The nwan 2014 ANNUAL REVIEW of LJLA Activity
Dec 19, 2015 10:14:03 GMT 1
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LIVERPOOL JOHN LENNON AIRPORT – THE NWAN ANNUAL REVIEW 2014
FOREWORD
This is very late, by some 10 months – however if it is not done now, then any report for 2015 will have nothing to relate to. This Report has proved problematical to produce, with a steep learning curve. Hopefully 2015’s Report, now that I’ve done one, will be out on schedule in February 2016. It could well be that there are errors (probably by omission) in the main aircraft visitors by type and registration listing. Let me know, so that I can amend this record.
Please bear in mind that this article is all about activity during 2014, so some information and opinion will appear dated. For information regarding 2015, that will be in the 2015 Report, a couple of weeks into the New year (hopefully).
INTRODUCTION
Liverpool John Lennon Airport had 3,986,654 passengers in 2014 (CAA figures), representing a drop of -4.8% compared to the figure of 4,187,623 passengers in 2013. While the fall below the 4 million mark is disappointing, the rate of decline is slower that of 2012. At the end of the year came an indication that the Airport Company are taking a much more active role in attracting new business and routes in in the months ahead, but also to hold onto their existing airlines and routes. Merseyside is very much a two-way market for airline operators with the region’s residents looking for exciting new destinations, while the City and surrounding area is a huge attraction for overseas visitors, with so much to offer with its vibrant regeneration alongside a rich cultural heritage.
Big news of the year was that during March 2014, the Peel Group had purchased back full control of LJLA from the Vantage Group of Canada. This was followed in September by the appointment of Andrew Cornish as Airport Director and Managing Director of the Airport Operating Company, replacing Matthew Thomas who had served LJLA for around 18 months.
2014 SCHEDULED AIRLINE REPORT
RYANAIR
Ryanair’s Malta service that had started during 2013 continued through the winter while services to Las Palmas and Shannon, which had been cut for the previous winter, had been restored to the summer schedule. The number of Dublin flights also increased in early summer. However the great concern was the decision by Ryanair to withdraw an aircraft from Liverpool for the summer of 2014, leaving only five on base. The airline had made a deal with the Manchester Airport Group to increase services from all the group’s airports. Services to Zadar and Murcia were moved to Manchester and flights to Lodz and Lublin that had been flown in 2013, did not operate in 2014. Most other services had a reduction in flights during the summer. In previous years Ryanair had operated the same schedule throughout the season, but a new policy saw the airline’s timetable change each month. This meant that the Oslo-Torp route was not flown during June and July and Dublin was reduced to just 13 rotations a week for the same two months. Most routes showed the odd flight more or less for a month or two. At the end of the summer season, to make matters worse the lost fifth aircraft effectively moved to Manchester, along with the Shannon (although this service had been run-down to only 3 per week) and Las Palmas services.
Some people on social media have argued that the airport might be better off without Ryanair for two reasons. Firstly as other airlines would likely operate the routes currently flown by Ryanair and secondly as they think new airlines are put off from operating to an airport with a Ryanair base fearing predatory competition. My opinion is that Ryanair still operate a significant 32 routes from Liverpool and other airlines are unlikely to operate all of these, or fly as many as the 132 flights-a-week flown by Ryanair summer 2014.
EASYJET
EasyJet had the same number of aircraft on base, five A319s and two A320s, as 2013. With aircraft going to Larnaca and to Fuerteventura throughout the season there were more longer flights. This meant there was less flights overall. The previous year aircraft would have operated a couple of shorter rotations in the same time as the longer one. As a result there was the odd flight less on a number of routes that will have helped increase the load factor on those flown. Thankfully no routes have been ended, while Lisbon which had not operated winter 2013/14 has been re-instated as year-round. Disappointing, though, was that during the peak summer the Paris service was reduced to five flights-a-week and Berlin to four. In 2013 one of the based A320s swapped with an A319 from the Belfast base for the first four weeks of the Irish school holidays, but this did not happen in 2014, so more seats were available from Liverpool.
NORWEGIAN
The Norwegian service from Copenhagen finished at the end of March. The passenger numbers on this route had not reached expectations. Short city breaks are probably the first type of travel to suffer during a recession. Just two flights a week did not attract the business traveller. The earlier timed flights during the winter reduced the connections available in Copenhagen, although a poor fare structure also did not help this. The main reason for the failure, in my opinion, is that most of the travelling public in our region were unaware of the excellent service provided by Norwegian.
FLYBE
For the summer flyBe reduced the number of rotations on the Isle of Man route by 25%. There had been fears that the route would stop completely when the airline announced the closure of their base on the Island. Happily the service continued. With fewer flights, passenger figures fell as one would expect, but have steadily increased since. From the end of September until the end of November the flyBe Isle of Man service was flown by wet leased ATR72s. A Danish Air Transport aircraft was used to start with, then one from Danu of Lithuania and finally a Stobart aircraft was used. With fewer seats the ATR sometimes did not have the capacity to meet the demand for the most popular flights.
