Newcastle Airport Forum | Much More Newcastle July onwards

Please continue here as the last thread was getting lengthy

...and, for the time being, please continue to confine yourselves to dealing with matters of a factual nature, e.g. new routes, cancelled routes, one-off movements, NCL related news, etc. If the information concerned is based on rumour and has not yet been substantiated, then please make it clear that this is the case. Similarly, if you are cross-posting information obtained from another forum, please make certain to cross-reference and credit the original source. Finally, in this context, can our younger members kindly refrain from living out their fantasies on the NCL Forum. Yes, there is no harm in putting your imagination to work...but there is a time and place for everything and now is neither the time nor the place. Thank you.

G-EZUK is our current based EZY 320

Looking ahead a little to November and it seems, and I can't stress that enough, it SEEMS as though the annual Thomas Cook winter season day trip to Krakow this year is down to be operated by Monarch using a B757 200. If all goes to plan the 7th of November is the date, with an ETD of 07:00 and an ETA of 22:40. The a/c will then spend the 8th on the apron before departing on the 9th at 07:15 positioning to Larnaca. Knowing my luck of course something is bound to go wrong! Any changes good or bad will be posted.

What is this day trip to Krakow? I've never heard of it before?

To be honest I don't what it is, but every year we get one, as does MAN, BHX, LGW and LTN.

ah right, thanks

Heres everything you need to know for 2013:

CORK -1
DUBROVNIK 1
FARO 1
IBIZA 1
PALMA 1
MALAGA 1
MAHON 1
MURCIA - 2
PRAGUE - 1
VENICE - 1
PULA...new route 1


(taken from PPRuNe)

what do the numbers stand for?

Christmas markets I think. There have always been flights like that, go out and shop somewhere different then fly home later with all the crap you bought.

Krakow IIRC has a quite spectacular Christmas market. It's catching on here too with the German market we have in Manchester. For some time there were Icelandic charters inbound here and to other cities in the UK for Christmas shopping as their money was a lot more valuable and Iceland is expensive.

Krakow is also becoming something of a religious pilgrimage site, but that's another issue.

would that be anything to do with Auschwitz?

Yeah, my mam and aunty went to the german market in Mancester last year. I'd like to visit the Krakow christmas market.

Hope it is a Monarch 757

Pope John Paul II was Bishop of Krakow and is being beatified as a saint, so a lot of devout Catholics might want to visit the city due to his connections.

It's supposed to be a very beautiful city as well so that's why the Christmas markets flights have been established. It's a good day out. As Poland is inside the EU it means restrictions on what you can bring back are relaxed. I think they set off early and get back late in the evening.

The Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, the Wawel Cathedral and the Royal Tombs already attract large numbers of pilgrims, whilst an increasing number of school trips are also using Krakow as a base from which to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum and the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Ah right, thanks its certainly a place I'd consider visiting (being Catholic), however, although I would love to go, I'm not sure I could face Auschwitz as I know a teacher who has been and she said that it was really hard hitting when you saw the hair and glasses piled up, but she said the worst bit was a glass cabinet containing all of the clothes, shoes, hair accessories and actual hair I believe of a little girl and another containing a human skin wallet. I dont think words can describe how seeing that would feel.

With sunderaland airshow coming up does anybody know if the aircraft will be based at Newcastle over the weekend?

Miss Demenour (Hawker Hunter) Arrives Thursday, and its expected that all aircraft will arrive into NCL on the Friday

Do you know what time Thursday? I'll be up there at 20:30 to pick up my italian friend (arriving on Brussels Airlines from Milan via Brussels in case you were wondering) and I could go up early ;) if I have a chance of seeing it.

Early afternoon I think Martin

In other news KL963/64 today is Being operated by PH-OFO (Fokker 100)

martin we are watiing for a reply off the pilot of the aricraft to tell us as soon as i do i shall let you know

Sorry WH

...and the hosting costs of this site too - which a select few of us are footing the bill for on a monthly basis.

