ah OK ta

when i worked for BMA at LHR our DC9's used to go MME-Rimini Lourdes Pisa (sometimes) and Palma night flights over the summer weekend

take off was after the BD340 arrived back at MME from LHR and back in about 0600 or so in time for the first morning flight down to LHR

I was D/O at LHR 1977-1985

There seems to be some confusion with the frequency of the new Aberdeen flight, Look North reporting 3x weekly and HH6702 is reporting 4x weekly in his post above, but the Loganair booking engine is definitely giving me the option of three flights per day Monday through Thursday and two on a Friday

Anything else would not make sense, particularly not justify basing an aircraft at MME.

http://www.durhamteesvalleyairport.c...valley-airport

The airports press release gives days and times. Loganair seem to have got it right...

No more bulls..t, I'm sorry I'm not sure what the excitement is all about?

Eastern will be gone in a blink and the airport back to square one.

They have no crews or aircraft anyway so nite nite..l

The Aberdeen figures are terrible..even Aberdeen figures are dodgy..I really can't see why you guys are excited about this amazing news.

As for the Norwich....give you 100 passengers per week?
Any comments from PEEL, how does this effect their master plan?

Quotes below are from the airports press release.

Yes, just a tiny step, and yes it seems that DTVA might be just part of the bigger Loganair vs. Flybe flight, but

1. It's a new operator
2. It's a new destination
3. It's Peel delivering on the 'business orientated' element of the Masterplan
4. There's the possibility of more routes

One other point - LOG to codeshare with BA? so maybe BA flight numbers on the DTVA departure board? :eek: Just look at the fusss made at far bigger airports about a few Cityflyer weekend charters :ok:

Even if Eastern did leave I think longer term Loganair would be a more sustainable option. You get a daily service to Norwich for starters.

I wouldn't get too excited about other routes though, there isn't much they could/would do. Dublin and Belfast are in their network, but their fares would be too high...the punters would simply drive elsewhere and frequency is probably better at Newcastle etc anyway.

With two (now three!), shouldn't MME be getting excited about the prospect of any new routes? Gaining them is better than losing them.

And to be fair to Peel (it does happen!), they did say they would be targeting business routes rather than sun routes (yes, probably the art of the possible,,,)

Do you seriously believe it is a decision by Loganair because they think that market is great? From their perspective, they are trying to put a nail into Eastern's coffin to drive them off the intra-Scottish routes. I am pretty sure we will see sooner than later Eastern retreating from those new Scottish routes and Loganair from MME as a result of some clandestine behind-closed-doors negotiations.

The airport Manager Steve Gill has been quoted in the local media saying that these new routes are "a shot in the arm" for the airport. I fear it will be more like "a shot in the back of the head" for the airport. The passenger figures on some of the Aberdeen services are in single figures. Several daily frequencies are cancelled or combined with other bases flights as the passenger figures are so low. There is really no need to have two operators on such a marginal route. This will purely push Eastern off the Aberdeen route. The airport management will have negotiated this route with Loganair. The phrase 'sh 1tting on your own door step' springs to mind.


As for MME-NWI......seriously?

Quotes from Mr Gill about the future.

Will Loganair stop the decline of Durham Tees Valley Airport? This and 3 other key questions answered - Gazette Live

I wouldn't be so dismissive. Logan have a decent network heading north from Norwich already, they know the market. There is no current service from Norwich to the north-east, and travel by road or rail is a pain. The service gives BMI/Logan a third daily flight between Norwich and Aberdeen, and will probably prop up the afternoon service between Aberdeen and MME.

You have to wonder just how much longer can Eastern survive with those clapped out J41s anyway, perhaps all Loganair are doing is speeding up the inevitable

So Eastern look like they have taken immediate action - no J32 from AIS Airlines operting MME-ABZ now and back up to 4 daily from September on Monday and Thursday's.

Also according to Norwich airport website BMI regional are codesharing so BMI return to MME!

Well, the Loganair Saab 340s are not exactly factory-fresh either...

There is a sizeable market between DTV and Aberdeen that is currently being stifled by Eastern's high fares, and probably recent reliability issues don't help either. I know (my dad is one) a lot of oil/gas industry personnel currently travel by road/rail as it is more economical to do so. Obviously for Norwich there is no other option at present, but I'd expect it to do fairly well out of the (somewhat smaller) amount of offshore workers travelling to Norwich.

I think this gives T3 a good excuse to exit DTV in the near future and will loganair make enough to keep going long term.
I fear in 12-18mths time DTV will have KLM only

I notice in Eastern's booking system everything has reverted to a J41 on MME-ABZ, presumably taking the leased J32 elsewhere now so they can fight with their own resources

No, but considerably more reliable

Looks like they're not going down without a fight

That's the risk, but I'm starting to believe it's one that's well worth taking. Besides this is aviation, everything is a risk!

I could see Belfast City coming out of this later on down the line, I wonder if they might also consider MME-IOM to indirectly compete with Eastern from Newcastle.

A part of me would also love to see a Loganair/Bmir co-operation to Bristol, say x2 daily ERJ135/145. I bet there would be a good few that would snap up a day return from MME as opposed to an enforced overnight trip by EZY from NCL.

Part of me also wishes this one had gone to Newcastle, as Norwich was the second most sought after domestic route from NCL, after Manchester.

I wonder if MME-MAN could ever work? If they could codeshare with Etihad, Cathay, Hainan, Singapore, United, even Thomas Cook and or Virgin... On a 30-odd seat Saab 340 I really don't think that would be too out of the question. Except I bet a lot of current MME pax have KLM loyalty, so convincing them to take Loganair via Manchester might be a struggle.

Another long shot would be if Eastern/Flybe decided to pair up and operate MME-SEN if they felt that Loganair might be tempted into opening up a MME-London route.

I do worry that this will all fall apart, but I could also see things hotting up on Teesside and I think first mover advantage will very much come into it.

Fingers crossed things start looking up, I wish MME all the best