Rumours about new destinations or airlines?

[tleeds]

Sorry I mis-read that part.

That is very interesting Lbaspotter! I don't know how it will fair from a potential passengers perspective though. It should be good to connect Athens to both Leeds/Bradford and Islamabad. It would be in direct competition with Air Blue's ISB-Athens-MAN-Athens-ISB route... it could always be a little conspiracy to kill Air Blue off all together at MAN and improve loads on their ISB service!

As well, will passengers in Bradford and Leeds etc be more tempted to use the direct route from MAN, instead of having to change over in Athens.... :dunno: Possibly the Athens passengers should keep the route going...

 

[lbaspotter]

I think you misunderstood as passengers travelling between either Leeds and Islamabad would not need to change aircraft as they will just stay on-board while its on the deck in Athens.

Only passengers going to Athens would need to disembark the aircraft. Extra passengers and fuel and maybe cargo will be uplifted out of Athens and onto Islamabad and vis-verse.

 

[wawkrk]

Not sure how many passengers would use Athens as their final destination at the moment. The situation there is quite dangerous.

 

[White Heather]

That apart wrwkrk, this would seem quite a sensible move. A reduced fuel load out of LBA would assist the 777 in using our somewhat short runway, whilst the addition of the Athens option from both ends should help but more bums on seats on the larger aircraft. We may lose a few of those bums to the direct route out of MAN, but there again we might gain some more too flying through to ISB owing to the introduction of the 777. It would also provide LBA with a new destination and double the offering from PIA in one go.

However, this is the rumours thread and we have heard these rumours before, so the time to consider becoming excited is when something is announced.

Thanks though lbaspotter for the information.

 

[Galaxy]

I think that Athens would be a very welcome destination, just perfect for picking up both air and sea connections to the islands in the Cyclades such as Santorini and Ios, Athens itself isn't a bad place to visit - when it's not burning!!!

 

[lbaspotter]

I wonder what the demand is like for the Islamabad - Athens link though?

I do know for a fact that they recently applied to operate the route and it was showing as operating on the same days as the LBA operation. I know they already do some one stop service's which includes the Pakistan-Copenhagen-Oslo & Pakistan-Barcelona-Chicago routes using the larger B777's.

 

[User0001]

It would be in direct competition with Air Blue's ISB-Athens-MAN-Athens-ISB route... it could always be a little conspiracy to kill Air Blue off all together at MAN and improve loads on their ISB service!

It would only be in competition if Air blue actually did offer MAN-ATH-ISB, but they don't.

Air blue operate their MAN-ISB via Ankara, Turkey as a fuel stop only, and do not offer traffic rights on ISB-ANK or MAN-ANK.

 

[wawkrk]

The connections to the Greek islands is a good point.Some of these are only available from Athens.
Also, the 777 could take off with a fairly significant cargo on the short hop to Athens.

 

[Jordan-34092]

It could mean more cargo brought into LBA which would be good, as far as i'm aware only cargo into LBA at this moment is 2 containers of mangoes per flight.

 

[White Heather]

True, so we could end up with containers of Olives and Feta Cheese coming in too!

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Cargo

Very few mangoes this last year because DEFRA do not have an office at LBA (unlike MAN) so Customs clearance is not really practical. Easier and quicker to ship into an airport with a DEFRA presence.

PIA import rates are not that competitive, and apart from that their organisational skills are very low. Ship with PIA and theres virtually no way of tracking the shipment. You just have to wait for it to turn up- not acceptable as air freight is always urgent.

Can't see any export traffic as market rates to all destinations are rock bottom and it's easier to stick with the majhor airlines who at least have a good level of service.

In addtion to the above, two flights per week is not enough, mis one lfight/conection in ISB and you have to wait 3/4 days for next connection.

LbaYorkie

 

[whoshotjimmi]

Is anyone really that thrilled about the prospect of 2 flights a week from LBA to Athens with PIA?

 

[Jordan-34092]

i have mixed reactions about it:

Good
-New destination
-Larger Aircraft
-More Passengers per flight

Not so Good
- No longer direct to ISB
- Longer flight time
- could put people off flying from LBA to Pakistan

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I think numbers flying between Leeds and Athens will be very low.

Aroosh and I have commented quite sternly previously that, should a portion of the flight have pax who leave at Athens, the flight on a T7 would not be economically viable between Leeds and Athens due to the numbers on board. The only way it will work is if the flight maintains a reasonable load between LBA and Athens. And, that is BEFORE we start talking about the extra costs of landing and parking at Athens and extra fuel burn with the extra rotation.

 

[White Heather]

If it isn't viable and the numbers don't stack up, they won't do it! There is no real reason why the flight cannot operate direct. and I can't see them risking a successful LBA-ISB service by introducing a stop in Athens if it increases costs, reduces profits and generally annoys the passengers. However, we are talking PIA here and I for one have given up trying to work out their strategy or what they might do next.

 

[Jordan-34092]

However, we are talking PIA here and I for one have given up trying to work out their strategy or what they might do next.

You'll need a degree to do that

 

[752]

Would there be any talks of a service Orlando Sanford? Ive read else wear that TCX are doing a 1 off charter from CWL and also Monarch are doing the route in 2012 from CWL? can anybody confirm this? i really think Sanford would be a sucessful route from LBA.

 

[Jordan-34092]

Would there be any talks of a service Orlando Sanford? Ive read else wear that TCX are doing a 1 off charter from CWL and also Monarch are doing the route in 2012 from CWL? can anybody confirm this? i really think Sanford would be a sucessful route from LBA.

[offtopic]Monarch are due to start operating to sanford from CWL in may 2012, with Thomas cook airlines re-launching on 24th march 2013[/offtopic]

 

[tleeds]

I think it will one of those routes then where there will be seat sharing, as next summer will be the decider for Thomas Cook with a reduced fleet and reduced routes.

I'm not so sure about an Orlando-Sanford route being 'Overly Popular' with Thomson, Virgin, Monarch and Thomas Cook (Although the latter stopping) at Manchester and Thomson again at East-Midlands and Birmingham, it might just be easier for them to travel to such airports.

On another note though, if Monarch decided to give LBA-Orlando/Sanford a go then I would be all for it, but there is a lot of competition from airports around...

 

[Jordan-34092]

i would be happy if they did a summer schedule, may- september