Few overheads from the local area earlier today
D-ABYA Lufthansa 748
SU-GDM EgyptAir 77W
N818NW Delta A330
N66057 UAL 764
D-AIQM Lufthansa A320
PH-BGQ KLM 737 (inbound to NCL now)
G-LSAG Jet2 752 (outbound NCL now)

Some interesting flights just uploaded on the system at work.
Sat 21st July Skywork Airlines Dash8 Q400 15:25 from Berne
Thr 26th Flybe E195 09:20 from SOU out at 10:00 to Faro
Fri 27th Air Mediterranee A321 14:20 from LIV out at 15:30 to Lourdes
Tue 31st Kuwait Airways A300 600 00:35 from Kuwait City out 07:10
Tue 31st Flybe E195 20:00 from Faro out at 20:30 to SOU
Fri 3rd Aug Air Mediterranee B737 500 11:00 from Lourdes out 12:15, returns 18:00 out at 19:15 to Nantes
Monarch B757 in November flight times are now positions from LGW at 07:00, out to KRK at 08:00, returns at 23:40.

Excellent, thanks for the heads up, you're definately a valuable member of this community. I'll be up on the 27th, 31st and the 3rd.

XH558 due to fly over Sunderland Port at 10am tomorrow morning

anyone have any idea why Jet2, LS518 is taking a different route from TFS-NCL, normally fly's over DUB-MAN then up to NCL

today its flew up to belfast and then straight across to Newcastle?

All kinds of reasons why that might happen. Using the Oceanic tracks does create some interesting routings.

Maybe the North Sea exclusion area was in force (the RAF uses it for training sometimes) or just general congestion caused a re-routing, but normally the crew plan their route using NOTAMs and other factors so could literally be anything

Some slight changes to the movements I posted on monday.
Air Mediterranee B737 500 on Fri 3rd Aug now inbound at 13:20 and outbound at 14:35, returning same evening at 20:30 and out at 21:10. Also Kuwait Airways A300 is inbound Mon 30 Jul at 00:35, spending the 30th on the apron before leaving at 07:10 the following morning. (That one was my mistake.)

No problem at all Andy. Thanks very much for flagging those up for everyone.

I was thinking earlier do the EK crews who fly the A330 also fly the B777 or whether it will be new crews arriving at NCL in September with the change in aircraft?

The qualifications are separate for the two. It isn't something that pilots tend to do, as maintaining currency on two big jet families would be time-consuming and very expensive.

There will just be a swap from one pilot pool to another.

However a substantial quantity of pilots will likely have to change to the 777 when the A330's go, others might go to the A380 and A350. EK will also need alot of new pilots with their current expansion plans. I heard somewhere NCL is slated to get the A350 in the future, is that true?

I wouldn't be surprised. The A350-1000 might end up being the one that does the route as EK want them for midhaul operations, similar to what the 773A does nowadays. Before that you could see the A350-900 which is a 772ER size so somewhere between the two existing aircraft types.

Good looking aircraft anyway, and the first flying one just entered the final assembly hall.

It depends on aircraft availability though. The A359 is to be the smallest plane in the Emirates fleet once the A330 is retired, which has started already. Two are listed for sale at the moment, and at least one is flying for Virgin Australia. The A359 is still bigger than the A330 so it's an upgrade. There is still a huge 773ER fleet though and it's only going to get bigger so in the medium term you could end up with the 773ER on regular flights especially if cargo is good.

Yeah, in fact in the future I wouldnt at all be surprised if NCL had a W pattern dedicated cargo flight with a 77F and if pax went down to the A359.

Also andy, so the Kuwait A300 leaves at 07:10 on the morning of the 31st?

Yes, it spends the 30th parked up and leaves on the morning of the 31st.

Thanks andy,

Be lovely to see an A300 at NCL for the first time, I've missed the other visits.

Acording to TravelWeekly, Qatar airways are looking at starting 3 new UK airports, mainly birmingham, there also looking at edinburgh and a possible return to LGW, would yous think its fair to say NCL is out the question?

GLA would seem more of a choice to be, your views?

Its better for Qatar to start EDI due to EK at GLA and more chance for oil connections.

Anyone know anything about the planes expected tommorow for the airshow ?

All Airshow aircraft shoul be arriving between 1100 an 1700.
No exact times as of yet

First confirmed airshow arrival is P51 Mustang at 12:00, with Catalina at 13:00 and most others following either friday afternoon or saturday after their display. BBMF Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster all arriving at approx 15:20 saturday from RAF Coningsby via the airshow and leaving sunday afternoon straight after their display. Also expect 2x Typhoons, 3x Tornados, 2x Tucanos and 9x Red Arrows.

THE SPIT, HURRICANE AND LANC ARE AT NCL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone know about the movements of an undentified plane which took off at 15:35 on the 18th? It was similar to a Fokker 100, but had winglets and looked a little larger. I was at the bus stop on the 25 end, so never got a decent veiw until it was rotating and the trees spoiled my view

Tornados to practice at Sunderland 2.00pm Fri ( confirmed ) Landing at Newcastle afterwards. Probably 07 approach looking at the wind forecast.

Can anyone tell me if this is correct for airshow....

Whitburn/Seaburn Display control 121.175 MHz
Newcastle Hold Over Nissan 130.675 MHz

If thats correct does that mean all the display aircraft us that?

or do they use

REDS..... 243.45/242.2 ??
BBMF..... 120.8/122.7 ??
BLACK CATS..... 280.475 ??
THE BLADES..... 136.175 ??

can anyone help me on this

Thanks David

At RIAT and Farnborough, they jumped from a Cessna Caravan, so I'm afraid you may be disappointed if you're expecting to see a C130.

Sorry -- I should have said... talking to the "plane they jump oot of". ...tut. But was still a C130.

Baltimore, there was a C130 on the apron when I looked this morning (not there now)

We obviously got the 'cut price' version at Farnborough! Give me a C130 over a Cessna Caravan every time!

we got a cessna too

2x A330s on the ground together right now, makes it look like...... a proper airport.

Good timing with the above post, I was looking at the 2 A330s through the bins when "SCOTLAND" taxied past my view, arriving about 2pm today.

Been on that, in fact it amazed me. It was just before it got the Scotland titles, flew on it in 2010. The interior looks like it just came off the line at Boeing. Jet2 and Multiflight did a mean job of restoring the cabin fittings and adding the LS seats. Only the galleys and lavs looked a bit worn.

What was the other 330 as i only know ek was the onl
y 330 on the today

Sorry about the text going to.the next line gettin used to new phone ha

2 EK 330s were NOT on the ground today gentlemen. Only the usual 1

was the other by any chance MON? Or did we not have 2 A330's at all?

Other machine was a 767 from FCA chaps

Flybe e190 was g-fbem and was to bergen not faro

The big birds in yesterday were

MON A330
EK A330
TOM/FCA 767
TS A310

there wasnt a mon 330 in yesterday i was at he airport and only ek 330 was in the only otther large aircraft in were ts310 and fca 767 that is it

Just done a playback on FR24, MON308, A330 G-SMAN arrived NCL at around 5.00am from SFB and departed to MAN at around 8.20am

so that mean there wasnt 2 330s on the floor at the same time so what are people on aout what are the 2 330s on the floor 1 was ek and what was the other

Not sure, could have mistaken the TS A310 at a distance, the sched still shows an A330 so perhaps a small oversight, easy done.

Read the post, Len123 has already answered it. It was the FCA 767 and EK 330 that I saw together. Apologies if I didn't spot the difference between a 767 and 330 tailend-on from 3 miles.

However FCA/TOM only have 767's........

On another note, Air Mediterrainee A321 due in today about 14:30, back out to Lourdes at 15:30.

The recent tech issues with Flybe Dash8's produced Titan Airways BAe146 G-ZAPN today, which happily arrived when the sun came out.

Also seems OLT Express Poland have gone under, so no Bydgoszcz route come the winter.

Yeah, saw Titan today. Air Mediterrainee was at least 5.5 hours late and it is terrible news about OLT express. I was really looking forward to them coming, could someone else pick it up or not? I'm guessing a lot of bookings were made across the whole network. I'm thinking, LS, EZY maybe even BE from NCL.

Our well known EU parasite has probably taken care of the other routes from Bydgoszcz.

Time change for tomorrow's Kuwait Airways, now inbound at 15:10 and outbound at 08:10 tuesday. May be subject to change. Our Egypt TCX 757 with the wonky undercarriage went tech yesterday and has now left us, and our Latvian TCX A320 is tech big style today.

"Wonky undercarriage" :/ whats wrong with it? Also regarding the A320... Not again, can we expect subs or not? I know G-KKAZ did the Kefalonia flight because my sister, brother in law and niece are on it. Good news about Kuwait, will it be on the arrival boards or not?

With Kuwait being a cargo flight I would guess not but I might be wrong. The delayed TCX Reus flight is 21 hours late, so either an overnight repair job or an early morning sub. The wonky undercarriage on G-TCBC is that every time the gear is retracted on takeoff, the right gear and nose wheel go up normally whilst the left gear hangs down, only retracting once the others are stowed. The same happens on landing, the left one only comes down once the others are down and locked.

