Leeds Bradford: Route Development & Rumours

[Finger66]

If I remember rightly from my BZ days, the morning rotation was always full and I am sure they were looking to get the 146 on that early rotation. Just needs an airline to stick at it and hopefully not be priced out by expensive slots and/or other reasons perhaps beyond their control. Let's really hope this comes off. And if we are talking an LBA based aircraft 3 times a day, that potentially leaves room for another rotation to A N other destination. NQY anyone?

 

[GolfFox]

Yeah I hadn't noticed Emerald Airlines had also applied for 924x slots at London City for winter 2026/27 to operate an Leeds/Bradford route.

The difference being 916x slots have been allocated & only 8x slot pairs have been unallocated.

Looking at it on a weekly basis eg week 33 (Nov 9th)
All 21x slots pairs have been allocated

British Midland used to operate LBA-LCY with an ATR42-400 many years ago which I used several times. Always seemed popular but of course didn't last. Point to point - but it was easy to get into the City as LCY is connected directly to DLR.

 

[lbaspotter]

What is going on! I’ve just seen reported elsewhere Emerald Airlines have also have demad for 924+ slots at London Luton to operate a Leeds/Bradford route. All 924+ slots have been allocated.

The really must be something up here as why would you apply for slots into 3 London Airports at the same time?

 

[Aviador]

If you think about it, we've never had the right circumstances to establish a new London service. A combination of factors has gone against the airlines that tried. These included poor timings, aircraft with insufficient baggage capacity for onward connections, and one service to London City which commenced before the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) opened, alongside a multitude of other unfavourable reasons.

 

[gulftraveller]

What is going on! I’ve just seen reported elsewhere Emerald Airlines have also have demad for 924+ slots at London Luton to operate a Leeds/Bradford route. All 924+ slots have been allocated.

The really must be something up here as why would you apply for slots into 3 London Airports at the same time?

Looks like slot sitting.

 

[Speedbird1]

Looks like slot sitting.

Agreed. As nice as it would be to have a London route back it has to be LHR as demonstrated in the recent PR activity pushed by LBA and LHR over the 3rd Runway.

An ATR on the route wouldn’t cut it unfortunately for connecting as I believe it can only hold a very limited amount of 20kg bags.

 

[lbaspotter]

Agreed. As nice as it would be to have a London route back it has to be LHR as demonstrated in the recent PR activity pushed by LBA and LHR over the 3rd Runway.

An ATR on the route wouldn’t cut it unfortunately for connecting as I believe it can only hold a very limited amount of 20kg bags.

I agree it has to Heathrow, but it just won’t happen until that 3rd runway is built because they are at ful capacity as has recently mentioned when the boss of LHR visited LBA 2 weeks ago.

For now through my preference would be Gatwick, just for the sheer amount of long haul connections, Even better if it has a BA codeshare and connections into IAG partner airlines. Gatwick also has good direct train links into Central London and to South Coast.

London City is 2nd place, really good for businessman and has quick direct DLR link into central London, plus BA cityflyer have good options for one-stop connections.

London Luton I just don’t see any sense in that at all if am being honest

Let’s just something is actually in the works by LBA management & Emerald Airlines to get our London link restored.. It I’ll be a shame if nothing materialises from this.

 

[Speedbird1]

I agree it has to Heathrow, but it just won’t happen until that 3rd runway is built because they are at ful capacity as has recently mentioned when the boss of LHR visited LBA 2 weeks ago.

For now through my preference would be Gatwick, just for the sheer amount of long haul connections, Even better if it has a BA codeshare and connections into IAG partner airlines. Gatwick also has good direct train links into Central London and to South Coast.

London City is 2nd place, really good for businessman and has quick direct DLR link into central London, plus BA cityflyer have good options for one-stop connections.

London Luton I just don’t see any sense in that at all if am being honest

Let’s just something is actually in the works by LBA management & Emerald Airlines to get our London link restored.. It I’ll be a shame if nothing materialises from this.

I agree it has to Heathrow, but it just won’t happen until that 3rd runway is built because they are at ful capacity as has recently mentioned when the boss of LHR visited LBA 2 weeks ago.

For now through my preference would be Gatwick, just for the sheer amount of long haul connections, Even better if it has a BA codeshare and connections into IAG partner airlines. Gatwick also has good direct train links into Central London and to South Coast.

London City is 2nd place, really good for businessman and has quick direct DLR link into central London, plus BA cityflyer have good options for one-stop connections.

London Luton I just don’t see any sense in that at all if am being honest

Let’s just something is actually in the works by LBA management & Emerald Airlines to get our London link restored.. It I’ll be a shame if nothing materialises from this.

LGW would be pointless for connections unfortunately on Emerald. Yes it may carry a codeshare but the ATR can only take approx. 10 x 20kg bags in the hold so connections would be severely limited due to aircraft type.

 

[lbaspotter]

LGW would be pointless for connections unfortunately on Emerald. Yes it may carry a codeshare but the ATR can only take approx. 10 x 20kg bags in the hold so connections would be severely limited due to aircraft type.

If I remember correctly Emerald just increased its carry-on cabin baggage allowance to 10kg per all passenger plus 1 small bag under seat on its Aer Lingus franchise flights. You can pay extra for 20kg checked-in bag

ATR’s into Hub Airports which seem to work.

Emerald Airlines operate multiple UK routes into Dublin with Aer Lingus franchise & Glasgow - Gatwick with BA Codeshare
Loganair operates from Dundee & Isle of Man into Heathrow with BA codeshare & Exeter, Newquay Southampton, Aberdeen into Manchester.
Aurginy operates from Guernsey into both Gatwick & Manchester with several connecting partners

 

[Speedbird1]

If I remember correctly Emerald just increased its carry-on cabin baggage allowance to 10kg per all passenger plus 1 small bag under seat on its Aer Lingus franchise flights. You can pay extra for 20kg checked-in bag

ATR’s into Hub Airports which seem to work.

