ROUTE SPECULATION
 

I though it would be a good idea to set up a special thread related to route speculation as many people in most of the airport threads get wound up by people who like to speculate routes, like myself. So fire away with all of your route speculations! :E

Routes that I have been thinking about from some UK airports:

Luton-Tenerife (easyJet)
Luton-Oslo
Luton-Stockholm
Luton-Dubrovnik (easyJet)
Luton-Krakow
Luton-Rome (Vueling)
Luton-Madrid (Vueling)
Luton-Eindhoven (Transavia)
Luton-Marseille (easyJet)
Luton-Athens (easyJet)
Luton-Orlando (Thomson)
Luton-Cancun (Thomson)

Gatwick-Singapore (Singapore Airlines)
Gatwick-Bangkok (Norwegian)
Gatwick-Las Vegas (Norwegian)
Gatwick-Abu Dhabi (Etihad Airways)
Gatwick-Doha (Qatar Airways)

Heathrow-Orlando (BA/Virgin)
Heathrow-Singapore (Virgin)
Heathrow-Manila (British Airways)

Glasgow-Brussels
Glasgow-Copenhagen
Glasgow-Frankfurt (Lufthansa)

Manchester-Shanghai (China Eastern)
Manchester-Singapore (Direct)

Birmingham-Valencia

What are your thoughts about these routes?

These are mainly from the UK, but feel free to contribute from anywhere.

Birmingham to Chicago - AA

Glasgow- US 'leisure' destinations (Thomas Cook )
Glasgow- Istanbul (Turkish)
Glasgow - Atlanta (Delta/VS)
Glasgow- Munich
Glasgow-Madrid


Edinburgh- Orlando (Norwegian) Thomson run a very limited amount of flights


Glasgow/Edinburgh to China

Luton to Dubrovnik (easyJet or Monarch)
Luton to Prague (easyJet)
Luton to Tallinn (Wizz)
Luton to Isle of Man (easyJet)
Luton to Cork (Ryanair)
Luton to Shannon (Ryanair)
Luton to Florence (Vueling)
Luton to Cagliari (easyJet or Monarch)
Luton to Palermo (easyJet or Monarch)
Luton to Valencia (easyJet)

Gatwick to San Francisco (Norwegian)
Gatwick to Miami (Norwegian)
Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale (British Airways or Virgin Atlantic)
Gatwick to Nassau (British Airways)
Gatwick to Seychelles (British Airways)

Some of your "route speculation" has been operated before and been canned by the airlines you've suggested. Must be a reason for that!

MAN-Shanghai already got the nod for Air China to start this year according to some reports but not yet announced.

That route will be one of 25 long-haul routes that MAN states it is targetting as viable.

Manchester-Shanghai route licence is held by Air China so already prevents China Eastern starting a flight, it is expected to launch in June.

Other routes I hope come to fruition:

Bucharest- Ryanair rumoured, but would also take TAROM
Seville- Ryanair or Vueling likely
Florence- potential for Vueling, Monarch, Easyjet or Jet2 to start
Cape Town- Ripe for Thomas Cook to start
Tampa- Ditto above
Bordeaux- cant believe with MANs level of flights this remains unserved. Flybe.
Lyon- Only served in winter, capable of being year round with Easyjet.

Leave it there as could be a long list. I don't see any of the above being unrealistic.

Leeds-Bradford pertential routes and rumours are as follows.

Madrid = Iberia Express or Monarch.
Berlin = Jet2
Newquay = flybe
Brussels = Eastern Airways
Belfast Int'l = Ryanair

Here's hoping Extrajet get off the ground with routes to Antwerp and Copenhagen

Also talk that Ryanair maybe adding a 4th based Boeing 737-800 next summer

Gatwick-San Francisco is technically going to be operated soon with Norwegian starting flights to Oakland this year.

I also think that many more Italian, Spanish & French estinations could be operated from the UK, especially from Luton & Manchester. Also Gatwick could be receive much more long-haul services.

Does anyone have any suggestions for new easyJet routes from Gatwick? They haven't announced anything for S16, but could announce routes in W16.

To LAX-LHR's excellent list for MAN, I'll be brave and add 3 long haul.

San Francisco - TCX but possibly VS

Bangkok - Again maybe TCX or Norwegian as an outsider.

India (Mumbai or Delhi) - Anybody please.

AvGeek - excellent idea of yours to start this thread - will hopefully make everyone happier.

