Airport.

[IOM]

11 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

Sorry Madmanxpilot. They definitely do. I have looked at Ryanair flights months in advance and thought "no way, too expensive". I have gone back on a couple of months later and they have come down. Absolutely no doubt about it. There is a sweet spot. They must have algorithms that vary the costs. Too early and they think you are super organised and you'll pay anything - because you are expecting that they will only go up. Too late - you are desperate and pay anything.

Sorry I totally disagree . You only have to look at the prices when you come to book at relatively short notice . EasyJet are charging £166 and £111 one way this weekend to fly to Gatwick and that’s just for a seat and before I have tried booking any bags ! Similarly £159 and £100 one way the following weekend. Loganair are just as bad too ! 

[madmanxpilot]

49 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

Sorry Madmanxpilot. They definitely do. I have looked at Ryanair flights months in advance and thought "no way, too expensive". I have gone back on a couple of months later and they have come down. Absolutely no doubt about it. There is a sweet spot. They must have algorithms that vary the costs. Too early and they think you are super organised and you'll pay anything - because you are expecting that they will only go up. Too late - you are desperate and pay anything.

They do have some very clever systems to fleece you at Ryanair, that’s for sure! I’ve never travelled with RYR, but have with other carriers extensively and have never seen it, I’ve also had access to airline systems which display available seats and those that were almost full, were always the ones with the highest fares. 

 

[Roger Mexico]

3 hours ago, madmanxpilot said:

It’s not nonsense at all. Fares very rarely, if ever, get cheaper the closer to the departure date you book, or the fuller the flight gets. Any regular flier will attest to that.

Airlines don’t just cancel flights either because they haven’t sold enough tickets to make it profitable on any particular day. They suck it up, and if the trend continues, then yes, the route will likely be cancelled as unviable.

I didn't say they come down (they they may do in some cases as quoted above), it's more that higher prices don't always imply a full plane and practice will vary between airlines and over time. 

As for cancellations not happening due to poor sales - that's almost certainly the reason for easyJet cancelling the Sunday afternoon flights (when they can shunt people onto the evening) and must be the reason for at least some of times when MAN and LPL flights get amalgamated at last minutes and yet there's enough seats for both.

[newaccount]

Ryanair have a different operating model to most other airlines. 

 

In my experience, when referring to Ryanair it is generally true to say that their fares start high, then fall to their lowest value before rising again.

During the 100 days before travel they'll fluctuate a lot.

[madmanxpilot]

2 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

 

As for cancellations not happening due to poor sales - that's almost certainly the reason for easyJet cancelling the Sunday afternoon flights (when they can shunt people onto the evening) and must be the reason for at least some of times when MAN and LPL flights get amalgamated at last minutes and yet there's enough seats for both.

Regarding the Sunday afternoon EZY flights, do we know the reason why they have cancelled them? Is it a permanent change?  I know they made adjustments to their IOM schedules earlier this year blaming network pressures, is this the same?

Regarding combining flights, in my 20 + years of operating out of here, that only ever happened if there was a very good reason, and not because the loads were combinable. It was only ever done due to aircraft unserviceability, and less frequently due to crew shortages. 

[Andy Onchan]

33 minutes ago, madmanxpilot said:

Regarding the Sunday afternoon EZY flights, do we know the reason why they have cancelled them? Is it a permanent change?  I know they made adjustments to their IOM schedules earlier this year blaming network pressures, is this the same?

Regarding combining flights, in my 20 + years of operating out of here, that only ever happened if there was a very good reason, and not because the loads were combinable. It was only ever done due to aircraft unserviceability, and less frequently due to crew shortages. 

As I recall it was crew shortages that was cited as the reason for amalgamating those flights.

[Happier diner]

1 hour ago, IOM said:

Sorry I totally disagree . You only have to look at the prices when you come to book at relatively short notice . EasyJet are charging £166 and £111 one way this weekend to fly to Gatwick and that’s just for a seat and before I have tried booking any bags ! Similarly £159 and £100 one way the following weekend. Loganair are just as bad too ! 

You totally disagree? You have agreed. Did you read what I wrote? Read it again. 

