Excellent news indeed and, with Islamabad starting as well, makes Virgin less reliant on the US market from MAN.

Are you sure about Iran Air? It was originally supposed to be a short season until early September, but they’ve carried on, and were in last Saturday.

Oman Air has cancelled all European routes until March 31, except London and Frankfurt. On the Manchester route they are heavily reliant on transfers to India and Pakistan, so until those markets reopen for non-direct traffic, there is no point operating. As far as I know, they were not planning on dropping the route. They seemed happy with its performance and it was rumoured there would be an upgrade to 10 weekly in 2021, but a lot depends on what the carrier looks like post covid.

Iran Air remains weekly throughout the northern winter . Do you mean Saudia per chance ?

A lot of Indian /Pakistan UK flights starting in pretty tricky times. Id be surprised if they all exist in the same format in say, 18 months.

The ban on PIA own-metal flights and the demise of Jet Airways has opened up opportunities for other carriers on Manchester - India / Pakistan routes in the medium term. Hi-Fly operates on behalf of PIA at present, but only on the basis of a vastly-reduced 1 or 2 departures per week on MAN-ISB only. India routes are currently unserved. Whilst C-19 is impacting passenger flows on sub-continent (and all other) routes at the moment, we know that there is a very large latent VFR market for these destinations when virus-related travel restrictions are finally lifted. India offers established tourism potential too.

Forgive me for taking a cynical view of all of this, but it does rather smack of putting as many flights on sale as you can to generate forward ticket sales cashflow.

Perhaps, but I day suspect the booking profile on routes of this type is later than other VS routes. And not just because of pandemic travel uncertainty.

They're prioritising routes where demand can be expected to resurge quickly once the public is allowed to travel freely again. A trip to Orlando is discretionary in most instances - it can be left for another year or so if money is tight or if some family members harbour residual concerns about C-19. But if your extended family lives in Pakistan or India and you haven't been able to go and see them for ages ... well, that decision is a quite different one. Volume bookings will come in once travellers are permitted to cross borders without quarantine once again.

Iran Air are still flying, Saturdays only I'm led to believe.

VS routes to India: Although to many this may seem a little mad considering the current situation, but VS are simply changing their focus onto the VFR market along with the Pakistani routes. I'm sure they've done their homework and will be a success for them.

This was posted earlier by BHX5DME but no source was quoted

So here it is at routes online

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...as-of-14oct20/

Tehran Imam Khomeini – Manchester Previously filed 1 weekly flight during winter season removed

With T2X already complete and ready to be tested prior to official opening, is there any word from MAG/MAN management about testing the terminal with passengers?
There were rumours during the summer that it would be opening in March with testing to take place during Jan & Feb, but it's gone quiet lately. There would be more space to social distance within T2X compared to the current T1 & T3.

Appreciate any info...

Well ..this is MAG group you are dealing with here 👍

current rumour doing the rounds is that T1 will close for the winter with T3 and T2 staying open. Nothing confirmed from M.A.G though.

Rumour machine likes to go into overdrive at times...but I hope this is true and that T1 closes for good, long overdue, perfect opportunity.

T2 can't stay open as it's already closed!

But that group will all go on cheap fares with EK or transit via PIA/AI perhaps BA but not a minimally advertised new start route with VS unless offering loss making fares.

Yes, I should have specified T2 to re-open with T3 remaining open and T1 to close for maintenance. EI was supposed to have moved to T3 with the start of the BHD route, but for some reson, didn't happen, so I guess the situation is still fluid at the moment.

A random check of fares in Feb 2021 shows BA and VS charging the same amount.So why would one go via LHR when one can travel non stop for the same price ?
Also I am not so sure that the potential clientele are too enamoured with a dry PIA.
I suspect the route will be a surprising success.

The latest I heard was for T2 to reopen in February.

They should close T1 and knock it down!!!

Why? Sounds a tad peevish to me.

Are you able to elude on the T1 maintenance?

Can we keep the multi storey car park I can’t imagine level 13 not being there, that new car park in T2X just isn’t the same...

