I thought those dodgy chancers had been banned from UK airspace on account of the aircraft being in such a poor state

From CAA figures for December

BHX/ISB 8100 Pax
MAN/ISB 13000 pax
quite a big difference in pax numbers
Don`t forget North Lancashire has a very large community also places like Huddersfield which are actually easier to get to Manchester than Leeds

Ian B

Huddersfield to MAN approx 41 miles. Huddersfield to LBA 22 miles approx. Burnley too is less distance to LBA . - avoids the congested motorways around Manchester. easier? Cheaper on fuel and less time by choosing LBA.

BHX
 

BHX's figures for ISB are closer to Heathrow's rather than Manchester.

December was quite low for BHX as the 4th weekly did not restart until
Boxing Day.

September 2010 - LHR 10358 and BHX 8684
August 2010 - LHR 10635 and BHX 9340
July 2010 - LHR 11048 and BHX 9878

How about closing Heathrow and moving the flights to BHX,
get a few quid for the slots - only joking guys n Gals:E

Pete

PIA are to resume 747 service ISB-MAN route from 13 March to 25 March on some flights.

rpmac
Closer maybe but journey probably easier to Manchester and direct train service from Huddersfield to Manchester airport also
Leeds airport is a difficult journey by road from most places whereas Manchester has motorways from most directions and unless you are very lucky congestion not that bad except maybe rush hour

Ian B

Whose 747's will they be using? I thought their 747-300's were banned from European airspace because of poor maintenance standards a few years ago.

"Closer maybe but journey probably easier to Manchester and direct train service from Huddersfield to Manchester airport also"

OK - but then factor in the cost of rail tickets for travellers, and quite likely members of their families who will be greeting or seeing off their family, and even with current fuel prices the train becomes economically a non starter.

Judging by the hundreds of Yorkshire taxis and how full the trains are etc obvoiously is a starter


Ian B

Passengers arriving from Pakistan at MAN
 

Ian - that is true! Not so many years ago I used to quite often get a flight from BRU that arrived at MAN just after a PIA 747 from Pakistan. It was a race to run with hand-luggage only to the car park before taxis carrying PIA passengers started streaming out of the airport to destinations in Manchester, Lancashire, West and South Yorkshire. Obviously there were loads of private cars as well but I couldn't tell where they came from.

If I was a bit delayed, it was like a convoy along the M67 and the Woodhead Pass A628 - you can see where I live - and S Yorks is not exactly known as a great area of Pakistan-ancestry people. At one stage Shaheen had a vague idea of flying to DSA.

I just wonder if the LBA service introduced since that time has reduced that mad hour!

Well i think it must have eased some congestion. As LBA gets that mad hour when the PIA, Airbus A310-300 is about or when the annual Hajj flights operate to/from Jeddah

For every 1 person that fly’s on a service they must be at least between 4 or 5 family members that attends the airport to watch a flight either arrive or depart from Islamabad. This causes no end of problems with the long line of awaiting taxi's and other cars that are coming in and out of the short stay car parks all at once.

The same thing use to happen when LBA had flights by Shaheen Air & Swefly to Pakistan in the past as well...

All of PIA fleet have been cleared by EU to operate there.

TK deal is off now as MD has resigned under pressure by employees protesting for cancellation of the TK MoU and his ouster.

So what now for PIA? staff cutbacks? routes now being chopped? The whole company needs completely reorganising to cut it's losses

All stays the same, thats why they ousted him and have even threatened to do the same again i.e protest violently and disrupt business if there is ever talk of reviving TK MoU.