Yep, 2x daily MAD-STN-MAD using MAD-based machines.

For a LON to TLV trip in September, a booking engine pointed me to ISRAIR AIRLINES out of STN. I have never heard of them, could anyone enlightenment? Any feedback on service etc?

Thanks.

They have been flying into Stansted for a good while. A credible alternative to El-Al.

Not flown with them, but they seem reliable. Regulars out of Stansted using an A320 (max 174 passengers) departing 22:45 on a Wednesday or 20:50 on a Sunday. They are in direct competition to EL AL who tend to use B757s or B767s departing Fridays 09:45, but also have flights on some Mondays and Wednesdays.

Thanks FEROMAN, very helpful and reassuring.

Hey, Buster, what are you doing over at this field??? Get Back; Get Back to where you once belonged! :p

Air Bee
 

Anyone know why Air Bee came in to Stansted today around 15:30 and went to Sat 1? Looking at their website they only do internal flights.:confused:

Charter probably. They had one at HUY the other week and I think have some regular weekly flights to some UK airports this summer

Ground Handling?
 

Flew into STN today from PIK. Flight FR 416 bang on time, flight time 55 mins. Parked as close to main terminal as is possible so how come it took 40 minutes to have the luggage delivered to the baggage reclaim. Must be all of 200 yards?

FR416 STA= 1130
ATA= 1104

So I guess because you landed early the agent due to unload your baggage from the Aircraft would be still dealing with another Aircraft.

Thought that might be a factor although STN was the quietest I have ever seen it. Anyway at least I got my bag back. BA lost it last time I flew with them!

This is a unique feature of UK airport handlers.

Elsewhere in the world scheduled arrival times, as in the UK, are approximations. You can arrive early or late (sometimes very late). Despite this, in my experience when arriving at overseas airports a gate is always available and a handling crew standing there on the ramp ready and waiting.

It is a unique UK feature that nobody seems prepared to look at the actual anticipated arrival time or to organise themselves to handle the aircraft when it arrives. Nobody seems to understand the STA is an estimate rather than a fixed time. If the incoming flight is 5 minutes early some stations seem determined to sit around drinking tea so the bl00dy passengers don't get one minute of advantage from the early arrival. Life would be SO much easier without passengers.

Before anyone starts having a go at this, please explain how overseas, including LCC handlers, they can manage this all so much better.

..of course an airport would be much easier to operate...................
 

...if it wasn't for those pesky passengers! LOL.
But some airports in the UK, and certainly Stansted, are regulated for runway slots. So this means airlines do generally have to operate on time or they can get penalised up to £20,000 by the co-ordinator - see link :8 http://80.168.119.219/UserFiles/File...ode%202007.pdf
So there's an air of expectation of the handlers for an on-time operation and they plan their resources around this. Many foreign airports only have the odd Ryanair flight a day so they're champing at the bit for something to do and love it when it arrives early. Still doesn't explain your luggage really and if you actually waited 40 mins after you got in the baggage hall then that's far too long of course. I'd say 15 to 30 mins after parking is about normal.

Published airport schedules are on/off stand times and not landing take-off/times. So for the STA1130 a landing time of 1120-25 is on schedule. If the ATA of 1104 was the landing time then the flight was 15-20 mins early.

Handlers often work in teams being allocated flights where flight timings allow them to move from one aircraft to the next. So it's possible the early landing meant the team were still busy handling another flight.

Stand availability can be a problem at peak times when arriving aircraft land early on the schedule as often the allocated stand is still occupied by an aircraft not yet departed. this creates ground congestion problems for ATC and the allocators often having to park the aircraft somewhere else then this messes up the aircraft handling plan.

So while landing early may be nice for the passengers and crew it can often seriously affect others on the ground.

Sorry guys this just does not cut it. Example :

BA Heathrow to St Petersburg, Russia, a couple of months ago. Arrives early due to good tailwind. No BA staff, they use a handling agent. Airport where they have had no investment in ground equipment etc for years (example, Follow Me ramp vehicle is still an old Lada, but they are always waiting for you). Huge blizzard in progress, active snowploughing of both ramp and taxiways is going on, Lada leads us by alternative taxi route. Straight to gate, everybody standing round (yes, in the snow, big coats, hats and gloves on) and ready, ALL ramp equipment on hand. Same going on at adjacent gates as well, it was quite busy. Bags and pax all start unloading in a minute, fuel truck positioning, etc. bags on belt inside terminal in 10-15 minutes, before most are even through immigration. Terminal from the 1950s but everything neat and clean.

BA St Petersburg to Heathrow a few days later, lands somewhat ahead of time, nice CAVOK day, gets held up taxiing to gate but approaches there pretty much to the minute. Holds for 10 minutes as nobody on stand. Eventually taxies in, another 15 minutes to get the door open. Five staff, all the wheelchair team etc, all in the jetway and had been hanging round for an age but nobody qualified on the jetway itself. Walk down through terminal where, as ever, all the ceiling tiles have been ripped out yet again to expose he wiring - and just left with nobody working. Wait at belt over 45 minutes for first bags. Very few bags coming through anywhere in the hall at all, it was quite quiet.

You see, read that quote at the start again. It's the attitude that is key, not what resources you have or have not got.

Does anyone know how the new ATH A3 service is doing? I thought twice daily 321 was a bit overkill, but is it holding up?

Regards

Mike

Aegean. Going for a month now and had both full and near empty loads, but generally just under half full on average which I guess they will be happy with.

Is the Charter schedule for this winter at STN going to be seriously depleted?

With Ryanair grounding 20 aircraft there too, numbers could continue to fall.

The merged FCA/TOM operation will have 2 based aircraft next summer, up from just 1 this summer

This thread seems to have gone quiet, so I'll try to get it re-started. Let's see.......mmmm...
Ah, yes! Does anyone know what's going to happen to mid- and long-stay parking? Apparently, meteor will no longer be operating these car parks. Is BAA bringing them in-house? Heard a rumour that mid-stay will be rebranded as a kind of "Long Stay Express", with bus stops for departing passengers being replaced by a fleet of small minibuses roving the open zones and picking up customers from where they are parked. Is there any truth to these speculations?

does anyone know of any long haul flights that might start soon. wasnt air asia x going to start flights into stansted and what about an airline starting routs that were lost by maxjet , eos and american surly there is a market for it as i heard that the flights to the US where always quite full. and what about ryanair doing long haul , if they do, when would they lickly to be started