Manchester Airport - General Thread

[thelonegroover]

Not to nit pick user but Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands not Rotterdam.

:crazy:

No it's not

 

[Aviador]

Not to nit pick user but Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands not Rotterdam.

:crazy:

No it's not

Welcome to Forums4airports thelonegroover, do you know something we don't?

 

[IanFarquharson]

The Hague

 

[Dobbo]

Do we know when the February stats are out?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

LBA787 wrote:
Not to nit pick user but Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands not Rotterdam.

:crazy:

No it's not

The Hague

Amsterdam is the capital but The Hague (Den Haag) is the centre of government, parliament, home of the Netherlands Supreme Court and the site of overseas embassies. In other words it's the administrative capital but Amsterdam is the official capital.

Lots of references on the Internet - here is one.

http://www.infoplease.com/country/netherlands.html

 

[David_itl]

http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/mags-cowan-heads-for-stansted.html

Personnel swap between Stansted and MAN!

Andrew Cowan, currently chief strategy officer of MAG, has been appointed divisional chief executive of London Stansted Airport.

Andrew Harrison, who has led Stansted since MAG’s acquisition of the airport in March 2013, will assume the role of chief strategy officer at MAG, based in Manchester.

 

[Dobbo]

Just shy of 11% increase in the February stats. Significant increase which, if repeated over the rest of 2016, would see well over 25m PAX through MAN.

Caveat the extra leap year day.

 

[Dobbo]

Are Iran Air looking at MAN again?

 

[David_itl]

It was Mahan Air that flirted with both MAN and BHX. The initial report I saw said new bilateral was 21 flights weekly between London and Iran but have found a number of articles that states "Iranian state TV said the countries' civil aviation authorities would allow each nation to maintain 21 weekly flights to various destinations. There will also be unlimited cargo flights."

So I am very hopeful both MAN and BHX will see 3 or 4 weekly to Tehran in the medium term.

 

[andyc941]

Its been reported on the Manchester mailing list that the Landmark hanger had been purchased by Signature last month,and today the hanger has been re branded to Signature.
All credit to the the above mailing list.

 

[User001]

With the news of 4 new routes in the past 7 days alone, the 25 million passenger mark should be a walk in park for 2016 now!

 

[Dobbo]

With the TP and future infrastructure developments like HS2, HS3 new roads and motorways this figure should continue to rise. If the proposed transpennine road tunnel comes to pass it will bring sheffield and the East Midlands to MANs doorstep. MAN is enshrined as central to the northern powerhouse. Hopefully the wider catchment and support for economic growth in the north should see further growth over the next decade.

 

[andyc941]

http://news.sky.com/story/1662916/plane-spotter-britons-held-on-terror-charges
I know two of the spotters being held,and hope they will be set free and coming home soon.

 

[David_itl]

The airports's very useful "Use it or Lose it" approach. It means diddly squat getting the desired destinations we all want if the pointy end of the planes aren't filled.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...nals/business-world-play-part-future-11092995


"Next month, we will add to that list Los Angeles and Boston and, in June, the first ever direct flight from Manchester to Beijing will launch, with Hainan Airlines."This is a hugely significant new route for Greater Manchester and I urge you all to support it. We will continue to work hard to secure new destinations, particularly those of importance to the business community.

"And that is where we want to work with you, to understand the destinations you want to connect to and the places you may currently travel to regularly but have to fly from other airports.

"That information is invaluable and can make a real difference in our discussions with airlines, as recently evidenced by the launch of a new service to Nuremberg, which was secured in part thanks to support we received from two major corporates on this patch."

 

[Aceshigh]

HS3 and the transpenine tunnel would indeed make a difference BUT HS3 is nothing more than some fiddling with what we already have. A clapped out service ....

The £300m investment on the transpenine tunnel actually gets you about 6 mile of A ROAD at most. In infastructure terms it's a bit like doing the weekly shop and only having enough for a loaf of bread.

Road and rail investment for Manchester Airport needs siezmic change not a fiddle at the margins with a few copper.....

£300m sounds a lot....trust me its crumbs !

 

[Dobbo]

The airports's very useful "Use it or Lose it" approach. It means diddly squat getting the desired destinations we all want if the pointy end of the planes aren't filled.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...nals/business-world-play-part-future-11092995


"Next month, we will add to that list Los Angeles and Boston and, in June, the first ever direct flight from Manchester to Beijing will launch, with Hainan Airlines."This is a hugely significant new route for Greater Manchester and I urge you all to support it. We will continue to work hard to secure new destinations, particularly those of importance to the business community.

"And that is where we want to work with you, to understand the destinations you want to connect to and the places you may currently travel to regularly but have to fly from other airports.

"That information is invaluable and can make a real difference in our discussions with airlines, as recently evidenced by the launch of a new service to Nuremberg, which was secured in part thanks to support we received from two major corporates on this patch."

I think this very much plays into the route development and retention options we have discussed at length. In particular, this links into the airlines serving them.

So, reference is made to the LAX route starting in a couple of months time. However, this is operated by TCC on a 2x weekly basis for now. With the best will in the world, TCX are predominantly aeisure carrier. If you want to see (for example) a VS, UA, NZ or DL on the route, it needs business support. This is tough when you could hop on a Shuttle and get on a BA flight twice a day. For leisure passengers there is also price to consider.

If we want to see routes like Beijing, Shanghai suceed. Premium pax are required. If we want to see new "business" routes like Tokyo, Seoul, KL, Bangkok or San Fran work we need premium pax to make use of them. If we want to see existing routes be upgraded, either in the carrier (LAX) frequency (HKG) or to go non stop (SIN) they need business support. Clearly the MEB3 have good support, and it is now up to MAN to pick routes from this mass flow to pitch as viable on a direct basis.

It plays into the wider northern powerhouse concept. Bringing places like Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield closer together will surely help, but at some point an airline may take the plunge and if the opportunity is lost then you may be waiting a generation for the next opportunity.

 

[Land23R]

I think this very much plays into the route development and retention options we have discussed at length. In particular, this links into the airlines serving them.

So, reference is made to the LAX route starting in a couple of months time. However, this is operated by TCC on a 2x weekly basis for now. With the best will in the world, TCX are predominantly aeisure carrier. If you want to see (for example) a VS, UA, NZ or DL on the route, it needs business support. This is tough when you could hop on a Shuttle and get on a BA flight twice a day. For leisure passengers there is also price to consider.

If we want to see routes like Beijing, Shanghai suceed. Premium pax are required. If we want to see new "business" routes like Tokyo, Seoul, KL, Bangkok or San Fran work we need premium pax to make use of them. If we want to see existing routes be upgraded, either in the carrier (LAX) frequency (HKG) or to go non stop (SIN) they need business support. Clearly the MEB3 have good support, and it is now up to MAN to pick routes from this mass flow to pitch as viable on a direct basis.

It plays into the wider northern powerhouse concept. Bringing places like Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield closer together will surely help, but at some point an airline may take the plunge and if the opportunity is lost then you may be waiting a generation for the next opportunity.

I don't think we should assume that all pax paying premium fares for J Class & First are travelling on "Business" although the majority may be. There are some retired folk, who may not regard themselves as very wealthy, who are prepared to pay for the extra comfort and service on long haul flights. Premium economy will be attractive to some as well. And this probably applies to non-British citizens too.

Apart from those retired, there are others in the media, entertainment, and some sports people for example in very well paid jobs who are prepared to splash out when flying on holidays (although some may qualify for upgrades from airline loyalty programs) I wonder if they would settle for TCX premium cabins?

 

[Dobbo]

I think that's a good point. The economics of routes are changing - looking at some of the larger airlines they are increasingly replacing first class for business and premium economy. I think it is fair to say that most premium PAX will be business travellers, but premium economy is affordable for long haul leisure as is (albeit to a lesser extent) business class.

Airlines like CX can make the three class mix work and I bet in future we will see SQ do that with the A359. NZ have done it for a while.

The problem with TCX is not being in a major alliance. It is a major incentive for business travellers to book on an airline where they accrue points. If you are a star alliance member, you might go via Frankfurt or if you use Avios you might go via Heathrow on BA if there is no direct option for wherever you are going from MAN.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I don't think we should assume that all pax paying premium fares for J Class & First are travelling on "Business" although the majority may be. There are some retired folk, who may not regard themselves as very wealthy, who are prepared to pay for the extra comfort and service on long haul flights.

From personal experience that's absolutely true. My wife and I fly to Melbourne every year to see our daughter and her family. Because my wife has a back condition that would make it impossible to sit in a normal airline seat for such a long distance we fly premium class.

In fact, because we are flexible with dates and can book many months in advance we have managed to get some excellent deals through a well-known high street long haul travel specialist that enables us to fly in F at not much more than the regular business class fare. We use Emirates and this year will be our sixth trip since 2010 and we have always managed to get significantly reduced fares always in F, except on one occasion when we used BHX which was two-class between BHX and DXB.

The point I'm getting to is that we are certainly not wealthy and always encounter similar couples to ourselves in age in F who, upon chatting with them, appear as 'ordinary' as we are and are either visiting friends/relatives or taking holiday trips, sometimes 'once in a lifetime'. In our experience, often more than half the F cabin appears to be leisure passengers rather than those on business.

Airlines and travel agents are certainly aware of the senior citizen market many of whom do have surplus cash to spend on such things as premium air fares.

Of course that leads to the debate about whether all pensioners should be eligible for bus passes, winter heating payments etc but that's not a discussion for this thread.

 

[Dobbo]

I think TheLocalYokel makes good points about the marketplace in his account. Firstly, you are to be congratulated on being able to secure F tickets at such a rate - I'll have to get some tips sometime!!

However:

1 - the fact that you have been able to secure an advanced low price affects the airlines yield for a route. That's no criticism, but in general terms business travellers pay the "full fat" price because they want flexibility and will travel at short notice.

2 - the melbourne route is I'm sure one of the most popular non direct destinations from MAN - particularly for leisure travellers.

3 - most of the major routes are covered, but for "business" routes (e.g. Tokyo, LA, KL, Shanghai)where there will be a relatively limited leisure flow as compared to australia and where yield is a necessity to make the economics stack up it is an essential issue to deal with.

This obviously assumes that few further destinations/connections are possible from these places (and that will be impacted by which airlines operate).