Rumours about new destinations or airlines?

[Seasider]

Emirates at LBA? Will somebody pinch me and wake me up.

 

[LeedsPilot]

Emirates at LBA? Will somebody pinch me and wake me up.

The demand for flights to Dubai is huge and LBA is a prime candidate for an A330 service to Dubai. I very much hope that this route will come to fruition as it would make LBA's connections to the Middle East and onwards to Asia and Pacific regions much better. Clearly the demand is there for such a service with airports such as manchester having a daily capacity of over 1000 each way on the route and Birmingham with 800. A connection to Dubai is not far fethched as Newcastle has a similar runway to LBA's, and is only slightly busier handling 4.3 million pax per year.

 

[Jordan-34092]

There is one problem though regarding the Emirates A330, there to be phased out of the fleet by the latest of 2013. But like i said on a plus note there is plans to order new aircraft to do this role, and i know i am probably pushing the boat out on this, but we could see the 777 operated by emirates instead as they are ordering a load more of this aircraft type.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

On 15th of June, Lbaspotter stated an announcement of a new London route (by a budget carrier) was imminent. Since then there has been lots of speculation but absolutely no hint of an announcement.

Do we think the 'deal' has fallen through?

 

[lbaspotter]

On 15th of June, Lbaspotter stated an announcement of a new London route (by a budget carrier) was imminent. Since then there has been lots of speculation but absolutely no hint of an announcement.

Do we think the 'deal' has fallen through?

I have heard that slots have been acquired at the said London Airport but that talks are still on going between the Airline in question and LBA’s management due to other route opportunities been discussed..

 

[Jordan-34092]

to be fair i dont see the point of a london route now, not with being able to go to london return for 25 pound by train from Bradford Interchange and having a choice of 3 trains a day. For this to really work they are going to need to be able to offer something completely new or different.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

£25 off-peak maybe- but this is not the standard fare -surely!

Anyway until the rail companies offer through trains to the London airport (s) with through ticketing to connecting flights I do not see how the rail companies can possibly compete.

I presume you are only thinking of city to city travel.

 

[rmac]

Whilst I appreciate a London route that provides interlining it is of great value there are those who would use it solely for getting to London and environs. I am speaking from an Edinburgh point of view which is obviously much further than Leeds so the plane has an advantage, nevertheless the train takes only 4 - 5hours., and one every hour. I am visiting relatives in Dorset this month so considered the train v plane. By train I have to go to K.Cross, then tube (or taxi) to Waterloo carrying cases etc. By BA I fly to terminal 5 and transfer to a National Express coach.(easy) Thus price, timings and convenience make the train unattractive. I have a friend who flies EDI - LHR every Monday morning, LHR - MAN every Wednesday evening, MAN - EDI every Thursday evening. I asked him "what about the train?" ... never consider it, even LHR to MAN was the answer.
So it depends where you want to be in London or that region and the same must apply for those travelling from Yorkshire. Of course cost is also a big factor and the numbers flying Edinburgh to London are enormous with all London airports covered, inc Manston and soon Southend, so load factors are good which promotes lower fares. The demand is there.
Could LBA support a LHR service? If an airline had the confidence that Yorkshire people would use it in sufficient numbers .... maybe. But it would have to be BA for interlining thus giving connections and point to point.

 

[White Heather]

There is no doubt in the minds of LBA that it could support a LHR route and I do know that they are very much trying to secure an operator to do it and have not (and never will) give up, despite the runway and slot restrictions. Should that ever happen though, it is unlikely that the route will operate more than a couple of times a day at peak times for interlining, at least initially.

Amongst the business community in Yorkshire, there remains a lot of anger that the BMi route was run down and then axed, as the train in no way substitutes for the plane when it comes to global air travel, nor will it ever do so unless they build a link to LHR and operate through trains direct to the airport from Leeds and other cities. That, frankly, looks a somewhat far fetched thought at the present time. The situation is rediculous, not just for LBA, but for other Northern Airports with no LHR link and successive Governments have allowed this situation to prevail, handing the initiative to foreign hub airports such as Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt.

 

[Jordan-34092]

I understand where your coming from white heather, and your right. Even if there is a LHR route i rather go VIA Amsterdam with KLM if i was to go on a global flight to somewhere such as japan, rather than going to London Heathrow.

 

[rmac]

So if everyone is like Concorde Lover there is no hope for a viable Heathrow link.

 

[Jordan-34092]

So if everyone is like Concorde Lover there is no hope for a viable Heathrow link.

i can't see a London route working out in the long term only the short term.

