Also, on a regular basis:

DL65 Las Vegas
DL155 Los Angeles

Indeed. It occurred to me that the best thing that any MAN detractor could do (which includes me from time to time) is to get onto the MAN consultative committee, or rather whichever of your local councillors sits on it.

(Edit - if you ever read their minutes, you see that they do talk about what people complain about, but usually in a very British way i.e. well after the horse has bolted!)

yep, thats been the case every day at least once a week for the last month, confuses some people at work....

G-STAW

A380 @ Man
 

Just to hopefully end some confusion: This from the airport press office

Hopefully the weather will be ok.

i hope its not like today, been off and on all day.....

WW to discontinue MAD and LIS over the winter, but continue BCN apparently. Shame.

WW pulling MAN/MAD winter
 

Also noted pulling there winter service is ryanair down the road at Liverpool.
Could there be a new carrier awaiting to return on a daily basis ie Iberia??????
Anybody got inside info??????

Please MANCHESTER Airport Authority, fix the leaks in the many places about the airport, the buckets are not a fix and they are a hazard as well as unprofessional, or is it more important to sell duty free than actually provide passengers with a relaxed, safe and clean environment. Its not as if it only rains once in a while in Manchester. The new duty free in T1 is a disgrace, if your shoes are wet then walking on the shiny tiles is very slippery and there is no path to circumvent going through the crowds of shoppers mulling around in duty free - some of us just want to get on a flight and go :( If Heathrow needs sorting out Manchester isnt far behind on passenger comfort. Surely Airport managers have been to Singapore and can appreciate how a real airport is run!

IB's return would be great, but they would need an early departure in order to make full use of transfer traffic through MAD. Anything leaving MAN later than 0630 would be useless. A nightstop would be required.

WW
 

Does anyone know for certain that they are dropping MAD and LIS for winter

The website is unclear as to whether all winter flights are on sale.

One part says all flights on sale whereas another says look out for further flights.

Also looking at the situation for MAN there are at lot of gaps in the timetable which could be filled with more flights

Viscount

What will United Airlines do when they join star alliance?(codeshare with LH)

United join the Star Alliance? They have been members for some considerable time.

United joined Star Alliance in May 1997:ugh:

A380 just past over my house on approach to MAN and now on way to LPL


Ian

Funnily enough the A380 was number 2 to an Air China Cargo B744F - just to make comparison a bit easier !

Looks like it gave quite a show at Wirral

openATC Google Earth - A380 trip to NorthWest

yep, cheers to the flight crew for putting on a great show at MAN, every1 turned out in force to see this beauty!amazing.

Thankyou to everyone who made this possible....


G-STAW

A simple Terminal question.

My mother needs to transit at MAN in September with some 2.75 hours between scheduled FlyBe arrival and departure. Which terminal do they use? It looks as if I will not be able to escort and so want to get her to use one of the lounges and hope that they do a Pay-Per-Visit??

Also, since she will be using the wheelchair (she is 82) might that be a problem? I presume that one wheelchair operative can deliver her to the lounge and then another come to collect her?

Many thanks.

A380 - Man
 

Saw the 'beast' A380 at MAN today. A tight approach with gear down and a late go-round, fly-past and a wiggle of the wings on the climb-out.

Some things struck me; the aircraft is huge, especially when compared with the Air China 744 that landed ahead; the aircraft is incredibly ugly; but so very very quiet.

Look forward to the EK ops in 2010, assuming the Pier C work is completed in time.

Higher Archie

I think the 'wiggle' was a nod of reverence to the Iconic
Concorde parked at the AVP.

MM

Paxboy ,flybe use T3.Don't know about the lounges but I believe OCS do the wheelchairs.

Sorry!!!!! i meant Continental Airlines! (do i need glasses??) or just stupid???:ok:
I liked the a 380! It looks a handy plane to fly???

paxboy
 

flybe use T3 and wheelchair assitance can be requested at checkin and the wheelchair company will take her to her aircraft. Unfortunalty you can not pay to go into the flybe lounge on the day. The lounge is open to frequant flyer members and economy plus passengers. (W class) Both flybe and BA lounges are accesible by stairs and a lift so no problems to the less mobile passenger.

Thanks racasanman. Info on the AMN website is:
Since she is leaving the IOM, she has not joined Rewards scheme. I would have suggested that she pay for Economy Plus - to get the lounge - but the difference in cost is £3.89 and £135.89 and she will not want the flexible booking option.

So ... is it possible for her to get through to T2 and the Escape Lounge? They charge £20 per visit and that would be fine. Would FlyBe play ball with this and get the OCS people to trundle her through? Do FlyBe need to know? She just tells them where to take her? Providing there is easy wheelchari access from T3 to T2?

Thanks again.

