LBA 2021 Schedule

[White Heather]

Upto 70 departures a day in summer 2019 during what we call daytime hrs = 1 departure every 15mins, just worked it out haha u get the quiet hrs where they may be just 1 departure but also the busy hrs where you may get 8 or more departures, but it does average out at 4 per hr, bring back those times!!

The 70 a day would include 5 or 6 before 0700, (KLM, Ryanair Dublin plus several Jet2 ) which are night time here in sleepy old Leeds - but daytime everywhere else.

 

[LBA4EVER]

On that basis then @LBA4EVER its an aircraft every 7.5 mins - one arrival one departure?

Yes of course if basing it on arrivals and departures and like wh states we have the 0600 to 0700 departures. In fact upto 2019 LBA was becoming a fairly busy airport, that busy we could do with a new terminal!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The 70 a day would include 5 or 6 before 0700, (KLM, Ryanair Dublin plus several Jet2 ) which are night time here in sleepy old Leeds - but daytime everywhere else.

Except sleepy old Bristol where its overall movements are restricted between 2300 and 0700 and within that there are additional limits between 2330 and 0600.

Another of the many similarities between LBA and BRS and not all for the good by any means.

BRS is a level 3 co-ordinated airport but only in summer (BST) between the hours of 2300 and 0700 to help with its night time movements restrictions (it had been in the process of applying to the DfT to become level 3 year round 24/7 but the application has been withdrawn although it will be re-submitted when aviation begins to get back to normal).

 

[LBA4EVER]

BRS yearly passenger figures are what should be passing through LBA. Thats the one big difference, apart from that very similar airports!

 

[Jetchaser]

Something I don't get....so Bristol can grow to around 9 million px with just as tough time restrictions as LBA/ So how come we need to extend our hours if Bristol could grow to such large figures with those restrictions?

 

[White Heather]

Something I don't get....so Bristol can grow to around 9 million px with just as tough time restrictions as LBA/ So how come we need to extend our hours if Bristol could grow to such large figures with those restrictions?

Because Bristol has terminal infrastructure that can handle more passengers, and has had more investment in the past. LBA has been restricted by political interference all my life and until now, has had owners who could not, or would not, spend the money needed. And of course, Manchester, 65 miles away, was always casting it's shadow over the Pennines too, greatly reducing growth here.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

BRS is a bit like a mini MAN vis-a-vis LBA in that about a third of its annual passenger numbers originate or terminate in South Wales (CWL's core catchment) or Devon/Cornwall (EXT/NQY's core catchments) - around three million passengers per year pre-pandemic.

Against that the region loses millions of passenger journeys each year (5-8 million - surveys vary) to London airports, mainly LHR, although many are long-haul passengers on journeys not viable from South West airports. However, the BRS management has identified a lot of passengers from the region who use LHR on services already operated at BRS but perhaps at insufficient or unpopular frequency, times or fares.

BRS was a political pawn for many years when the airport was owned by Bristol City Council - it was loss-making through much of the 60s, 70s and part of the 80s with regular local demands for its closure. In the 1990s the airport desperately needed a new terminal and, after a public enquiry, planning permission was given. To fund it the city council gave up a controlling interest to the private sector in 1997 (First Group initially) and sold it fully into the private sector in 2001.

The new terminal and the wealth of the catchment were the major reasons that Barbara Cassini (Go Fly's CEO) gave in her book about the airline for GO picking BRS for its second base after STN. When easyJet acquired Go it's been almost continuous growth for them at BRS and for the airport - until the pandemic of course.

I'm not well acquainted with LBA but, if BRS is a good example, a new state-of-the-art terminal (which BRS's was when built) goes a long way to seriously improving an airport's fortunes. Obviously a viable catchment has to exist as well but given the population size of the region and the Leeds area's economic performance that's already in place.

WH is absolutely right when she mentions the importance of infrastructure and investment by owners. Had BRS remained in the hands of the city council it's not fanciful to suggest that it would not exist today.

I've been a member of F4A for over twelve years and I can remember discussing the similarities between LBA and BRS in one of my first posts and saying that LBA should at least be equal to BRS in passenger numbers, probably busier given its catchment. That opinion has not changed.

 

[LBA4EVER]

Even with MAN over the pennines LBA with it huge catchment area should be at least a 10million pax airport, even upto 15/16million. Probably the main reason MAN is so big is because of how small LBA is, yorkshire passengers im sure will be the second highest vol using MAN. also airport like NCL, EMA And even BHX suffer because of MAN but LBA is the biggest loser by far. Like we all know its crazy leeds and the west yorks has sure a poor airport.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

@LBA4EVER I love your ambitious statements but sometimes we need an ounce or two of realism. 10mppa maybe in the longer term but I'd be happier with 6 to 7 maybe 8 mppa.

15/16 definitely not. That put's us on the same level playing field as Luton, Birmingham, Edinburgh. 15mppa is half of what Manchester handled in 2019 - for context.

 

[Jetchaser]

Because Bristol has terminal infrastructure that can handle more passengers, and has had more investment in the past. LBA has been restricted by political interference all my life and until now, has had owners who could not, or would not, spend the money needed. And of course, Manchester, 65 miles away, was always casting it's shadow over the Pennines too, greatly reducing growth here.

Sorry, don't want to seem ignorant, but why can't LBA just build the new terminal and not extend the flying hours as Bristol has done if its the new flying hours are contentious?

 

[White Heather]

Sorry, don't want to seem ignorant, but why can't LBA just build the new terminal and not extend the flying hours as Bristol has done if its the new flying hours are contentious?

Well firstly the cost of the terminal, at £150m, is only viable with growth to 7m passengers by 2032 ( a date that may have slipped again due to Covid ,- originally it was 2030). Growth to 7m is not considered possible by LBA with the current terminal, or the current movement restrictions between 2300 and 0700, as they were almost at the limit for night time movements in 2019 with 4m passengers. The business case for the terminal only stacks up with the night time hours amended to 2330-0600, allowing further growth in passengers .

On top of that, the terminal, and adjustment to night time hours definition are all part of the same planning application and not separate. They cannot be split. Both have in any case, been approved by the Council, but both are now sat in Robert Jenricks in tray waiting for him to either sign them off or insist on a public inquiry. So at present, LBA cannot do anything at all.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

LBA do not consider growth to 7m is possible with the current terminal building but how many passengers was the previously passed terminal extension intended to accommodate? I got the impression it was 5m.

 

[LBA4EVER]

@LBA4EVER I love your ambitious statements but sometimes we need an ounce or two of realism. 10mppa maybe in the longer term but I'd be happier with 6 to 7 maybe 8 mppa.

15/16 definitely not. That put's us on the same level playing field as Luton, Birmingham, Edinburgh. 15mppa is half of what Manchester handled in 2019 - for context.

Its not am ambitious statement, its what an airport in Leeds should be handling, if luton and Edinburgh are at around 13 to 15million then leeds, west yorkshire and the east of the pennines in general could easily have an airport of that vol of pax, the main issue would then be the location of LBA, so i guess what im saying is that a well located airport in the leeds zone would easily attract 15million but the current location of LBA yes probably around 10million max
Look at BRS, 10million a year and their city is much smaller with a much smaller population bith city and region.

 

[White Heather]

LBA do not consider growth to 7m is possible with the current terminal building but how many passengers was the previously passed terminal extension intended to accommodate? I got the impression it was 5m.

It was 5m rising to 7m but that included a second phase involving a major enhancement to the departures area once the new arrivals area was in place. Obviously, our previous CEO wasn't convinced, hence the new terminal. The way things are going though, it may be what we get, certainly in the short term. We could build the extension and Jenrick still won't have bothered to respond to the new terminal plans.

 

[lbaspotter]

Jet2 B733's still booked to operate Almeria, Girona & Reus but will either be swapped to B738 or Cancelled

Those last few Boeing 737-300 flights from Leeds to Almeria, Girona & Reus in August have all now been cancelled.
Also means no flights this year to those destination from Leeds, but better news is that all 3 routes are due return next summer 2022.

 

[a300boy]

Spoke to a Jet 2 contact who told me they would be going back to Spain for winter storage.

 

[CM.]

Spoke to a Jet 2 contact who told me they would be going back to Spain for winter storage.

It’s ashame they’re not using the 737-300s. I hope we get to see them operating passenger flights before their retirement. Do we know when about they might go to Spain for storage?

 

[a300boy]

Pretty soon but by the end of September all of them should be there.