“Why is there an aircraft at EXT?”

To operate EXT-EMA-EXT Royal Mail flights

Not only HUY – XL have also pulled out of CWL and their flights from EMA will not be operated by Excel (albeit a leased MD83 this summer), but by Air Malta

I’d say they shot themselves in the foot by not carrying out sufficient market research to identify the true level of likely demand

Furthermore, Swansea Airports’s location is out of the way, even for those living in Swansea…

Terminating, or starting services at CWL, and having to taxi/bus passengers to/from Swansea won’t have helped either….

Schedules may be less of an issue – the passengers weren’t there, or prepared to use the services anyway.

I had the pleasure a number of times – IIRC, would have been to Mahon from BRS or LGW.

As it was a long time ago, my memories are a little hazy, but I recall racks overhead instead of lockers, the ‘old style’ doors which were a bit smaller than we are used to now on a jet.
I can also remember being able to see some paint from a previous operator starting to show through – probably RAF? on a Comet 4.

My clearest memory is that there was no door to the flight deck, just a curtain, which on takeoff moved offering a great view of the pilots doing what had to be done!

Shopperbike, one last point – IIRC Dan Air didn’t operate 737s until the 1980s, your flights in the 70s may have been 727-100s or 1-11s.

I’d agree with you david2386 about the longest runway

Gatwick and Stansted are around the 3050m mark (10000ft) too, as is Brize Norton

Earlier this week Astraeus operated into Brize Norton – don’t know where from, though they then positioned out to LGW iirc.

Today has seen Excel operate from MME to Brize Norton, and then onto Al Udeid as XLA105

Not civil, but an airliner all the same, the Belgian AF are also due to operate through Brize Norton today with an A310 routing Jacksonville-Gander-Brize Norton-Brussels Melsbroek as BAF608

As far as the An-225 goes, I would expect it can – I recall seeing it at Farnborough, and Brize Norton’s runway is longer, wider, and I believe has a higher PCN..

No.. disagree on that too.. 😉

so nothing that evenly remotely confirms that it was an emergency yet…. :rolleyes: