@SeanM1997

Following the loss of Ryanair in early 2021 and the travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19, City of Derry Airport looked to be suffering. It had lost its two busiest routes (Edinburgh and Liverpool), with charter flights to Palma de Mallorca cancelled for the summer due to uncertainties in travel restrictions. This left the airport with just one airline (Loganair) and two routes - Glasgow and London Stansted for 2021. However, the airport has turned its fortunes around and have recently announced a series of new routes and increased frequencies, with Loganair today announcing a new City of Derry to Edinburgh route from May 2022. In March, Loganair announced a third route to Liverpool, with four weekly flights, increasing to seven weekly in late June and were further increased to nine weekly flights in peak summer. Whilst this was less seats than offered under Ryanair, it did involve more flights and were more attractive to those wanting to be flexible with their travel. Additi...

Over the past few weeks, a number of Ryanair UK routes have been added from London Stansted and Manchester across Europe and North Africa. And now, the airline is re-entering the UK domestic market, with Ryanair launching flights between Manchester and City of Derry from 1 December 2021. Ryanair vacated the UK domestic market due to the UK Civil Aviation Authority due to regulatory changes post Brexit (1). This has meant UK registered aircraft are required for domestic and non-EU routes. This was a blow for many airports - especially City of Derry, where Ryanair had flights to Edinburgh and Liverpool. Loganair stepped in and replaced Ryanair at City of Derry, adding a Liverpool route and increasing its existing Glasgow flights, whilst Aer Lingus Regional and easyJet provided links between city pairs which have lost their Ryanair services. Ryanair now have 2 UK bases with UK registered planes - London Stansted and Manchester. With a Public Service Obligation between City of Derry and Lo...

Norse Atlantic Airways are planning to launch operations in Summer 2022 from London, Oslo and Paris to various points in the US, using the Boeing 787 aircraft, of which 15 aircraft are awaiting delivery. London Gatwick has been named as the London airport and a British AOC is pending. As the airline is obtaining a UK AOC, should the new airline look at Manchester as a base? Manchester is the UK's third busiest airport and busiest outside of London. The airport has flights across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America - including several routes to USA. At the time of writing, in Summer 2022, the airport is expected to having the following US routes (subject to change): Atlanta - Virgin Atlantic (7x weekly on A330) Boston - Aer Lingus (not currently on sale) Houston - Singapore Airlines (5x weekly on A350) Los Angeles - Virgin Atlantic (3x weekly on A330) New York JFK - Aer Lingus (7x weekly on A321LR) New York JFK - Virgin Atlantic (7x weekly on A330) Orlando International - Aer Lin...

Following the collapse of Flybe in March 2020 and liquidation of Stobart Air in June 2021, many routes between Ireland and the United Kingdom were left unserved. However, Ryanair have recently added an abundance of routes from Irish airports to the United Kingdom, closing the opportunity for a new Aer Lingus Regional airline to have a major presence in the market. Image 1: Ryanair Over recent months, Ryanair have announced a series of routes including: Knock - Edinburgh (commenced in September 2021) - previously served by Flybe Knock - Manchester (commenced in September 2021) - previously served by Flybe Shannon - Edinburgh (commenced in September 2021) - previously served by Stobart Air Shannon - London Luton (commences 7 October 2021) - previously unserved Dublin - Cardiff (commences 31 October 2021) - previously served by Flybe Shannon - Birmingham (commences 1 November 2021) - previously served by Stobart Air Image 2: Ryanair's recent Ireland - UK additions Ryanair have put on ...

It is now 18 months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK-US aviation market has changed beyond imagination. Norwegian Air, who's largest base was London Gatwick, has given up on long haul flying (1), Delta Airlines cancelled plans to serve London Gatwick and Manchester, American Airlines and United Airlines left Manchester, British Airways cut two US routes from London Heathrow and Virgin Atlantic consolidated its London operation at London Heathrow. Its fair to say, the sector was torn apart in 2020 and 2021, however, with the vaccine rollout, borders reopening and increasing pressure to return to normality, the sector is demonstrating signs of recovering and new players entering the market. Since 2 August 2021, the United Kingdom has allowed vaccinated visitors from the United States to enter the country without quarantine, with a pre-departure and Day 2 test only. This allowed airlines including British Airways, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic to record surge ...