[Happier diner]

1 hour ago, madmanxpilot said:

They do have some very clever systems to fleece you at Ryanair, that’s for sure! I’ve never travelled with RYR, but have with other carriers extensively and have never seen it, I’ve also had access to airline systems which display available seats and those that were almost full, were always the ones with the highest fares. 

 

I don't disagree with that. 

[Ringy Rose]

15 hours ago, newaccount said:

In my experience, when referring to Ryanair it is generally true to say that their fares start high, then fall to their lowest value before rising again.

Ryanair will set their initial prices at what they think the market will bear, and if they’re wrong they will reduce prices. Prices don’t routinely come down unless they got their predictions wrong. Their model is for high loads.

Loganair’s last-minute prices are high, they always have been, and their model is more on higher yields.

If you book more than 2-3 weeks out then there’s bugger all difference between Loganair and EasyJet from here, but if you’re booking 24 hours out then there often is a bit of difference.

Loganair would rather have one person paying £100 than two people paying £49.99. EasyJet don’t care either way. But last minute Easyjet fares are not low.

Ryanair don’t care so much because so little is included in the fare, and their model is about upselling the ancillaries.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Ringy Rose

[Nellie]

15 hours ago, madmanxpilot said:

Regarding the Sunday afternoon EZY flights, do we know the reason why they have cancelled them? Is it a permanent change?  I know they made adjustments to their IOM schedules earlier this year blaming network pressures, is this the same?

 

They initially cancelled the Sunday afternoon flight during July and August. They have recently extended this through September.

However, in November and December they go to three flights each way on Sundays (including Xmas Eve and NY Eve) which seems to represent a huge over supply of seats, and it's hard to believe they will get satisfactory loads in both directions. There are three flights on Fridays too, in this period.

It's impossible to figure out the logic of what they are doing, other that just trying to have their planes flying 'somewhere'.

[asitis]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:41 AM, madmanxpilot said:

Figures are being given for the cost of putting in CAT2, £3m at ‘each end’ I’ve been reliably informed. But, you cannot have CAT2 on both ends, only for runway 26, so why say ‘each end’. If someone had checked properly, or had the knowledge to begin with, they would have realised that because the maximum glideslope allowed for a CAT2 approach is 3 degrees, it would not be possible on 08 because of terrain. The glideslope on runway 08 needs to be more than 3 degrees and is currently 3.5.

This paragraph sums up precisely why we are where we are, managers are convinced of their superior knowledge and positions, and too ego driven to actually seek aviation knowledge from those who do know. If this is what they are saying then they've regurgitated this from some other 'expert' who doesn't know either !

I'm told the lack of specialist knowledge in every department including ATC management is shocking !. Only going to cost more money than necessary in the long run.

I'm not knocking the personnel involved per se, merely their ego's which find them unable to talk with people who do know these things !

[The Phantom]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:41 AM, madmanxpilot said:

 

Another example is the oft repeated statement that the water is too deep to allow for a lighting gantry for runway 26. A quick look at a chart will show that at its deepest it is 50 feet, and on average just 30. Hardly the Marianas Trench and surely not even a challenge for a nautical engineers to resolve.

 

Yeah, it's not particularly deep around there.  There is a bit of a trench at Santon gorge, but assuming this would be at the end of the runway, it would be clear of this.   How far would it have to go out, a couple of hundred metres?  The currents around Langess north and south point can get pretty hairy.  Plus if it was too far out it might actually block access to Derbyhaven. 

[mad_manx]

Does anyone know if easyjet are pulling out from the MAN route ? 

Got a message from a friend but I can see that they are still selling tickets. 

[John Wright]

Does nothing work at Ronaldsway?

Escalator out of action.

Baggage drop belt at Check-In broken. All bags have to go to oversize/referred bags which is scanning slowly. How they'll cope when 2 WZY are departing at nearly the same time?

Only one scanner and belt working at security.

Depressing

[asitis]

6 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Does nothing work at Ronaldsway?

Escalator out of action.

Baggage drop belt at Check-In broken. All bags have to go to oversize/referred bags which is scanning slowly. How they'll cope when 2 WZY are departing at nearly the same time?

Only one scanner and belt working at security.

Depressing

Absolutely, all this mundane simple run of the mill stuff is of no interest to the top corridor, it is just not sexy enough and contributes nothing to the CV. We needed a manager who wanted to run an airport not more development plans and reports.