In principle a reasonable idea, however once you start to look at Manchester’s geography it suddenly gets a lot harder. Stands 80/231, aka taxiway Papa is the obvious place, but no good once you start thinking of a load of Ryanair’s and Flybe’s trying to get round there from T3 in the morning departure rush. Nowhere south of 23R/05L is any good when 23L isn’t the departure runway (traffic would be going back and forth across 23R/05L to de-ice). Anywhere else would cause chaos as there would be nowhere to go round the de-icing aircraft - you’d quickly get a backlog of departures as at best your frequency of takeoffs could be no better than how quickly each aircraft can be de-iced. Others will know better than I, but I’d be surprised if an aircraft can be de-iced in less than 5 minutes even with 2 rigs.

One thing that could help will be once the new T2 is fully operational and T1 is pulled down. That could give some centrally located space to use.

Don’t we have this same discussions about winter ops year after year?

It’s like we discuss the same thing again and again but expect a different outcome.

Indeed we do LAX.

And particularly in view of the extreme conditions that are being encountered at present, I think the Airport has done very well. Aircraft are getting away,albeit with some delay. But just look at LHR last night and you will see that many departures were delayed by 1 hour plus - in some cases several hours - and no doubt some of this was down to de-icing.

In addition the manoeuvring area has been kept mostly operational throughout apart from short closures. So well done to all those who have been involved.

Can confirm that there were delays of over one hour de-icing at LHR yesterday afternoon, and it was not solely the aircraft that were not coping with the cold.

Departure from gate 143 at Manchester delayed the 12.25 to LHR by almost one hour as the airbridge failed in the cold and boarding had to be front and rear steps.... then arriving at LHR, we were kept on the aircraft for over 30 minutes due to airbridge failure there at gate 7, apparently caused by snow on the sensors. Eventually disembarked by rear door with the first officer and cabin crew donning high vis jackets to steward the passengers into the terminal.

My subsequent 3.30pm departure to MAD was then delayed until 4.45pm as the aircraft was delayed elsewhere in Europe, and as the substitute aircraft had been on stand all day, it needed de-icing above and below the wings which took almost one hour with an eventual departure from the gate just after 6.20pm

Manchester Statistics - January 2018 (Part 1)

Destinations that are either new (no passengers since my records started in January 2005), or have not been served for a number of years - if the latter then the month and year of the last service is shown.

Lyon (Bron) appears for the first time, with 77 passengers

One domestic statistic are currently missing from the CAA report for January.

Belfast City and Inverness are yet to provide figures

Total passengers for this route in January 2017 were 24,450

Moving monthly and annual figures - based on CAA statistics/MAG statistics

Monthly passengers - 1,664,623-0.05
Annual Total - 1,664,623
Moving Annual Total - 27,790,176 + 7.45

Monthly Movements - 13,538 -2.88%
Annual Movements - 13,538
Moving Annual Movements - 203,229 + 4.62%

Manchester Statistics -January 2018 (Part 2)

Top 25 destinations - by passenger numbers

DUBAI................................................ 88,650
AMSTERDAM..................................... 81,402
DUBLIN.............................................. 78,561
TENERIFE (SURREINA SOFIA)............. 56,290
HEATHROW....................................... 54,567
PARIS (CHARLES DE GAULLE)............. 47,618
ABU DHABI......................................... 39,108
FRANKFURT....................................... 37,481
ALICANTE........................................... 34,758
GENEVA............................................. 32,084
ARRICIFE............................................ 30,431
DOHA................................................. 27,765
KEFLAVIK............................................ 26,167
BERLIN (SCHONEFELD)....................... 24,636
MUNICH............................................. 24,496
COPENHAGEN.................................... 24,140
LAS PALMAS....................................... 22,996
MALAGA............................................ 22,406
BRIDGETOWN.................................... 21,025
BELFAST INTERNATIONAL.................. 19,981
ISTANBUL............................................ 19,463
FUERTAVENTURA............................... 18,648
BRUSSELS........................................... 18,152
ISLAMABAD........................................ 17,686
BARCELONA....................................... 17,524

CAA statistics for January are provisional.


Manchester Statistics - January 2018 (Part 3)

Top 25 destinations with highest percentage increase.

