MANCHESTER - 5

[Vuelo]

AB are apparently looking at 4x weekly TXL again from MAN.

I have also heard that IB in the shape of Air Nostrum are considering restarting a daily MAD MAN route, with a night stop in order for connections to be made in MAD to the Latin America network provided by IB around mid morning from MAD.. Would make sense and this time they would not have competition from ZB and BA as they did beforehand.

[Fuel Boy]

I just arrived into MAN T1 this P.M waited for ever for bags fair enough it was busy.

I parked my wife where the taxi rank was and raced round to get the car dived into the car park loaded her up and left....

9 mins entry to exit £1.80 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad::mad:

I would mind so much but my other half uses a wheelchair to go long distances, so getting arounh isn't easy. What happened to 10 mins free on pick ups?

It's a bloody outrage the first hour in ALC is 1 euro!! Just another case of ripping off the punters, I feel.

Rant over, sorry

[SkinHeadFlyer]

yep Jongeman, you're right. The 2 did have the route to themselves - and the (indirect and shortly defunct) offering from Air Berlin was around too I think at the same time. I've done AB, BA, KL & LS to Berlin this past 12 months. Best direct flight was with BA; indirect AB (despite STN!)

On the face of it, surely someone can make money out of it now.

Enjoy yer trip in February - just a shame you have to route via BRU. Makes a < 2 hour flight into a long journey via BRU, AMS, etc.

[SkinHeadFlyer]

"AB are apparently looking at 4x weekly TXL again from MAN"

Now that is some great news if it comes off. Nice one!

[jongeman]

I don't mind routing through BRU or anywhere else.......I went to Rome once on a cheap Sabena/Virgin Express ticket, and there was just enough time between connections to get on a train to Brussels and walk to Le Grand Place for a memorable couple of pints of Stella Artois. Well worth the effort.:)

[SOTV]

A man after my own heart.

Given a choice between flying LGW-SXM next May by VS or routing NCL-AMS-SXM by KL; I would rather have a night in Amsters and transit through there than endure the mare that LGW is becoming. Given the choice of a swift couple on Damrak or an overpriced warm half pint in Horley... no brainer really.

:}

[GLENO]

Really hope the Nostrum service if it does at all start is a night stopper.......about time we had a Madrid service since Flybe pulled the plug on Bacon.

What on earth have the managers been doing to attract new carriers and routes??......... nothing judging by the non annoucement of any new routes to mention this winter.Its about time we had some decent new routes....especially Madrid!!...come on pull your finger out Mr Muirhead!!
Looks like the Airport is more interested in Cargo ops at the moment!!

Re Jet2 about time they decided what they are really doing.....constantly chopping and changing the schedules.......think they are more interested in the Bucket and Spade destinations rather than cities......reminds me of when Bmibaby started......great fanfare, then gradually withdrew services that were not performing well....then focused on another Airport/Airports.

Anybody heard of a Volare service supposed to be starting in November to Milan.....not surewhich airport but been reported on another forum????

Happy landings.

[Vuelo]

Volare commence 6x weekly MXP MAN service from 28/10. T1, Flight Support handliong.

[GLENO]

re Volare.......Better get a move on then.....the MXP service is not even for sale on their web page.......:confused:

[MAN Guy]

I agree Gleno, its all good if you happen to be a box at the moment, a new service to the States, multiple services to the Far East to choose from and even Moscow if the mood takes you!

Be good if its true and IB / Nostrum have another crack at Madrid, I think the results would be quite different now the route is vacant. This is a key route from MAN that needs reinstating asap. I was on the last flight back with BACON (a full 143 op by Flightline!) and there was dismay amongst pax and staff at Madrid that this route was being chopped and nobody else was stepping in. Best for IB / Nostrum to have a go rather than one of our loco's to wade in only to drop it 4 months later :ugh:

Re a possible return from AB to TXL I think the results would be better now the route is vacant although I still think their commitment to MAN looks a little uncertain. Are we now any clearer that the Hamburg and Paderborn are sticking around?

[Ringwayman]

DO people honestly believe that that MAN's management teams are not doing their best to get more passenger routes? For all we know, they are spending thousands of pounds trying to impress airlines to come here but if the airlines aren't willing to come, then it's not MAN's fault!

Not forgetting that each alliance does not seem to be advocating more spoke-hub flying from the regions; specifically for oneworld, would you trust BA to act in MAN's (read North of England) interests should any other member of that alliance want to start service here given their past record of objecting whenever possible and route everyone on the shuttle?

The advent of the 787/A350 may enable some former long-haul routes to be restarted (even if not with the original airline but a subsidiary!). Most of the Euro routes I'd love to see started would be better off operating with 100 seaters - the 737 with 148 seats (or A319 with 156 seats) may be a tad too big so airlines have to price the tickets too low for initial sales.

For Flybe, I think the best we can hope for is for some route stabilisation with slight tinkering over the next year with a view to having moderate expansion from 2009 onwards.

[MAN Guy]

Ok here's 3 logical European 50 - 100 seat choices for MAN

Iberia daily MAD with Air Nostrum CRJ series
Austrian daily VIE with Fokker 70 or Fokker 100
Air Berlin 4x weekly TXL with Fokker 100 (moving up to 319 or 73G as route develops)

Ok its just a wish list at present but rumours on here suggest two of the above may just happen?!

[GLENO]

Man Guy.....I too flew the Madrid route when Ba and Bacon were operating it 4 times over the past 2 years...the last being on an Embraer 145 Outbound and a Bae146 Inbound on the same day at the beginning of March last year.
Both flights were full and I cannot understand why the route was dropped?? surely this route would bring in better yield passsengers rather than some French regional routes that Flybe seem to like.This would have been the ideal opportunity for Flybe to enter the Spanish market from Manchester....should have grabbed the Route with both hands.....but then again what do I know????


Ringwayman...... I hear what your saying and I agree really Manchester has been well and truly shafted by Ba time and time again...bosses should tell them if they objected to a certain carrier who applies for any route to go and take a run and jump,.....but the management of the airport must take some of the blame for this as well.....bet they thought never in a million years Ba would up sticks and just leave us with the London and New York services.Should'nt have all your eggs in one basket.........

Do you really think that waiting for the 787 and A350 will be a good thing??Sick and tired of hearing " wait until airline X gets 787/A350 they they will consider a 3/4 times a week service because they cannot fill a 747 etc" how many times have we heard the rumour of Thai,Northwest,Air New Zealand to name a few ....... I will believe it when I see it and I may have to wait a long time!

[Ringwayman]

Air New Zealand appear to be maxed out in terms of spare aircraft - some conjecture is for 2009 when they should have some more aircraft in their fleet. My understanding from other forums is that they may be interested in extending 1 out of 3 services that they currently operate: Shanghai, Vancouver and Los Angeles. From those, I'd think Los Angeles would be the favourite.

Northwest will hopefully be announcing the next batch of expansion using 757s (this is probably going to be tied in with sorting out the crewing problems they experienced this year).

The only decent prospect for a 787/A350 insprired route will be that to Sydney by Jetstar - we should have them by 2010 at the latest. Whether they'll be picking scraps from other airlines looking to consolidate/improve thier own operations over the next 2 years remains to be seen.

[jongeman]

GLENO - It wasn't so many years ago that BA were anticipating and planning that their passengers through MAN would double; shortly after T3 was completed and BA Citiexpress was in existance. I've never thought that bosses at MAN have been much to blame for anything that has happened since.

You're right about the 787/350 scenario, although the 787 has been designed specifically for places like Manchester, Boston, Glasgow, Stockholm etc.

[AndyH52]

Maybe if MA Plc hadn't actively set out to attract a whole host of LO-CO's to operate services in competition with BA (and the other 'legacy' carriers) they might have secured a bit more loyalty and investment in new routes. It's hard to maintain a business when your business plan is being constantly undermined by one of your key partners

[MUFC_fan]

Volare commence 6x weekly MXP MAN service from 28/10. T1, Flight Support handliong


What happened?

Still not bookable from website!:ugh:

[GLENO]

Oh no not another pipe dream???:confused:

[jongeman]

I'd be amazed if Volareweb (as it's now known post-bancruptcy) were successful on MAN-MXP for the simple reason that they'd have to do some pretty intensive advertising in the north west, being completely unknown. It's not going to be easy to fill an Airbus 320.

[TechProblem]

Unless FlyBe Canx all there mxp's :rolleyes:

[GLENO]

Perhaps Vuelo can enlighten us to his source of information on the Volare Service???........over to you Vuelo............................:}

[dwlpl]

The local press are reporting that flyGlobespan are closing its Liverpool and Manchester bases from the end of October.

The airline is saying that “Our Liverpool and Manchester operations have not been able to achieve the financial viability of other flyglobespan bases and, regrettably, we have had to inform our staff that they will cease to be manned bases from the end of October.

“We are extremely sad that, despite the efforts and dedication of our staff at these bases, we are unable to sustain services from these airports through winter, but we fully intend to return with a 2008 programme next spring."

[Richard Taylor]

hmm...........

Now THAT sounds familiar...

[GLENO]

Not all all surprised with the Flyglobespan annoucement...............another flash in the pan for Manchetser and Liverpool......Surprised they haven't folded already!!!....am I correct in thinking that this airline has B787's on order and some more 737's??

[Vuelo]

Volareweb will be handled by Flight Support and use T1.

Sadly, I have no idea when seats will go on sale, but first service is scheduled for 28th October.

Maybe email the airline GLEN and ask them?

[GLENO]

Will send reply......as soon as I get one.This was done yesterday.:ok:

Glen.

[Suzeman]

The Volareweb service was announced in the Airport's Cargo newsletter which came out yesterday. Also noted was that Air Blue go to 6 weekly from 4th December.

Suzeman

[MAN Guy]

For a nice prestigious route like Cape Town, its was a pity we had a second rate carrier operating it!

Hopefully it will re-appear on departure screens again soon with a decent carrier operating it instead.......SAA would be great but not sure they would be expanding into Europe at the moment, they seem to be retracting instead.

[Homo Simpson]

Fly Globespan have expanded far too quickly and as a result people have voted with their feet. Even if you do offer some cheap fares punters will only take so much. For example the New York service out of Liverpool was always going to be a tough one to sustain but the service has to be reliable to have any chance of surviving.

[viscount702]

Service is now on website
days 12 45 7 MXP eta 1940 VE8228 etd 2010 VE8229

Viscount

[Mr A Tis]

The timetable may be on the website, but you still can't book a seat !
Have a job getting any pax on it at this rate.

[Vuelo]

Give them a break, they only sorted out a handling agent a few days ago.

The seats wll be on sale by the end of the week. I didn't realise you were all so desparate to get to Milan....

[MAN Guy]

.....best hope everybody IS that desperate to go to Milan, that way there might be half a chance of the service sticking around ;)

[MUFC_fan]

I will be one of the first to book the on the service!

Both LS and BE operate great services on the route and I will be checking out the comptetion!;)

The only downside is that outbound times and of course the Italian accent on the plane!:eek:

[bigg G]

Yet another lcc starter, with very poor flight times i give this 12 months at the very most.
Even though this is better than nothing at all, what we really need is the national airlines to return, why no alitala, tap portugal, austrian,iberia (maybe back now to madrid) malev,etc, just to name a few all these airlines have served at sometime in the past, yet lcc's seem to want to get involved in the routes add the extra seats and flights that are not required national airlines then pull out because lcc's are under cutting prices, then 6-12 months down the line the lcc's carn't full the b737's they have find that they make more money on bucket and spade flights and pull the routes leaving manchester for the worst.:uhoh:

For all those that want ryanair and easyjet here do you really think that this is for the best?
look at ryanair down the east lancs always chopping and changing flights and fly to middle of nowhere do we really want this?????? do you want ryanair to stockholm then onto a coach for over 1 hour to get to where you really want to be or would you prefer SAS or other established airlines flying you direct to the city on your ticket.
If ryanair or easyjet get into manchester then all your going to get is a big reduction in airlines into manchester, is it better to have one lcc in manchester or 10 different established airlines on different routes.

