Archive Route Development & Rumours

[Seasider]

Yorkshire set for economic boost as Manchester Airport begins flying direct to Shanghai

Isn't the North West going to benefit?

 

[EGCC_MAN]

Yes, but that is a 'Yorkshire Post' article. They will present the local angle for their readership.

 

[jfy1999]

The primary focus of this article is on Virgin/Flybe but it mentions that the RD team is looking for services from Air India and Vistara.

anna.aero | Temporarily Unavailable

 

[Scottie Dog]

A new ACL update is out and im short in time but here is the most interesting item:

Westjet (WS) – New proposed daily YHZ (Halifax) service from 01Jun with B737-MAX8 (174seats) 0710/0845z. Terminal 1 allocated.

More to follow tonight.

 

[Scottie Dog]

To continue where I left off this morning:

Brussels Airlines are planning to add an additional service, daily except Saturday, for S20 with an A319 - 1800/1845z

easyJet are proposing a new 4 times per week service to Brussels for S20, Mon. Wed, Fri and Sunday whilst Hurghada will continue from the winter.

Ryanair are showing a planned twice weekly service, Thu & Sun to Kerry

Vueling are planning an increase to Barcelona from 8 to 11 per week with extra flights on Tue, Wed & Thu with an A320. This compares with 10 in S19. Times are 0945/1025z

 

[LS@MAN]

Thanks for the info @Scottie Dog interesting ref the Brussels airlines possible addition so close to their current departure of 17:30, but I assume due to the also possible EZY new service?

 

[David_itl]

An update (of sorts!) for SYD-MAN. Anna Aero's now got the year to November 2019 passenger numbers for "ultra long-haul from Australia". There are 10 routes with over 62,000 passengers. Qantas has stated that MEL-LHR, SYD-LHR, SYD-FRA and SYD-CDG will be the sole project sunrise services.

The numbers:
SYD-LHR 291686
MEL-LHR 284871
SYD-CDG 91817
SYD-FRA 67037
SYD-MAN 64838

Can't believe that MAN is actually ranked as high as 8th for passengers on an Australian long-haul route?! Yet again it is the outlier in a list of routes as not a "natural" route you'd think of. The full list is here:
https://www.anna.aero/2019/12/13/qantas-chooses-a350-for-project-sunrise-flights/

Beirut is listed and my limited research has thrown up around 75000 Lebanese in Australia with 66000 of them around Sydney

 

[Jamman]

I work for an Australian company and we have offices in Leeds, York, Chester and Cheadle. All within catchment and would be invaluable to have a direct link!

 

[jfy1999]

News | Routes

Routes is the home of the world’s leading aviation network development conferences and events. Plus aviation news and features, and profiles of global airlines and airports.

www.routesonline.com

 

[David_itl]

Just trying to throw up some interesting possibilities for a Virgin hub which would allow for a higher amount of winter flying to be near the summer peak. We know about them looking at India to help feed their US route but I'm wondering if anyone has thought if it's possible to co-ordinate schedules for South-East Asia though to east coast US? With Thailand and Malaysia both listed in Category 2 by the FAA so unable to add new US services, the prospect of offering travellers an unusual one-stop option via here is intriguing.

Imagine combining moderate to high demand unserved routes like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur services to what now appears an underserved route like JFK. BKK + KUL would be no more than 3 or 4 weekly each (interestingly the flying time would be no more than 60 to 90 minutes longer than fying non-stop - but you'd have to add on a couple of hours for connecting but I'm pretty sure any TG/MH non-stop JFK routes would leave later than this MAN one-stop option so potentially meaning there's no actual timesaving involved))

Having looked at BA's timetables to see the times of their LHR routes, I've got in mind these sample timings (all times local)

For BKK/KUL: leave MAN 1300 arrive 0800. depart 1000 arrive MAN 1550
For JFK: leave MAN 1800 arrive JFK 2050 depart 2300 arrive 1100

Would we want to have Indian services feeding the 1st JFK (keeping the same timings) or 2nd JFK service?

Having an early evening departure to JFK with mid-morning MAN arrival means further nice feeding opportunity for and by Virgin Connect so we'd end up with half a dozen domestic services, 1 to 3 long-haul routes and the "natural" catchment area to support their "hub of the north" concept.

Getting the new fleet in place with no shuffling around due to 787 issues can't come soon enough so the real route planners can work in earnest to formulate a plan!

 

[L25]

Has there been any update on Thai or has it all gone cold?

 

[Scottie Dog]

Very quiet. I'll try and do some digging tomorrow.

 

[Jerry]

Doesn't that seem to happen with Thai Airways though? They get mentioned and then it all goes quiet.

 

[L25]

Very quiet. I'll try and do some digging tomorrow.

Cheers. I've been holding off on booking another SE Asia trip in the hope they'll announce something.

 

[BlueManc]

"fifth long haul'? Halifax, Dhaka, Shanghai....Sylhet. Can't think of a fifth unless he's counting the Boston transfer to Delta.

View attachment 15830

 

[Llandudno]

He is counting BOS as technically a new airline on the route

 

[Scottie Dog]

And how about Shanghai?

 

[Land23R]

It's 5 with BOS and if you count Biman twice with Dhaka and Sylhet. Shanghai and now Halifax being the other 2.
Whether Bangkok will be a 6th ......... well who knows? They applied for slots and weren't flight numbers mentioned at one stage?
They do have a history of will they, won't they?

 

[Llandudno]

Thai have a very long history of saying they want to serve, but have never got to the stage of applying for slots. This is the first time they have applied.

 

[Scottie Dog]

The Thai kettle is still simmering I believe. Will they, won't they is still the word for the day.