LBA Winter timetable

[Tommyinyork]

Anyone got an updated version as MYT have pulled the plug on LBA and wont be operating any flights this winter.
This is very dissapointing news, but at least BY are back.

[bmifox]

Tommyinyork
Airtours are still selling holidays from LBA this Winter. ACE on Thu, TFS on Fri, and seasonal ALC on Sat and AGP Sun. These flights are operated by non based aircraft but it looks like it will still be Mytravel who operates the flights.

Don\'t forget BY are back for only 4 day of the week...Tue-Fri. Thomson have dropped their seasonal LPA and PMI due to operate on Saturdays aswell!

As you can see Airtours have dropped 4 flights from LBA this Winter...LPA, FUE ,PMI and their Tue TFS...very sad!

[LBA]

MyTravel have never operated to PMI in the winter from LBA.
Monday Las Palmas, Tues, Tenerife, Wed, Fueterventura, Thu, Arrrecife, Fri, Tenerife, Sat, Alicante and Sunday Malaga was how it was last year.
Britannia are operating a Friday TFS which compensates for the lack of one of the MYT flights.

[bmifox]

LBA
Sorry to diagree with you but Mytravel had 1 flight to PMI operating towards the end of the Winter season this year. I'm sure 1 went on a Monday evening when the aircraft came back from LPA!
You also say Britannia have a TFS on Friday and this will compensate for the loss of a Mytravel rotation to TFS. Well don't forget TUI charter the Britannia flight, this is not a new flight just because Britannia didn't fly the route last winter. Air Europa flew the TFS for TUI last winter so really it's not a new flight at all! In fact last winter LBA had 5 charters to TFS last winter...1 on Tue and 4 on Friday. This coming winter LBA has 3 a week so not much compensation there matey!!!

[bmifox]

I see NCL and BRS have just had new daily BUD flights annonced by EZY from this Winter!
Come on Jet2 lets have a couple more from you now! TFS/TLS/LGW/CPH....... ;)

[bmifox]

Just found out Airtours Winter 04/05 programme...
Thu...ACE-LBA IWD3213 lands 1315/LBA-ACE IWD3214 depart 1415
Fri...TFS-LBA MYT354 lands 1630/LBA-TFS MYT353 depart 1755
Sat...ALC-LBA JKK3203 lands 1020/LBA-ALC JKK3204 depart 1115
Sun...AGP-LBA JKK3205 lands 0915/LBA-AGP JKK3206 depart 1015
As normal the ALC and AGP are seasonal only. No LPA and FUE this winter:(

[LBA]

Doesent the IWD 320 get used by Thomas Cook and First Choice?

Are we going to see a good few companies selling seats to a popular destination on one A320?

[bmifox]

LBA,
From what i can make out the First Choice/Thomas Cook flight to ACE lands and departs 5 minutes later so there could well be 2 IWD to ACE. I can't any flight numbers for the FC/TC flight so don't know if it's using the same aircraft as Airtours!
Maybe they will combine the flights and bring in a A330 instead!!! (as if....)

[LBA]

We wish!!! :)

I thought it was a bit funny having just one IWD doing both companies.

Also, you put me right in that other post, I do remember now MyTravel having a PMI charter on a Monday night towards the back end of the season.

Thanks for putting me right :)

[BEST L/CONTROLLER]

BY are doing 2 flts to BGI in FEB & MAR 05 01 on a B767-300 via SNN and the other with a B767-200 which is operating direct to BGI.

CHEERS!!!!!!!!:ok:

[Mooncrest]

BGI. Is that Barbados ? And why only two flights, is demand really that low ?

I hope the wind favours RW14 on those days...

[BEST L/CONTROLLER]

I don't know why they are only doing 2 they did this a few years ago with MCO and Santo Domingo, I don't think they dare take the plunge and schedule it all year round.

Regarding the flt that's going direct, well the B767-200 is being reconfiged to 274 seats and not 290 which it is in the summer when the flt goes direct they will only sell 260 seats and if G-BYAA and G-BYAB do the flts which one of them is then it can go direct from 32 coz it has B767-300 engines so it can do it full.

