Norwich
 

Good news for Norwich this morning.

Permission approved for new 30 acre Business Park incorporating MRO and painting facilities amongst other aviation and non-aviation purposes.

Certainly is when you look at small niche airports, they need to diversify and not become a Doncaster etc so this will do very well in supporting the airport, which looks as though is unlikely to expand its scheduled pax ops from what they have. I assume Air Livery may be moving over or expanding into this new area?

The Southend fans will hope this is an expension of Air Livery facilities at Norwich and not the start of transfer ops from Southend to Norwich.......

Do TUI operate their 738 non stop to the likes of Tenerife, Greece and Turkey and any load restrictions due to runway length?

There was weight restrictions on the NGs that ended up with canx flights and pax baggage delays as Sunwings pilots had over fuelled beyond performance limits for NWI in the past. Was quite comical.

Air Europa wnt non stop to ACE from NWI but that was a good while ago.

Yes with Boeing 737-400 rather than their current Boeing 737-800, different performance in aircraft.

Credit to @@SeanM1997 on twitter and further to what has been posted on the Ryanair thread

From April 1st 2024 (no April fools)

Ryanair to Operate, Alicante, Faro and Malta
all twice weekly, all operating Mon and Fri

Perhaps quite a surprise although certainly a market for a few Sun routes with Ryanair despite the closeness of their largest base. Although some enjoy Stansted I know there are plenty who don't so will be certainly welcomed.

Perhaps my biggest surprise/question mark is Ryanair and it being very much against airports with development fee's as seen when Newquay had theirs. Perhaps a miracle maybe about to happen and Norwich are about to drop it, but more likely the relationship with RCA group that also owns EXT and BOU and I'm sure a very favourable deal for RYR got the deal over the line to Operate from NWI.

I won't give the specific numbers but Ryanair within the first 48 hours of the routes been on sale they have for the first month of operation in April 24 sold

Over 340 seats for Alicante
Over 160 seats for Faro
Over 180 seats for Malta

obviously a long way to go for the roughly 9000 seats on sale each month, but certainly encouraging for the what is probably the quieter month of the Summer season and for just 2 days sales in what is a time people are concentrating on paying for Christmas rather than booking holidays.

Clear winner is Alicante but to be expected, if it continues like that I'm sure that will turn into year round like similar operations at Exeter and Teeside.

Hope this is of interest for the very few Norwich observers on here :p

Seems to be a big demand for Malaga from the Eastern Daily Press site as well

Yeh Colin, seems that will be a matter of time before that's added (aircraft availability stopped them adding it to start) , Most likely will have Alicante and Malaga as year round destinations in the future, like the old Flybe operation, with a couple of others as summer seasonal as they have with the likes of Exeter, Teeside, Cardiff. Hopefully Faro and Malta will also be successful for the summer. Seems Alicante will be a great success.

I shall be flying NWI-AMS on Christmas Eve, the first time I have ever used the airport as such. I shall have my £10 at the ready :O

Hopefully all goes well as nobody wants any delays on Chaitmas eve. Yeh we all hope that one day it disappears and perhaps Ryanair's arrival might help with that.

Just a quick update for the Norwich Observers on Ryanair.

I won't give the numbers now for obvious reasons but Alicante and Faro continue to sell very well, in fact Faro has really caught up with Alicante. Although Alicante still ahead, really think this will go year round.

Malta isn't really doing that well yet, I have seen complaints about the flight times etc, and tbf they really aren't great. Seems rather like Ryanair threw it in, in hope rather than expectation as they didn't have room to add what they wanted yet. Perhaps the documentary on Channel 5 tonight might help the sales :E

Talking about Malta, when Ryanair first started operations at Exeter they started with Malta, Naples and Malaga. Now 5 years later, they have Alicante, Malaga, Faro and Mallorca. Something (all going well of course) of what I'd expect Norwich's Ryanair destinations to look like in a couple of years.

Malta isn't a great destination in winter TBH - can get quite wet and stormy

Agreed made the mistake of going there in winter. Norwich's Malta starts on 1st April for the summer. So weather shouldn't be putting people off. We had Malta for years at NWI operated by Air Malta 1x weekly when they used to do charters. Possibly 2 x weekly is a little ambitious by RYR

Hi, A very quick sad question. As far as I can see the Airport uses 3 types of pushback tractors, 1 small (looks similar to a Hallam HE50) 2 medium (one look new and the other not so !!). Can anyone put a name and maybe a model to any of these please. The reason, I am completing a detailed rendition of the place for MSFS and would like to get it as detailed as poss. Already added those beautiful Aviramp boarding steps that everyone loves !!!
Paul

Great work doing a decent rendition for MSFS! Will try and get the details for you next time I'm there, unless anyone knows any different

Gone are the dreadful flight times to Malta which arrived after midnight in Malta. Creating complaints with the locals, Ryanair possibly didn't quite expect people were used to TUI and its family friendly flight times.

Faro flights adjusted too.

Mon

MLA - NWI
14:00 - 16:30
NWI - MLA
17:05 - 21:25

Fri
MLA - NWI
06:55 - 09:15
NWI - MLA
09:40 - 14:00

Mon
FAO - NWI
14:15 - 17:15
NWI - FAO
18:05 - 21:05

Fri
FAO - NWI
12:50 - 15:50
NWI - FAO
16:20 - 19:20

Mon
ALC - NWI
08:30 - 10:10
NWI - ALC
10:35 - 14:15

Fri
ALC - NWI
15:00 - 16:40
NWI - ALC
17:05 - 20:45

Just for the few Norwich Observers as we approach the launch of the Ryanair services from April 1st with just 3 weeks to go.

As I know the rough figures i will just share them for the first 3 set of departures over the easter holidays.

1st April
Alicante - 155
Faro - 173
Malta - 135

5th April
Alicante - 130
Malta - 150
Faro - 155

8th April
Alicante - 155
Faro - 130
Malta - 140

Certainly no disaster on any of those with decent bookings for a new airline and new routes for the airport. I'd probably say if this was a years time these would be closer to the fully booked mark as word of mouth and people realise that Ryanair are at NWI. Going forward there is the post easter and late April dip in bookings before things really take off into May onwards, Faro is very well booked sometimes more so than Alicante, and since the flight times changed Malta has really surged with new bookings. Certainly very positive and hopefully Ryanair can have a little patience we see one or 2 more sun routes in the future.

Have they [NWI] scrapped their Airport Development Fee yet, or have Ryanair managed to get such a good deal that it's no longer considered to be an issue for them as they used to withdraw from airports that implemented such fees...?!

FR probaby don't mind an ADF like Norwich's, because it has to be paid by the passenger before being allowed through security. Doesn't have to get bundled into the fare FR advertise online.

Nope. Still listed under their airport charges for at least the next 2 years https://www.norwichairport.co.uk/air...velopment-fee/

From what I have been told the deal was so good that it made the ADF irrelevant for Ryanair. Or in other words Norwich said have whatever you want, in which Ryanair duly did. (Some of the money earnt from the ADF was used for the Ryanair deal) Plus Ryanair have also developed a very good relationship with NWI's owner the Regional and City Airports group/Rigby Group which also owns Bournemouth and Exeter which Ryanair has a presence, especially Bournemouth that's a base.


Of course the additonal 50 or 60ish thousand or so passengers Ryanair expects to bring in adds another £4 to 500,000 in revenue for the airport through the ADF which can then (as their website states) is used to maintain and develop new routes. So Ryanair might now see it as a win win if they keep getting a sweet deal because of it.

I don't think that's true - they're renowned for withdrawing from airports that have ADFs in place.

Yes, I understand that they have a good relationship with RCA, however both Bournemouth and Exeter have scrapped their ADFs. So, as you say, the deal must have been so good that Ryanair doesn't consider it to be an issue, however it could well be a factor at the time when the agreement comes up for renewal.

