Hopefully the response to the caller from Chester will be slightly more helpful with the reference to BA codesharing on AA flights. Just confirmed that he is confident that CX will return after being asked about the switch of CX pax to BA via LHR after the One-World alliance.

Announcement to be made at 1630 this afternoon to encourage Regional Airport passengers........

Big announancement at 1630 today about regional airports....not much more info...watch this space

Re :- BA codeshare someone mention QANTAS aswell....

An announcement by MAPLC about 'regional airports' - is that what we're saying here?

loco

Not sure, but from what i made of the comments, i think it could be Goverment policy....not 100% tho...anyone else shed any light, as they made it out to be significant.

Going Loco

Too early to tell.

The cat was let out of the bag by the interviewer who obvously knew about a forthcoming announcement, but John Spooner would not be drawn on the subject.

My recollection of the wording was as per my earlier post that 'An announcement is to be made at 1630 this afternoon to encourage Regional Airport passengers'.

This could be taken anyway. Could it be a reduction in the Passenger Facility Charge levied by goverment on all passengers? Would this stimulate Regional Airport passenger growth?

Or could it be new routes? - bit of an odd time for routes to be announced though, they normally come in the mornings.

Doesn't parliament only debate in the afternoons, so are we back to my first suggestion?

ps - egcc, I see you beat me to it!!

EasyJet? Ryanair?

Vuelo, your back again!

Anyone heard what the news is then?

It appears an announcement was made at World Travel Market of increased funding for Regional Route Development. Don't ask me what it means, but definately no instant new route announcements (well not this afternoon - yet).

On the broadcast this morning it said more news at 5pm on GMR....just listened and.....NOWT.......MAN website.....NOWT.....

So much for hot news...

Anyone else heard owt'

Rgds

SC

I was laughing when I heard that chap say that Cathay 'just love Manchester'! What a load of bollocks! They couldn't give a toss about passengers in the North otherwise they would still be here...dream on Spooner!

And as for this so-called news, well Christ knows why an 'embargo' was put on it! It's hardly exciting stuff.

Maybe its the Government bin bagging English regional government.

I think Mr Spooner was snared on that debate.....and nearly choked at one point !

After a string of pathetic questioniong from the blue rinse brigade at last somebody said something sensible......

After the caller initially and quite rightlly praised Manchester for the strides made in short haul and locost over the last 12 months......came the following exocet ...!

"Does Manchester suffer by not having a viable long haul BA network ...?

The reply was ultra defensive as ever suggesting that BA operate many long haul services via the numerous succesful codeshare agreements that are in place, it was further suggested that these were the way forward...

Quote ...

" these were very much to the benefit of the travelling public in the NWest"


..... but I think Mr Spooner was taken a back somewhat when it was suggested that these agreements could be doubled edged with the caller then referring to the loss of a very succesful Cathay service to HK only 6 months after one of these agreements was introduced... !

ouch ...!

The caller did not want to embarrass him further by mentioning QANTAS, IBERIA....... etc etc

Quite why MAN still has to suck up to BA is beyond me but I am sure there is some rationale to it somewhere.......

Incidentally can anybody explain what happened to Wideroe ?

..started at 5 a week, went daily, then increased in aircraft size and was then withdrawn...with loads then running at 85%

....any takers ?

Wideroe
 

Bagso , your correct ,average loads were 85% , however it was SAS who ,looking at the overall picture decided that their partner should use the aircraft on domestic routes and Wideroe now feed the Bergen pax via OSL for SAS to fly them to MAN.

brgds
TCM

I really doubt Wideroe ever approached anywhere near 85% loads! If they did, they would have carried just under 4,000 passengers per month whereas all the CAA data I've seen has shown no month exceeding 2,500 passengers which by reckoning equates to slightly over 50% loads.

Further Baby cuts at MAN?
 

Are we likely to see WW cut back even firther at MAN this coming summer? I can;t see the BCN, BOD and CDG coming back, and the IBZ, MJV and JER routes were not setting any records were they?

manchester happenings
 

Gayrugbybloke, which air newsgroup site were you refering to in the post about Dragonair starting pax services to MAN?

alt.travel.uk.air

But don't forget....'Cathay Pacific just love Manchester!' - John Spooner, speaking on the BBC on 8/11/2004.

Our staff in DUB are still talking about the launch of MAN-DUB service to feed the long haul ops at man? Anybody know whats going on?

Would the presence of EI, FR and BD on the MAN DUB route not be a bit of overkill? I can't see BD doing that well on this route, especially since there are going to be services from BFS to both the SUA and the Caribbean next year.

Wasn't BD rumoured to be taking on the MAN-BCN/CDG routes from WW?

I was under the impression that the reason the MAN-DUB service was to be started was to be full-service competition against FR who is low cost and EI who are turning lowcost and also to feed the long haul ops at man.

i reckon theres more chance of BMI starting services to India from MAN than a DUB.

er...excuse me? what about the Bournemouth rumour?

TOKYO is a matter of time SURELY!!! Daily B777 would cater for the demand. Its Irrelevant who is rumoured to be doing it though, as long as it gets done.

Jet

Daily to NRT? Maybe 3/4 x weekly to start with?

well to start with yeah I guess so, but I could see twco airlines offering two daily routes eventually.

There is huge demand to Northern UK from Japan both business and leisure. Although obviously not matched by London.

Jet

LoveJet......something tells me you klnow something but can;t say.....would I be right?!

you'd be wrong.

Tokyo from Manchester..with LoveJetairlines.com

fares from £29 one way

Ha!

Jet

Anyone know whats going on with the Air Scandic South Africa flights? Firstly Air Scandic don't have an aircraft... now when I type howaboutsouthafrica.com (the tour operator these flights were for) it leads me back to CT2 Holidays (the parent company). Have they abandoned alltogether? What about the people that booked with them? Spooky?

Good news....

Air India rumoured to be coming back to MAN, apparently it's been quoted in the Indian press w.e 17th Nov.

Bad news BWIA now twice a week but via Belfast and PWK
so a 50% reduction in capacity !

PIA rumoured to be moving back to Shannon because of the US immigration laws..... they can use SNN as the US still have an immigration post there, god knows why as nobody uses the place.

Can we not move this to MAN ?

Air Jamaica now down to one a week..... !

As usual with Manchester one step fwd and two steps back.

They do the difficult bit by getting the airlines in, then seem to totally abandon them with no joined up thinking on strategy to support them.......and make sure they stay !!!

i

CT2
 

JMC757, Word is South Africa has gone amidst much shenanigans at CT2 following its takeover earlier in the year by people who whilst having deep pockets came from outside travel. 'Money' and 'plugholes' spring to mind, not least because they only just rebranded the South Africa stuff as howabout. Former CEO is apparently tending his garden.

Bagso,
Given the pax numbers of the PIA transits, would it not be better to free up 4 T2 stands for "in and out" airlines? [If this comes to pass]
watp.iktch

Pasted from UK immigration site.

Any thoughts ?




You asked if a national of Pakistan needs a visa to pass through the UK in transit.

Yes, you need a Direct Airside Transit (DAT) visa, unless you qualify for exemption because you hold one of the following:

* a valid visa for entry to Canada or the USA and, regardless of the routing you choose, your ticketing includes a visit to Canada or the USA;
* a valid airline ticket for travel via the United Kingdom as part of a journey from Canada or the United States of America to another country or territory, providing that you do not seek to transit the United Kingdom on a date more than six months from the date on which you last entered Canada or the USA with a valid visa;
* a US I - 551 Permanent Residence Card (Green Card) issued on or after 21 April 1998;
* a US Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration - Form 155
* an expired I - 551 Permanent Residence Card and a valid letter authorising its extension from a US Embassy/Consulate;
* a Canadian Permanent Residence Card issued on or after 28 June 2002;
* a valid Category D visa issued by EU/EEA member states;
* a common format EU residence permit issued under Council Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002.


