INVERNESS
 

Quite a lot happening at the Highlands capital airport at the moment. Ryanair to start a daily East Midlands service from the 26th in addition to the Liverpool service they already operate. Aer Arann shortly to start a Dublin service and Flybe have recently started a BHD service.

Discuss....

Any rumoured links to continental europe?

INV used to have AMS & ARN that I remember.

wasn't EMA-INV supposed to be thrice weekly?

They'd better carry plenty holding fuel :E .

Aer Arann operating INV-DUB for sometime now. Was a rumour of INV-Germany, but it's gone quiet

ARN - INV was a very short-lived route. I think SAS/Snowflake only operated a couple of flights before the route was axed for good.

Any news about the INV - LGW route from BACX ?

The deal between Flybe and BA Connect is not yet concluded, but should be soon. Read somewhere that Flybe want to start operating the route on 25 March. Don't know who's handling them though

The INV-LGW flights exist in the BA reservations system until the end of the summer programme, but not into the winter.

Is there any certainty that BE will take on the route?

It looks the as though all BACON flights stop at the end of the summer schedule on the BA booking system.
They will have to hurry through the takeover then.:E

BA want to either keep hold on LGW-INV or if lost to BE then look into operating their own LGW-INV services, IOM is not of interest to BA once the whole BACON/BE move occurs.

It doesn't make sense for BA to have stopped selling LGW-INV from the end of the sumer if they want to maintain the route, does it?

Maxxed Out Inverness
 

I used the new Ryanair service EMA - INV - EMA ast week and found that Inverness was barely able to cope the numbers of Pax within the terminal.

My wife flew INV - EMA last Friday, 30 minutes waiting at check-in, followed by an horrendous queue at security - during which they had to call forward the Ryanair Pax to the head of the queue. Otherwise the flight would have got off even later than it did, 25 minutes late as it was. The arriving Ryanair flight was on time.

The logistics of INV just do not seem to be able to cope with the increased numbers of departing PAX that 2 x Easy Jets and a Ryanair flight generate.

Maxxed out
 

I think the problem is that the LTN goes out at 1450 and the EMA at 1505, quickly followed by the LGW at 1545.

Check in at times can be slow especially with FR, I always feel that this is due to people not having booked bags online etc and then having to pay for them etc.

I have always found security at INV to be swift, admitedly I haven't been through the airport at that time since the EMA service started. The majority of hold ups are caused once again by the pax who are asked 'does your bag contain any liquids or sharp objects?', the pax replies 'no' and the scanner starts beeping like hell!

I have never yet seen both security scanners open at INV even when there have been very long waiting times (>30mins). When asked about this it is because they don't have enough staff.

Trouble is that even then the departure lounge can't cope with the number of pax for more than two BA/RYR/EZY flights and a couple of EASTERNs. Maybe they are slowing passengers at Security to reduce congestion in the dep lounge?:)

Inverness
 

With the takeover of Bacon by Flybe now complete and the summer schedules now released, can anyone explain why Flybe have reduced the INV-LGW flights to just two on Saturdays. With the 'Highland 2007' year getting into it's stride, already accommodation providers in Inverness and the Highlands are saying that there is going to be a dire shortage of beds come the summer and some weeks are already fully booked. With the expected influx of visitors due this summer it seems madness to reduce capacity on the busiest day of the week. In contrast EasyJet have increased their flights from LTN-INV to two a day on Saturdays.
Maybe nobody told the Flybe management about 'Highland 2007'

EB

I don't know the definitive answer, but it's probably got a lot to do with Flybe being a low - cost airline.

All their aircraft working at maximum capacity and the fact that it makes commercial sense to operate their aircraft full to overflowing twice a day, rather than half or two thirds full 3 times a day.
That said, if they thought there was the commercial justifcation to operate a third sector, they would do it.

Easy have taken quite a bit of the leisure market on London to Inverness. The BA route retains much of the business traffic, mainly due to its better timings morning and evening. It is normal on a UK business route for Saturday to be the quietest day and to have a reduced service. I would guess the BA loads are thin on that day nowadays.

The days when the full service could be maintained at weekends was before Easyjet and BMI came onto the route. There has actually been a huge increase in London to Inverness capacity over the last couple of years.

From 12th May, Flybe have introduced a Saturday pm LGW-EGC (Bergerac) route. Looking at the timings, which seem to fit, perhaps this is what the A/C is doing before it returns to INV?

What Aircraft are Flybe using on INV - LGW route is it Bacons 146 what are they going to replace it with Dash or 195 ?

This is not the "cause" of the hold ups; these are caused solely by the airport authority not providing sufficient screening resources, occasionally screening stations but principally staff.

The average time taken to process each passenger is readily calculated. This will include whatever proportion of passengers need to have bags hand-searched, etc, which doubtless varies by time of day and such like but can be easily determined. The proportion of those who need additional checks has not suddenly changed upwards. What has changed is additional passengers due to additional flights, and seemingly the airport is attempting to process them with the same resources as before.

But it's not as if they didn't know Ryanair were coming, is it ?

A further inappropriate excuse is that proferred by BAA and others that it takes them so long to get security clearance for new personnel. This was being uttered last summer/autumn by various airports, the explanation being that it takes "3 months to get security clearance for them". Well the 3 months are long passed, no noticeable improvement.

If Inverness can't handle it they should have told Ryanair not to come.