Now thats off my chest

Looking forward to your views

[GLENO]

Nice for a day trip to Milan then....Out on the Flybe Embraer and back on the Volare A320?......Interseted to see what the fares start at on the Volare Service.

Anymore news on the Madrid service????

[chiglet]

IF One wants to fly to Canada, there are better ways than jumping on a B738, and stopping in Iceland....and then.......:confused: before landing in Canada
watp,oktch

[AUTOGLIDE]

"Maybe if MA Plc hadn't actively set out to attract a whole host of LO-CO's to operate services in competition with BA (and the other 'legacy' carriers) they might have secured a bit more loyalty and investment in new routes. It's hard to maintain a business when your business plan is being constantly undermined by one of your key partners"

Maybe but I'm not so sure...in the too many years I was at BA the only impression I got was that they had as much serious interest in MAN as Gordon Brown does in cutting taxes.

[GLENO]

Volare prices are now showing on their webpage.

[Vuelo]

Retirn for £32!! Including taxes and credit card charges! Amazingly cheap and kicks BE rigt in the jacobs!

[MAN777]

vuelo

I cant find fares that low, what dates did you check ? Best I can find is 35 euros each way plus tax.

[GLENO]

Try November.:ok:

[Vuelo]

I got a price of 48 euros 0.01euro each way plus taxes and charges. Travelling out in mid November and back a few days later.

Fabulous to see real low fares from MAN!

[Momentary Lapse]

Perhaps Bill Savage et al were right in blocking locos at MAN for all those years. Mr Spooner was wheeled in, the locos arrived, and look what you're all moaning about now...

No flag carriers, but no locos either, on key routes.

:ouch::rolleyes::sad:

[NickBarnes]

they may be cheap in November but once you go into december or January it costs 118EUR/£82 return, with Flybe going at £100 return.
could get quite interesting:ok:

Also remember Volareweb also have much bigger aircraft to fill.

[OltonPete]

AS BHX had some changes (EDI 5 down to 3 a day & BCN 7 - 6 a week)
I decided to check the other basis as well.

Cardiff I could not tell but the aircraft utilisation is still bad with an aircraft
on the deck 3 hours in the day mid week. However Manchester has gone
from 4 based units to 3.

The original winter schedule required about 3 plus a one other at times
but the schedule has tightened to three based (in the week at least).

It also includes a very Ryanair type schedule for one aircraft on a Friday:

0700 BFS 0945
1015 JER 1330
1400 NOC 1700
1730 BFS 1955
2025 ORK 2330

Yep 10 sector day!

Winter is now

7 BHX (with aircraft 7 one flight most days)
3 CWL (with one aircraft doing 4 sectors some days)
5 EMA (although I have not checked the schedule for weeks)
3 MAN (mainly busy all week when Geneva starts)

3 aircraft on maintenance or are these the 3 x 500's which are going?

Pete

[cesare.caldi]

Volareweb will base 2 A320 at MXP and open 10 new route:

Alghero 3x week, Cagliari daily, Pescara 4x week, Wroclaw 3x week, Lodz 2x week, Maastricht 4x week, Rotterdam daily, Helsinki daily, Porto daily and

Manchester 5x week
MXP-MAN 18.35-19.40 12-45-7 VE 8228
MAN-MXP 20.10-23.15 12-45-7 VE 8229

[TechProblem]

30 min spin, no cleaning or catering then :rolleyes:

[chiglet]

No ATC or wx delays, either :E
watp,iktch

[jubilee]

Swiss starting Geneva service for the ski season Sunday only.
also increasing service to basel
Regards
Jub

[MAN Guy]

Nice to see some growth from Swiss.....even if it does seem rather conservative, 1x weekly GVA and the BSL slowly creeping back up to a decent frequency!

Does anybody happen to know if we are likely to see Tehran flights return anytime soon? Any likelihood of IR taking up the void left by Mahan? I always understood that after a slowish start the Tehran route was very healthy in terms of loads.

[FlyZB]

The Tehran route did ok, although I hardly think it set the world on fire in terms of loads! Averaged about 80 per flight, perhaps slightly more after they'd closed their BHX base.

Last I heard, Mahan were trying to sort themselves out and were looking at restarting services on Sept 10th. Obviously this date is now long gone and still no news. Anyone heard anything since?

[Scottie Dog]

All that I can add is that they have been suspended from the IATA BSP settlement scheme.

This basically means that normal travel agents are unable to sell and account for their tickets through the GDS systems.

Ticketing via local agents and the interbet would of course still be possible.

[Momentary Lapse]

A pal of mine flew from MAN for the first time recently. Knowing my links with the place, he shared with me his thoughts. I could have predicted everything he said, before he said it:

The car park bus dropped him "at the station. It's a long walk to the terminal!" Especially because "the travelators weren't working". And of course, T1 (ThomsonFly - nice leather seats) is a bit "up and down and round about" to get anywhere.

But when he arrived back in, he found the station again by "following a nice young lady who looked very nice in her uniform". There's a few of them about, I told him.

So, same old same old. If they can't get the basics right, what hope have they got?

[chiglet]

Not surprised that it was a long walk, Tomson"fly" from T2.......:rolleyes:
watp,iktch

[Momentary Lapse]

T1? T2? Forgive me, I was sleepy.

Nonetheless - u/s travelators is even more of a problem walking to T2!

I think my main point still holds - ask the buses to drop the passengers miles away, then expect them to cart their luggage past broken travelators. Customer service? Pah.

[FlyZB]

Regarding the travellators, they are not broken but are switched off at night for energy saving purposes between the hours of 00.00 and 04.00. This applies to the C Pier travellators in T1 and the airside ones in T2, as well as those along the skylink. They are switched on by Terminal Control at 04.00. As very few trains and buses arrive between these hours, it is uneconomical to keep them running. If I'm on an early shift, I always walk the length of the skylink when I come on at 5am and start up any travellators that haven't already been switched on. I make it my personal responsibility :)

Regarding the car park/hotel buses, many hotels and independant car parking companies choose to drop off/pick up at the station because it is easier for them to do so at this one central point rather than going to all the terminals. It is their decision to do this and has nothing to do with the airport. The areas outside all three terminals are now open for these buses to use if they want to but many of them have chosen to stay at the station for their own convenience. All MA car park buses, ie - Shuttle Park, T1/2/3 Long Stay and Premier Parking, drop off and pick up outside the terminals.

[Tight Seat]

At my house I have a PIR that puts on the light so I save money on my lighting bill, I just like saving money. Do you think it would be the science of rockets for MAN to PIR the transterminalamogifiers with the same space age teknoliggy?

1 small question. When did all of security become my mate? I don't know them, never have done, so why do they always call me mate? I'm old and looong in the tooth, so a snotty nosed yoof calling mate at 5 am really spits on my ice cream.
Rant done.

[FlyZB]

Personally, I think that the autowalks should be fitted with sensors so that they don't move unless someone approaches it. This has been trialled at the station with some degree of success, although I don't believe it is as energy efficient as switching them off completely. Obviously in the day, all the autowalks should be fully functioning and in an ideal world this wouldn't be a problem. But escalators/autowalks cease on many occasions throughout the day, mainly due to the emergency stop button being nudged or if there's been an accident, it needs to be switched off for health and safety reasons. The Customer Service teams check the travellators, escalators and lifts throughout all three terminals at regular intervals on each shift and restart autowalks etc if necessary, but obviously this is not always going to be number one priority.

I'm not trying to make excuses here or disspell anyones argument, just want to tell it like it is from my background in Customer Services.

[Tight Seat]

FlyZB- no problem 'mate':E

[FlyerFoto]

FlyZB said:


I think that the autowalks should be fitted with sensors


I've seen that before, although it may have been on escalators rather than autowalks - Frankfurt Airport and the railway station, if I remember correctly.

[TURIN]

Well, here's the latest from the coal face.

Thai now delaying any new service for another year......Again.:ugh:

PIA B777-300ER delivery in January 08. 747s to return soon...:rolleyes:

Etihad to go twice a day B777/A330 combination.

Qatar looking at B777 and A340 ops.

SIA daily end of October, possible increase to 10 a week and/or B777-300ER.

Oh yes the best til last,

BA JFK service to be B787 by 2012. :\

[Fuel Boy]

I see that W5 Mahan Air have a slot request on 1 /11.( only checked that day).

I thought they were having trouble getting back into the UK? Can anyone confirm their slots??

Fuelboy

[sacktheboard]

Manchester Airport apparently might have to dig deep if it is found guilty of
discrimination.
It is alleged Hundreds of full time Security staff have given MAN 28 days notice to explain
how it is going to resolve the matter of paying its part-time staff who
complete 20hrs per week. 1.5hr/pay O/T thereafter. So a part-timer who
does 20hrs overtime pw. Total hours worked 40 will receive 50hrs pay.
As you can see part timers are paid 10hrs more pw then full timers if they do 20hrs O/T which they do quite regularly. Allegedly airport was warned 2 years ago about this but did not act.
According to UNITE union the airport are guilty of sex dicrimination, pay discrimination and more.
What do you think ??

[Momentary Lapse]

Being paid overtime at a higher rate is compensation for:

1 the irregularity of when you receive it (overtime is by its nature unpredictable and at short notice)

2 inconvenience if you'd made other plans

It is also a reward for workers' loyalty and flexibility.

Would full time workers like to give up a 40hr/wk contract to go on to 20hr/wk and hope they get another 20hrs/wk overtime every week? Would that pay the mortgage? No, so that's why the full timers trade some overtime premium for a guaranteed income every week, to pay the bills.

I'm sure the airport lawyers will have agreed these contracts before they were issued.

Is this a non-issue? Is it just the airport unions rattling their sticks in the swill bucket again for some other agenda, perhaps to make themselves look like they're doing something? The airport unions have sadly been impotent for years.

Workers still come; management still treat them badly. Welcome to capitalism.

I would like to add, before you all rip my head off, that I have great sympathy with the poor wages, working conditions, welfare facilities etc. of the ops staff, as well as having to park miles away at 3am to get in for an early start, when the bigwigs park in undercover luxury and only have to waddle across the road to OH at 9am.

[chris4567]

Well, here's the latest from the coal face.

Thai now delaying any new service for another year......Again.:ugh:

PIA B777-300ER delivery in January 08. 747s to return soon...:rolleyes:

Etihad to go twice a day B777/A330 combination.

Qatar looking at B777 and A340 ops.

SIA daily end of October, possible increase to 10 a week and/or B777-300ER.

Oh yes the best til last,

BA JFK service to be B787 by 2012.


are these comfirmed?

[Adola69]

Does anybody know why the above has stopped posting "Rumours, good news, and funnies" to this site. it's been a good few months since we had his witty comments to read? Has he 'Aliassed' himself one time too many?:\

[eggc]

Didn't Vuelo know him...

A chap called GayRugbyMan posts regularly on A.net forum and I think he knows Vuelo too - as his posts on A.net seem very similar to Vuelos on here - not to suggest that Vuelo / GayRugbyBloke / GayRugbyMan are the same person...that would be just wrong :}

[StoneyBridge Radar]

A little birdy in OH tells me that there is paperwork on the table and pens drawn for an imminent announcement to come out of Northwest, that being DTW-MAN-DTW with 752s from Summer '08. :ok:

[MUFC_fan]

That is on Airliners aswell. Was pretty obvious really. They are also to launch another 2 routes to Europe on top of that. Favorites are CDG and AMS from two other NWA bases.

Now only UA and MAN has the full works!

Are NWA usually cheaper than DL/AA/CO/US to america?

Cheers.
Some good news for the airport anyway! Come on CX!;)

Couldn't CX just put 100 seats on their Cargo a/c and be done with it?:}

[MAN Guy]

Aaaah but MUFC_Fan, CX already have something operating from MAN in addition to those big freighters...... they have over 100 seats per flight, they operate numerous times a day, have a red white and blue colour scheme and drop the pax at a place called LHR to connect with a real CX flight, job done :ugh:

Not sure on their prices compared to the other lot but NW should be a good addition to the network, could be a good grower starting with the 757 then look towards A330 or 787 ops if the route proves a success in the medium term?

Anyone got any other new snippets for next summer yet?!

[Ringwayman]

As CX are determined to offer a "lesser" service out of MAN than they do out of LHR i.e. stop off in Moscow and not operate non-stop, then I think we may have to wait a long time for them to bring back passenger services. So how a passenger gets to HKG depends where you want to connect - think gonig with Finnair might be the quickest way to do it.

From Turin's post, one can say :

SQ went public on the "10 times weekly, subject to passenger demand" a while ago so not really adding anything to what was known (unless he's got knowledge of slots requests applications? I've seen Friday, Saturday and Sunday mentioned as the 3 extra days of operation but without times) and operating daily from October has been known for a couple of months or so. Hopefully the 2 extra services a week will attract sufficient passenger numbers for them to evaluate the 3 additional services with a view to starting them in 18-24 months time.

Etihad - I'd rather have them see what the new split timings a la Qatar will do for them before going to 2 daily! Don't think we could state with any confidence that current loads justify expansion just yet.

Qatar - I've seen the config of the 77W. Nice 2 class effort seating 330ish passengers i.e. ideal for MAN and a little bit bigger than the A333s they will be operating this winter. However, I believe they're intending using them on transtlantic runs though.

As for BA, logically if the 787 is replacing the 767, then should BA's MAN-JFK still exist in 4 years time, then it will be 787s. (Not too sure which variety of 787 though as they are getting both -8s and -9s).

[viscount702]

BMI to add extra flight to EDI Monday to Thursday from 28 October. On timetable but not announced by BMI on Website

Also they announced Daily TLV from LHR a while back. Announcement removed anyone know why

Viscount

[MUFC_fan]

So they are going to do both MAN and STN!

I'm guessing STN will be first? MAN will be popular with the football supporters and with of course increase profits at MUFC!:}:}

Anyway, great for both airports!

When is the launch?

[chris4567]

no idea,you cant book flights yet though so.probs next summer.

[viscount702]

I wouldn't read too much into MAN being shown on the map. In fact it has been showing for many weeks now so its not new. The map only really shows
the destinations being considered

Air Asia haven't said which will be the first destination in the UK or europe come to that. We will have to wait and see

Viscount

[JulietNovemberPapa]

AirAsia X (D7) announced its first route - KUL-OOL, four-weekly - last Friday. A promotional ticket for KUL-OOL-KUL was about £92 all-in.

D7 has permission to begin flights to/from STN. But whether that'll be its first UK destination is completely uncertain.

D7 will be acquiring 340s - two, I believe. I wonder whether these would be used to/from the UK, or whether it'd operate the 330 via BAH, as some info. has suggested.

The biggest problem is the almost complete lack of information. I think it's just a case of waiting to see what materalises.

[chris4567]

well AK is deaprting back to KUALA LUMPER tommorow,its been in for 3-4 days.

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/app/ADSearch?submitted=1&page=1&ipp=10&searchCode=ak

[FlyZB]

Not usually one to contribute to the rumour mill without hard facts (I leave that to others :E), but I've heard from numerous different people in work tonight that, after sniffing around T2 for the last 3 days, a big announcement from Air Asia is expected sometime next week. Let's wait and pray...

[gayrugbybloke]

I am always here, looking, but not usually speaking. And no, I am not her, and she is not me, and they are not him, and he is not them....

[jongeman]

Just like the Scarlet Pimpernel.

"They seek him here, they seek him there"

[viscount702]

MAPLC Stats for September don't make good reading on PAX front down again

Cargo on the other hand is doing very well up nearly 24% on last year

Viscount

[Ian Brooks]

Again we know the figures are going to be down until the Flybe/BAcon effect and the drop in LHR/LGW work through
Don`t expect an increase this year

Ian

[Mr A Tis]

Judging by the mutterings from the unhappy punters in the massive security queues in T1 this afternoon, pax will continue to fall. With a choice of other regional airports for most flights, MAN is becoming a less attractive option. BTW, building more shops is not going to be the answer.

[Ian Brooks]

Just read a report that it took over an hour to get through immigration at Stansted the other night so it is not just Manchester

Ian

[chris4567]

i know everyone have thoings against man,i flew in peak season in august from T1 and found it fine most i qued was around 10-15 mins.
security was tight etc which is what you want.

[SWBKCB]

From Sky News

Climate change protesters say they have blockaded the entrance to domestic departures at Manchester Airport. Robbie Gillett, a spokesman for Plane Stupid, said activists had locked arms to prevent passengers passing through security. A Greater Manchester Police spokesman confirmed they were dealing with a protest at the airport.

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said the protesters had not passed through security checks.

"We have got some protesters in Terminal Three," he said. "They seem to be blockading the entry to the security through into the departure lounge. At the moment, passengers cannot get through to security, but we do have alternative ways of getting passengers through. It is a public area of the airport. They have not breached security. The police are on site and they are dealing with it."

The spokesman added that the protesters had not yet caused any delays to flights.

[Mr A Tis]

Liverpool JLA are reporting a pax increase of 13.7% for the period June to August.This compares to another slippage by MAN on the pax front.
Liverpool now has ( or about to get) around 19 scheduled destinations not served from MAN. Notably Madrid, Berlin, Gdansk & Bucarest.
Where there is a choice, is it that people prefer JLA ? From experience it is easier to park, easier to transit through, not everything is on different levels & queuing is significantly less.
People want an easy & relaxed experience from check in to gate. They are not getting this from MAN. I am sceptical the new T1 security will make any difference, as it is all about more retail shopping. No point in adding more x ray machines, when the existing ones arn't always staffed.

[lexxity]

The spokesman added that the protesters had not yet caused any delays to flights.

No just to the passengers I would have thought! Will get the goss tomorrow as not in today!

[FlyZB]

Plane 'Stupid', a very appropriate name for them! What do they hope to achieve? The majority of people flying out of MAN this morning will be there by choice and are therefore not going to be put off flying by a load of jobless morons! If anything, their presence will have a negative effect as they've been delaying passengers getting through security which is bound to annoy most people.

On the subject of Liverpool, it now serves 19 destinations not served by MAN does it. So what? How many destinations do MAN serve that LPL doesn't? I agree that MAN seriously needs routes to Madrid, Geneva, Berlin etc but Liverpool is purely a low cost base and therefore its route structure is bound to be different.

Why is it that Manchester and Liverpool are seen to be in competition with one another? From a management point of view, the growth of LPL is worrying for the top dogs at MAN but from a passenger point of view, surely it's good news. Fact of the matter is, people of the north west can only gain from the fact that we now have a greater choice of airports to fly from. If a route is not available from MAN, then it may well be available down the road at LPL and vice versa. This has got to be better option than transiting through the mess that is London!

[take-off]

Dnt forget ZB, You can also get some fresh sea air ,and fly from the Big Tent, called blk international......:}:}

[RAPC]

I wish I was at Manchester and flying from T3 yesterday. I'd have quite fancied making my own personal attempt at getting through the linked arms protestors blocking security.

Much as I am a supporter of green issues, the protests and media hype against aviation are very much out of kilter with the impact that the industry has against other forms of transport, let alone general man made damage. How about next time they try linking arms on the M62 at rush hour and see who stops? :ouch:

[Suzeman]

A little gem from UK Airport News/MEN

06.10.07

Bosses at Manchester Airport have banned car park attendants from giving motorists a push start if they break down, the Manchester Evening News reports. The policy has been condemned by motoring groups, with one critic saying the airport had 'thrown common sense out of the window'.
Officials at the airport - which claims to provide 'outstanding customer service' - introduced the rule to prevent staff accidentally damaging vehicles when they are trying to help owners. But a spokesman for the Association of British Drivers said: 'It would be a matter of normal humanity to decide to help someone who is experiencing difficulty at their airport car parks. The employer should just keep out of it and allow people to make their own personal judgement.'
Sean Corker, who campaigns for motorists' rights in the north west, said: 'You always come across the odd jobsworth but you don't often get people ordered by their bosses not to help customers. Their customer service obviously does not extend to those who drive to the airport.'
The newspaper reports that holidaymaker Paul Ross fell foul of the ruling when he returned to the Terminal 2 car park after a trip to Menorca and found that his battery had gone flat. He approached staff at the car park for help but they said they couldn't assist him on the orders of their superiors.
Mr Ross, who had paid about £60 to leave his car at the airport while he was abroad, had no cash on him to pay for a tow-truck. He said: ' All that was needed was a bit of common courtesy. I just wanted to get home. It was an awful situation at the end of a very good holiday.'
'The experience we have had nullified the relaxation we had on holiday. I for one will not be recommending use of their car parking, rather the reverse.' He was so appalled by the attitude of staff that he complained to airport parking bosses. Mr. Ross was offered an apology plus the return of his parking fee.
A spokeswoman for Manchester Airport said it employed the AA to provide free assistance to motorists stranded in its car parks from 06:00 to 18:00. She said staff used to be able to help customers whose cars had broken down outside these hours, but this had been stopped after complaints that a car had been damaged.

[Drink Up Thee Cider]

I wish I was at Manchester and flying from T3 yesterday. I'd have quite fancied making my own personal attempt at getting through the linked arms protestors blocking security.

Much as I am a supporter of green issues, the protests and media hype against aviation are very much out of kilter with the impact that the industry has against other forms of transport, let alone general man made damage. How about next time they try linking arms on the M62 at rush hour and see who stops?

Looks like Flybe think much the same:

Disruption at Manchester airport
08 October 2007
Flybe, the biggest operator from Manchester Airport, this morning expressed outrage at the disruptive actions of a small number of protesters at Manchester Airport.
Mike Rutter, Flybe’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “Domestic aviation is crucial to the UK economy. The selfish actions of a small group of protesters who represent an insignificantly small section of society do themselves and the UK regions a huge disservice. We deplore the fact that these individuals have endangered the security of travellers. Contrast the actions of 7 with the 30,000 who will travel with Flybe in and out of Manchester airport this week and its plain where public support rests.”
“Flybe is proud to serve the UK regions and with our $2bn investment in some of the most environmentally sensitive aircraft in the world are driving down emissions. The views of a London-centric class of professional lobbyists are a million miles away from the economic reality of the UK regions”.
Flybe staff are liaising closely with Manchester Airport to minimise disruption and are asking all passengers to check in as normal.

[airhumberside]

Are TOM axing their scheduled routes at MAN that are not use by Thomson Holidays (like Lisbon, Tel Aviv). This is hapenning at DSA (PRG+JER), LTN (JER+PRG) and CWL (JER)

[viscount702]

Good question

At the beginnig of September when announcing additional summer routes they said more were to come.

Since then nothing further has been said but most routes are now on the Timetable. LIS TLV and SZG being some exceptions.

Similarly I am not sue what LS are doing. few routes announced for MAN next summer and on other threads it is suggested that they will concentrate expansion at LBA. Earlier in the Year they were talking about basing two or three more aircraft at MAN. In fact they are moving aircraft from MAN to LBA.

ZB

Their flights are on sale but no announcement was made of summer flights from MAN

WW nothing yet

C0 now seem to have sorted themselves out. Timings have changed therfore no more destinations

XL

Announced daily flights for summer to ALC and AGP. Now down to 1 per week'

One can continue. Lots of announcements or hints but nothing appears or it does and then is dropped usually quietly.

