Manila Bulletin
By STEVE ROTHWELL (BLOOMBERG)
March 29, 2011, 2:38pm
Emirates, Qatar Airways Ltd. and Etihad, the biggest Arab carriers, are pouring capacity into the north English city of Manchester to win Asian traffic as British Airways funnels passengers via its crowded London Heathrow hub.
Emirates, the largest international carrier, said March 9 it would add a third daily flight to Dubai starting May 1 after existing services featuring an Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo were consistently full. The announcement came within days of Qatar and Etihad saying that routes from Abu Dhabi and Doha will go double daily from Aug. 1 and June 1, respectively.
British Airways scrapped long-haul flights from Manchester in 2008, opting to route people through Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, on nine daily shuttles. The UK company says it has no plans to revise the model, even though 13 scheduled carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines and Singapore Airlines Ltd. offer long-haul services from the airport, which claims a catchment of 20 million people.
“Our clients prefer flying from Manchester, so we’re very pleased with the new routes,” said Irene Hulme, who runs Travel by Design, a specialist in luxury trips to Australia, Asia and North America based in Alderley Edge, 5 miles from the airport. “People think twice about going via Heathrow. On some routes you can have a very long wait, which they find frustrating.”
Manchester was the busiest British airport outside London in 2010, attracting 17.6 million passengers, or 8.4 percent of the national total. That compares with 22 million in 2005, before the reduction in service by BA and UK rival British Midland or BMI, now owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Heathrow handled 65.9 million passengers last year.
The airport, privately managed on behalf of its owners, the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester county, estimates it will boost passenger numbers 4 percent this year, Chief Executive Officer Charlie Cornish said in an interview last month.
The Gulf carriers are targeting northern England as part of a growth splurge aimed at challenging British Airways and other carriers specializing in long-distance transfer traffic.
Emirates, the largest international carrier, said March 9 it would add a third daily flight to Dubai starting May 1 after existing services featuring an Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo were consistently full. The announcement came within days of Qatar and Etihad saying that routes from Abu Dhabi and Doha will go double daily from Aug. 1 and June 1, respectively.
British Airways scrapped long-haul flights from Manchester in 2008, opting to route people through Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, on nine daily shuttles. The UK company says it has no plans to revise the model, even though 13 scheduled carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines and Singapore Airlines Ltd. offer long-haul services from the airport, which claims a catchment of 20 million people.
“Our clients prefer flying from Manchester, so we’re very pleased with the new routes,” said Irene Hulme, who runs Travel by Design, a specialist in luxury trips to Australia, Asia and North America based in Alderley Edge, 5 miles from the airport. “People think twice about going via Heathrow. On some routes you can have a very long wait, which they find frustrating.”
Manchester was the busiest British airport outside London in 2010, attracting 17.6 million passengers, or 8.4 percent of the national total. That compares with 22 million in 2005, before the reduction in service by BA and UK rival British Midland or BMI, now owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Heathrow handled 65.9 million passengers last year.
The airport, privately managed on behalf of its owners, the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester county, estimates it will boost passenger numbers 4 percent this year, Chief Executive Officer Charlie Cornish said in an interview last month.
The Gulf carriers are targeting northern England as part of a growth splurge aimed at challenging British Airways and other carriers specializing in long-distance transfer traffic.
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