With 9,912 pax in July and being 9% more than July 2012, I will be surprised if the route was dropped.

TSR2, I certainly agree, especially after my comments on the Luton thread. It'll be interesting to see.

HH6702, I would be pleasantly surprised if our 752s get replaced by 2 new A321s. I take it the new aircraft you're talking about are the newly delivered ones from Condor. Time will tell.

EDIT: Looking at seating plans on the TCX website it looks like you could be correct.

From looking at NCL-BJV next summer it still is a 752, by god I hope they don't take those beauties away - hopefully the Jet2 rumour will materialise

Didn't TCX say on the announcement of KOS that it would be operated by 757s ?

EDIT : NCL - SSH still a 757 , I would be surprised if we got 2 new A321s ! It's a shame they don't give us a 753 :p

This news was announce to crews at ncl yesterday. I've seen the memo
Also states we are to get 2 of the 4 being delivered by may

Cardiff is to loose its A321 TCX based machine to a leased A321 from another company.

Other airbus aircraft are moving out of gatwick and being replaced by 757 so the same type at each of the bases.

This should also help with delays as the can move the aircraft up if all the same type

Hopefully we can get a MT A320 next year then instead of a leased in aircraft.

HH do you know which company the CWL A321 is coming from? Can't think of that many airlines with a A321 available for lease...

Also, are we to retain our TCX crew or is it to be operated by the 'new company' ?

Tcx
 

It was stated in the memo that Cardiff crew would be sent to other bases where type was going.

I'm guessing people at ncl will be offered to move to gatwick to continue flying the 757 or being retrained on the A321

Where do you find out the seat plans for the flights?

I will be seeing one of the pilots tomorrow night so will try and fin out more but he said he will be retrained around Easter time

Summer 2014 TCX
 

It also stated in the memo that next year fleet total will be as follows

31x tcx aircraft
4x leased aircraft for the uk

Was hoping we would hold on to the 757s at least anther summer ! Just JET2 75s from next year then

EDIT : will the A321s have sharklets ?

Ncl regains place in top 10 uk airports
 

In the year to June 2012 Newcastle re-enters the top 10 UK airports at No.10 replacing Liverpool.

This should make the airport more attractive to prospective new operators and for new routes.

Do you think it makes a difference to the airlines?

How does that affect seat numbers, a little less?

215 seats i have seen, a little less than the maximum 220 on the A321 , but dont quote me on it

Yes I do, even more so if the annual pax figure can reach 5m which is a critical figure to attract new routes.

Ok, but what do you do with the fact that the NE is in the depths of one of the biggest downturns in the economy? Especially when compared to other parts of the country.

I must say 5 million is way off for us, also we have lost allot of capacity from BY and MT now considering the 757 to 738 drop and now the lesser but still a bit of a dent 757 to A321 what we need is an increase in capacity through new aircraft be it Jet2 or Thomson as these are the routes that get the airport into the 5M figures and then attract further long haul prospects.

Why is it a critical figure, can you explain?

Jamesair Unsure what the delay is, but I heard very recently that EZY are to operate NCL-LGW though no idea as to frequency.:ok:

Graham

The state of the economy is bad in the North East but it is also home to some of the most successful companies in the UK. Sage and Nissan to name a couple. As the economy improves so will employment in the large and smaller companies that exist in the area. Although the size of public sector employment in the area continues to be a problem as cutbacks continue.

Centrefix

The 5m figure places the airport in a different category as does the top 10 rating, which raises the airports profile.

Skyman

That would indeed be good news, I hope we get confirmation soon for a smooth transition from Flybe, otherwise thats another 7K + loss of monthly pax.