I have never seen a Q400 get even close to a tail scrape (appart from when the Bombadier test pilot - named 'Wally' - nearly did it on certification - but there was probably a very good reason as to why this nearly happened).

What I have seen frequently is the Q400 running over lights, runway designator boards (Augsburg) and taking short cuts across the grass with one of their main wheels as they vacate the runway. It seems that the combination of a wide track and the nose wheel being far forward makes them quite good at this (especially if the pilot follows the yellow lines with his nose wheel).

Now that they can park on just one stand (nosewheel mod) they are very capable aircraft in and out of City. I saw an SAS aircraft rotate half way down the runway, and then get to 3000ft long before he made the initial turn at 1.5DME. I can't remember another aircraft having this performance (or maybe the load figures aren't doing too well to Copenhagen).

I also remember seeing an Augsburg one land abeam the tower (on runway 28) and still come off at 'B' so they seem to stop even better than they go.

London City Route
 

GCIJ32

It is always good to hear when new routes come out but to even think of BA operating a London City route to and from Guernsey is pie in the sky i am afraid

The London City-Jersey route was five a day four years ago Flybe pulled out due to types of aircraft in the fleet meaning no little dashs only the 400 no good for the City.

VLM cut back as the route was losing 60k a year and the now only have on five days a week and that is based on bussiness people from the city for the day high fair sectors.

Could Guernsey have a City route well if it is a jet which it could only be with BA operating it could take away passenger from the Gatwick route well it might work as there does seem a lot of tech problems with both companies at the moment with the Dash and the ATR.

Passengers who travel on these flights on a regular basis can get pead off with delays and might look at a differant route if it is available and at a good fare.

Those were the days

London city as it used to be.:)

A Nonny

you should be on a Q4 with 7 pax aboard like I was from YTZ-YOW. Bloody hell... :ok:

Brilliant !

Anybody recognise any of the faces ? Any still around ?

Notice that as they are taxying for departure from London City at about the 2 minute 10 seconds mark on the film there appears to be a DC-10 on the ramp. Now I wonder how we missed the arrival of that :)

ROTFLMAO! :)

VLM Airlines

VLM Airlines to cut back LPL to just two daily flights. In its best days, the route saw, IIRC, up to five flights on weekdays. From February 4, two flights per day will leave LPL at 6.45am and 4.15pm. Fear at LPL that the route will be axed for good sooner than later

Eastern to drop Newcastle?
 

Reported on the Newcastle thread that Eastern are to drop NCL-LCY as new fees make it uneconomic - anybody heard anything?

Also rumour going around that Scot Airways to stop EDI-LCY. This seemed a bit far fetched to me as its a large part of all they do. Anyone heard anything?

Would be quite a setback - NCL gone, LPL on the brink of extinction and now rumours about EDI with CB also facing the axe....

Lcy-ncl
 

I would hope that BA citiflyer might pick this one up. Would probably work with the more competitive fares that they offer in comparison with what eastern were offering.

I can't see this happening, it is their flagship route, loads are usually very good with the exception of the mid morning/lunchtime services - which seems to be an problem for most operators at LCY due to the nature of the business.

It is not unusual to go onto CB's booking engine and find some services are full or near full.

For example this Friday one service is already full, 5 services have less than 5 seats available and 3 southbound services have less than 9 seats available and every northbound journey has less than 9 seats available

They are not a LCC either, so I imagine yields will be pretty good

It's a shame about the Eastern service. The loads haven't been that bad lately and last nights flight departed with 13 pax although it was booked at 19. It came into LCY with 20 so not to bad at all.

There is a rumour of Eastern operating a service from ABZ to LCY via NCL using a Saab 2000 but we shall have to wait and see.

Last nights VLM LPL flight departed with only 10 on board.

Eastern's LCY-NCL
 

Quote from Newcastle's Evening Chronicle:
An Eastern Airways spokesman said: "Regrettably Eastern Airways is withdrawing the Newcastle to London City service as the route is not commercially viable. This is due to significant high costs associated with operating from London City Airport being dramatically increased. We are also disappointed with passenger numbers and with demand for travel to London City Airport being relatively low, we have taken a tough decision to cancel all flights. We constantly monitor all services on our route network to ensure they are commercially viable."

Is this the start of the Thin End of the Wedge by the new owners ?

Mowlems - high fees, little airline service.
Dermot Desmond - more sensible fees, services hugely increased.
New owners - fees increased again, services tail off again.

Anybody got any details on what changes have been made?

Looking to discourage smaller movements to free up slots (e.g. for the 100 seaters op by BA...)?

SWBKCB

The LCY fees are here (PDF).

The landing fees are a flat rate independent of aircraft size (thus discouraging smaller aircraft) but IIRC they've been that way for some time.

A wild guess: could the new route landing-fee-discount period perhaps have come to an end (hence higher costs for Eastern) rather than LCY putting up their charges across the board?

C.

The apron almost six years ago

It's much busier now!

First part of the Cityflyer programme for summer 2007 is out now:

Edinburgh up to 8x daily
Zurich 4x daily *new destination*
Glasgow 4x daily *re-introduced destination*
Frankfurt 3x daily
Madrid 2x daily
Milan MXP 1x daily

Additionally rumours floating around about Manchester as a new destination.

Apparently Cityflyer is targeting Scot Airways and VLM Airlines that have helped LCY to become the airport it nowadays is. Let's hope Cityflyer will not get interested in destinations such as Brussels, Amsterdam and Luxembourg.

You tube video - I think I recognise the duck. Think it still works there! :)