SweFly

[airhumberside]

With the announcement of LBA/LTN/CPH/OSL - Skvasta - Lahore/Bangkok as posted on other airport only threads can anyone answer any of these questions?

As well as connections from OSL, CPH, LBA and LTN to Lahore are their connections to Bangkok?

Can you fly locally from LTN, LBA, CPH and OSL to Skavsta?

Thanks

[BombardierCR7]

Has there actually been an announcement of these services as such (in terms of a press release) ?

I have not seen anything released by either LBA or LTN airport authorities or SweFly themselves, which is a little worrying bearing in mind LTN is supposed to start in little over 2 weeks time.

All I have seen is the timetable published on the SweFly website in the last days. Any further information is greatfully welcome!

[Jetting2]

A search for International flights on the LBA website shows these are available.

[Buster the Bear]

Rumour has it that SweFly will use a smaller jet to feed pax into Skavsta?

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[LTNman]

Leeds service does not start until June 16th using a MD 80

[Buster the Bear]

There you go an MD-80, but will it happen?

It seems a long way off course for a flight to route UK-Sweden-Pakistan, so the fares on offer must be blisteringly cheap to entice folk to use it and Lahore is hardly a tourist hot spot?

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[LTNman]

Taken from the newsgroup free.uk.airports-luton which can also be accessed via http://groups-beta.google.com/group/free.uk.airports-luton?hl=en

Swe Fly (WV/Stockholm Skavsta) will launch up to six times weekly
B767-200ER service from Stockholm Skavsta to Lahore on May 15. It
will operat three weekly feeder services with a MD-80 from
Leeds/Bradford and London Luton to Stockholm Skavsta as well as
three weekly Fokker 50 services from Copenhagen and Oslo Gardermoen
to Stockholm Skavsta. It will add a second B767-200ER in December
when it will launch a daily flight from Stockholm Skavsta to
Bangkok. In other news, it will however give up its
Kalmar-Växjö-Copenhagen route on April 29. It is reportedly planning
to add a new route from Stockholm Skavsta to Dhaka in 2006.

[Buster the Bear]

Ever tried to convince a Luton taxi driver that the fare was too much?

How will a Swedish airline make known amongst the local Pakistanti community within Luton and Bradford, that there is route from thier local airport, to a runway somewhere in Pakistan which requires a plane change in Scandinavia?

BLIMEY, SweFly must have really cheap fares and employ folk to spead the news rapidly?

Chances for it to work........ADVERTISING!!!!!!!!!

7 weeks to go until the first flight and the only local news relating to the SweFly operation is here (Hardly local). Unfortunately, our Asian friends who might actually book, are not regular visitors to this site.....BUT then again, what does a bear know?

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[682ft AMSL]

Don't know about Luton, but certainly in Bradford and its environs the booking process for travel to Pakistan is not really a done by walking into Lunn Poly or booking on the internet. Family owned specialsit travel agencies are where much of the business is done.

I think its probably likely that Swefly have got UK connections with these sort of travel agencies and the hard work will be going on behind the scenes. Don't expect to see billboards and press ads for this.

oh, and great circle routing from LBA to LHE practically takes you over Stockholm anyway. Think its about a 90nm deviation.


682

[Centre cities]

Not a lot different from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan from BHX and they have been coining it in. Their flights often involve an aircraft change.

The secret is to get into the local Asian travel agents and it works.


Centre cities

Perhaps a little known Slovak airline routing via Bratislava would have been a better example. They still carry exellent loads.


Centre cities

[Powerjet1]

Saw an advert the other day from a local asian travel specialist advertising these flights from LTN @ £285.00.

[LTNman]

I also saw an advert in the local Sunday rag from an Asian travel agent advertising the service. No mention through of an aircraft swop.

[BombardierCR7]

SweFly have issued a press release regarding the granting of their landing rights by the Pakistan authorities for the forthcoming Lahore services.

[Fried_Chicken]

Anybody know where the MD80 is coming from? On their website, it says they operate a B767-200 & 3x Fokker 50, no MD80s!

FC

[LTNman]

Strange one this, according to LTN airport’s website the inbound flights are operated by a 767 until June 16th when an MD80 takes over but all outbound flights are operated by MD80’s. The latest rumour is in fact that a 767 will operated out of Luton and that the start date has been shifted from May 15th to May 19th.

What is a little worrying is that if you do an Internet search for cheap flights to Lahore you won’t find this service.

[newscaster]

Rumored that they will also be starting service to Dhaka in Bangladesh later this year, from Stockholm.

