Route Development & Rumours

[rmac]

I would prefer Leeds to Manchester if I lived in Yorkshire. To be dropped off locally or to leave the car at an airport near to home is always better in my view. The facilities at Leeds, Newcastle, etc are perfectly fine even for a long haul flight.

 

[ex_crew]

Thats good that your happy with the facilities with LBA for a long haul flight .

 

[White Heather]

Think we are getting a bit lost here.

Im not questioning any transiting airports.

I am questioning the airport of origin , Leeds.

That is rather negative if you don't mind me saying. I agree entirely with Bigman. If people wish to fly to the East via Istanbul from LBA, Turkish have the aircraft to do it and use LBA. The transport links you refer to has little impact on our other hub flights so there is absolutely no reason why it should on a flight to Istanbul either. Some people would prefer to fly from LBA to wherever, and don't mind the change of aircraft, rather than fly from MAN, even if that flight is direct. Cost is obviously also a big issue. The problem is simply getting an airline to make the business decision to do it, despite MAN being 65 miles over the hill, and the airline in question having an aircraft available as you yourelf said, - and I am reliably assured that it is the latter than is often the problem, not LBA, with or without its 'issues'.

 

[White Heather]

Think we are getting a bit lost here.

Im not questioning any transiting airports.

I am questioning the airport of origin , Leeds.

That is rather negative if you don't mind me saying. I agree with Bigman. If people wish to fly to the East via Istanbul from LBA, Turkish have the aircraft to do it and use LBA. The transport links you refer to has little impact on our other hub flights so there is absolutely no reason why it should on a flight to Istanbul either. Some people would prefer to fly from LBA to wherever, and don't mind the change of aircraft, rather than fly from MAN, even if that flight is direct. Cost is obviously also a big issue. The problem is simply getting an airline to make the business decision to do it, despite MAN being 65 miles over the hill, and the airline in question having an aircraft available as you yourself said, - and I am reliably assured that it is the latter than is often the problem, not LBA, with or without its 'issues'.

 

[Jerry]

All Turkish Airlines offer is just the same type of service as Etihad Emirates and Qatar. One stop to the East and the direct far east flights at MAN don't seem to effect them. I can't see why LBA with it's surrounding catchment area couldn't sustain at least a daily flight. And what special facilities does an airport actually need for successful long haul flights?

 

[dmrodgers]

I agree whole heartedly with you White Heather with one exception, that being the availability of of an aircraft to operate to LBA. Doesn't seem to have effected MAN with regard to their massive expansion of routes over the past two years with airlines clambering to open both new short haul and long haul routes. I the aircraft were available for MAN then they must have been available for LBA. There has to be some other underlying reason that our airport is missing out big time with route expansion. Take out Jet2, Ryanair or Monarch and we could be in big trouble as I haven't seen any other airline knocking on the door wanting to move in here an open up new routes.

 

[rmac]

But much can be said of Newcastle, Liverpool, East Midlands, etc. If more people insisted on flying locally then the airlines would want to meet that need. As long as people continue to make the trip to larger airports then nothing much will change.

 

[ex_crew]

I dont want to come across as being negative and like you all , would love to see airlines like Turkish use LBA .

So , why havent they ?

Because there are much better options available at the moment.

 

[Britannia94]

It's just an idea but what if it isn't a case of aircraft availability but the lack of choice when it comes services offered at LBA. When I mean this I don't mean airport facilities, I think the facilities at Leeds would be suited for a connection via Istanbul, the only thing I feel that lets the airport down is baggage reclaim and immigration, but we won't go there. What I mean what if it's the companies involved at the airport or the lack of. Let's take ground handling as an example there's only two ground handlers at LBA Swissport and Jet2.com. Obviously Jet2.com will only handle there own flights so this leaves an airline with the only option of swissport. What if the lack of a competitive choice results in them being less inclined when only 65 miles down there's an airport with more choice for contracts with competitive pricing. Now I'm only trying to think of it from a different prospective, and I've used the ground handling as an example.

What I am really trying to say what if the lack of choices at lba when it comes to services such as these compared to Manchester is a deterrent to airlines?

