Tag Archives: London

How About High Speed 2 Wheels?

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For a long time, when asked about the need to reduce the environmental impact of aviation, my stock answer would be that transferring shorthaul flights on to high-speed rail services should be an obvious aim for governments. Yet, the more I have learnt about this governments high-speed two proposals, the more I have felt that it would be a very poor investment indeed, whether measured on economic or environmental grounds. Yes, having high-speed trains would shift some people from shorthaul flights onto less polluting rail services, but it has to be remembered that this big switch has already been largely made, especially on flights from London to Leeds, Liverpool and Durham Tees Valley, which no longer operate.

So if high-speed 2 is a bad investment, what would be a better investment? Obviously, any comparison between rail and air travel is about longer distance intercity journeys, whereas the vast majority of journeys take place within built-up environments, or are commutes between outlying towns and city centres. What if all the money collected from air passenger duty was actually put towards genuinely environmentally beneficial projects? Few things are better for the environment than high-quality off-road walking and cycling tracks, using existing historic transport corridors, especially disused railway lines. Yet, this can be done for a fraction of the cost of building new ones — the figure quoted by cycling charity Sustrans is that new cycle paths can be built for around £200,000 per mile, compared to the £155,000,000 per mile cost of high-speed 2.

Now, can these really be comparable, when high-speed 2 must surely carry far more people at much higher speeds? Yes, it might well do, but its entire business model is based on very ambitious estimates of user figures. Why put so many billions of pounds into such an inherently risky project? Whether high-speed 2 is viable or not (and we are certainly in the no camp), investing in better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists would still provide a much quicker win, both in terms of transport and human health.

Copenhagen Airport Map showing train Connections

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View Copenhagen Airport Map here

We have always considered that finding a flight is only one part of the journey, and that the onward land connection to your final destination needs to be considered at the time of booking, because finding out later on that you could have flown to a more convenient airport is far too late!
We have produced a sample map showing onward rail connections from Copenhagen airport, and we intend to roll this out across a number of key hub airports in Europe, together with a limited number of worldwide hub cities such as New York, Chicago, Washington DC and Tokyo.

Copenhagen is interesting for two reasons — firstly, if you are trying to get to Malmo in neighbouring Sweden, then it is usually much easier to find flights to Copenhagen and make the short trip across the Oresund bridge. Although Ryanair have recently announced that they will restart flights to Malmo from London Stansted, it will still be quicker to reach central Malmo from Copenhagen by public transport, as the train service is both fast and frequent.

However, whenever one city airport is an alternative for another city, it can often work in the other direction as well, especially if a low-cost airline like Ryanair is offering substantially cheaper fares. Surprisingly, they have not marketed Malmo as ‘Copenhagen East’, even though it is a closer alternative to Copenhagen than the Slovakia and capital Bratislava is to Vienna, which they do market as Vienna East.

Heading west in Denmark, it is possible to reach all other major cities in Denmark within a relatively short time. Although all of the cities on the Jutland peninsular which have commercial airports offer flights to London, there are currently no commercial flights to the UK from Odense. Apart from Lego capital Billund, which still has flights from Edinburgh, only Copenhagen offers a good network of flight choices from UK regional airports.

If, like most flightmapping.com users, you aren’t starting your journey near London, you have two main choices to get to this part of the world — take a connecting flight, usually via Copenhagen, but this involves a very indirect journey. Some connections are also available via Amsterdam. Alternatively, you might find it much easier and cheaper to fly to Copenhagen, and then take the train. All cities in Denmark which have airports have direct train connections to Copenhagen, except for Billund, which can only be reached by train and bus, via Vejle. Many train services to western Denmark offer through connections directly from Copenhagen airport itself, without having to change in central Copenhagen.

For further information about trains in Denmark, visit the DSB journey planner – although we have always found DB (German Railways) to be much easier to navigate. Both are in English.

A note about the Oresund bridge — if, like us, you have an interest in architecture and engineering, then you will probably want to include a crossing of the Oresund bridge in your visit to Denmark and southern Sweden. In our view, this bridge is perhaps third only to the Millau Viaduct and the Forth Rail Bridge (see Edinburgh Airport Approach!). Note that this cable stayed structure has two decks, with the railway running below four lanes of highway. To get the best views, you will need to use the highway. Details about travel across the Oresund Bridge from Copenhagen Airport are here. Note – Copenhagen Airport is right next to the Oresund Bridge – you can travel straight out and back, but we at least suggest a visit to the Turning Torso in Malmo!

Brandt New Airport to open in time for London 2012 Olympics

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So there will actually be a brand new airport open just in time for the 2012 London Olympics.