[LTNman]

As seen on todays departure board at LTN.

WV441 Stockholm Skavtsa STD 18:30 ETD 18.30

[Fried_Chicken]

As seen on todays departure board at LTN.

WV441 Stockholm Skavtsa STD 18:30 ETD 18.30



Followed by the word CANCELLED :ooh:

Fried Chicken

[MSVR]

Fried_Chicken - what's your point?

The service isn't scheduled to start until 16th May so for all you know, it might have been someone simply testing the display system.

:rolleyes:

[LTNman]

So what has happened to Swefly? They were meant to launch their Luton- Stockholm – Lahore service this week but nothing has happened.:confused: :(

[ILS32]

LTNman
Have been told that a advert as been spotted in a trade magazine giving a starting date of 17th June.This is for both the LBA-Lahore and LTN-Lahore at a starting price from £205.
Don't know which trade mag.I hope it does start and is a success.

ILS32

[icemanalgeria]

Swefly, Flying Swede, landed in Lahore on the 20th, Today 3 minutes early on their first Stockholm Lahore flight.

In the first day tickets went on sale for the Luton flight they sold 330 tickets.

The Flights are full or near full on their early flights in June when they goto 6 flights per week.

At the welcome party tonight in Lahore the comments were very positive from the local community, as Swefly today became the first European Airline to fly into Lahore.

I look forward to carrying the first passengers out of LBA, They will receive a very warm welcome from the crew.

[BombardierCR7]

I'm confused??? I thought the LTN flight was to start yesterday? the SweFly website still says Luton-Nykopping-Lahore from 19 May, yet unless i was asleep-no flight from LTN?

I understand WV have been unable to source an MD80 at the moment for the feeder flights?

Still is interesting to note that LBA management know nothing of this proposed operation!!

Hopefully I am wrong, but it's all looks a bit dubious to me!

[LTNman]

LONDON: The trade and business activities between Pakistani and Swedish
business communities will increase with the launch of the Swefly flights
from the UK to Lahore via Stockholm.
It was told by the Swedish Finance Director of the Swedish National Airlines
Swefly in London.

Mats Hultnas was speaking at the launch dinner. He said that many Swede
businessmen have established businesses in Pakistan and many more are
interested and these flights which are very economical compared to other
airlines will certainly give boost to these activities.

Mr. Hultnas said that he was pleased to meet the Prime Minister of Pakistan
in Karachi who took keen interest in the project and he thanked the Embassy
of Pakistan in Stockholm for their support, " they did a great job", he
said.

He told the gathering included by the travel agents and prominent
businessmen that the much interest has been shown among the Scandinavian
countries and soon they will start flights for other cities of Pakistan,
India and Toronto and Bangkok.

Swefly Marketing Director Mohammed Naveed Siddiqui said that the Luton
airport from where the first flight will start has shown keen interest in
the project and larger hangers have been constructed for Swefly Boeings.

The flights, 3 weekly from 19th May 2005 and 6 in a week from 19th June 2005
will go via Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden.

-------------
Mr Siddique talks of larger hangars being built at LTN for their
767's. Err I don't think so!

[Powerjet1]

As posted on another thread re LBA, it looks like it really is going ahead next week. Apparently all seats for the first month are sold out. This from the LTN website......


London Luton goes Long Haul!
07 June 2005
New service to Pakistan launches this month. London Luton Airport is pleased to announce that from 17th June Swedish airline SWE Fly will be operating a scheduled service to Lahore, Pakistan three times a week.

By commencing services from London Luton to Lahore SWE FLY is the first airline to recognise the huge potential in the North London & Three Counties catchments for regular scheduled aviation services to the sub-continent.

Although SWE FLY is an established airline, by offering their customers long-haul flying at very competitive prices they are placing themselves at the forefront of the next phase of the global flying boom - "long haul / low cost".

The service which starts on Friday 17th June will operate on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Passengers will be flown to London Luton's sister airport at Stockholm Skavsta, Sweden for fast transfer to their comfortable Boeing 767 jetliner taking them on the 'trunk' sector to Lahore.

Seat prices for return flights currently start as low as £351 inc. tax.

Welcoming the news Paul Kehoe Managing Director London Luton Airport said today: "London Luton Airport is firmly established as one of the UK's leading airports and helped pioneer the low cost flying revolution in Europe.

So we are perfectly placed to partner and support SWE Fly at the start of this new era in travel - and the airline is to be congratulated in taking this initiative.