 

[White Heather]

It depends on who operated to LHR from LBA Concorde Lover. Ideally, it would need to be British Airways, as by far the majority of interlining through LHR is with them, and there is a real demand for being able to book through from LBA to anywhere in the world - almost anyway. We all know that BA are not very likely to consider LBA, but you can bet your bottom dollar that LBA management will not leave any stone unturned in their attempts to get someone back on that route, irrespective of how hard it might be, and BA would be the one airline they would dearly love to get.

Courtesy of the government's weak management of aviation in this country and BAA's landing fee policy, LBA are fighting with one hand tied behind their back though. If they did pull it off, it would be a remarkable achievement.

 

[wawkrk]

Many people do not understand the importance of being able to interline with the same airline group. Loyalty programmes play a big part in who you fly with if you are a frequent flyer. It is the frequent flyers who make the profits for the mainline carriers and not the day trippers. If you travel a lot, it becomes a bit of an obsession because of the huge benefits. I have in the past for example used two free of charge business class tickets to Hong Kong and Singapore. This is a huge attraction. You don’t like to waste points and air miles by spreading them over different programmes. You need to build maximum points in one programme. For me, BMI’s Star Alliance programme was weak. I used to fly to Heathrow and then onwards with BA to the Far East or Australia and South Africa etc. The BMI Star Alliance points were useless even though I had a second tier Diamond card. I would have preferred these points to have supported my BA gold card.
Had the Heathrow route have been operated by BA, then passengers numbers would have been much higher for sure.
Eventually, I changed to KLM and the Flying Dutchman programme which is now Skyteam. I could use KLM and partners to fly almost anywhere. My strategy paid off, as a Royal Wing member for more than 10 years, I became a life member of Skyteam elite plus. I don’t need to use KLM all the time now and my current 300,000 plus air miles will never be lost until I use them. Others struggle to keep their air miles and points which can be lost if you cannot keep up with the flights.
BA would be the only contender for the Heathrow route but, I have no idea how many local travellers are in BA’s loyalty programme but I suspect many have already been lost to KLM.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Wawkrk makes some excellent points, however one which is often overlooked is the importance of a through ticket. No one who is an experienced air traveller is going to use anthing else.

This means that whoever takes up a London route must either have its own onward connections or, alternatively,
be a member of an alliance which has onward connections.

I would personally say that for a London service to survive it must appeal primarily to customers with onward connections and secondly to those travelling point to point. However you look at it, unless the service has appeal to both of these groups it will not be viable. This means that budget carriers are definitely not an option.

Part of me would like to see BA flying the LHR route but I am very loyal to KLM as they have stuck by LBA for many years and I would hate to see them being adversly impacted by BA.

Unfortunately KLM do not fly to all the places I travel to so this forces me to drvier to London or Manchester.

LbaYorkie

 

[cmj]

This means that whoever takes up a London route must either have its own onward connections or, alternatively,
be a member of an alliance which has onward connections.

They will need to be a 'proper' airline, but I don't think you need to connect to another airline in the same alliance.

I've flown with SAS (HAU-OSL) and KLM (OSL-AMS-LBA) on the same ticket before. I obviously don't get KLM miles for the SAS flight, but you can still make the connection.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

You may be right, but I seem to recall that withing the same alliance bags can be checked through. Code shares probably play a part in this too.

 

[White Heather]

You may be right, but I seem to recall that withing the same alliance bags can be checked through. Code shares probably play a part in this too.

That is correct. Last year I flew BMi from MAN to LHR and then Air Canada from LHR to YUL (Montreal). Both operators are in Star Alliance and my bags were checked through, which was great. I had to change terminals, but with no requirement to pick up my bags and haul them around LHR, the whole thing was really simple. LHR gets a lot of criticism, but that was my first time there as a passenger and it went like clockwork - apart from Terminal 3 being packed out anyway!

 

[wawkrk]

You used to be able to check the bags through with all the main airlines whether they were partners or not. It had benefits for all airlines concerned.

 

[rmac]

White Heather:
A couple of years ago we flew EDI to LHR with BMi, then LHR-JFK with United, changed terminals (1-3) in little time but effortlessly. Return was JFK - FRA (on Luftansa which was awful) the FRA - EDI with Luftansa again, this time ok. LBA could do with a FRA route so that more interlining is possible. We had the choice of Dublin (EI) Paris (AF) Amsterdam (KLM) but via LHR with Star Alliance was the best for price.