Complete with its own high speed station and a terminal capable of handling 50m pax per year, situated between two runways. It will be a major hub for Easyjet, Ryanair and AB. Visitors will be able to reach the Olympic stadium in about 40 minutes, stopping by at the parliament or even the zoo if they wish. There’s only one small problem…….

….. it is in Berlin!

Unfortunately, this is no laughing matter. Frankfurt Airport has also been able to build a third runway as Heathrow bursts at the seems.

I have been following the new Berlin airport project for a while, and it has not been without controversy and delay. Yet somehow, the Germans can show us that it is possible to complete major infrastructure projects and deliver on long held promises. when I read that the opening date for this new ‘Brandenburg International’ or ‘Berlin Brandt’ airport is 5th June next year, I thought to myself ‘that’s quite close to the London Olympics.  How ironic that after some 10 years of wrangling, this airport is opened just as London takes centre stage – yet myriad airport projects were promised in the UK to meet this deadline.

Now every UK airport project has to stand or fall on its own merits, and it needs to have a business case which goes long beyond 2 weeks of games. But just think if all of this had been built in time for the games:

  1. Second runway at Stansted.
  2. New terminal at Stansted.
  3. Third runway at Heathrow.
  4. Runway extension at Birmingham (now in preparatory phase).
  5. Second runway at Birmingham.

Instead, we just have to do with yet another airport being added to London’s long list of out-of-the-way sheds. At least Easyjet will be ready with 10 new routes from Southend Airport in time for the Olympics, even if very few of them will be of interest to Olympic teams or spectators.

Now let’s see what happens if FIFA cleans up its act, England put together a successful bid for World Cup 2026, and a high-speed maglev network is promised and delivered by then, on-time and under-budget. Pig just cleared for take-off from Stansted runway 22 Left!

Non-stop Australia flights to become a reality?

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According to this news winging its way over from Australia, V Australia, which is the international arm of Virgin Blue, are expected to announce new non-stop flights to Perth from London in 2011.

This route would be the second longest in the world, with flight times of just 16 hours – a saving of 5 hours compared to the current shortest times, due to the fact that current flights to Perth need a change of aircraft. Even compared to existing sameplane flights to Australia, the non-stop service still offers a huge time advantage, as the routing is direct and there is no need to re-fuel.

This move will see the Virgin group continue its advancement as a truly pan-global company – although I hesitate to use the term ‘network’, since the airlines are each operated independently. An additional non-stop route between Sydney and New York will also be offered – another interesting development, as the majority of USA-Australia flights operate to west coast hubs such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It will be interesting to see what sort of fares are offered on this route – the economics of operating these ultra-long flights aren’t as simple as just finding a way to avoid an un-needed set of airport charges. For this type of flight, aicraft don’t just need extra fuel - they also need extra fuel to carry the fuel that they will need later on in the journey. For this reason, Singapore Airlines, which offers the current longest flight in the world between Singapore and New York Newark, operates a business-class only service, thus cutting down on weight.

20 Reasons To Fly With Ryanair

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Last Thursday, the Times carried an article stating 20 reasons why passengers should not fly with Ryanair. Of course, the article made one or two good points that we would agree with, but here is our own response to this article:

1) 1p flights are available, but don’t expect to find cheap flights to Dublin when Ireland or U2 are playing at Croke Park!

Special offers have traditionally been used by retailers to get people through their doors, and Ryanair’s 1p flights are no different to this. One thing to bear in mind is that they don’t always set aside a certain number of seats on each flight to sell at the lowest possible price. Why on earth should they give away seats for nothing if there is a big event on in the destination city? The small print on their current special offers list makes it clear that you will not find cheap flights on a Friday or Sunday, and it also gives the blackout dates to save you the bother of searching during the busy periods. Look out for dates which seem to be set aside for the 1p flights, and be prepared for the same date to be offered for the outbound and return flight. How do you get round this? Simply fly out to one destination, and fly home from a different airport. See our article on playing Ryanair at their own game for further explanation about this.

2) Plenty of other cheap flights are available — if you know when and where to look

Just because you can’t get a flight for 1p doesn’t mean that other good offers aren’t available. If you really do hate Ryanair, then just make a commitment that you won’t allow them the chance to make any money from you. For example, if you book any flight departing the UK, then the first £10 will have to be handed over to the government for Air Passenger Duty, and there will usually be a similar amount given to the airport as a passenger handling fee. As long as you turn up for your flight, Ryanair won’t be able to avoid losing money on these charges.

You can also avoid the tedium of searching through a whole month at a time to find the best possible dates by using a site like Skyscanner.

