Archive Route Development & Rumours

[Scottie Dog]

Apparently Fly Ernest will be operating a once weekly service on a Saturday with an A320 to Verona (VRN) on behalf of TUI Holidays. The flight is scheduled to operate between 25th May and 7th September with provisional timings of 1245/1330z.

 

[David_itl]

A while ago I looked at the codeshares available on some flights. Just had a look at a few more "interesting" ones have appeared.

07:15 UA81 New York (EWR) United Airlines
07:15 SN9028 New York (EWR) Brussels Airlines

08:05 VS76 Orlando (MCO) Virgin Atlantic
08:05 AM7693 Orlando (MCO) Aeromexico

08:30 SQ52 Singapore (SIN) Singapore Airlines
08:30 NZ3302 Singapore (SIN) Air New Zealand
08:30 TP8434 Singapore (SIN) TAP Portugal
08:30 VA5652 Singapore (SIN) Virgin Australia


09:30 SK539 Copenhagen (CPH) SAS
09:30 TG6216 Copenhagen (CPH) Thai Airways


10:20 SN2173 Brussels (BRU) Brussels Airlines
10:20 AC6378 Brussels (BRU) Air Canada
10:20 HU8555 Brussels (BRU) Hainan Airlines
10:20 TG6500 Brussels (BRU) Thai Airways
10:20 UA9909 Brussels (BRU) United Airlines

Aeromexico having a codeshare with Virgin is a newly signed agreement (22nd December). TAP codesharing with SQ seems a bit odd as there must be better options for passengers routing Singapore-Portugal than going through MAN. Also nice to see the Thai codeshares appearing.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Many thanks David for your research into the code-shares.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Whether this comes off or not is debatable - allowing for previous years when application for slots has been made and then not used, however:

Pegasus (PC) – PC9910/1 new proposed daily SAW (Sabiha Gokcen) with B737-800 1130/1210z eff.31Mar.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (4 Jan) announced a new route from Manchester to Billund, with a four times weekly service commencing in April, as part of Ryanair’s Manchester Summer 2019 schedule.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Well the answer to my post #13 is "no they won't"

Spicejet have now returned their slots for S19.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Air Serbia

All slots have been cancelled.

Maybe another year.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Lauda

Regrettably all slots have been returned. easyJet and Austrian still serve Vienna.

 

[Jerry]

Looks like flyBMI will be launching a Derry service.
https://www.derryjournal.com/news/n...zmhpot3bGZaRdV8Ub9mcEjdjjjHTaVriYnoR8YZBSW-tQ

 

[BlueManc]

Loads of Happy Chinese New Year media from Manchester Airport today.

'Did you know.. Manchester Airport has 20 flights to and from China every week'
' Did you know...IN the last year a 114% increase in Northern students gaining Chinese internships..'

and so on.

But, with a new Shenzhen (SZX) flight starting from Dublin, I ask where are all the other Manchester- China flights? Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. Not even a daily Beijing.

Why does the spin department feel the need to say "20 flights" when standard aviation speak would be 10 flights?

For all the talk, it just doesn't seem to be happening as envisaged?

 

[Land23R]

I agree with your sentiment BlueManc. After one summer of a daily PEK, it's back at 4 weekly and only 3 weekly in winter.
For spin purposes, the airport now just refer to China and therefore include the CX flights (fair enough) whereas when Hainan first started, there was specific mention of mainland China.

The harsh reality is that those additional slots to China that were made available for UK regional airports has produced nothing for MAN so far, despite initial slot applications for Guangzhou which never materialised. It was reported at one stage that HU needed more business pax and I must say from my observations at T2 on occasions, most of the pax are students or tour groups. I believe the latter use a particular agency in China (I forget the name) so perhaps they have reverted to concentrating on London where extra flights seem to be no problem.

Whether the issue is Hainan, market demand or both, I'm not sure. Do we know if Air China still hold the rights for PVG?

Thank heavens for Cathay.

 

[Jerry]

Kuwait Airways looking at opening a route to Manchester.
https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2777909&language=en

 

[Scottie Dog]

Zimex Aviation

A twice daily ATR72F freighter is planned to operate in the period 01-30Apr from/to TLS as XM502/3 1100/1300 and XM504/1 2100/0300(+1).

Presumably this, as well as the Lufthansa freighter, are connected with the Brexit.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Initial reports showed this flight operating from T1 but the latest update gives T2, which ties in with them operating on behalf of TUI Holidays.

 

[David_itl]

Anna Aero has done a feature on the top 10 unserved routes from the top 10 ranked airports in Asia. We already have links to Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. Out of the remaining 7 airports we find the following:

Shanghai with 59137 passengers (2nd in their list). It needs Air China to have the rights forcibly removed from them and handed to an airline to wants to fly the route

Guangzhou with 23430 passengers (15th in their list). We know Hainan has the rights for this route.

Bangkok with 153395 passengers (2nd in their list). One day it will happen, one day...

Delhi with 49790 passengers (11th in their list). There's a belief that Jet Airways or Virgin will add this to help with Virgin's US service
https://www.anna.aero/2019/03/06/100-routes-asias-top-10-airports-non-stop-service/

 

[BlueManc]

It needs Air China to have the rights forcibly removed from them and handed to an airline to wants to fly the route

Talking of airlines who are all talk and very different action......

Kuwait Airways this week opened reservation for additional service on Kuwait City – London Heathrow route, where the airline further expands to up to 13 weekly flights. From 01APR19, the airline will increase overall service from 10 to 12 weekly, with the new KU105/106 service. 13th weekly flight will be added from 25MAY19. Prior to this latest adjustment, the airline previously filed up to 11 weekly flights for summer 2019 season. Credit @Airlineroute

 

[EGCC_MAN]

Delhi with 49790 passengers (11th in their list). There's a belief that Jet Airways or Virgin will add this to help with Virgin's US service

It's probably best not to pin too much hope on India - US connecting traffic. Delta Airlines (Virgin partner) has plans to reintroduce their own India - US flights. American are looking at India too.

 

[Jerry]

It's probably best not to pin too much hope on India - US connecting traffic. Delta Airlines (Virgin partner) has plans to reintroduce their own India - US flights. American are looking at India too.

Also Jet Airways aren't in a good state. They've reportedly grounded 40 aircraft including some of their new 737 MAX aircraft.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Zimex Aviation

Unfortunately this series of flights has now been cancelled according to ACL reports I have seen.

 

[EGCC_MAN]

RSD Travel has launched a programme of tours from Manchester to Croatia and Montenegro. Departures are offered weekly between early February and early May 2020 over 13 weeks. Carrier involved not yet confirmed but believed to be CROATIA AIRLINES.