The runway didn't close completely to landing aircraft during the incident.

Initially, inbound aircraft were allowed to land but were held on taxiways well clear of the terminal. When it became clear that the situation would take a considerable time to resolve, ATC advised aircraft contacting approach that, even when the terminal re-opened (and they didn't know when this would be), there would be about a two hour delay until a stand became available. There was already a queue of aircraft waiting for stands and aircraft needed to depart first before stands would become available. As a result, most aircraft that were already en-route chose to divert to GLA or PIK (some took up the hold for a while first) and most flights that hadn't already departed their point of origin were either delayed or cancelled.

There was no mention of the incident on ATIS. I'm not sure whether or not there was a temporary NOTAM.

east.edinburghairport.com

How soon do you think Qatar will go daily with the 787? Does anyone know how well bookings are so far? My pesonal feeling is that it will go double daily within 2 years. :ok:
4ea

Id wager double daily within 2 years is a tad ambitious, QR are far more cautious than the likes of TK and they are not at double daily all week year round and have been operating for > 2 years.

Cityjet
 

Cityjet flight schedule is now available to book on the EDI-CWL route at cityjet.com web site.
Prices are very good.
:D:D:D

EDI enjoys Strong Start to 2014
 

A certain F1 affiliated ME airline has plans to wipe the smile of QR at EDI from July 2015.... I feel a bloodbath coming on...

I now think Qatar will go daily before anyone else starts. As to Etihad starting I think they will have to start with a daily (perhaps A330) to have any chance of competing with Qatar and perhaps Emirates from GLA.

For anybody who hasn't read the ABZ thread

Edinburgh tipped for Etihad Middle East route - The Scotsman

Have just noted following a search of the Alicante Airport arrivals board for tomorrow that the Thomson Airways flight is no longer operating.

I am sure that when it was initially released it was planned to operate to the end of April, presumably they have curtailed the route earlier than expected due to the competition from Easy Jet, Jet 2 and Ryanair on this particular route ???

David Sharpe, re your comment on Thomson to ALC, prices right up to last minute over winter have been cheap as chips, like £33 e/w, but so have been the other UK routes...

Qatar have been giving away allot of free seats on the Edinburgh flights to many destinations, not just Doha. A possible sign that advanced bookings for the route are not what Qatar would have hoped for, by this stage.

The words "straws" and "clutching" spring to mind.

The words "noone must ever sat anything potentially negative about EDI" springs to mind....:rolleyes:

LOL... ! :O

This year as in previous years saw QR launch there 5 day spring sale on the first Monday (3rd) of March. Traditionally QR have offered there best discounts during this sale. The fares currently being offered in the sale from EDI are no different in price to those on offer from LHR and MAN to the same destination, in fact in some cases the EDI fares are more expensive.

I have over the last 10 years worked for 2 different airlines in there revenue management department. One of the people I worked with at my first airline now works for QR. I was asking her how the flights are selling. She said forward Economy bookings for travel from July onwards are in line with expectations and bookings in business class are currently running at a level above that they expected.

By “giving away” I mean precisely that, QR have been giving away a bulky number of free seats for travel to any destination from EGPH as a reward to readers of an Edinburgh newspaper. I would assume that if the seats were selling they would not resort to giving them away for free. Particularly not in the volume that they are doing so. Just an observation.

I have also been advised that QR have been somewhat mischievous in Scotland with its publicising and has been wrongly advertising “Flights to Dubai, direct from Edinburgh” and “Flights to Hong Kong, direct from Edinburgh”.

Sounds like a pretty standard marketing ploy to me.

The T&C for the tickets will usually state that the tickets are not valid for travel over peak travel periods christmas, school holidays etc. They will also say that bookings are subject to availability of a certain fare class that will be limited on each flight.

This is not an unusual practice. Running such competitions in conjunction with local radio stations or newspapers is also a good way to get the word out about the new route and connection opportunities available to worldwide destinations. Qr will receive on average 1000 website hits for every ticket given away. Between 10 and 20% of those people who look at the site will book a flight in the next 6 months.

I think this subject warrants a proper discussion. In many respects Emirates, Qatar, Turkish, Air France/KLM and of course British Airways are going after the same traffic. If you add in the possibility of Etihad starting as well, that's an awful lot of capacity chasing a finite market, even with stimulation. Older ppruners may remember the "gold rush" that occured following the dropping of the traffic distribution rules which had required all transatlantic flights from Scotland to use Prestwick. Suddenly Glasgow was awash with transatlantic scheduled flights, several a day, but of course it didn't last. In respect of traffic going East, it will be interesting to see how things turn out. I general terms, it sems obvious that the ME carriers will continue taking lumps out off the European legacy carriers but whether all 3 of the big 3 ME carriers will serve and/or continue to serve Scotland will be interesting, as they have differing advantages. Emirates has a "first mover" advantage and will have many members of its Skywards reward scheme signed up, thus giving them a very powerful marketing and loyalty base. They also have the advantage that Dubai is a recognised destination for leisure travel as well as business giving them a better proportion of point to point traffic than Qatar or Etihad. Emirates are also at the right airport for the Scottish ethnic Asian market. With Qatar, Edinburgh is doubtless a better inbound destination for both business and leisure traffic. How much point to point traffic they will get to/from Doha I do not know. Qatar is "gas", Scotland is "oil". Is there much business travel to be generated between the two countries? Re Etihad - it will be interesting to see where they think they can drop into the mix. I don't know enough about Turkish to speculate whether their EDI service will be able to withstand the ME onslaught of the ME 3. Overall, this is going to be fascinating. PS of course if Scotland qualifies for the 2022 World Cup, Qatar will be in the pound seats (or the whatever currency Scotland is using then, seats).