Noticed QR check-in was particularly quiet on many days during Feb. On some of their AM departures they only had 3-4 desks allocated compared to the usual 7-8. When I asked their reps why they had so few desks open, they informed me that there was less than 100 pax booked. This occured several times a week from what I can remember, so it seems the loads on the early departure are suffering. No such problems on the evening Mon, Thu, Fri departures which had the usual number of desks open and seemingly good loads.

Will pick up during the summer months I am sure. QR can't afford to leave MAN unless the routes starts to lose ALOT of money. Who knows...if they are carrying cargo, they might be making a tidy some and PAX are just adding to the profit?! Would rather have 100 in J than 200 in Y!

OASIS
 

OASIS KONG KONG managers visited MAN this week to view the airport's facilities and hold talks with MA regarding a proposed MAN-HKG service. Slots already applied for but details of new service still to be resolved. Hope this one comes off - a new B747 passenger service will be very welcome.

I hope they didnt see the parts of Manchester I saw when I was there on my last visit, otherwise they will never come!

QR Figures
 

Nothing odd about the QR figures.
Since they shafted themselves by withdrawing contracted rates from all UK Tour Operators they have been relying on all the UK business to book their considerably higher fully published fares.

Also, the likes of EY and EK have been very pro-active and have introduced a lot of fantastic offers ex UK across all destinations.

QR have definitely shot themselves in the foot recently

I know MAN was mentioned as the airport with more destinations than any other airport in the world? Is it still true?

Now that they have :

MAD, MRS, BRE, LIS, GDN, PZN and BGY entering the network (some returning) during the summer months (and maybe HKG!:ok:) will they have cemented their place?

If so, and I was MA, I would be gloating it alot more than they do! 'Manchester' appearing on more departure boards across the globe than any other airport including the likes of CDG and AMS!

OK, some of the routes are charter and may only fly as little as once every two weeks but how will the public know that?! Let the world know - MAN is the world's most connected airport!;)

QR are offering deals through LGW with airline ticket network, they are agents !

I,ve just booked QR, Man-Doha-Dubai, return for £729 for me and Mrs Mouser, this summer, which I thought wasn't a bad price, cheaper than EK,which is of course is non-stop.

C0
 

It looks like C0 won't be starting or continuing it's MAN flights.

As reported elsewhere on PPrune they are cutting back on everything at present and most of MAN flights are no longer bookable

Viscount

Will be interesting to see if anybody else comes in with some Polish flights from MAN if C0 are disappearing / scaling back. Might be an area WW could look into if they have the capacity as they have captured some of the Polish market from BHX.

There is obviously a thriving Polish community in the North West of England who might make use of such services as well as business and city break traffic.

To be honest, I think Wizz & RYR had already cornered the market from LPL.
Too little too late from MAN ( again) I'm afraid.

Perhaps LOT will come back then ?

I doubt it. As per a post on Airliners.net, this will be the green light for WW and most probably FR.

And what about FR? When will they announce their next round of routes ex MAN? It was mentioned that there would be an additional 8 by Summer 2009 so is that 4 new for next Winter and another 4 for the following Summer?

Pretty sure MAN will become a FR base in the near future and the airline don't do things by half!

Hoping for a BHX style annoncement!:ok:

If/when MOL moves into long haul, I wouldn't be surprised to see MAN, BHX and STN as the UK bases for this project.:ok:

What Manchester does not need is Ryanair expanding so much that you lose the choice from other carriers. They may be cheap sometimes but there are many passengers out there that dont want to fly with them. The more passengers get exposed to the Ryanair treatment the more they are likely to look for an alternative that may not be there anymore.

I think some of you boys are having too many wet dreams.
I doubt RYR will base anything at MAN, all their current plans are using external based aircraft. What they do next, will depend entirely on EZY-nothing to do with customers or route analysis. If EZY freeze what they have, so will RYR, if EZY expand, so will RYR.
As for RYR long haul- dream on guys. He may be many things, but he ain't stupid.

Ryanair long haul would be quite interesting. Could use a 737-800 via KEF.

There you go !

KEF as a hub, "Ryanair USA" (to be formed) flying in from all points USA and meeting up with Ryanair Europe, all points Europe. Bet it would be popular with our Irish American cousins ! The terminal could be fitted out with a "Dennys", "Irish Pubs" and a Shannon like duty free, along with USA immigration pre clearance, sounds like a winner to me.

Perhaps not :)

I think MOL wont operate a long haul loco VIA somewhere. Remeber the GSM farce out of Liverpool to the USA last year. B738 from Liverpool to New York direct, making technical stops at Knock, Keflavick, and Gander before hopefully arriving in New York. It was a farce and Pax voted with their feet.

I believe the only thing thats holding RYR back from long haul loco is the availability of a decent airframe thats available in decent enough numbers. Maybe if the Dreamliner eventually takes to the air but with such a delay that a major airline sees its arse and switches it orders to 777s, A330s then he will jump in and take the cancelled orders.