SWE Fly are offering a keenly-priced long-haul service which will appeal to many different types of traveller. The route will attract not only the business community, but also people wishing to visit friends and relations - and of course independent leisure travellers looking for new and exciting destinations to explore."

[Hawk]

PPRuNe relies heavily on its revenue from advertising to keep it healthy and if any airline or organisation wishes to place a paid for advertisement on PPRuNe they are more than welcome to apply. The details for doing that are on the site's main page of PPRuNe.

Do not continue to risk your PPRuNe membership privileges by ignoring Airlines Forum guidelines on advertising. Thank you.

H.

[Buster the Bear]

Hawk, there is a fine line between news as reported in the media and and advertising. What is someones news can be an advert for others. For us folk regularly contributing to this forum, it is a little difficult knowing that if we post just a link, that it will still be active tomorrow. The easiest way to show a news story is to copy and paste but showing the author.

A very fine line that we all need to tread carefully?

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[Hawk]

Nice bear ;)

It is indeed a very fine line and a difficult call sometimes. However, a direct link to an airline will be deleted. I think that has been explained in the sticky above. It's not fair on the Site nor those advertisers that support us. Quite frankly we don't have the time to troll through a thread and work out the individual motivation of every poster. We understand that posters quote sources, generally if they secondary we let them go. We also know that posters use this forum for free advertising.

In the end of course...Moderators' discretion.

Thank you.

[LTNman]

Passengers will be flown to London Luton's sister airport at Stockholm Skavsta, Sweden for fast transfer to their comfortable Boeing 767 jetliner taking them on the 'trunk' sector to Lahore.

The press release talks about passengers transfering so what is being used for the feeder service, Fokker 50, MD80 or Boeing 767? According to the May edition of Luton Airports scheduled timetable it is a MD 80 except Swefly don't own one

[LBA]

According to the LBA press release, they will be operating Avro RJ70s on the LBA-Skavsta service, dont know if its the same for Luton, also dont know where they are getting the RJ70s from!

[Buster the Bear]

There was an Irish registered Transwede RJ70 at Luton a couple of weeks ago?

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[Northern Hero]

Correct. Transwede RJ70 EI-COQ will operate ex LTN & LBA until Swefly obtain their own MD83. Plans to expand further to a 757.

[Leodis]

........could the 757 operate direct from LTN or LBA?

[LBA]

Think they would sooner link it via Stockholm, thats where they have the 767.

Not sure if the 757 could manage it from LBA, look forward to seeing that and the MD80 and 757!

Thanks for the info on the RJ70 :D

[icemanalgeria]

Seems that the 767 will be seen at LBA during July. If anyone gets some good photo,s I would love copies.

[Dr747]

I had booked a seat for my friend to fly with Swe in july from LBA. the flight was in B767 without aircraft change however the feedback was that it was not a good flight at all and the price difference now is less than £50 from PIA...

[BombardierCR7]

Why was it a bad flight?

I guess you refer to PIA ex MAN, if you are, then if was was the boss of PIA and saw an airline taking approx 500 outbound pax per week to Lahore from LBA, then I'd drop my prices too! It must have really rattled their cage, some young Swedish guy who saw a gap in the market. PIA need to get into the real world. Bring on more competition, thats all I can say.

[LTNman]

£50 might not seem like much money but these people travel as families of around 6 – 8 members so that’s up to £400 that can be donated to the local Madrasa

[Dr747]

Donation to Madrasa???what are you talking about???lets not change this aviation forum into a race and religion debate...As you seems to be talking out of A*SE...
Secondly the question of bad thing about service....Overall cabin crew was even less active and with expressionless faces than PIA's and food quality was very nice either. No personal entertainment infact there was no entertainment onboard at all...
Thirdly when you are traveling to long haul than £400 for 8 people is hardly worth adding another 5-6 hours and plane change to your already long journey.plus There are alot of elderly people travel to pakistan and i think its that group plus the one with young children who prefer to travel by PIA.
I myself have travelled with almost all airlines serving Uk Pakistan routes(indirect) and must say they are better than PIA and being young i dont mind a longer flight however i can see why other families still travel by PIA.
Last year july it took us 4 day to fly from heathrow to Lahore by PIA!!!B747
had problems with engines and we were stuck!!!!that story for anoth time may be....

[INKJET]

Perhaps the answer would be for PIA to fly (say twice a week from LBA) anyone know if you could operate a 777 from LBA direct with a full load? I know getting in wouldn't be a problem, parking it might be.