Spot on WHBN but unfortunately the lure of the ££££££'s for the management and owners of the airpoprt is obviously too much and therefore due to the shortsightedness of the management, the people who 'get it in the neck' are the passengers themselves who in turn get frustrated with the staff at the airport and then the Cockpit Team end up struggling to meet slots and it all becomes rush...rush...rush.

According to the news section of HIAL's website, FlyBE are dedicating a newly-unveiled Q400 named "Spirit of the Highlands" to the INV-LGW route in its honour - looks like G-OINV will be heading elsewhere.

WHBM

I understand and agree with what you are saying regarding the squeezing of resources, it might just be me but on the last 3 occasions that I have been through INV security (all within the last 6 weeks) each time someone in front of me has been pulled and had their bag manually searched with either bottles of water or a nail file etc being fished out.

It might just be me being unlucky at INV and getting stuck behind someone who is a bit dim or chancing their arm trying to take liquids through, or the travelling public still don't understand the now not so 'new' rules.

I also agree with what others said earlier, I have only ever saw one screener in use at INV and with several departues clustered together both machines should be in use

Man/bhx/sou/ams&cdg
 

Cop a load of this

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/n...th_Europe.html

Still a year off for some of them but pretty major expansion of their INV base.

Ryanair
 

Just to let you know, that the EMA-INV route is to stay, load factors have been good, better than expected. However, the winter service maybe reduced.

First time i flew into INV last week, and it was tiny, too many PAX, looked a nice small simple easy to use airport, just too many people are once.

Will flybe be basing any further aircraft here ?

from todays paper
 

DUTCH airline KLM confirmed yesterday it was in talks with Eastern Airways about setting up a new service from Inverness to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.

A new Eastern Airways service may also be allowed to operate effectively as a KLM subsidiary, meaning passengers would be able to book tickets direct from Inverness to any of the Dutch airline’s network of 124 worldwide destinations using a single KLM booking reference.
This “interlining” arrangement would allow passengers to check their luggage in at Inverness and not have to repeat the process until they reached their final destination.
News of the proposal to make Eastern the 73rd “interlining partner” with KLM around the world delighted the city’s business community and cheered the local tourism sector as it would also make reaching the Highlands from outside the UK far easier than current arrangements allow. At present passengers travelling from outside the UK have to book a flight to an airport such as London Heathrow and wait to collect their luggage before checking in again to catch a separate flight to Inverness.
The proposed Schiphol link would give Inverness Airport another international hub airport to rely on if the Heathrow service was terminated.
At present most international travel from Inverness must go via Heathrow, but last week bmi, which operates that service, said the link could be threatened due to the Competition Commission allowing the airport operators to charge increased landing fees which could mean bmi dropping regional services for more profitable transatlantic routes.
A spokesman for Highlands and Islands Airports (HIA) said it had been trying to restore Inverness Airport’s link with Schiphol after the end of a previous service on the route, operated by ScotAirways and launched in September 2001, was withdrawn a few months later during the downturn in the aviation industry which followed the Al Qaeda attack on New York’s twin towers.
Before this an Inverness/Schiphol service had been operated by KLM’s British subsidiary but was axed in 1998.
KLM and Eastern said despite talks no firm announcement would be made until any deal had been finalised.
Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland’s area director for the Highlands, confirmed his organisation had been consulted about promoting the new service internationally and welcomed its potential impact on the north of Scotland.
“VisitScotland welcomes any potential development at Inverness Airport which will provide a link between Inverness and Amsterdam, giving an increase in visitor traffic to the Highlands,” he said. “Dutch visitors are likely to tour the Highlands when they visit, research shows they are also highly likely to return and recommend Scotland as a holiday destination to their family and friends,” he added.
However there was a note of caution from Casia Zajac, director of Inverness Chamber of Commerce, who was keen steps were taken to minimise the risk of failure of another international service from Inverness following the end of the service to Stockholm just two months after its launch in 2004.
“Having international links is very important for business but we have to make sure there is a concerted effort from the public and private sectors to promote and support this service and that strong marketing and business links are in place to make sure it is sustainable,” she said.

As BE have had several puntuality probs on the LGW rotations, I understood that they were considering INV to AMS and CDG to reconfirm their commitment to H + I........maybe something in the next summer schedule?

Thomson hols has added a second destination from Inverness which is Reus/Salou, alongside with PMI. Both are to be operated by AEA.

Flts will start on 28th June until 8th August, each Saturdays.

New flybe flights to Birmingham, Exeter, Manchester and Southampton S08.

Regards

Mike

Have KLM given up plans to launch INV-AMS using an Eastern feeder? Can't see any slots in for it for next summer? :confused:

end for LHRINV
 

bmi have decided to terminate the service wef 29/3/07 - "lack of demand".

Invernessians are up in arms, esp the business community, calling the decision "a disgrace" & a "slap in the face".

INV/LHR will be stopped at the end of March 08.

Darn...still in last year mode! :rolleyes:

prob nothing to do with lack of demand more like slots for open skies

Whats with the 3 jetscreams(31's) looking abandoned at INV?? Was in there today and saw them, one was certainly a Highland Airways a/c.

Nope not a HWY one, probably G-OJSA, looking like the twin sister of G-JURA which is in fine fettle and serving the Western Isles. The other ones are likely to have been G-CCPW and G-JXTA. Google them for more info.
As I have previously posted in another forum they are all third party a/c in for storage/maintenance or a combination of both.
Incidently JURA is due to have a makeover soon and will come out of the shed in the HWY green/black and white scheme.

Cheers.

CRX

HIAL - General News....
 

Not sure where to put this so feel free to move Mr Mod. From the BBC this morning:

Time to close Wick then!