3) All of the extra charges are avoidable — including the credit and debit card service fee

We really do wonder why people complain so much about the extra charges for things like luggage and credit card handling fees. Why not spend the time un-packing your bag, and only taking things you will really need for your holiday? People tend to bitch about Ryanair not offering any cheap flights for weekend breaks, and then complain at the same time that they are getting overcharged for taking their luggage. Surely you can get away for a couple of days with just a small carry on bag? If you are going away for a little bit longer, it might be cheaper to use a launderette halfway through your holiday — doing so will support the local economy where you are staying, and not Ryanair!

All you need to do to avoid the card handling fees is to get yourself an electron card — see our article about avoiding card charge rip-offs.

4) If you do carry luggage, why do you need to take more than 15 kg?

Some people might deride Ryanair for having a 15 kg luggage limit, but we would again advise travelling light, and of course weighing your bag before you leave for the airport. That way, you can avoid any nasty surprises at the bag drop.

5) So what if Ryanair’s website is rubbish, book your flights and go off and enjoy your holiday!

We have always felt that aesthetically speaking, Ryanair’s website is a nasty piece of work. But so what, it isn’t there to be hung in the Tate Gallery, it is there to make as much money from advertising revenue as possible. That’s why you’ll even see adverts for Ryanair’s rivals on the booking page — Ryanair’s bean counters have worked out that they have more to gain by doing this than they have to lose.

6) An early start means you will see more

I’m not much of an early riser either, but having to leave the UK at some ungodly hour means that you will also get your destination much earlier as well. This means more time to explore. The Times article then complains about anti-social flights later in the evening, complaining about arriving late at night and not finding anywhere to stay — has the author never heard of the concept of booking hotels in advance?

7) One person’s middle of nowhere is another’s quirky place to explore

A few years ago, I made the trek out to Frankfurt Hahn, and had a pleasant afternoon’s train journey through the Mosel Valley before catching my flight home. Granted, Frankfurt international airport is much closer to the city centre, but I wasn’t going to pay hundreds of pounds more, especially when I only wanted a one-way flight. There is always a way of making your trip interesting — besides, the so-called Ryanairports only account for a small percentage of Ryanair’s total destination list — the definition is of course a little bit subjective, but we would say that there are only about 10 airports which really are in the middle of nowhere, when compared to the main city airport which other airlines serve.

8) No one makes you buy anything on board

If you don’t like the prices of Ryanair’s on-board service, then just don’t buy anything. We don’t ever hear people complaining about trains having trolleys on board (or stations charging for toilets for that matter), so why should airlines be any different?

9) You can always block out any annoying announcements with noise cancelling headphones

Of course, these announcements are an annoying form of noise pollution, but Ryanair are not the only offender here. Thankfully, they can be mitigated by purchasing a pair of noise cancelling headphones — savvy travellers are usually the ones you will see with a pair of Bose headphones. They don’t come cheap, but they do provide you with in-flight bliss, and they will also protect you from that other in-flight irritation which can disturb you on just about any airline — the screaming baby.

10) Free seating means you don’t have to pay to get a good seat, so just turn up to the gate early, or quit worrying about it.

Those airlines which offer assigned seating are increasingly charging customers to get the seats they want. Ryanair offer priority boarding for £3 each way — this is one extra which is worth considering if you are travelling as part of a group, but bear in mind that many other passengers think the same way, so you might be just as well off without it. Remember too that some airports will require you to travel by bus between the terminal and the aircraft, and that people often board the plane from the front and the rear, so that seat which you have your eyes on might end up getting taken by somebody else.

At the end of the day, what’s the worst that could happen? You might end up having to sit next to someone you don’t know for a couple of hours, but that can either mean a possibility for an interesting conversation, or an opportunity to keep yourself to yourself and read or listen to music. Either way, it is not as if you are being asked to share the same bed with someone against your will, so why get too worried about it?

11) When the flights are so cheap, why bother seeking a refund?

I really do wonder what all the fuss is about with people who expect a refund off Ryanair. Even if something does go horribly wrong, they will only usually be liable for the cost you have paid for your flight. No airline is ever going to cover you for the consequential losses (i.e. hotel bookings, car hire etc) you might suffer if your flight is delayed.

There’s two ways round this — either get a fully comprehensive travel insurance policy which will cover you in the event of such problems occurring, or just accept that from time to time things will go wrong, but that more often than not, your journey will be trouble-free. Despite all the hype, Ryanair have fewer delays and cancellations, and fewer lost bags than any other major European airline.

12) Flights can be so cheap that you can book them without even having to worry about whether you will take the trip or not.

Why not take advantage of Ryanair’s special offers, and book yourself a few trips away. You can always decide closer to the time whether or not you can actually take the trip. If you don’t turn up, you will just lose the small fee you have paid your flight, and you could probably book 3 or four special offer flights for the price of just one return flight with other airlines.

13) No other airline can boast of putting places like Alghero, Haugesund and Zweibrucken on the map.