Burt

[LTNman]

when you are traveling on long haul then £400 for 8 people is hardly worth adding another 5-6 hours and plane change to your already long journey

The problem with your argument is that Swefly are filling their aircraft. Also not everyone wants to travel from Manchester or Heathrow. The service also doesn’t add 5 or 6 hours to the journey, as flights to Lahore would pass Sweden anyway.

Now whose talking out of their a*se

[Dr747]

I guess it would be worth checking your facts!!!Mr wise guy...by fly over Sweden you are adding a 90nM deviation to your flight path!!!
normally PIA flights take less than 7hours and 45minutes to fly to Lahore from LHR...
While here is the timetable for swefly
L E E D S – L A H O R E
Flight Dep Arr
WV 443/921 16:40* 07:15
this is taken from their publised timetable...Just do Maths now(it should less than GCSE level maths!!!)
Secondly I was commenting about remarks about madrasa that by saying that people are going to donate that money to madrasa or implying anything of that sort is sure talking from A*SE...
No hard feelings but your comments are enough to ofend many people...
PS:go to luton website and see the route map yourself it shows the deviation quite nicely!!!!the shortest way would be straight and not the travel they are showing.....

[Buster the Bear]

Depart 16:40 local (Leeds time)
Arrive 07:15 local (Lahore time)

14 Hours 55 min - minus time zone difference which is I think 4 hours? So I make it 10 hours 55 min?

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[Dr747]

Thanks Buster the Bear...and i rest my case!!!!

[Buster the Bear]

But if you fly PIA, you miss out on that major international hub known as Skavsta!

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[Dr747]

yup thats true!!!not only you miss that but alot more else....say customer services!!!;)

[Buster the Bear]

The MD80 from Luton seems pretty full and the competition is even stronger from Heathrow 35 miles down the road. Despite the plane change and the extended route, folk are flying with SweFly.

Living close to Luton I would rather the extended route than the horried journey along the M1 and M25, then park remote in a neighbouring county, bus to the terminal and then the throngs of passengers at Heathrow.

Certainly if I want to go from my Bear Palace to Lahore, there would be little difference in travelling time? I may even shed a few pounds of excess blubber treking to the gate!

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[Leodis]

So PIA will be 'kacking' their pants with the strong possibility of a Leeds-Islamabad service.:8

[Dr747]

What about airmashriq????they were talking about starting from LTN but now they are saying a possible start date in dec....
any news on that????

[Buster the Bear]

Blimey, Air Mashriq and Tara Airways, get laying the concrete to park them!

Islamabad-Leeds. Six months ago, who would of thought a Leeds-Lahore service would happen?

Mashriq is news to me, but considering the demand, anything is possible, web site dates back to 2003, so not a lot has happened recently?

Air Mashriq Plc
Mayfair House, 14-18 Heddon Street
London, W1B 4DA
GBDomain Name: AIRMASHRIQ.COM

Record updated date: 2004-09-23 04:04:21
Record created date: 2003-12-19
Record expires on date: 2006-12-19
Database last updated on: 2005-08-15 15:22:04 EST



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[ebenezer]

BA Connect will axe IOM from the winter timetable
If all the airlines that started services from LTN over the past 2-3 years had continued, it seems likely that LTN would now be seeing 10.5M to 11M annual passengers: for example, Happag Lloyd Express, Volare, Helvetic, Styrian Spirit, Air Turquois and SweFly. One of the main factors that seems to blight LTN in its pursuit of 'greatness' must be that unlike Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Southampton and even to an extent, Stansted, it offers no interlining and so every schedule service passenger using the Airport is either terminating/originating or has to make their own connection arrangements. Given the proportion of interlining traffic at these other airports (with the notable exception of Stansted) it's hardly surprising that the routes involved cannot generate the load factors necessary to support the operating costs.

The continued increase in the price of oil and therefore, fuel must also be putting many 'low-cost' routes under pressure because the break-even load factors on many must be nearing 90% which means that their profitability is shrinking by the day. MoL's statement that he RYR won't levy a fuel surcharge until a barrel of oil costs $100 belies the fact that fares have crept up anyway. And if oil ever does reach this figure it'll become an academic discussion because the effect on the World economy and so business and leisure air travel will see route contraction almost as breath-taking as recent expansion, probably followed by airline bankruptcies that'll make the loss of SABENA and Swissair, and the current situation in the US look like a children's tea party.
:hmm: :uhoh: :uhoh: :oh: