Apologies, I most certainly do. Damn iPhone!

An extra free night in Cyprus:D Repatriation Aircraft left LBA just before 10 tonight

EZY LGW
 

easyJet 2014 summer flights seem to have been released but doesn't appear to include LGW or any other new routes as yet.

G-FCLF made it to SSH after a 3 1/2 delay this morning but looks like its got problems at the other end now delayed prov 23:30

GFCLF was changed into the flight after GFCLI had a problem. GFCLF has a lower maximum take off weight than GFCLI so is having to tech stop at RHO for fuel on the way back.

Well that explains that, I was wondering why it had stopped at Rhodes and FCLI flew out to FUE on time this afternoon, so it looks like all is sorted.
Also it appears that FCLD has been re-positioned up here from LGW to take the NBE flight tonight.

Oh no, it's New York again!
 

Flights to US from Newcastle Airport should be top priority, says think tank - Journal Live

Interesting comment:

We would love a direct flight to New York but it wont happen for a while although I do think it will eventually , if there is a 1% chance of it happening then I can only see emirates trying it if they think money is to be made via freight to the west.

Aer Lingus is probably the best we can get but I think they need to push that route a lot more.

I got an email from EI and all it mentioned was Dublin flights. No mention of immigration clearance in Dublin, no mention of the connection or flight time etc, it was rather irritating.

It is certainly being pushed hard on the airport website home page.

That's a nonsense report. NCL-AMS-US, -LHR-US, -DUB-US are in place offering easy one stop options across the Atlantic. Any NCL-EWR or JFK would also mean changing to the final destination in the US. The key point in the real world, the one certain peeps need to visit, is could any operator gain enough point to point traffic year round to make it work bearing in mind a lot of travellers will continue to use other existing gateways for points and lounge access.

This is politicians trying to distort a market and "entice" an operator to start. The only two possibilities I can see are American who are currently retiring their B757s from the Atlantic, and United who couldn't make BRS, a much more affluent city, work for them. Delta have dropped EDI and MAN-JFK, so not likely to be heading for the Tyne any time soon. I despair at the commercial awareness of people, whoever they are, who write this stuff.

Summer service a few times weekly by Jet2 might be the other option, more realistic than a US network carrier.

G-FCLI & G-FCLF
 

apologies i do not wish to go off topic but how does G-FCLF have a lower MTOW as G-FCLI? i thought they were exactly the same model?

cheers

Not sure of the reason but GFCLI has a MTOW of about 108000kgs whereas the MTOW on GFCLF is only about 104000kgs (I think). Different engine ratings maybe?

It's purely a difference on paperwork. Companies get charged to overfly different people's airspace and those charges are based on the MTOW. If you don't need all of your planes to do long routes then just have some certified to a lower weight by the manufacturer, all the planes are physically identical so could actually carry up to approx 115000 kgs which I think is the max Boeing themselves will certify for a 757-200. They can be re-certified by Boeing for a (big) cost!:ok:

Landing fees are also calculated based on the MTOW of the aircraft. So re-certifying the MTOW to be lower can save a bit of cash in daily operations.

15% increase for Dubai, just over 19000 pax. Give it a couple of years I'd expect 90% average loads:ok:

What were the loads like over other gateways from NCL?

Will have a proper look when I'm back from TFS. Lovely A300 flight out from MAN, £300 pp cheaper than NCL, GLA and EDI

GrahamK
 

Enjoy your stay in the lovely, warm weather.

DUBAI
 

I calculate that the average load to Dubai in September was 318 pax per flight