Destination......................................Total Pax....Schedule Pax....Charter Pax....Percentage change
COLOGNE.......................................... 11,308........... 11,308.................... 0.................. 230.74
AGADIR................................................ 7,239............. 7,239................... 0................... 123.15
ENONTEKIO............................................. 185.................... 0............... 185.................. 88.776
ST LUCIA.............................................. 2,193............. 2,193.................... 0.................. 87.116
TORONTO............................................ 3,793............. 3,793.................... 0.................. 65.128
ANTALYA.............................................. 4,373............. 4,113............... 260.................. 61,783
BANJUL................................................. 5,569............. 5,596................... 0................. 52,367
CHAMBERY.......................................... 6,875................ 971............. 5,904.................. 45.229
GOA.................................................... 13,793........... 10,390............. 3,403................. 36.578
FRANKFURT........................................ 37,481........... 37,481.................... 0................. 36.528
NEW YORK (JFK)................................. 13,875........... 13,875.................... 0................. 36.096
ISTANBUL........................................... 19,463........... 19,463.................... 0................. 35.953
HOUSTON............................................. 4,541............ 4,541.................... 0.................. 33.402
HONG KONG...................................... 15,599........... 15,599.................... 0.................. 31.526
PISA...................................................... 2,482............. 2,482.................... 0................. 29.88
HELSINKI............................................. 10,327.......... 10,327..................... 0................. 27.636
PRAGUE.............................................. 15,795.......... 15,795..................... 0................. 26.209
NANTES................................................... 272................ 272.................... 0.................. 23.077
CARCASSONNE...................................... 3,471........... 3,471..................... 0.................. 23,041
SALZBURG............................................. 7,372........... 4,461............... 2,911................. 22.276
BILLUND................................................ 2,456........... 2,456..................... 0.................. 20.807
CATANIA............................................... 2,524............ 2,524..................... 0.................. 20.248
MALTA................................................ 12,346........... 10,678.............. 1,668................. 19.887
HURGHADA.......................................... 9,904............. 9,904.................... 0.................. 19.885
BRUSSELS............................................ 18,152........... 18,152................... 0.................. 19.752

CAA statistics for January are provisional.


Manchester Statistics - January 2018 (Part 4)

Figures for the European and long haul destinations that I consider to be the main points for our connecting traffic.

Foreign_airport……..Total_Pax 2017……..Total Pax 2018……% change
VIENNA………………….. 5,099……….…………….. 5,268……………….. +3.3144
BRUSSELS……………… 15,158……………………. 18,152……………….. +19.752
BEIJING………………….. 8,051………………….….. 5,414.………………. -32.75
PRAGUE………………… 12,515……………………. 15,795…….…………. +26.209
COPENHAGEN………. 23,421……………………. 24,140……………….. +3.0699
HELSINKI………………... 8,091…………….…….. 10,327………………… +27.636
PARIS (CDG)………….. 48,024…………………… 47,618……………..... -0.845
DUSSELDORF………… 17,324………..…………. 17,016……..………… -1.778
FRANKFURT MAIN… 27,453……………………. 37,481….…………… +36.528
MUNICH……………….. 25,433..…………………. 24,496………………. -3.684
HONG KONG……….… 11,860….………………… 15,599.……….……. +31.526
KEFLAVIK……………….. 22,430……………….….. 26,167….………….. +16.661
DUBLIN………………….. 81,019………………….. 78,561………..…….. +3.034
MILAN (MALPENSA).. 10,179……………………. 8,752……………….. -14.02
ROME (FIUMICINO)….. 5,021..…………………. 5,024……………….. +0.0597
AMSTERDAM………….. 80,813………….…….. 81,402.…………….... +0.7288
ISLAMABAD……………. 20,326..……………..… 17,686….……………. -12.99
LISBON…………………… 15,495………………….. 13,741………..…….. -11.32
DOHA…………………….. 30,760…………………… 27,765…………..….. -9.737
JEDDAH…………………... 8,538…………………….. 9,142………………. +7.0743
SINGAPORE……………… 6,702…………………….. 7,187……………….. +7.2366
MADRID…………………. 13,383………………….. 11,126…..…………... -16.86
STOCKHOLM (ARN)… 10,373………………….. 11,703..………………. -11.36
GENEVA…………………. 31,580………………….. 32,084….………....... +1.5959
ZURICH………………….. 12,346………………….. 11,561.. ………………. -6.358
ABU DHABI…………….. 36,574……………….…. 39,108…..…………... +6.9284
DUBAI…………………….. 90,003.…………………. 88,650………………... -1.503
ATLANTA………………… 10,801…….……………... 5,808…………………. -46.23
CHICAGO…..…………….. 2,407…………………….. 2,467..………………. +2.4927
HOUSTON………………… 3,404 ……………………. 4,451…………………. +33.402
NEW YORK (JFK)……… 10,195…………………… 13,875…………..……. +36.096
NEW YORK (NEWARK) 9,461……………………. 9,178..………………. -2.991
PHILADELPHIA………… 10,604…………………… 10,102……..…………. -4.734
HEATHROW……………. 55,455…………………… 54,567……….………….-1.601

CAA statistics for January are provisional.


