Route Development & Rumours

[leedslad]

Really hope it's an Alliance airline with good onward connections... Would really open up long haul rather than being just a point to point route for Dubai trips.

 

[lbaspotter]

FlyDubai then the most obvious operator for a Leeds-Dubai service using their 737-Max aircraft.

Yeah Fly Dubai was the airline mentioned using Boeing 737-MAX in a 2+ class configuration.

Why not Emirates? If they can manage all that service from MAN surely they could from LBA too, albeit with smaller aircraft?

Fly Dubai have a full codeshare agreement with Emirates.

 

[LBA4EVER]

I dont want to spoil the party on here but i do feel many live in fantasy world on this site, Emirates, qatar and the like just aint going to entertain LBA esp with MAN been so close and the fact we have a 2250m runway with tdz set a quater of a mile in on top of a hill! It aint going to happen!
Best we can hope for is turkish to istanbul or a UAE or a pakistan operator to use A321xlr equipment, but believe you me we aint gonna see emirates B777s rolling down the LBA runway to dubai!
Like another member posted lets get some links to frankfurt, munich, madrid, Brussels and the like first!

 

[gulftraveller]

LBA4EVER is quite correct. As for FlyDubai, the question remains whether Emirates will allow them into the UK market, their most lucrative. Dubai is a fortress destination since FDB and Emirates do not operate totally independently. The distance is also marginal for a 737 Max (distance from LBA is 3500 miles, right on the limits).

A possibility would be an operator using an A321 xlr. Air Arabia has xlrs on order which could operate low cost to Sharjah. Whether the cost differential would encourage passengers to choose that over a widebody from MAN, who knows.

 

[BCFC]

Why not Emirates? If they can manage all that service from MAN surely they could from LBA too, albeit with smaller aircraft?

Do Emirates have small aircraft?

 

[gulftraveller]

No. The A350 is the smallest. I strongly doubt that this is an option for Emirates.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

LBA4EVER is quite correct. As for FlyDubai, the question remains whether Emirates will allow them into the UK market, their most lucrative. Dubai is a fortress destination since FDB and Emirates do not operate totally independently. The distance is also marginal for a 737 Max (distance from LBA is 3500 miles, right on the limits).

A possibility would be an operator using an A321 xlr. Air Arabia has xlrs on order which could operate low cost to Sharjah. Whether the cost differential would encourage passengers to choose that over a widebody from MAN, who knows.

Probably correct, 'right on limits' isnt going to hack it. Theres no margin for prolonged holds, extended ATC routings or strong headwinds.

 

[Len Fish]

LBA4EVER is quite correct. As for FlyDubai, the question remains whether Emirates will allow them into the UK market, their most lucrative. Dubai is a fortress destination since FDB and Emirates do not operate totally independently. The distance is also marginal for a 737 Max (distance from LBA is 3500 miles, right on the limits).

A possibility would be an operator using an A321 xlr. Air Arabia has xlrs on order which could operate low cost to Sharjah. Whether the cost differential would encourage passengers to choose that over a widebody from MAN, who knows.

Boeing shows the Max 8 as having a range of 3,500 nautical miles (4,000 standard miles) so well over the 3,500 standard miles (3041 nautical miles) to Dubai.

 

[lbaspotter]

The flight distance from Dubai to Leeds direct is 3041 nautical miles.

I think I’ve read correctly that Fly Dubai’s Boeing 737-MAX8’s have greater flight range of up to 4,000nm as they only carry 172+ passengers in a two class seating configuration consisting of 10+ First Class & 162 economy.

 

[markietg]

Also remember FlyDubai have an order for 30 787-9’s with deliveries starting in 2026.

 

[michael]

Do Emirates have small aircraft?

A quick look on google / flightradar 24 shows that Emirates currently has 35 x B787's on order, 20 of which are 787-8's, the rest are -10's. There's also 65 x A350-900's on order. So while there's no doubt about the potential of a Dubai link given Emirates already serves LHR, LGW, STN, BHX, MAN, NCL, GLA, DUB with multiple daily flights (have I missed any??) , for as long as LBA doesn't want wide bodies Emirates won't be arriving. It's possible the terminal alteration completion and deliveries of EK 788's and A359's might coincide and then who knows what might happen but if it's someone other than EK my fear would be that whoever it was wouldn't be able to compete with what is, in my experience, a pretty good service on a very comfortable aircraft, especially the A380, which we're all realistic enough to know is never going to make an appearance at LBA.

 

[gulftraveller]

A key question for EK would be how many passengers are they losing to other airlines because they have no service to LBA. At the moment I suspect it is very few so they would effectively be competing against themselves.

On the issue of FDB, flying a 737 Max such a ling distance with 136 passengers LBA-DXB would likely have worse cost economics than an A380 MAN-DXB with 615 passengers. It is a conundrum. A Turkish airline would surely be the best solution.

 

[lbaspotter]

Like I’ve said the onboard product for Fly Dubai is set quite high.

See here for details

https://www.flydubai.com/en/flying-with-us/737-max

They also have a full codeshare /interlining agreement with Emirates so connections in Dubai are made simple.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Like I’ve said the onboard product for Fly Dubai is set quite high.

See here for details

https://www.flydubai.com/en/flying-with-us/737-max

They also have a full codeshare /interlining agreement with Emirates so connections in Dubai are made simple.

Just need somec321xlr's then

 

[lbaspotter]

Just need somec321xlr's then

Ohh you mention that mighty machine

Wizz Air have the Airbus A321XLR on order. That aircraft would have the legs to get down to either Abu Dhabi or Saudi where they have based operations

 

[gulftraveller]

Ohh you mention that mighty machine

Wizz Air have the Airbus A321XLR on order. That aircraft would have the legs to get down to either Abu Dhabi or Saudi where they have based operations

But without interlining. It would have to survive on point to point traffic.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

But without interlining. It would have to survive on point to point traffic.

Absolutely, it would be a non-starter.

 

[Vzg94w]

I cannot see how you would ever get out of leeds even in a smaller pax config. Too much fuel, rainy day, low pressure, headwinds etc.

You can barely get a fully laden MAX to TFS in certain conditions.

 

[Aviador]

I cannot see how you would ever get out of leeds even in a smaller pax config. Too much fuel, rainy day, low pressure, headwinds etc.

You can barely get a fully laden MAX to TFS in certain conditions.

Such a load of rubbish. TUI have operated 738s to Sharm El Sheikh out of LBA.

 

[LBA4EVER]

I cannot see how you would ever get out of leeds even in a smaller pax config. Too much fuel, rainy day, low pressure, headwinds etc.

You can barely get a fully laden MAX to TFS in certain conditions.

And that is the headline problem, runway length, TDZ and location.
If any middle east or north america service was to succeed the aircraft would need to be medium to large sized around the size of the B787-8 or A330