Humberside Airport - General Thread

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Me too Aviador, its just a shame they didnt get everything in order before putting flights on sale. A recent update on facebook suggests that albastar are offering their full support.. It just depends what the CAA make of it all now. It would mean 4xweekly flights over three months (so still a net loss), however there would be the strong possibility of winter flights returning.

Rumours from the airport about another possible destination to be announced, not sure where or who with though.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

The only problem now is they are quickly running out of time. Traditionally tour companies release their holiday flights before Christmas to get a sufficient lead in time. They will need to work hard if the flights go back on sale within the next few weeks.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

These flights would have a 4 or 5 month lead in time so I dont think thats such a problem, not when I expect most flights to be sold by HAT.. The problem is that if this continues for too long I suspect there is a risk of one or more of their partners distancing themselves, and that could include the airport themselves. However like you say they do need a lead in so if its not sorted in the next couple of weeks then we can probably assume they wont happen.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Stumbled on this earlier, the first quotes I've seen online from the new airport general manager.

Case Studies
Humberside Airport

“Already the second busiest heliport in the UK, we’re planning for significant growth in business as a result of renewable energy investment around the Humber.”
Simon Whitby, General Manager, Humberside Airport.Humberside International Airport is on the runway to growth.

Already the second busiest heliport in the UK, due to the buoyant North Sea offshore industries, it is also anticipating significant increases in plane traffic as the government aims to grow regional airports. This could see total passenger numbers at the Humber hub rise from 310,000 a year to 10 million by 2030.

Helicopter movements – currently about a thousand a month – are on an upwards curve in partnership with two world-leading operators, CHC and Bristow, to carry personnel and high value electronic components to North Sea gas rigs.

“In addition to having a heliport of national significance, we are planning for significant growth in airport traffic, which will come from many sources, including renewable energy developments around the Humber,” says Simon Whitby, general manager.

“Our ongoing investment programme will increasingly make us the airport of choice for Hull, the region’s biggest population centre.”

Humberside International Airport has an excellent reputation for quality of service, and this was validated by a recent customer satisfaction poll rating it as the UK’s favourite airport.

A long-standing relationship with KLM, with three flights a day to Amsterdam to connect with global flights, has seen the airport become an international travel centre, and it is anticipated that the next few years will see an exponential increase in long and short haul destinations.

To support all of this increased activity, the airport has invested £1m on updating its instrument landing system to provide helicopters and planes with full electronic guidance, allowing flights to go ahead in conditions that would previously have grounded them. A new hold baggage screening system is also being installed this year ensuring the airport is ahead of new regulations, costing a further £600,000.

Hull company Nightel has opened a 100-bedroom hotel on site for rig personnel while further improvements include more development land being made available and building new maintenance hangers for the growing helicopter fleet.

http://www.hull.co.uk/case.asp?pageid=2 ... 5&CatID=39

If you ignore the BS about handling 10mppa by 2030 then I would read that as a positive article. Clearly MAG are still interested in the future of HUY and are showing this by making a number of investments.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

There are certainly some positives there and I hadn't realised how busy HUY was with its helicopter traffic.

Presumably some at least are based at the airport. Any idea how many? An average of over 30 helicopter movements per day is significant.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Im not sure of actual numbers but two operators are based at the airport. Bristows recently secured major contracts and established a base at the airport with new offices and ops facilities. CHC operate from the purpose built heliport terminal and also have hangar facilities. They do make up a large portion of commercial users. Hence when people compare HUY with MME and the like they tend to overlook the importance of HUYs core business such as offshore support.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

jetXtra's website is currently being updated, so I guess there will be some news for good or bad in the coming days.

Also anyone know anything of a rumour that MoL is to meet with AENA this week with a view to ressurecting their chopped ALC routes? If that is successful then could we see HUY-ALC return, considering DSA was dropped well before HUY was? Or will it just depend upon who is 'flavour of the month' this month?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Let's hope for good news re jetXtra.

As for MOL and his airline, |'ve long given up trying to second guess what they will do in a given situation.

MOL isn't everyone's cup of tea but he is a first-class businessman even if he does tend towards the unorthodox at times.

I hadn't heard of a meeting with AENA. If it does take place and restoring lost routes are on the agenda then HUY's loads on the ALC were very good last summer as far as I can recall.

As mentioned in another thread today regarding something else, none of us knows how good the yields were though.

