Route Development & Rumours

[A400]

It would be nice to see Turkish here. A321neo or 737max would do the trick.

 

[SierraHotel]

EZY now maintaining a 4 weekly LBA BFS service through to the end of March. Positive news

 

[A400]

Flights available up until March 25th it was mentioned on here last month

 

[Bigman]

So, it looks like the HS2 Eastern leg is being axed as feared. Makes it more important than ever now that we get some sort of London service back.

 

[AirBingley]

So, it looks like the HS2 Eastern leg is being axed as feared. Makes it more important than ever now that we get some sort of London service back.

Agree 110% - BA are guzzling up their old slots on reinstating flights at LHR so LBA Management need to be on top of this - it beggars belief MME has Loganair with BA code share when BA were carrying some 8k odd passengers a month from LBA even on the reduced timetable and MME hit 1406 in Sept!

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

For the Turkish element this would be brilliant for the region and locals. It offers much better connections via Istanbul to a wider variety of places - better then for example EK/QR could ever offer. This is due to the flexibility of the WB/ND fleet available. A A320NEO does one route on a Monday, a A330 does it on the Tuesday as the example. It would definitely work.

What else, eventually, the guys in LBA need to work on is Finnair and HEL. They offer a wide variety of connections to the Far East, China. Certainly would be a welcome addition to LBA. I think what we need to look at here - is whilst we are missing the BA to LHR and it's connections what can be replacing them. To go West - EI. To go East (Far and parts of Middle) - Finnair and Turkish. To go Africa/Middle East - Turkish.

 

[louis_walton]

For the Turkish element this would be brilliant for the region and locals. It offers much better connections via Istanbul to a wider variety of places - better then for example EK/QR could ever offer. This is due to the flexibility of the WB/ND fleet available. A A320NEO does one route on a Monday, a A330 does it on the Tuesday as the example. It would definitely work.

What else, eventually, the guys in LBA need to work on is Finnair and HEL. They offer a wide variety of connections to the Far East, China. Certainly would be a welcome addition to LBA. I think what we need to look at here - is whilst we are missing the BA to LHR and it's connections what can be replacing them. To go West - EI. To go East (Far and parts of Middle) - Finnair and Turkish. To go Africa/Middle East - Turkish.

I massively agree with that. BA are a airline of the past, Turkish are an airline of the present and future. Adding Istanbul to LBA would provide a fantastic leisure route alongside a vast amount of connections.

 

[a300boy]

Hope your wrong about BA but they are out of touch !
They pay my pension so I need them to sort themselves out.

 

[LBA4EVER]

Istanbul is perfectly located and actually more ideal than say a link to dubai or doha for lba, ok the later 2 are a possibility for lba but due to the lba runway and our falling apart terminal (yes I've said it again) an istanbul link would be ideal and all the aircraft types turkish use would be perfect for lba.

 

[LBA787]

A daily Turkish flight to IST would be great however they are missing a massive element from their route network - Australia!

This is where Emirates, Qatar and Etihad funnel so many passengers through MAN, NCL, BHX etc etc

Fingers crossed both LBA along with SYD, MEL, BNE, PER are added in the future.

 

[a300boy]

How about adding Adelaide so I can fly direct !

 

[XEROX]

Istanbul is perfectly located and actually more ideal than say a link to dubai or doha for lba, ok the later 2 are a possibility for lba but due to the lba runway and our falling apart terminal (yes I've said it again) an istanbul link would be ideal and all the aircraft types turkish use would be perfect for lba.

But say we get the go-ahead for the terminal, and are able to speak to ME carriers, i would say the vast majority of flyers would prefer Emirates or Qatar over Turkish, they have a better product and extensive route network, and can be done with B787/A350 but not at MTOW. But agreed Istanbul as a route would be magnificent. Realistic with A32XX or B737XX.

 

[752]

I doubt a 787/350 would be at MTOW for a 6 hour flight to the UAE. But Turkish have a good rep/network, so I wouldn't disregard them

 

[XEROX]

I doubt a 787/350 would be at MTOW for a 6 hour flight to the UAE. But Turkish have a good rep/network, so I wouldn't disregard them

Agreed they won't be at MTOW, but put it this way, we would more likely see A350s, 787s with Emirates or Qatar then Turkish.

 

[Finger66]

I beg to differ on who has the better product. That is TK by far. Where they are let down is potential bad press about Turkey, along with general ignorance, even though that is misguided. The new IST airport is apparently amazing, so if LBA could becoming amazing too then who knows. All this is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.

 

[XEROX]

I beg to differ on who has the better product. That is TK by far. Where they are let down is potential bad press about Turkey, along with general ignorance, even though that is misguided. The new IST airport is apparently amazing, so if LBA could becoming amazing too then who knows. All this is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.

Bad press? Its not a stable country!! They just had a coup attempt in 2016 and some may view their leader Erdogan a dictator. From an aviation view point people were trapped in Airports for days when that happened.

But time heals, and i agree the new Airport is very beautiful. Still going to differ on the soft / hard product , the Q-suite on Qatar is pretty good

 

[mullion]

Too close to Manchester in my opinion for Turkish especially with them going 3 daily from summer on IST plus 2 others daily

 

[752]

IMO it can very clearly work, KLM operate from LBA, MME, HUY, MAN, NCL all successfully chasing the same connecting and P2P traffic, Turkish can easily do the same.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Exactly @Ap1995. Turkish can work from Leeds as it can from Manchester. Leeds/Bradford are a huge population centre which has many different ethnic background and therefore links to the Middle East. A quick look:

India - 6 Destinations.
Iran - 6 Destinations.
Iraq - 5 Destinations.
Pakistan - 3 Desintaitons.
Saudi Arabia - 7 Destinations.

Plus Turkish domestic destinations, All the countries that belong to a guy called Stan, long haul to the Far East, African destinations. TK would be a suited fit. A narrow body which would take care of O/D traffic LBA IST, connecting traffic to a fast array of different countries and destinations. And it will cost TK nothing to do; they are already operating into destinations it's just about creating that connection with LBA.

I'd much rather and prefer to use TK if I was to head to Thailand on Holiday then I would EK/QR et al. This above my BA option first of course.

 

[LBA4EVER]

Of the destinations turkish mentioned id say LBA and BRS would be the best choices, LBA with huge population and BRS have the whole south west and southern wales population. SOU even with its runway extension might still restrict full loads. LBA and BRS would be sound with the AC types TK use.
Although i must admit i find it a bit strange turkish adding a 3rd MAN flight