BE: Reconnects Newquay to the world... well Manchester.

Whilst Air Southwest is withering away into nothing, FlyBe has come as a knight in shining armour to offer a 4 times a week all year service connecting Newquay and Manchester.

Services commence from 30th October 2011.

Monday/Thursday/Friday

DEP NQY 10:50      ARR MAN 12:05

DEP MAN 12:30      ARR NQY 13:40

Sunday

DEP MAN 14:40      ARR NQY 15:50

DEP NQY 16:15      ARR NQY 17:30

FlyBe also connects Newquay to London... although in some cases, you might be better off using the Great Western to London Paddington.

Volcano Ash II: And guess who doesn't want to hold the flight ban.

Firstly, lets get up to speed with who is doing what:

• Aer Lingus - 12 flights affected to and from Scottish Airspace
• BMI flights to and from Aberdeen are subject to delay, but services in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh were running normally
• British Airways will not be operating any flights between London (LHR/LGW/LCY) and Scotland until 1400 BST
• Eastern Airways will not be operating any services in or out of Scottish airspace
• EasyJet cancelled flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen between 0500 and 1300 BST
• Flybe cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen and Inverness
• KLM has cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley Airport
• Loganair has cancelled 36 flights.
• Ryanair has been advised by the Irish Aviation Authority not to operate flights from Glasgow Prestwick, Edinburgh or Aberdeen until at least 1300 BST but believed that "there is no basis for these flight cancellations"

Weather patterns are all over the shop, and whilst the cloud is predicted to head southwards down the United Kingdom, spreading to Wales, northern England and Northern Ireland by midday and across much of the UK by the end of the day.

The decision to  fly or not in ash cloud conditions is down to individual airlines, although they have to apply to the Civil Aviation Authority for final approval.

Again, the best advice is to keep an eye on your airport's website, your operators website and the links in last nights post.

Safe travels to all.

GhettoIFE will be continuing coverage as and when - The Next Planned Update is 13:00BST. 

Volcano Ash II: Latest Updates to who's doing what

Ok, it's late, but the Ash cloud is on it's way courtesy of the Grimsvotn Volcano. So this is who's doing what tomorrow as of Midnight 24/05/11...

• Aer Lingus have cancelled 12 flights between Ireland and Scotland
• British Airways is not operating any flights between London Airports (LHR, LGW, LCY) and Scotland until 1400 BST
• EasyJet cancelled flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen scheduled for between 0500 and 0900 BST
• Eastern Airways will not be operating any services in or out of Scottish airspace
• Flybe cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen and Inverness
• KLM cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as some services to Newcastle
• Loganair has cancelled 36 flights. Only inter-island routes in Orkney are unaffected.

 The picture is shifting all of the time. Expect cutting and changes as this develops.

You can keep an up-to-date view of what going on at:

• CAA - http://www.caa.co.uk/ 
• EuroControl - http://www.eurocontrol.int/
• NATS http://www.nats.co.uk/grimsvotn-updates/

As usual in these circumstances - check before you fly with your airline and airport. And safe travels to all.

BE: FlyBe makes it's Frequent Flyer programme even worse....

Flybe has released a statement, that it's changing it's frequent flyer programme by blocking redeptions to destinations in Croatia, Portugal, or Spain due to "heavy demand" on those routes

Excuse me. For a scheme that is limited in the first instance (in terms of routes, earning and otherwise), least of all the amount of tax you'd have to pay on a redemption, this is rather rich.

These routes will also have limited availability over the upcoming winter period up to Match 30, 2011.

So in other words, if you want to redeem out to those destinations, consider yourself doneover.

Flybe states:

"Over the past few months we have become increasingly aware that the heavy demand for flight redemptions on what is actually just a small number of the routes Flybe operates is putting huge pressure on some of our most popular ’sea and sun’ routes such as those to Spain and Portugal".

And to really knee you they also add

"As our network evolves over the next few years this situation is unlikely to change".

So, if you were hoping for that redemption to the sun, forget about it.

We've all seen frequent flyer program devaluations in the past - and this is quite harsh even by some I've seen least of all due to FlyBe's international network being comparatively limited.

As usual, my recommendations for companies who do this to you is 1) Cash out and 2) Take your cash to a company who will appreciate your custom.

Because quite frankly, FlyBe sounds like it couldn't care less about your loyalty. 

Farnborough Day 2

Well Day 2 of Farnborough is coming to close, so lets look at what's hot in the world of Civil Aviation

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Flybe goes for 35 E-175's and options for more, but calls on industry for new designs.

Heading up the megafleet expansions, Flybe is in the mood to order new planes for an expansion.

