Quote
easyJet - new routes available on the website;

MAN - Corfu
MAN - Bastia
MAN - Athens

Reply
Count me out going to CFU - Once was enough!

Corfu's a S***Hole.

While I'm here, What's behind all the AEA flights into MAN - TFS by the 'Bucket loads'

Saturday there was a row of them in early doors on the stands.

Extra capacity or filling the GAP left by XL?

Very much depends on what part of the island you go to and what resort or village
do your research first and there is something for everyone

Ian

BYALPHAINDIA -

The extra Air Europa capacity to MAN was laid on to provide seats for tour operators offering additional holiday stock over the Christmas / New Year period. There is a big market for holidays over the 'festive' season with families avoiding dilemmas over whether to visit "his" or "her" parents on the key days! Holiday packages sold over this period command a significant price premium for tour operators, and they can easily sell extra capacity if they can source aircraft and hotel space for this two week period only. Last Winter, Futura and LTE were in demand; this time Air Europa pretty much cornered the market.

Cheers, SHED.

Okay, Cheers Shed.

Just been looking on Etihad's site:

June - MAN - ABD return X 2 = 566.00 Incl taxes etc.

That is for a 4 night duration.

Not a bad price, Compared to 'Emiroids' (EK) who charge about that per pax!

Abu Dhabi is about 1 hour from Dubai on the train.

I can assure you Abu Dhabi is not about an hour to Dubai on the train as there are no trains in the UAE, nor the Gulf for that matter. Only 'train' will be Dubai Metro Red Line when it opens.

AUH is on the outskirts of the city and is about an hour or so's drive from Jebil Ali in Dubai. Central Dubai (around the creek) is another half hour or so but it all depends on the level of gridlock on Shiekh Zayed Road.

Try MAN-AUH-DXB. Usually you will see little or no difference on the price.

I went to China last year with EK from MAN and it was exactly the same price from MAN-DXB as it was for MAN-DXB-China.

It seems to be coming more and more apparent to many of us on here that MAG is starting to become more like the Trafford Centre than Changi. But what is the aim of a business? To please it's stakeholders and MAG looks like it wants to please it's financial stakeholders more so than any other.

Its main aim as a business is to make money and if the airport is gaining more and more shops, surely their main aim is to attract more passengers to spend in their shops.

I know people say that by attracting locos they are attracting low spenders but surely, as we see that easyJet are to carry 650,000 people this summer - these are more likely to spend more money than the number of passengers, say QR carry every year.

So as a business more locos is good for business but for the public and the passengers travelling through it is less so.

What people think - is this the plan of MAG or is it just a general, global transition being made at many ex-legacy airports?

Global trend - in some respects Manchester has been a bit behind the times in its shopping offerings. Gatwick Village to name one long running example. A business has to make money, and if it thinks that can be done by adding shops rather than open space then it will do so. Don't know why people are getting het up about being forced to walk through shops - it's been a trick at airports around the world for ages too. I think some of us are just averse to change.

By the way - the stakeholders are those with a financial interest. We are just customers (well I suppose I am both as my local council is one of the owners) and so are irrelevant as far as MAG's financials results are concerned.

I think that the 650,000 passengers Eaysjet hope to carry ex-MAN this summer are but a drop in the ocean compared to the potential falls in overall pax numbers due to the loss of XL and consolidation of the IT sector. MAG can put in as many shops as it likes to boost spend but you need the punters to pass though the doors in the first place. If December's 10% fall in passengers is any sign of the year to come then times are going to get tough. There is the potential for a big financial hole to be filled - even at say income lost of £20 per pax (purely arbitrary, I admit - by the time security and passenger charges and the income from car parking and other revenues is taken into account the figure could be higher) even a modest 5% drop in pax next year could result in a drop in income of around £20 million and as has been said by other posters costs are generally pretty fixed.

In addition any extra revenue from retail may well have to be offset against any incentives or lower fees offered to new carriers (LOCO or otherwise). All in all times are going to be hard...

Stakeholders are a person or group of people with a direct interest in the performance of a company. This includes the local community from business to people.

If say, QR were to pull out of MAN, it would cost a minibus company a loss in a daily job plus the hotel that houses the crew overnight a loss in a number of hotel rooms. If U2 were to increase routes and aircraft, this would not benefit the local business, but will create more jobs so they balance themselves really. The local community is a stakeholder, of any company (not taking into account Manchester's ownership of MAG) but the people who live under the flightpath are stakeholders - they don't want planes over their houses and growth will mean more planes which they don't want.

I do understand that XL has left a large gap in the passenger numbers from MAN but surely with TOM/FCA merging - why are they removing a/c when their is a hole there? Surely they would want to keep them at MAN to benefit from the drop in competition and take up the extra passengers?

What are TCX/MYT doing anyway? Are they keeping the same number of aircraft at MAN, expanding or reducing?

Thought that the easiest way to Dubai from AUH with Etihad was their coach service which drops you at their offices on SZR in Dubai?

If I am flying from A to B either for a holiday [Loco or Tour Op], or on Business, I cannot see for the life of me, just why I should spend my hard earned dosh in any airport "shopping centre" for an "Experience" that is 20-50% more expensive than Tesco/Asda, when you can buy said "Tat" at your destination for 1/2 the price....

Wiccan is obviously not a woman:oh:

FR base to be announced soon at MAN?

MAN needs the commercial developments going on in the terminals. It had, until, recently the most boring, depressing terminals in which to spend time. Terminal 2 was particularly bad, a soulless empty shell of a building with one airside bar and a lack of food choice, an utterly awful place to be stuck for any length of time. The airport experience is a part of any flight experience, if MAN can be made less boring then all the better to retain passengers. Just because other areas of the airport need attention does not mean that that would happen if the terminal developments had not.

