Archive Route Development & Rumours

[Aceshigh]

BBC have reported IAG have bought all the LGW slots so no room at the inn for EZY.

Ok not Manchester news as such but would that increase the chances of more focus at Manchester?

 

[Land23R]

Good question Aces. If easyjet had acquired a significant number of slots at LGW, it's quite possible there may have been priorities for the airline to decide on depending on resources of aircraft and crew.

With the slot situation at LGW resolved, hopefully easyjet can finalise outstanding plans for MAN with some announcements to follow.

 

[Little G]

I hear from an EZY source six new slots per day at MAN.

 

[Seasider]

I hear from an EZY source six new slots per day at MAN.

Isn't that just 2/3 aircraft?

 

[User001]

They have actually applied for and loaded into the internal systems 8 new slot pairs per day making 20 based, but it’s the general consensus that just 6 will be used. The flight numbers have been assigned and use the ‘EZY77** numbers’ which when you look at historics Were the old Madrid base flight numbers.

Ironically, U27753 used to be ACE-MAD, and is likely to be the new ACE-MAN flight.

 

[Land23R]

That would only be 3 departures and 3 arrivals per day, requiring 1 extra aircraft. I think / hope we are expecting more than that.

 

[User001]

I think Little G was refering to 6 slot pairs for based aircraft. 6 out, 6 in, them 6 out again.

*this bloody iPad is ridiculous! Keeps changing valid words for no reason, such as out > our! Grr.

 

[Land23R]

Apologies, I must be misunderstanding terminology.
So 1 slot pair refers to each a/c, not the fact that one a/c could do 2 or 3 return trips a day which would account for 4 or 6 slots (outbound plus inbound)

 

[bayer328]

Lets hope Zurich, makes a comeback with easyjet.

 

[Little G]

Yes I believe it is 6 slot pairs. Interestingly the source indicated a new destination mid Atlantic belonging to Portugal

 

[User001]

Ryanair are down to operate Ponta Delgada on the Azores, so might of been those?

 

[User001]

IAG winning the Gatwick slots could possibly be the best outcome MAN could have hoped for airlines wise.

Let’s hope it does indeed pay off now.

 

[Dobbo]

It might distract IAG airlines from MAN, but by the same taken it won't distract EasyJet.

Replace the Monarch capacity (and then some) and the momentum can continue into 2018. Be interesting to see the state of play of the slot hand backs...

 

[User001]

MAG financial statement shows that the other known routes likely to be announced soon:

Following Monarch Airlines entering administration in October, Manchester Airport has seen significant interest from airlines for the slots it vacated, with new flights operating in slots vacated by Monarch already on sale with Jet2.com, Thomas Cook and TUI, and more expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

 

[Dobbo]

A lot of positive rumours/stories to try and round up:

• VS seem to be expanding, with a MAN sub-fleet of A332. Possibly a new summer route (Id wager S18 will be 10/11 weekly JFK plus something else) but it seems SFO and BOS are likely to be year round.
• Oman looking at double daily, and possibly using the B789 (poisoned chalice or what!)
• Spicejet looking at DEL-MAN, I wonder if that will flush others out.
• Possible new Chinese route, but what has happened to Shanghai?
• Cathay seem prepared to add additional weekly rotations looking at the new numbering system.
• Singapore are choc a bloc on the SIN sector. IAH is one to watch this winter, that will be the hurdle to overcome before a daily flight can be reached.
• MEB3 seem to still have a captive audience, and TCX continue to add.
• Indications UA are looking at restoring widebody services (having said they they'll probably pull out next week!)
• We cannot forget huge interest in the Monarch slots with expansion for Jet2, Ryanair and we are all waiting to see what EasyJet do.

All in all, much to be optimistic about. We cannot ignore the headwinds, AA is disappointing and HNA (parent to HU) might be in some bother - and PEK back to 3x weekly in winter is disappointing but due to be back to daily in the summer.

 

[David_itl]

"Under the current arrangement, agreed in October 2016, a maximum of 100 passenger flights per week can operate between the UK and China, with this figure set to increase to 150 under the terms of the new deal."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...-uk-and-china-further-relax-limits-on-flights

 

[Dobbo]

This is great, and hopefully paves the way for Shanghai and Guangzhou. However, if it is open season wouldn't the Chinese carriers gravitate towards LGW/LHR instead of the likes of MAN?

 

[David_itl]

They may do but getting slots there could be a problem. Hence, it may play in ours (and BHX's favour).

 

[Dobbo]

MAG seem to be trumpeting it as such; linking to this article via twitter.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/open-skies-deal-will-see-china-flights-take-off-lxzv30q66

The fly in the ointment is HU's reduction in MAN services this winter, and HNA groups apparent issues. We wait to see how this plays out.

 

[Chilly Dog]

The fly in the ointment is HU's reduction in MAN services this Winter.

Whilst I appreciate the prestige that Hainan's service brought to Manchester, it does seem a fairly poor application of the "one carrier one route" rule in MAN's case.

Perhaps nobody else wanted MAN-PEK, so we got HU. We're probably lucky to have got that. However, PEK is the hub for CA, so if we wanted a Beijing service with real potential, they may have been the ideal entrant.

Equally CZ to CAN, or MU to PVG (these would be the real wins in my opinion) would have been much better. Each of these three provide connections to far more countries and cities via their hubs than HU bring from BJS. And each of these is in a major alliance, for points earners.

The only reasonable connections possible on HU through Beijing are to China. There isn't a single third country destination that connects to the MAN service same day, in both directions. They fly onwards to SYD and MEL from 3+ Chinese airports, none of which are PEK! Heck, they don't even publish decent fares for MAN-Australia (cf. Paris where they're usually the cheapest to SYD & MEL).

In summary we gave a great Beijing service on a committed airline. Hurrah. But a fluctuating 3/4 weekly is really pretty good for HU. I wouldn't take it as a sign of any weakness on MAN's part. China's a huge population market but still fairly undeveloped. UA just exited Xi'an. We know how BA went at Chengdu.

PS - to keep me slightly within the boundaries of this thread - I have seen the CX schedule for 11 weekly that's referred to elsewhere - and have had independent verification as well. However - it's very early for CX to be announcing Nov '18 services...and if I believe posters on other threads, there seems to be a "Spanner" in the works.