UK regional carrier Flybe is to order up to 140 Embraer E-Jet's of which 35 will initially be 35 firm, with options for 65 united, and purchase rights for another 40 jets.

However, Flybe laid down a challenge to the regional jet airframers - in 7 years time they'll be ordering again, but want to look at combining turboprop and jet performance - could it be an impetus to start looking at Open Rotor designs again?

Interesting times..

---

LAN close to ordering 50 A320's.

LAN Airlines has signed a tentative agreement for 50 Airbus A320-family aircraft in a memo of understanding with Airbus. This will be a mix of aircraft, including 10 A321's

LAN of course OneWorld's South American partner. In addition, they'll be removing the A318's they have in service. So if you're in South America and want so slightly used A318's...

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Azul diverges from a pure E-Jet Fleet, picks up 20 ATR's with options for a fleet of 40

Azul who yesterday signed with Embraer for some more E-Jets is going to dip its toes into props for regional services, wit the purchase of 20 ATR 72-600s, with options on a further 20 aircraft.

Deliveries will begin in late 2011, and will make Azul the launch operator of ATR -600 series... and being a launch operator has some benefits on knocking off the list price down a bit...

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Udvar-Hazy's ALC buys a few more planes...

Not one for standing still, Steven Udvar-Hazy's Air Lease Corporation has signed letters of intent with Embraer and ATR for delivery of regional aircraft.

With Embraer, it once again the E-Jet series that is benefiting with 10 E-190's with options for 5 more. Even Udvar-Hazy is happy with the economics of these E-Jets, which will be configured in a 106 seats, and marketed as a mainline aircraft (which in an E-190 is very capable of)

Air Lease has also signed for 10 ATR 72-600 series aircraft. A busy two days so far for Air Lease Corporation.

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Hong Kong Airlines to go wide....

Hong Kong Airlines are starting their expansion, and have tentatively agreed to purchase 15 Airbus A350s and 10 A330-200 series, in a bid to develop it's long haul services.

Subject to paperwork, A330-200's start arriving in 2012.

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TRIP to go narrow...

Brazilian TRIP Linhas Aereas is going narrow and large with an order for two Embraer E-190 jets, to add to its fleet of six Embraer E-175s.

The E-190s, which will be configured with 106 seats (a common configuration it seems), and deliveries will beging in 2011

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Another day, another lessor...

Another lessor has popped up, called Avolon.

They have committed to buying 12 Boeing 737-800's for lease from 2012-2014.

There's going to be a lot of aircraft floating around from 2012 onwards....

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787 -  First to fly in Europe is....

And finally, who is going to be the first European operator of Boeing's 787 in Europe? A major flag carrier?

Nope.

Step forward Thomson Airways! (part of the TUI Group)

Yes, the charter carrier will be the first to fly the 787 in Europe (and the UK), beating LOT to the punch - mainly due to the issues with the 787 project itself.

Configuration will be (what I consider) a generous 33" in economy, with a decision open on a premium product once the UK government has decided how to rip more people off with aviation taxes.

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That's your lot for Day 2. As Day 3 approaches, it'll be interesting to see what orders are left to be signed...

Liability Limitation - The Ryanair and TUI way.

Did you even need to guess? Of course it's our favourite LCC... Ryanair!

Ryanair is proposing to limit its liability during the Volcano Ash incident to the price of the ticket paid, and no more.

However EC261 politely reminds that they are liable for "reasonable" costs in terms of food and accommodation

To quote the ODM:

"There's no legislation designed that says any airline getting a fare of €30 should be reimbursing passengers many thousands of euros for hotel accommodation. It's absurd. I don't have a problem with everything being grounded for a day or two but there should have been a much faster response by the governments and transport ministers and by the regulators. This is one of these issues we want addressed – why exactly are the airlines expected to be reimbursing people's hotels, meals and everything else when the governments are the ones who made a balls of this?"

Other airlines - whilst not jumping ontop of this, have expressed that EC261 must be re-examined - FlyBe has said this in so many words (even though they will cover the payouts..


Meanwhile TUI Group (TUI, Thomsom etc) customers may have a very nasty shock with customers being told that they would have to pay the difference if an alternative flight the passenger chooses is more expensive.

"Tui UK and Ireland can confirm that customers who rebook to a different flight of their choice which is more expensive than their original must cover the difference themselves. Similarly, if the flight is cheaper Thomson Airways will refund the difference," 

What was an inconvenience is now rapidly turning into a money - and sadly - a legal issue. I'm sure lawyers on both sides will love the oncoming payday...

Sources:
The Guardian
BBC News