FR base to announced Vuelo? ....says who?

Manchester airport needed some working runway lights this morning? Aircraft diverting due cat 2 conditions and the lights were broken.

Or maybe someone forgot to put some money in the meter :E

D and F

Yes true, however do you want a BAA focus where people are enticed to part with as much money as possible between security and gate or a London City where the brief is to get you on your way with as little fuss and hassle as possible. There is a difference between a noce bar or place to eat and a branch of HMV to part you from your cash.

Different airports, different functions: LCY make a big deal about the fact that you can be through the formalities very quickly, and so don't have any of this 'turn up 2-3 hours prior to departure' nonsense. As such they appeal to business travellers who pay big bucks for their tickets - and I suspect that the charges LCY levy per pax is greater than the BAA airports. BAA airports make their money differently, with a greater proportion of income from the percentage they take from the retailers.

LCY have the right number of staff in place for the passenger throughput, it's Airports 1-01. BAA Airports have been screamed at by all their airlines for not even bothering their arse to attempt this until forced to recently.

You do NOT have to be airside 2-3 hours before a flight, in 17 years of flying I have never *Had* to be airside more than 35 minutes before departure time and that's with a 30 minute gate closure that was never enforced as the aircraft was never on stand until departute -35.....

It's different for the once a year shellsuits though I guess.

Yes the shops, bars and restaraunts may be frustrating for regular flyers, but you need to remember one simple fact:

Manchester airport is a business, not a service. If it chooses to make more revenue from facilities such as shops, then it will do.

Some more stupidity next monday:

Hundreds of anti-aviation protesters are expected to give the government a nasty shock when they return to Parliament after their Winter Recess on Monday 12th January. Protesters from the environmental action group, 'The Climate Rush' will be holding a sit-down picnic at the Departures Gate of Terminal One in Heathrow Airport. The dinner will begin at 7pm sharp and is expected to last several hours. At the same time the Northern Climate Rush will hit Manchester Airport Terminal 3 (Domestic Departures).

Why don't they have their "picnic" outside the Palace of Westminster?
Oh, that would be an act of Terrorism....:ugh: according to Gords ex boss :*

The only reason LCY is not a shopping centre is due to lack of retail space. In an ideal world they would have you parting with your cash - just like any airport.

Isn't it because mostly business passengers use the airport meaning most will be pushing the 15 minute check in deadline so there will be little amount of people using the facilities in the terminal?

That's what a certain aviation magazine said that did a report recently.....

It's not a case of the 'shell suits' turning up hours before a flight and business travellers being right at the last minute. I am a business traveller for my job as well as working at MAN, and often end up at airports a long time due to delays, transfers or simply because business concluded much earlier than the next available flight. That being the case, I like terminals with a lot of shops and restaurants, it gives me something to do and look at whilst I wait, allows me to pick up books, presents or whatever I choose. The airport isn't 'fleecing' me, if I don't want something I don't buy it. I'll take shops over empty boring space any time. If MAN is to become better in that respect brilliant, and then in the summer I might be able to walk more than 20 feet through T2 without a passenger asking me 'Are these the only places to buy food from?' whilst looking at the 300 foot long queue at Burger king and the place next door.

I agree with that. As a business traveller, I give myself 'reasonable' time at the airport in most cases and enjoy a browse of the books and a choice of food. I particularly like the seats in giraffe T1 which have a view of the planes.
Shops are good for passengers so long as there are still enough seats to sit in should you choose, the shops dont make you go on detours you dont want to and you dont have to walk through them should you not want too.
Based on the above, the new location of Duty Free at T1 i dont like but the new food places on the mazzanine level i do like.
Surely its all about choice?

Shed:

If MAN management don't give themselves bonuses, the money saved could be added to the dividend given to the 10 local authority shareholders, which could be used to reduce council tax increases.

I suspect those dividends will be down again this year, but the bonuses will still given, if not increased.

Any discretionary expenditure could be added to the dividend instead.

That is the point that Roy Hudd was trying to make, imho.

'discretionary expenditure'

What an interesting term that is!!

imho - sic

MM

Thanks MM. By which I mean money that doesn't have to be spent, yet the company will keep going: mgmt bonuses, gallivanting away days, new company cars etc. rather than say rent, maintenance, snow clearing etc. which have to be paid or else the business stops.

Any discretionary expenditure could be returned to shareholders as extra divident without hurting profits or the business' effectiveness.

So in that sense, the taxpayers of GM are paying mgmt bonuses.

Fancy a laugh? Re-read Mr Muirhead's growth predictions. They were funny enough a couple of years ago; today they'll make you weep.

House of Commons - Transport - Minutes of Evidence

Secondly, I'd like to share with you a prediction I made a couple of years back.

http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...ml#post2769962

Sad, but true.

ML 'discretionary expenditure'

by which you mean the normal 'management benefits'
from a successful business?

Goodness knows what clowns would be on the board
at MAplc if they didnt have a package like.............oh
hang on a moment.........sorry just realised my mistake!

MM

:)

That's what I mean. But as you say, they only apply to successful businesses.

Define "successful" in the context of MAG's performance recently.

Runour of a FR announcement, linked to Hahn changes??

Sorry if I missed this one, but has anyone heard any more about the rumoured return of Air Canada this summer or was it just that?

Anything CONFIRMED yet on the Jet2 handling contract yet?

No official announcement yet. Plenty of rumours but no firm evidence. :confused:

AC won't be back.

From another Thread, regarding Menzies, Its says that Gate Handling will take over the Jet2 Contract from the 1st March.

Cant see it at the moment, as they dont have anything at Manchester?

Unless someone knows anything more about Gate Handling coming into MAN?