Express Flight

Yes they are!

Norwich
 

I haven't used it for a few years and avoid it as a GA stop but had to route through there the other day en-route to the Far East.Living on the Norfolk Suffolk border it is cheaper and more convenient for me to use Stansted.

However I thought I'd try Norwich.

What an excuse for an airport! I've been in better train stations in the regions.

The drop off is in a small car park with no facilities about the size of a decent lay-by. There is not even a bus shelter. You make your way through a hole in the hedge and through some big plastic bollards to a large shed which resembles a cheap supermarket.

A paper shop and a small coffee outlet plus a smattering of cheap tables and chairs sums it up.And no wi-fi...:ugh:

A 'development tax' of £5.00 per passenger is levied for this third world facility .

I see that passengers numbers have taken a dive....I wonder why.

Take a tip from me...avoid the place.

Norwich Airport
 

You are quite right. Omniport are running the place into the ground. They couldn't arrange a :mad: in a brewery! I can see the place becoming like SEN. All maintenance, paint with next to no schedules.

The fact that this is the only NWI thread and has only two posts on it would suggest there is jack all going on there ;)

I flew from NWI regularly in 2007 and found it fine - quick and easy check in, the cafe was over priced (like all UK airports) but OK, no queues at security and plenty of seating. Don´t do wi-fi but but find it funny Norwich city centre has wi fi access throughout (free?) for all but the airport doesn´t.......anyway its a bit harsh to call it a third world airport and to avoid it! I can think of many far worse airports I have flown through including a number in South East Asia

The lack of reaction says it all.

I used to fly in there on a regular basis in my aircraft years ago and going back several years it was a great destination.
Then they added the 'International' tag and sold out.
Light aircraft/helicopter visitors have gone through the floor.

They have also given the place a cheap tacky image similar to a Yarmouth arcade complete with the two bouncers I met departing who nearly stripped the
KLM captain to his vest and pants in front of me.

A good site for Gavin and Stacy but it is also the Turnip Taliban Spaceport:ugh:

Just asking a question here?

When LTE Operated The Spanish Routes, What Where The Loads Like?

and also Could we ever get Ryanair to Norwich? Move Them Up The Road from Stansted?

When Flybe did the Malaga run it was always full. I'm pretty sure LTE were having no problem filling up their flights to Spain. Real shame that you can't fly to Malaga from Norwich anymore, it was a very popular route.

...and if Maintenance moves to Manchester as rumoured what next then !

Ooh! Do elaborate Navpi, "the maintenance" being who?:rolleyes::rolleyes:

i think to call the airport a third world airport is a bit stupid :rolleyes:, i have seen alot worse airports than it, it certianly aint the best airport by any length, and we all know that the £5 airport levy :ugh: was the most stupid thing they probally will ever do, it saw a dramitic drop in passengers and routes and airlines and if one day they do get rid of it i could see routes and airlines come back again but then i think i might be dreaming on that one lol

but there are now more routes this summer to holiday destinations than last year which is good, it was fantastic to see that Tunisa was available, only for 6 weeks tho but i am booked to go on it one of those weeks:ok:

Flybe have bought back Guernsey, along with Jersey and Exeter for the summer

so it aint all doom and gloom lol

but if they do want to make the airport grow in passengers etc then for starters GET RID OF THE STUPID 5 LEVY ON PASSENGERS every time they use the airport :D

Norwich airport is nothing more than a waiting room for a flight. It makes no successful effort to be a recreation centre.
Where it scores is that the British keep raising their airport taxes and the Dutch keep lowering theirs. It is far cheaper to fly ([robably almost) anywahere in the world vis AMS than it is to pay to go down to LHR or LGW. STN, of course, hardly counting as an international aiport since its destinations are mainly European and Britain is part of that one big happy family.

As a former Norwich Airport Consultative Cttee member, I don.t quite understand what the vision is here. Either from PPruners or from what I can see from the airport management itself. Where is Norwich capable of going ... anyone know?

Fares from Norwich are not cheap in my experience: KLM have hugely increased their prices from NWI (no doubt taking full advantage of their monopoly). I've found it considerably cheaper over the last 6 months to go to LCY or LHR & use other carriers.

i think that it can only go more to charter flights and holiday packages tbh, and that seems what they are doing now, with a 30% increase in them this summer. Don't think that the airport has any chance of having more scheduled flights, the only ones that have worked seem to be Manchester, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Amsterdam.

NickB

you are probably right, added to which, don't be suprised to see a direct attack in the near future on a certain Stansted low cost carrier's beligerence towards anyone who is choosy about the way they are treated (ie. the over 50 brigade).

I am led to believe that this is a two, or even multi pronged mission by a combination of NWI management and competing airlines - i.e. more than one.

It would be great if it came off, because if it does, there's bugger all the beligerent bugger in Dublin could do about it...:E

Here's my two cents as a pilot about Norwich.

I did my second landaway to Naarch, and I was looking rather forward to it. I had known that the landing fees were going to be in the region of 30quid, but was prepared to pay it. On the way in, ATC were professional as one would expect. Things started to go a bit south on the ground. Went with my instructor to pay the fee after being shuttled across the apron, entered the airport ops room, and there was such a scene in front of me. No one bothered to attend to us for ages - you'd think that they'd want to get rid of us as quick as possible. Was hit by the minimum charge of 46quid. Now that I was not expecting. Turns out that it was on the last page of charges, well after the landing fee was written up. Lesson learnt! In hindsight, I should have uplifted fuel.