Viscount

[MAN Guy]

I think we can safely say for the time being at least that all we'll have from Jet2 are the usual sunshine destinations with lots of capacity during the summer and a very scaled down timetable for the winter.

Its a shame IF Thomson are jacking in Tel Aviv, Salzburg and Lisbon before they have really been given chance to grow, but then again what more can we expect from the loco's based on previous form???

I'd be surprised to see any significant growth from ZB either. I think they've found their little niche carrying those who want flights to the sun with a little more in the way of service. They may tinker with schedules and try the odd new destination now and again but that would be about it I think.

As for WW, I wouldn't hold your breath for any growth at MAN either, they are much more interested in BHX

Anyone heard anything more info on the possible NW and Air AsiaX???

[MUFC_fan]

I think we will find now is that expansion from MAN (if there is any!) will be mainly from destinations outside of Europe where locos don't tred.

Obviously, NW and AirAsiaX should be coming soon:rolleyes:...we'll see. There will be other carriers but who? I can see CX, TG and increases from EK etc. but not many others. There are other carriers such as:

AC (only interested in summer route to Toronto)
JAL (not likely!)
CA/CI/CZ (can't see it soon)
QF (never rule them out! EK and EY are doing very well with the SYD connections! but so are QF on the LHR connection!:O)
BA (:hmm:)
UA (surely can't be far away now - NW making a five some! LAX?!)
AI (they are currently looking at an EU base - and new destinations! look out PIA - new boys in town!;))

Would hope to see AI, NW D7 and by next summer, but the others are major doubts for the next two years!

[FlyZB]

I shouldn't worry too much just yet. It's very early to be getting concerned about next summer. Whilst many airlines have their initial S08 flights on sale, I think there will be some schedule tinkering and more announcements over the coming months. Here's what I think:

LS - There will be a decrease in frequencies but most of last summers routes will return and should go on sale over the next few months. TFS, ACE & LPA will operate year round and an additional 757 will be based to cover this. BCN will be back with better timings. SXF & TLS will also return.

WW - Still to release their summer flights. Would expect Bordeux & Perpignan to return along with Newquay. AGP, ALC, PMI will return to at least daily flights.

ZB - Can't see anything else being announced from them this summer. Although there is a grey area over XRY flights and a possible return to GIB. I expect new winter 2008 routes from them being announced and an increase in Summer 2009 schedules as they're acquiring additional A321's.

TOM - Will continue to operate scheduled services from MAN without a doubt. In fact, with routes dropped from other airports I would expect their 737's to come to MAN to operate additional scheduled routes as they are performing very well.

[Ringwayman]

AS per post 725 = CA from March 2009 (but I doubt if they'll be operating 7 flights a week!).

Of the others....
QF = Jetstar = 2009/2010. The number of passengers going MAN-LHR-BKK/SIN-Australia was only around one sixth of the total market going MAN-Australia.

The problem that MAN has got is the perceived lack of premium payers - there is a market for a wide range of services, but some airlines (naming no names but they used to have a terminal at MAN partially named after their initials) would prefer all regional passengers to route via LHR rather than establish themselves away from fortress LHR....purely because of the inconvenience of having to have 3 to 5 aircraft in an "unconventional" configuration (i.e. 2 class only, like the majority of the successful long-haul ex-MAN) and the unwillingness to show the positive effects of having an alliance whereby they would be able to feed the hub(s) of their partner airlines.

[Vuelo]

Its a shame IF Thomson are jacking in Tel Aviv, Salzburg and Lisbon before they have really been given chance to grow, but then again what more can we expect from the loco's based on previous form???

Stop talking out of your ar*e. TOM have no plans to drop these routes, they are just sorting out slots. TLV is a licence to print money.

[MANFlyer]

Ringwayman - SQ are not ready to apply for slots as they simply don't have enough aircraft at the moment to find any for the additional 2 or 3 a week SQ in MAN have requested. They are hoping to have a late flight out on Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday. Late Friday would be great news for me personally. The problem is other stations that get the 772ER (AMS & CPH for a start) are also requesting more flights and the A380 delays have really caused havoc with SQ for the last 12 months as they had arranged sales of the 744's. So we are 'on the list' as they say.

The demand is certainly there, the loads this year have been excellent especially up front where I have been waitlisted for a while numerous times this year and that's as a PPS. Granted the loss of SQ345/6 twice a week will have contributed to the increase on the other 5 flights, but the 744 via ZRH only tended to have about 100-120 ex-MAN as most naturally preferred the nonstop flight.

[Going loco]

Ringwayman - aren't the successful 2-class long-haul operators you talk of all carring about 75-85% transfer traffic. I don't understand the logic which takes this stat as proof that it is in BA's best interests to reconfigure their aircraft and pump money into a small scale point to point network. An economy/leisure market to a myriad of points around the globe fits the spoke-hub model and this is why the European, Asian and US carriers all feed their own hubs from MAN rather than making MAN a hub itself.

[lexxity]

I really don't see UA coming to MAN, why would they? They already have a daily feeder service in the form of bmi to ORD.

[Mr A Tis]

In addition to the MAN-HAM route continuing, MAN-Paderborn direct flights to continue thro to 30th April 08 . Bookable now.
Let's hope Berlin is next !

[MAN Guy]

I'm sorry you think I'm talking out of my ar*e, I didn't realize TOM were simply fine tuning their schedules for TLV, LIS and SZG and I do (of course!!!) hope for the airports sake that this is definitely the case.

I still stand by my point though that the loco's with bases at MAN have a patchy record of starting flights to, what one would assume in European aviation terms, are key European cities and actually keeping them in their schedules for long enough to develop. Here's a few examples I can think of -

LS - EDI, LGW, SXF, TLS, PRG, BCN, AMS, BGY and WAW despite all being announced amid much fanfare have either been dropped already, are not operating in winter and uncertain to return next summer, are not bookable past early in the new year or were never started in the first place

WW - CDG and BCN quietly disappeared a few seasons ago. Are BOD and PGF returning????

ZB - MAD, NAP and GIB were tried and again quietly dropped. Ok GIB may have been due to disagreements with the airport there but it still dropped nonetheless

BE - never even bothered touching MAD, TXL, LYS and VIE from BACON, ok BMI jumped onto LYS but that was it

Surely you would think some of the above cities are also a license to print money from MAN, especially with no BACON around?

[MUFC_fan]

I know we are looking at ZB, LS, WW, IB etc. to operate the MAD route, but what about BMI?!

The service suits a twice daily with a small aircraft (E145) and would fit perfectly into the system!

Obviously we all want to see IB A320s!;) but BMI could give it a go!

[anotherspaceman]

MAD - The Flybe 195 is coming soon! Wait for the winter schedule :cool:

[MAN Guy]

It would be good if they had a go..... if they can with LYS then why not MAD?!

Must say MUFC_Fan, I share your thoughts on IB though, even an Air Nostrum CRJ to start with maybe...... anything more been heard about that particular rumour recently???

[MUFC_fan]

There are alot of routes that would work for IB from MAD to the UK - EDI, BRS, GLA, MAN, NCL, BHX, BFS etc. but they just aren't prepared like KLM, LH and AF who have major long haul destinations and are only 1 to 1.5 hours from the UK.

Another problem with IB is that most passengers on a UK route are UK based, wherever it may be, whoever it may be with, especially to one of the world cities. Getting the IB name known in the North West for just 2 CRJ flights a day - would it be worth it with the advertisement etc.? Obviously Iberia is a HUGE name on the aviation market and so would be easier than expected.

A twice daily A320 service would be pushing it but a daily is desperately needed. Yes, EZY and FR provide a good service from LPL but that extra touch is needed and also the connections available from MAD to South America with IB are second to none! Plus...a BA codeshare would help the loads!

Bring on IB - twice daily A320 - A319 at least!;)

Anyway, lets hope come March 2008, we will see Madrid back on the departure boards (hopefully from terminal 3!)

[FlyZB]

Hmmm. The potential is there, I just don't think they realise it. There is definately demand for onward connections to South America, you only have to look at how many connect through Amsterdam and Paris on a daily basis. With O&D leisure and business traffic on top of connections, a daily A320 would definately fill. Question is, do IB have the spare capacity and if so, how many other destinations are higher up on their list of desires?

[jongeman]

TLV is a licence to print money.

So much so, that it was dropped by LY, and never touched by bmi, Arkia or GB Airways. We'll see.

[Vuelo]

The issue IB would have is that most of their longhaul departures leave MAD mid morning, so you would need a connector in to MAD from MAN that left at between 0600 and 0700 in order to make the transit times viable. Coming back, with the majority of Latin America flights ariving in to MAD early morning, not many pac would want to remain at MAD til the evening for a flight to MAN.

[EC-ILS]

IB struggle to fill a daily A320 MAD-DUB even reducing it to a A319 some days, didnt they try MAN before? I dont think there is much hope for NCL and other regional airports.

The other barrier is BA they have a hold on IB and want them to send everybody via LHR.

[Ian Brooks]

The MAN service was a BCN flight that did at one time extend to MAD but times were not good from memory and BA was doing a double daily at time

Ian

[jongeman]

IB also introduced a daily MAN-MAD for a short while at the same time as MAN-BCN.

[TSR2]

Every IB MAN-MAD flight I travelled on operated via BCN. Real pain in the ar$e as you had to de-plane at BCN, clear immigration and re-board the same aircraft.

[tea_please]

Well, just received an email today announcing that the Jerez service is cancelled - including my next flight booked on the 30th of November. I used the Madrid service when MON launched it a couple of years ago and that went the same way.

However, got a full refund £157 and rebooked with Ryanair for £89 (to Granada and back from Seville - so quids in!

[Ametyst1]

More Manchester passengers heading for Liverpool.

Air Nostrum used to operate a Daily Manchester to Madrid service on behalf of Iberia using a 50-seat Canadair RJ-200.

[Mr A Tis]

If anything the MAN-MAD would be more suited to IB low cost Clickair. They already operate DUB & EDI from BCN. Fleet expanding all the time.

[MAN Guy]

I know IB did the MAN run from Madrid with the Air Nostrum CRJ's as a short lived stand alone service previously..... but back then they were up again 2x daily BA CitiExpress or whatever guise they were in at the time. If my memory serves my correctly I think thats around the time ZB threw their hat into the ring too with their daily A320 too meaning there were far too many seats available to sustain everyone.

Difference is now we have nothing and are crying out for this service to be reintroduced by somebody. I personally think 2x daily Air Nostrum CRJ's would be a good starting point and an instant hit. I would much prefer this option over somebody like WW having a go. With the right timings IB / Air Nostrum could feed into the IB South American network and also cater for the point to point mix of business and city-break traffic.

[viscount702]

RB are changing times for Winter. Very odd timings. Also nothing now showing for next summer although OAG were showing flights next summer until a few days ago.

Zoom have flights bookable from all UK airports for next summer other than MAN. Is there anything to this or are they still sorting themselves out with timings.

What about NW and DTW. Everything suggested both here and elsewhere that there would be an announcement by now. the only announcement so far from NW is to AMS

TOM They have made some changes to the routes already announcedfor next summer. Some flights up others down the big decrease is VCE which is only 1 per week as opposed to 4 last year. Remaining flights awaited.

BMI have increased winter flights to EDI but no announcement yet. What happened to SOU.

BE does anyone think that when they do get round to basing any 195's at MAN (these seem to be overdue) they will look at MAD as has been suggested.

Any news on LN cargo service mentioned previously.

Viscount

[GLENO]

Am I mistaken or did I read somewhere earlier this year when we lost the Madrid route that a service would be back in place by the Winter? ..seem to remember this was promised by an Airport spokesman??:ugh:

Took the time to E.mail Air Nostrum and had a reply along the lines of serious planning goes into new routes and they cannot confirm that they are looking at starting a Manchester service....but will pass the email on to the route development team..............looks like Easyjet and Ryanair from Liverpool will continue to get my Business then!!!

No chance of Flybe taking this route over methinks...........if Iberia/Nostrum/Click don't start up on the route bet your bottom dollar that Jet2 will with stupid timings and a limited service which will be pulled down to poor loads resulting us back at square one....:}

Getting sick and tired of saying this but its about time we did really have some new and interesting routes............
Will be interested to see the annual passenger total at the end of the year.
Thats my rant over....time for a beer:ok:

[MAN Guy]

I think had Flybe been at all interested in MAD they would have taken on the route directly from BACON to keep the regular punters on the route happy....I would eat my hat if they suddenly decided they wanted to give it a go now!

Gleno, here's hoping your email to Air Nostrum gets the route development team thinking...... and sharp-ish too! Sometimes at the moment it does feel like its doom and gloom in terms of new services and carriers at MAN. Looks like it could be a while until MAN is back on its feet with some of these lost routes............ but here's hoping I'm proved wrong.

[cesare.caldi]

Volareweb new offer: MAN-MXP 1 cent one way included tax, you only pay 5 euro for credit card fee, so you can book a return ticket for 5,02 euro all inclusive!

[jongeman]

Seriously, no emails to and from any airline are going to have any impact on the route development team, although a bit of lobbying from interested parties (i.e. us) does help. You can guarantee that these people are in constant contact and almost permanent negotiation with all airlines, including Iberia, Air Nostrum, Clickair, Vueling.....
The loss of MAN-MAD is a probably a huge headache at MAN (and not only the airport, but the City of Manchester, MIDAS, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and all other agencies involved with business, economic linkages and development and tourism, not to mention their Madrid equivalents) The fact that Easyjet and now a predatory Ryanair siphon off so many passengers through LPL, means that it's increasingly difficult for other airlines' number-crunchers to come up with a + sign in their calculations. If it wasn't, there would have been an almost instant BA replacement.
It's time to start viewing MAN and LPL as one market, served by two airports only 23 miles apart, and the best way forward is to provide better ground transport facilities between all areas of the Northwest and both its primary airports.

[hammerb32]

Jongeman

I think you're right on every level there

[Mr A Tis]

Yes, agreed. Its about time there was a direct ground transport link between the two airport, so you could swap between services.
There used to be a direct bus service 20 years ago, it took under 40 minutes. Now there is a significant increase in services from both airports there is no such service. There should be co-operation between the two, rather than competition.

[viscount702]

Another thread has reported that AC will not be returning to MAN next year.Can anyone confirm. Seems to be correct as nothing showing on OAG anymore.

Also rumour elsewhere of NE to VIE again anyone have any information.

GSM have put on Website 2x weekly YHM for next summer. Originates from GLA.

Viscount

[MAN Guy]

Great..... looks like we could soon be adding Toronto to the list of previously served destinations from MAN. Now we have rumours of no AC returning, question marks surrounding Z4 as all other UK stations sorted for next summer apart from MAN. Haven't TSC said they won't operate to MAN next summer too???

Yet again we're left high and dry with a sh*tty GSM service to YHM....... well if you can call it a "service" that is :ugh:

[Mr A Tis]

TCX have operated a summer daily 757 to YYZ over the last few years and a weekly YMX. Both MYT & TCX also operate Calgary & Vancouver in summer with A330s. Canadian Affair are showing TCX & Air Transat flights from MAN S08.
I'd be very surprised if Zoom were not to appear too in time.

[MAN Guy]

Well thats something I guess if we have have TSC, the charters and hopefully Zoom.

Quite a decline from AC at MAN if we look back, a mix of L1011's, 747's and 767's in the early days building up to daily frequency in summer and 3/4/5x weekly winter schedule (via GLA some winters I believe?) at its peak in the mid to late 90's. All seemed to go downhill after 9/11 as I recall, thats when it went summer only with BD even doing the honours for them one year, AC then returned with the actual operating period becoming less and less as each summer season passed. Did they even manage three full months this summer?

Still, if they they don't come back next year it will be a shame to loose an airline like AC from the schedules :{

[viscount702]

There are no TS flights next summer. They have withdrawn from Man

All flights by TCX. TS do a codeshare on the flights

[GLENO]

and so the list continues.......With Air Transat..and Air Canada then???

Cathay,Malayasian,Iberia,Malev,Austrian,Alitalia,Air Jamaica,Portugalia,Maersk,Lot,Air Baltic,Estonian........To name a few.....Have Luxair gone yet??.....anybody anymore to add to the list?

What ever happened to the Cargolux service??

Makes me wonder why they ever bothered building the second runway!

Will the last one out please turn off the light:ugh:

[jongeman]

MAN Guy - pretty good history there. At one stage there was also CP operating to YYZ in competition with AC, before they bought them out.

I read somewhere once that the volume of VFR traffic was increasing between the South East and Toronto, and declining from the rest of the UK (including Scotland). Apparently far fewer of us have been emigrating to Canada since the early 80s.

[Ian Brooks]

I was told that Air Transat contract not renewed due poor service and that TCX would take over all their flights?
Find it very hard to believe we won`t see Zoom next year
Ian

[mansp]

just to add to the above list...

Gulf Air, Aeroflot, Air Seychelles

I am sure there is a few more.......

[airhumberside]

I was told that Air Transat contract not renewed due poor service and that TCX would take over all their flights?
These flights are operated for Canadian Affair, owned by Air Transat so if that was true it would be a very unusual situation

[jongeman]

ALL airports have a litany of airlines which once served them....long-haul into Brussels practically disappeared after SN's demise; there are scores of airlines which once served Chicago, SAA have pulled out of most European points etc....

MAN has all the right airlines that it can support; 4 daily into the Gulf hubs, SQ daily, 11 or so a day across the Atlantic. At the busiest times of day, there is generally a queue for the 2nd runway, and that's without having to factor in arrivals.

[MAN Guy]

Here's some more to add....

Air Mauritius, Egyptair and the (very) short lived Air Algerie

I think we are all agreed that some good news is much needed!

[viscount702]

TS have only pulled out of MAN & GLA leaving the flights to be operated by TCX instead. I don't think there is anything significant with TS other than better use of aircraft because MAN GLA and also I believe LGW to a degree have dedicated TCX aircraft for Canadian Affair flights to Canada.

As to Zoom unless anyone knows anything, I have heard nothing to suggest they are leaving and I would think it odd if they did. The doubt arises because all flights for summer next year other than MAN are on sale.

[chris4567]

it is worth the second runway built when i took off from it at peak time it took ages as we were queing,around 7 in front and at mornings.

[merchant sailors]

You have forgotten about Qantas and South African.

[opnot]

chris4567
you were most probably delayed by atc restrictions at that time of the morning.
southbound restrictions 1 acft every 3 mins
north and east bound restrictions 1 acft every 4 mins

[chris4567]

yes but when i go the AVP.its the same story,man is a busy airport and the second runway is not wasted.

[ryan2000]

I see that WW are to increase MAN ORK to 10 per week just after EI begin to compete with them on the route. EI operated MAN ORK from March to June but then pulled off the route just before the peak summer season.

[FlyZB]

This used to be a double daily service with WW once upon a time. Just a small part of bmibaby's regular chopping and changing since they arrived at MAN. If my memory serves me correctly, they used to do PRG double daily back in the day too. This news probably spells the end of any slim hope of WW introducing a new route from MAN in the near future :hmm:

With regards to next summer, you guys should stop panicking! It's far far too early to be worrying that routes aren't on sale etc. Many carriers are still to release/amend their schedules for summer 2008 & certain airlines don't release summer flights until well into December. If there's still no sign by February, then you have permission to panick ;)

[UFGBOY]

The much vaunted launch of T3 to STN - great - but forgetting to mention that AB pulled off the route as well...!!

[Fuel Boy]

UFGBOY

But remember T3 started the route in the first place and were crushed by AB low fares.

But their smaller A/C will do better as not as many seats to fill and most of the PAX will be business,so most of the fares will be covered by companies, I would imagine.

Just a thought.

[MAN Guy]

I think STN was destined to fail with AB -

1) unsustainable low fares
2) trying to run a hub and spoke locost network from MAN into STN (locosts tend work better point to point)
3) poor timings and frequency for business pax

Welcome back T3, smaller aircraft with more flexible frequency should make this one work again, as before. I've a sneaky feeling they might cut and run from INV though as BE are due to start this next year I believe?

[MAN Guy]

Just going back to the earlier discussion about airlines previously serving MAN I'd forgotten about BG

Out of interest can anybody confirm the exact reason for their pull out? Was it naff loads or more to do with operational reasons ie they can't stretch their aging DC-10's to additional European points except London and Rome?

I would have thought MAN would have been easily able to sustain a service to Dhaka just as it can to Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore as Manchester traditionally has quite strong socio-economic links to that part of the world.

[Dragon tracker]

Was the BG pull off from European points inlcuding MAN not due to DC10 reliability?

Think they were losing shedloads on operating the old a/c to European points other than LHR

[Momentary Lapse]

Most of the most talented staff at MAPLC left to work at LPL some years ago anyway.

Perhaps LPL should take over running MAN as well, as east and west terminals of GB's premier North West airport complex?

[MAN Guy]

Interesting to see Manchester is now showing as a planned destination on the Oasis Hong Kong website along with a couple of other European destinations. Anybody heard anything about this or do we think it might turn out to be another Thai..... a bit of lip service and no action?!

Could be a smart move if they did jump on the HKG run as CX is stuck waiting for approval for its "holy grail" Moscow stop on its proposed service instead of biting the bullet and sending in a non-stop A340......

[jongeman]

MAN Guy - now that's a turn up for the books..... they certainly took their time!

In respect of airlines which once served MAN, it's not always indicative of 'loss' that services sometimes don't stay. MK for example had good loads up front on their 767s, but they had limited resources (aircraft) and ultimately more profitable places to send them (it was Munich, I remember). In the case of South African, since 1991, it's quit most of its European destinations and retrenched into just four, LHR, CDG, FRA and soon will operate to Munich for the second time (did I just say Munich again?!).

[GLENO]

Manguy, had the chance to travel back from Stansted on the Air Berlin service in early September, load was around 90 pax , Flight was by an A320, excellent service,clean aircraft and on time.Cost was 20 quid one way including taxes and charges! although I did book in June.Thought the flight times for this service were quite reasonable if you were on business,morning departure from Manchester and tea time arrival from Stansted.

I think the reason for the axing of this service was something to do with the increase in charges imposed by Baa.One of the main reasons what Ryanair have been kicking up a fuss about....but pull Ryan out of Stansted and who have you got flying there apart from Easyjet and a few two bob bit foreign carriers??Also the reason I have been told why Fedex have pulled their service and transfered to Manchester.One

Oasis Hong Kong....Bring em on! that's what I say....about time somebody showed some balls and take a lead over Cathay who decided to route all their pax on Shuttles and have'nt got the Balls to fly into Man Direct.

[cheshirerooms]

What stage is the T1 redevelopment upto ATM?

Not been through MAN for ages.... (LPL instead.... boo.... hiss....!)

Where will the entry to the security point be? Also.... MAPLC seem keen to improve the link between T1 and T3... how are they planning on doing it?

Also.... Are they still planning on building the Sat pier for T2 .....? Or is that gone now Pax figures are falling?

According the the MAPLC master plan... we are due 30m pax by 2015..... will that ever happen with the recent pax figure drops?

Sorry to say.... but MAN needs a decent LCC... FR would be perfect..... If they based a few AC.... we would be back on track.

MAPLC must do something...... the place is stagnant!

[Wellington Bomber]

Gleno

You paid less than a tenner plus tax, the plane was half full on a A320 and you think they pulled it because of BAA put up their charges.

Stop talking out of your a***

[Mr A Tis]

MAN GUY, if you read the Oasis web site & future plans, it becomes obvious that Berlin, Cologne, Milan, San Fran, Chicago are all ahead of Manchester.
Come back in 15 years & see how far we have moved up the queue.

[MAN Guy]

Cheshirerooms I'm not sure FR is the answer for MAN, do we really want them on board to see off the likes of SK, AY and LH. We've recently lost enough routes through the locost revolution and in some of cases we've been left high and dry with no service at all, MAD and TXL/SXF springing to mind.

I think MAPLC should be courting the mainline operators or their regional affiliates for European growth plans.

[jongeman]

Mr A Tis - no, it doesn't. That part of the website was written about a year ago, MAN has been included since and there's no way of knowing which destinations they'll start in which order.

[Momentary Lapse]

"I think MAPLC should be courting the mainline operators or their regional affiliates for European growth plans."

Like BA?

:ugh:

[GW76]

You paid less than a tenner plus tax, the plane was half full on a A320 and you think they pulled it because of BAA put up their charges.

Stop talking out of your a***
Oh and you are privvy to the yield factors ????

[MAN Guy]

Well I believe BA could have worked in the regions had there been support from the BA top brass, but the fact is they simply didn't want it to work as they had bigger fish to fry ie LHR. Why shouldn't MAPLC want to talk to the likes Austrian Arrows, Air Nostrum and Swiss if it means getting services back to VIE, MAD and a decent offering to GVA? (although I believe Swiss are operating GVA weekly this winter)

Seriously, the last thing MAN needs right now is for Ryanair to muscle in and wipe out what mainline European stuff we have left and replace it all with services to airports 50 miles plus from the nearest city.

[jongeman]

It's precisely what Jet2 have done; for the first time that I can remember MAN is left with just one carrier to AMS (from January as far as we know), and we all know what's happened to the rest. I agree sometimes with the prophesies of doom that Momentary Lapse spreads, but it really is circumstantial that this winter is going to be somewhat quiet. I think MAN can expect some pretty hefty traffic reductions up until March 08, but it won't last forever. (Brace yourselves!)
As far as those over-inflated growth forceasts are concerned, MAN really needs serious additions to medium and long-haul to make up the numbers, and we're probably about 5 years away from seeing the effects of that.

[GLENO]

Wellington Bomber ........ not talking out of my Ar4e!! Going off what people have told me!! and by the way the route is normally operated by a pig 700.......if you don't know what one of them is, it's a B737-700!!!:}

[Suzeman]

GLENO

Are you sure that Fedex has pulled out of STN? I thought the MD-11 flight from MAN was as well as the STN flight. FDX used to have quite a lot of infrastructure at STN but I haven't been down there for a while as my Essex visa expired some time ago........:ooh:

And there's always a possibility that what people have told you is a load of cobblers......:hmm:

Suzeman

[GLENO]

....True .....might be a load of old cobblers!:}

[Scottie Dog]

Called into Males Garage yesterday afternoon and was told that the company will be closing by the end of the year.

This is due to a cumpulsory purchase order placed by the airport on the company - as part of the planned development of Terminal.

Despite the past development of the original 1960's terminal, Males continued to operate and provided a very useful service to airport employees, and local residents, wanting their cars serviced and MOT checked.

This will be one of the last of the 'old' buildings that has survived the expansion of the airport. I just hope that the authority will not delay too long in commencing work on the new apron area.

To those who worked at Males - thanks for your service. and I hope you find alternative employment soon.

[dwlpl]

Most of the most talented staff at MAPLC left to work at LPL some years ago anyway.
Perhaps LPL should take over running MAN as well, as east and west terminals of GB's premier North West airport complex?
Would they then be renamed Liverpool West and Liverpol East? :ok: ;)

[viscount702]

Any news on

AA to BOS next summer

NW to DTW

Viscount

[spanishflea]

"Any news on

AA to BOS next summer"

Definitly not coming back sadly. :(

[Ringwayman]

Routes to MIA and BOS with AA will have a better prospect of lasting when BA and AA gain anti-trust immunity. As it stands BA couldn't be bothered codesharing MIA lest the premium passengers that it does carry MAN-LHR-MIA decided that MAN-MIA non-stop would be better.

AS for Jet2, look at the September provisional figures released today and you can see why they're not committing to non-bucket and spade routes ex-MAN at the moment (perhaps with the honourable exception of Budapest). Emirates shunted 347 passengers per fllight, Qatar 245 per flight and Etihad 195 per flight. Each had double digit growth over September 2006

[spanishflea]

Routes to MIA and BOS with AA will have a better prospect of lasting when BA and AA gain anti-trust immunity. As it stands BA couldn't be bothered codesharing MIA lest the premium passengers that it does carry MAN-LHR-MIA decided that MAN-MIA non-stop would be better.

Agreed when it comes to MIA, there were frequently more passengers in Business than Economy on the direct flight.

As for BOS I'm not so sure, it carried a BA code so that has little to do with it, although obviously it was an economy only flight. That said, it was very well supported by AA elites (try getting a First seat or even an exit row on a Friday morning, wasn't easy) and always went out near full the three times I used it.

[Suzeman]

Hi Scottie Dog,

Nice to hear from you again.

There is an interesting article with Simon Butterworth, (MAN's Head of Airfield Strategy and Compliance :ooh: ) in this month's TAS magazine which sets out some of the airfield infrastructure projects including what is going on round T3 which explains why Males is going.

Three more remote stands will be going in this area, two of which should be ready for Summer 2008. They will be 737-800 size. It looks like centrelines will be temporary as the stands will have to be realigned if the T3 building is extended.

Although Ringway Rd will not be closed for a few years, work will start soon for approx 12 months to divert utilities to allow the apron to be further extended in the future. This will be in 4 phases - phase 1 will provide 5 B737/A20 stands, Phase 2 wiil give 6 more. "Further phases will be added as demand arises until all the former car park areas have beeen used". It also looks likely that Ringway Rd will still be provided on a new alignment.

This then provokes the question about why they will be 737/A320 sized stands and terminal allocation. The answer - " The current thinking is to redefine T3 as a base for low cost carriers as they do not need airbridges but do require close proximity to the runway in order to reduce turn-around times.The airbridges......can be removed and installed at another terminal, perhaps T1 which itself would be reclassified for scheduled long haul and business traffic offering a full product service.The remaining market ie charter / leisure would then occupy T2. This strategy would of course involve negotiations with a number of airlines moving terminals and would take place over a period of time".

The interview then goes on to cover the future of Pier B (built in 1962 and added too thereafter). Various options are being looked at - building another storey - presumeably to aid segregation -, widening the Pier on both sides or a complete rebuild / relalignment. But " a more definite addition will be the provision of an A380 pod at the S end of the redeveloped pier".

There is still a lot of thinking to do on the future of Pier C whilst an airside link between T1 and T2 is a possiblity.

The major T2 extension was cancelled last year but some elements are still an option. However T2 stands will soon be realigned / redesignated to improve utilization and it looks possible that an automatic docking system will be installed.

Plenty to chew over there then. :)

Suzeman

[elgan]

Called into Males Garage yesterday afternoon and was told that the company will be closing by the end of the year.
This is due to a cumpulsory purchase order placed by the airport on the company - as part of the planned development of Terminal.
Despite the past development of the original 1960's terminal, Males continued to operate and provided a very useful service to airport employees, and local residents, wanting their cars serviced and MOT checked.
This will be one of the last of the 'old' buildings that has survived the expansion of the airport. I just hope that the authority will not delay too long in commencing work on the new apron area.
To those who worked at Males - thanks for your service. and I hope you find alternative employment soon.

Now that is sad news! We live in North Wales and use Males instead of using the Terminal Car Parks. Our family have used them for god knows how many years, and this is sad news that they will be no more at the Airport!
To echo Scottie Dog's thanks, all the best to all at Males! And thanks!

[Ceannairceach]

Ah that's bad news about Males. Really bad news. They're a good bunch of lads and will be missed!

[Brian Fantana]

Outside T2 arrivals today there was an area of bushes cut down, taped of with police tape and the old bill searching the area. Anyone now whats occurring?

[MAN Guy]

Oh dear seems we have reached the end of viable options for growth potential from AA at MAN now if BOS has bitten the dust as widely rumoured - lets think, they've had a go at JFK, DFW, MIA and BOS over the years with only BOS looking like it might have any staying power.....albeit seasonal. The only other I could think they may have wanted to try was LAX but guess we can forget about that any time soon too.

Best resign ourselves to the daily ORD folks, unless they stepped in on the JFK if the precarious looking stand-alone BA service ended up going ;)

[PAXboy]

This came to my attention from a newsletter that I receive. Any comments? Did this happen as reported? Is it recent, or is this old news? I realise that the car park is probably operated by an independent company (NCP?)

The National Secular Society has called on the Government to permit employers to declare their workplaces to be secular after another incident of conflict over religion emerged.

This week, a Catholic man was suspended for three days from his job as a car park supervisor at Manchester Airport after he hung a "picture of Jesus" on the wall of the staff room, and incurred the wrath of a Muslim colleague. He claimed that the picture was deliberate "provocation". Mr Langmead, of Atherton, Greater Manchester, was eventually reinstated without consequences, his employer saying he had done nothing wrong.

Now, instead of telling employees to leave their religion at home, the airport has engaged the chaplain and his team to work with employees to "foster a greater level of understanding about each other's beliefs". It does not say whether these lessons in tolerance will be part of the working day when, presumably people uninterested in religion will be left to hold the fort while the believers go off for their training in hate management.

There were other instances of this issue, both from LHR and mainstream UK employers but I am only posting that which is relevant to this forum and thread.

[sacktheboard]

The carparks are wholly owned by MAPlc and run by them.

[MAN Guy]

The proposed Air China service to Beijing in 2009 has made the local online press along with the usual suspects..... hope of services to India, Australia and New Zealand in "not-to-distant future" etc etc

If we take a look at China, it is one of the fastest growing economies in the world today, tourism is to China on the up, the North West has good socio-economic links with the region and there is clearly a lot of freight demand to the region being served from MAN already. Surely things look good for a passenger service?

Anybody know if Air China are seriously considering this one or is it going to be yet another talking shop?!

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

Is there a lot of freight demand to China from Manchester????

How much cargo is going out on the flights from MAN?

Where is the cargo originating?

Are the Far-Eastern carriers simply using MAN due to lack of space/slots at more southern UK airports?

[mikeyuk]

Anyone know why there was an Easyjet aircraft in this afternoon . Parked near the MYT hanger.

[MANFlyer]

Arrived back into MAN last night on the late FRA flight and it brought home what shambles it can be. Got off at the end of C pier and after marching all the way around that lovely gate area right at the end we were greeted with all the moving walkways out of action. That was a shock...

Got towards the Passport Control are and could see it was mobbed all the way back out into the corrdior. Ah, but that doesn't matter for moi as I have Iris to come to the rescue!. Was it working ?.... 25 minute queue to get back into my own country as they had the grand total of 2 staff checking UK/EU passports. This when they know how busy it gets at that time and the queue is back down Pier C. :mad:

Just to add to the fun there was only one car park payment machine working in T1 International Arrivals (so another 10 minute queue) and only one of three barriers to get out so people were having to reverse to change lanes etc. Oh and the missus said the womens toilet was closed.

:mad::mad:

[Trouty]

Had pretty much the same experience arriving back from amsterdam last month. Taking nearly one & half hours from getting off the plane to getting out of the car park in T1 arrivals. The delys of 30 mins or so at immigration were annoying yet understandable.

My girlfriend was there to collect us in arrivals paid for the ticket at the well hidden payment machine outside in the car park thus avoiding the big queues inside and home we go or so we thought. We were 5th in the queue for the barrier waiting patiently. 10 mins later we were still there by which time there was big queues for both barriers. This being caused because the people in front of us hadnt bother to pay for it!! Then the next car hadnt paid then the next and so on. In the end there was that many cars trying to get out they opened the 2 barriers so everyone could get out. which was just as well as no doubt our ticket would have expired. And even with the barriers up people were still stopping to put there tickets in the machine.
So as you can imagine it was a very frustrating to spend nearly and hour trying to get out the carpark when all i wanted to do was get home and go to bed.

[Vuelo]

Arrived back into MAN last night on the late FRA flight and it brought home what shambles it can be. Got off at the end of C pier and after marching all the way around that lovely gate area right at the end we were greeted with all the moving walkways out of action. That was a shock...

Got towards the Passport Control are and could see it was mobbed all the way back out into the corrdior. Ah, but that doesn't matter for moi as I have Iris to come to the rescue!. Was it working ?.... 25 minute queue to get back into my own country as they had the grand total of 2 staff checking UK/EU passports. This when they know how busy it gets at that time and the queue is back down Pier C.

Just to add to the fun there was only one car park payment machine working in T1 International Arrivals (so another 10 minute queue) and only one of three barriers to get out so people were having to reverse to change lanes etc. Oh and the missus said the womens toilet was closed.

Same old story at T1 at busy times, but do bear the following in mind:

* MAPLC policy is to turn off all walkways after 10pm, I was told it was because they have an 'obligation to the environment'. Seems as passengers you are less important than a molecule of ozone.

* Border & Immigration staffing is shocking at night, I think it needs a complaint made to the Immigration minister

* If you are registered with IRIS and the machine is broken because of maintenance, software problems, cleaning whatever, then you are entitled to proceed down to the IRIS machine and JUMP THE QUEUE BY WALKING DIRECTLY TO THE EU DESK! This is policy and has been OK's by the senior bosses and all Immigration staff are aware. It is also outlined at www.iris.gov.uk

[spanishflea]

Actualy it isn't policy, also it is not outlined on the IRIS website.

50% of agents think it is policy and 50% think it isn't.

Thankfully the machines at MAN are infinitly more reliable than the ones at LHR T4 which never work! :rolleyes:

[FlyZB]

I agree with a lot of the comments above and it is particularly embarrassing working for Customer Services when you have to deal with these problems on a daily basis (albeit in T2 which generally isn't as bad).

However on the subject of Immigation, I'd like to point out that the passport control staff are employed by Her Majesty's Government and not by Manchester Airport and therefore any issues with staffing are not the direct responsibility of the airport. We can advise them that they need to put extra staff on at certain times but whether they do or not is out of the airports hands.

[Vuelo]

[I]Actualy it isn't policy, also it is not outlined on the IRIS website.

50% of agents think it is policy and 50% think it isn't.

Thankfully the machines at MAN are infinitly more reliable than the ones at LHR T4 which never work! [/

Actually it is, ask the head of the Borders and Immigration Agency, Brodie Clark!I]

[jongeman]

Is there a user's committee, or a Friends of Manchester Airport, or any other group like that? If not, there should be. Strikes me that several contributors on here could be involved in such an endeavour. The Manchester Evening News NEVER publish anything that could be seen to be critical of MAN, preferring to believe that it's still one of the world's best airports, as it was in the late 80s/early 90s.

[dwlpl]

All the major airports have consultative committees made up of councils and interested bodies including the passengers.

Follow this link www.ukaccs.info/manchester/

[gsky]

That's impressive!!

Site advises next meeting is on Friday 13 July 2007.

On the ball and up to date!!!:bored:

Just like the airport!!!

[MANFlyer]

Vuelo, fair point about Iris but there was 8 of us waiting for about 5 mins while the guy tried to reboot it. When he said it's not playing one of the group asked could we walk to the front and he just ignored us and walked off, so we all joined the huge queue. Just as we got to the front a couple walked up to Iris and then to the front of the queue. I thought they were just hard faced, I'll know next time. :mad:

Walkways. That excuse wouldn't surprise me (they'd only need to turn half of them off anyway as the other half don't normally work...) but it's rather pathetic to be honest. Having said that it can't be right as contrary to my claim they were all out, I remember the last one was actually working as one seriously p*ssed up bloke fell over at the end while arguing with his missus, and the ongoing argument that we could hear waiting for Iris to be rebooted and then in the queue kept us quite amused.

Last night was my first late arrival at T1 for a while (I'd done CAN-BKK-FRA on TG) as it's normally T2 on SQ, and with Iris and no checked luggage I'm usually in the car within 15 minutes of disembarking. Unless it's on Friday of course, when SQ are on a remote gate.....

[Suzeman]

From UK Airport News

Immigration officers at Manchester Airport (http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/) are wearing new uniforms as part of increasing measures to deter people from attempting to enter Britain illegally. The move follows the introduction of new scanning equipment at that airport.
The dark blue suits and light blue shirts will be worn by officers at all British airports, and are slowly been rolled out at other hubs having been unveiled at Gatwick in August. Government officials say the new uniforms make it clear to people arriving in the terminals that they are crossing a national border.
New 'border' signs have also been put in place at the airport, as part of the move by the Border and Immigration Agency, which was launched in April.

So that's all right then.........:}

Suzeman

[MAN Guy]

All seems to have gone quiet again on the Northwest and Air AsiaX front......:confused:

Maybe I'm too impatient?!

[chiglet]

MODs,
Perhaps it is time for a "Rant and Tant" Manchester page, 'cos all we seem to be hearing at the moment, is "I am teed off with Manch", and frankly it's getting to be a "PITA".
If you don't like it, then either,
a, Fly from another Airport [if you can]
b, Complain...to...MEN, BBC, or even Manchester Airport PLC...
but please do NOT take up Dannys bandwith on "I had a delay at Immigration and/or my bags were 30 seconds late"
I work there,and have suffered "Delays", both In and Out
It happens.....at every Airport.
WE do our best to minimise any and all delays...
Rant over
watp,iktch

[BYALPHAINDIA]

Came throu T2 arrivals early Tue morning, Only 1 security person stood by the doors at Red/Green channel, People were walking straight throu, No one was stopped!:ooh:

I stopped parking in the terminal years ago, noticed that 1/2 hour is £1.80 1 hour £3.15?? quote me if i'm wrong.

BAI:ok:

[spannersatcx]

Came throu T2 arrivals early Tue morning, Only 1 security person stood by the doors at Red/Green channel, People were walking straight throu, No one was stopped!

Sorry but why would they be stopped on the way out?

[evansthetimp]

On another forum, a source from HKG lists new services from CLK. In the list is Cathay to MAN begining on 8th Feb.2008, details to be announced. Anyone heard anything to confirm this.

[MAN Guy]

I'd very much like this to come off but I'm a bit wary after the saga last time. Remember we have been here once before and the flights were even on sale I believe, but they ran scared when the Moscow stopover hit the buffers.

[spannersatcx]

On another forum, a source from HKG lists new services from CLK. In the list is Cathay to MAN begining on 8th Feb.2008, details to be announced. Anyone heard anything to confirm this.

Know nothing about this, however I would speculate that you won't see a CX pax revenue flight at MAN in near or distant future.

No crews, no equipment, no idea how to market or price it, unable to compete on price with the likes of EK and most important (in their eyes) it ain't London and that is all HKG see as the UK, London!

Having said that you might see more freighters and to different destinations.

[chris4567]

next july is US airways flying MAN-LAX VIA PHL. as i want to go and it says it flies but dont know if its the same plane carrying on to lax or if u have to change in philly?

[MAN Guy]

Spannersatcx are you meaning CX may consider putting on extra freighters to new destinations in mainland China itself or just MAN as an airport may see more new freight services in general?

Either way at the moment it looks a lot rosier on the freight front than pax!

[viscount702]

Having reported earlier that TSC wouldn't operate to Canada next year from MAN and GLA as TCX were operating the flights I see the Canadian Affairs website now shows TSC on days 14567 with an A310

[MAN Guy]

Good news that TSC will have a strong presence in summer 08 at least, if as we think AC have given up the ghost. Any more yet on Zoom???

Rumours on another site suggest a downsized schedule for next summer with some stuff to CWL now no longer bookable, as well as MAN still not loaded at all yet.

[viscount702]

If you look at website all flights seem to be bookable other than MAN for which nothing showing

However all seating charts show 757's except for LGW which is 763.

[Suzeman]

Came throu T2 arrivals early Tue morning, Only 1 security person stood by the doors at Red/Green channel, People were walking straight throu, No one was stopped!

If they were standing inside the reclaim hall, they would not be security but HMRC.

Suzeman

[jubilee]

Chris Post No. 958

Change A/c at PHL, onward should be either A320/A321.

Regards
JUB

[chris4567]

thanks jubilee,
whats the time/connection inbetween,is it tight?

[Ringwayman]

Air Transat is showing as operating a daily 757 to Toronto on Amadeus.

[MAN Guy]

Checked on Air Transat site for next summer and there are the mentioned Toronto flights for sale showing as operated by TSC A310's. In addition there are different timed flights on the same days you can select as being operated by TCX 757's.

Looks like they are both operating Toronto with multiple frequencies per week for next summer.

[viscount702]

Interesting developments for YYZ.

Although Z4 are showing flights for all uk points other than MAN my personal opinion is that they are/were considering expansion at MAN but hadn't finalised flights hence the reason they are not showing.

AC were originally showing as operating their usual seasonal ( which decreases each year) daily flights. AC no longer showing and the view seems to be they have left.

TSC would I think have stuck to their original plans of code sharing this year on TCX flights which TCX operate on behalf of Canadian affairs which is owned by TSC. However with the withdrawal of AC (if that is the case )they have decided to operate as well to replace AC with the A310. You therefore have a daily TCX 757 flight with a TCX and TSC flight code plus now the 5X weekly TSC A310.


AS to Z4 . I think it unlikely they have withdrawn (it would be against what they have been doing over the last few years) but what their plans are and what they may now do in light of the apparent withdrawal of AC and TSC seemingly jumping in to fill a gap is yet to be seen.

I have no inside information but others may to tell me otherwise

Viscount

[jubilee]

Chris 4567 Post No.965

If you look on US Air web site, it does give you a number of possible connections, from being tight to spending half a day in PHL.

Put another way they have several flights per day between PHL and LAX,
some of which are not direct flights.

Regards

Jub.

[MAN Guy]

The CX rumour-mill seems to have gathered pace on another site.... folk are talking about a possible non-stop 777 service for a February start.

Anybody got any further info at this stage?

With regards to YYZ at least it now looks like TS are operating scheduled services with their own metal next summer to complement the TCX charters. Would be pretty dire situation if we were just left with TCX and MYT charters to YYZ and GSM's "offering" for the brave hearted pax to YHM. Here's hoping Z4 confirm they are joining the party too.... eventually!

[Vuelo]

Surely MYT won't be in existence next summer, after their takeover by TCX?

[MAN Guy]

True, I guess they won't be operating in their own right by next summer. Thanks for pointing this out!

[viscount702]

Is this just another wish.

If as CX have said before(last time they advertised a flight) they need 6 Months lead in time February is a very odd time for them to start. If they are to start which is a big IF I would have thought a start with the summer timetable would be the time

Viscount

[MANFlyer]

chiglet, I agree. How dare some frequent (some of us very frequent) pax who use the airport all the time air a few grievance's over operational problems at MAN.

However, if you don't want to hear about the problems at your place of work (hardly a surprise, but who does ?) you can always stick your head in the sand and pretend everything is alright, when it quite clearly isn't.

Let's stick to the spotters wishlist's like 'I think we'll see 4 x daily EK A380 next week/2 x daily QR A346 by Christmas/FR could 10 based aircraft next summer' yadda yadda and other such nonsense instead eh ?.

[chiglet]

However, if you don't want to hear about the problems at your place of work (hardly a surprise, but who does ?) you can always stick your head in the sand and pretend everything is alright, when it quite clearly isn't.
I never said that it was right. I've posted my own complaints on here before now, and 'phoned 3776 "to have a word", emailed Customer "Services" etc....But I do think that there could/should be a "gripes" page for Airports, and this isn't it [IMMHO]

Let's stick to the spotters wishlist's like 'I think we'll see 4 x daily EK A380 next week/2 x daily QR A346 by Christmas/FR could 10 based aircraft next summer' yadda yadda and other such nonsense instead eh ?.
No, that belongs on Spotters Balcony. I understood that this forum was about Airlines, Airports and Routes
watp,iktch

[MAN Guy]

"Let's stick to the spotters wishlist's like 'I think we'll see 4 x daily EK A380 next week/2 x daily QR A346 by Christmas/FR could 10 based aircraft next summer' yadda yadda and other such nonsense instead eh ?."

I hardly think the what we discuss on here constitutes spotters stuff..... I, seemingly along with others on here are very interested in MAN's route development and as such like to read and contribute to this thread which at the end of the day is in the "airlines, airports and routes" section of the forum. As such I feel that discussing MAN's routes and rumours about routes shouldn't be dismissed as "nonsense".

If we were talking like spotters we would all be comparing notes on the registration of the aircraft that operated EK017 yesterday and what might be operating it tomorrow etc etc which ISN'T what happens on this thread.
Just my little two penny worth :ooh:

[Fuel Boy]

Hear, Hear, MAN guy ,I for one agree with you I enjoy the info. that comes from this site.

The route updates and new routings come in very useful in my line of work. This sort of info with regards to new carriers my also mean new business for us.

FuelBoy

[Scottie Dog]

I don't know when the signs changed, but I was delighted this evening to see that T3 is now just 'plain' Terminal Three! :)

[DONTTELLTHEPAX]

Bit of a shock in the price for those pax that used Air Berlin STN-MAN :{
are people going to pay Eastern's prices.

[chiglet]

DTTP,
The MAN-STN route was a BA franchise, with BATPs, then BA[JS]41s. BA [of whatever persuasion] gave the 41s to Eastern, who "continued" on the route. AirBelin "took over" the route, to [AFAIK] add a "leg" to its LoCo network..as the timings were not that popular, the "Interline" pax were not there, quelle surprise..
It always has been a "niche" route... Flybee to Norwich "may", have taken some tfc away from the route.....sooo, we are back to a "niche" yet again but at least, it's an extra service [3x rather than 2x] and MAN based.
watp,iktch

[DONTTELLTHEPAX]

Dont get me wrong, I am very happy that the route has been picked up by Eastern, I just think that alot of pax are being priced of the route,
maybe Ryanair or Easyjet would have been better for the man on the street.

[MAN Guy]

I too am glad T3 are back on STN from the start of winter, the route very much suits T3 with the J41. T3 won't be that fussed about not carrying the pax who used AB because of their ultra low fares on the STN run, those using T3 will more likely be fully flexible business fares etc meaning they will probably make a fair amount of money from the route.

Moving onto AB, any half-decent future for AB from MAN will in my opinion, only come from direct routes to Germany. They seem to have just about come round to the idea of sticking with Hamburg and Paderborn as I believe these look like they are now staying. Hopefully a return to Berlin might be on the cards now too with the route soon to be vacated by LS.

[MUFC_fan]

Also glad to see T3 back on the STN route.

The problem with FR and EZY is that they have aircraft that will be on the gourng for 30-40 mins max between flights and so flight times are not always best suited i.e) BLK-STN.

It has been said that FR could have made BLK-STN into a winning formula and at one point were doing very well on the route (adding extra Sunday rotations) until they tampered with the schedule in the W06/07 and resulted in a later return flight which did not suit business passengers who had alot more choice into MAN alot earlier, even if it meant more hassle.

As a result, the passenger numbers declined (still made a profit) and they found more profitable routes elsewhere.

Obviously, if FR or EZY were to launch MAN-LTN/LGW/STN (which is very unlikely) they would have to fit their schedules around these flights which are very much time based and this would have a knock on effect on other, more profitable routes to Europe.

If they were to launch say a 4 times daily flight with good flight times they wouldn't make much effect on the other carriers into the city as the locos have not many passengers to look for except cheapscate businesses and tourists from the North West as VLM serve the business community and BA/BMI use their flights to connect their passengers onto medium/long haul flights from it's respected mega hubs at LHR.

Don't get me wrong, would absolutley LOVE EZY or FR on an LON route but cannot see it happening soon unless train prices rise and delays increase...oh...wait...they are going to! Lets wait and see!;)

Come on Mr. O'Leary - I dare you!:}

[semisonic]

The strategy of allocating T1 to legacy, T2 to charter and T3 to loco airlines (at last!) should really allow MAN to now positively grow and consolidate in each area of business, with dedicated areas for each. I look forward to seeing the terminal one refurb, potentially check-in can be segregated into Oneworld, Skyteam, Star etc etc and they can all have longues airside - all this will definately ease growth in that area (my only area for concern is that terminal one could be stretched at peak times of day?).

I just don't envy the guy who has to co-ordinate the mass reshuffle!!

[jongeman]

semisonic - will it be that much of a radical change? It would involve moving Delta/AF/KL to T1, along with other long-haul T2 carriers.

[viscount702]

NE Will not be going daily this winter as advertised. Will be1 3 5 7 at different times

MAPLC winter timetable now online. As usual full of errors

Viscount

[Momentary Lapse]

I was always told, when suggesting splitting the terminals by scheduled/charter, that they needed to have a mixed profile, because otherwise the peaks and troughs would be all wrong, i.e. the sched terminal would have morning and eve peaks and be quiet all day, and the charter terminal would be busy all night and go dead in the afternoons.

T2 is mad busy in the mornings with the long haul sched stuff, as is T1 with all its Euro sched. Put the two together in one terminal - chaos, when the other one'll be dead.

So what's changed to make this idea viable?

It's a great idea if it works though. My reasoning for doing it was so MA could profile shops/cafes/lounges etc. to passenger types - chrome and glass palaces selling electricals and Starbucks in one, and vulgar emporia selling buckets and spades, cheap booze, plastic sunglasses and chips with everything in the other. :D:D:D

[Vuelo]

T1 is really nowhere near adequate for the flag carriers, B pier is a otal tip and needs bulldozing and rebuilding. Indeed, is reports are true that it is the only pier capable of an A380 dock, then we should see this.


The new upper level food court looks good though and I would ercommend Giraffe's two courses for £6.95! Great to have a waiter service resto in T1 airside.

[Ian Brooks]

Taken from another site Finnair are to increase the number of flights from Manchester with a night stopping flight building up to 6 a week
Flights are already on Finnair website

Ian

[Code 100]

Looks like Etihad are increasing flights to 10 per week, with 3 evening departures, according to another popular airport news website.

[Mr A Tis]

Now that EasyJet are taking over Gibair, looks like we will be set to see EZY at MAN after all.

[take-off]

Would be interesting having easy at man, especially if they come in on some of the bucket and spade routes, with frequencies like they do at liverpool, should upset the apple cart for the likes of baby, monarch and jet 2 and to thomson as well. e.g u can do a day trip to malaga from lpl leaving 6am and return 10/11pm at moment, although reading statment from all companies not much is mentiond about manchester, by either easy or BA, cant really see BA launching any (sun) routes from man, so will that be them virtually gone from man after march?

[barno2007]

Code 100 Etihad are not currently going 10 a week, they are just moving 3 flights from morning to evening flights, much like Qatar.

[jongeman]

I wouldn't place a bet that easyjet are going to stick with their ex-GB routes from MAN, although they are a far more efficient airline in terms of staffing and aircraft costs (which might help any business case)

[Code 100]

Thanks, barno2007, for correcting the EY 'news'.

Why do a lot of people want to see MAN turn orange? If GB do disappear, then we will have even less of BA representation, even though we will still have NY and Billund internationally! Is there any other country in the world that has its so called 'national' airline represent its regions so poorly.

Good luck to U2 if they come, but at what price? How many smaller budget airlines would MAN lose?

[bigmustard]

Although easy might want to keep a foot in Manchester it would not make good business sense to compete with themselves out of LPL.

[Suzeman]

Although easy might want to keep a foot in Manchester it would not make good business sense to compete with themselves out of LPL.


But a COMPLEMETARY set of routes would be great and would make good sense. EZY already operate from airports close together such as STN/LTN and GLA/EDI.

I'm sure there is also some route duplication at these pairs of airports on routes where the demand exists.

So it will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

Suzeman

[MAN Guy]

I think if they kept the MAN station open and started to expand Jet2 would pack their bags back to Leeds in a flash..... the scaling back at MAN in favour of LBA has in effect already started.

Could be interesting times indeed for the current crop of locos at MAN!

[Vuelo]

Thanks, barno2007, for correcting the EY 'news'.

Why do a lot of people want to see MAN turn orange? If GB do disappear, then we will have even less of BA representation, even though we will still have NY and Billund internationally! Is there any other country in the world that has its so called 'national' airline represent its regions so poorly.

Good luck to U2 if they come, but at what price? How many smaller budget airlines would MAN lose?



Please get over the whole BA thing. Most of us don't give a toss about them being at MAN, I would be glad to see the back of them completely, and hopefully that day will come soon!

As for the effect it will have on other carriers if U2 did come to MAN, well hopefully it'd give them a proper kick up the arse!

[MAN Guy]

Please get over the whole BA thing. Most of us don't give a toss about them being at MAN, I would be glad to see the back of them completely, and hopefully that day will come soon!

I don't think we'll have to wait long..... I'd be surprised if Sun Air lasted much longer as a BA franchise, the BA franchise airlines are dropping like flies!

JFK is very much on borrowed time IMO, I'm surprised its lasted this long!

You may have to put up with LHR and LGW from MAN though ;)

[Ringwayman]

BA seem to be very pleased with the "contribution" that both Sunair of Scandinavia (as opposed to any airline with a similar name) and Comair are doing. As for JFK, we know they are trying their best to get off the route given it's the odd-one-out for their long-haul operations, but it steadfastly refuses to make a loss. At least we can assume that it is, given that it's not disappeared and BA likes to chop loss-making elements of thier business!

[Scottie Dog]

As the 'venerable' Suzeman has indicated, EZY operate similar flights from 2 cities/airports that are close together and without any apparant problems.

It will indeed be interesting to see what develops over the coming months. Without wanting to create too much excitement, I do recall when easyJet were looking at a Manchester operation a couple of years ago, it was - I believe - a lack of slots that was one of the deciding factors against their starting. Now with the withdrawal of a number of early morning flights it might be possible for a more complete schedule to be offered by easyJet.

The one thing that I have never understood is the 'contract' that the airline has with Liverpool. Does it totally forbid them from commencing a Manchester opration if they wish to or does it just tie them into a certain level of flights from Liverpool?

Finally, and on a slightly different tack, I would refer to the decision of Finnair to commence an overnighting Helsinki flight into Manchester. Since the Summer 08 IATA Slot Conference is not due to held until 10th-13th November, how can the airline know what times it has been granted?

Scottie Dog

[spanishflea]

Come on, let's get some perspective here.

GB Airways operate 2 or 3 flights a day out of Manchester to a maximum of 5 weekly destinations.

You can hardly describe it as a base, let alone a foothold for massive EZY expansion that either would or wouldn't have happened anyway.

[Ringwayman]

Like Scottie Dog, I've love to see what's in the easyJet and LPL agreement. Having said that, contracts are there to be broken - witness BA and GB Airways. Something happened to their contract today...

[GLENO]

Ringwayman.......I would be pleased as well if I were BA....mentioning Sunair...Our Company used to have a base in Skive which is just north of Billund and we used to take the flight a few times a month as we had a contract and a warehouse over there supporting the telecom industry.
Flights I seem to remember at the time were around the 400 quid mark return!!!