NCL-IST: Turkish
NCL-STN/LCY: Ryanair/Cityjet
NCL-FRA: bmi regional
NCL-GDN, WAW, BUD, RIX: Wizzair
NCL-HAM: Eurowings
NCL-MXP, MUC, KEF, RAK, JMK: easyjet
NCL-Cape Verde, PVR, PUJ: Thomson
NCL-MAD: Vueling/Iberia Express
NCL-YYZ: Westjet

Plus a few more one off charters, maybe TCX or VS to Las Vegas or something like that, I'm sure they could fill 1 A330 a year, Ryanair base would be great if they could boost already busy markets like PMI, TFS, FAO, ACE and maybe introduce a few more unserved ones in Spain, Italy etc.

Someone to Norway would also be up there in my wish list for NCL as well as a return of Venice, Berlin and maybe a few more, that's probably easyjet/Ryanair territory

Thank you! I just thought it will make the threads a happier place without certain people taking a dislike to people's route speculations.

I'm also pleased at all of the speculation so far as they all seem quite realistic and could work. Keep them coming guys! Also feel free to speculate routes outside of the UK too!

What an excellent list wallp! I definately agree that there should be more Italian routes from Luton. Also that easyJet should provide some more sensible times on the Luton-Prague route in competition with Wizz.

Also Gatwick could have many more long-haul destinations than it currently has and I think more US routes like Miami could definately be on the cards!

DUB-PVG: China Eastern
DUB-IAH: EI, Ethiopian 5th freedom
DUB-MIA: EI/AA

Those seem to be the 3 long haul rumours ex DUB with the most legs atm.

I think easyJet has much more room to expand its operation at Manchester and they will also be adding some obvious gaps (Milan & Paris) in S16. What other routes do you think easyJet could operate realistically and successfully from Manchester?

Some obvious gaps like;

Lanzarote
Faro
Rome
Barcelona

I think any airport with a decent number of destinations/carriers in Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco might suddenly find new Spanish and Portuguese destinations on the departure boards this year....

Anna.aero analysis also agrees that DUB-MIA is viable. Aer Lingus would be more that more logical choice given there is more demand in the DUB-MIA direction.
Skyscanner Unserved Route of the Week: Dublin-Miami

I'm down in Cumbria part-time, but I also live in Glasgow part-time and thats where I'm from. The thread has descended from speculation to pure fantasy almost instantly, so I'm gonna go that way too.

For GLA to sustain its continued growth and for the benefit of the local economy then, there absolutely has to be an increase in the range of European routes, which Edinburgh is hoovering up. At the moment there is nothing to mainland Scandinavia, a seasonal weekly service with LH to Munich, no IST, MAD, LIS, BRU, FRA to name but a few.

The questions are can the local population support these routes? Is there enough interest from foreign tourists? What about the business community?

FR have a press conference this week on Tuesday or Wednesday.

BA going back on MAN-JFK on a B787-8, that's a surefire winner IMHO.

BA going back to the regions as per the 90's full stop!

Let's not get carried away now! Although we would all love to see this, don't think it is going to happen I'm afraid.

Does anyone know of any routes that Wizz should realistically be operating?

I think MAN -JFK could happen. It was operated for many years BOAC/BA using aircraft crewed and operated from LHR so didn't need any air craft being based in Manchester.

Well within crew hours including deadheading between LHR and MAN.

With their well known in the area brand, and with several proven markets still unserved from Humberside (HUY), Jet2 with the following;

Summer
HUY-Alicante
HUY-Corfu
HUY-Dalaman
HUY-Faro
HUY-Ibiza
HUY-Malaga
HUY-Palma
HUY-Tenerife

Winter
HUY-Alicante
HUY-Fuerteventura
HUY-Geneva
HUY-Gran Canaria
HUY-Lanzarote
HUY-Malaga
HUY-Tenerife

Kind regards

Aeulad

MAN is not particularly well served by routes to the Baltic/Eastern Europe regions compared with some other airports as the current absence of Bucharest shows, so there are possible opportunities there. However, given that Wizz seem to be established and focused on LPL, DSA and now BHX, I doubt we'll see them at MAN anytime soon.

BA back at Manchester,now there's a thing.

Well there is little doubt they must be aghast at how much business they have lost and are continuing to lose from the N West.

Quite odd seeing there recent "national" BA holiday ads.

Other than London the regional demographic is to say the least narrow, unless of course they set up shop in the centre of they country with a FlyBe code share? Now that would hoover up a tremendous number of passengers.

If they did comeback would it be on a genuinely competitive basis with say 5 long haul aircraft based or a short term #spoiler.

And what routes for the card carrying regulars ?

I'll leave the list to others.

Trouble is there are too many of us still alive with long memories ��

I agree with this and surely MAN would have been a bigger market to serve rather than LPL for Wizz. I also agree that we won't see Wizz at MAN anytime soon.

If anyone was going to start flights to Bucharest, it's looking like Ryanair. What other Eastern European/Baltic destinations are MAN missing that could be a winner?

