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Carlisle Airport scheduled flight details annouced

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Wirewiper

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but i believe city airport may have higher fees than say southend. and yes both being stobart airports will make things easier and possibly cheaper.

and by that logic everyone should fly to city airport as its more attractive. attractive to people who actually need that side of town of course but not to those who may want the west side of town which would be heathrow otlr the southern end of town for which gatwick is more attractive or even the north and north east which would make luton and stanstead more attractive and so on and ao forth

City Airport may have higher fees, but this could be recouped from higher fares from business travellers. City Airport also has a surprisingly strong leisure market.

And where did I say "everyone" should fly to City Airport? All I said was that flights to City would be more attractive than flights to Southend. It was a generalisation.
 
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Roose

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Announced today that flights will now not operate before the spring. Additional flight traffic controllers have been appointed but training is proving difficult and there are 'regulatory issues', possibly including to do with the resurfaced runway but the spokesman was vague about the actual reasons.

I wonder how they are getting on with fitting out the terminal?
 

Carlisle

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I wonder if the recently reported boardroom battles within Stobart Group are in any way connected to the constant postponement of these flights
 

Howardh

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Flights to Dublin, Southend and Belfast are available for booking. Great to see a smaller airport opening up, hope it's a success although looking at a map it's a bit out of the way r/e public transport - especially as it's aiming at tourists heading to the north Lakes.
http://www.carlisleairport.co.uk
London Southend from £44.99 one way

Fares from Carlisle Lake District to London Southend start at £44.99 one-way including all taxes and charges. All Loganair fares include a 20kg checked baggage allowance and complimentary in-flight refreshments.


Dublin from £44.99 / €44.99 one way

Belfast from £39.99 one way

Fares from Carlisle Lake District to Dublin start at £44.99 one-way including all taxes and charges, and from Dublin to Carlisle Lake District at €44.99 one-way. All Loganair fares include a 20kg checked baggage allowance and complimentary in-flight refreshments.

Fares from Carlisle Lake District to Belfast City start at £39.99 one-way including all taxes and charges. All Loganair fares include a 20kg checked baggage allowance and complimentary in-flight refreshments.
 
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A Challenge

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Here is a quote from that article:
Stobart Group, which owns Carlisle Lake District Airport, has announced that Loganair flights to Southend, Belfast and Dublin, will begin on July 4.

Flights go on sale today.

It has already delayed two launches, last May and September and promised that flights would begin in spring this year.

A shortage of air traffic controllers and infrastructure issues at the airport meant Stobart Group was forced to pull the plug last year.
Flights were originally meant to begin on June 4 2018.

But Stobart Group said today that American Independence Day was also D-Day for the first commercial flights from Carlisle in more than 25 years.

Enough air traffic controllers have now been recruited and are undergoing the final tranche of training that will allow them to operate from Carlisle.
 

aar0

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There were commercial flights about 7 years ago, although they went bust shortly after the first flight! A family member was on that first one and had to get a Pendolino back.
 

Deerfold

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I wonder if the Dublin flights will start with the others. If Brexit goes ahead, the current agreement is that only flights that already operate between the UK and test if the EU will continue.
 

mmh

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I wonder if the Dublin flights will start with the others. If Brexit goes ahead, the current agreement is that only flights that already operate between the UK and test if the EU will continue.

Which agreement is that?
 

thenorthern

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The first flight from Carlisle have started today, I have just seen the first Loganair flight from Carlisle to London Southend fly overhead from where I am.

I can't see the airport being viable to be honest as Carlisle itself isn't very big and its already served very well with the hourly fast service to Central London by Virgin Trains. I can't see how a daily flight that takes over an hour from an airport 6 miles outside Carlisle to 36 miles outside Central London could be viable.
 

scotrail158713

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The first flight from Carlisle have started today, I have just seen the first Loganair flight from Carlisle to London Southend fly overhead from where I am.

I can't see the airport being viable to be honest as Carlisle itself isn't very big and its already served very well with the hourly fast service to Central London by Virgin Trains. I can't see how a daily flight that takes over an hour from an airport 6 miles outside Carlisle to 36 miles outside Central London could be viable.
Yep, have to agree. The Dublin and Belfast flights have more chance of working, IMO. However I still doubt they’ll last long.
 

thenorthern

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Reopening Carlisle Airport to passenger flights has been a priority for Stobart Group for many years, they bought the airport in 2006 and have made many applications for passenger flights to be allowed.

Stobart Group may use the airport for freight however again I can't see this being viable, I know BNFL used the airport for flying radioactive material for a time but they had to stop doing that when it came to the attention of the press.
 

Tetchytyke

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I can't see how a daily flight that takes over an hour from an airport 6 miles outside Carlisle to 36 miles outside Central London could be viable.

Depends where you're going to and from, and the price, as always. Virgin are not cheap at all. A single on the plane tomorrow is £66.

I'd hardly say the Virgin service was fast at nearly four hours, either!
 

mrmartin

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There's actually twice hourly service, one a few minutes over 3 hours and another an hour slower than that via Birmingham. An off peak open return is around £100 which is the same price as the cheapest return flight.

I will probably take it next time I go back to Carlisle for the novelty but I can't see it being a regular thing.

It also seems like a pretty sparse timetable compared to what was originally suggested - 4 flights a week each way to London for example...

The Dublin flights have more chance as there are good onward connections from there.
 

paddington

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I found it interesting that they have put on a free shuttle bus to the rail station given that there are no other public transport options. I wonder what happens if too many passengers want to take it.
 

Roose

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Given that the first flights seemed not to be full and they were boosted by journalists and enthusiasts...

The aircraft has 33 seats. Tomorrows outbound to Belfast has seats available at £60 with only six seats sold. The Dublin flight has one seat available £75.50 (more at a higher price, presumably) with nine seats sold.

No Southend flight tomorrow. Sunday's flight has seats at £66.50 with nine seats sold so far.

The airport had a £4.75 million from the LEP grant towards runway resurfacing and has benefitted from the government's Regional Air Connectivity Fund to introduce the three routes. (The Hidden Europe website has an interesting item about what routes this fund has helped to establish.)
 
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Meerkat

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Am I being cynical in wondering if Stobart need the airport to be operational to justify planning permission? Airports these days seem to be more about retail (if busy) or leveraging planning permission for development.....

Ps I hope they told the passengers what was going on - if I saw a fire engine aim8ng water at the plane I was in I might be a touch concerned!
 

YorkshireBear

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Given that the first flights seemed not to be full and they were boosted by journalists and enthusiasts...

The aircraft has 33 seats. Tomorrows outbound to Belfast has seats available at £60 with only six seats sold. The Dublin flight has one seat available £75.50 (more at a higher price, presumably) with nine seats sold.

No Southend flight tomorrow. Sunday's flight has seats at £66.50 with nine seats sold so far.

The airport had a £4.75 million from the LEP grant towards runway resurfacing and has benefitted from the government's Regional Air Connectivity Fund to introduce the three routes. (The Hidden Europe website has an interesting item about what routes this fund has helped to establish.)

How do you know how many sold? I find with loganair plane looks empty but then everyone checks in with a few hours tj spare and the seats fill up.
 

Roose

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Loganair reportedly pleased with an increase in bookings for Carlisle services after flights actually started from Carlisle. Around half of seats filled in the first five days of operations, a spokesperson said in a local TV news story, indicating the routes should be viable.
 

Mountain Man

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It doesn't help that Manchester has a direct rail link to the Lake District.

Its easier in many respects to get a train direct from Manchester Airport station, than a bus to Carlisle Station, then a combination of train or bus from there
 

Tetchytyke

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It doesn't help that Manchester has a direct rail link to the Lake District.

As with any transport, it depends on your actual origin and destination. For the south lakes Manchester has always been more convenient. For the north lakes and gor Galloway, Carlisle will be more convenient.

The train from Manchester goes to Oxenholme and Penrith. Neither can be described as the Lake District.
 

Mountain Man

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As with any transport, it depends on your actual origin and destination. For the south lakes Manchester has always been more convenient. For the north lakes and gor Galloway, Carlisle will be more convenient.

The train from Manchester goes to Oxenholme and Penrith. Neither can be described as the Lake District.
Windermere is, and that's a direct service, and the South Lakes is the tourist hub.

Even on non direct trains, its still an across platform change at a station badged as the Lake District, which is still easier than a bus transfer at Carlisle. For the average tourist it still looks easier to walk on a train at the airport and no buses
 

Tetchytyke

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Windermere is, and that's a direct service, and the South Lakes is the tourist hub.

The direct trains are all but gone, aren't they?

Windermere isn't that convenient either, it's a trek into Bowness and Ambleside and Keswick are further still.

The UK is full of small airports that never really got going, so it remains to be seen what happens. I wish them well.

Manchester isn't the Lake District, it's three hours away. Carlisle is 30 minutes in a car to the start of the National Park.

It'll depend what interline agreements Loganair rustle up, I guess.
 

Mountain Man

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The direct trains are all but gone, aren't they?

Windermere isn't that convenient either, it's a trek into Bowness and Ambleside and Keswick are further still.

The UK is full of small airports that never really got going, so it remains to be seen what happens. I wish them well.

Manchester isn't the Lake District, it's three hours away. Carlisle is 30 minutes in a car to the start of the National Park.

It'll depend what interline agreements Loganair rustle up, I guess.
Windermere is one of the bus hubs of the Lakes. The 555 runs the spine to Keswick with numerous other routes inc. Coniston and Langdale.

So it's 1 train + 1 bus to all the main places. Or 2 if you have a cross platform change at Oxenholme.

From Carlisle it's 3 up to 4 buses and a train as you have to get to Carlisle, train Penrith, bus to Keswick and then bus from there. To get to a lot of Lakes it's a 4th bus from Ambleside.

With a hire car, assuming those facilities are at Carlisle then yes it's quicker. By public transport, it's a no brainer to use Manchester. And I'm not even a fan particularly of Manchester as their arrivals are so slow
 
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