Hainan Airlines

[Brum X]

The Hainan Airlines flights are now fully bookable on the airlines website. At £531 starting price, competitive pricing too!

Well done MAN on getting this PEK route. I will be watching with great interest over the next couple of years and hope it proves a great success. :hatsoff:

 

[Aviador]

Indeed this is a huge coup for Manchester and it could have easily have gone to the South East. Let's hope it proves successful.

 

[User001]

It is brilliant to see Manchester get a long haul airline that didn't serve the South East first, which has to be a first. We almost had it when Air Asia X looked into the UK, and almost announced MAN ahead of STN.

Some articles however are saying this is the first time Hainan would have served the UK, which we know isn't true, but, given Paul Kehoe wasn't shy of making false claims about the UK-China markets to discount previous MAN flights, I'm not going to rush to correct them.

 

[Aviador]

User001, you can't help yourself can you.

I don't believe he was making false claims about the UK-China market. Birmingham and it's car lead manufacturing base will always provide a huge incentive to the Midlands region. At the end of the day, the Manchester Airport Group is big and it has more buying power than BHX. MAG has the ability to offer key airlines on key routes the deals they want. Birmingham airport on the otherhand, like so many other UK airports doesn't have that same buying power. We see this time and time again with numerous airlines doing deals with MAG and Peel in particular which is why we'll probably see Hainan at Stansted next if they expand further.

 

[User001]

Aviador,

My post wasn't aimed at the UK-China market in general, the picture is so blurred that there will always be arguments about which area is most suited to China flights, it was about the to fact that PK and BHX were making false claims about the charters, and they knew it.

They claimed it was the first non-London flight to China. It wasn't.

They then changed tact and claimed they were the first charters from non-London to China. They weren't.

They then changed again to say first charters to Mainland China. They were not.

In the end, he had to whittle down to 'first Chinese airline charters to the UK.' Which was then correct.

Why change his story so much if he wasn't making false claims?

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. I suppose I'm just annoyed that across several forums, there seems to be severely bitter grapes about the China flights. From calls of favouritism, to unfair play and more. It's just frustrating.

 

[Aviador]

Well there's no bitterness here, far from it. I wish them all the success.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Incidentally, some people are never satisfied. On that other aviation message board there are complaints about the timings of the PEK route.

Lol, must be sour prunes!!






I'll get my coat!!

 

[Aviador]

Incidentally, some people are never satisfied. On that other aviation message board there are complaints about the timings of the PEK route.

Lol, must be sour prunes!!






I'll get my coat!!

lums:

(hover over smiley )

 

[Brum X]

Well there's no bitterness here, far from it. I wish them all the success.

+1

 

[User001]

And now there seems to be a growing resentment in the Midlands that Manchester has 'stolen' the flights from Birmingham.

There was a piece on the ITV central news where the guy doing the story almost seemed quite angry that Manchester has the flights, and now on Twitter, there are a large number of angry tweets about it from all walks of life.

Never mind the fact MAN has been speaking to Hainan for years, before BHX did in fact, but because of the ITV article and subsequent online story, people are acting like some underhand deal has been done.

There may be no bitterness from some on here, but, there certainly is in Birmingham.

Paul Kehoe has been bitter towards MAN in the past, so, I eagerly await his 'Manchester has the deep pockets to prostitute itself but Birmingham has the economy' lines he usually peddles.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Incidentally, some people are never satisfied. On that other aviation message board there are complaints about the timings of the PEK route.

Lol, must be sour prunes!!






I'll get my coat!!

lums:

(hover over smiley )

 

[User001]

And right on cue, Paul Kehoe true to form states that Manchester only got the Hainan route thanks to a £12million route fund.

What an utterly petty, bitter and pathetic man he is.

 

[Brum X]

And right on cue, Paul Kehoe true to form states that Manchester only got the Hainan route thanks to a £12million route fund.

What an utterly petty, bitter and pathetic man he is.

But PAUL wouldn't be PAUL if he hadn't of said that. And we all know he will still be barking on about it until BHX gets a direct china route.

 

[User001]

But BrumX,

This is a head of business in the public eye.

I don't care what his gripe is, but does he have to go about it in such a petty, insular, pathetic and childish way.

It's like when a child starts playing with a toy, and another child sees the other child playing with said toy, wants it, can't get it and sulks in the corner saying 'didn't want it anyway', or, 'my mummy can't afford that toy, so, why can his, it's not fair'.

Utterly pathetic, and, frankly, he needs to be careful, his words will go too far one day and come back and bite him. Funny how he is quick to rant on Twitter, but, if he firmly believed what he was peddling, why not go to the EU under the unfair state aid rules? That's right, because he can't prove it and he is just a child throwing his toys out of the pram.

Notice how the attacks are one way though. I've never heard Ken O'Toole or his predecessor come out and say 'well, BHX only got the flights for political reasons' etc.

Pathetic, pathetic man. I'd expect it from airport fanboys, but not him.

 

[Ray Finkle]

So why doesn't someone simply ask him, publicly, to substantiate his claim?

If he's able too then I think he deserves to have a little grumble, if he can't then he's going to look like a bit of a fool?

 

[User001]

In more upbeat news, away from the press articles about Hainan serving other UK cities to China, Chen Feng, CEO of Hainan told one press reporter:

'Naturally Shanghai would be the next step from Manchester, but, I wouldn't rule out other cities in China, such as Shenzen, Xi'an, Chongxhing and Wuhan which currently do not have direct UK routes but would likely be viable from Manchester in the years to come'.

Hainan currently serve Xi'an from Paris and Chingching from Rome.

 

[User001]

Ray,

Its not just a little grumble, is it?

He spouts this line time after time, but never substantiates his claims. It's bordering on slander quite frankly, and I'd be surprised if MAG were not taking note.

For example, where has he plucked this £12million subsidy from?

Yes, subsidies/reduced rates are common, like they are at every airport, but he goes on like BHX is the only 'honest airport' out there.

Does he expect us to believe that MAG can pay out millions in dividends from the councils on reduced and subsidised rates?

That MAN is a 23million pax airport purely through deep pockets?

What about Singapore Airlines and American Airlines, been here over 25 years, are they still on subsidies.

He either needs to grow up and shut up, or, put his money where his mouth is and prove via the courts that MAG is some underhand organisation funded by the government to the detriment of the other UK airports.

I'd also like him to prove that Hainan did get a massive subsidy and that there would have been no unreasonable doubt that BHX would have had scheduled flights from Hainan had this mysterious subsidy not appeared (if true).

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'd also like him to prove that Hainan did get a massive subsidy and that there would have been no unreasonable doubt that BHX would have had scheduled flights from Hainan had this mysterious subsidy not appeared (if true).

So ask him to?

 

[User001]

Because I'm not as daft as he is, and not getting drawn into his game.

And I assume by your responses on Twitter and lack of comment on here, you fully endorse his tweets?

Do you too believe MAN only got these flights through a subsidy and the same can be said for many of MAN's routes?

No commercial merit, just subsidies and deep pockets that PK seems to be happy to insinuate?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Because I'm not as daft as he is, and not getting drawn into his game.

Well you're ranting about him making unsubstantiated claims but are not prepared to ask him where his evidence is? Maybe he has some? The only way to find out his to ask him to back up his words, like I said if he can't then he'll look a bit of a fool.

And I assume by your responses on Twitter and lack of comment on here, you fully endorse his tweets?

Personally no, I don't think Twitterland is the place for such things and I agree that it is unprofessional.

Do you too believe MAN only got these flights through a subsidy and the same can be said for many of MAN's routes?

I have no idea. I don't have much more than a passing interest in any airport other than my local and am not overly familiar with the goings on at MAN. All airports offer incentives and start up deals, something that is entirely normal. As for external subsidies then I have no idea but it wasn't something that came into mind until I read the Tweet.