Rumours about new destinations or airlines?

[Aviador]

Exactly my thinking leedsman 😉

 

[scottrhino]

Excellent news and welcolmed with all the other UK airports receiving increases and new destinations. Exactly what we needed, external visits from other airport based aircraft. I flew at 2.30pm to Murcia a few weeks ago and it was very busy but plenty of stand space to make way for visiting aircraft. You lay on a flight at a reasonable time of the day (no not SAS times!!) and people will use the service. Come on you German and other european operators get in on the act and let LBIA meet its potential throughout the day not just 7am and 9-10pm!!

 

[Seasider]

I emailed the Aurigny reservations and asked when the LBA flights would be on sale and received the following reply:
The LBA schedule is still with the directors and there has been no decision whether they are to fly the route or if they do, when tickets will be on sale.
We will have to wait and see but they will have to decide in the next 2 months if they do launch it.

 

[lbaspotter]

How about this for a rumour! I understand that Wizz Air management were seen having a tour around the Terminal at LBA earlier last month.

 

[Aviador]

Love it.

 

[Seasider]

How about this for a rumour! I understand that Wizz Air management were seen having a tour around the Terminal at LBA earlier last month.

I find that very surprising. They appear to be very well settled at DSA. Is their contract with DSA up for renewal? :s_dunno

 

[stars&sids]

How about this for a rumour! I understand that Wizz Air management were seen having a tour around the Terminal at LBA earlier last month.

I find that very surprising. They appear to be very well settled at DSA. Is their contract with DSA up for renewal? :s_dunno

Wizz are happy at DSA. A new commitment was made in 2014, amid rumours of a MAN base opening. New routes to Kosice & Cluj-Napoca started last year, while this year will see Katowice going daily, up from 5-weekly. This route will also be upgraded to A321 operation, as will Warsaw, once the new aircraft are delivered into their bases.
One of the main problems facing Wizz at DSA at the moment is passengers getting bumped off flights, as many as 8 or 9 overbooked on some flights, hence the capacity increases.
I'm not saying that Wizz aren't considering LBA as a destination, but I would be surprised if it was at the expense of DSA.

 

[a300boy]

Another forum is predicting Wizz Air flights from Manchester in the very near future so maybe that put has paid to any chance we might have had of seeing flights by this airline at Lbia. We live in hope but the trend of Manchester mopping up is gathering pace.

 

[Aviador]

By all accounts LBA is happy to turn airlines away if they don't pay their way. If turning away and heading to Manchester is the result of that, airlines such as Wizz stand to gain more in the way of better facilities, reduced diversion rates and an airport with a larger catchment area.

It kind of proves the point that LBA will have to dig deeper into it's pockets if it is to increase the number of flights it offers. If Manchester and other airports have diversified their business sufficiently to withstand lower operating fees for airlines then why hasn't LBA?

 

[lbaspotter]

They maybe more to this than meets the eye as its odd that Wizz Air people had been seen looking around LBA recently.

Who's to say its not Wizz Air playing the we will move and go to LBA & MAN card whilst trying to tie up another cheap deal with Peel for DSA & LPL again? And yes it was posted on here a few days ago that they signed a long term deal not so long ago but contracts can be broken.....

 

[Aviador]

That is true Lbaspotter but we also know Wizz is an expanding airline with aircraft on order and they're looking for airports to place their new aircraft.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

We can talk about paying fees as much as we like but I have been saying for a long time now that LBA missed the boat when Wizz rocked up. There was a huge demand in Yorkshire for Eastern Europe - one that Ryanair are bafflingly reluctant to tap into - and there was Wizz with their non-based aircraft and their 6pm arrival and 7pm departures (when all the Ryanair, Jet2 and Monarch machinery is off in Europe somewhere) that would have pushed LBA towards 4mppa without any impact whatsoever on infrastructure.

It's all very good and well saying "but Doncaster is operating at a loss". Maybe so but they are also attracting massive inward investment from the UK and Europe as a result.

4mppa and suddenly a road link looks far more viable. Suddenly a railway station looks far more viable. Suddenly local bus services are far more viable. Suddenly the case for terminal expansion is more viable. Suddenly it makes sense to put your airline in an airport with plenty of facilities and opportunities for onward travel.

Everything is connected to that passenger number and if LBA management is too arrogant to acknowledge that or too cautious to build a business off the back of it, then it is little wonder that there is a status quo.

The thing that excites me most about Wizz is the possibilities for onward travel East of Romania and Bulgaria. Get the flights just right and it is possible to get from Donny to Dubai for £90. LBA should be all over that. Because Wiz are now so well settled at DSA, it may not be possible for LBA to build such a portfolio of routes but it doesn't mean they should not be trying to lure in the fastest growing airline in Europe right now.

The same applies to the likes of WOW in Iceland who have recently opened links to the USA and Canada and who could also populate LBA during quieter times. There is a clamour for this sort of budget travel and I would love to see LBA at the heart of it. What's more, it is what LBA needs to become the airport it can be.

 

[mdobuk21]

Totally agree on all this

 

[Bigman]

If the rumoured LBA - Newquay comes off, that would mean new routes from Newquay to both LBA and DSA by the same airline. So I don't see what is to stop Wizz from doing the same.

 

[GolfFox]

DSA is well situated to serve the agricultural areas of Lincolnshire which I suspect is (or at least was) the basis of their passenger numbers. Not withstanding, there is a very large Polish community in Leeds, Bradford and other areas of West Yorkshire which I am also surprised that Ryanair have not tapped fully into. Now that the Gdansk service has increased in frequency, passenger numbers last month were significantly up but the increase was not 'stolen' from DSA. Maybe that might be a trigger?? There is clearly a 'local' market which is not being served from LBA and which might not impact negatively on DSA if it were. Maybe Wizz have recognized the fact - or maybe not - perhaps they were just touring the facilities for a free lunch and a laugh!

 

[stars&sids]

Wizz Air, DSA

http://m.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/ ... -1-7707689

Eastern European airline Wizz Air continued its rapid growth in passenger numbers in the last quarter of last year - boosted by its popularity at Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

The company had 4.7m passengers in the three months to the end of December a rise of 23.2 per cent, while revenue rose 17.3 per cent to £236m. In Doncaster, Wizz operates 35 flights a week to 10 destinations - up from 21 flights in 2014. Kate Stow, head of marketing for the airport, said: “We saw a 41 percent growth from Wizz Air in 2015. New destinations included Riga, Latvia, Bucharest, Romania, Kosice, Slovakia, and Lublin. This was coupled with additional growth on existing routes.”



Read more: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/new ... z40FNE19Wc

 

[rmac]

Good luck to DSA and I am sure they will grow their particular market however thinking about Leeds I think the emphasis should be on routes to places like Berlin, Copenhagen, Madrid, Lisbon, twice daily to CDG, FRA, MUC, BRU etc, WOW to Iceland, more Ryanair destinations maybe such as Warsaw. I cannot help thinking that EasyJet would do well from Leeds too. I sometimes wonder whether JET2 might set up a business airline with E175,s or similar to serve places such as above, operating out of Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle and Leeds.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

A 14 flight increase on a previous base of 21 flights a year makes 66.66% increase to me, maybe the lady should get a new calculator.
A wonder how many of these routes will still be on going in two years, we will see.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

...I think the emphasis should be on routes to places like Berlin, Copenhagen, Madrid, Lisbon, twice daily to CDG, FRA, MUC, BRU etc....

Why?

Copenhagen has failed numerous times with different airlines, including a national carrier, on numerous different models. Berlin, Madrid and Munich have come and gone having been unable to sustain a viable route on passenger numbers and yield. Paris used to be 3 daily but disappeared (in BMI form, at least). Even Jet2 reduced rotations in the face of dwindling passenger numbers. Brussels went the same way despite commanding a 4 daily service at one time.

Admittedly, some of those routes may work better with legacy airlines into traditional hubs, however, if LBA keeps prioritising this sort of operation instead of going where the demand is (Wizz Air to Eastern Europe, Turkish to Istanbul) then they will keep looking backwards instead of forwards.

If I stood on a penalty spot with a football and consistently kicked it straight forwards whilst someone was moving the posts from left to right, for a while, I would keep scoring goals. But eventually, I would start hitting the post and, in time, I would stop hitting the goal altogether. If LBA keeps doing the same thing, they cannot expect to improve.

That is not to say that one eye shouldn't be kept on certain routes, as LBASpotter's teasing post suggests, but new and emerging markets must be tapped into to replace the routes that diminish in popularity. What works today will not work in 10 years. What works in 10 will not work in 20. And so on.

 

[jason1-11]

A conurbation the size of West Yorkshire should be able to attract both low cost and legacy carriers. We all know that without the investment in the Terminal, Runway, Access and Bridgepoint’s apparent lack of “fighting funds” the endless appeal of Manchester will continue unabated leaving us with little hope of securing the much needed services the region desperately requires.