BlindSpotsTraveller 🇬🇧 🇺🇦

@SPD_travels LS did MAN-CDG back in the early 2000s,think it lasted two or three years. Remember using it a few times. Guessing this time they are going to be focusing heavily on City brakes and Disneyland which makes sense. With a strong brand recognition in MAN area, they’ll do well.

Info | 2 pieces of route news: Jet2 add 4 weekly Manchester-Paris CDG for S27. Up against 5 daily easyJet and 4 daily Air France is a tough task. Iberia Madrid-Manchester is now bookable for W26, which means the are definitely sticking around. Good news.

@SPD_travels Excellent news about Iberia continuing into the winter season. Also, although only 3X weekly on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, the timings are far better with early afternoon departures from MAN. Finally, it opens up connection possibilities again.

@SeanM1997 hopefully this is the start of some major city break destinations expansion for LS. Might we see MAD, LIS, MXP or AMS, for example? Hope so!

NEW ROUTE Jet2 - Manchester to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Flights start 25 March 2027 MAN 1315-1545 CDG (Mon & Fri) MAN 1510-1740 CDG (Thu & Sun) CDG 1630-1700 CDG (Mon & Fri) CDG 1825-1855 MAN (Thu & Sun)

@SimonCalder Any news on if they have any plans to serve Manchester? Surely the north of England/Scotland catchment area could support a direct flight to Australia?

Qantas nonstop London-Sydney plan. Flight tests soon to begin for world's longest range passenger plane: the first of 12 modified Airbus A350s. Meanwhile the airline says its existing Europe-Australia nonstops are thriving (while Gulf competitors struggle) independent.co.uk/travel/news-an…

@Avgeek_Jan @RiyadhAir Any update on this?

🔴 @RiyadhAir has revealed 15 routes for its Summer 2026 global schedule Slot data from Airport Coordination Limited's S26 report shows the Saudi carrier is targeting destinations out of Riyadh (RUH) including London Heathrow, Paris CDG, Manchester, Dubai, Mumbai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Cairo among others The Boeing 787 powered network spans both East and West, giving a clearer picture than ever of how the PIF backed airline plans to grow towards its goal of 100+ international destinations under Vision 2030 However the airline has already faced significant challenges with aircraft deliveries, and with delayed jets making route launches possible in the first place, there's a real chance not all 15 routes will get off the ground this season #aviation #RiyadhAir

@Avgeek_Jan ….route now removed from Norse’s booking system. So that went well… 🤦‍♂️

🔴 Norse Atlantic Airways debuts Manchester-Bangkok route on Nov 26, 2025, utilizing Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Weekly flights target 100,000+ annual passengers, with fares from £259 return. #aviationnews #avgeek

@SeanM1997 Absolutely no surprise, once a week service between Manchester and Bangkok was a complete waste of time.

Norse Atlantic Airways has removed its 🇬🇧Manchester - 🇹🇭Bangkok route from its booking system

Manchester set to become Europe’s fourth ‘tallest’ city architectsjournal.co.uk/news/mancheste…

@SeanM1997 There’s no Francophone market though from Manchester. It would be a one-season wonder I imagine.

@SeanM1997 I think in the past air transat and Thomas Cook have both tried this route without success. Historically, Both Calgary and Vancouver both performed better so would probably make more sense from MAN.

The link below lists Air Transat as operating a direct routes between 🇨🇦Montreal and 🇬🇧Manchester Is this an error or a Freudian slip? ttgmedia.com/travel-industr…

@SPD_travels Should develop part of deprived east Manchester into a world-class theme park resort. Im fact I think they did look at it 20 years ago or so when considering a super casino complex, could certainly do with such a resort. Could massively revitalise a failing area.

Went to Thorpe park today. Great rides but my god the queues are horrendous. Rides kept breaking down. Couple of rides closed. Hoards of teens reliant on their fruity USB sticks. Litter everywhere. It’s a shame it’s been let down in that way, as we probably won’t ever go back.

@SPD_travels Interesting, I’m guessing nothing beyond the end of October though on the systems?

Info | We still have a strange situation whereby the Iberia Express flights to Manchester as still fully loaded into GDS for the month of October, including multiple codeshares, yet it isnt available to physically book (it is bookable up to end of Sept). Not sure what’s going on

@SPD_travels There would be a massive upside taking this Flight, you would get through the EES process in a blink of an eye at that time in the morning at Palmer!

I’m well aware late night flights are not a new phenomenon, but those flights times for a short sector are grim!

@SPD_travels No sign of Norse returning to the MAN-BKK route for winter 26/27?

Info | TUI will run its Manchester-Phuket route until 7th May this year instead of April 20th, just to help holidaymakers bypass the Middle East for Thailand

@johnmcfadian @SPD_travels Havre a day off, dear.

@SPD_travels Manchester is a regional airport mainly catering for the outbound short haul leisure market for the North of England, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Never going to be a transatlantic hub.

And as far as I’m concerned, losing Aer Lingus was, hopefully, MAN reaching the rock bottom point for TATL. Hopefully, little by little, it’s only up from here. Whether it’s a new route, new airline or extra capacity, everything here on out *should* be good news.

This does not sound like a good lounge strategy for T2. Surely MAN should have looked at turning this into a major alliance lounge? @SPD_travels @Sharkkk34807334 @HeadForPoints headforpoints.com/2026/04/01/exe…

@dan2038810 @SPD_travels I’ve never ever seen any promotion or advertising of the Beijing or Shanghai flights from Manchester. They are clearly not aimed at the British-based market.

@SPD_travels When will juneyo be doing daily flight and also China is visa free now ?

I wonder what’s happened to growth of Chinese carriers at Manchester? Very strong growth all across Europe and the UK, yet MAN can’t seem to capitalise on what it has already (in fact, it’s down this year). This isn’t a moan btw, but a genuine question of ‘what’s occurring?’.

@SPD_travels Possibly a lesson to be learned here by MAN not to be too reliant on the Gulf carriers. I remember a similar conversation being had several years ago around LPL being in a similar position with FR and EZY. This is the optimal moment for Far East carriers to grow at MAN.

Info Emirates will operate 2 daily to Manchester until at least 1st May. It will use a B77W on the EK21/22 and an A380 on EK19/20. EK17/18 remains suspended until then

@SPD_travels If they can nail issues with reliability, then set to be a bright future for AC.

Info | Great to see Air Canada add a 4th weekly flight to Manchester this summer. A rare case of growth on the TATL market. I suspect that as winter is also 4 weekly, we are looking at 6-7 weekly next summer as a reasonable prediction.

Great news! Olympic women's sport to be for biological females only bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics…