Leeds Bradford - General Thread

[Bigman]

Ah yes, the mouldy sausage!!

 

[White Heather]

Thanks Runway 32

 

[Runway 32]

No problem White Heather.

Going back now to the passengers experience of LBA I travelled through LBA this morning and how much bussier is it already now than it was last summer!! I paid extra to travel through Fast Track Security and that wasn't fast at all as all the regular travellers now use that as it can take such a long time to get through security. Fast Track took about 15minutes this morning!

It is seriously essential that the redevelopment work starts soon after the summer as there is no way I can see LBA being able to cope next summer as I am sure that we will see more from FR and hopefully LS and TCX.

 

[ex_crew]

I saw a red white and blue 737 today aound 13.00 over Rothwell about to start finals into LBA, didnt recognise the airline.

Anyone know ??

 

[Runway 32]

That will have been Jet2's latest 737 G-GDFA. Still carrying its old livery however but now has red engines and Jet2 titles on it.

 

[News Guru]

[textarea]Leeds-Bradford International Airport says it will work with airline in bid to stop breaches

Night-time flights to Pakistan have regularly breached planning conditions at Leeds-Bradford International Airport, a council report states.

A report to Leeds City Council’s Plans Panel West states a total of 32 flights since May 1, 2008, breached restrictions on night-time aircraft movements.

Councillors, who meet on Thursday, have been advised to request an update from the airport on measures it has committed to, along with carrier Pakistan Inter-national Airlines, to mitigate further breaches, including rescheduling and replacing aircraft.

The report says between May 1 and October 31, 2008, 15 flights exceeded night noise quotas, 11 Shaheen Airlines flights, predecessors of Pakistan International Airlines, and four PIA Islamabad flights.

In the winter 2008/09 and summer 2009 periods, ten flights were in breach of the conditions, all of which were PIA flights.

The report says: “Officers wrote to LBIA in September 2009 advising the airport that the PIA flights to Islamabad (despite being scheduled to arrive at 7.25pm and depart at 9pm), had been breaching the above planning conditions.” The airport said it had encountered problems beyond its control, including the late arrival of the aircraft, technical problems and security incidents.

It said departures had been authorised by senior airport management to reduce distress to passengers.

In the report, an airport spokesman said one complaint had been received in relation to the PIA flight. He said they would work with the airline to mitigate breaches. The airport spokesman said it received no complaints from residents.

The report advises panel members that as technology evolves, aircraft noise will decrease.

It requests members to authorise the Chief Planning Officer to write to the airport and request an update and firm timescale on the measures LBIA and PIA have committed to.

These are: l the introduction of a Boeing 777 for PIA flights l the reduction of the numbers of departures per week of the PIA flight l the re-scheduling and earlier departure time of the PIA flights, and l the implementation of the Noise Action Plan.

No-one at Leeds-Bradford International Airport was available for comment.

Source[/textarea]

 

[Runway 32]

I hope this pressure means that PIA will change over to the 777 or move the flights to earlier departure times and not move all flights back to MAN.

 

[Aviador]

From what I gather the A310 is under similar planning restrictions at Manchester as well. I seem to remember the Shaheen A310 diverting there and Manchester airport told them they couldn't depart until the morning.

 

[Aviador]

It's looking like Mr O'Leary has been wise to cancel flights until midday on Monday. It's looking increasingly likely that the opening of the airspace will be further curtailed and even if UK airspace reopens, airspace on the continent may need to say closed causing further delays.

 

[WYIA]

they are saying several more days now, not good. iam starting to consider which airlines will fold after this. so sad, just when they started to recover from the crunch this happens.

 

[pilot_737]

Will they even fail though?

They won't have to pay the cancellation refunds as its an act of god, or will they? Do the airlines have to supply hotels for stranded passengers?
I'd imagine that there is such a back log of passengers now the airlines will be extremely busy for long periods. I wonder if the night time ban will be lifted for a while at LBA to get some more flights in?!
If there are some airlines out there requiring help, Jet2 should be able to help as they always do so I can't see Jet2 folding.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Airlines will have to refund air fares paid or offer alternative flights.

The chances are that many passengers, especially leisure ones, won't be in a position to take alternative flights so will opt for refunds.

This and the lack of money coming in to purchase tickets for flights at the moment and in the coming days will add further to cash flow problems. Airlines still have their fixed costs such as staff wages, insurance and debt repayments so if this were to go on for many days or even weeks it can be assumed that some airlines might find themselves in serious difficulty.

Airlines won't normally refund ancillary costs such as car hire or hotel bookings and the situation regarding travel insurance doesn't seem clearcut.

People who have flown, say with the low cost airlines, to the far flung reaches of those airlines' empires and are now stuck there will have to pay the additional hotel costs themselves. Some are resorting to expensive alternative means to return home by land and sea, and they will have to bear those costs themselves, as it is unlikely travel insurance would cover that.

 

[White Heather]

Pilot Ben, the only night time flying ban at LBA is the one management introduced for the winter. The airport has a 24 hour license and they can operate 24 hours as they see fit. The only restrictions are on movements per year during the night (and we never get anywhere near those limits) and relating to noise levels, with older aircraft types effectively being banned between 2300 and 0700. I would expect that the night time ban will be lifted anyway, either now, or in the near future, for the summer season as flights operate in during the night during the summer months, particularly Thomas Cook.

 

[yorkshire]

i see from sky news that ALL uk airports have been given the green light to open from 10.00 pm tonight ..i wonder when leeds will open then??

 

[WYIA]

LBA is now up & running with several jet2 movements planned. However, the backlog will take airlines days to sort out & we will see cancellations & delays for some time to come. I dont believe Ryanair plan on a normal timetable till sometime Friday.

 

[Galaxy]

Don't know if this is true or not, but I got told last night that several EMPTY Ryanair flights positioned in from various European locations yesterday including PMI. If it is true I wonder why they weren't involved in helping repatriate stranded tourists?

 

[WYIA]

Ryanair did state no UK Outbounds until Friday as their aircraft would be used to put on extra flights elsewhere to assist in getting people home. It could well be these 2 ac did see use doing so over the past few days & are now back in Leeds ready to get the timetable going again. I believe they now plan to start normal UK departures again from Friday, but with some delays.

 

[Runway 32]

I believe that both the krakow and Pisa flights have operated a usual service from LBA today. Both Dublin and Knock are still not operating. I assume that these will commence as of Friday.

 

[Galaxy]

I flew to Gatwick yesterday, went on the 07:00 and came back on the 19:55 from Gatwick. An excellent service with early landings each way, I'm not sure which route we took either way, I couldn't tell because of the clouds, apart from an approach from the West on the way down. The flight there had around 36 passengers, and the flight back around 26, not brilliant numbers. The last time I flew with BMI (A320) to LHR the plane was full, although it was a Monday morning, but the flight back was virtually empty.

Anyway, I hope the service continues, I will definitely use it again...although I wish it was to London City, that would be just SO convenient.

 

[Aviador]

I don't think anyone has mentioned it before on here but LBIA now has an Airport Chaplaincy, Revd Nick Baker, a Methodist Minister from Guiseley.

I know other airports offer this service, East Midlands springs to mind, but I don't know how popular they are.