Bmi & Ezy
 

Two comments tonight:

BMI: Reports from the BMI thread suggest that MAN-LHR is reprieved (for now!). Seven aircraft are to leave the fleet, including two of the A330's which left sunny Manchester for the Heathrow base afew months ago. One of the routes facing the axe is LHR-TLV on which some of the A330 capacity had been deployed. Further details have been posted on the BMI thread.

EasyJet: Can anybody comment on the *rumour* that certain destinations are "embargoed" from MAN as part of EZY's operating agreement with Liverpool Airport? If routes such as Madrid and Amsterdam were on a "protected" list it would explain some of the interesting route choices at the MAN base. If this is total rubbish then so be it, but the notion does feature in gossip around Ringway. Is anybody on here at liberty to confirm / deny?

SHED.

Hmmm ... that software really doesn't like capital letters in the title line, does it?

I would guess as far as it could possible go is a gentleman's agreement as it would be against both UK and EU laws for the companies to sign a 'pact' concerning routes from the North West.

I think it is more of the former and also that they don't want to affect what is clearly a very good base for easyJet at Liverpool.

Very interesting to see easyJet adding ZRH to their network from MAN.

I used to be a regular (nearly every week!) with Swiss MAN-ZRH-MAN and whilst the loads were often very good, the bulk of the pax are connecting at ZRH.

Same with HEL many passengers connecting with Finnair long haul network.

STATSMAN

As yet EZY haven't added ZRH to their Manchester network and if they do there's no guarantee it will be daily - non of their other recent European additions from MAN have been.

As for not duplicating certain routes between MAN and LPL my take is that the region can only sustain demand for the current level of frequencies on certain routes (let's face it, RYR couldn't find sufficient pax to keep LPL - MAD going against EZY). EZY is unlikely to risk the health and profitability of these routes by adding them from MAN as well. MAN may well get ZRH, as well as Milan, Rome and Venice from EZY and possibly Palma and Faro where there is a large existing Manchester market to eat into, but again there is no guarantee these will be daily services...

Saudia to axe MAN
 

The last Saudia flight to man will be 28th Dec 09.

Good riddance

Roy Hudd -

Please elaborate. I flew with Saudia from MAN last year and considered them excellent. What have they done to upset you?

SHED.

But I've seen elsewhere that SV's withdrawal is only a temporary thing and the service will be resumed late March or April?

My dad's flying to Goa on Monarch this afternoon, 16.15 is departure time at the moment, although this has changed more than once.
Will this be operated by a A300 or A330?

Thanks for a prompt reply.

Will be on A330.

Thanks for the reply.

SV
 

Travelling as crew positioning with this airline has been an unpleasant experience, as has the entry and exit through JED. The Saudis have seemed an arrogant and superior lot to me, and I am not alone in this viewpoint.

However, it is sad if inevitable to see MAN losing so much business.

Well with the ILS being back on 23R, it means that the LHR Shuttles can "safely" land on 23R:ok:
The other day, a BAW Shuttle asked for an ILS approach to 05L....
"because he could NOT accept a VOR/DME approach to 23R"
Makes you wonder...:hmm:
bb

As some have predicted, it was announced today that easyJet add Sharm El Sheikh to their network from Manchester next summer... however you can't book it just yet! ;)

Fascinating information, that.

Funny that cus can't see any news for it anywhere????and a certain base just up the road has been told that they are getting this route.

For the Sharm route I personally think it would be better to open it from Liverpool rather than Manchester due to the Manchester market being rather saturated with the route already whereas Liverpool has none. Maybe more routes like that from Liverpool would make more money than from Manchester due to no competition e.g. Paphos etc. If this was to happen I'd guess another A320 on the way to LPL.

I would still like to see Manchester have a very large presence at Manchester but do think those routes would be better off at LPL. Are there any other routes this year to be released from MAN? I hope so!!

I would still like to see Manchester have a very large presence at Manchester

Eh?

Andy

Whilst you are quite correct, it MAY be that there is still some agreement between U2 and the airports which prevents them not only duplicating routes from each airport but which ones go from where. It might be that some of U2s current LPL services would be better operated from MAN and vv but there is some sort of agreement on what goes from where. But hey, who knows?

There were several "false starts" before U2 set up at MAN and it was rumoured that this was because U2 & LPL had some exclusion clause about ops from MAN. I seem to remember hearing that at one stage it was going to court, but in the end it didn't and the MAN ops eventually started. But maybe this is just a rumour and we will never know for sure.

Suzeman