dada,

I know what your saying but don't have a go at me.

The point I'm trying to get across is under the new owners we
should atleast give BLK a chance. I completely agree with what you say. Under council ownership the airport was a joke. They must be the only council I know that wanted an airport but didn't.If you see what I mean. A joke like the rest of blackpool.

The point you make about profit BLK gets from FR. Well if you could swap BLK for LPL tomorrow I'm sure you would. LPL is pretty much full of low cost ops so why is BLK any different. Or stansted for that matter. I don't see people thinking LPL or Stansted are a joke.

Regarding the runway and terminal extensions. That is the news I have heard. I don't make it up and they were not my ideas.

I believe FR wanted the rwy ext. But in agreement with you. At BLK it will be a case of when. 10yrs down the line I guess after FR have pulled out because of the lack of action.

I personally think the terminal does need extending. You can't really move if you have 2 737s in at once. I do think the bigger terminal would also entice other operators to BLK. An airline will also be concerned about the smooth transition for its pax through an airport, not just in-flight and rwy lengths.

My understanding is that the terminal layout is not adequate enough and would need major re-working. Not my opinion, but that of an airport planner in my office.

I seem to remember similar scathing comments about LPL a few years back ... now look, a 5 million passenger a year airport next year.

The truth is BLK has a good future, you are right, it';s not LHR but then is that such a bad thing?

Fact is BLK has several things LPL and MAN do not. First it has Blackpool ... like it or loath it (arguments exist for both camps) it s a major UK tourist attraction, with theme park, beaches, golf and soon casinos ... all generating significant volumes of inbound traffic.

Then, it is the closest airport to the Lake district by at least 40 minutes (after many many nights on the M6 ... trust me!)... a very strong inbound tourist destination and it is only 5 minutes from a good (and quiet by comparison) motorway connection.

O, and did we mention that is is the closest airport for around 2 million people in the North West .. so there is the outbound market!

There will always be some people who scath the airport and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I thik it is fair to say there is room for significant growth at BLK.

Now, who would go to BLK when they can go to LPL ... well who would drive for nearly 2 hours when you can drive for one, the car parking is cheaper and the fact is, it is so easy to use.

The airport will always compete with LPL and MAN and every other airport with a road to it, but I think it is very unfair and unjustified to just dismiss the place!

Now everyone knows (current owners included) that the airport needs work, but then go back and look at any airport at BLK's stage of development and find me one that didn't need development ...

GJK22

Glad someone is in agreement with me.

If Blackpool(town) turned itself around because lets be fair here, it does need a serious makeover then I think you would be looking at a serious increase in inbound traffic. It certainly has good road connections. Has anyone noticed the train station practically on BLKs doorstep. I was only saying the other day that this train station, if given a serious makeover and made to feel inviting would also provide a good link for outbound pax. You don't have to be in the catchment area to use BLK. The price and variety of routes would decide that. These are all ideas but with all of them you can see the huge potential. It just needs someone to make them reality.

I would certainly give it a good 2 or 3 years and see where the airport, transport links and town are at then. I certainly wouldn't knock the airport at this stage when it has only just been taken over. What do people think was going to happen, a daily BA JFK route??

As long as you can physically see progress, remain informed(if you are local) and continue to increase the marketing aspect of the airport function then you can't ask for more.

Reality
 

Fly in on RYR quite often.....you get off the plane, walk into the terminal and week after week I have to smile when I see the piece of card stuck on the wall with a hand-drawn arrow pointing to Exit.
If you ever use the VIP lounge for the morning flight there will be no tea or coffee, and expect a generous amount of the previous evenings dirty crockery. If you want to join the modern age you need a bit more quality control.
If a standard is needed.....look at Southampton, not bad at all.
If you doubt the wisdom of extra runway length....study Bournemouth movements before and after the investment.
True, aircraft can get in and out, but perhaps they don't want to blow their engines and/or take a load penalty
Operators with little aeroplanes will never be able to offer the sort of fares that will stimulate business in the Fylde catchment area.....punters will merely drive to Liverpool or Manchester....the clever ones will use RYR to hub-and-spoke....OK so you have to wait around for a connection......how much is your time worth in money terms?

Anyone remember the Merchantman/Argosy paper flights some years back...one of those movements brought in revenue equivalent to a whole busy day of tiddlers.

By the way...Girona is not that far so no problem...Stansted is just a short hop....but before considering movement increases, imagine this:-
Two 737's startup with two on final at 4 miles and 15 miles respectively......how long before the second outbound 737 can taxi.....where to....and when will it finally get airborne....assuming there are no light aircraft in the circuit?
For new services...consider Scotland....the Scottish Parliament has a war chest of £millions to stimulate new routes. [Illegal under European law but no-one seems to bother, and incredible to comprehend when South of Watford there are Draconian plans to curb growth in aviation....not-so-joined-up Government!!!!!]

055166k, bad BLK experience then? :)

If I were you I would email that comment direct to the airport, it sounds awful. I find the hand drawn arrow funny, well terrible. They need to get there backsides into gear by the sounds of it. I will probably get shouted at for this but most, if not all the staff there I think worked at BLK when the council owned it so I assume they worked for the council. What I mean is the civil service, councils etc are not exactly fast when adapting to change. Ive had a few run in's with the council and trust me they do take there time. They found it more of an issue to decide what change of seating should go into the Blackpool council chamber rather than help local people. I will say no more on that.

Ive always said BLK needs a parallel taxiway for 10/28 or to make better use of the taxiways they have got. If you look on an old airport map a taxiway did used to feed the start of 28( i think).
It causes problems now with light a/c so I agree a 737 with engines running for 20minutes while 2 others land is not going to go down well with the company that owns the plane.

I think that's a bit unfair. The Vulcan was owned by an engineering business next door, not the airport operator. I agree with the posters who are accepting that CityHopper have only just stepped in. Let's see what they can do. These are exciting times for Blackpool.

I've already rec'd my first ever invite to a conference in Blackpool. I know it's popular for the leading British political parties, but this is an aviation one. There are HUGE hotels in Blackpool so watch those conference organisers snap up the deals and the traffic flow into the airport.

You might well find that the recent attempts to remove the Vulcan (did the auction on eBay successfully sell it in the end?) are due to a renewed effort to tidy the place up.

The CityHopper influence could be at play already.

The Vulcan has been bought by a pub landlord in Greater Manchester for £15k. Unfortunately, he has to find another £25K to move it!!

Both BPL321 and 055166k make good points reflecting both side of the coin. As BPL says BLK has great potential but as 055166k shows, work is still to be done.

The problem with the station is that only local services stop there so its not exactly a quick journey. Also it is useless for going to Central Blackpool. But at least the trains go to Preston, Blackburn, Burnley which is probably a key target market.

Why don't they divert some buses to the airport terminal and market them as airport buses to help inbound passengers?

Has anyone said it doesn't need work doing to it?

As for the handdrawn arrow, anyone used LPL recently? Or LHR or LGW and STN or LTN or any other airport ... I am not defending the airport, but they all do it from time to time ... and it annoys the hell out of me too, but be serious, when booking a slight are you or anyone seriously going to say well Iwont go from BLK because they've got a hand written sign in arrivals? ....

Runway and taxiway? Do they need a parallel ... CVT manages quite well with a base of 4 737's and only 1 entry/exit off the runway, and BLK can be modified in it's taxi patterns to give several entrances / exits of the runway if my memory serves me well.

Yes the runway needs extending, no argument their but it is sufficient for now.

However the point I really want to make is the ludicrous remark about the route development funding. It is not illegal. Never has been illegal and no one has ever insinuated it is illegal. If it was so illegal, howcome the North West Development Agency has just set up a similar fund for the North West? Route dev. funding (RDF)is a key component in regenerating a region and has long term benefits to the region, as a regional economy you will always compete with London and always loose. Even the holy Manchester struggles with its long haul services, especially when it comes to filling the front of the craft. It is high time the NW had something to compete with!

Anyway, back to Blackpool, the airport has everything going for it. As a group of professionals you should look beyond the current and look to the potential. yes the airport needs work, the terminal is tired and in todays market not the nicest of experiences, the airfield needs a little work, but like I said, they are all very easy problems to fix, the fact remains the airport gives access to a lucrative market with a strong source of both inbound and outbound passengers ... watch this space is my final word on the issue.

Regarding the train station near the airport. Only a few weeks ago local news reported the possibility that this very route would be scrapped. they must be mad. I agree with comments which say the line doesn't run directly into Blackpool but from a point of view of pax outbound from BLK from around the NW this is not such good news. If anything they should be improving it. The train station idea I feel is a great concept and would be popular with pax flying from BLK. Trouble is no marketing. The station is called ' Squires Gate'.For a start I would re name to Blackpool Airport. Its easy if you are local but if you travel from further afield it is not so easy to identify the station you need. Maybe introduce a shuttle bus service to/from the station to the airport during times when certain flights are due at the airport(initially).

A bus service used to stop at/on the airport but I don't think it does now. If I am right, that again is a step back.

Shutting the line will not happen - The railways may be in some trouble but things aren't that bad. Cuts yes, closures no

Renaming the station would be a good idea. If not a bus to the airport - perhaps a few signs directing people to the airport at least

airhumberside

Only going off what the TV reported.

as ali g once said, i has heard both sides of the argument and me don't understand either of them. could anybody recap for and against the argument that the airport is crap ?
respect

here me now - as you not undersood what i as said?

Slightly off topic, but did anyone hear the sonic booms this afternoon, shook the whole of the Fylde coast by all accounts. I put it down to the Tornado that was tootling round in the overhead after lunch.

Apparently Typhoon testing out of Warton.

Cheers, N.D. :p

Former MYT director buys into Flykeen
 

Former My Travel Group Aviation Chairman Mike Lee has joined a
management buy-out team to purchase BLK based Flykeen. Must think there's some mileage in this but, what happened to his proposed LPL based MD80 LOCO operation?

Smoky - love ya comment m8! (FR will have to link BOH with BLK to transport all the blue-rinses to spend their dosh in the casinos)

as for Ryanair's stansted route, has this gone down to only one daily? It wouldn't surprise me as loads were worse than STN-Derry and yet they cut back Derry.

re
 

Hello,

Is that right regarding BLK to stansted. Its news to me if they have gone to 1 daily. Ive always read that the route had healthy load factors even during the winter months so it would come as a surprise.Especially since FRs new Barcelona route they recently announced starts in March.I just wouldnt have thought they would pull flights at the same time as introducing new routes at BLK. A larger airport maybe but not BLK. Meaning they would be very cautious at a small airport.(if that makes sense). But then again only BLK can pull surprises like that so if anyone has anymore to add it would be intresting to find out whats going on.Any new routes/inside info would make better reading tho!!!