Manchester-2

[DomyDom]

Azores

Thanks for posting Navpi. I remember reading this at the time and thought the Azores would be an interesting place to visit. Another place I would recommend for the new FR routes is Cagliari for a weekend break. Beautiful city, with great food, wine and hospitality. Like Italy 30 years ago but with great facilities and hotels.

[Johnny F@rt Pants]

Isn’t Cagliari already offered by EZY?

[EZYPZY]

EZY operate to Olbia in the north east of Sardinia.

[Rutan16]

Cagliari has been sold by Sardatur for many years with flights by BA Cityflyer, bmiRegional and last year by Air X Malta . Regrettably they are only offering Gatwick and Heathrow departures in 2018.
This flight will certainly fill that gap however you’ll have to find your own accommodation.

[LAX_LHR]

Of the new routes by Ryanair:

Cagliari is unserved in the North West. Was served weekly last summer via a BMI Regional Charter (CAG-MAN-CAG).

Palermo is unserved currently, but Easyjet will also be starting a route this summer, LPL-PMO from 27th July

Oporto is currently served 2 weekly from LPL by Ryanair, and looks to be continuing despite the new MAN route.

Treviso is served from LBA by Ryanair and looks to be continuing. Plenty of competition to VCE proper from MAN and LPL.

Ponta Delgada used to be served 1 weekly Saturdays via a triangle route with LGW by SATA, forget when that ended but been a few years now.

Rhodes, Reus, Almeria, Belfast and Agadir have varying degrees of competition so will just have to see how it goes.

[Rutan16]

LAX LHR as I said Air X Charter operated the flight in 2017 with a 737-500 with a relatively comfy 105 seats and catering to a club standard set by Sarditur.

[LAX_LHR]

It was BMI operating BRS-CAG-MAN-CAG-BRS last year. Air X was the year before.

[LAX_LHR]

BA have added a 2nd weekly to Nice from 27th May.

New flights:

BA7323 MAN 0640 NCE 1000
BA7324 NCE 1045 MAN 1210

This means the full timetable is:

Thu
BA7310 LCY 1940 MAN 2040
BA7315 MAN 2135 IBZ 0115+1
Fri
BA7316 IBZ 0155 MAN 0340
BA7317 MAN 0540 AGP 0940
BA7318 AGP 1025 MAN 1230
BA7324 MAN 1315 PMI 1700
BA7325 PMI 1755 MAN 1940
BA7313 MAN 2025 IBZ 0015
BA4475 DUB 2220 MAN 2315
Sat
BA7312 IBZ 0050 MAN 0240
BA7321 MAN 0550 ALC 0940
BA7317 MAN 0600 AGP 1000
BA7322 ALC 1025 MAN 1220
BA7314 IBZ 1045 MAN 1230
BA7318 AGP 1045 MAN 1250
BA7323 MAN 1315 NCE 1635
BA7319 MAN 1415 JMK 2015
BA7332 FLR 1710 MAN 1845**
BA7324 NCE 1720 MAN 1845
BA7331 MAN 1930 FLR 2250**
BA7315 MAN 1930 IBZ 2320
BA7320 JMK 2100 MAN 2310
Sun
BA7316 IBZ 0005 MAN 0150
BA7323 MAN 0640 NCE 1000
BA7325 MAN 0555 PMI 0940
BA4474 MAN 0955 DUB 1055 then DUB-LCY
BA7324 NCE 1045 MAN 1210
BA7326 PMI 1025 MAN 1210
BA7315 MAN 1250 IBZ 1640
BA7313 MAN 1445 IBZ 1835-then goes elsewhere.....
BA7314 IBZ 1725 MAN 1910
BA7311 MAN 1955 LCY 2055

[The96er]

There may be more BACF to come too.

[LAX_LHR]

I think the fleet is now maxed out for S18 for BACF, so I don’t think we will see anything much.

The only extra flights I could see are Saturday afternoons into Sunday morning as like last year, a flight arrives from IBZ at 1230 on sat but then doesn’t do anything until 1445 Sunday when it departs back to IBZ.

[LAX_LHR]

The new Ryanair routes are already bookable June-October (end of) and not September as originally broadcast. This means a good chance of some routes going year round.

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

VS

Evening all.

An article about VS new A332s.

I wonder what sort of configuration VS will install if, as rumoured, these are due to end up at MAN for a few years. A bespoke configuration might make it easier to sustain and grow the existing network from MAN.

http://www.airportsinternational.com/2018/01/virgin-atlantic-unveils-latest-addition-to-its-fleet/19621

[roverman]

The seating configuration is stated in the article as being 287 across 3-classes. They have a few more seats than the larger A333s, which have 266 and are perhaps a bit premium-heavy. So a greater density but I think this is exactly the right product for MAN, offering a little more choice and a bit more premium than Thomas Cook. If they're staying in the fleet it could lead to improved yields on the existing routes which could in turn lead to growth in the VS offer out of MAN. As a priority I would say get the BOS and SFO routes up to full-season and hopefully eventually to year-round rather than opening more destinations with thin frequency.