Just as we think we have all destinations covered, Ryanair open up somewhere new that we’ve never heard of. The intrepid traveller could spend months if not years hopping between all the different places Ryanair serves, and never get bored. As well as connecting the better known places on the European map, Ryanair really do have the ability to open up the economies of numerous undiscovered regional destinations. Of course, there is a flip side to this — routes can get dumped just as quickly, so perhaps this should give you even more impetus to go out and explore somewhere you see on Ryanair’s destination list that you think might be interesting.

14) Other people clicking on adverts and buying extra services means that budget minded travellers like myself can travel for next to nothing

Ryanair make just about as much money from ancillary revenues (bookings made through adverts on their website, responses to e-mail offers, in-flight sales etc) than they do from the flights themselves, so they can still give away flights for next to nothing on the assumption that many passengers will then book a hotel or hire car with them. Of course, there is no obligation for anyone to do so, giving budget minded travellers like myself the opportunity to travel for pennies, without any extra costs.

15) Ryanair tend to offer only one brand of car hire, airport parking etc — so you can come to a site like ourselves and find a lot more opportunities to get a better deal!

A lot of the time, Ryanair are relying on people’s laziness so that they can make money on extra services. For Example, Ryanair only offer car hire through Hertz, or airport parking through BCP — who is to say that these are always going to be the cheapest?

16) Ryanair’s growth and dealmaking has been so prolific that they also now fly from major airports, so I can get cheap flights from Birmingham airport, which is just 10 minutes away from my house.

When Ryanair first came onto the scene, they concentrated virtually exclusively on out of the way low-cost airports. As they have grown, they have expanded into other major airports which have had room for them, often taking advantage of cheap off-peak slots. So if you are looking for cheap flights from the UK, then Ryanair now have a major presence at airports like London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh, as well is their more traditional hubs such as Stansted, Liverpool and Glasgow Prestwick. On mainland Europe, you’ll now find Ryanair offering cheap flights to Bologna instead of Forli, and offering a whole range of cheap flights to Spain using airports like Madrid, Malaga and Alicante, which we would previously have thought they would avoid completely.

17) Some people might criticise Ryanair for their environmental record, but mile for mile, they are one of the greenest airlines in the sky.

Whatever opinions one might have about the wider environmental impacts of flying, Ryanair exclusively use the next generation Boeing 737-800, which is one of the most efficient available, in terms of fuel burned per passenger per mile. Ryanair’s commitment to low costs and either using uncongested airports, or using major airports when they are less busy, helps to reduce their fuel burn further.

Whilst some commentators might criticise Ryanair’s aggressive marketing policy, their continued usage of special offers ensures that Ryanair’s aircraft are kept as full as possible.

18) If you want to fly with another airline, then you can at least be grateful that Ryanair’s presence in the market has brought down costs for everyone.

Flightmapping.com certainly isn’t here to act as Ryanair’s mouthpiece — they certainly do enough of their own publicity, even if they do give us plenty to comment on. So we should just say that we’d love you to spend as much time as possible on Flightmapping.com, and book cheap flights with some of the airlines that pay to advertise on our website (Ryanair don’t).

Whoever you choose to fly with, don’t forget that Ryanair have helped make flights cheap for everyone. Just this weekend I was having dinner with the owner of another cheap flights website and a colleague within our industry, and he was talking about taking flights to Salzburg with Ryanair for £80, which I regarded as expensive. If he had said that 10 years ago, I would have told him he got a bargain. As it happened, he only booked his flights are few days beforehand, and was travelling over the weekend, so he’s still got a good deal.

19) When Michael O’Leary said he was thinking about talking for toilet usage, he was just taking the piss

This so-called ‘idea’ was suggested jokingly by Mike Rutter of Flybe back in September 2006, and it comes up from time to time. As usual, O’Leary’s outburst was well timed to grab headlines and promote Ryanair’s latest offer. A few days later, he confirmed that they had no plans to introduce such a scheme.

20) I don’t care what other people think of Michael O’Leary, I have quite a lot of time for the guy

Somehow I really don’t think that Michael O’Leary is bothered that some people love to hate him, as long as they are always talking about Ryanair. I have met him on three occasions, and always found him to be extremely charming and good-humoured. Considering the amount of distrust that figures like Sir Fred Goodwin have made us have in The City, then we really should be grateful to have people like Michael O’Leary (and let’s not forget other aviation pioneers like Sir Stelios and Sir Richard) around to shake things up a bit and tell it as it is.

I don’t want to give Ryanair any more publicity than I need to, but I’ll have to admit that my next flight will be with them, so I hope I won’t have to eat any of my words. Out of all the times I’ve flown with Ryanair so far, I’ve never had more than about a 15 minute delay, so maybe my time is due!