Leeds Bradford: Route Development & Rumours

[airforced]

I don't care what they say WH but at the moment at least LBA - MUC is the only option on the flybmi site. Furthermore, LBA does not appear on the Lufty booking engine. Maybe this will change but at the moment it is a no-no. Maybe a certain amount of hype has been injected into the LBA management press release?
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[White Heather]

I don't care what they say WH but at the moment at least LBA - MUC is the only option on the flybmi site. Furthermore, LBA does not appear on the Lufty booking engine. Maybe this will change but at the moment it is a no-no. Maybe a certain amount of hype has been injected into the LBA management press release?
View attachment 11739

I have had clarification from Chris Sanders, LBA ops director and he has confirmed that at the moment, there is no code share but that hopefully this will happen - presumably before the route starts flying. I would however point out that the press release I have shown a clip from is not the LBA press release, but the Flybmi press release, so if there is any hype, it isn't coming from LBA.

 

[airforced]

LBA management advised us that the Munich flight did benefit from a Lufthansa code share, and also see the attached line taken from the Flybmi press release on their own website.


Passengers will further benefit from on-going connections via Munich thanks to flybmi’s partnership with Lufthansa. The new route opens up flybmi’s customers to a wealth of global destinations.

You will note that in my original post that I said that it didn't look as though it was a code share at the moment. I added in my second post that maybe this would change. The quote from your post confirms that LBA management said that the flight did benefit from a Lufty code share which your contact now appears to be backtracking on somewhat by saying hopefully this will happen.

I would hope that such an announcement will be made, and in good time, as it will enhance the popularity and viability of the route considerably but I am not sure why you decided to contradict what I said when I acurately clarified the current situation, ie no current code share agreement in place, in reply to the question TheLocalYokel asked.

 

[White Heather]

Geez Airforced, lighten up! Don't make an issue out of it. You were right and I was wrong.

I contradicted what you said based on what we were told at the consultative committee which also appeared to be confirmed by Flybmi's own press release. However by pure chance, I received an email from the aviation director yesterday (who was not at the meeting) and what he told me, without any prompting, is that the next step is to secure the code share agreement, so I clarified this in my next post to show that in fact, you were correct and I was wrong - albeit my incorrect statement was based on being told something at the meeting that it seems, wasn't yet the case. It was probably a misunderstanding at the meeting.

Happy Christmas!

 

[White Heather]

The minutes of the recent Consultative Meeting have now been released so I can confirm the route that LBA had hoped to announce some time between September and December, but didn't, was in fact Madrid. Despite LBA offering very attractive terms and the airline concerned applying for the slots required, LBA in the end lost out to another (unidentified) airport. It would appear from the minutes that the reason for this was the uncertainty surrounding the impact of Brexit on aviation generally but particularly on the arrangements with the UK.

 

[louis_walton]

The new airport management should ideally become very friendly with Ryanair as they essentially offer everything they want such as Madrid. They have so many destinations that LBA want and need from sun to city, I was quiet sad when they didn’t release anything new this year maybe there just coming to terms with the new management. Merry Christmas everyone have a great day tomorrow.

 

[ChurchFenton]

White Heather, do you know, or are allowed to say, which airline was looking at operating the service to Madrid? Think this is a route which will come in time.

 

[White Heather]

White Heather, do you know, or are allowed to say, which airline was looking at operating the service to Madrid? Think this is a route which will come in time.

Sorry Church Fenton, I can't say as LBA management didn't tell us which airline they had been talking to. I suppose the list of probably candidates is quite short though.

 

[twevsmiff]

White Heather, do you know, or are allowed to say, which airline was looking at operating the service to Madrid? Think this is a route which will come in time.

ex_crew
Active Member
Oct 28, 2018 #1,204

Im wonderimg what the chances are of it being Iberia Express to Madrid ......

The above message was posted here in late October

 

[lbaspotter]

Regards Madrid route. I'm lead to believe the airline in question was Ryanair.
I understand a 4th based aircraft is being talked about.

 

[louis_walton]

Regards Madrid route. I'm lead to believe the airline in question was Ryanair.
I understand a 4th based aircraft is being talked about.

That's good to hear as they have been heavily expanding at Manchester recently.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Why is Madrid likely to succeed? I would have thought traffic would be limited on such a route, especially if its operated by a carrier that doesnt offer connections. There are other destinations that would be more lucrative. Madrid would be low on my wish list.

 

[lbaspotter]

I think you'll find that Ryanair have a codeshare agreement with Spanish based operator Air Europa whom offer quite a few long haul routes out of Madrid on a daily basis. If I remember correctly theses routes can be booked on the Ryanair website too.

PS: Merry Christmas one and all.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Through ticketing would be an incentive to book but Air Europa's route network is rather small. Plus no point connecting to other spanish airports as most are served direct from LBA. I still dont see it as being viable. Madrid is way out in the west, there are many more centrally located airports in Europe with many more posibilities for east, west and northbound connections.

 

[louis_walton]

Barcelona works why wouldn't Madrid. It is also the capital of Spain so business and leisure passengers would use the route as well as connecting passengers presumable to South America where a lot of Air Europa's long haul routes travel to.

 

[a300boy]

I would visit Madrid for sure !
Lots of South America connections too.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

South America I get. Barcelona also serves several coastal resorts and the southern pyrenees. Madrids appeal is far more limited. Not saying there wont be some people who want to go there but wouldnt warrant anything more than a couple of flights
a week.

 

[louis_walton]

South America I get. Barcelona also serves several coastal resorts and the southern pyrenees. Madrids appeal is far more limited. Not saying there wont be some people who want to go there but wouldnt warrant anything more than a couple of flights
a week.

4 times weekly would still be great for the airport.

 

[Aviador]

As good as it would be to have Ryanair serve Madrid it would be better served by an airline offering connections. Ryanair doesn't do that so it would be limited to mostly leisure passengers. In an ideal world we need a twice daily service. A service that offers onward connections with a ticket price that is also attractive to leisure passengers.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Madrid has worked with easyJet from Bristol for many years - at least daily throughout the year (double daily Thursdays) except for January when it reduces to 4 x weekly. It's point to point with no connections so why would Madrid not work from LBA at point to point only?