[Skipness One Echo]

Agreed, and a solid statement of intent which is always helpful. I rather thought VS would bail on the holiday market after the Delta JV and concentrate on feeding Delta to the exclusion of all else. Great to see the A350 coming and a determination to remain in key non Delta markets.

[EZY7117LPL]

easyJet

Are we still expecting an announcement from easyJet this week?

[chaps1954]

Friday 2nd Feb as it has been for a while

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

Cheers Roverman.

I also view the A332s as a chance for VS to create a fleet based at MAN tailored to the market. This should allow it to compete better with MT and perhaps head off any attempt by Norwegian to enter the market. By around 2020 I could see a fleet of 8-10 airframes consisting of 2/3x A35K with the remaining 6/7x aircraft being a mix of A333/A332.

I view VS current MAN network falling into three categories:

1 - MCO, ATL, JFK are strong routes which could support a daily service (twice in the case of MCO). You could see the A35K replacing the B744 on MCO (I'm not sure what other routes it should operate).

2 - LAS, BGI - pretty well entrenched leisure routes. Unlikely to exceed 3/4x weekly in the respective peaks.

3 - SFO, BOS - as thinner routes which I expect VS would want to thicken (as Roverman suggests) before any further expansion takes place (likely creating more thinner routes).


Where could VS go next? I think a lot depends on the performance of BOS. If that can be sustained at 3 weekly I could see them trying to add another rotation to SFO. The most likely next target I presume is LAX, but I'd not be surprised to see another Florida route (Miami or Tampa?) or perhaps an Indian one (DEL/BOM).

I don't see VS exactly following MT's strategy of operating several routes at 2/3x weekly. I'd imagine they would want their network to sustain 4/5x weekly flights (in peak season) and 2/3x weekly (in the odd season) before expanding. The A332 should give them a relatively inexpensive way of achieving this.

[LAX_LHR]

Inspired by similar on the LGW thread, Summer Long haul for MAN:

Air Canada rouge (B767)

Toronto 5 weekly

[B]Air Transat (A330-300)[/]

Toronto 5 weekly
Vancouver 3 weekly

American Airlines (A330/B787)

Philadelphia 7 weekly A332
Chicago 7 weekly B788

Cathay Pacific (A359)

Hong Kong 7 weekly

Emirates (A388)

Dubai 21 weekly

Etihad Airways (B77W)

Abu Dhabi 14 weekly

Hainan Airlines (A333)

Beijing 7 weekly

Iraqi Airways A320

Baghdad 1 weekly

Oman Air (A330)

Muscat 7 weekly

PIA (B777)

Islamabad 7 weekly
Lahore 2 weekly

Qatar Airways (B788)

Doha 16 weekly

Saudia (B789)

Jeddah 5 weekly
Riyadh 2 weekly

Singapore Airlines (A359)

Houston 5 weekly
Singapore 5 weekly

Thomas Cook (7 A330)

New York JFK 7 weekly
Orlando 9 weekly
Boston 4 weekly
San Fransisco 3 weekly
Los Angeles 3 weekly
Las Vegas 5 weekly
Cancun 6 weekly
Seattle 2 weekly
Cayo Coco 1weekly
Holguín 2 weekly
Varadero 2 weekly
Punta Cana 2 weekly
Santa Clara 1 weekly
Banjul 2 weekly (A321)
Sal 2 weekly (A321)
Hurgarda 2 weekly (A321)

TUI (2 B788 and 1 B789)

Punta Cana 2 weekly
Puerto Plata 1 weekly
Puerto Vallarta 1 weekly
Cancun 6 weekly
Montego Bay 3 weekly
Sanford 3 weekly
Boa Vista 2 weekly (B757)
Sal 1 weekly (B757)

United (B757)

Newark 7 weekly

Virgin Atlantic (3 B744 and 2 A332)

New York JFK 7 weekly
Boston 2 weekly
Atlanta 7 weekly
San Fransisco 3 weekly
Las Vegas 2 weekly
Barbados 2 weekly
Orlando in 12 weekly

[LAX_LHR]

the new ELAL route will now probably not happen, as Sun’dor have had to cut routes due to a lack of security staff. The routes mentioned were Barcelona, Corsica and a ‘third, undisclosed location’. Given the fact they are not naming the 3rd cut route, to me that has MAN written all over it with the fact our route was never formally announced.

[LAX_LHR]

Confirmed that Jet2 are moving some Spain flights from T1 to T2.

https://www.jet2.com/manchester-airport-information