Nationals of certain countries, which includes Pakistan - unless exempt as detailed above - must have a DAT visa to transit through the United Kingdom. The visa does not allow entry to the UK: other than to catch a connecting flight, leaving from the same airport on the same day, where you do not need to pass through immigration control to catch the flight. This is called Direct Airside Transit.

Please read Guidance - Visitors for more information.

To apply for a visa you will need to fill in form VAF3 - DATV.

Any dependants under 16 years old, included on your passport, can be included on the same form, but those older will need to fill in separate forms.

Please make your application to Islamabad.

Air Jamaica have reduced services to MAN as the traffic is predominantly holidaymakers, and that side of things has been badly affected by the hurricanes of the summer.

Can;t see Air India ever coming back to MAN - not when there is mega bucks to be made at LHR.

BWIA - well who cares quite frankly?! The pax nos. are so small that it hardly has an effect and is somewhat of a whote elephan - I am told it survives purely because of the freight carried/

AND - apparently it is reported in another forum on here that easyJet are expected to start Manchester services - so that;s great news!!! More loco please and sod the PIA!!

Re Confirmation Air India
----------------------------------------

http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_su...newscode=80947

"Mr Thulasidas, who was also the Chief Secretary of Tripura for the past many years and recently joined the Air India as its Chief, said medium capacity long range and medium capacity ultra-long range sectors would be opened soon and the Corporation had already floated tenders to purchase a large number of aircraft.

Air India had already decided to open new destinations in South Africa, Maurititus, Australia, Beijing, San Francisco, Washington, Houston, Toronto, Manchester, Lagos and Seol by next financial year"

The reason they pulled out originally as I am sure we are all aware is that they wanted Bombay rights, rather Dehli which is what they were given, I assume that they now have Bombay the main commercial centre !

As for the line of thinking on PIA V LoCost that is personal opinion, my view is let have em all !

I concede that they do not bring in much revenue (good point) but with no other long hauls on the horizon it does at least bring in some revenue from parking etc, and most of the time they do actually operate outside the peak hours.

That said I thought they had traffic rights through MAN to carry pax to JFK and Toronto which along with better runway perfomance re 747/777 was a part of the rationale for using MAN.

I know that the marketing dept' also/did use PIA as an example for fuel stop traffic for airlines that could (But do not presently)
have traffic rights through Manchester for onward destinations...

Is that by any cahnce what Air India have proposed here ?

...although I guess that is All now in the melting pot re VISAs etc !

With Toronto, Washington ( and Houston) being mentioned one might suggest that these "could" have been 3/4 a week via Manchester and have come about as a direct result of the succesful PIA example !

There again another poss' might be to connect pax with the BMI services and codeshare.

Time will tell..... lets just hope that this isnt a false dawn and the recent review/ increase of traffic rights between the UK and India did include Manchester and not just London !

Once EZY have tasted MAN, they'll probably want to ditch LPL in any case!

Air India sounds more plausible now, and I subscribe to the idea of transits as highly possible.

BD have also announced year round LAs Vegas flights instead iof just a winter service. Though only twice a week between May and October....where else will the A330 fly on the other days I wonder..?

Based on the info MAN777 has posted it looks like the PIA thing is a fuss about nothing - all transit flights go to/from the US/Canada, and so assuming that Pakistan nationals require a visa to enter those countries then they will satisfy the conditions mentioned to transit the UK without additional paperwork. I assume in this that Pakistan, UK, US and Canadian nationals are going to make up the vast majority of pax.

Air Berlin at MAN
 

Have heard a rumour that AB are so impressed with the success of their MAN services that they are to increase frequencies to Paderborn and introduce new services to Hannover and Munster.

I understand Jet2 will also add Alicante to their list of destinations from MAN.

No! Make it Barcelona!! We only have one airline on this route now and competition and low fares have virtually disappeared! Let's hope EZY choose this as one of their route from MAN.

Have easyJet even announced they will start flying from MAN?
Remember, not all rumours come true ;)