LBIA

Surprised that you include Jet2 to Berlin in your wish list. They have already tried this once and withdrew from the route. I suspect that FR are more likely to give it a go if it is to reappear.

I would not be so sure about MAN and Wizz, nothing confirmed obviously...but it does no harm expect the unexpected :)

Alicante-Aberdeen
Alicante-Heathrow (BA)

British Airways dos operate a 3 weekly year round Heathrow to Alicante service a couple of years ago, but it got discontinued. I think they could make it work seasonally in the summer.

British Airways will tell you that they already serve MAN-JFK daily: the flight numbers are BA1552 / BA1553. Of course, this flight is otherwise known as AA210 / AA211 operated by BA's Oneworld partner American Airlines. Given that this codeshare operation already exists, would BA consider potentially diluting the market with a second (or replacement?) schedule on their own metal? With MAN neatly functioning as a spoke for AA but representing a bit of a logistical headache for a 're-based' BA long-haul aircraft, maybe AA would still be viewed as the best Oneworld solution for the MAN-JFK market.

Wizz Air. This airline is gradually evolving from its earlier model of sticking to backwater airports. BHX is a recent beneficiary of this and it is not alone. It would therefore be worthwhile for MAN to make a pitch. If MAN can offer a pricing-structure acceptable to Ryanair then they can do so for any other ULCC.

A certain pink and purple airline is actually well aware of demand derived from the Manchester area. Some years ago I was puzzled to note advertising posters in Krakow (Poland) promoting their scheduled flights between Krakow and Manchester. However, the small-print revealed that the flights in question were actually Katowice-Liverpool! Giant porkie-pies at both ends of this claim! I guess that Poland didn't have an effective 'Advertising Standards Agency' at that time. However, somebody had certainly recognised where the underlying traffic demand actually lay!

Birmingham-Porto (Monarch, Ryanair)
Birmingham-Helsinki (Finnair)
Birmingham-Stockholm (SAS, Norwegian)
Birmingham-Vienna (Austrian, Eurowings)
Birmingham-Oslo (Norwegian)
Birmingham-Lublin (Wizz Air)
Birmingham-Kosice (Wizz Air)
Birmingham-Timisoara (Wizz Air, Ryanair)
Birmingham-Cluj (Wizz Air, Blue Air)
Birmingham-Iasi (Blue Air)
Birmingham-Riga (Wizz Air, Ryanair)
Birmingham-Pisa/Florence (Monarch, Ryanair, Flybe)
Birmingham-Orlando MCO (Anyone please)
Birmingham-Las Vegas (As above)
Birmingham-Cuba (Thomson)
Birmingham-Vancouver (Air Transat, Westjet)
Birmingham-Chicago (American)
Birmingham-Boston (Norwegian)
Birmingham-Mumbai (Air India, Norwegian)
Birmingham-Tehran (Mahan Air)
Birmingham-China (Take your pick)
Birmingham-Abu Dhabi (Etihad)

Cardiff - Berlin (BE)
Cardiff - Bordeaux (BE)
Cardiff - Murcia
Cardiff - Prague
Cardiff - Istanbul (TK)
Cardiff - Dubai (EK)
Cardiff - New York (DL/UA/AA)
Cardiff - Cape Verde (TOM/MT)
Cardiff - Toronto (AC rouge)

Just a few wishful hopes....

It's actually a bit difficult to come up with "good" future destinations for BA from Heathrow, as pretty much all the worthwhile ones have been done.

Regarding the old "BA from the provinces" proposals, those times have been and gone. When you look at the other European operators they likewise have hunkered down to just one, or for a few, two, hubs, and that's it. Legacy operators have just become hub operators. BA have a sizeable operation from different London airports to Nice, Air France don't even bother with the route, although they have substantial operations to Paris at both London and Nice. But spoke-to-spoke flights just seem destined to be left to the LCCs.

Ryanair are going to base another two aircraft at BFS in the autumn. Anyone have any ideas as to routes
They did have BFS to Milan on mobile app for a while then removed.

Liverpool or Manchester to Toulouse with EZY or FR? Currently only served twice weekly on a seasonal basis with LS. Seems rather underserved from the North West.

With Broughton just down the road too, surely Airbus could generate some traffic here?

Don't Airbus operate there own private shuttle from Chester?

The IAG group and other BA joint ventures are slowly but surely increasing their presence at MAN, currently roughly 10/day to London (BA), 8/day to Ireland (EI), 3/day to USA (AA), up to 3-4/day to Spain/Italy (IB/I2/VY), Billund/Helsinki (EZ/AY), so arguably up to nearly 30 flights a day.