Rumours about new destinations or airlines?

[White Heather]

I can tell you for sure that LBA are certainly wanting a route to Istanbul and I would be highly surprised if Turkish wasn't their number one target, particularly given their rapid expansion. Any Pakistan link might be useful but even if PIA remain at LBA, they still want a service to Istanbul due to the world connections available.

 

[User0001]

Now Im on my laptop, here is the article:

http://www.traveldailymedia.com/204629/ ... l-flights/

I do think Manchester has the edge on larger o&d market, as well as a presence from Pegasus anyway (airlines to tend to like adding to a market they already serve). They have served MAN-DLM scheduled in the past as well as the current AYT charter which is back this summer.

LPL/LBA may have the edge if they want to tap into the North West market but not do directly head on with Turkish (although one could argue the competition is there anyway) and with Turkish already advertise direct MAN-IST so Pegasus could jump on the back on the advertising and mop up any passengers searching just generic MAN-Istanbul which will throw up both Turkish and Pegasus.

Sorry to hijack the thread MAN wise but seems the best place for an all round generic discussion and high view/post rate.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It won't be long before they (Turkish) start to look at airports like LBA, GLA and BRS in the UK.

Lots of rumours about BRS and Turkish Airlines with the ubiquitous Simon Calder mentioning it in a piece in his newspaper in January.

[textarea]Unlike its Gulf-based rivals, which have to decide if they could fill a wide-bodied plane, Turkish Airlines can deploy smaller 737s to places such as Birmingham and Edinburgh, with Bristol tipped to be next.[/textarea]
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/new ... 51139.html

He's right about the 737s being a better fit than the MEB3's wide bodies (even the new smaller ones) for airports like BRS, and I would imagine LBA.

 

[User0001]

Now EDI is firmly online, to me the next logical UK destination for TK is BRS. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar would be hard pushed to get a decent payload out of BRS and may opt for CWL.

[offtopic]Off topic so apologies

Simon Calder knows very little about the irline industry and it p*sses me off every time the BBC wheel him out. There are much more qualified persons to talk about the aviation, but this man just irks me.

Sorry[/offtopic]

:whiteflag:

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[offtopic]

Emirates, Etihad and Qatar would be hard pushed to get a decent payload out of BRS and may opt for CWL.

Interesting comment. Perhaps it could be developed in the BRS or CWL threads.[/offtopic]

 

[752]

I'm pretty sure Pegasus offered DXB connections through their Istanbul hub from STN, looking at some of the destinations offered from Istanbul, they include; Doha, Cairo, Dubai, Moscow & Kuwait. Its not a scratch on what Turkish offer however hopefully if they do come to LBA, the flights will be full! who knows ey'!

 

[Bigman]

Turkish would be the preferred choice without a doubt. They would increase their share of the Middle East market, and complement what they offer from Manchester. If they did a code-share job for PIA, they would probably upgrade to a 330 or 773 at Manchester.

 

[yorkie40]

Anymore on the turkish rumour anybody!

 

[lbia]

I think the most realistic option for the next long haul connection could come from Etihad, that are getting cosy with small regional airlines to feed their Abu Dhabi hub. They have got a deal going on with Darwin using Saabs based in Geneva.

I think if they could get a twice daily Leeds-Geneva service with Etihad Regional offering a business friendly schedule plus connections onwards to Etihads Geneva-Abu Dhabi they would be onto a winner. Jet2/easyjets Geneva offering is aimed for the lesiure ski market and are not business friendly. A twice daily Saab would be a great size for that route.

 

[lbaspotter]

You honestly think a twice daily Leeds-Geneva service would work "LBIA" using a smaller Saab 2000? I guess the fact that Jet2 have dropped Geneva for summer may help but they would be up against it in the winter season with both Jet2 and easyjet operating multiple flights daily.

Surely Etihad Regional would be better going head to head on the Düsseldorf route seen as Etihad have a code-share and a Alliance with Air Berlin. In theory Jet2 have done the hard work already by showing them that there is a known market for point to point passengers as well! It would give Jet2 a reason to drop another city route.

A Brussels route is what we really need back. Hopefully LBIA's management can get some off that £20 million government start up funding so that they can tempt an airline to restart the route.

.

 

[Aviador]

Birmingham and Leeds have both reappeared on the Vueling website under both the 'airports' and the 'timetables' sections but as before nothing is bookable and no destinations are listed.

Interesting! Vueling is of course fully owned by the International Airlines Group (IAG) the owners of British Airways who appear to have a good relationship with LBA at the moment.

 

[stevolba]

On the vueling homepage, Leeds appears on the "customised" offers advert, with destinations of Bilbao, Madrid and Ibiza, could be one to watch

 

[User0001]

Leeds (and Birmingham) have been appearing on and off the Vueling site for a few months now. Initially appeared about 2-3 months back, then, taken off, and then re-added.

Will be interesting to see what their plan I and as to why LBA/BHX keep appearing on the site, no smoke without fire.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I know this wouldn't necessarily work with Birmingham but, as Vueling is owned by IAG, could it be possible that through connections could be offered on certain routes, such as Bilbao, via LHR and BA?

 

[Seasider]

I think that is a distinct possibilty.

 

[ChurchFenton]

Though curiously, Newcastle, Aberdeen and Belfast, which also have BA service to LHR at higher frequency than LBA does, do not appear on the Vueling website.

 

[Aviador]

It was mentioned a few weeks ago that the Vueling website was indicating Leeds and Birmingham as destinations. Today the airline's announced it is to serve Barcelona El Prat from Birmingham. It would appear some good news is heading our way over the next few weeks, any guesses where they might be flying to from LBA?

 

[SNOWMAN]

hi aviador
Madrid would be great fingers crossed that this might happen (at long last)
regards
sm1

 

[lbaspotter]

It was mentioned a few weeks ago that the Vueling website was indicating Leeds and Birmingham as destinations. Today the airline's announced it is to serve Barcelona El Prat from Birmingham. It would appear some good news is heading our way over the next few weeks, any guesses where they might be flying to from LBA?

Well Vueling have just announced 31 new routes for summer 2015 and it doesn't include either Leeds/Bradford or Manchester. Birmingham and Belfast City get flights to Barcelona whilst London Gatwick gets a Rome service. http://airlineroute.net/2014/11/04/vy-s ... cial141104

Also looking at there route network the airlines Madrid based operation only operates internal domestic Spanish routes for some reason. So for that I can't see Vueling opening a Leeds to Madrid route next year.

 

[Bigman]

So that's another rumour bites the dust then. As if we haven't been here many times before!!