There is more chance of the Lib Dems winning the general election than there is of EK pulling out of MAN.

I have been looking at the prices for holidays to the far east and companies are charging up to £200 extra to fly from MAN opposed to other EK airports in the UK - and that includes LHR.

Just do a quick search between DXB and the UK destinations and then put in MAN - I guarantee it is higher.

The A380 is badly needed - and that includes first class! EK cannot afford SQ to take the traffic.

Cathay Pacific plans to fly to Moscow

They are over half way here - why not make the extra stop?!:ok:

From the 2005 archive:

Even had a schedule!

Full schedule
Flight number Days of operations
CX237 Hong Kong Moscow 00:15 / 06:25 Mon, Thu, Sat
CX237 Moscow Manchester 07:50 / 08:55 Mon, Thu, Sat
CX236 Manchester Moscow 10:00 / 16:55 Mon, Thu, Sat
CX236 Moscow Hong Kong 18:40 / 08:10 +1 Mon, Thu, Sat

We'll be back, but not via SVO!:ok:

Then why not go and ask EK staff why this is!!! Surely they would be able to give a straight forward answer, after all it's in their interest to fill the 380 plus other services. If NCL and BHX are showing cheaper fares then there must be a problem

crewmeal,

The reason is that there are not enough seats on the MAN services. I am not complaining as I am able to travel from other airports (recently booked first with EK from LGW as it was cheaper than flying J from MAN).

They need the A380 quickly.

Has Palma dropped off Baby's radar this summer,or is it a fault on the booking system
Jubilee

I think quite a few destinations have fallen off WW's radar from MAN, haven't they? BCN, FAO, AGP...

I am staggered LIS survived, not because it is not profitable, I am sure it is but twice a week is useless to me as a businessman, so I have to transfer still at LHR.

Re Air India

BHX would certainly have plenty of VFR traffic east and west
just shame about the runway. I assume LAX, SFO & YVR would
be on the cards with the reasonably large Indian expat profile.

I assume Manchester will be more than watching in this instance.

..."watching" being the operative term !:ugh:

Actually getting off their backsides, being intensely proactive and relentless in hunting down this business and selling MAN as an option will i'm sure be a different story......!

More recently it has always been the airlines that have recognised potential opportunities offered by Manchester and exploited them.....judging by the lack lustre PR , MAG marketing could not identify an opportunity like this if it smacked them in the face a metre away and was the size of a cows backside....... !

...a totally different story to when Sir Gil Thompson had Manchester plastered all over the press at every opportunity !

As soon as this story broke and assuming it has not been cast in stone (Re The Dublin option), someone should have been on a plane to Delhi banging on the CEOs HQ at AI.

I hope they were.......but I doubt it !

A similar situation occurred with JET Airways, 2 years back, they chose Brussels when they were looking for a European transit point, this was another missed opportunity, there is a much much larger Indian popluation within 100 miles of Manchester than Brussels but MAG were too slow off the mark, it was debateable whether they really wanted the business as slots were tight and they could afford to cherry pick at a time when rampsat was common between 0700-1000am !

Times have changed however, we are 25% down on those pax levels and MAN needs this opportunity and the business desperately !

It fills empty slots , brings in much needed runway revenue , immediatly offers 3/4 new destinations if 5th freedom rights are granted and could provide much needed but limited footfall thru the terminal especially T2 which is like a grave.

If there are no-rights, well bloody well start lobbying now and convice AI we will get them !

Its so damn quiet a negligible increase would make a massive difference....

The North of England around Preston and Blackburn has a very large Indian community, certainly massive compared to Dublin, where opportunities for additional traffic are non-existant.

In terms of access, the East Midlands and Leicester are easy to get to via the A50, certainly time and distances are marginal compared to using LHR.
(...if service can be offered)

BUT all this information and indeed the potential for profit needs selling to Air India and FAST !

Manchester is a poor hub / transit airport because of the terminal layouts etc. Brussels is excellant - single modern terminal - I guess thats why JET went there. I sometimes wish a new single terminal akin to T5 would have been built rather than Runway 2. As was said at the time Gatwick controllers not new runway.

Could the horrendous level of tax that the government have been imposing have something to do with airlines looking at Ireland and continental Europe opposed to the likes of MAN?

I also agree that MAN is a b*stard to transfers.

If the plan of getting all the Sched full cost operators in T1 happens that should make it a lot easier

Ian B

mybrico
could you please explain, gatwick controllers not a new rwy.

You have missed the point chaps ....

I was suggesting that Air India have an opportunity to pick up OR drop off a significant amount of pax that originate in the NW Or The Midlands.......

.....i.e. they will travel by car/rail to pick up flights to India OR the US from Manchester !

I may be wrong but I seriously doubt that JET pick up any "additional" traffic on their flights to/from Brussels via "connecting" flights so terminal layout is totally irrelevent !:ugh:

Jet Airways Connections
 

I think you would be surprised. Just flew JFK-BRU on Jet, then onto BHX on SN. Quite a few people were transiting, because of the price and on board service. I would estimate 25% were going elsewhere.

I think Jet chose BRU because they wanted an easy way to transfer pax to other major European cities from just a single European point of arrival by codeshare (which they got in the shape of Brussels Airlines and its extensive network of destinations). MAN at the time could offer neither a single terminal operation or a single airline with sufficient connections to other European cities to codeshare with.

As for AI that I think is a different story, as no one seems to know what are they really looking for? A plain and simple tech stop, an airport that can also provide local arrival/departure footfall, subject to traffic rights or a true hub style operation like Jet in BRU??

If the first then any airport surely would suffice, subject to slots and cost (hence the DUB option). If the second then I think MAN stands a very good chance indeed based on local catchment and airport infrastructure. If the third, it will be somewhere like CPH or MUC where they could interline their pax with SK or LH across Europe - of course subject to a codeshare being agreed in the first place.......

Sense, spoken so beautifully.

What are KLM upto today then? The airline and MAN airport have been tweeting for about a week about something today.

@manairport
KLM plays tricks with your eyes @ MAN Airport NOW in terminal 2
about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

@manairport
Kick start your hols with a big surprise at MAN Airport, courtesy of KLM NOW
about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck


@manairport
KLM is set to defy gravity @ Manchester Airport today - you'll have to see it to believe it…
about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

Agreed GF

The scond part of your reponse is actually more critical

If the first then any airport surely would suffice, subject to slots and cost (hence the DUB option). If the second then I think MAN stands a very good chance indeed based on local catchment and airport infrastructure. If the third, it will be somewhere like CPH or MUC where they could interline their pax with SK or LH across Europe - of course subject to a codeshare being agreed in the first place.......

....If the Dublin rumour is true it appears that AI have infact already discounted the 3rd option !

As Dublin has neither a large local population nor indeed any better connections than MAN , surely we must be in the frame ?

Unless of course they are being sold the RYR network.... ?

A FR-AI codeshare, now that really would be something, LOL :):):)

Something I hadn't thought about - perhaps they want to do a codeshare deal with EI? They have a significant European network from DUB, the only thing would be overflying Europe from India all the way to DUB to then backtrack over the continent to reach your final destination. IF AI are going for such traffic, I still think CPH or MUC would be a better bet. MAN sadly does not have a single based airline with enough connections to do a single codeshare arrangement with, unless EZY are in the frame ;)

Ryanair would never connect with any other airline, ever. It goes completely against their policy. The reason for this is to keep costs to a minimum and fares at their lowest.

EI would be the only option from DUB, but a very good option at that.