Yes, the toilets were spotless.

757:
you know me better than that!!! Guess who got stuck in BKK when the political protests shut Phuket and Hat Yai airports. Being stuck in Bangkok is not the end of the world but 2 or 3 extra nights adds to the expense when the week in Phuket is already paid for, but pales into insignificance when compared to the cost of the mobile phone bill trying to get through to Air Asia to try and rebook and put on hold for 45mins a time @ £1 per minute. Several times. I normally keep a phone in Bangkok with a local sim card for such occasions but it wasn't to hand this time( though 1 extra day and it would have been!)

All things currently very quiet at NCL. Other than the demolition of the old Belman hanger that is :{

Thats got a bit of history to it

Where will Gate aviation, the new handling agent be based?

They have been in the freight village for a few months now.

Recruitment for the new third handling agent has been ongoing for some time now, and from what I am led to believe most staff have now been recruited in readiness for an october start, handling just Eastern Airways at present - but rumours are abound that management are eyeing up other potential contracts and currently are getting ready to bid. Equipment has been rumoured to have been acquired suitable for 737/757 sized aircraft, so who knows??

In respect of things being very quiet in NCL, I must agree. It is clearly evident that expansion has halted and even though they opnly operated a small number of flights, things on the charter side seem very quiet without XL.

The southside development will be interesting to watch, with a visitors area and the new Aviation Academy (recently opened). I must say it is nice to see such an educational establishment open to cater for the needs of the industry, providing suitably qualified and trained staff. I know LBA has something similar, maybe a bit larger but its possibly the start for the NCL management to have ties with training providers.

Would be nice to see the odd new route or airline though............:ok:

Gate

I believe some of the old ATC offices are to be modernised, so they may be going there. :oh:

Shannon
 

New route from Newcastle: Shannon with good old Ryanair.

Shannon
 

Checked on the website and no mention of it but it is appearing on the map and the drop down whatsit.

I have never been too bothered by Ryanair not having a base at NCL but I never understood why they never flew to NCL from their existing bases. Hopefully this could signal Ryanair realising that they could make money in the North East and reinstate routes like BGY and launch flights to HHN and MAD perhaps as well.

From the timetable section of Ryanair it appears to be 3 flights per week evening timings. Nice to see one new route - always thought SNN would be popular, so lets wait and see.

seems to commence 7th November operating mid evening Fri and Sun only

Its about time we had something new from Ryanair :D:D:D

More please

Ryanair have the same schedule more or less as Jet2 on cork - newcastle, so no prize for creativity to Ryanair, or for guessing who they want to remove from the market. No doubt it will be as short lived as their attempt to do Leeds out of Shannon, or EMA, or Dublin, or .....

Arran are due to end their four-per-week Galway Newcastle this month so no net gain in movements for the west of ireland. With Lingus going back in from Dublin on Saturdays and Ryanair upping to two per Saturday, it will be interesting to see how these routes fare out if Keano leaves Wearside.

Did anyone notice that KLM have dropped to 4 flights per day to/from Amsterdam for the Winter schedule?

Its the last service in the evening leaving NCL - they just contacted me and said that I'd have to rebook due to the cancellation of the flight from the timetable.

A bit disappointing, that evening flight was useful sometimes!

WOW! A phone call! So there is an airline that still knows phones exist!:ok:

Shame for NCL but they are just part of a package of airports losing frequencies and routes over the past few months.:*

Good on KLM
 

Although that rotation normally has good loads inbound it can go back with anything from 6 to 40. Nearly always under half capacity except on some fridays and Bank Holidays. New timings to 1715 for the 964 means this wont have a huge impact. Also good that they are cutting bad Load routes, Save money and stick around at newcastle.

Well, an email asking me to phone them - but (for once) the KLM agent was very helpful and flexible...

Agree with you on the outbound loads. But KL964 isnt staying at 17:15 for winter, its going back to 16:45.

Thank goodness I finish work at 1pm on Friday these days!

I think we will find, in the industry as a whole, that frequencies and routes are being cut, limited expansion from most airlines and a general scaling back of costs, unprofitable routes/frequencies and sectors. Atleast KL have retained a very decent service to NCL from their AMS hub and since the introduction of more 737 aircraft, the number of seats and passengers using the service has increased. I do wonder if EK have hit passenger numbers any, likewise for BA to LHR and AF to CDG, as DXB is being used heavily as a transit stop for geordie passengers, with China, Oz and India/Pakistan being the most popular from all accounts!

Emirates loads
 

Saw something earlier on a thread - cant find it now - suggesting NCL loads on EK indifferent esp business class - maybe enhanced by upgrades. Went with EK business earlier this year and tried to get reserved seats through "sykwards" 3 months before - just 6 seats left to reserve! PS food and service sublime.

According to the CAA stats, there were 12530 passengers on the EK in August. That's an average of 202 on 62 flights.

Personally, I think it's good to see regional long haul services doing well. Similarly, the PIA at LBA averaged a load of 157 on a 184 seater in August.

Let's hope that this encourages more long haul business to the provinces.