Monarch Airlines

[lbaspotter]

Just a thought, but what if the aircraft is based here for the whole week, and Friday to Sunday flying is for Thomas Cooks. There's no reason why an independent airline like MON can not fly for two tour operators from the same airport.

The other idea been mooted is that from Friday to Sunday the said based aircraft could be working Monarch Scheduled flights instead with Cosmos/Monarch Holidays.

 

[markietg]

I hope so eastcoaster. Haven't seen anything from TC yet for Summer 2013 so no idea what they have planned. With the aircraft just here for 4 days Monarch don't need to have a crew base at the airport. They can send 2 crews over from MAN and nightstop them here for 3-4 nights...say at the Britannia Hotel. I was cabin crew for many years with bmi based at LHR and we used to do similar rosters where we went to MAN, GLA, BRS, EMA to operate charter flights and just nightstopped there.

Spot on Lbaspotter. No reason at all why Monarch can't operate the other 3 days. They could easily do a ALC/AGP/TFS/ACE. I know they're the same old boring routes...but they sell out of LBA! Also more choice of airlines. How many people do we know who no matter what will " NEVER" fly with Ryanair. Monarch are a strong brand that people know and trust.

 

[tleeds]

Fantastic news for LBA... I'm sure a lot of members will be thinking "we knew it would only be a matter of time..."

 

[752]

Well TOM can not be completly happy at DSA as they are only basing 2 A/C this year, so hopefully more expansion at LBA would be good? & my thoughts of the MON aircraft operating the routes will be a 757 as SSH is on the list and with performance issues of an A321 it would make more sense for a 757 to operate.

 

[lbia]

Wow, if it will be a 757 it will make Jet2's look like infants! Seriously though, brilliant news if it does come off.

If anything, I think this is a huge blow for DSA. Their only glimmer of hope was that Thomson was committed, by cutting from 3 to 2 based aircraft and now opening up these routes out of Leeds there is questions now over the future of DSA for sure. When Thomson created a mini hub at Doncaster, they funneled their Yorkshire passengers away from Leeds and into Doncaster. This clearly is not a working stratergy for them. It is similar to Ryanair's idea of carrying masses of people to remote airports, it good but not great. Thomson have clearly seen that their market is not just around Doncaster and Leeds will feature. I think the new routes added by Thomson will not actually impact on Jet2/Thomas Cook/Ryanair's offering as these have already got a solid customer base, if anything this may hurt their own DSA operation as they are now opening up the capacity they have cut at DSA by giving their customers what they clearly want, to fly from Leeds.

 

[airbus]

you never know it could even be an airbus a300

 

[channex 757]

you never know it could even be an airbus a300

Would be good to see an a300 in LBA but i very much doubt it

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Spot on Lbaspotter. No reason at all why Monarch can't operate the other 3 days. They could easily do a ALC/AGP/TFS/ACE. I know they're the same old boring routes...but they sell out of LBA! Also more choice of airlines. How many people do we know who no matter what will " NEVER" fly with Ryanair. Monarch are a strong brand that people know and trust.

AGP-TFS on Friday
ALC-TFS on Saturday
PMI-ACE on Sunday.

This would be probably treading on the contract set up with TOM with regards to PMI Route. Get the earlier rotations out earlier 0630 lets say to AGP/ALC and they'll be back my early afternoon for 1500 departure bank to the canaries. Same with PMI, get it out by 0630 and it'll be back by 1, out again by 2.

What no one has really mentioned, these routes that MON are operating on behalf of TOM, TOM tell them they want allocation of a 737-800 size, and MON use 757, there is a small possibility for MON to sell MON Seats/Cosmos holidays to PMI, DLM, PFO, Tunisa, SSH. 60 extra seats over 5 is 300 extra seats. Over the summer and 5 months thats 1500 extra passengers going through ontop of the MON/TOM combination already.

 

[752]

it will be really intresting to see who/if TCX react, also FR as they always have something up there sleves and also LS as they have already added another Dalaman and Bodrum rotation, I hope everything will be positive with the growth on TOM.

 

[White Heather]

Wasn't there a post recently suggesting that someone from Thomas Cook had indicated some good news at LBA soon? If so, if it isn't a 2nd based TCX aircraft, it could be additional flights over the weekend, operated by this MON aircraft. It might also explain why the LBA flights are not currently showing on the Thomas Cook website (as per the TCX thread).

Whatever, if all of this is true and TOM don't do their usual by pulling or consolidating flights, it is a huge boost to the airport. Even if the passenger numbers won't be huge, they will be substantial. But its the fact that TOM are even considering expansion at LBA that is crucial and a massive step in the right direction

 

[Bigman]

I don't know. First Loganair and now Monarch. Are we on a roll or what??

 

[markietg]

I've just returned from the Thomsons travel shop in Pudsey. I went to get their brochure just to see it in black and white. I just happened to know the lady who served me and we got chatting about the new LBA flights. She told me that on launch day yesterday, just at the Pudsey branch they made 50 bookings for holidays from LBA with Thomsons. Very positive start.

 

[tleeds]

Very good news...

Thomson/First Choice have always been around the Leeds/Bradford area for a long time, so I suspect that all the people who used to travel over the hill or down the motorway will be grateful for the new services... :good:

 

[Aviador]

Very good news...

Thomson/First Choice have always been around the Leeds/Bradford area for a long time, so I suspect that all the people who used to travel over the hill or down the motorway will be grateful for the new services... :good:

I suspect only a small fraction of those people who used to travel over the hill will be able to use the new flights from their local airport. The new routes on offer from Leeds will be filled in no time at all and the travel agents will be back to saying "sorry the Leeds flight is full, but there's one from Manchester!"

 

[752]

surely the new flights will bring a significant amount of passenegers and i will hopefully be trying to book TOM flights 2013

 

[User0001]

surely the new flights will bring a significant amount of passenegers and i will hopefully be trying to book TOM flights 2013

Not hard to work out really. 180 seats x 2 (there and back) x 4 new flights x 25 weeks = 36,000 seats. Welcome, but probably more significant in terms of TUI showing some interest than it is in terms of actual passenger numbers.

The aircraft in question is generally chartered by TUI to operate from Cork Thurs to Sunday in summer. Changes elsewhere mean that for 2013 TUI need to guarantee to Monarch that they can commit to a full week. So they will charter it Mon - Thurs to operate from Leeds and Fri-Sun to operate from Cork.

In another show of TUI interest in Leeds, for winter 12/13 Crystal Holidays (a TUI company) will start selling package holidays using Jet2 ski flights to Geneva and Salzburg. If nothing else, it should help the Jet2 ski programme which has gone backwards at a rate of knots over the last few winters

 

[lbaspotter]

Interesting update, if that's the case LS16!

If Monarch Airlines are utilising the part-based Cork aircraft for the new flights from Leeds/Bradford next summer, Then I understand that they currently use Airbus A321's out of Cork and not the Airbus A320's or Boeing 757-200's.

 

[tleeds]

We'll have to keep an eye out to see whether or not the aircraft will be changed then to a B757, which would mean that it's not just 180 seats as previously suggested...

Monarch's aircraft offer:
Boeing 757 - 229 seats
Airbus A321 - 214 seats
Airbus A320 - 174 seats

..so it will be interesting to see what seat intake and ultimately what aircraft will be partly based at LBA...!

 

[Jordan-34092]

I know it's an issue that has been brought up before when Thomas Cook have brought their A321's in on numerous occasion's but is it an actual issue that the A321 operates out of LBA once, maybe twice a week...? Does anyone know of any legal issues or restrictions with the runway and braking action...?

There's no restrictions on the A321, the only thing is that it needs to be better prepared in terms to operate out of LBA. The problem the A321 has with LBA is the runway length and it's breaking system.

The breaking system on the A321 isn't as good as a A320 and certainly not outstanding like a 757, but it is safe and can do the job, with LBA having crosswinds and this breaking situation with the A321 it can cause a little bit of a problem, it doesn't make it impossible for an A321 to operate into LBA, it just means the pilots needs to concentrate that little bit more.

Maybe this time next year we could see Orlando flights after all, with the B787 Dreamliner Perhaps

 

[Jordan-34092]

you never know it could even be an airbus a300

Really unlikely, the plans is for the remaining four to be retired from service by Summer 2014, with one due to leave this year 2012, a second in 2013 and the final 2 in 2014.