Aberdeen Dyce Airport Forum | Return of London City?

what about NCL-LCY?

It's more important for NCL than ABZ

Why? With East Coast IC225's covering the 300 miles from (the centre of) Newcastle to (the centre of) London in 2 hours 50 minutes, I find it difficult to see why anyone would want to go through the hassle of catching a flight from NCL to LCY (or vice versa).

It's more a financial services market than anything. LCY survives on users from the various finance companies and banks in the city and Docklands area.

With the loss of Northern Rock to the North East, a NCL-LCY route looks even less attractive with the fast rail links to compete with. Aberdeen doesn't have that, a trip from London to Aberdeen by car or rail can take a hell of a long time and is barely doable in a day roundtrip. With air it's much easier and faster. Oil and money go together as well so LCY-ABZ makes sense.

I think you'd probably end up in hospital if you attempted to drive from from London to Aberdeen and back in a day!

Having driven from Bedford to Aberdeen and back in the space of three days last December, my son decided against repeating the experience this time round and, instead, booked himself a return flight on EZY. Driving to Newcastle and back in a day is a doddle by comparison! There I rest my case, m'Lud!

LCY-NCL, fine 20 mins to check in and get on board. NCL-LCY, 1 to check in and get on board. NCL-LCY with free fast track included in flight, 30 mins to check in and get on board.

Do you understand where I am coming from?

Not really. Unless you're travelling to/from Canary Wharf, the train wins every time. As a businessman, when I can walk onto the platform, take my seat on the train and, hey presto, I'm on my way to London in air-conditioned luxury with room to stretch out, plug in and use my laptop, order breakfast, read the paper (without having to fold it so that it's the size of a postage stamp), etc., why on earth would I bother to fly? In my humble opinion, a decent, high speed, city centre to city centre train service will always win hands down.

For the same reason, nothing beats Eurostar when you're travelling from London to Paris. Finding your way into and out of CDG is an absolute nightmare and the RTR service into the city centre is a crock of sh.te!

Yes, I am a died-in-the-wool aviation enthusiast, but there's only so much inconvenience that I'm prepared to put up with in the pursuit of my favourite pastime, i.e. flying.

It's also why MAN-LCY died on its arse eventually.

An hour to get out to the airport at MAN, more time in T3, then 45 minutes flight and onward travel time in London is less efficient than two hours and five minutes centre to centre on Virgin Trains, every thirty minutes from Piccadilly.

Newcastle isn't a city centre airport either so add time for that. This side of Hadrian's Wall, the train has the edge.

Given Aberdeen's location & (shockingly) poor rail/road links, flights are more often than not the quickest way to get here. Aberdeen is one of the few cities growing right now, but it is treated shabbily by successive Govts. It's road & rail links should have been upgraded ages ago!