Ryanair to flush away toilets and gain 6 seats

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Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has confirmed plans to get rid of two of the three toilets which are fitted as ‘bog’ standard on its Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

What Ryanair Toilets will look like if they go down to one per plane

On the surface of it, this seems like a clever idea – on Ryanair’s shortest routes, like its London to Dublin hops, it is very rare to see all toilets used at the same time. This move will send out the message that Ryanair are even more keen to be seen as a company which operates buses with wings, rather than full service aircraft, so this will encourage people to use the toilets inside the airport terminals.

The move is subject to certification from Boeing.

Of course, this move will cause concern for people with medical conditions that make them need to use the toilet more – at least with two toilets, there should be one free if the other is occupied, but cutting back to one could make things difficult.

The promise is that these changes will only be applied on aicraft which operate the very shortest routes, but it is worth remembering that Ryanair have a single fleet policy, meaning that any aircraft could be use to operate any route at any time, including longer flights down to destinations like the Canary Islands or Greece.

I wouldn’t want to be caught short on one of those flights.

Liverpool to Belfast – Flybe yield to Easyjet

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So Flybe have said that they are pulling out of their Liverpool to Belfast flights, and have come out with the predictable line about high taxes being the reason for the route being axes.

Now even though we agree with Flybe on this issue, it should be perfectly clear that the axing of this route is a simple case of them yielding to fierce competition from a larger rival. Now larger isn’t just about the size (and therefore the marketing clout) of the airline – easyJet were able to operate larger aircraft on this route at much higher frequencies. Flybe can often still compete against airlines that use larger aircraft, as they can offer better timings and higher frequencies, but on the Belfast – Liverpool route, they were only doing 3 flights each day, compared to 7 daily flights from easyJet.

Easyjet use Belfast International Airport, whereas Flybe use Belfast City, but even if this is more convenient for access to and from the centre of Belfast, Easyjet make up for this by offering a better frequency. Easyjet also have a much more natural customer base at both ends of this route, whereas Flybe have always struggled at airports like Liverpool and Bristol.

 

APD is not a green tax – told you so!

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As confirmed in our news story, chancellor George Osborne has admitted what we knew all along, namely that Air Passenger Duty (APD) is purely a revenue raising measure, not a green tax.

Finally Chancellor George Osborne has, albeit unwittingly in the form of a leaked letter, admitted that APD is “fundamentally a revenue raising duty” and currently raises around £2.5billion per year.
Mr Osborne’s admission that APD is nothing more than a tax grab came in a letter obtained by a national newspaper that he wrote to Olivier Jankovec, director general of the Brussels-based Airports Council International.

  • Do you think it is a green tax?
  • Do you think it should be revised up or down?
  • Do you think flights should be taxed in a different way?

 

Heathwick is just plane thick!

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So it looks like the government wants to take a closer look at a £5 billion high-speed train link between Heathrow and Gatwick, dubbed ‘Heathwick’. Whilst this might have some use for people who already have to transfer between the airports, it would be totally pointless as a way of making some kind of joint ‘superhub’ for flight connections.

There is one simple reason for this – there just isn’t enough spare capacity at either airport to justify building a link between them.

Another problem would be that even if such a link might take a nominal 15 minutes between the two airport sites, it still would have to make multiple stops to pick up passengers at the three different terminal areas in the Heathrow site, and then make two drop-offs to cover the North and South terminals at Gatwick.

British Airways will no doubt be looking at the proposal with some moderate interest, as they are the largest hub airline at Heathrow, but they also have a sizeable network of routes from Gatwick, with passengers currently having to transfer between the two airports by bus. However, BA would still be much keener to see a third runway at Heathrow, even if that has been dismissed by the government.

Oddly enough, the £5 billion price tag is in the same ballpark as the (then) £6.9 billion Rugby Airport proposal, which would have delivered a three-runway facility halfway between Rugby and Coventry. Widely ridiculed at the time for being a white elephant no airline is interested in, it could have fast connections to London via the proposed high speed two rail line.

Even though there are a number of technical problems with the Rugby site, it is starting to look remarkably good value, when compared to anything coming from the current government, which, when it comes to transport policy, is remarkably lacking in sensible ideas.

New cheap flights to Istanbul (proper)

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Jet2 have announced new cheap flights to Istanbul Ataturk airport, which has largely been used by network airlines up until now.

The twice-weekly flights start in March 2012, and mark the first time a low cost airline has offered direct flights to Istanbul Ataturk from the UK. Easyjet currently offer cheap flights to Istanbul Sabiha from Luton and Gatwick, but this isn’t a very attractive proposition for people living in the north of England, as you will have a long journey to and from the airport at both ends of your journey – Sabiha-Gokcen airport is 70 miles away from Istanbul.

I looked at flights from 10th to 20th April , which came up as £160 return. These were the cheapest dates I could find for Spring 2012, so this clearly is not being marketed as a bargain basement service. By comparison, flights with Turkish Airlines started at just below the £200 mark. Indirect flights are available daily from just £135, although you will still have the hassle of changing aircraft.

So perhaps this new route won’t be offering that much of a price saving, but it will bring a new group of people to Istanbul who might not previously have considered going there.

Steve Jobs was the travellers’ friend

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I have never been one to favour Apple computer products, nor have I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, but the one Apple product I use religiously is my iPod. I would go as far as saying this is one of the greatest technological inventions ever created.

Why is it so key? Just think back to not so long ago when Sony Walkmans first came out — suddenly we can all enjoy music on the move. Yet, Walkmans were often hissy and you were limited to the number of tapes you could carry with you at anyone time. Then came the Discman or portable CD player, which improved sound quality significantly and made it possible to jump between different tracks without having to rely on fiddly take counters. After this came the portable MP3 player, which was the giant leap forward, and even though there were other models around, the simple selection wheel design, backed by Apple’s iTunes system made the iPod a must have device.

Now, there is no need to carry volumes of compact discs around, entire music collection is can be stored on one tiny device. Combine with a good pair of noise cancelling headphones, and you can enhance any journey with whatever soundtrack takes your fancy.

A good portable entertainment system can make the difference between public transport being a hellishly noisy and unpleasant inconvenience and it being at worst tolerable and at best a joy. Granted, an iPod won’t get you any more space on a crowded Tube train, but it will help to soothe the noise of that crying baby in the seat behind you on your next flight. If it makes the difference between commuting by car and walking or using public transport, then that is a good thing for reducing congestion too. And that is just the iPod – the iPhone does this and far more.

RIP Steve Jobs.

Note – since writing this, people have pointed out that many Apple products, including the iPod,  are not the brainchild of Jobs himself. So what? He was Apple co-founder, and the company then went on to create even better things.

What other long haul flights from Belfast would you like to see?

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Now that chancellor George Osborne has slashed the rate of taxation on direct long-haul flights from Northern Ireland, other airlines will be looking to see if they can launch new Belfast flights. Although the catchment area of Belfast is still limited compared to other airports in the British Isles, there are still a few routes which might now become viable.

Which destination would you like to see served by long-haul flights from Belfast?