Will be interesting to see if that one gets much take up with it being an unknown destination.

Same here. It wasn't even served from NCL in the heyday of Yugotours et al. when there were nearly as many flights to Croatia as there were to Spain. I've visited Croatia but only spent about 20 minutes at Zadar on a Dash 8 going from Zagreb to Pula. Cracking flight up the Dalmatian coast though. Zadar itself is a very pretty little town by all accounts.

PS. Nice to see the press team using the phrase 'brand new destination' with some accuracy for once!!

Just have to hope Ryanair gives it time.
a lot of people I know aren’t thinking holidays this year and are planning on 2022 instead

jensdad

we must be of the same era as that was my immediate thought that it wasn’t served in Yugoslavia’s hey day!

looking at the map, it’s between Pula and Split. Rijeka’s around there as well which had a fortnightly JAT dc9 flight in the mid 80’s so unless there are no hotels near Zadar should generate some interest.

having said that we flew to NCl/DBV in the 80’s for a holiday in Montenegro. The coach transfer was longer than the flight and passed Budva/Tivat airport which would have been much more convenient perhaps Zadar is a better option than the usual destinations for some areas.

Chania is still cheaper at the moment flight wise.

Zadar is a recognised destination and very nice it is too. I thought it was fairly well known but thinking about it because it’s been so well served locally here in Essex perhaps we’ve been able to take it for granted. Not just the fairly long-standing Ryanair at STN but a weekly charter using Titan and Jet2 also announced it prior to Covid. Stobart/Flybe also did it from Southend until they closed the jet operation.

Its fairly well served from elsewhere in Europe. There are established ‘Med’ destinations for whatever reason never made it with Brits, this is obviously one of them.

Excitement and scepticism on a NCL spotters' page around a Wikipedia update saying that JetBlue are starting a NYC service in March 2022. Anyone with any inside info, or is this just someone fooling around on Wikipedia?

Sorry, GBYAJ, I didn't see your comment until just now. Yeah, we must be of a similar vintage. I seem to remember the Rijeka flight was a DC9 on a Friday? Surprising that Rijeka isn't served by more airlines from the UK these days, it's a beautiful old Habsburg port city - although the airport is on an island off the coast and Pula might be quicker once the ferry trip is factored in. The bus trip from Pula to Rijeka is very pretty as well.
Not sure if there are many mass-tourism hotels around Zadar but with the old town being so historic I'll guess there'll be a decent supply of B&B's.

I will definitely go to Zadar.
For some reason I missed out on Split but in the 70s and 80s most of my hols were to Pula, Opatija, Cavtat etc and I remember the DC9s.
Wasn't that the era of the Dan Air pilot skidding off the runway 2 days running?

hopefully it’s not someone messing around with it.

It has been knowing before that routes have been shown on there before being announced.

TBH JetBlue has a good product and the right size aircraft for the route but not sure they would want to risk NCL there is other airports first unless they see NCL as no competition.

let’s see how they get on with the London route first which starts later this year

The JetBlue nonsense has been removed now.

In Jan 2020, when the pandemic was gathering pace, but before it really had any effect, I flew to AYT via Eurowings to DUS, a night there and then Corendon. It wasn't easy to get to from NCL.

By late summer, when Turkey was one of the 'last men standing' of countries practical for tourism, there were multiple daily flights from NCL!

Vueling BCN
 

Vueling and NCL airport announces new operator for BCN route

Vueling flying twice weekly on Wednesday and Sunday from July.

It's all in the flight times.
Mornings, great. Evenings, not a chance.

Mid afternoon, in at 14.45, out at 15.25

Thanks. Still a late arrival at hotel but doable.

Better than not having the route at all though?

Yes, depending on any competition.

Should have more success this time round..
.last time they were on the BCN route they were competing against Easyjet.
Very impressed by the Airport team, pulling in new routes and new operators in these difficult times

Vueling are usually all over the place. Slightly odd route I suggest, and not convinced it will become an embedded regular. Use it or lose it! (same for Belfast)

Barcelona? an odd route? Good grief - and here's me thinking it was good news :rolleyes:

CabinCrewe

Can you quantify why you think this is an odd route? Given most other UK airports have a direct link to BCN.

Barcelona is Spain's 2nd busiest airport handling (pre covid) 52 million passengers a year, which is more than Gatwick, Rome FCO or Moscow SVO. For context Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris CDG carried circa 70 million

It had seen rising passenger numbers of 2.6 million year on year.

CabinCrewe

BCN a route that was 3-4 weekly with EasyJet pre-COVID. Don’t think it’s an odd route, considering EZY has now ceased international operations from NCL.

I think it's a good route but Veuling does not have a good reputation.
Better than no-one, though.

One thing seems for sure in that NCL has always seemed reluctant to go hellbent for a big LCC to dominate the market. 15 regular operators is pretty good going even for pre-covid standards for an airport of NCL's size. I do think NCL has long been capable though of driving greater pax volumes with a big LCC. Wonder if it is a management approach or simply lack of interest with competition from MAN and EDI/GLA?

The EZY base was at one point,up to 7 based aircraft

Good news, and - sorry to join in with the pile in on CabinCrewe! - not a strange route at all. Not the expected operator, sure, but in the absence of any competition I don't see any reason this won't succeed, regardless of flight times. BCN's a big city break destination as well as a lot of other bobbins: second largest city in Spain; large business and industrial centre; cruise port...
Look at it from the other end as well: Spaniards like travelling to places these days. The Newcastlegatesheadalloneword people seem to think that Newcastle and Gateshead are world class tourist destinations. Hmm, not sure, but it all helps. The UK might even be more attractive to European folks as a Covid-safe destination in the near future but let's not count our chickens.

73k pax on NCL<>BCN in 2019 and 72k in 2018. Only ALC, PMI, AGP and IBZ had more passengers to/from Spain.

"I do think NCL has long been capable though of driving greater pax volumes with a big LCC"

Problem isn't the size of the operators it's the size of the home market. 2.66 million people on less than average income can only generate a limited number of trips per year

NCL does very well considering - far better than a lot of other UK regions

Agreed - look at a map. Outside of the Tyne/Wear and Teesside conurbations there is NCL's catchment area is sparce.

BCN was No.18 in the 2019 list of the top 20 busiest routes at NCL.......73k pax and rising.

SWBKCB

But it's close enough to drag in a lot of Scottish families when the English schools are still in session

And plenty go the other way when the Scottish schools are out.

Also Tui and in the past offered many more flights than from EDI

Asturias56

Absolutely. NCL definitely punches above its weight when you look at all the factors involved. I've mentioned on here before (or was it on a Newcastle United forum? :) ) about the strange expectations here in the North East. A couple of years ago there was someone on here saying that it was poor how NCL had 'only' one flight a day to Dubai, and that it landed at an inconvenient time!
But I'd better not start a discussion about North East mentality. Or Newcastle United.

I was brought up not to mock the afflicted............................. :E

Don't start - the comment which started the discussion about whether NCL 'punched its weight' or not was made by somebody from Essex.... :ok:

Nobody in here in the loop with easyJet and whether they plan to operate some of the based routes that were pulled from other bases?

These routes are still in the destination drop downs on the easyJet app but obviously no dates available. Wishful thinking maybe 🤔.

easyjet did say that all routes would still operate but from there other bases

Delete the word “all”