Sion SIR/LSGS
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: 30 Miles from the A1
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Thanks for that, having a discussion on a skiing forum, comparing Chambery with Sion. He said that weather at Sion was much better, pretty similar effects on aviation I would say!
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: 1000ft above you, giving you the bird!
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Chambery has the lake, and that changes everything! - my understanding is that they have far more days of diversions which is why Jet2 now goes into Grenoble instead
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Hey 2P,
so I just looked through the logs, and we were SNOCLO / Snow Closed on 8th Jan, a bit crappy on 10th Jan, then snow closed again on 13/14th Jan, fogged out on the 24th Jan, it was rubbish again on 5th Feb, 8th Feb and 29th Feb and 6th March - and we've been ok since, the only thing I would say is that I know the snow clearing will be a much higher priority for scheduled commercial ops - so the amount of days closed could be reduced to 6-8 easily as the airport will be making sure that ops will not be affected as it will hurt them as well if they are slow to clear the ramp and runway.
so I just looked through the logs, and we were SNOCLO / Snow Closed on 8th Jan, a bit crappy on 10th Jan, then snow closed again on 13/14th Jan, fogged out on the 24th Jan, it was rubbish again on 5th Feb, 8th Feb and 29th Feb and 6th March - and we've been ok since, the only thing I would say is that I know the snow clearing will be a much higher priority for scheduled commercial ops - so the amount of days closed could be reduced to 6-8 easily as the airport will be making sure that ops will not be affected as it will hurt them as well if they are slow to clear the ramp and runway.
Join Date: Oct 2007
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J32, Thanks again, Chambery seems to have a couple of Saturdays when it turns pair shaped each season, Sundays are not too bad as they are not at capacity and can catch up. A couple of seasons ago Jet2 incurred a lot of costs and so managed to grab some more slots at Grenoble for last year. I think the skiing public have also worked out that another 30 mins on a bus is a good trade off for a flight that has a much better chance of arriving so have stopped screaming for Chambery flights.
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Tell me what doesn't compute - Swiss operating 9 rotations a day with either CS1 or A320 plus 18 trains a day from GVA to ZRH - thats a lotttttt a people on shuttling backwards and forwards and I bet they all don't live in GVA city!
Im not sure its rocket science to find 300 people a day from within the Valais that will see the convenience especially if then departing long haul via Swiss!
Im not sure its rocket science to find 300 people a day from within the Valais that will see the convenience especially if then departing long haul via Swiss!
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Europe
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So why has nobody come up with that brilliant idea in the past 35 years, particularly in the days when regional flying was, unlike in 2017, in its heyday? Sion - ZRH is 2h45m, Sion - GVA is 2h on the train with two trains per hour. I don't really see how flights can work with that kind of competition.
At that price point (that's where I have an issue) ? Haven't done a comprehensive survey but 200€ / leg seems very expensive.
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Central Europe
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Very pink coloured glasses are needed to believe, that SIR-ZRH 54'000+ returns (total offered seast, three times daily) or 36'000+ (totakl ofered seats, two times daily) returns to LCY will find a market.
Heard that the discussions with Darwin/Adria Switzerland are stalled, required deposits are not granted to operate the two routes to ZRH and LCY.
None of the travel agencies at Sion are participating or have even been aproached by Powdair to get into business together for the outbound tickets.
Never seen a (mock) airline, taking the expectations that high but it's as well scary to see, how many believers are following the (possible) fairy tales. In the meanwhile, the flights are in the GDS under W2 FlexFlight.
Heard that the discussions with Darwin/Adria Switzerland are stalled, required deposits are not granted to operate the two routes to ZRH and LCY.
None of the travel agencies at Sion are participating or have even been aproached by Powdair to get into business together for the outbound tickets.
Never seen a (mock) airline, taking the expectations that high but it's as well scary to see, how many believers are following the (possible) fairy tales. In the meanwhile, the flights are in the GDS under W2 FlexFlight.
I guess we will soon know...
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: ZRH
Age: 42
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SIR-ZRH requires very pink glasses indeed! As atakacs say’s it depends on pricing. I don’t think for 1 minute they’ll get anywhere near CHF100 round trip – especially on a 50 seater! ZRH is a very expensive airport to operate in/out of and it’s slot constrained at peak times so you can’t just drop in morning, noon and evening.
In other news I heard that Powdair have taken a financial stake in their AOC partner BackBone Aviation. They’ve also hired Sean Pettit of Virgin and Fastjet fame as CFO.
In other news I heard that Powdair have taken a financial stake in their AOC partner BackBone Aviation. They’ve also hired Sean Pettit of Virgin and Fastjet fame as CFO.
Join Date: Oct 2009
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After ringing the big bell for SIR-ZRH 3 times daily, the flights disappeared from the booking site without a single word. And as usual, nobody is questioning whats ongoing.
I guess Powdair could announce flights to the mooon and this will go through the press as the best thing the world has ever seen.
Anyone dares to bet a good bottle of Champagne? I claim the deal with Darwin to operate the LCY route will never take place.
I guess Powdair could announce flights to the mooon and this will go through the press as the best thing the world has ever seen.
Anyone dares to bet a good bottle of Champagne? I claim the deal with Darwin to operate the LCY route will never take place.
Last edited by Takeoff53; 15th Oct 2017 at 07:55.
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Central Europe
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It is still possible to book SIR-LCY-SIR at the Powdair website and the flights are shown under the airline code F7. However, the slot request at LCY for those flights was withdrawn. I made a trial booking (of course without the payment!) and got a quote for the return at GBP 443.62; not a bargain.
One other point I never considered but going thru the booking process, I realized that the site is available in English only. This shows either stupidity or arrogance. Just expecting that every single customer in the Valais speaks English is not a good sign of understanding the market and the people in the catchment area. And focussing on incoming only would be dumb too!
One other point I never considered but going thru the booking process, I realized that the site is available in English only. This shows either stupidity or arrogance. Just expecting that every single customer in the Valais speaks English is not a good sign of understanding the market and the people in the catchment area. And focussing on incoming only would be dumb too!
