Potential Long Haul routes from MAN

GSM cancelled the Jburgs two months ago due to poor sales. The CPTs are still operating for the winter as normal with our 767. G-CDPT is returning from lease to Air India to be at MAN for next month.

Do GSM do not already have MAN-JNB on sale? ok, ok I know GSM are a disaster but still:D

So top of the list were HKG, JNB, PVG, BKK, MIA, NBO, RUH and THR.

Err…RUH is already available! 2 weekly on SV (pretty good loads as well I believe). Initial blurb announcing Servisair Pernauille getting the handling contracts said they hoped for daily services eventually.

HKG = need the Russians to play ball with 5th freedom rights as CX are unable to work out that successful MAN long-haul routes do not double drop! The routing would be HKG-SVO-MAN using A340s taking a longer time than HKG-LHR-MAN though. (Probably AY via HEL is the quickest route though).

JNB = best plans for SA to resume can be safely ruled out given their financial positions. BD would be next best, but they’ll be focusing on LHR long-haul only for at least 3 years. Lon…oops British Airways…it’s gonig to be a cold day in hell before they consider adding any more UK regional long-haul. VS perhaps when the 787 comes along (but they’d probably focus on the BD routes) Which leaves Flyglobespan who did announce 2 weekly services but is not on their website.

PVG = more likely to see Air China in 2009 with a Beijing service as that’s they’ve been provisionally allocated!

MIA = we need BA and AA to gain anti-immunity protection so AA can relaunch and this have BA play ball as AA were to an extent relaint on getting cruise contracts with BA not wanting to codeshare as they wanted the premium payers to route MAN-LHR-MIA!

NBO = is being targetted by MAN; KQ did apply for slots this year though. Possbiility for 2009 onwards. Can’t see any British airline wanting to fly it though.

THR = we did have IKA with Mahan Air. Once they have EU authority to come to the EU again, perhaps we might see them back at the 5 weekly frequency. Don’t think IR have enough equipment to start flying here.

BKK = long rumoured (my recollection stems from a 3 wkly TG MD11 service via BRU back in 1992!). MAN does allege 100,000 passengers a year route MAN-wherever-BKK so once TG gets appropriate equipment, they might want to fill a void by doing a Kangaroo service which MH offered i.e. MAN-BKK-Australia (or MAN-KUL-Australia in MH’s instance). Might be a problem though with SQ as both are part of Star Alliance, with SQ going daily from October and the prospect of 10 weekly services held out in the medium term.

So what are your opinions on these and what are the obstacles preventing them from being launched.

Just one obstacle really – none of the routes are likely to massively profitable.

I recall while I was looking for flights from Manchester – Miami last year, stumbling upon a direct flight with American Airlines on the ebookers website, listed as operated by a 767-300ER. However, at that time the prices were still a tad high, so I left booking until a few months on down the line, only to discover this was no longer on offer, and wound up flying with Delta via Atlanta, AGAIN. Interestingly enough though, I did recognise quite a few people from the trans-Atlantic 767 I’d just come off were dotted about the cabin on the connecting 757 from Atlanta.

So yeah, shaving a few hours off the annual Manchester – Miami run by flying direct would definitely be something I’d be interested in.