Steve

I read the last few posts and then realise its the 17th March
and everyone suddenly becomes Irish!!

Keep downing the Guiness chaps.........

MM

as always i read this forum with interest just thought some people out there could offer some insights into an observation?

Good to see a potential HKG service on the cards, but Oasis have a tiny route network and so then must be serving a predominantly point to point market from MAN. So if they believe there's a sufficient point to point market...even if the flight involves a stop in cologne or where-ever, then the potential market must be even more exploitable for a carrier like cathay/thai or who-ever who can offer more connections on top of the point to point traffic?

shoot me down if i'm talking tripe!! cheers guys.

Onward connections or no onward connections from HKG, Cathay are content to channel all their MAN pax through LHR on codeshare BA shuttles. Unfortunately this is unlikely to change in favour of a resumption of CX passenger flights in the near future. But hopefully Oasis Hong Kong might just put HKG back on MAN's departure boards soon fingers crossed as CX almost certainly wont.

Only time recently that CX came close to restarting MAN was a couple of years ago, but they ran a mile when the Moscow stopover fell through.

I think Oasis would be ok, because there should be enough traffic to do without connecting flights at each side.
Especially the route HKG-DUS-MAN-HKG, as slots been asked at DUS, seem ideal. The problem of runway length at DUS is so a minor problem.

Manchester to bid for Gatwick?
 

My first post here. Comments on the following story in tonight's Manchester Evening News:

See http://tinyurl.com/2l36lq

I suppose I am kind of lucky in that I am equidistant from MAN, LPL & LBA, BLK only slightly further (and better free parking nearby if you want to annoy the neighbours). I hate MAN, security appears to have been hired from the Hacienda and the place is overpriced, at least LBA has a decently priced baker shop, it's just a bit of a b'tard to drive to from M62.
Best airport for me so far is AMS but ready to sample others and change my mind.
The MEN story is interesting only in that it shows that MAN has plenty of credit reserve and has not spent it on us, the fare paying suckers.

Would have posted last night but took mickyman's advice and got into the Paddy spirit, enriched local landlord considerably, put Cheiftans on sound system then Riverdance on video, said "****, drink, nuns,etc" and cursed the English. Great night. Wife reminded me in morning that I am Scottish and she is English so my burning of the flag at 3 am was not too appropriate for community relations. Case comes up next week.

I think that the MAN board need to concentrate on pumping investment into their existing airports before they should consider purchasing another. There are many future plans at drawing board level for the improvement and development of Manchester and I fear that these will be shelved or cut back in favour of using that money elsewhere.

When ever you try to get anything done at Manchester the only response you get from MAG is sorry no funding !!! The Idex tunnel has been waiting to be resurfaced for over 4 to 5 years at least. I'm sure people have been lost inside the pot holes down there...

HKG looks to start in July along with a 'German airport' which is obviously DUS. Also the airline is looking at MEL and SYD which could mean another airline to connect with!

http://www.travelweekly.com.au/dirpl...20_03_2008.pdf

Could Oasis become the first LCC long haul carrier to form a hub? Zoom, AirAsiaX and the Aussie Virgin are starting to make appearances on a bigger level but is this the first airline to offer a connection system? (Assuming they will be offering connection flights which I doubt they will not take advantage of! EU-AUS is a big market!

Just thought I would let you all know!:ok:

MUFC,

I know everybody quotes DUS as the enroute stop from MAN if and when it goes ahead.

Go to the Oasis web site, click on site map, then growth plans,and we see Cologne mention as it has been for quite along time.

Regards
Jub

MAN was a destination added after the origional destinations and that seems to be the next airport along with a 'German airport.' If DUS slots have been applied for I would like to make an educated guess and say DUS will the the German airport.

You may be right and the airline may go with the CGN stop but if the slots are for DUS I'm guessing that will be the airport of choice.

I understand O8 are due to start in June.

Apologies for the change in thread...
...who has sampled the new food outlet in T1 arrivals?

MUFC
Which ever as long as it arrives in Man.

Vuelo

Hope your date is correct, I am holding back at the moment from booking flights in that direction.

Jub

Where...tell me more [please]
watpiktch

I remember being in DUS last year and a guy telling me that 747s were banned from there, due to a 747 running off the runway a few years back. Basically what I think he was telling me was that DUS has restrictions on the size of aircraft allowed operate there.

EC-ILS,

I think he might have been having you on. Dusseldorf gets quite a few 747s, and also the odd Antonov 124 now and then.

Lost a few diverts away this morning (Singapore, Virgin and others) as usual the UK grinds to a halt, when we get an inch of snow:rolleyes:

Where did they go?????
 

Any Idea where they went. I know at bhx we received 2. They were a MYT from SFB and a FCA LPA. Nothing else came although I beleive theTCX POP went to EMA. Amazing though how in the UK, a milimetre of snow and the place falls to pieces.......

Barry bhx