Brown1950

But Oman Air do NOT operate 777 ? Try A330

Well yes as the heading suggested ! ex Manchester !

With effect from 7th June 10 A330-200 will be replaced with 777-300ER

At least you will be flying on a new A330 ! instead of the previous crap they used .

Not aware Oman Air operate any 777 ? A330- 200/300 series (some only delivered new in Nov 09)

Emirates service to New York will start again 31st Oct 2010 and noting Emirates schedule for A380 deliveries this year are :- A6-EDH Jan A6-EDI May A6-EDJ June A6-EDK July A6-EDL Aug A6-EDM Sept A6-EDN Oct A6-EDO Nov A380 service will therefore continue on the Dubai-Bangkok route. All this is subject of course to no delivery delays from Airbus !

Yes correct and reported by 'Emirates 777' on www.flyertalk.com with inclusion Emirates will include first class on A380 ex Manchester.

So we have people saying BA prices are well over what the competition are charging and then we have BA cabin crew trying to maintain their £35,000PA (average) - I think a reality check is required !

Indeed

B777-300ER will indeed come to Manchester. Possible code share with LH ( Star Alliance) Interesting to see First Class will now be available ex Manchester-Munich-Singapore.

Month on Month

Cheaper prices ?

Qatar 13160 + 15% Etihad 12571 - 1.3% Emirates 44146 + 9.5% Singapore 7001 + 5.2%

Commencing 28th March 2010 Singapore Airlines will route Manchester/Singapore via Munich. Service will be 5 x week using three class B777-300ER.

Don't look at Bangkok as the final destination ! How many passengers depart Manchester for destinations in Far East/Australasia ?

In 2000 went Manchester-Hong Kong- with Cathay Pacific and in Sept 09 went on the following trip :- Manchester-Hong Kong (via Doha)-Singapore-Ho Chi Minh City-Bangkok -Hong Kong-Manchester Airlines were :- Qatar Airways Jetsar Tiger Airways Air Asia I discovered on my travels that in 2008 - 90,000 people departed ex Manchester to Hong Kong ! and approx 60,000 people departed Manchester to Bangkok !!! As no DIRECT departures are available to these two destinations from Manchester most went via Heathrow/Dubai/Amsterdam/Frankfurt/Helsinki etc This begs the question : Why no direct services fom Manchester ??? Most airlines will tell you that apart from Heathrow - Airports like Manchester and Birmingham do not have enough premuim paying passengers to warrant direct services ??? So how can we get a direct service Manchester/Bangkok ?????

Strong rumour is that Emirates will start A380 ex Manchester within next 6 months.

Etihad 13051 - 6% Qatar 14141 + 13% Emirates 44483 + 11% Singapore 6859 - 53%

Try the Lake District in UK. Was quoted 4* hotel last Christmas 55,000bht for 3 nights incl Christmas dinner !

Strong rumour doing the rounds at Manchester Airport is that flights EK017/018 will change to A380 commencing 2Q 2010

Where from ? UK or ? And don't forget your visa !

Air Passenger Duty Rates £10 increase ??? See below ! Class of ticket and travel destination Duty per UK flight departure Passengers flying to EEA destinations and certain other European countries In lowest class of travel £10 In other classes £20 Passengers flying to other destinations In lowest class of travel £40 In other classes £80 Change from 1 November 2009 From 1 November 2009 and 1 November 2010 Air Passenger Duty is charged based on a band that is determined by the distance of the capital city of the destination country in miles from the UK. Band and distance of capital city of destination country in miles from the UK In the lowest class of travel (reduced rate) In other than the lowest class of travel (standard rate) On and after 1 Nov 2009 On and after 1 Nov 2010 On and after 1 Nov 2009 On and after 1 Nov 2010 Band A (0-2000) £11 £12 £22 £24 Band B (2001-4000) £45 £60 £90 £120 Band C (4001-6000) £50 £75 £100 £150 Band D (over 6000) £55 £85 £110 £170

Herewith article from BALPA which basically sums up the whole situation :- AIR PASSENGERS SAY THEY WILL DESERT UK AIRLINESResults out today suggest that air passengers, travelling long haul from regional airports in the UK could desert British airlines and the major UK airports if the Government fails to take action over Air Passenger Duty (APD). An Ipsos MORI on-line poll, commissioned by the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), found that (among those who expressed a preference) 90% of adults aged 16 to 64 would prefer to fly to Amsterdam to connect with their long haul flight, avoiding APD, rather than Heathrow where a tax of up to £85 per passenger applies. Rather than reduce APD, the Government intends to more than double this tax at British airports over the next 18 months. 'The results of our poll are extremely worrying,' said Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of BALPA. 'At a time when the worldwide aviation industry is suffering the UK Chancellor is going to suffocate his very own industry. This could only be dreamt up in the UK; the Dutch have recently scrapped their tax on passenger flights to try to attract more business from neighbouring countries and good old Britain is happy to oblige. This is economic madness' At the same time as Amsterdam was scrapping its duties, the British Government was increasing its tax on air passengers,he said. A family of four travelling economy class to Disneyland in Florida for half term week 2011 will pay £240 in taxes; to the Caribbean for a Christmas in 2010 it will be £300 and for the family to visit relatives in Australia that Christmas it will be £340 before they even board the aircraft. 'This is a triple whammy,' Jim McAuslan said. 'The increases in APD will hurt hard working families who have toiled for a holiday and it will hurt them irrespective of their income. This flat rate regressive tax is a poll tax of the skies. It will hit our airlines who have to pay their way and unlike other forms of transport don't draw on any public funds. 'And it will hurt British jobs and the staff who are already facing a very difficult time. This is a blow for the UK's economy when it needs a boost.' BALPA is calling on all parts of the industry to work together to draw the public's attention to this stealth tax and to persuade the Government to scrap the planned increases due to come in on November 1and allow UK aviation to compete on a level playing field. Ipsos MORI were commissioned to ask the question below in an Omnibus poll. The question was asked online to a sample of 1,000 adults aged 16 to 64. The survey was conducted between the 15th and 19th of May. Results have been weighted to the known population The question was: Imagine a scenario where you are traveling to Australia from a regional airport in the UK; such as Birmingham, Manchester or Edinburgh. This journey would involve a transfer onto a long haul aircraft at a large international airport. When booking your tickets, you are told that you would pay £85 less in Air Passenger Tax per person by transferring in Amsterdam than you would if you transferred at London Heathrow. Given the choice, if you actually decided to make this journey, which route would you prefer to take? Please assume that factors such as airline carrier, departure time, journey time, in-flight meals/entertainment etc are the same regardless of where you transfer. The results: Prefer Amsterdam Prefer Heathrow Total (1,000 sample) 76% 9% Total of those with a preference (856) 90% 10% Region: Of those expressing a preference (where sample sizes are sufficiently large) North West (102) 93% 7% Yorkshire and Humberside (82) 96% 4% West Midlands (96) 93% 7% South West (79) 87% 13% South East (155) 85.5% 14.5% London (124) 85% 15% Scotland (62) 98% 2%

Macau - Bangkok with Air Asia would be your cheapest option.

Over the last 24hrs many airlines have increased fares by 30% as an example Qatar were quoting Manchester/Hong Kong £310.00 incl taxes now around £430.00 for September flight. UK Government taxes ???