CHEERS!!!!!!!!:ok:

P.S BGI is Bridgtown in Barbados.

[bmifox]

Just been looking at the Transun day trips for this winter. 19 so far with 9 of these heading up to Lapland in December! LBA seems to be quite a market for Transun with more flights from LBA than anywhere else in the country....makes a change;)

[Tommyinyork]

What a/c will be operating the MYT Tenerife flight, please hope it be a DC10.

[Mooncrest]

Tommyinyork,

I think a DC-10 on LBA-TFS is very doubtful. As far as I am aware MyTravel only have one of these beasts left now and is mainly a back up aircraft based at Manchester.

Given the distance from LBA to TFS and the take off distances etc available from RW32 the most capable machine in the MyTravel fleet would probably be the 757. I expect that's what we shall see but anything could happen...

bmifox,

Any idea which airline(s) is operating the Transun trips ?

[LBAir]

Last winter First Choice based an aircraft at LBA for about a week to operate Transun flights. Monarch Airlines and various others have also been used in the past. We may even see JET2 operate some flights for Transun this winter.

[BEST L/CONTROLLER]

But BMI regional are starting LBA-LCY 4xdaily from NOV:ok: :ok:

CHEERS!!!!!:ok:

[bmifox]

I see for Summer 05 TUI are using KLM again for their VRN flights on a Saturday as they are this Summer. Where does this aircraft come from? It leaves LBA at 0900 and lands back at 2100. It W's into NEMA during the day. I know it can't be the based F100 as that is used on the AMS flights. Does it position in on Saturday morning and out Saturday night?

P.S. Great news about bmi starting LCY in November! Just hope they paint the ATR in bmi colours though! Has there been much publicity about the new route in Yorkshire? Down here in London it was in the Evening Standard and the local newspaper. Have the LBIA marketing team been told yet or are they still blowing up balloons for the "underused" check-in desks ;)

Or are they still patting themselves on the back for securing the MASSIVE increase of charter flights for next Summer...well Zante anyway.

[Mooncrest]

bmifox,

Do I detect a hint of cynicism in your latest post ?? Don't know what the marketing brigade are up to but yesterday there was a :mad: jazz band in check-in hall B again. You could hear them from the staff car park. God knows how the punters and check-in staff can stand it.

As for the KL Verona flight, this year the aircraft has positioned in from Amsterdam on Saturday morning and returned to Amsterdam
on Saturday evening, again positioning so I expect it will be the same routine next summer. I'm sure BMI have at least one spare FK100 at LBA this summer weekends; why couldn't they have done the job instead of KLM I wonder.

It's a fairly long lease for the ATR (Atlantic as far as I know) so I think we'll at least see the BMI logo on the tailfin instead of the eagle/fish thingy. It will be interesting to see if BMI cabin crew will operate the flights, as they did a few years ago on the J41 and ATP.

[POL1W]

The KLM Fokker 100 positions in every Saturday morning from AMS, then positions back to AMS after the return from Verona.
Seems like a very expensive way of doing things, especially when more often than not, there is a spare Jet 2 B733 sitting around all day.

Also re marketing " are they still patting themselves on the back for securing the MASSIVE increase of charter flights for next Summer...well Zante anyway."
That's about right really. The winter program is dire, 20 odd Transun flights (over 5 months), 4 or 5 BY 767 Caribbean flights, added to a pathetic token weekly program from TUI and My Travel, that just protects the MAN programs from suffering at the end of the day.
I don't think they quite realise how bad next summer is for them also. 2 TUI destinations axed, The Style Air Malta Faro cancelled, a probable massive reduction in My Travel ops, given the loss of the base. On the plus side there is an extra flight from JMC to Dalaman with Sun-Air, but hardly worth shouting about. A based aircraft for JMC, Cosmos, and First Choice, with a weekly program of flights, now that would be worth shouting about.
It looks like LBA are putting all their eggs in the Jet 2 basket. Let's hope for their sake that Jet 2 remain as strong and committed as they are at Leeds, and become even more pro-active in adding "newer" destinations, if only to keep the pax numbers rising, but the way things are going I feel S05 could be a struggle for LBA.

