Route Development & Rumours

[Sherburnflyer92]

I've previously explained a different way of looking at it. @LBA4EVER your literally looking at passengers. Ignoring the fact Turkish Airlines is a huge cargo airline that fills its underbellies up daily. Alongside its limited, but large enough, dedicated cargo airline.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

It's passenger traffic that drives new routes, cargo just follows. Except in the case of cargo only airlines of course but pure freighters are relatively rare these days as there is so much below deck cargo capacity on wide bodied pax aircraft. Its correct to say though that cargo revenue is important.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Not necessarily the case depends on airline and what not. BA as an example fills its holds. When introducing the A380 they kept the 744 or introduced the 777-300 in supplement due to cargo space in the 777 above the A380. EK another a case in hand. When they go from 777 to A380 they usually also introduce within months a 777 service due to the belly space in the a380 much less then the 777. Or they play strategic games - MAN gets 3 A380's whilst BHX keeps a 777 daily due to the cargo space.

If they had 737-800's/A321 going MAN-IST I would agree. But they have wide bodies do they not? Therefore cargo has certainly got to be a driving factor for TK in MAN.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

There are several factors to take into account, not least what freight rates the market will support. I would think right now with the shortage of sea freight capacity that air freight rates at least from the Far East are relatively high but generally revenue from air freight is low compared to that from passengers. You are right about A380 Cargo capacity, it is rather poor.

 

[LBA4EVER]

I've previously explained a different way of looking at it. @LBA4EVER your literally looking at passengers. Ignoring the fact Turkish Airlines is a huge cargo airline that fills its underbellies up daily. Alongside its limited, but large enough, dedicated cargo airline.

I was actually thinking about both the passenger and cargo, SOU i feel would be restricted by runway length and regards MAN do they really think they can fill 3 flights a day with pax, its alright having lotsa cargo onboard but if there are no pax or very few it don't really make sense,

 

[Llandudno]

regards MAN do they really think they can fill 3 flights a day with pax, its alright having lotsa cargo onboard but if there are no pax or very few it don't really make sense,

With TKs Pakistani connections and PIA only operating 1/2 weekly until further notice as an example, yes, they can fill 3 daily Istanbul flights from Manchester. They have had to put on a 3rd daily at short notice next month due to higher than expected loads as it is.

As for cargo, if the flight needs revenue of say £10000 per flight for example, and the cargo load brings £12,000, then it’s absolutely a key part of the flight. It isn’t just the passenger deck that makes money for a lot of airlines. Emirates once said somewhere that a lot of their flights could go out with zero passengers on U.K. flights, but the cargo would still make the flights worthwhile, and the pandemic proved that with Dubai on the red list but Emirates still sent up to 8 B77Ws a week to Manchester……

 

[XEROX]

One thing I've noticed Turkish lacks however is connectivity to Australia and New Zealand, I wonder how many yorkshire passengers fly out of Manchester onwards to Oz.

Fingers crossed once we get the terminal sorted, wouldn't anyone prefer ME carriers?

 

[A400]

Fingers crossed once we get the terminal sorted, wouldn't anyone prefer ME carriers?

Definitely would like to see at least 1 ME carrier here. Currently I think Qatar would work as they operate some of the ‘smaller wide bodies’ such as the the 787-8 Dreamliner and a350-900 all quite capable of using LBA and don’t see an issue when the new terminal is built.

Plus Qatar fly to a wide range of destinations so would be good for connections in Doha.

 

[XEROX]

W

Definitely would like to see at least 1 ME carrier here. Currently I think Qatar would work as they operate some of the ‘smaller wide bodies’ such as the the 787-8 Dreamliner and a350-900 all quite capable of using LBA and don’t see an issue when the new terminal is built.

Plus Qatar fly to a wide range of destinations so would be good for connections in Doha.

Agreed, the new aircraft would be a blessing for us considering we can't operate the 777.

If anyone gets the chance, watch Sam Chui's YouTube interview with Sir Tim Clark (Emirates president) he said some intresting stuff about flying the 787s into 4th tier airports, and connecting into its super hub-spoke network.

 

[752]

interesting news about PIA flight ban being lifted and some route resumptions, also interesting mentioning Serene Air (newish airline) looking at UK expansion. Would be great if the looked elsewhere instead of the usual MAN/LHR.. What's point in having 3 operators on MAN when you can have LBA all to yourself! looking at the fleet they have A330-200's (A350-100 & B737-800), perfect for LBA. here's to hoping anyway.

Pakistan set to resume UK, EU flight operations after ICAO clearance | The Express Tribune

CAA expected to start issuing licences to pilots in February

tribune.com.pk

 

[LBA4EVER]

interesting news about PIA flight ban being lifted and some route resumptions, also interesting mentioning Serene Air (newish airline) looking at UK expansion. Would be great if the looked elsewhere instead of the usual MAN/LHR.. What's point in having 3 operators on MAN when you can have LBA all to yourself! looking at the fleet they have A330-200's (A350-100 & B737-800), perfect for LBA. here's to hoping anyway.

Pakistan set to resume UK, EU flight operations after ICAO clearance | The Express Tribune

CAA expected to start issuing licences to pilots in February

tribune.com.pk

All of their fleet is perfect for lba!

 

[XEROX]

Is demand there for PIA? Plenty of folks I know who fly to Pakistan avoid it for indirect routes flying from Manchester via ME hubs, fares are not that bad and the service is miles better.

 

[White Heather]

Is demand there for PIA? Plenty of folks I know who fly to Pakistan avoid it for indirect routes flying from Manchester via ME hubs, fares are not that bad and the service is miles better.

The demand was there before and still there when flights stopped. If it's not there, then flights won't start. If it is, then they might, or might not.

LBA certainly take the view that the demand is there.

As PIA are currently banned from European Airspace, people have no option but to find other airlines or ways to get there at present.

 

[A400]

Is demand there for PIA? Plenty of folks I know who fly to Pakistan avoid it for indirect routes flying from Manchester via ME hubs, fares are not that bad and the service is miles better.

That’s because they don’t have a choice right now as PIA are banned and haven’t operated direct LBA flights for a few years.

With them possibly starting flights again soon there’s always chances they could come back if they wanted to. Or this newish airline could also look at LBA as they won’t have competition.

 

[lbaspotter]

Has anyone else noticed that there are no flights avaible book between Leeds/Bradford and any of the 2+ Belfast Airport's during the full month of April?

BA Cityflyer = Operates its last Leeds - Belfast City service on Saturday, March 26th
Aer Lingus Regional = New Leeds - Belfast City route still not on sale.
Easyjet.com = Leeds - Belfast Int'l last winter schedule flight operates Friday, March 25th. Temporary Withdrawn until summer schedule starts Sunday, May 1st.

 

[Easy289]

Yes I'm baffled as to why the delay with EI putting BHD on sale. Could BA extend their ops until EI relaunch?

 

[752]

BA city flyer will be preparing for Summer season, not sure why Emerald don't have any BHD on sale yet.. odd

 

[LBA4EVER]

Alot baffles me at LBA thats for sure!

 

[White Heather]

Alot baffles me at LBA thats for sure!

Well it will be worrying Belfast City management just as much that there are no flights I sale to LBA in April. Still ,t
6 weeks to go though ......

 

[oldendays]

It's an unfortunate glitch in the schedule but especially as it's April when UK tourism begins to boot up and also with Easter falling in April. Maybe IAG will end up chartering an ACMI company to cover the route if neither Flyer nor Emerald are able to cover it. This is provided there is availability - doubtful at this stage. A Jet2 733 would be ideal but they are all likely to be spoken for by April. Could prompt a rethink by easyJet.