The sooner new T2 opens the better. T1 and T3 are old and desperately in need of a complete overhaul

Because it’s old, dated and perhaps one of the most miserable terminal experiences in the U.K. The sight of an A380 bridge stuck onto the end of a pier originally designed for the likes of Tridents and BAC 111s speaks volumes!

Covid restrictions will be with us for some time to come. Transit stops can add extra complications that can change at a moments notice. Point to point will become more attractive even if it comes at a premium.

You presume that group to be a single homogenous mass who will default to similar travel choices en bloc. The reality is that we're referring to a very large pool of individual family groups which will each make the decision which best suits themselves. Provided that Virgin offers tariffs pitched to compete effectively with the alternatives on offer, there is no reason to presume they can't prosper. If their price point is pitched too high to attract customers, they will lose out. But Virgin executives have plenty of experience in competitive markets and they know the score. They are aware of the criteria required to succeed, and their introductory fares look fine to me.

They'll need to do trials with staff first, which I'd imagine has been/is going to be an issue, given a) the current Covid restrictions, and b) the number of staff who have been furloughed and made redundant.

Hello, hope you don’t mind me raising a question I’ve been thinking about during the past few months. Given COVID, Manchester has obviously seen a dramatic fall in activity, so much so that it’s second runway is now no longer used.

Do you think there’s a certain tipping point when activity increases to such a level that the airport will reopen the second runway? I ask this as if there’s a vaccine next year (fingers crossed), airport activity will start to rev back up - but the subsequent economic toll of the pandemic may mean activity is way behind pre covid levels, meaning 23L still isn’t needed. I’d just be interested to hear what others’ thoughts are on when that tipping point may be.

It won`t be a rev back but I think things will get worse before better and it will be a slow crawl for at least a year and it all depends on other countries as well.The vaccine if it comes will be targeted at first on vital staff and vunerable people, personally ask that question again in May next year.

Pier B was designed to accommodate 707/DC8 and VC10 size aircraft in boxes with side on parking , Pier C added 4 wide body capable stands in 1973 and with dual air bridges !
Stand 11 has a long history of accommodating oddballs including Concorde/IL62/DC8series 61/63/747/Tristar and DC10

Right now India doesn’t allow an intermediate stop in the Gulf or anywhere else for that matter. Hugely denting revenues for the Me3 plus one

Combined with Omani’s own entry restrictions little wonder why Oman’s operations remain indefinitely suspended is it

This is the impetus for the Indian carrier uplift being experienced by Vistara and others including the Virgin services though even now there remains considerable difficulty in British Indians gaining the right to travel .

Quoting FCO
Travel to India is subject to entry restrictions
A limited number of flights are operating between the UK and India under a bilateral agreement but these are subject to strict eligibility criteria and details may change at short notice. You should check the relevant airline website for up to date information.
If you are eligible to travel to India you will need to quarantine after arrival.

Indeed the FCO web page actually still reports scheduled international flights remain suspended and that those operating are essentially scheduled charters !

FROM GOI site
its even more bureaucratic

Ill just post a link

https://boi.gov.in/content/advisory-...ted-covid-19-1

IMHO it will be at least 2-3 years before 20+ million is achieved again - the south runway may yet see some use in the meantime if only for maintenance backup; however other issues are fire cover and certainly a period navaid retesting.

Thanks Rutan and Chaps - appreciate it.

A good rumour........just wondering why if the Irish part of IAG can do this then why can't the British part? Perhaps to do with EU ownership, the article suggests.

https://simpleflying.com/aer-lingus-...uk-us-flights/

Back down to T1 again from wednesday, traffic has really slowed down with the latest restrictions. Although there seems to be an awful lot of "business people" travelling to ISB and LHE which made the majority of passengers travelling on EK, EY, QR, and the Hifly.

This was reported some weeks ago here.
Sadly Brexit may scupper it.

I'm puzzled why this may be the case, its hardly a recent development and they will have taken it into account when discussing the idea surely?