[682ft AMSL]

It's difficult to judge whether the lack of success of the LBA marketing team is due to circumstance or shortcomings on their part. For example, the delay by the local authority in granting 24H flying meant they were always going to face an uphill struggle to attract major increases in Tour Operator business, even after the restrictions were lifted. This task has been doubly difficult given the recent financial pressures on the Tour Operators which have generally seen them shrink capacity and close or consolidate smaller bases to cut costs. And of course, sods law would have it that the one Tour Operator that the airport did get on-side (My Travel) is the one in the biggest mess of all.

On the flip side, the airport never really managed to get TUI properly on-side in the mid to late nineties. The rather dismal programme they have now is a shadow of what it should be, and indeed what it would be if the services that have slipped away over the years had been retained. Even now, the airport has had two seasons where TUI have filled a B767 for a part season but they have still failed to leverage off of this to secure a bigger programme from them.

Also, the number of services from other operators that have come and gone is frankly staggering. Added to the TUI cutbacks. the airport probably lost as many as 30-40 weekly IT summer services since 1997, which is remarkable considering the airport has now just 50 weekly IT flights in total. For all the reasons mentioned above, attracting new services is tough. But when you do finally get operators on board and then fail to keep hold of the services, there really isn’t much hope of major progress.

In short, there are arguments to support both points of view. Personally, I think they have been dealt a tough hand but believe that experienced industry professionals with a decent marketing / incentives budget should probably be able to do much more. Given the circumstancial effects that make attracting IT services into Leeds a challenge, you really need people who know the business to make it happen. Whether the airport authority has gone out to the industry and paid top dollar to recruite experienced professionals and whether the department has a decent budget with which to work, is perhaps the crux of the matter.

682

[GrahamK]

The BY 767s will probably be operating one-off cruise charters and not actual holidays in Barbados.

[LBAir]

It would apear that the real battle ground for the airport to fight it's corner will be the IT market. To be fare though, before the troubles of the MY Travel Group, they had added new servises every year. Destinations served by MYT went from a token to 9 then to 12 and then to 16 and so on. If My Travel had still been going strong now, I am sure LBA would be a two aircraft base.

I don't feel that LBA has had good relations with TUI for years now. I don't quite know why, when they've been using the airport since the 1960's. In the airport's second and successful attempt to gain 24H availability (better late than never!) Britannia and Thomsons both had full page advertisements supporting the airport. They had hinted the use of a second based aircraft, this with the number of passengers they had expected to carry.

Britannia had a bad year at LBA when they had tried using a Boeing 737-800 (unless I stand corrected) They had quite a large number of tech problems and had to use different aicraft types to ferry passengers. The airport also had a bad year with the weather, Britannia was always reported to be too heavy to land CAT 3, too heavy to land when it was raining, etc.

All in all though TUI, your Boeing 757's have an excellent record at LBA, so come on and pull your finger out. You just chose the wrong aircraft for the job.:D

LBA don't exactly go out of their way in impress new or existing airlines. The flooring throughout the check-in and landside areas is bubbling up and is covered with yellow and black stripe tape. Even the new check-in hall B, the flooring is just paint. It wouldn't be too bad if they had idicated that the shabbyness of the terminal was just an interim period, prior to getting a totally new terminal, but the management just keep a tight lip on what they're doing. That's if they're doing anything at all?

Do the cash machines still work at LBA???:D :D :D

[KAT TOO]

The London City flight will indeed have bmi-regional cabin crew and if you use the service a fair bit you'll get to know them, there are only NINE! of them (but they don't ave to work Saturdays) a major selling point according t'management:confused:

[bmifox]

