I am not going to make many friends by saying this, but I actually agree with BA on this move, as much as it pains me to say it…:eek: I recently read somewhere that it has cost BA 16 million pounds just to keep the model on the roundabout, and their decision to take the model down was because they could not continually justifying spending such a large amount of money on a model.

As great and as iconic as Concorde is/was, I too would not be able to justify spending 16million on ‘a model’. And also to know that it is going to be replaced with an Emirates A380 actually sounds exciting as it is a more modern aircraft, and I think would make just as good impact to welcome visitors to LHR as Concorde has done!

I am glad though that a sensible decision has been made to give it to the Brooklands Museum rather than it being taken down and destroyed altogether!:D

Flyjet do exist they are now the UK’s only independant charter airline.

What about Titan Airways, aren’t they a UK based charter airline???

I’m pretty sure that I saw an advert in the Daily Mail advertising another one of these coming up shortly.

You are right, there is another one advertised as I have just cut it out of last weekends Daily Mail on Sunday (18th Mar)…the event itself is exactly the same set-up with My Travel and is being held on 29th April. It obviously was quite popular the first time, so they have decided to run it again so I am looking to go myself…only problem is I will have to fly up from LGW the night before and stay in a hotel as it seems to be quite an early start. 😀

For those that have criticised the naming of London Ashford, my question to you is…So why is Gatwick called a London airport then??? It is still a good number of miles out of the capital isnt it…so the transport links there and back maybe slightly better, but as Lydd develops, so will the transport infrastructure to and from the airport. In fact a feasability study is currently ongoing to see about the re-opening of the Lydd – Appledore railway line, so all they would need to do is build a terminus station that links it to the main terminal building of the airport.

Having said this, I am in agreement with others though about the airports potential. Personally, I think that Kent International (MSE) has more of a chance of becoming a regional airport for the South-East, simply because the facilities are better there. Whilst Lydd has just begun trials for 737’s, MSE can already handle 747’s and soon be capable of handling A380’s due to its long runway and large freight/cargo handling terminal…and seeings as MSE is closer to several major towns (Margate, Ramsgate) and cities (Canterbury, Rochester) within Kent, I think it will be more popular for tourists. Apparently, don;t know if it is still true or not, but Ramsgate, a town about 10 minutes from MSE, is very popular with US visitors, as they see it as ‘the gateway to Europe!”

I saw Bravo India yesterday and today at LGW whilst at work, and I have to be honest, but I think it is a horrible design and an awful waste of money. If FCA had wanted to get noticed for doing something to help, perhaps they ought to of donated the amount of money that it cost to get the aircraft painted like that to Comic Relief instead. At lease then the money would be able to be used more sensibly than painting a few red dots over the fuselage…thank god its not going to be round for too long!

Due to technical problems Monarch terminated the flight at Manchester and told passengers they would be taken to Gatwick by coach.

That is not what I have heard…

I heard that a Monarch flight due to depart from MAN to Spain was delayed due to technical problems, so they decided to re-route the aircraft from Lapland to land at MAN so they could get the flight to Spain out, avoiding the possibility of it being cancelled overnight.

I think that is dreadful of Monarch though, why should the passengers on their return flight from Lapland be coached down to LGW. I don’t know the full facts of the story, as the media/press does have a tendancy to over-exaggerate stories like these, but if that happened to me I would want to be offered some form of compensation of the trip for the inconvience…

I have noticed at work that Monarch seem to be having quite a few problems with their fleet at the moment, especially the long-haul flights to Goa and Male (Maldives). Is this because the fleet is getting too old or is it just purely operational reasons?

Does anyone know when they are due to get their first 787?

What is the config going to be like?

Any info would be greatfully appreciated.