The Kuwait flight did show up last year on the arrivals board but I wouldn't say 100% it will every time it comes in.

I'll be watching the wonky undercarriage closely next time I'm up the airport

This is a complete shot in the dark, but I remember there being some kind of valve system that delays the lift on one side if the hydraulic pressure is within limits but low. It stops the system failing due to low pressure if both mains come up at the same time.

Likewise with extension where the bogies have to be lifted off the uplock before they swing down. They work on the same hydraulic system. I really don't know if the 757 has such a system but it used to be noticeable on some older aircraft where there was a definite timing difference incorporated for main gear lifting, then the doors would swing shut one after the other.

Thomas Cook are getting worse if you ask me, i dunno what thier going to do when thomson gets there 787's, which will put thomson even further ahead of them, is it 2013 or 2014 TCX is getting the A321 with sharklets to replace the older 757's?

also there a320's are coming up to 20 years old now, what yous think there going to do about them, not very impressive Thomas Cook!

I think it's more a case of will Thomas Cook actually survive as a corporate entity until 2013/2014!

They recently got a financial package to restructure their debts but shortly afterwards the ratings agencies cut the ratings of their debt to a pretty rubbish rating.

I can see a merger being the only way out for TCX. Maybe TUI Travel group can mount a corporate rescue as there has been such a huge movement in recent years to the lowcosts and hybrid companies that monopoly concerns might not apply any more.

It seems our TCX Reus inbound in the early hours might be A319 SP-IBA of, rather ironically, OLT Express Poland, although what livery it wears I don't know. This A/C will be flying Aberdeen via Belfast to Reus round about now, the times of which work out for the delayed arrival time of our return flight. However I worked a very early shift today and I'm not staying up to see what arrives at 3am!

If G-TCBC comes back I too shall be checking. Is it just BC that has this problem or are there more? i.e some of LS's older 75's.

I've checked on the NCL website and it appears that the Kuwait flight will not be on the arrival boards. Thats a terrible delay on the Reus flight, sched t/o at 09:30 this morning, now sched 07:00 tomorrow morning.

Will anyone be up for Kuwait? I'll be up on dinnington road (the perimiter road) in the entrance to the crash gate in a turqoise chevrolet tacuma if anyone fancies popping over to see me.

did anyone see the Delta airlines pass over in its special cancer livery? it came through broken cloud at 28000 clear enough to see its pink belly!

- kuwait airways defo not on the message boards - does anyone know where its coming inbound from???

Whitehatter, TCX and TUI would not be aloud to merge, as that would leave a lack of customer choice, which would really only leave LS as the other option as NCL, and MON down south.

KAC4103 has just passed AMS - should be in shortly

KAC4103 was 9K-AMB. Hadnt realised at the time but at 10:50 this morning I watched it depart from Kuwait on fr24, the bar on the side didnt appear properly so all I knew was that it was a kuwait departure and that it was KAC4103 9K-AMB. Didnt bother typing the reg into google to see if it was ours. We also had an RAF Sentinel ZJ693 making an emergency landing due to a lightning strike and suspected wing damage.

PHIL1 is this the 1 you are on about

phil iv sent you the link

OLT Express Poland A319 SP-IBA operated the delayed inbound TCX Reus this morning and spent the day parked on stand 22. Looked very smart indeed in the sun.

Just seen on wiki (I know pinch of salt) but I am unfortunately the bearer of bad news.

Easyjet will be cutting Paris CDG from 4th November despite announcing a few months ago that it would remain over the winter season. Extremely sad news, first Stansted, then Rome, now Paris... I'm starting to worry about the future of Bristol and Belfast now. I also cannot see Amsterdam lasting very long. Hopefully in the upturn (if it ever comes) we might see these routes return as thats another 200,000 pax a year down the drain that AF will not be able to cover with the BAE146. Hopefully we could see someone like Jet2 come in and pick up the slack for next summer and I cant believe I'm saying this but................................. I hope ryanair will pick up Stansted unless jet2 fancies a go at that too.

reminder, due tomorrow is the Kuwait A300 departure at 08:10 and the flybe E-195 at 20:00 out at 20:30. Thanks to andywalker for the original information.

nice shot mate! beautiful

Lovely view of EK27 777 turning overhead EGNT at midday FL21 inbound Glasgow.