Fingers crossed for this as well.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

As mentioned in another thread today regarding something else, none of us knows how good the yields were though.

Yields were reported as stronger than DSA (where they ran alongside in 2011) by someone who works in scheduling for FR in Dublin, hence the reason they were to be kept over DSA. This has also trickled through from airport management who I believe are privy to yield information from some operators. Possibly how Vueling have found out about AGP.

There are rumours at the airport regarding a new route 'to be announced this month', but nobody knows to where or who with.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Sounds extremely promising then if yields are as reported.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Sounds extremely promising then if yields are as reported.

Yields were also stronger than anticipated on the BE route to AGP a couple of years ago, with load factors in the 90's. However that never returned, though management/staff meetings revealed FlyBE were driving a hard bargain regarding fees. Therefore demand is clearly not the issue.

jetXtra have claimed on their facebook page (after Lbaspotter? posted a question regarding the website update), that they will be releasing information of 'when the flights will go back on sale'. I would have thought that if they knew such information then it would be interests to get them on sale straight away. I tend to believe things are not going according to plan.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

pug

In its heyday how many flights per week in summer (charter and scheduled) did HUY have to such places as Alicante, Malaga and Palma?

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

At its peak I think around 30 maybe a few more. As things stand we will have four this year plus BE to Jersey.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

May have misread your post localyokel. If you were refering to ALC, AGP and PMI only, I can remember 8 weekly flights to PMI (one being a TOM 767) and thats whilst DSA has been open..

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Thanks, pug.

I was thinking in terms of the number of weekly summer flights to each of Alicante, Malaga and Palma to get an idea of what the market could be.

Your figures re Palma (eight per week in the recent past) to confirms that the airport is now underused.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Yes demand certainly isnt an issue, even with flight only flights to ALC and AGP get high loads.

The issue is clearly operators not wanting to tread on their own toes with overlapping catchment areas. I dont think its unreasonable to imaging Thomson would have based at HUY had DSA not happened, nor that FR couldnt have operated a sustainable set of routes from there too.

So who is there? Easyjet who require a 3xaircraft base so that wont happen. Jet2 have bases at EMA and LBA. TOM at DSA so they wont ever happen. TCX cutting back significantly. BE would have difficulty justifying a base I suspect. FR are completely unpredictable and somewhat unreliable when it comes to smaller airports.. Short of jetXtra actually getting off the ground there really isnt any other operator to fill these gaps, unless a deal could be made with Vueling like they have at Cardiff.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

I thought of HUY when the Vueling flights to Cardiff and Southampton were announced.

Clearly they are not afraid to challenge easyJet and Ryanair who both have large presences at nearby Bristol so one would think that 'opposition' at LBA and DSA would not be a concern if they were convinced about HUY.

I suppose it partly depends on what policy Vueling adopt if they want to expand in the UK: either build up presences (not necessarily bases) at a limited number of airports or spread themselves around more underused airports (MME and NQY as well perhaps?) on the most popular sun routes.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Some good news, Olympic have managed to arrange for Aegean Airlines to take on the HUY-HER route. I guess that shows Olympic are keen to keep a foot in the door at HUY as I suspect they could have easily moved the passengers onto flights at other airports. Unfortunately LCA is still on stop sale, but I would hope a replacement will be forthcoming on that route too. The closure of Eurocypria has had negative effects on other smaller airports too.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

That's excellent news Pug, thanks for keeping us up to date. Still no news on the JetXtra I see. It's such a shame but if they can't launch flights legitimately, there's no point at all really. If they are serious about launching flights from Humberside they might be best waiting until next summer now.

 

[pug]

Re: Humberside Airport - Thread

Yes it is dragging on a bit too much I think. The website has been down for the best part of two weeks now, and flights off sale for over a month. Surely the CAA can move quicker than this? Or is it that jetXtra never applied for ATOL cover in the first place and they have to jump through all of the hoops that they should have done before they announced the flights? I seem to remember the CAA saying that they hadnt officially recognised jetXtra as being a partner of the CTT Group. HUY could really do with those flights this summer, with the potential for some flights carrying over to the winter schedule for the first time in a few years.

Also of interest, I'm told that SAS were in final talks with HUY over flights to Copenhagen (due to the strength of the demand for such flights), however this was a couple of years ago and unfortunately despite agreeing terms they never actually announced the flights in the end. I would hope Copenhagen returns at some point, however I wouldn't want it to be at the expense of KLM.