NWI Happenings & Rumours

[jamesbrownontheroad]

Yep, NWI is going up the world - a thread on PPRUNE and news on the planned expansion and refurbishment of the terminal.

Passing through today (18/7/05) on my way to BHD I noticed an architect's drawing pinned up in the departure lounge. Below a note explained these plans are for the new extension and refurbishment, works to be completed by the end of 2006, to allow for 'planned expansion'.

To summarise from what is on the plans:

- 12 exisiting check-in desks remain
- Landside bar replaced by 'passenger services' office
- Landside café remodelled with larger servery and room for 152 covers
- Information desk, ticket sales, travel agency and car hire desks moved to internal side of arrivals area (ie inside the building, looking out to the access road)
- New security queueing area (a queue? at NWI...?) behind new info desk.
- Full length of landside facade to be glazed, with new rotating doors and new canopy along whole length of building
- Third security channel added; these now rotated through 90 degrees but in the same place
- Departure lounge significantly bigger - 522 seats
- New bar and 100 seat 'Café Oasis' on left hand side of lounge as you enter.
- Business lounge on left hand side of lounge, facing out over stands
- Duty free shop and concession moved to 'back' of lounge (ie looking through lounge towards aircraft stands).
- Baggage reclaim and customs significantly larger; facing the terminal from the aircraft stands, there will be two arrivals entrances - one on left to dedicated domestic arrivals hall, and one to right with access to customs and international arrivals hall. Domestic baggage reclaim accessed through glazed corridor that runs alongside the international hall.

Haven't found any official press releases, so I presume this is currently at planning.

*j*

[jamesbrownontheroad]

Watch out Eastern: FlyBe start NWI-ABZ next month, and have now hinted at NWI-MAN as well:

from the Eastern Daily Press (http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED08%20Sep%202005%2023%3A07%3A47%3A693)

New cheap flights planned

09 September 2005 06:30

Cut-price flights to a host of new European destinations could take off from Norwich International airport next year.

Budget airline Flybe revealed yesterday that it was considering adding a Norfolk-Manchester link to its 2006 timetable, along with new routes to France, Spain, the Channel Islands and Portugal.

Flybe already plans to start jetting holidaymakers to Spanish sunspots Malaga and Alicante later this month, and to Alpine ski resorts Chambery and Geneva in December. Next spring it will start daily flights to Dublin and Aberdeen.

Along with current trips to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Jersey, the new destinations are expected to take Flybe's Norwich passenger numbers beyond 500,000.

Return trip prices currently range from around £44 for Belfast to £114 for Geneva.

Flights to Paris and Amsterdam are expected to be announced later this year and routes to Palma in Majorca, Faro in Portugal and Murcia in Spain are among other possibilities.

Sales and marketing director Mike Rutter told the EDP yesterday that Flybe was also looking at Bordeaux, Limoges and Bergerac in France, Guernsey and Manchester.

“These are routes that are actively under consideration for launch in the spring of 2006,” he said.

“We are hoping to make an announcement in the middle of November.”

Mr Rutter said that flights to Malaga, Alicante, Chambery and Geneva were all being introduced well ahead of schedule because of the success of Flybe's operations so far in Norwich.

He said: “Norwich is a key base for us and we're pleased to continuing extending our offering with an exciting new range of destinations for the winter.

“It's been a bigger success than we had hoped for.”

He said that passenger figures at Norwich were “very encouraging” with almost three-quarters of all seats sold on Flybe flights during August.

In June Flybe announced a £522m plan to buy 14 Embraer 195 jets to help it open up the skies of Norfolk to more destinations. The carrier wants to see about 20 routes by the middle of next year.

Mr Rutter's aim is to take Norwich from zero to one million passengers in two years, creating an estimated 1000 new jobs in the region.

*j*

[Richard Taylor]

Morning *J*:

So have Flybe brought forward NWI-ABZ| or did you mean next YEAR rather than next MONTH?

[danflybe]

Flybe are basing crew in NWI from spring 2006. Looks like big plans!

[jamesbrownontheroad]

Thank christ for that... thought I was keeping this thread propped up just for my own personal enjoyment :}

So have Flybe brought forward NWI-ABZ| or did you mean next YEAR rather than next MONTH?

My apologies, it is indeed a March launch, and unlike BMI-Regional, FlyBe could pose a very real threat to Eastern.

Oh, and btw, I'm relocating overseas in 2 weeks time, so I'll need some other misinformed yokel to take up the role of solitary NWI promoter :E

*j*

[cavortingcheetah]

;)
I could volunteer for that.:D

[Nightstop]

BBC "Look East" reported this morning (16 Nov.) that a "new low cost airline" would announce routes from NWI later today.
Any idea which airline this is :ok:

[ALLMCC]

Saw a news thread today which said that Air Southwest will be acquiring a further Dash 8 and also announcing a number of new domestic routes starting spring 2006.

Could it be them starting ops from NWI?

[Powerjet1]

Yes. NWI - BRS.