Manchester Airport news blog

  Manchester Long Haul, is the answer condor? I’ve well documented in the past few weeks about the woes of Manchester’s westbound long haul. It’s hard to decipher exactly what’s gone wrong, but it’s also decidedly tricky to work out how to fix it. Put it this way, Virgin have shown that they are in no position to slip into Thomas Cooks routes, Aer Lingus have showed willing, but the lack of Premium Economy will always be a problem for the Manchester market. United and Delta clearly aren’t interested while American hold slots but remain absent. British Airways is a no go, after all, that’s what IAG have brought in Aer Lingus for, while Nowegian long haul, Norse or whatever they are calling themselves this week have shown no interest in Manchester long haul. So what’s the solution, who is the best fit and where could we go from here? My answer proves slightly controversial given the crossover, slightly complicated due to AOCs but also a slight stroke of genius, and that answer is Condor.

  The Far East, Manchester’s bright spot. My last article talked about how westbound long haul from Manchester has taken quite a battering, this article will discuss how eastbound long haul has fared a little better. Now, this may have come as a surprise to a few. Let’s face it, large swathes of the east were still closed off as traffic began to rebound. Thailand had some very strict entry requirements, Singapore was all but closed, Australia and New Zealand were closed to pretty much anyone in or out and lastly China, well, they look like they won’t open to the world for a long time yet. Yet despite this, we’ve seen airlines almost rush back to Manchester.  -Turkish Airlines have been using the A330 more and more, increasing winter widebody operations higher than what it was pre-pandemic. -Emirates were quick to reintroduce twice daily A380 operations, and recently had a series of 3rd daily flights with the B77W to meet demand -Saudia have returned for a series of 3 weekly flights ove