Wondered where they came from. They passed over my place heading South then did a 270 deg LH turn just south of Congleton and headed off West (ish). Very slow, looked lost. :uhoh:

Gibraltar now year round again. Hooray! :)

I'm guessing those were the same two typhoons that I saw over Hutton in Lancashire about 17:45 yesterday too.

Its the newest locost at Manch
1 seat, only if its the two seater
baggage allowance very very small
no inflight entertainment unless you are into aerobatics
no food guess what is coming up next
gets you there pretty quick though

Did I see a Star Air 767F as we taxiied into T2 on Wednesday evening?

If I did... New route, charter or diversion?

Star 767
 

There was another one tonight routing BFS - MAN - Cologne

Not sure what they are up to

UPS have a slight problem with DfT regarding the shipment of unexploded IEDs concealed in printer cartridges. EMA has been taken "offline" pending improvements to their screening procedures/capabilities.

MAN's freight facilities are up to the job and the flights temporarily re-assigned.

More freight at MAN is always welcome.:)

Norwegian A/S to start October 2011
 

Norwegian website shows a resumption of their service to MAN from 31.10.11. arriving from Oslo.

DY1348 A 09.50 and returns as DY1349 D 10.20.

Good news and hopefully loads will be sustainable this time.
First green shoots of a recovery? And a vote of confidence in MAN. :D

Looking forward at MAN
 

One Sixty Until 4,

Thank you for the update. I agree this is good news and hopefully the Oslo-Manchester link will be successful.

Overall I think the recovery at Manchester is definately more than green shoots. This is quite evident now, especially with Madrid and Berlin links back, as well as some downright exiting (and hopefully successful) new routes from Easyjet like Bilbao. With Easyjet clearly committed to MAN, Jet 2 and Monarch likewise and with the prospect of interesting potential destinations like Bologna and Seville potentially on the cards for next year, as well as the new Jet2 'new' offerings to Barcelona, Toulouse, Bergamo and Paris, it will be now be interesting to see how both Flybe and Ryanair play their cards.

With regard to Flybe, I would love to see them expand into destinations in the south of France (and publicise it) as clearly they have done a good job in the north based on the number of satisfied customers who travel with them from Manchester to that region. My only concern with them is that in the past any offering to S. France has been a bit half hearted i.e. limited to the school holiday season, so for example if anybody wanted to travel to Avignon for a weekend in June they would need to travel via SOU. This is where Ryaniar could potentially clean up on the south of France routes from MAN if they wanted to.

Ryanair will be interesting over the next month or so. What do they do? Having come back to MAN they are clearly interested in developing their business from here. I and many others would love to see them do so however nobody likes to be blackmailed however we also understand that costs need to be controlled. Also MAN was quite right to do a deal with them as it really gave Easyjet the jolt they needed to provide something more exiting than what had been provided previously. I think this will be a real test of business judgement on both Ryanair and Manchester Airport's part. We clearly want the opportunity to fly with Ryanair from MAN as we do with other airlines and are prepared to pay for them on reasonable terms commensurate with the airport keeping a competative selection of airlines, and a good quality service to customers.

With the disposable income in the Greater Manchester/ Cheshire area, and the opportunites this would bring for Ryanair if they provided a significant expansion from MAN my view is that they would be successful if they are up for it. However as very welcome Madrid was, it would also be good to see them offering some unique routes from MAN e.g. destinations in France (Nimes, Toulon, Marseilles etc.), or similar airports not currently served from MAN in Italy or Spain. On this basis I think it would be a mistake on Ryanair's part not to expand from MAN within the next month or so. However I fear that pride may get in the way of business acumen and this will see FR either providing a minimal service from MAN, or reasons will be found to storm out (in the face of competition) and see FR cast off back to the Liverpool's of this world. I hope I'm wrong as I think MAN would benefit significantly from FR as would FR from MAN, and I think MAN are being very reasonable (no I don't work there) but I think FR are quite easily capable of looking a gift horse in the mouth. One rhetorical question for on the back of a card, why should an airline and airport be prevented from getting the business and service that customers want and are prepared to pay for because of management intransigence in one company or another?

There finishes my sermon of the week,

DomyDom:)

DomyDon
 

Domydon

Very well said father May God be with you your sermon was perfect


The Archbshop of Sale


Gezza

Remember Ryanair have NO aircraft based at Manchester. I feel that they are using Manchester more as a destination to utilise overseas based aircraft than any commitment to the airport.

Some might say testing the water.

Off to Paris now to sign for my Gulfstream ( in my dreams)
chance to get a look at B748 and freighter


Ian B

DomyDolt, FR didn't give easy any kind of jolt at MAN. BIO was a replacement for HEL and SXF and MAD were well in the pipeline before FR's announcement which is why Easyjet were so pissed off.

As regards to the comment about Madrid. Ryanair have filled a gap in Manchester schedules, how long did Easyjet need ? If indeed, they have/had planned to operate the route from Manchester. With Madrid firmly established at Liverpool why would they do this ?

The day after FR announced MAN-MAD, There was a Director business brief at the MAN base who said they were "pissed off" (his words) as MAD was already in the pipeline and MAN knew it. Yet they let an airline who they (MAN) had serious issues with potentially jeopardise what has been steady, consistent and reliable growth shown by Easyjet. IMO of course, competition isn't necassarilly a bad thing but MAN-MAD was in the pipeline. Routes take a while to come to fruition aswell and aren't usually announced on a whim. Indeed, those of you who truly know Easyjet these days will know that they actually pretty cautious when it comes to launching new routes/opportunities. Remember also that MAD came as part of a wider route launch ex MAN. MAD would have come to MAN regardless of FR.

Hi there

Out of interest has the construction of the new control tower started yet?
If not does anyone know when this is due to begin

Cheers

What stands are the 2 WFU A320's of TCX parked on. I think it was 2013 a new ATC tower

An airline filled a gap so what, Easyjet may of had plans but they took to long to announce them and another carrier did instead. What is the big deal about it?
Manchester Airport can't stop an airlines from opening a route once they are paying full airport charges.

As Ryaniar and Easyjet couldn't both operate it from Liverpool why is MAN going to be different a few miles down the road. By the end if next March one of them will drop MAD but which one it remains to be seen.

In regard to summer 2012, have herd Faro and Ibiza on the cards for EZY.

A resumption it is not. The previous time Norwegian flew to MAN from Bergen (BGO), not from Oslo (OSL) and the BGO flight had miserable loads. MAN is listed on the 4th place of destinations underserved from OSL, and I presume that's the reason for Norwegian will start to fly to MAN again. It is definitely not a vote of confidence for a recovery at MAN, but instead more question of differences in currency values - the pound (GBP) has lost over one quarter of its value compared with the Norwegian Kroner (NOK) the last years. In other words you will see more Norwegians traveling to the Northwest England, and I suspect a large share will be football fans. A small correction to the times One Sixty until 4 did show above:
Mondays/Wednesdays: arr. 09:50 dep. 10:20
Fridays: arr. 13:10 dep. 13:40

Some of you may want to see the difference in recovery/growth between MAN and OSL. The graph below shows the changes in 12 month rolling passenger numbers at both airports since the end of 2004. The year-on-year growth at MAN is now (at the end of May) +2.8% compared with +11.4% at OSL. In March 2010 both airports had 18.3 million passenger the previous 12 months and at the end of May this year the difference had grown to 2 million passenger per year (18.2 million vs 20.2 million). More and less the sole reason for the "recovery" at MAN is only the cancelling out of the Icelandic ash effect - the airport still hasn't reached the level they had for their 12 month rolling numbers in March 2010 (24,000 passengers are missing for that).

http://www.plane-spotter.com/Jpegs/4...SL_2011-05.jpg

I have heard rumours that Monarch are starting Madrid as well. Not bookable yet though but it was on wikipedia the other day.

Oh by the way is there a forum for Malaga Airport anywhere? Can't find one.