No need to be picky - I meant a leak in advance of the official announcement.

Don't think the capacity figures quoted are right either for both a/c types.

You're right though about putting MAN in an elite category.

Freight will probably be shifted on to flights from Newcastle and Birmingham and maybe further afield. Cargo doesn't really care where it fly's from.

Ideally we may see a freighter or a 4th passenger service to add some belly capacity though, fingers crossed.

A more robust press release than the MEN article:


A380 Dubai- Manchester twice a day - eTurboNews.com


Certainly seems to be a lot of fanfare, so, even though schedules only show A380 up to Marsh 28th, the articles seem to insinuate a permanent change.

The article refers to the original announcement and then reviews how the route is doing. The loads they mention are not too bad but not great. I guess financially it depends on take up of the premium cabins and the amount of freight carried.

Re EK:

It certainly is and with the quotes from senior execs. it does imply a permanent upgrade.

MANFOD,


Given the article states this:



It seems the info is not quite 100%.

LAX_LHR, yes I noticed that and was puzzled. Not sure how they would separate the flynas figures either, or are they available if you apply to the CAA?

Looks like it has been corrected after someone e-mailed her . It now reads

The source is shown at the bottom of the graph - Data provided by Sabre

MEN article filed this morning about the second UAE A380 was no doubt based on speculation on here and elsewhere. If only she had waited 5 minutes she could have used the official release. So in fact the story has now been updated to make it official

Emirates bosses confirm launch of second daily A380 flight from Manchester to Dubai - Manchester Evening News

Perhaps they thought no one would notice....:E

At least it gave the M.E.N the opportunity of reporting a good news story twice even if the first was more speculative. Politicians are very good at that.

Yes - surprised it doesn't say something like "As exclusively predicted in this paper earlier ...." :}

Birmingham have just announced a third daily 777 EK flight so maybe freight could go that way.

Monarch dropping AYT, BJV, DBV, LPA, LCA & PFO this summer.

Hadn't that been indicated from earlier timetables and the fact MAN was expected to lose 3 based a/c? Still, it's disappointing if all those routes were under review and all of them are being dropped. That's a fair amount of capacity being lost by Monarch at MAN which needs to be made up elsewhere.

Mind you, there's a lot of good things happening so fingers crossed for decent growth this year.

According to Airlineroute, Thomson to operate several short haul flights from Manchester on the 787 next summer:

Boeing 787 / Airbus A350XWB Current / Future Routes Update | Airline Route

EK press release:
Emirates launches second daily Airbus A380 service to Manchester Airport | Emirates Deutschland

Monarch dropping AYT, BJV, DBV, LPA, LCA & PFO this summer.
 

Are Monarch financially secure?

Typical that this is happening AFTER the flights start not BEFORE !

Airport teaches potential employees Chinese to help with tourism and business boom - Manchester Evening News

I indicated thru these columns 6 months back that the welcoming committee should have been in place day 1 !

Are Monarch financially secure??
 

Not very imo.

BCAL ended because of a failure of government regulation. The much flawed "second force" idea was to create a large independent carrier to compete with state owned BEA and BOAC. So far so good.

Unfortunately, and this is the flaw, this "second force" carrier was denied access to LHR, resulting in very uneven competition. Consequently, BCal was unable to take advantage of substantial numbers of premium pax and the extensive connectivity available at LHR.

What should have been done, obviously, was more terminal and rwy capacity at LHR to accomodate the "second force", but that is a whole different subject for a different forum.

BUA suffered a similar fate and was bought by BCal, which in turn failed and was bought by BA (which gave it a base at LGW).

VS did manage a shift to LHR and survived and prospered, if it had been confined to LGW and MAN without access to LHR, history would probably not have been any different.

Branson does state in his aurobiography that VS would have gone under if they had not gotten into LHR when they did in 1991 as the first Gulf War had just broken out and flying took a major hit.
Long haul is about hub connectivity and LHR has a huge historic advantage over Gatters. Any attempt to build MAN into a similar hub would face a the same issues sadly. That's noto say VS cannot now make the most of the Delta connection at the US end to grow out of MAN, and not before time IMHO.

