Belfast City Airport-3
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Emerald
Where do I start - let's just say tech aircraft, weather (crew hours?) and BHD night closure due reactionary delays, FR24 info for the fleet shows a sorry tale and far too long to repeat here other than the trials of one aircraft Mike Tango
23 Jan BHD-EDI tech left 29/1 to Exeter I jest not on the ground nearly 6 days.
6 Feb flew Exeter - BHD and went back into service late afternoon and operated normally on 7th and 8th
9th BHD-NCL landed 11:32 departed 10/2 12:04 (tech again?) back to BHD and then operated the delayed 07:10 BHD-LBA and diverted to Liverpool landed around 15.30 and departed 16:59 to BHD to operate 10:25 BHD-BHX at 18:31
Juliet Lima has spent time at Exeter (5/2-10/2) as well but that might have been planned.
They managed 3 or 5 BHD-BHX's yesterday, no wonder they are going 6 daily as it should guarantee at least 4 operating
Pete
23 Jan BHD-EDI tech left 29/1 to Exeter I jest not on the ground nearly 6 days.
6 Feb flew Exeter - BHD and went back into service late afternoon and operated normally on 7th and 8th
9th BHD-NCL landed 11:32 departed 10/2 12:04 (tech again?) back to BHD and then operated the delayed 07:10 BHD-LBA and diverted to Liverpool landed around 15.30 and departed 16:59 to BHD to operate 10:25 BHD-BHX at 18:31
Juliet Lima has spent time at Exeter (5/2-10/2) as well but that might have been planned.
They managed 3 or 5 BHD-BHX's yesterday, no wonder they are going 6 daily as it should guarantee at least 4 operating
Pete
Join Date: Oct 2018
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Emerald are all over the place these days. When there are nights where 3 or more aircraft end up in Aldergrove then something is badly wrong. Even the following morning it seems to take several hours to simply position the aircraft back down to City then the groundhog day starts again, they don't seem capable to regain any semblance of a schedule.
City seems to have adopted a very strict curfew, the 11pm cutoff is potentially causing more harm than it solves though. To the best of my knowledge this is a self imposed curfew and not the planning one which used to have midnight as the cutoff time. Seems somewhat bloody minded to alienate the airport customers by landing them in Aldergrove at 1115 and then bussing them down to get their cars followed by the shambles the next morning in repositioning aircraft etc when it would have been legal and legitimate to land at City? I remember FlyBe regularly landing after 11pm. Maybe there has been a change in planning agreements though, not sure.
Emerald Ops don't seem to help themselves either though, looking at FR24, many times aircraft land early evening that could operate one of the delayed sectors but they seem to just keep holding off for the delayed aircraft to do the planned sectors - end result is then a late night Aldergrove arrival! Does no-one in Ops have the ability to take a more fluid approach? Just because an airframe was planned to do A-B then C-D, surely it can be changed to manage the overall delay and potentially have all airframes back in City before curfew.
Overall a strange way to win and keep passengers. A business man delayed for 3 hours on a day trip will think twice before booking again. Leisure passengers arriving back in Aldergorve on a Sunday night at midnight and then hanging about for another few hours to get their cars from City before working on Monday morning will think twice before booking again. If people lose confidence in a product they will simply look elsewhere, a pity really because the potential is there for a successful regional connection. I think Emerald need to have a long and hard think about how to turn their fortunes around, whether its better asset planning or more reliable aircraft or maybe a mixture of both.
City seems to have adopted a very strict curfew, the 11pm cutoff is potentially causing more harm than it solves though. To the best of my knowledge this is a self imposed curfew and not the planning one which used to have midnight as the cutoff time. Seems somewhat bloody minded to alienate the airport customers by landing them in Aldergrove at 1115 and then bussing them down to get their cars followed by the shambles the next morning in repositioning aircraft etc when it would have been legal and legitimate to land at City? I remember FlyBe regularly landing after 11pm. Maybe there has been a change in planning agreements though, not sure.
Emerald Ops don't seem to help themselves either though, looking at FR24, many times aircraft land early evening that could operate one of the delayed sectors but they seem to just keep holding off for the delayed aircraft to do the planned sectors - end result is then a late night Aldergrove arrival! Does no-one in Ops have the ability to take a more fluid approach? Just because an airframe was planned to do A-B then C-D, surely it can be changed to manage the overall delay and potentially have all airframes back in City before curfew.
Overall a strange way to win and keep passengers. A business man delayed for 3 hours on a day trip will think twice before booking again. Leisure passengers arriving back in Aldergorve on a Sunday night at midnight and then hanging about for another few hours to get their cars from City before working on Monday morning will think twice before booking again. If people lose confidence in a product they will simply look elsewhere, a pity really because the potential is there for a successful regional connection. I think Emerald need to have a long and hard think about how to turn their fortunes around, whether its better asset planning or more reliable aircraft or maybe a mixture of both.
Join Date: Jul 2006
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When Emerald and all the other airlines decided to set up shop at Bhd, they were well aware of the operating hours and any other restrictions. Should those rules just be ignored now? And if so, what other rules do you believe should be ignored as they don't suit? Maybe security checks?
If they can't manage their operation within the stated hours, then they should move somewhere else.
If they can't manage their operation within the stated hours, then they should move somewhere else.
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Not sure who True Blue is directing that rather flippant and condescending remark to, personally I am not advocating any breaking of rules by anyone. The original rules permitted aircraft movements up to midnight for the purposes of extensions - not for the purpose of scheduling movements beyond closing time. As I alluded to, this has now been brought back to 11pm, I don't know whether this is an amendment to planning regulations or whether local airport management are attempting to be good neighbours and inadvertently damaging their business in the process.
I have no doubt all airlines are aware of the restrictions at any given airport, as I also alluded their own operational decisions are strange at times. Having said that, no-one on this forum knows what is also happening behind the scenes leading to these decisions. Either way, something will have to change and sooner rather than later.
I have no doubt all airlines are aware of the restrictions at any given airport, as I also alluded their own operational decisions are strange at times. Having said that, no-one on this forum knows what is also happening behind the scenes leading to these decisions. Either way, something will have to change and sooner rather than later.
Join Date: Oct 2019
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As someone who lives close to this airport and with a young family the noise is horrendous a lot of the time,my opinion is that the airport should stick to it's 21:30 curfew and the passenger cap impossed,people have been saying around this area again the residents are fed up with the noise from this ever expanding airport.
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If you have recently bought a house beside an airport and are now complaining about noise I have to admit to having limited sympathy. If you bought a house and didn't know it was beside an airport then you should perhaps seek legal advice for non-disclosure from estate agents. If you bought the house 60 years ago then I would have a greater level of sympathy.
Ironically City has less movements and passengers now than it did a few years ago, there's probably limited scope for expansion in the near future. Surely the residents focus would be on number of movements rather than get fixated on a passenger cap?
Ironically City has less movements and passengers now than it did a few years ago, there's probably limited scope for expansion in the near future. Surely the residents focus would be on number of movements rather than get fixated on a passenger cap?
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Surely modern neo airbus aircraft for example must make less noise than the old JEA F27 or Manx Viscounts? The airport noise footprint must be smaller now than even in the 1990s?
many times aircraft land early evening that could operate one of the delayed sectors but they seem to just keep holding off for the delayed aircraft to do the planned sectors - end result is then a late night Aldergrove arrival!
Maybe they need to recognise that sh*t happens and that maybe it's cheaper to build flexibility into your crewing than pay the disruption costs of diversions etc.
Dream on - there's lies, damn lies and (aircraft noise) statistics...
Surely modern neo airbus aircraft for example must make less noise than the old JEA F27 or Manx Viscounts? The airport noise footprint must be smaller now than even in the 1990s?
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Even the Shorts 360!/330 test flights taking the " test crews" over the rooftops of east Belfast to see their houses
Then the company 125
Yes it's a lot quieter now !
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