Manchester Statistics - January 2018 (Part 5)

Comparison of top 25 destinations - January 2008 versus January 2018

Foreign airport...........................January-08...........January-18
HEATHROW....................................... 74,611..................... 54,567
TENERIFE (SURREINA SOFIA)............ 62,908...................... 56,290
DUBLIN.............................................. 54,789..................... 78,561
DUBAI................................................ 46,746..................... 88,650
AMSTERDAM..................................... 38,372..................... 81,402
PARIS (CHARLES DE GAULLE)............ 34,867...................... 47,618
ARRECIFE........................................... 33,408...................... 30,431
ALICANTE.......................................... 33,348...................... 34,758
MALAGA............................................ 31,473...................... 22,408
GATWICK........................................... 30,654...................... 99
FRANKFURT....................................... 28,454...................... 37,481
SHARM EL SHEIK................................ 25,565...................... 0
ORLANDO.......................................... 24,035...................... 17,288
LAS PALMAS...................................... 19,532....................... 22,996
EDINBURGH....................................... 18,937...................... 8,891
BELFAST CITY..................................... 18,912...................... TBA
GENEVA............................................. 18,575...................... 32,084
CHICAGO (O'HARE)............................ 17,983...................... 2,467
ISLAMABAD........................................ 17,967..................... 17,686
NEW YORK (NEWARK)....................... 17,032...................... 9,178
PAPHOS............................................. 16,828....................... 11,226
FUERTEVENTURA.............................. 16,518....................... 18,648
SINGAPORE........................................ 16,216...................... 7,187
GOA.................................................... 15,727..................... 13,793
BRIDGETOWN.................................... 15,429...................... 21,025

CAA statistics for January are provisional.


Manchester Statistics - January 2018 (Part 6)

Major changes to Domestic traffic

Edinburgh - 8,891 +17.528%
Exeter- 9,761 +18.043%
Glasgow - 3,777 +16.863%
Heathrow- 54,567 -1.601%
Isle of Man - 12,547 +16.945%
Newquay - 4,557 +17.358%
Norwich - 1,660 -17.25%
Southampton - 16,747 +18.773%

CAA statistics for January are provisional

Remote deicing has been asked for by airlines, the answer has always been NO. To do with no suitable location with drainage.
When the snow threat level reaches a set level, the airport takes control of ALL handling agents that supply deicing and they put everybody in a queue based on your CTOT.
Why they don't vacate a/c off of contact stands that are awaiting deicing, causing a delay to the next a/c waiting for that stand is beyond me.
It seems there is no thought or common sense involved when the airport (allegedly) control the deicing of aircraft.
For instance today the CX216 STD 1130, left at 1300 and was still waiting to be deiced, it waited that long the snow had melted! It also waited for a TUI to be deiced before towing back onto stand, for an hour.

The airport have proved themselves to be no better than the handling agents at managing the process, and why the airport believes that they are more capable than the people who's job de-icing actualy is eludes me. Although, it has been noted on several occasions that certain airline(s) (Those operating the Airbus double deck variety) do tend to get preferential treatment when the airport assumes control of de-icing .

The96er
I have a colleague currently belatedly in India who would beg to differ at your comment, after the issues earlier in the week. I am with the "Double Deckers" as you say again on Sunday, so will let you know if we get preferential treatment if weather remains the same, and assuming driver can get here !


Kind regards
Mr Mac - in the cooler !

The new Thomas Cook flights to Montego Bay times:

MT2872 MAN 1055 MBJ 1505
MT2873 MBJ 1705 MAN 0810+1

Monday’s from 6th May 2019.

Manchester has 3 London City diverts.

TXL-LCY, FRA-LCY and ORY-LCY.

EDI-LCY is likely to be joining these 3.

Thanks for the inf. which had eluded me. Actually, looking at LCY and MAN arrivals it would appear the FRA got in at LCY. Not sure about the EDI. STN took a couple of diversions and LHR 1.

I was under the impression all 3 came to MAN.

FRA-LCY is recorded as landing at MAN 13:09, but I didn’t catch the reg (I think I saw it was G-LCYS?)

LCYY was on the TXL and LCYM on the ORY.

Yes, someone else has said 3 did divert to MAN, so my apologies. Finding earlier flight arrivals on the new MAN web site page doesn't seem so straightforward but the old style page showed 2. However, that wasn't always accurate.

MAN now taken an RAF C17 (BZZ) and Flybe Dash 8 (BHX) diverts.

And another LCY divert in the form of IBZ-LCY G-LCYR.

Been a while since we have had this many LCY diverts.

Another handful of diverts.

One each from Ryanair, Easyjet, Lufthansa and Jet2 and 2 from flybe. All BHX diverts.

And divert number 16/17 today is EK37 the BHX A380.

To continue the diversion theme, BHX's UAE 380 looks like it is coming to MAN too.

And more diverts.

Germania from BHX, Cityflyer from LCY and an Easyjet from SEN.

And one more will be Thomas Cook operating TFS-BHX.

Can’t be much more room left at MAN now so I’d be surprised if the squeezed any more in. The recently diverted Germania is being parked in the engine test Bay.