Inside, the airport was very regional. That's all I can say about it really. Didn't pay the passenger development fee as we were crew, and we probably wouldn't have done so if we had to.

Ah, security check. No exceptions for GA pilots it would seem. The lady at the checkpoint told us there'd be someone to let us out of the terminal on the other side, but upon emerging all x-rayed, there was not a single member of staff to be found. So back to the counter to find someone to let us pass. All in all, it was the ground side of things that let the airport down.

Also, I remember that the taxiway for GA aircraft was rather...poor.

My second, and last trip, was for my cross country qualifier. I had to use NWI as the X-wind at other locations were way out of limits. This time, I didn't bother to go landside. Just paid my fees, got the MET, used the loo, and got out.

Norwich Radar has always been very nice in my experience with them. I've used them whenever I'm in that area - it always seems to be the same lady working it! She'll even call up North Denes just to check it's clear of traffic when I ask if she can see anything on her scope! :)

In light of Coventry's fee reductions as the airlines leave it, I had hoped that Norwich would have done the same. But the last time I checked (August), the silly fees were still there and that put me off flying there for some instrument work.

What's sad is that when my instructor flew into Norwich for his x-country quali, it only cost him 7 pounds to land there... One can only hope that management wake up and make the place friendly and appealing to GA again.

"From November, Thomson will be operating Boeing 737-800s with 189 seats, flying direct from Norwich Airport to Tenerife and Alicante and to a new route, Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt. The flights will operate every week for 26 weeks"

:ok:

"Holiday makers can now go to Tunisia in Summer or Winter from Norwich Airport thanks to Thomas Cook Airlines, who have extended their programme to 27 departures on Sundays, from 07 March 2010 to 17 April 2011.



Departure dates are as follows:

07 Mar – 16 May 2010

17 – 24 Oct 2010

07 – 21 Nov 2010

19 & 26 Dec 2010

27 Feb – 17 Apr 2011 "

good news at last :ok:

Norwich Airport decline
 

As the recession kicks in Norwich is hurting bad.

As a fixed and rotary wing pilot I have a smile on my face.

This was a great little airport until about 7 years ago when they decided they were in the big league. Loads of hassle if you flew in there with security etc which meant I took my aircraft and helicopter operations elsewhere. Landing a chopper a mile to the east at Sprowston Manor avoided all the stasi stuff plus an easy lunch.

I used the airport as a passenger as well. But the development fee plus parking problems and a negative attitude to consumers forced a rethink and living near Diss I decided that Stansted was a better bet.

I now observe the airport has problems. Traffic down 30% in a year and staff being axed.

I can only smile and say Norwich Airport is reaping what they sowed.

From the Eastern Daily Press

Jobs to be axed at Norwich International Airport

A string of senior managers at Norwich International Airport look set to lose their jobs as part of a shake-up, but the airport boss said difficult decisions were needed to steer it through tough economic times.

It is understood that nine managers and one director at the airport have been or will be made redundant in the weeks ahead.

Andrew Bell, who became the permanent chief executive at the airport in May after filling the role on a temporary basis since the sudden departure of former CEO Elliott Summers at the start of the year, said he could not give details of the numbers or roles of those facing redundancy.

But he said: “We are going through a process of restructuring which is going to involve making redundancies.

“Because of the nature of the process I cannot go into any further details at this point, but in common with pretty much every business at the moment, I have had to ask what can we do with the business?

“We need structural change and I have had to make difficult decisions. We are working the way through the process and we are consulting with those people.”

But he said passengers would not be affected by the changes and said: “One of the things I am determined to preserve is customer service.
“The importance of safety and operations goes without saying and if anything we hope to be able to make improvements.

“It’s clearly going to be very bad news for the people who are in this process, given the economic situation, but as I have always said, we need to set up this airport to be a business which can operate in the current environment.

“I am trying to safeguard the other 189 jobs at the airport, the 800 plus jobs elsewhere on the airfield and the thousands involved in the supply line.

“I am absolutely certain this will move us in the right direction and it is not a retrograde step.”

Rumours also circulated yesterday that airline BMI was pulling its flights to Aberdeen - on which oil rig workers rely - from Norwich.

But both Mr Bell and BMI dismissed that speculation. The BMI spokesman said: “We remain committed to Norwich International Airport, as always,”

The news of redundancies comes just weeks after the airport received a boost with new flights from Norwich to Sharm El Sheikh in Egyot.

The flights operated by Thomson Airways, were launched along with new winter sun direct services to Alicante and Tenerife, which will run until April next year.

But in recent years, the airport has suffered a series of blows, with services from the city axed or reduced, including direct flights to Paris by Flybe and to Barcelona and Palma by Spanish airline LTE.

Passenger numbers at the airport, which is 80pc owned by Omniport, with Norwich City Council and Norfolk County Council retaining the remaining interest, fell by 30pc to 404,000 last year as the recession took its toll.


Jobs to be axed at Norwich International Airport - News - Eastern Daily Press

Schadenfreude?

Security issues are nationwide, not just at Norwich!

The rest of your email smacks of ill informed rubbish.

All airports and much of their support infrastructure is reeling from a certain recession, no doubt Norwich is one of hundreds of airports around the world having to make painful decisions.