This is an airport I'd really like to fly from in future. Unfortunately they just don't have the right flights. Unless you want to go to Belfast or Barcelona you're a bit stuffed. Apparently Ryanair are setting up a new route to Geneva in December. Which should be interesting. Blackpool looks like such a convenient little place and far nicer from the stressful oversized hangar that is Manchester. I just hope they get their fingers out!

Eternal Outsider wrote:

Unless you want to go to Belfast or Barcelona you're a bit stuffed

They have a few more destinations than that! Those are the flights Ryanair operate, Jet2 also operate selected routes as well as Manx2. It's Jet2 that are operating the Geneva ski charters from 13th December though to 18th April. They've also announced Menorca for summer 2009. Blackpool is a great airport to fly from, but it doesn't have the catchment area to offer anything like what Manchester does. It's as much the airlines as it is the airport but if there isn't the market, there's little they can do. Both Monarch and Thomsonfly have tried and failed. It's a low cost carrier airport.

Darren

Not many more! It seems as though they've actually been running less flights from Blackpool rather than more.

Eternal Outsider,

As I said, there isn't the market other than so called 'bucket and spade' destinations. Jet2 only have 2 aircraft based at Blackpool this year rather than 3. They are better utilised elsewhere. They are trying their best and load factors on the flights they are operating at the moment are pretty healthy. They did try other destinations such as Prague and Amsterdam but they were pulled after a short time because they weren't viable.

Destination list summer 2008:
Ryanair: Gerona & Dublin
Jet2: Belfast, Murcia, Palma, Alicante, Faro, Ibiza & Malaga
Manx2: Isle of Man

Darren

Does anybody know what the future lies for Blackpool Airport what with the credit crunch and airlines going to the wall. I've used the airport twice and found it to be excellent, Aircraft to Car Park no more than ten minutes, however a couple of people that i know have used it this summer and their flights with jet 2 were only half full.

barnio,

That is the million dollar question at the moment, only Balfour Beatty can answer that one. I know people who used to work at the airport and they've been treated really bad this summer, ie made redundant on the morning they arrive for work. Jet2 and Ryanair are both committed to the airport, Jet2 especially trying new routes and having a couple of 737's based there. Ryanair's Girona and Dublin services seem to be doing ok but there's no word any them opening up any others. It's a great airport to fly from, but given it's catchment and the type of routes where demand lies; ie so called bucket-and-spade destinations, the restricting runway, and Manchester only an hour or so away, it's not an easy market for the airport to compete in. It's a low cost carrier airport through and through along with light business traffic and training facilities. Both Thomsonfly and Monarch have tried to establish a base at BLK, but it didn't work out for them.

Darren

Thanks Dazbo

I thought as much, one of the flights I used was Ryanair to Stansted which was full but that service has now been dropped! The other was a flight to Dublin with a company called Comed a few years ago, there was only 3 passengers on the plane!! I must admit, when I drove past the airport the other week on the illumination trip with the kids, you couldn't fault the airport for advertising, billboards everywhere!! I'm sure though I have read somewhere that the runway was to be extended and a new terminal planned??

I hope the airport is a success because as I said, I thought it was a great experience, totally hassle free and great bacon butties in the cafe! My accountant flew with Monarch to Malaga before they withdrew and being a frequent flier he said Blackpool would have been his number one choice for years to come if the service was still running. My parents also used the winter flights to the Costa del Sol with First Choice and Thomsons but again I think they were dropped too? Am I correct because like us, they thought the facility was brilliant.

BLK-STN was pulled a while ago now, must be over 18 months. There have been rumours of it returning for a while, but it's never materialised. I beleive there was some kind of politics involved in that one rather than a commercial reason for it to be dropped. I had my first flying lesson with Comed!! They're now called Flight Academy and are one of the main flight schools based at BLK. There've been plans for a runway extension for a while, but again, it hasn't happened. The runway needs repairing before it's extended as the surface anything but smooth. Unless the demand for larger aircraft is there, there's no point in extending it and I can't see it happening to be honest. There were proposals for a new terminal building announced on 19/9/07, but i've heard nothing since. It's planned to open in 2011 but as I type, no further plans have been unveiled. The cyinics amungst us suspect the reason Balfour Beatty bought the airport is for the land adjacent to the airport so they can develop industrial units and the proposed housing developments. They may be the ones that build the new terminal if it ever goes ahead. There's loads of things proposed for the airport, but they never seem to happen. It's not long back a new business terminal was announced, but it's all gone very quiet.

I've used BLK twice this year and it's a great airport, hassle free compared to the likes of Manchester. If you use online check-in, you can litterally just walk from the car park on to the aircraft! The trouble is, there aren't the facilities to attract the main airlines. Monarch pulled out because there prices were too expensive to be viable (there business model didn't fit in with local demand), and Thomsonfly because there wasn't the demand for what they were offering apart from in peak season. It's very unlikely they will ever come back. That just leaves the low cost carriers, Jet2 and Ryanair.

Darren

I am the only one to think that they have picked the wrong time to do this? All very well for those who wanted to park but not those arriving by taxi or train.

http://www.blackpoolinternational.com/about-us/news.php

I suspect there will be an irate press release from Ryanair being drafted as I type this!

Blackpool Airport announces a £10 Airport Development fee payable by passengers departing from the airport from 5th January 2009. More information on their website.

Personally, I think this is an absolute scandle. Why should the people travelling from the airport have to foot the bill for the development of the airport? While I understand investment is needed desperately (the main runway and taxiways are in a bit of a state, I can even blame the unevan and worn tarmac for a rough landing!!!), Balfour Beatty acquired the airport earlier this year who is a private development company. It should be up to them to secure investment, not expect passengers to foot the bill on top the airport duty that is already added to the cost of tickets. I hope this additional 'tax' doesn't induce the final demise of this great little airport. The free parking is welcome though.

Darren

EDIT: we must have posted together steve8482 !!

Hi

I'm just about to book my June 2009 flights from Blackpool. Flying from here will be a first for me even though we can ofter see the flights in and out (we live just across the bay)
We're flying with Jet2, and the prices are by far the cheapest. The passenger charge for development I didn't know about, but I read that parking is free from Jan 2009 (?) which for us mean that the £20 paid is ofset against getting a taxi out there.
I'm quite looking forward to it after the mayhem of Manchester!

Don't you mean that the £20 wil be added to the cost of the taxi?

Or are you now not having a taxi because the parking is free? This raises another problem. When parking (for up to 15 days) is free it will encourage more people to drive there instead of using taxis or trains. So have they enlarged the car park to cope with the extra demand?? They don't currently have a prebooking system for parking space so what happens if you get there a few hours before departure and find that so many people have taken advantage of the free offer that you can't get in? They really haven't thought this through......

Hi

yes I get your point there!! I was going to drive rather than get a taxi, I hadn't got as far as anticipating the parking space.
Even so taxi or park, it is £400 cheaper than flying Jet2 from Manchester on the same day.

steve8482 wrote:

So have they enlarged the car park to cope with the extra demand??

No!! I was there on Thursday and there's no signs of any extra parking. I can't think where they might put it either. All the long stay car parks are normally full with off-shore gas rig workers or the few people that leave there car while on holiday so I can't see where they're planning on putting all the extra cars. It'll be an interesting one that.

Darren

Hi, I'm a big fan of blackpool airport, as living in the lake district, its a far more convenient option for us when we visit our friends in murcia, and cheaper too !
I personally don't mind paying a tenner each if it means free parking, but, as has been said, what do you do if the car park is full ? mmmmmmmmmm, there may well be a few problems with that one !!

Ryanair to withdraw from Blackpool

Ryanair has announced its intention to cancel services from Blackpool after the airport announced plans to introduce an Airport Development Fee from January 5.

The airline will stop its daily flights to and from Dublin and its three services a week to Girona from January 4, unless the airport scraps the fee.

"This fee will be levied on all passengers without exception after that date and will substantially increase the cost of travel through this small regional airport which is totally dependent on low fares for its passenger traffic," it said in a statement.

"Ryanair had engaged in discussions with the management of the airport in attempts to underline the negative effect this fee would have and urge them not to introduce the fee.

"However, now that the airport has decided to go ahead with the introduction of the fee, Ryanair will withdraw all its services from the airport."

Ryanair deputy chief executive Michael Cawley added: "This is a black day for Blackpool International Airport. The management's decision, against Ryanair's advice, to introduce an Airport Development Fee is an extremely regressive step which inevitably involves a massive increase in the cost of travel for passengers through the airport.

"With this step, the management at Blackpool Airport have severely dented the economic prospects for the region which this airport serves and we call on them to reverse this decision immediately while there is still time to save the airport."

With permission from Travelmole

A sad day indeed for the airport, who is going to come in and replace these services, especially the Dublin route ?

barnio wrote:

A sad day indeed for the airport, who is going to come in and replace these services, especially the Dublin route ?

That's the point, it's unlikely anyone will now. There was rumour Flybe were considering opening up routes from Blackpool, but this has probably scupped all that. Considering Ryanair are the biggest airline to operate from BLK through winter and a big player in summer, with Jet2 concentrating their efforts through the summer and only operating a small number of flights at this time of year, it could spell the end of mainline scheduled operations from BLK as I mentioned above. It's an absolute scandle to introduce this 'tax' at an airport that is 95% privately owned (Blackpool Council own the other 5%). The airport is already losing money, the introduction of the ADF will only make things worse. As one of the airports photographers, there is little to point the camera at these days other than an odd business jet or privately owned aircraft. It's the commercial traffic that brings revenue to the airport. Without it, and particularly Ryanair, it's good bye Blackpool Airport as we know it. The management team have some serious decisions to make; retain their biggest customer and drop the fees, or think of some other use for the airfield.

Darren

well unless there is a last minute rethink blackpool is now finished as a viable airport shame really as we were just about to use it.Seems to me that ryanair are getting far too big for their boots with Blackpool now following suit with Valencia but maybe ryanair need to reduce the add ons to leave space for their add ons an eternally sceptical bnira