Emerald Airlines operate multiple UK routes into Dublin with Aer Lingus franchise & Glasgow - Gatwick with BA Codeshare
Loganair operates from Dundee & Isle of Man into Heathrow with BA codeshare & Exeter, Newquay Southampton, Aberdeen into Manchester.
Aurginy operates from Guernsey into both Gatwick & Manchester with several connecting partners

But the fact still remains you can only get approx 10 x 20kg suitcases on an ATR. I know this from my ground handling days.

The connecting % on those listed will be minute. Probably less than 10% of the flight easily.

It’s good news if we get London back but the longer term ambition has to remain a night stopping aircraft on LHR using a BA A320.

 

[gulftraveller]

The days of flights feeding into BA at LGW are long gone. I would be surprised to see an expansion of LGW mainland UK destinations, whether it be LBA, MAN, NCL… Point to point traffic is too limited.

However, BA does currently serve ISB at LGW. Could that be a reason? BA operated a feeder from MAN to connect with ISB before PIA returned. It did not work. As pointed out, an ATR has limited baggage capacity, not what connectors to ISB would really tolerate.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

The days of flights feeding into BA at LGW are long gone. I would be surprised to see an expansion of LGW mainland UK destinations, whether it be LBA, MAN, NCL… Point to point traffic is too limited.

However, BA does currently serve ISB at LGW. Could that be a reason? BA operated a feeder from MAN to connect with ISB before PIA returned. It did not work. As pointed out, an ATR has limited baggage capacity, not what connectors to ISB would really tolerate.

The amount of bags pax take on the routes to Pakistan is immense.

 

[jason1-11]

The days of flights feeding into BA at LGW are long gone. I would be surprised to see an expansion of LGW mainland UK destinations, whether it be LBA, MAN, NCL… Point to point traffic is too limited.

However, BA does currently serve ISB at LGW. Could that be a reason? BA operated a feeder from MAN to connect with ISB before PIA returned. It did not work. As pointed out, an ATR has limited baggage capacity, not what connectors to ISB would really tolerate.

Based on my last flight into LGW in April, I don't believe the airport offers a flight connection service. You can check your baggage through, but have to clear customs and re-enter via the usual departure process.

 

[BCFC]

If Emerald Airlines has a BA Codeshare on this proposed Gatwick route the connections would be as follows.

British Airwyas/IAG partnerships & codeshares
British Airways (long Haul) Accra, Antigua, Bangkok, Cancún, Georgetown–Cheddi Jagan,, Grenada, Islamabad, Kingston–Norman Manley, Mauritius, Orlando, Port of Spain, Punta Cana, Rabat, St. Kitts, St. Lucia–Hewanorra, Tobago, Barbados, Colombo–Bandaranaike & Vancouver
British Airways Euroflyer - Agadir, Alicante, Bordeaux, Dubrovnik, Faro, Funchal, Glasgow, Gran Canaria, Graz, Jersey, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Málaga, Malta, Marrakesh, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Rabat, Salzburg, Seville, Tenerife–South Turin, Verona, Antalya, Bari, Cagliari, Catania, Chambéry, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Ivalo, Kalamata, Kos, Lyon, Menorca, Montpellier, Paphos, Rhodes, Sharm El Sheikh, Thessaloniki
Iberia Express = Madrid
Qatar Airways - Doha
Royal Air Maroc - Casablanca, Tétouan & Tangier
Air Baltic - Riga, Tallinn & Kuusamo
Jet Blue - Boston
Kenya Airways - Nairobi–Jomo & Kenyatta
Vueling - Alicante, Asturias, Barcelona, Bilbao, Florence, Málaga, Santiago de Compostela, Seville & Valencia

Other one-stop Mid & Long Haul options via Gatwick
Air China - Beijing–Capital, Shanghai–Pudong & Chengdu–Tianfu
Air Arabia - Sharjah & Tangier
Air Europa - Madrid
Air India - Ahmedabad & Amritsar
Air Mauritius- Mauritius
Air Sierra Leone - Banjul & Freetown
Air Transat - Toronto, Montreal & Ottawa
Air Asia X - Bahrain, Kuala Lumpur
Azerbaijan Airlines - Baku
Beijing Capital Airlines - Qingdao
China Southern Airlines- Guangzhou & Zhengzhou
Emirates - Dubai
Ethiopian Airlines - Addis Adaba
Fly Erbril - Erbil
Gulf Air - Bahrain
Norse Atlantic - New York JFK, Orlando, Bangkok & Cape Town
Qanot Sharq - Tashkent
Saudia - Jeddah
Singapore Airlines - Singapore
Tunisair - Tunis
Turkish Airlines - Istanbul
Turkmenistan Airlines - Ashgabat
TUI Airways - Boa Vista, Cancún, Montego Bay, Punta Cana, Sal, Banjul, Barbados, Goa–Mopa, La Romana, Luxor, Marsa Alam, Melbourne/Orlando & Phuket
Uganda Airlines - Entenbbe
Uzbekistan Airlines - Tashkent
Westjets - Halifax & St Johns
Wizz Air - Jeddah & Medina

And Tampa I think.

 

[Jerry]

If Emerald Airlines has a BA Codeshare on this proposed Gatwick route the connections would be as follows.

Just to point out that the route they operate at Gatwick is on behalf of British Airways. They operate Glasgow.

 

[lbaspotter]

Hopefully LBA Is next

 

[Finger66]

Hopefully LBA Is next

Let's hope it proves to be the jewel in the Emerald network!