Vueling

[White Heather]

Can I just point out that Vueling have pulled the plug on Newcastle and Liverpool too, not just LBA and in fact had pulled out of Liverpool, which started up at the same time as LBA, long before they did so at LBA. Only at the last Consultative meeting it was stated that LBA was fortunate to be the airport they were still operating to given their withdrawal from others. I am told, by someone whose partner works for Vueling, that the airline is in a mess, with many staff leaving and crew shortages are widespread. Personally I wouldn't know but if that is the case it may explain the frequent changes of day/time - which is always a bad sign - and the eventual loss of the airline to LBA which I consider to be disappointing but not a complete disaster, whilst I think it somewhat harsh to hold the LBA management accountable for the failings of an IAG airline that appears to be in turmoil. As ever, there are some that are turning this into something far worse than it really is and blaming LBA. I fail to see how this is LBA managements' fault???

 

[rmac]

Could'nt agree more fully, White Heather! Why blame the LBA management. Vueling appear to be stretching themselves with crewing problems, etc . They have cancelled EDI-ORY -- is this the result of bad management? Of course not. And does anyone know if they have abandoned LBA forever? They may in better times want to return. Of course they are up against 2 other operators on the BCN route but maybe in the future they will have something else to offer-connections to other Spanish airports, or a special appeal to the Spanish to visit the delights of Yorkshire. Then again the fact that Vueling have ceased the BCN route for now it may be that IB Express will look at MAD-LBA. Disappointing yes, disaster no.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Frankly as soon as I saw the times/days of this service for an airline unknown in our region, my thoughts were it would struggle to establish itself over a short period and would need to be fully supported for two years.
I am not sure it failure has anything to do with the airport, the route chosen was ill thought, well served by local names, unlikley to grow in size to justify another carrier, not competively priced by Vueling to compete, may have been chosen as Monarch known to be struggling last year or other factors unknown to us.
The route was a bad choice, the pricing/days/times were unlikley to be viewed as material reasons to chose over well known rivals. We looked on two or three occasions, but found no reason on price/times/day to go Vueling.

 

[a300boy]

I do not know who is to blame either if anyone at all.
I am still disappointed though.
One step forward and two steps back comes to mind and another two flights per week to add to our losses this summer.

 

[airforced]

The only ones that I can should carry blame for this failed route is Vueling management. They introduced a route that was already being adequately being served by LS and MON and they didn't effectively introduce their product in any meaningful way so as to compete with those other carriers. Nothing at all to do with LBA. Just plain incompetence by Vueling.

It seems from recent and current reports coming out of Spain that their failure to run the business properly is affecting the Company as a whole. Absolutely no sympathy for them.

 

[AirBingley]

If that is the case my only concern is for BA.... where did their new Chief Exec come from (answers in the title of this thread!)? I also tried desperately to support it having travelled to BCN twice last year but the flights were on days that were well already served by LS and MON (sometimes 3x flights a day to BCN) and seemed ludicrously expensive - also if you want to get to the centre by rail the old terminal in BCN used by MON and LS is much more convenient.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

Can I just point out that Vueling have pulled the plug on Newcastle and Liverpool too, not just LBA and in fact had pulled out of Liverpool, which started up at the same time as LBA, long before they did so at LBA. Only at the last Consultative meeting it was stated that LBA was fortunate to be the airport they were still operating to given their withdrawal from others. I am told, by someone whose partner works for Vueling, that the airline is in a mess, with many staff leaving and crew shortages are widespread. Personally I wouldn't know but if that is the case it may explain the frequent changes of day/time - which is always a bad sign - and the eventual loss of the airline to LBA which I consider to be disappointing but not a complete disaster, whilst I think it somewhat harsh to hold the LBA management accountable for the failings of an IAG airline that appears to be in turmoil.

Hmm yes....

Or it could be because Vueling is expanding operations at many of it's non-traditional bases from March and needs the aircraft for those instead, seeing the British regional routes as unnecessary. These include new UK services from Birmingham to Paris, Manchester to Amsterdam and Luton to Florence, all of whom seem to be completely unaffected by the apparent turmoil within the airline....

As ever, there are some that are turning this into something far worse than it really is and blaming LBA. I fail to see how this is LBA managements' fault???

That will be me then.

I have been highly critical of LBA management for some time. They do so little to improve the credentials of the airport, make so few public appearances and are so bad at PR that, when the opportunity for an airline to scarper arises, I'd be surprised if they even attempted to keep them involved. Whilst I'm sure that is not necessarily the case, I do wonder what they ACTUALLY do to promote the airport and to increase involvement. How many things have passed them by in recent times? White Heather, you come here and put up a passionate defence of the work that they do and you tell us all these wonderful things that they say in consultative meetings but where is the evidence to back up what they are saying?

The YouTube page is non existent, the (apparently unnameable) Facebook page is just full of inane information about things nobody wants, the public profiles on various websites are littered with complaints about the airport - none of which are ever resolved - various members of this very website complain about the communication they get from the airport when complaints have been made and the twitter feed is one of the most incredibly dull and boring things I have ever seen (seriously, a picture of a press gathering in a meeting room was tweeted the other day) which has led to only 10 people liking the recent additions of Wroclaw and Murcia which, in all honesty, is very good news!

Honestly, it is absolutely pitiful.

Compare this to Twitter feeds like Virgin Trains where tweets are full of factual and useful information and also are light hearted and enjoyable, encouraging customers to get involved. There are as many tweets from Virgin customers as there are Virgin staff and the vast majority are positive.

Forget what's happening at Liverpool, Newcastle etc etc. LBA's engagement with customers and promotion of services and facilities is what is behind everything that happens here. That is why passenger numbers don't increase like they should. That is why, when an airline like Vueling is looking at what to do with their aircraft for the next year, they think it might be more beneficial to have a route from Amsterdam to Manchester than from Barcelona to Leeds Bradford. And THAT is why it is LBA Management's fault.

 

[752]

MAN- AMS has been further pushed back also, MAN - TFS has been dropped so Manchester is also being affected by Vueling.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

MAN- AMS has been further pushed back also, MAN - TFS has been dropped so Manchester is also being affected by Vueling.

I can only go on what I see in front of me. MAN-AMS is due to start Winter 2017 and MAN-TFS is currently bookable up to the end of the year. Fares as low as 24.99 EUR as well. I might go myself for that price....

 

[a300boy]

It depends on what you think is possible to achieve with respect to growth,
Manchester is breathing down our neck and looking to suck as many passengers away as possible !
Marketing is not my subject but it would seem given our limited facilities, destinations and frequencies coupled with the fact that locals are fairly happy to go over the hills to take advantage of the broader offering Manchester provides must make growth a difficult thing to provide.
However we are growing with a noticeable increase in winter operations which ,so far this winter, we have got away with in relation to our mini weather cycle of wind fog and snow.
I even saw the Boeing 757 fleet operating yesterday which at this time of year is nice to see.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Compare this to Twitter feeds like Virgin Trains where tweets are full of factual and useful information and also are light hearted and enjoyable, encouraging customers to get involved. There are as many tweets from Virgin customers as there are Virgin staff and the vast majority are positive.

Customer satisfaction on the main east coast main line has dropped marketly since Virgin took over the route from 6 years of Department of transport running.
A couple of weeks ago virgin issued a press release showing the east coast line had the highest rating for a long distance line at 91%, failing to mention that this was well below the rating enjoyed under D O T control and that toilets, ticket prices were now a major passenger issue. Its fake news as Trump would say.
I moved to this region in 1987 and from day one have only seen hostile news in the local press about the airport and we have a local MP who has splints in his backside as he sits on the fence on major issues, he could not even register a vote against article 50 with his party as it required him to make a decision.
Unfortunatley when you have local press, BBC, environmentalists, wanting to paint a hostile scene its hard for the positive message to get out. The reaction to the Vueling decision and the lack of objectivity by those that blame airport management shows what a mountain airport management have to climb.
If Branson owned LBA and made the same decisions, he would be lauded by the media and especially the BBC who fail to point out to the public this guy makes Trump look like a choir boy with regard to treatment of women, paying his tax etc.

 

[White Heather]

You won't be surprised whoshotjimmi, to know I disagree with your overly negative view of LBA management and I do think you have missed your vocation in life as you clearly feel you know how to run an airport better than LBA management. On the subject of marketing - LBA are currently advertising for a new, very well paid Marketing Director which I suspect will be a new post, so perhaps they are intending to up their game.

I do not know who is to blame either if anyone at all.
I am still disappointed though.
One step forward and two steps back comes to mind and another two flights per week to add to our losses this summer.

Yes we have had losses for this summer A300boy but overall we have an increase in flights, routes and forecast passengers for 2017. I prefer to look at overall steady progress rather than continually have a glass half empty point of view. Sorry. I cannot think of any year in the history of LBA where we haven't had gains on the one hand and losses on the other. As long as the net result is in the upwards direction then that is progress.

 

[a300boy]

I think you will agree that is exactly what I have said and if you are only interested in passenger numbers and growth albeit at relatively modest levels the management cannot be faulted.
I would just like to see a bit of variety of operators from a personal point of view and I suspect you do as an aviation photographer.
We will just have to go further afield to see some other types and operators.

 

[Finger66]

So would someone like to count the number of airlines at LBA in 2017 and the number of different aircraft types please. Then for those of you old enough to remember let's compare to 1979 for starters! Also we know we will never be a MAN. Do we need to go on with this pointless discussion. An increase in pax numbers year on year is far better than 50 different airlines providing fewer pax. Depending on your priorities I suppose! More pax mean routes will survive

 

[a300boy]

Why is it pointless ! that is the whole idea of these discussion websites.
If we all agreed there would be little point being on here.
Your opinion is yours mine is mine so lets move on to the next subject that comes up.
In 1979 I worked on the ground at Lba for Air Uk and remember many different airlines operating however there were far fewer flights each day.
I believe we had around 20 flights per day plus the odd charter and diversion from Manchester.

 

[oldendays]

In 1979 we had based:

1 x Dan Air HS748
2 x British Airways Viscount
2 x Air Anglia F27

Britannia came through on W patterns.
Not sure if Aer Lingus were still doing Dublin in 1979. If so, most likely a BAC 1-11.

 

[a300boy]

Not bad ! I must have worked for Air Anglia in that case before Air Uk took over.

 

[oldendays]

Now we have five based airlines; Monarch, Jet2, Eastern, KLM and Ryanair. Plus Thomson in the summer. Needless to say there are several more routes available now than thirty-eight years ago but on the downside, workaday domestic routes such as Bristol, Edinburgh and Isle of Man have gone. For now, at least.

 

[Finger66]

Indeed gone just for now! It's probably not fair to ask for a like for like comparison 38 years apart but the point was LBA is in its best overall position in 2017 and that outweighs anything else, however much yes I too would love more variety. But I wouldn't go back to yester year. If BZ were still around then they would be the major carrier and probably no one else would want a look in. Perhaps we have all gone a little off topic but LBA management have made progress with the airport and the loss of one airline that operated two flights a week is no biggy. Even though we all agree it's disappointing, but disaster - no

 

[a300boy]

Agreed ! but as my original post we were hoping for more destinations from them with the backing of IAG.
It is not going to happen so lets get on with it as you say.
I will find it difficult to get too excited by 13 or 14 Ryanair movements a day.