I don't think we need worry about whether BA will or will not reconsider its presence at MAN, or whether the airport meets a particular definition of a hub. It is doing very well and has strength in the near-unique diversity of destinations, carriers. and market segments. A major terminal redevelopment seems likely and this will cement' MAN's position as the primary UK gateway outside London.

Good! Terminal redevelopment will be necessary and soon.

I have always lived within a stones throw of MAN and watched the ups and downs of aviation over the last 5 decades and had various roles within the industry. I am a frequent flyer and I appreciate that its not a super hub with 10 terminals and runways in every direction but on the whole it is a great airport and feel proud to frequent its terminals. OK its not perfect but its better than most out there, some things are out of its control such as Border Control. It has provided the local area with jobs and contributed to the North West in a big way. Lifes too short for saving a few £'s by flying via LHR.
If I need to make a connection I at least want to be travelling in the right direction. It will continue to develop its own niche market, I'm always amazed how full or almost full planes I'm on such as my flight in fom PHL this morning.Its a regular for me did it one on BA, never again, great when I can leave east coast USA at 21:30 and be home with 7 hours:)
I think its market is point to point, there are some good strong routes over the years and nice to see some of the old ones from the 70's & 80's returning. With airport city and the excellent local infrastructure things can only get better. Lets face it if you want to go LHR thats fine but London and the South East is full up, they will get runway 3 whatever & I'm not bothered it wont stop the stacks.We do our own thing and can survive and prosper whatever the south does.

Some excellent data on @routes via Richard Maslen re Dubai route. Sorry cannot post link at min'.

Some telling facts.

Interesting that 30% of traffic is actually to Dubai itself !
More than just a hub ?

Over 10,000 pax a year connecting to a couple of destinations not served direct which might be on the radar notably Mumbai and Mauritius !

Not sure about Bangkok though.

I don't know whether it still holds true but a few years ago it was reckoned that a lot of Manchester - India traffic routed with LH.

Even if all the 10,000 pax via Dubai were all Mumbai and excluded Mauritius, it's less than 200 per week or 30 a day or 5 per flight if it includes outbounds and inbounds. Do QR & EY have a good service to India? The other suggestion I recall is that Delhi would be a better destination from MAN, but is that the case?

Still, from the comments made on forums, it would be easy to assume that the percentage of pax going just to Dubai was a lot less than 30% and that the vast majority were simply using it as a hub.

As regards Bangkok, at one time it was said by Emirates to be the most popular onward destination from MAN. Again, whether that is still the position, I've no idea.

Routesonline link

Thing to note is that it's 8 routes where EK are carrying more than 10,000 passengers per year ex-MAN. If they're listed in order of passenger carryings, then BKK being placed before HKG indicates that they must have in excess of 40,000 passengers per year given that CAPA said that EK had 38% of the MAN-Hong Kong market which is guesstimated at 100,000 per year.

When Air Mauritius had their weekly service here (from winter 1996 to beginning of 2002), they peaked at 16,690 passengers or 320 per week. Is is too much of a stretch that this number may have risen?

Thanks for the link David. It'll teach me to read the article in full before posting in future. I think you're right; it probably does imply that Bangkok is still the most popular final destination.

However, one other paragraph caught my eye:

"The deployment of the A380 on the EK019/EK020 service is currently only scheduled until the end of the winter schedule on March 28, 2015 but could be extended into summer 2015".

Is Richard Maslen just being cautious based on what is loaded for booking, or have EK not finally decided yet whether the A380 will continue beyond March on the evening service? It's strange because the tone of the quotes from Ken O'Toole (MAG) and Laurie Berryman (EK) yesterday did seem to convey that it was permanent.

Is Perth not an interesting destination on the list ?

Ahead presumably of Tokyo, Beijing, Joburg etc

apols MANFOD was mobile and couild not post the link

Interesting, yes but Perth is on the cusp of doable non-stop from LHR but it's not going to carry your typical load of 250/300 passengers. Will always remain a one-stop option from wherever in Europe.