Virgin Atlantic have announced four new routes from across the United Kingdom, including a return to Edinburgh - as the long haul carrier looks to capitalise on the increase in passengers to the Caribbean and leisure destinations. Today (11 August 2021), Virgin Atlantic announced four new routes to start in Winter 2021*. These are: - London Heathrow to St Lucia - 3x weekly flights starting 18 December 2021 - Manchester to Montego Bay - 3x weekly flights starting 6 November 2021 - Edinburgh to Bridgetown (Barbados) - 2x weekly flights starting 5 December 2021 - Edinburgh to Orlando International - 2x weekly flights starting 30 March 2022 London Heathrow to St Lucia: Virgin Atlantic cut its London Gatwick to St Lucia route in 2020 after the  Saint Lucia Tourism Authority said it “could not meet the proposals from Virgin Atlantic” which led to the decision to withdraw its UK service(1). This is Virgin Atlantic's only route into St Lucia and enlarges the long haul carrier's n...

Virgin Atlantic have announced a new route from London Heathrow to Nassau with flights commencing 20 November 2021. This is Virgin Atlantic's only route into The Bahamas and enlarges the long haul carrier's network to 8 Caribbean destinations - which has seen St Vincent Argyle added to its network in 2021. Additionally, this is the first new route announcement since the St Vincent announcement in November 2020. Nassau currently has a direct flight to London Heathrow with British Airways, currently operating three times weekly. Virgin Atlantic would therefore provide competition on the route. Furthermore, Virgin Atlantic are the only second European airline to fly to Nassau and subject to flight timings, could offer connections at its London Heathrow hub on to other European cities via its codeshare partners including Amsterdam and Amsterdam. Virgin Atlantic plan to operate two weekly flights between London Heathrow and Nassau for Winter 2021. Flight timings will be updated in d...

Ryanair have added 10 new routes across North West England, with flights launching in Winter 2021. Ryanair have added 4 new routes from Liverpool and 6 new routes from Manchester, commencing from October 2021. Liverpool Ryanair recently announced new routes to Rome Fiumincino and Stockholm Arlanda, and have expanded on this by adding 4 new routes: Milan Bergamo - 2x weekly flights Paris Beauvais - 2x weekly flights Sibiu - 2x weekly flights Tallinn - 2x weekly flights All four routes are unserved. easyJet recently cut its Liverpool to Paris Charles de Gaulle route, thus Ryanair is an indirect replacement to this service. Additionally, this is the first Ryanair route from Sibiu to the UK, with only Wizz Air serving the UK form Sibiu (to London Luton). Manchester currently have Ryanair flights to Milan Bergamo and Paris Beauvais, meaning the Ryanair additions will complement its existing network 40 miles away. With these new routes, Ryanair are forecast to serve 1.9 million annual passen...

17 June 2021 easyJet have loaded 12 new domestic routes for Summer 2021, serving 16 airports across the United Kingdom. As noted in my previous article ( easyJet expands UK domestic - where next? (seanm1997.blogspot.com) ), even before the collapse of Flybe in March 2021, easyJet has been the number 1 domestic carrier by seats in the UK - connecting major airports including London Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and B elfast International, and has recently grown its UK domestic operation. easyJet have long served one key market in the UK domestic market - connecting major cities and conurbations. Belfast (International) has been key to this. Being on a separate island to Great Britain has allowed easyJet to grow its Belfast operation in recent years and with the collapse of Flybe, easyJet became the largest domestic carrier from the Northern Ireland capital. In 2019, the airline launched Manchester - Jersey and in 2020 launched Edinburgh - Birmingham and Glasgow - Birmingham, whilst in ...

Even before the collapse of Flybe in March 2021, easyJet has been the number 1 domestic carrier by seats in the UK - connecting major airports including London Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast International, and has recently grown its UK domestic operation. easyJet have long served one key market in the UK domestic market - connecting major cities and conurbations. Belfast (International) has been key to this. Being on a separate island to Great Britain has allowed easyJet to grow its Belfast operation in recent years and with the collapse of Flybe, easyJet became the largest domestic carrier from the Northern Ireland capital. In 2019, the airline launched Manchester - Jersey and in 2020 launched Edinburgh - Birmingham and Glasgow - Birmingham. In 2021 the airline re-introduced previously cut routes including London Gatwick - Aberdeen and Edinburgh - Jersey and has added new routes to Bournemouth (from Belfast and Edinburgh), Inverness (Belfast) and Newquay (Glasgow, London G...