Future Infrastructure Developments

[LBAYORKIE]

I agree with everything you have said. If I come across as being negative its simply borne out of concern and to some extent frustration. I think we all want whats best for LBA.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

So Manchester Airport Group or MAG as they are now called have today unveiled a £1billion refurbishment programme on all its terminals with the aim to merge terminal 1 into 2/3 and thus create two terminals. This will definitely increase what Manchester can offer with more gates and more room for growth.

What have Bridgepoint done? Spent £10 million. when will this dictatorship end and will we get some proper investment? Or better still when will bridgepoint pull their f**king finger out and spend some money. When MAN complete this ... LBA will look like a sh*t hole and will start to loose passengers as many (including myself) would prefer to go from a fully developed airport then a tin shed on a hill.

 

[Aviador]

Strong words nicholas1992 but there will be many people who sympathise with you. Sometimes I feel like we (folk in Leeds) might as well be campaigning for HS3 to be built before HS1. At least this way we'll have access to a "proper" airport. Bridgepoint seems to have it's head in the clouds with a business plan in the dark ages.

 

[Moo2009]

Regarding Manchester's 1 billion development, don't worry LBA have just got a good deal on umbrellas for the passengers who get wet and blown around in the wind when they are now made to walk to stand 18, only comfort is they can have a rest half way down in are new, sorry second hand portokabin. How must the older generation feel been made to walk all that way to get on a plane. It's really poor come on LBA sort it out make a airport the city of Leeds should be proud off

 

[Bigman]

If HS3 ever gets up and running, it will probably be quicker to get the train to Manchester Airport than it will be to get the bus to LBA. By then, Leeds East may well be up and running with a Sheffield City type operation with business routes to places like London, Amsterdam, Paris and Belfast. And when HS2 gets built, Birmingham International won't be too far away either.

Maybe in 20 years LBA won't even exist any more.

 

[lbaspotter]

Oh hear we go again. Another round of been depressing all because of same old Manchester.

 

[Aviador]

Oh hear we go again. Another round of been depressing all because of same old Manchester.

Or realisation that we have an airport not fit for purpose with a company in charge that lacks ambition and Yorkshire grit.

LBAspotter, it's depressing I know but what is there to be positive about, really?

As mentioned previously, we all want what is best for our local airport so you can't knock people for being annoyed at the inaction to sort the place out.

We all acknowledge LBA will never be like Manchester airport and nobody is silly enough to think that it can be. Manchester airport is on a different level altogether, but that is where the forgiveness to Bridgepoint ends.

Bridgepoint has sat on the airport business waiting for the market to improve so they can flog it for a small increase. They have shown absolutely no intention of giving Leeds & Bradford "an airport to be proud of" which is the term they frequently use.

We have two choices. The first is to sit back and let the place fall apart and say nothing.

 

[dmrodgers]

Oh hear we go again. Another round of been depressing all because of same old Manchester.

Or realisation that we have an airport not fit for purpose with a company in charge that lacks ambition and Yorkshire grit.

LBAspotter, it's depressing I know but what is there to be positive about, really?

As mentioned previously, we all want what is best for our local airport so you can't knock people for being annoyed at the inaction to sort the place out.

We all acknowledge LBA will never be like Manchester airport and nobody is silly enough to think that it can be. Manchester airport is on a different level altogether, but that is where the forgiveness to Bridgepoint ends.

Bridgepoint has sat on the airport business waiting for the market to improve so they can flog it for a small increase. They have shown absolutely no intention of giving Leeds & Bradford "an airport to be proud of" which is the term they frequently use.

We have two choices. The first is to sit back and let the place fall apart and say nothing.

And the second is to sell the site for housing or industrial use and plough the money from the sale into developing Leeds East Airport into an airport fit for Leeds and the Region with a terminal fit for purpose and a longer enough runway pointing in the right direction to take todays jets up to triple seven size.

 

[ls27]

This seems to be a repeat of what happened when the said company had Birmingham.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Can I put a good word in for the airport. My partner was taken ill 24 hours before our return which meant we needed wheel chair assistance at all times.
Obviously we had not booked anything and all went well at malaga and the airline Jet2 was informed by the ground staff at malaga. (Jet2 did a wonderful job loading us first)
When we got on the plane the cabin crew advised that they could not advise what assistance we would have at Leeds, as in the hands of the airport.
On arrival transport meet us at the steps, then wheel chair from the terminal building, through customs and all the way to my sons car who had been called to collect us.
The assistance we got could not have been bettered, especially no one knew until a couple of hours before, but at least everyone had passed forward the right information.
Both my partner and I have walking issues, usually not requiring wheel chair assistance, but we know if a stand 12 etc arrival, which is impossible for us to walk the distance, help is always on hand, usually within 10/15 minutes, where most airports you need to allow 30 minutes.
Certainly if you need assistance Leeds because of its size is far superior to manchester. We made a decision last year only to use manchester in future as the last resort. We flew via LHR last time rather then a direct flight from manchester. Big is not always best you you need a personal service.

 

[scottrhino]

As a newbie on this site I have found it interesting to read all the comments posted by my fellow contributors. I can see both sides to this debate, on one hand our interest in seeing the airport prosper and become a true international airport and on the other hand been realistic that we are at best a small/medium regional airport with limitations due to location and available land around the airport. I don't believe Leeds East will become anything more than a biz jet and flying school airport, in my belief, due mainly to the restrictions imposed by a vocal local population on seeing it expand. On the whole LBA is a good regional airport but starved on investment to take it to the next level which you have all voiced on this forum. What I would like to see more of personally, as we cannot complete with Manchester on size of aircraft and terminal building, is maximising the hours we operate. You visit the airport from 6am until 11am and we are busy thereafter its not until mid afternoon and beyond that we get the returning aircraft back. Based aircraft can't be increased due to stand space so what I would prefer is european operators using the airport between the non peak periods but offering a reasonable flight time. My best friend lives in Copenhagen but the SAS flight just wasnt an option with the outbound inbound timings. Frustratingly, they have just increased their services from Manchester with many coming from this side of the hill. I see a market for these destinations but the airport have to understand that people want to fly at certain times and by having a national flag carrier doesn't mean people will use the service. I am sure been a newbie I probably have rose tinted glasses but as lots of the contributors on here are mainly a dozen people hopefully a fresh pair of eyes might put things into perspective that LBA is not as bad as we make out and with a few tweaks we can still offer a great service to the Yorkshire folk.

 

[rmac]

Many thanks Scottrhino for a good balanced post and I agree with wholeheartedly. LBA will not be a 'Manchester' on the Yorkshire side of the Pennines, but then neither will Newcastle or East Midlands either so LBA, along with the others will need to grow as the demand increases. You mention a lack of investment and that is true but from whom? The local authority need to do their part and improve access to the airport, ideally by a rail or rail/tram onto the nearby Harrogate line or the A658 link to the A65 or both. The airport owners must be convinced this or something similar will actually happen before committing serious long term
investment sums in the airport infrastructure. Increased stands can be added relatively easily and fairly quickly when really needed and extra based aircraft will be deployed. Trying to attract a greater business orientated traveller is, to me, a priority that the airport can do which means trying to get daily or twice daily flights to Brussels, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, etc.
My local airport is Edinburgh and now we have SAS along with 2 other carriers on the Copenhagen route, which is good for us as we have relatives in Denmark. I planned to use the LBA -CPH route a while ago, whilst in Yorkshire, but the timings were useless so never did it. This summer we will probably use EasyJet. However the point is - there must be a demand or should be a demand for the likes of Copenhagen from Leeds, also Paris and Madrid. I hope the airport management are working on getting these routes up and running, I am sure they are.
As for alternatives to LBA there are none worth considering, any spare public money should be directed to improving access to LBA. Personally I have used the airport several times in recent years and always found the experience, even at busy times, fine and acceptable, often far better than some other European airports used.

 

[Aviador]

Welcome to Forums4airports Scottrhino. It's good to have you with us and fresh eyes and differing opinions are always welcome!

LBA already does exceptionally well during the summer months and it has an excellent portfolio of routes on offer. There is no question of that and it is the main reasons why so many people think LBA should be building and expanding to capture an even bigger share of customers from it's own catchment area.

The last time the terminal building was extended was back in 1996 when the arrivals walkway was added onto the first floor. Back then passenger numbers were a fraction of what they are today.

I spent many years working at LBA and I have seen the airport buckling under the strain of passengers at first hand when the terminal is busy.

I recall hoards of passengers having to queue outside the terminal waiting to check-in. Passengers checking-in in hall A then had to go back on themselves to hall B where they would need to join another long queue to go back towards hall A for security.

These are the kind of infrastructure problems that can only be resolved by building a new terminal or by extending the present one. At LBA they make do by installing snaking tenser barriers taking up space in the already cramped terminal. This is just one example but I can give you many If you request.

When I worked there, there wasn't a single employee in the airport that thought the facilities were adiquate.

Like many, I want the airport to do better and Leeds deserves better, much better.

 

[Aviador]

Thanks B737

There are well over 150 pages to read in the accompanied document. There is little mention of new terminal buildings other than "significant improvements to airside facilities" and "baggage belt facilities" The report mentions that Leeds Bradford Airport has the best chance of growth at any airport East of the Pennines with well over 100% growth forecast up to 2030.

One of the main things the report mentions is the provision of space for an Air Innovation Park, a Leeds equivalent of the Manchester airport development dubbed "Airport City". There is also a greater provision for airport related businesses located near to the airport site known as Aptly named Airport Village.

Looking at the plans available to us it would appear the plans for an airport railway station still exist but it would appear the route is expected to terminate at the airport site just to the side of the Eastern end of the apron.

View media item 3427

Images: http://democ

So far from the information we have, there is little to show how the airport itself is to develop. At this stage it is still difficult to say whether or not the airport is aiming high enough with respects to improving on-site airport passenger and airfield facilities.

 

[JakeS]

Yorkshire Evening Post 08.07.2015 Article
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....eds-bradford-airport-expansion-plan-1-7347847

Up, up and away for Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plan?

Senior councillors are set to discuss proposals designed to help Leeds Bradford Airport realise its sky-high economic and employment potential.

The plans would see Leeds City Council releasing 36.2 hectares of land in and around the airport’s Yeadon site.

It would be used for improvements such as an expanded passenger terminal and the development of an ‘airport village’ boasting a hotel, restaurant and retail outlets.

Improved transport connections including a new link road are also under consideration.

The proposals will be debated at a meeting of the council’s executive board next Wednesday, July 15.

Coun Richard Lewis, executive member for regeneration, transport and planning, said: “Releasing this land in and around the airport is vital to meet the local employment needs of the area in terms of helping established businesses grow and to encourage new jobs and skills opportunities.

“Together with the planned improvements to the airport infrastructure and the transport links, these plans show the ambition of the city to work with the airport and the local communities to bring about the maximum benefits in an ambitious but sustainable way.”

 

[Bigman]

We can but hope. Too many false dawns in the past for me to get overly excited about this. LBA Rule 1 - believe it when you see it.

 

[lbaspotter]

But its good to see that it has Leeds City council support along with Councillor Richard Lewis been now onboard and working together for the better future of the airport along with the airport owners Bridgepoint Capital long last. In the past it's normally been against such idea's and in favor of Manchester.

 

[JakeS]

I guess the only new thing we've learnt from this is that there's a meeting next Wednesday.

 

[lbaspotter]

It good to see the news regarding the airport has appeared on ITV Calendar News report this evening and is also set to appear on BBC Look North in a few minutes too.

 

[Moo2009]

Just reading on the YEP web site that the council is backing LBA expansion by releasing land, it's over to you now Bridgepoint