Islamabad and Singapore would be more worthy of discussion as both are current destinations with the former 4 or 5 weekly non-stop and the other daily 1-stop (SQ is effectively no different from EK!)

It's ok Bagso. Appreciate your drawing attention to the article.

Yes, Perth and Sydney were both listed weren't they.

I rather think J'burg via Dubai may be a slightly circuitous route taking quite a bit longer than some of the alternatives but I could be wrong. With some destinations, connecting times, total flying time and available airline options as well as price can all play a part in deciding whether to use EK (and points, air miles and other incentive schemes I guess)

Must confess considering the airport railway station serves every major City/Town across 50% of England you would have thought a bit more publicity would have been in the offing ?

R2 and 5live travel bulletins would be a good start !

I'm sure it will be mentioned shortly, given its going to be have only 2 platforms in use till the 17th Jan then completely out of action until 9th Feb!

Ringwayman

Blame sloppy journalism , had a an email Friday headlined......

Manchester Airport Weekend Railway station closure.

Infact as you suggest it is open , it is two platforms which are closed NOT the whole station.

Bagso,


With all due respect, but, what is your issue this time?


Ive seen on several national and regional websites/news sources for the past few months that the railway station is to close, so, what else are you expecting them to do exactly? Go door to door and tell everyone individually?


MAG have put the news out for months, but, MAN is not the centre of the universe, so, will not get priority over other news, so, hardly their fault the external news/websites etc prioritise their news accordingly.

Rail Station
 

Closure notices

On TfGM home page
Pages - Transport for Greater Manchester

On TPE site
Manchester Airport Improvements - First TransPennine Express

On Northern Rail posted 17/11/2014
Northern Rail - News - Manchester Airport engineering work - Saturday 17 January to Sunday 8 February 2015

On National Rail Website
National Rail Enquiries - Future Engineering Works

Plenty of posters in and around Manchester stations; special timetables readily available at stations across the NW

They have to sift the priority travel news to fit the limited time slot - and they specialise in real time ad hoc problems rather than planned disruption unless time permits.

Come back and moan if you don't hear about it when the work is actually in progress.

What none of the rail operator sites say is if the Heald Green to Airport buses are "rail replacement" and therefore included in the price paid if you have a rail ticket from/to the Airport, or a free bus operated by Manchester Airport/Network Rail to and from Heald Green Station from the Airport or whether normal bus routes are to be used and passengers have to pay. If the latter, it would be nice to know which bus services you need to catch and the frequency.

With all due respect and indeed for the hard of understanding I had an email from two sources.

One was "Breaking Travel News" Friday

The headline read

Manchester Airport Station Closure THIS Week End....thats THIS Week End


Admittedly a bit remiss on my part BUT I stupidly assumed from their headline (as indeed others might) that the station was possibly FULLY closed !

It's NOT, as I did suggest in my follow up posting.

I would suggest its easy to hunt down this information forensically, if you already know it's coming,

I would also suggest however your average punter will NOT hunt down this information.......... they will rely on being informed.

Presumably as a signifcant part of capacity is not available this week end it IS as IB suggested a bus from the airport to Heald Green ?

Hardly a big deal but still worth informing the public AND worth putting on the front of the Man Airport website as a banner !

Ps....Anyway do calm down dears, nobody died !

Bagso,


I didn't say anything about the headline, I posted about the fact you were bemoaning the lack of advertising that the station was closed.


2 completely separate posts.

Apols if I missed this.

Manfod you were asking about SAUDIA loads

According to @Route analysis, just under an estimated 50,000 passengers flew on the Jeddah - Manchester route in its first nine months of operation (April 2014 - November 2014).

During this period Saudia has been generating monthly loads of between 44 and 75 per cent on the outbound sector from Jeddah and 42 and 79 per cent from Manchester.

Thanks Bagso. I did actually manage to do the link to that article a couple of days ago and commented in general terms about the loads being ok but not great. It's reported somewhere that SV have said the performance so far is up to expectations and I guess the introduction of a 4th flight means something.
I wonder how they are doing for premium pax and freight, which will be key contributors financially I would have thought.