 E0 M0C*E
H0 W0 Q0 N0 VC G0 L0 K0

[LAX_LHR]

Bit late to do a throwback Thursday, but, with yesterday's news, looked back to March 2015 on this thread when the initial rumours of the SQ Houston route first appeared.

'Wishful thinking', 'it will never happen' 'likely to go through FRA than MAN' and 'unlikely'.

How times can change!

[Airfrance7]

Lax,

Plenty of gossip of a potential Cape Town. Your thoughts?