I`m guessing at one of those Maltese ones that seem to live at BOH

Ian

If you look at the airx web site you will see pictures of there 737 vip and it certainly looks luxurious. However, lolo are offering 120 seats and if airx has there 737-500 that is going to be used with 120y seats and 31inch legroom then maybe the aircraft is currently under refurbishment so lolo have no suitable pictures to show yet.
Who knows.

Another site shows a photograph taken 11th Feb showing B735 9H-YES being prepared for service in a hangar at Bournemouth. This is expected to become the Air X Charter regular for the Summer ahead.

Osborne Accused of `Stonewalling' U.K. Lawmakers Over Heathrow - Bloomberg Business

Not Manchester news as such but Bloomberg seem to be our new best friend.

Lots of PR in recent months and now some scrutiny sadly lacking in the broadsheets.

Even the @MENnewsdesk who rant on about zero investment re NorthernPowerhouse seem incapable of grasping what should be a gift of an opportunity re another potential massive spend in the South East........

Say it quietly, £20,000,000,000 million

Somebody at least is mindful of the eyewatering costs that Davies has asked the government to underwrite re Heathrow runway3 ....

Manchester now appears as a destination on the Shaheen Air website. No flights bookable just yet though.

The official Shaheen announcement should be tomorrow, and apparently we could hear about a new Bucharest route courtesy of Ryanair too.

PIA stepping up ready for the Islamabad fight, as a 6th weekly flight has been added to the schedule. Now daily ex-We'd. Lahore and the JFK transit flight remain 2 weekly.

RYR to Bucharest...hmmm...wonder if they are just beating someone else to it ?

Ryanair's new base at Bucharest announced but it doesn't look as if MAN benefits, assuming this is the final picture.

RYANAIR OPENS NEW BUCHAREST BASE (NO 81) - RNS - London Stock Exchange

FR routes
 

Does anyone know what happened to the route although it is not unknown for FR to chop and change things right to the last minute. I remember when our base was announced there were some differences between what was predicted and what routes were released. Something similar happened a couple of years ago with a forecast OPO route that didn't materialise until it was finally put on sale by EZY. I wonder if it has anything to do with Vueling expansion if that still goes ahead?

Did this anticipated MAN-Bucharest route ever progress beyond the rumour stage? I'm unaware of any evidence that it was considered 'nailed on'. Unfortunately, Ryanair probably haven't indulged in any last minute chopping and changing. Perhaps MAN just wasn't part of the plan.

Thanks Pols. Disappointing but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. A bit like the OPO route really - should be an obvious service but taking longer than one would expect. It would be nice to see Bucharest and SVQ announced by someone this year.

What sort of loads are they getting on LPL - Bucharest? I wonder if FR feel there is not the demand for a MAN route or that too many passengers are price sensitive and would go from LPL?!?


Just some thoughts....

GavinC, yes and thanks you raise an interesting point. That may be the case as it appears to be the higher yielding routes that have tended to do well when replicated or transferred across from LPL which would support your theory.

Manchester-Valencia extended "all year round"

Monday/Wednesday/Friday from next month....

Monday / Friday from VLC base (winter)

Actually, this is a total myth. I travel regularly to Eastern Europe. In the last year I have used the Ryanair services from Manchester to Modlin (twice), Gdansk and Rzeszow. Previously I have also used the Manchester to Krakow route. In all cases, the fares from Manchester are very competitive - travel to Poland is really good value, and (if required) onward domestic flights within Poland seem absurdly cheap by UK standards. The notion that fares could be meaningfully cheaper from Liverpool (or Doncaster) is laughable. Just how cheap do they need to be? If there is any price saving at all (and that is doubtful) it would certainly be a fraction of the Manchester to Liverpool rail fare. Obviously, my examples here refer to the Polish routes from MAN/LPL, but I don't doubt that the principle would extend to a prospective service to Romania. Flying from LPL is not noticeably cheaper on these routes for advance bookings. Arrangements made at short notice may differ, of course, (MAN flights to Poland are invariably rammed) but I haven't had reason to check this.

If you think advance fares from MAN to Poland are priced uncompetitively versus LPL/DSA departures, check again. The only problem ex-MAN is that the routes are vastly under-served and you have to book early to secure availability. There is a pressing need for MAN to secure additional capacity to this part of Europe.

Poland
 

There is no pressing need whatsoever, Shed. Passengers can choose to use either Liverpool or Doncaster, either of which can be reached very easily. Indeed, there is an express coach from Sackville Street to Liverpool with very regular departures.

Does that mean that you will accept there's no pressing need for LPL and DSA going after routes that are in existence at MAN only?

FR have started to release MAN W16/17 schedule

New winter routes (so far):
Berlin-SXF
Bratislava
Carcassonne
Hamburg
Limoges
Malta
Murcia
Nuremberg
Palma de Mallorca
Paris-BVA
Valencia

Only Bremen and Oslo-RYG appear to have been dropped.

Thanks, but I don't live on or close to Sackville Street. As for reaching Doncaster easily ... well, I had heard that you Scousers are natural comedians!

There is a pressing need for significant additional capacity from MAN to Eastern Europe based on demand derived from the ten communities comprising Greater Manchester alone. Support from the wider region is just icing on the cake.

Last I heard Ryanair was in dispute with Rygge over planned tax increases and was threatening total withdrawal from that airport effective October. Things may change if an accommodation can be reached? Meanwhile, Ryanair is reportedly considering a move to Gardemoen.

Having said that, I never booked MAN-RYG despite attractive fare offers because the flights arrive there around midnight and RYG is a long way from town. The service was more suited to Norwegian residents with cars / lifts available locally. Of course, somewhere has to have a last-rotation-of-the-day flight. In this case it was MAN.