POL1W,
You say a First Choice or Thomas Cook based aircraft would be welcome at LBA...it sure would! I think they have enough work to base 1 there aswell. Just look at their charters for Summer 04. They charter 6 aircraft a week for their own use,
FAO...FCA, PMI...AEAx2, IBZ...IWD, ACE...IWD, TFS...AEA. Surely they could use 1 of their own aircraft to operate these flights then add 5 or 6 more...DLM/AGP/MAH/LCA/RHO/HER/PFO and share the flights. I know i'm only a humble cabin crew member but it's not rocket science is it!!!! Thomas Cook have a new flight to IBZ this year on a Sunday afternoon. When i have seen the loads they have been 180 in and out, so they can sell holidays to somwhere else rather than PMI!
Another bit of good news for next summer is that the Inghams charter to INN on Saturday afternoons will run ALL summer next year (well MAY-SEP). Of course i found this out by looking at their 2nd edition brochure and not going to the LBIA website where they state they have no information about the flights yet!

[Tommyinyork]

Are we still having MYT next summer or will we be getting a sub charter all summer like Teesside having Spanair.
If LBA do get a sub charter an Iberworld or Spanair A320 would be perfect for the job.

[Mooncrest]

Some fascinating and very worthy points of view out there and interesting reading as always. It is of course sod's law that MyTravel/Airtours should find themselves in trouble when they are the only TO to take LBA seriously. I only hope they recover sufficiently and in time to make a significant comeback at LBA and re-examine their destinations. If they shared capacity on a second aircraft with First Choice or Thomas Cook (an A321 would be ideal) a full Greece programme could be operated with perhaps additional Cyprus or Italy flights. Surely to goodness the business is out there. Stop concentrating so much on Spain, diversify and join forces on the aircraft if necessary and above all give the good folk of Yorkshire what they want. I really hope it isn't too late.

I can't quite follow the TUI/Britannia ethos. They've been :mad: about with LBA for years with a single aircraft that's dormant virtually every night (at least the MYT/SkyService machine keeps busy) and now they're going to base one this winter for something like four nights a week. They'll probably stick a 767 in for a few weeks next summer and then replace it with a 757 when it starts to get busy. Mind you, I believe the 767-200s are to be replaced with -300s before long so I may be wrong !
Whatever happens, I wish they'd show a bit more commitment.

Tommyinyork,

Glad to see you're still with us in spite of the wishes of some folk that you'd take your questions elsewhere. I don't know what we'll see this winter operating the LBA MyTravel programme. What I do know is that the routes tend to be long-ish distance (Canaries) so it will have to be a quite capable machine, which I expect would preclude Spanair MD83s. However, their A320s would be a good bet, as would Iberworld's. Air Europa 737-800s would similarly be capable. As ever, we'll have to wait and see.
You could try getting in touch with the handling agents at LBA and asking what handling requests they've received for the winter. If it isn't commercially sensitive information, they'll probably be pleased to let you know. Whatever you find out, put it on here !

All the best ;)

[Tommyinyork]

LBA has never really been a big fan on MD83s, they are very rarely seen. The best peforming aircraft at LBA are A320s, there has never been a problem with them. A320s were built for airports like LBA and i think either Iberworld, Spanair, Monarch or First Choice should sub charter one for next summer.

[Caslance]

Errr, tommy.

All of the airlines you mentioned already operate the A320.

[LBA]

Havent A320s had a fair few problems operating at LBA in the past?

[mmeteesside]

If LBA's winter baby-sitter does turn out to be Spanair you'll probably end up with an MD83, like us this summer....the A320s are all busy on scheduled flights throughout Europe.

mmeteesside
MME Movements (http://www.mmemovements.tk)

[Tommyinyork]

Howcome theres never A321s at LBA, i mean we havent had one since Air 2000 based one four years ago.
Now they were a good airline at LBA, would be welcome back anyday with an A321, top planes they are.
As for Spanair MD83, yes please, definatley, however can LBA manage MD83s i mean we rarely have them, i mean Airtours never based an MD83 at LBA.

[PPRuNe Pop]

If we do not get some intelligence into this thread I am going to close it. The questions are not excatly great are they, and our time in moderating can be better spent on matters of interest.

[KAT TOO]

PPrune Pop

Please, please close it before Tommyinyork ask why aircraft don't of with the wind behind them " surely that would help them go faster"

YAWN!!!!!