Just as a point
Both Bournemouth and Exeter never had a ADF it was only Norwich

TUI 2025
 

A slight change in the S25 TUI schedule.

Paphos. Changed from Thursday to Wednesday.
Rhodes. Changed from Wednesday to Thursday.
Mahon. Changed from Wednesday to Thursday.
Dalaman. Friday departure changed to other carrier.

This now leaves a Friday afternoon departure vacant for the based 737.

Thanks Tommy, perhaps finally we might get a new route after many years of the same thing.

I agree, it would be good to see something new from TUI.
On a side note, thanks for the Ryanair updates, enjoy reading your regular updates. All looking a bit more positive for the airport for the first time in a while.

No problem I know there aren't many of us interested in this forgotten about airport in Norfolk, but I know there are still a few of us. Certainly doesn't get the attention certain other airports do on this forum despite it been busier ;)

On a side note on the Ryanair flights.

First flights out on launch day April 1st have load factors now of;

Alicante - 94%
Malta - 91%
Faro - 96%

Even though I know its Easter so booking should be high, Pretty impressive considering new airline/new routes launch :D

In the event of heavily delayed flights, I wonder if RYR will accept diversions to the likes of Birmingham or will they expect the airport to remain open into the small hours?

It's not Ryanairs choice.

They just want full flights to start with so are giving them away. NWI-ALC £220 / STN-ALC £330 (similar morning flights for both). Not exactly rocket science.

arent you a delight :ugh:. Considering the majority of the time since they launched on 6th December the NWI-ALC prices have consistently been at around £150-£220 from NWI for April 1st whilst the STN has been as low as £60 then we can see the yield at NWI is much higher for said route for that day and time than Stansted. Not exactly rocket science! And BTW the flight you mention are £233 from NWI and £248 from STN hardly much difference and hardly giving them away, £60 yes, £200 no.

But I think the main point rather went over your head.

TUI have also reduced Palma to 2x weekly for 2025 removing the Friday departure.

This is possibly in expectation that if rumours are true RYR will launch Palma at 2x weekly to "compliment" TUI at 2x weekly. Leading to 4x weekly flights in total for Summer 2025 to Mallorca

and of course still the Friday afternoon to fill for TUI in 2025 now which could be Tunisia

Freebird expected to operate the Dalaman on Fridays for 2025 also.

TUI are having a “ work in progress “ with their S25 schedule with a lot of changes being put in place at a lot of UK airports at the moment
A lot of flights being moved to completely different days and times

I believe there summer 25 is released in more detail around mid April with new routes

Thank you MARKEYD great info, shall keep an eye out for anything new that might fill the gap in the NWI schedule then. Thanks again

TUI have finished their adjustments for Summer 2025 at NWI, unfortunately it's the same as it has been for the last god knows how many years. With Palma being added in the afternoon gap on Friday using the based B738, so back to 3x weekly without the need to use Albastar who have recieved bad press recently in the lcoal paper. Still a strong possibly RYR might join in on Palma like they have at EXT at some point.

TUI Summer 2025 1x based 738

Corfu 1x weekly Fri
Dalaman 2x weekly Mon and Fri (Friday op by Freebird)
Heraklion 1x weekly Tue
Ibiza 1x weekly Sat
Menorca 2x weekly Thur and Sun
Palma de Mallorca 3x weekly Tue, Fri and Sat
Paphos 1x weekly Wed
Rhodes 1x weekly Thur
Tenerife 1x weekly Sun

Still would be nice to see Antalya added which they did before Covid stopped it before it started.

Shouldn't really complain as I know a few airports that would bite your arm off to have a based 738 operating a TUI summer program.

Antalya would be an easy addition using a Turkish based carrier. I don’t believe Tui have officially released summer 2025 just yet? It normally happens with much fanfare around April.

No they havent yet but seem to have sorted the based frames flying. However like you say Antalya would be easy to add, so fingers crossed 🤞