 

[Finger66]

I think we are getting a little carried away again here. That said it is right to say TK have the aircraft types to serve LBA. Not sure of the market really for a daily service. TK have a good product that keeps winning awards. I still thing we are better pushing for those closer European links rather than a bigger fish such as TK, QR or EY for example. However much we would all love a major announcement we must keep a sense of realism and perspective. That is not me being negative, just suggesting where our best choices for route development exist

 

[whoshotjimmi]

Hi everyone. Thought I would use my recent experience to wade into this discussion.

I have just got back from visiting Hong Kong and Vietnam. In both directions, I was to use the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong from Manchester. This was certainly the easiest option in the bigger scheme of things and, at the time of booking, the cheapest. On the way back however, for one reason or another, I missed my flight from Hanoi to Hong Kong. This meant that I had to find an alternative route home. As I was tired and, more importantly, needed to get home for work, I was keen to fly into LBA if possible with Manchester being the second choice. The only options into Leeds were via Amsterdam or Heathrow, severely limiting the competition and thus pushing up the prices. The flights via Amsterdam were ludicrously expensive and the flight via Heathrow was not an option as it did not arrive in time to catch the early Northbound flight to LBA. I ended up plumping for a route that took me via Bangkok and Abu Dhabi, arriving into Manchester yesterday morning.

Now, if LBA had a more typical Heathrow operation (early southbound with a slightly later Northbound), the options would have been greater, the cost far lower and, for the purposes of fairness, would actually have been cheaper than getting to Manchester. However, the lack of other options was the most obvious difference. To get to Manchester, I could go via Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Copenhagen etc etc etc etc and essentially pick my price and arrival time. To get to Leeds, I had to go through AMS or LHR. In the end, there was no contest.

 

[lbaspotter]

After reading this thread it put things into prospective. LBA is just a glorified bucket and spade airport with a few hub connections. It dose what it's says on side of tin, and sadly it I'll remain that way for the foreseable future..
I would love to see one of the Middle East hubs been connected or the an airline open up business routes to the likes of Paris, Brussels, Munich. Frankfurt, Copenhagen or Madrid. But as things stand it dosen't seem as though the airlines are interested, there all too bloody narrow minded, so will continue to go to the big bad Airport on other side of hill.

Now I'll go back to me day job. And put my hat back on..

 

[ex_crew]

I have learnt a few things from this discussion and still remain slightly on the fence.
Like I said earlier , I have been following the progression of the airport since I was a child
and would love to see it grow.

I still feel that at the moment the airport does not provide the facilities that regular , scheduled , medium haul passengers accept which deters carriers from coming to LBA.

So far we have had PIA and thats it.

The route was successful and currently un-served .

So why , so far has there been expansion with this route and other similar routes ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

After reading this thread it put things into prospective. LBA is just a glorified bucket and spade airport with a few hub connections. It dose what it's says on side of tin, and sadly it I'll remain that way for the foreseable future..

I think that's true of most UK regional airports apart from MAN, with BHX and EDI both now moving in that direction too.

 

[a300boy]

We were told the Islamabad route might be coming back once they had secured an operator so you never know !

 

[Finger66]

This is proving to be a really good healthy debate with strong views and opinions, logic, economics etc. Why, when the main bucket and spade routes such as PMI for example support four carriers in LS, MON, FR and TOM with multiple frequencies between them, cant the business airlines or mainline carriers see that there is the demand from LBA. Business travellers need the frequency (min 2 flights each weekday) which is why these have to be flown by 29 to 100 seat aircraft. Not 180 seat+ aircraft. It really is time these aurlines stood up to be counted

 

[armadillomaster]

Good debate.

My point about Turkish was to fill the gap left by PIA but it would then offer up more connections to Asia, not just Islamabad.

I think another would be Icelandair. Their connections to the US and prices could work. If marketed right and given time it could be a good option IMO of course.

 

[Seasider]

I have really enjoyed reading these recent posts. Good constructive arguments for all parts and each one respecting the other's point of view. Thank you to all contributors.
For my "two penneth worth", If the airport thinks it can support a regular Transatlantic service, then WOW via Keflavik would be ideal. They would not be diluting any of their other UK services. To the east, Turkish would be fine but would they be prepared to dilute their MAN service?

 

[rangieowner]

As a pessimist I am not expecting a great deal of progress with route development in the near future, but will be happy to see it when/if it materializes!

 

[LBAYORKIE]

https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2017/04/24/qatar-airways-launch-cardiff-flights/

Very frustrating, Qatar announce services to Cardiff!!!!!