Well I hope they have managed / will manage to get the slots they require!

As far as I know it’s just terminal logistics to finalise and then the new routes can be released.

Thomas Cook Airlines seem to be selling tickets for flights on Mondays and Tuesdays between Manchester and Rovaniemi in June 2018
I could understand flights in mid-winter for the whole Xmas thing combined with reindeer, huskies, northern lights, etc, but June is not really Rovaniemi's peak tourist season

Anyone know the purpose of these flights ?

Looks like MAN is taking a trip to the Baltics next summer... with a number of new airlines that have been long awaited.

Will T3 be able to cope with an additional 6 aircraft from three airlines...?

David may be a reverse in that longest day 21st June, just a thought land of the midnight sun.

And I understand KPMG won the appeal to sell the MON slots for LGW and LTN, underlining your point. MAN were certainly justified in being represented at the Judicial Review.

As far as Summer 2018 is concerned, I agree that much will depend on the level of slot hand-backs. Isn't the deadline normally the end of January?

Suzeman

Is absolutely correct. The Old Testament, if that indeed is how we might describe it will be culled within an inch of its life.

The New Testament come Mar 18 will I dare say be a revelation !

Here endeth the 1st lesson.

Article posted by CAPA on another forum discusses the reallocation of Monarch slots at MAN and BHX. I can't post the link but for MAN it states additional based aircraft from Easyjet(6), Ryanair(3), Jet2(1 extra A330 including some longhaul), a 2 aircraft Vueling base, and a third weekend BA Cityflyer. Plus new (or resumed) services from LOT, Croatian, Air Baltic and Tunisair. Oh and apparently slots also allocated for more unspecified flights from China and India.

Quite how MAG proposes shoe-horn that lot in is unclear ! And as others have rightly said it's only slot filings so plenty of time for it all to shake down before the start of next summer.

There are already 9 less Monarch so half way there except wrong terminal

Will be amazed if easyjet put in 6 extra based aircraft. Ryanair and Jet 2 are more realistic and I suspect it's what easyjet will put in as well.

Don’t see why it’s so shocking, Easyjet pinned their flag on the MAN slots very early on, and didn’t exactly make a secret of it in the press either. Looks like they didn’t want to enter a potential bidding war at Gatwick.

Hire a bulk of the ex-Monarch crew, get 6 aircraft *0(I’m sure some are due for delivery, negotiate a good rate for split ops and off you go. Don’t forget this is technically an increase of an extra 5, as 1 extra frame was planned in before Monarch went bump anyway.

Yeah I agree easy to fill them but a big investment when there is so many uncertainties. Not very easyjet.

Agree it doesn’t stick to previous form, but we are talking about the Easyjet that just took on 25 ex-Air Berlin aircraft which isn’t a small investment or small risk. We live in uncertain times, it seems that somtimes risks need to be taken..

I don't think the strategy in Germany can be compared to putting 6 aircraft into MAN. I will call it and can't see more than 4. Time will tell in the new year.

We will see, but I’m merely pointing out what has been loaded in the system. There are actually 20 based now loaded in the system, clearly the intent is there, even if the full amount doesn’t make it into reality.

Looking at past Easyjet allocations, they do stick pretty close to what they apply for slot wise. S16 they used what they applied for, and S15. Last year in the initial allocation, they applied for 13 based aircraft looking at the ATM’s. By the time summer actually came around, it was 12 based. However, in Chroma, 13 aircraft were never loaded, just 12 plus the away base didn’t such as GVA/BFS etc. This time, 20 aircraft are loaded in as well as the usual away based GVA/BFs etc.

Are they ramping up cities or sunshine, or an even balance of both? Be nice if the possibilities of day trips expanded.

2 routes I’m aware of are Genoa 2 Weekly and 6 weekly Nice. Mahon is highly expected. All other routes are protected as ZZF.

easyJet is traditionally a very conservative airline. However, they have a clear (and well documented) strategy of becoming number one or number two at each of their bases. The Air Berlin deal was made to gain a greater foothold in the German market and explicitly to become number one in Berlin and specifically in BER, when it finally opens. The same can be said in MAN.

That is why 6 additional aircraft is not surprising. Whether that transpires to be the case with the slots having been returned to the slot pool, who knows.

Shame EasyJet haven't increased frequency on the MAN-GIB route, definitely would fill up the gap lost from Monarch, unless there is another announcement due?