Status
Not open for further replies.

White Heather

Well-Known Member
Jan 14, 2009
8,827
255
69
Leeds
I dont know when this happened but I have noticed that the Flybe flight from and to Belfast City is not operating now on Friday mornings. Only the afternoon and evening flights are available today. Anyone know when this happened and if/when the flight is being re-instated? I presume that for Business travellers, Friday is a quiet day and this, coupled with the econmic downturn has led to the flight being suspended, but any clarification would be useful.
 
I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the Bergerac has gone twice weekly. A Wednesday flight is showing, certainly in August.
 
Hi

Dose anyone know what's just operated the inbound flybe, BE043D positioning sector into LBA from Manchester this afternoon to operate the delayed outbound BE172 service to Southampton???

It looks like Dash 8-Q400, G-JECS has gone tech on arrival at LBA from Southampton this lunchtime after opeating the BE171 service.
 
Tis True!! :clapping:

Flights start June 29th, 3 times daily using a LGW based Dash8 Q400. It is nice to get some good news for once! Well done Flybe - please take over Edinburgh and Glasgow now and give us some Q400's to be based here at LBIA.

If I have a concern about this it is only the fact that the first flight down in the morning is not until 0900, which is all but useless to business travellers, especially if when they get there they have to go by train to central London. This seems to very much geared towards interlining passengers.
 
Congratulations go to both Flybe and LBIA for getting a London route airborne again. I do agree with you White Heather regarding the first flight. Lets hope the services we get are sufficiently busy to warrant adding an extra morning rotation at a later date.
 
Leeds-Bradford to London flights back on schedule

Key flights between Leeds-Bradford Airport and London are to be resumed, it was announced today.

Flybe has stepped in to replace bmi mainline which axed its daily services between Leeds-Bradford and London Heathrow at the end of last month saying they were not viable.

Flybe says it will reconnect West Yorkshire passengers with the capital – but its flights will operate to and from Gatwick airport south of London, where the airline has an executive lounge, rather than Heathrow.

The new service was being officially announced today at Leeds-Bradford by Mike Rutter, Flybe’s chief commercial officer, and Rosie Winterton, Minister for Yorkshire.

Sandy Needham, chief executive of Bradford Cham-ber of Commerce, welcomed the move, but doubted whether Gatwick would suit business flyers as much as Heathrow. Gatwick is 30 miles from central London while Heathrow is 17 miles away from the city centre.

She said: “It’s great news that regular London services are to resume but I think many business travellers will be disappointed that flights will go to Gatwick rather than Heathrow.

“There were some announcements recently that Gatwick was to be more of a focus for leisure flights rather than a business travel hub. However, I am sure that Bradford businesses will welcome the return of an airline link with the capital and international destinations.

“Not having a link between Yorkshire and London damaged the region’s credibility as a business centre and added to the burdens of local firms which require such flights.”

Earlier this year bmi said a decline in overall demand and higher-than-inflation cost increases at Heathrow meant the routes from Leeds-Bradford had become unsustainable and there were no signs of the trend being reversed.

The firm also axed flights between Heathrow and Durham Tees Valley airport.

At the time bmi managing director Peter Spencer said although the airline had “addressed to a degree” the small decline in passenger numbers, the main problem was BAA’s policy and pricing at Heathrow.

And he warned: “We see little prospect of these routes ever being able to achieve an acceptable level of profitability.”

Source
 
Economy Boost For Region As LBIA Announces New Service To London

LBIA played host today (Monday 20th April 2009) to the Yorkshire and Humber Minister, Rt. Hon Rosie Winterton MP, at the launch of a vital new service connecting the region to the capital.

The Minister and business leaders celebrated the introduction of Flybe’s daily service to London Gatwick – providing the only scheduled flights from Yorkshire and the Humber to London.

Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Forward said: “We welcome the plans for flights to Gatwick from Leeds/ Bradford Airport and see this as an important step in building further links not just with the capital but also with the international business community. We believe this to be an opportunity for Yorkshire and Humber to attract further international inward investment and create additional links for our region’s business network.”

Flybe will begin operating the three times a day London Gatwick service from 29th June 2009 with fares starting at just £24.99 one way, including taxes and charges, to be operated on an environmentally efficient Bombardier Q400. Flights can be booked from today at www.flybe.com.

Flybe says this additional route will create up to 130 jobs for the region. Mike Rutter, Chief Commercial Officer, Flybe commented: “The new service demonstrates Flybe’s commitment to the region, continuing to help the local economy through the development of affordable and convenient business and leisure travel options.”

Rt. Hon Rosie Winterton MP said: “Regular and dependable flights between Leeds Bradford and London are very important for our region’s economy. I warmly welcome the launch of Flybe’s new service to this region, which I know will be extremely well received, particularly by the business community.”

Leisure passengers will also benefit from increased links with Gatwick, offering a local gateway to many long haul destinations, including America, the Caribbean and Dubai.

Tony Hallwood, Leeds Bradford International Airport's Commercial Director, added: “The introduction of this service reinforces our commitment to offer key business and leisure routes to our customers within the UK and beyond. It’s now even easier to fly from Leeds Bradford to London and the rest of the world.

Inbound traffic is equally important to us and we look forward to working with our local tourism partners to increase the number of visitors to Yorkshire from London and the South East.”

Schedule
Monday to Friday
Departs Leeds Bradford at 0900, arrives London Gatwick 1010
Departs Leeds Bradford at 1405, arrives London Gatwick 1515
Departs Leeds Bradford at 1705, arrives London Gatwick 1815

Departs London Gatwick at 0725, arrives Leeds Bradford 0835
Departs London Gatwick at 1230, arrives Leeds Bradford 1340
Departs London Gatwick at 1855, arrives Leeds Bradford 2005

Saturday
Departs Leeds Bradford at 0845, arrives London Gatwick 0955
Departs Leeds Bradford at 1700, arrives London Gatwick 1810

Departs London Gatwick at 0650, arrives Leeds Bradford 0800
Departs London Gatwick at 1525, arrives Leeds Bradford 1635

Sunday
Departs Leeds Bradford at 1400, arrives London Gatwick 1510
Departs Leeds Bradford at 2030, arrives London Gatwick 2140

Departs London Gatwick at 1220, arrives Leeds Bradford 1330
Departs London Gatwick at 1855, arrives Leeds Bradford 2005

Source
 
Lets hope that the airport MD took the opportunity to get Rosie Winterton on side regarding the battle with Leeds City Council over the terminal development. Some pressure from MP's would not go amiss at the moment!
 
Some good news at last, how many seats does the aircraft hold?

i hope its not too small, shame its a prop and not a jet, but beggers cant be choosers.
 
Hi yorkshire
The aircraft is superb. On this short hop it is perfect and better than a jet for this route. It can hold around 80 pax. Supremely quiet and very fast and can climb to the cruising altitude very quickly. You must remember, these new generation state of the art turboprops are the same if not better than modern jets.
Any pilot will tell you the same.I have flown on them many times. Would you prefer a 25 year old 737?
If you try a flight you will be impressed.
Check out the performance.

http://www2.bombardier.com/q400/en/home.jsp
 
Some good news for LBA, its not LCY but still its a link to the capital announced less than a month after bmi pulled out! The timings are not great for business Mon-Fri i must say however. Getting to London quite late in the morning, it would be much better with a Leeds based a/c departing between 6 and 7 am.

But still, better than nothing. Teeside is still without.
 
has anyone noticed that the aircraft arrives LBA at 2005 on the last sector of the day, but doesn;t appear to depart back to LGW? or am i seeing things?
 
Yes I noticed that too, and not only that, but the late afternoon flight to Gatwick operates using a non Gatwick based aircraft too, suggesting that there are going to be some changes to existing operations. The only way they can do this is for an aircraft to operate something like Southampton - Leeds - Gatwick - Leeds - Southampton, or the same using the Belfast City based aircraft, unless of course Flybe have something else up their sleeve. Certainly I can't see them positioning an aircraft in and out just to do this last flight each way - that would make no sense.

If anyone knows what is intended, it would be interesting to know. If not, any other theories on how they intend this to work? The timing of the last departure to Gatwick fits in nicely with the arrival time of the afternoon Belfast flight, but that would mean no flight back to Belfast at tea time - surely not?

Something of a mystery for now
 
The evening service will be operated by an aircraft routing SOU-LBA-LGW-LBA-SOU. The other evening SOU service will be retimed to fit into this schedule.
 
Thanks LS16

Just as an aside, I had a letter from the airport today in which they stated that they are still in discussion with an airline with a view to operating LBA - LCY services, which tends to suggest that the Flybe service is not really aimed at the business traveller as such - which is rather obvious considering the late departure in the morning, although it is perfectly acceptable for the business traveller based in the South who wants to come to Leeds for the day.

If we do get an LCY service, logic suggests that the aircraft operating it has to be LBA based so providing an early departure and giving passengers an alternative to going by rail.
 
I hope we can get a LCY back. I would say that any new service to LCY would more than likely be with Eastern Airways rather than Flybe, primarily because Eastern Airways is more business orientated. It would be a fantastic achievement for the airport if they can secure another link to the capital. The only problem then as The Local Yokel commented on before in another thread regarding business leaders who cry out for such services who then don't use them, "you can lead the horse to water but you can't make it drink."
 
If T3 do get the route i have little faith it will do well, the airlines pricing is beyond a joke. In the current climate, a company will not pay £300 for an employee to fly to London when they can get a plethora of deals on the train starting from £40.

We need VLM, Cityjet, Flybe, BA Cityfler or a new carrier to take up this route if it is going to have a chance.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Upload Media

Upgrade Your Account

Subscribe to help support your favourite forum and in return we'll remove all our advertisements. Your contribution will help to pay for things like site maintenance, domain name renewals and annual server charges.



Forums4aiports
Subscribe

NEW - Profile Posts

9 trips in 9 days done 70 miles walked and over 23-00 photos taken with a large number taken at 20mph or above. Heavy rain on 1 day only
5 trips done and 45 miles walked,. Also the RAF has had 4 F35B Lightning follow me yesterday and today....
My plans got altered slightly as one of the minibus companies had to cancel 3 trips and refunded me but will be getting nice discount when I rebook them.
wondering why on my "holidays" I choose to get up 2 hours earlier than when going to work. 6 trips in 6 days soon coming up with 3 more days to sort out

Trending Hashtags

Advertisement

Back
Top Bottom
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock