Fog is such a bitch. I was on the trip that diverted back to LGW from the hold over Kelly. Good move actually ,as we were able to pick up the schedule and the rest of the day worked out fine. Had we gone to MAN, the follow on sectors would have been in chaos.

Sometimes FlyBE ops can be brighter than you give them credit for!

FlyBE are not a shambles, they are professional folk who find themselves overwhelmed at times by the extra workload they are faced with. Simply flaming them for everything that happens just shows some folk have very narrow vision.

There have been documented problems both at MAN and on the Island, FlyBE's management know about these and are working with FS to get everything working. Missing bags is never straightforward and MR have a lot of experience with this, BA being BA and all that:( FS gave that work back to MR to let them get everything else up to scratch and give them time to train up on the specific needs to give a better quality service when they do take over full time in June.

more frequency
 

I hear rumours that BLue Island is going double daily on its GCI service later this year. Anyone know anything? What other capacity changes are planned for us in 2007? Any reliable stories? Surely VLM won't continue to leave an unused plane parked on the tarmac all day?:hmm:

I think its only a matter of time before Blue Island go double daily. Most of the business folk travelling to and from JER/GCI will more than likely want to fly back the same day, it would make sense to do a double daily service. As you may be aware, they have been carrying out a customer survey to find out whether travellers would like another flight during the day.

As for VLM, the aircraft is parked for over 6 hours here Mon-Fri, definately room for another flight somewhere, but where could they go, another LCY mid-morning, or down to JER perhaps

VLM IOM-MAN-IOM perhaps? not very likely but stranger things have happened and who knows what is around the corner right now. One thing is for sure, VLM's loads have been looking good recently, long queues at check-in:ok:

Does anybody have any idea why Bremen and Hamburg have appeared on the Manx2 website? so far nothing is bookable they only show as destinations. :confused: A route from IOM or a new operation?

The IOM -HAM flts are the empty legs of a charter coming HAM - IOM for the TT.
The IOM - BRE are empty legs positioning for the Metro's maintenance so these will be quite regular during the summer. .

I wonder how many passengers we'll see on these flights to and from Bremen and Hamburg.

I wonder what would happen if Manx2 advertised the routes and they proved to be relatively popular? Would be interesting to see if such routes could prove popular especially seeing as they only need to fill a Metro!

Good to see plenty of extra flights for TT Week, bringing an even greater boost to the Manx Tourist Industry.

Charlie Lima

Credit where it's due?
 

So it seems that the Gatwick route is up by 17% on last year's figures, Flybe very quick to say they have turned an ailing, ex BACon route round and they alone are responsible for this vast increase in numbers. Surely, they only took over in March, and as the Luton route had already been dropped, the Gatwick figures were bound to improve on last year's figures! Very pleased to see it as good news, means they will keep the route going, but to take credit for this huge increase in passenger numbers I feel is a bit wide of the mark.

A bit disingenious from Flybe's spin doctors - the route increased by 25% in February and 30% in March, almost twice the growth Flybe showed for April so the cynic among us (all of us?) could say since they took over they have actually stunted the growth. Then again, the London route had Arran and Bacon on Luton last year, and Gatwick has an extra frequency since last year so at a minimum it should expect at least 25% monthly increase year on year. IOM data at http://www.gov.im/airport/news/viewn...rypassenge.xml

Seems strange that the new Flybe routes are still being classed as BA Connect in the Feb Stats... :confused:

The takeover was effective from March 25th. Therefore the routes were still classed as BACON until then. Even though the airline may technically of been owned by Flybe. That would answer your question herr badger. :ok:

The additional load is due to the LTN rotation being dropped. Same overall numbers but crediting the mid morning numbers to LGW will show an instant increase. What it does though is even out numbers. LTN was always a "filler" usually quiet, but as more folk take advantage of the lie-in the load on the red-eye has shifted to the later flight somewhat.

Also remember the loadfactors...the 78 seat scabby was retired at the end of March and TZ (80 seats) ran for April with MANS (90 seats) now operating. Advertising has only recently begun, so with a -300 (111 seats ) from June, the summer should show very noticable growth. Some keen pricing too.

And we're usually back on time now.

Want to know WHY the LGW was delayed so often? The REAL reason for a majority of the delay is pushbacks. Servicair got a new box of shear pins for the towbars (there was only one working one left for over two weeks) and now with all up and running it's a LOT better.

Should be a good summer, all we need is the weather now....

and back down to 78 odd seats if/when the Dash8-400 comes in Dec.

So maybe add another rotation, then. Flybe are running 6 MAN, 4 LGW, 1 BHX, and I guess 1 SOU if their anouncement of their winter schedules is believed. It can't be too difficult to re-jig the flying programme to run another off peak LGW assuming slots available and demand exists, surely?

How is the Flybe SOU route doing?

I am assuming they are using the ERJ on the route as going from Easterns Jetstream to a Q400 is one hell of a jump in capacity.

How about the news of the Royal Bank of Scotland dismissing a senior member of staff. Allegedly made loans to various clients that weren't suitable. One included and 'ailing Isle of Man based airline'. As manx2 are privately funded it would seem that there is only one other airline that it could be. No names mentioned from me!!

Bad loans
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...3/cnhbos13.xml .

Manx2 crew member told me that the company banks with NatWest not HBOS (see article) and is privately funded so has no debt of any sort. Also they only started up last summer and the bad loans mentioned would seem to go back a way. All the signs point to it not being them.

april stats
 

April pax stats arent pretty. Down nearly 10%
http://www.gov.im/airport/news/viewn...yairtraffi.xml

VLM, Blue Islands and Manx2 the winners, Euromanx and BACon/Flybe well down. Is it all down to the fog? I saw BAA saying they had seen a downturn at their airports as well.:{

Who knows?

Calm before the storm perhaps? We didn't have a two week half term for TT last year did we? That might have affected holiday traffic. The Fog did play it's part, as did uncertainty regarding the Flybe takeover and the Redtails pricing on competing routes.

The Dash should be here by October, but we'll see. Actually the 78 seater should be big enough for winter, and perhaps an additional rotation might be in order next summer. It might not be a jet, but saving 1000kg of fuel per trip is a huge economic and ecological saving. it's quieter than the 146, outclimbs it, is only 2-3 minutes longer getting to Gatwick. Bring it on.

Iom TT
 

Seemed like Heathrow here on Friday with over 200 aircraft movements for the day. Is this a record? I had Manx2 as 38 movements, Euromanx at 32, Flybe as 22,Eastern 12, Loganair 6, Blue Islands and Aer Arran 4, VLM and Jetstream exec 2...... but I did have to take the missus on a 10 minute trip to Tescos which took 2 hours so I may have missed abit. Any corrections welcome :) there were 4 metros here and I assume only the usual 2 of them were Manx2's? Any info welcome on the various new faces.:ok: