RobT100I think what wawkrk is trying to establish is that the inbound from TFS may have actually diverted into Manchester, not re-position, perhaps because X-winds at LBA were a factor last night??

According to Wundergroud weather reports for Yeadon last night.
The winds were very light.
I held back from expressing my opinions about the reasons to go to Man until I knew the full story.
Was the Jet2 flight from TFS at a similar time also a 757?

TOM TFS Diverted to Man yesterday because the Rwy was wet! (No kidding) this restriction applies to their B738'S although I thought it only applied when landing on Rwy14 with it's shorter LDA. Yesterday 32 was in use. also of interest is the fact that a RYR B738 landed fine around the same time under the same conditions.

Why TOM have this restriction in their company SOP's respecially when they will be using the B738 at LBA so much this winter is a question only they can answer.

I know he was - I was saying the crew perhaps used a cop out to get home for an early night ? No, I couldnt imagine that now

Why on earth dont MYT come back then ? crazy (or what)

We are seeing here probably a regret - a regret by MYT that they pulled the LBA base in the first place. But rather than some big-wig at MYT admit they are wrong we are now playing politics.
I wonder how long it wil take TUI to do the same

HI,
does anyone have any idea who will be operating this years various charter flights? e.g. lapland and norway etc...

i think last year it was First Choice with A321 equipment?

Just noticed that Goldtrail have tweaked their flights to Turkey for next summer. Both still go on a Monday but the DLM is now a morning departure with the BJV staying with an evening flight. The first flights out will depart on the 30th April which means these flights will probably be classed as "Winter Sun" by the airport marketing boffins!
I still can't believe we have only 4 Winter sun charters a week this year. Was it only 2 years ago that we had 4 flights to TFS on a Friday alone?
Looking at Thomson Holidays flights for next summer we have 6 "W" flights with TOM all arriving early-mid afternoon. Tue-ALC, Wed-MAH, Thu-PMI, Fri-CFU, Sat-IBZ, Sun-PMI. The Sat-REU and Fri-TFS are still on sale but showing the old flight times with a based TOM aircraft...any ideas?

Good point SASfox but look on the bright side. Plenty of Jet2 flights to traditional charter destinations including TFS, ACE, AGP, ALC, MJV etc etc. The market is changing......

If only the commercial traffic could land on 32 like this - would make a world of difference. First 400m of the runway dead-level. Will be interesting to see if dragging the touchdown zone further back is something a bit of money can address over the next few years.

682

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZowrUdbrFk

I am guessing pax on REU and TFS flights are on a BMI A320 or Thomsonfly could be basing an a/c 2 days of the week perhaps with a 738.

May I ask a quick question; Why do the airlines not fly Leeds to Gatwick?

Benefits;
Lots of Charter flights from Lgw
A lot more airlines now chosing lgw as their uk base.
Quick connection into London in 30 minutes (quicker than LHR)

Sorry to interrupt the thread, but always wondered why.

mighty

Yes, this route has been tried several times, and I think the prime attraction would be the much quicker access to South London or the South coast area, both of which have direct train links, as you say. Connecting onto charter routes will account for only a small number of passengers.

The last airline to have a shot at it was BRAL with a 4x per weekday Jetstream 41 service. The passenger numbers were looking reasonable, over 3,000 per month, but then BRAL closed their LBA base and Eastern chose not to continue that route. Given that Flybe are now muscling in on two of Eastern's remaining LBA routes that might have been an error.

The major difficulty is accessing decent slot times at LGW. The peak times of morning and evening are exactly when every other airline wants to arrive at LGW, so slots are very hard to get. Also, a moderately successful route (as LBA-LGW probably would be) is not really good enough when there are potentially much more profitable routes to run. Easyjet, for example, has plenty of slots at LGW and could run almost as many daily flights to LBA as it wanted, starting yesterday, but there are better loads and yields to be had on the routes it does operate.

LGW would be a useful addition to LBAs routes, but the sticking point is more the LGW end of the operation. Similarly LBA-LCY should raise some demand, but when it has been tried too much capacity has been supplied and other background factors have seen the route rapidly withdrawn.

PTH

Thanks PTH

bmi british midlands based Airbus A320 Charter operation at Leeds/Bradford Next summer will now also be operating the Thomson Holidays Saturday Reus Service which was added to the programme this week.

Flight BD 7161 07:00 Depart (LBA) - 10:15 Arrive (REU)
Flight BD 7162 11:00 Depart (REU) - 12:15 Arrive (LBA)

Full programme for bmi based charter unit

Mondays = Leeds-Reus-Teeside-Reus-Leeds
Tuesdays = Leeds-Palma-Leeds-Heraklion-Leeds
Wednesdays = Leeds-Rhodes-Leeds-Fuerteventura-Leeds
Thursdays = Leeds-Faro-Leeds-Zakynthos-Leeds
Fridays = Leeds-Ibiza-Leeds-Mahon-Leeds-Dalaman-Leeds
Saturdays = Leeds-Reus-Leeds-Alicante-Leeds-Las Palmas-Leeds
Sundays = Leeds-Malaga-Leeds-Larnaca-Leeds

A hat gets thrown into the ring...
http://www.aoa.org.uk/media/latest_n...WS_ID=17988290
Interesting that MAR also own Blackpool with its strong Jet2.com presence. Meeson Air doesn't fly from Wolverhampton yet, as far as I am aware. (In fact I didn't even know that Wolverhampton had an airport, but there you go).

The MAR story has been around for a while Robo.
The new strong contender seems to be Balfour Beatty who have declared an interest.

Thanks, WAWKRK. I only picked it up off the AOA website.

Who else is interested? I have heard also of Dart Group and presumed that Piel Holdings and Manchester Airport might have an interest.

Dart would be interesting as airlines don't generally seem to mix well with airports when it comes to ownership.

You may be more familiar with Wolverhampton airport (or to give it it's correct title "Wolverhampton Business Airport") as Halfpenny Green Airfield - when I lived down there the biggest thing operating was the Islander used for para-dropping, and although there have been big plans mooted I don't think it's changed much...

Also, with Manchester Airport Group considering getting rid of it's smaller airports and with Peel already operating DSA and DTVA, I can't see them joining the fray.

Ah, Halfpenny Green. Of course!

I'll go with your logic on MAG and Peel. Maybe the Sheikh who was supposed to buy Leeds United will appear again, as if by magic

Looks like the FNC has been pulled altogether for next summer. Not showing on Thomsons or Atlantics booking pages at all now.
Ah well, at least we still have Jet2 to AGP 23 times a day
OK not counting Jet2 how many new routes have LBA for next Summer?.....erm......there must be 1 surley????
I know lets play how many routes lost... FNC, PFO, VRN, GRO,
Massive exspansion from FLYBE aswell....SOU goes 3 times daily M-F, 2 on Sun.