Get in touch with the Airline, and explain the above. The [just] might take her to T2 "airside", 'cos it's a real pain travelling from T3 to T2.
watp,iktch

The T2 lounge is a dump. I have a lounge pass, but never use the MAN lounges as they are just awful.
T1 isn't much better.
She'd be better off staying in the main T3 departure area, IMHO

Are you serious? No airline would play ball with this because you can only use the terminal that you are flying from. OCS would not be willing to take her to and from I'm afraid. T3 is actually the other end of teh airport to T3, but the point remains, you use the terminal you are flying from.

Thanks folks, very helpful to learn that the terminals are that far apart and not viable. Hopefully, I can make the trip with her but at least I now know the odds.

Cheers.
(On the very rare occasions I go through MAN, I wonder what my late father would say about the place. He worked there for AVROS between (about) 1948 to 1959, he was in Personnel.

He wouldn't recognise the place. Even those of us who work there find ourselves amazed at the changes taking place, especially the last year or so.

is it possible for her to get through to T2 and the Escape Lounge? They charge £20 per visit and that would be fine. Would FlyBe play ball with this and get the OCS people to trundle her through? Do FlyBe need to know? She just tells them where to take her? Providing there is easy wheelchari access from T3 to T2?


Ermm -No!

To get to T2 for the Escape Lounge you need to be travelling out on an airline from T2. Passengers can not go into which ever departure lounge they choose! Now if the passenger was transfering through MAN to an airline in a different terminal, OCS (wheelchair company) will take the passenger to which ever terminal their next flight is going out of.
T3 doesnt have the facilities of T1 and T2 were you can pay for the lounge, the only advantage the lounges in T3 have is cracking views of the runway :-)

If IB were to launch from MAN again (unlikely), then I would assume it would be an over night aircraft which would be able to connect with South American flights and then return in the evening.

June Airport Figures
 

CAA figures released today give the following movement/passenger numbers for June 2008

Movements - 18134 - down 5.5%
Rolling Annual Movements - 201970 - down 3.9%
Terminal Passengers - 2125435 - down 2.8%
Rolling Terminal Passengers - 21870844 - down 0.5%

Stansted figures for a comparison

Movements - 16034 - down 6.2%
Rolling Annual Movements - down 2.7%
Terminal Passengers - 2079712 - down 5.7%
Rolling Terminal Passenger - 2327756 - down 2%

Robbin' The Rich Doesn't Pay
 

I visited one of MAN's new upstart competitor's yesterday, one which has set out to rob the rich (MAN) to give to the poor. Yes, Robin Hood Doncaster/Sheffield International was a picture of tranquility yesterday at around 1700 hours. The 2893 metre runway and impressive parallel taxiway shimmered in the late afternoon sunshine, with no traffic on it. The new wavy roof terminal building set a pleasant and welcoming profile alongside the refurbished 1930s RAF Expansion Period hangars. It was a shame there were not more people around to appreciate it. I drove along the new dual-lane access road, which had no traffic on it. I gazed over the apron, which had no traffic on it. Just one bizjet and no public transport aircraft in sight. I waited for about 15 minutes. I heard several pins drop, but the air remained undisturbed by turbine engines. On my way out, to be helpful to the people of South Yorkshire, I reversed a road sign showing an 'Airport (aircraft silhouette) symbol. I turned it to point West, added the word 'Manchester' before the symbol, with the suffix '38 miles'. The idea seemed to be catching as I glanced up to see, overhead at about 7000 feet, an Emirates B777 was already descending on its way west.

Robbin' The Rich
 

A mighty fine post roverman.

Finningley may have a long runway, but nothing like the catchment area of MAN. I recall at the Public Inquiry into the airport development that the proponents of the airport were suggesting that as several of the Pilgrim Fathers travelled to America from the local area, their descendents would flock back to their roots in Doncaster. It hasn't happened, and it never will do via Finningley.

Yorkshire needs more air routes, but has too many airports. Airlines in these cash-strapped times will choose LBA or MAN to serve the region, certainly for long-haul.

Why A 777, Now??
 

Why would a certain Middle Eastern airline want to alter it's MAN daily service from A330 to B777? Now of all times!

Seems odd to me.

Cargo perhaps?:uhoh:

If you are referring to EY, because they are doing amazingly well!

when does this upgrade take place on EY?
Is it confirmed?

I've flown on EK and EY on several occasions and both are busy. It was only a matter of time for EY to upgrade equipment its load factors must be good, there is hardly ever a spare seat when i travel.

Abu dhabi desperately needs more terminal capacity though. the place is constantly rammed. Makes you dream that you were back in the MCR Bar in T1.

EK at MAN
 

Virgin cc and TURIN :

Perhaps you are not aware but Emirates service to Manchester has been a twice-daily B777-300 for at least two years now. A third, morning service is a possibility next year, and from 2010 they will introduce the 2-class 644-seat A380 on DXB-MAN, subject to deliveries from Airbus.

EY is Etihad not EK Emirates

Ian