Good news came from flyBe late in the year when it was announced that the airline is returning to the Belfast City route from February 2015. There will be three flights on weekdays and one at weekends for the 8 weeks to the end of the winter schedule. The airline had abandoned the route rather abruptly in November 2011 after passenger numbers dropped with the recession, so the resumption of the service is most welcome. The news got better when the summer schedule was announced showing an increase in the schedule to 23 returns each week, nearly matching the schedule when the airline first flew the route. If the Belfast City route is a success then the airline might consider other services.
WIZZAIR
There is also good news regarding Wizz Air. The airline started the year with only four rotations per week, two each to Gdansk and Warsaw, their Vilnius service having ended. The airline originally planned to operate a third-weekly rotation from Gdansk for just the peak four months, but the third flight became a permanent addition to the timetable and has continued through the winter. Recently it has been announced a fourth-weekly flight on this route will start in June 2015. The airline has also announced a third flight from Warsaw will start in April 2015 and, best of all, a new twice-weekly service from Riga. This route is one of those abandoned by Ryanair. The number of flights by Wizz Air will have more than doubled from their low point.
BLUE AIR
Probably the best news in 2014 was the announcement in July that a new airline was coming to Liverpool. Blue Air of Romania announced that a new thrice-weekly service from Bucharest was to start in December. The airline had noticed that a good number of their passengers flying from Luton actually lived in the north of England. The airline decided that Liverpool fitted their expansion plans best. Further good news followed in October when it was announced that the airline is to start a twice-weekly service from Bacau in the North East of Romania, starting with the summer 2015 season. There is a good sized Moldovan community in the North West of England who may be attracted to use this service, as Chisinau is not too far away from Bacau.
COMMENT
If the number of Ryanair and easyJet flights during the peak summer of 2015 are similar to 2014, the extra flights by Wizz Air, Blue Air and Flybe should reverse the downward trend in passenger numbers. The airport still needs other airlines to operate services. Five airlines are not enough. One can only hope that more are attracted to Liverpool, if not in 2015, then in 2016. Connecting flights to a major hub airport is a necessity for future success and a direct flight to America would be nice.
ROUTE SUMMARY
easyJet 2014
Alicante year round service 5-7 flights-a-week
Amsterdam year round service 5-10 flights-a-week
Belfast Int'l year round service 31-36 flights-a-week
Berlin year round service 4-6 flights-a-week
Bodrum summer service 30/03/2014 to 21/10/2014 2 flights-a-week
Bordeaux peak summer service 14/06/2014 to 27/09/2014 2-4 flights-a-week
Faro year round service 2-8 flights-a-week
Fuerteventura year round service 1-2 flights-a-week
Geneva year round service 4-19 flights-a-week
Grenoble winter ski service to 12/04/2014;from 14/12/2014, 1 flight-a-week
Ibiza peak summer service 28/06/2014 to 27/09/2014 2 flights-a-week
Innsbruck winter ski service to 13/04/2014;from 15/12/2014, 1-2 flights-a-week
Isle of Man year round service 7-11 flights-a-week
Jersey year round service 4-9 flights-a-week
Krakow year round service flights-a-week
Lanzarote year round service 2 flights-a-week
Larnaca year round service 2 flights-a-week
Lisbon year round service from start summer season 2-4 flights-a-week
Madrid year round service 4-7 flights-a-week
Mahon peak summerservice 04/07/2014 to 05/09/2014 4 flights-a-week
Malaga year round service 4-7 flights-a-week
Nantes peak summer service 01/07/2014 to 26/08/2014 2 flights-a-week
Naples summer service 30/03/2014 to 01/11/2014 2-4 flights-a-week
Newquay peak summer service 03/07/2014 to 04/09/2014 2 flights-a-week
Nice year round service 2-9 flights-a-week
Palma year round service 2-14 flights-a-week
Paris CDG year round service 4-7 flights-a-week
Rhodes summer service 26/04/2014 to 01/11/2014 2 flights-a-week
Salzburg winter service to 12/04/2014;from 14/12/2014, 1 flight-a-week
Ryanair 2014
Alicante year round service 3-8 flights-a-week
Barcelona year round service 4-7 flights-a-week
Bergerac summer service 30/03/2014 to 03/11/2014 2-3 flights-a-week
Bratislava year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
Carcassonne year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
Cork year round service 5-6 flights-a-week
Derry year round service 5-6 flights-a-week
Dublin year round service 13-25 flights-a-week
Faro year round service 2-7 flights-a-week
Fuerteventura year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
Ibiza summer service 01/05/2014 to 24/10/2014 2-3 flights-a-week
Knock year round service 6-7 flights-a-week
Kos summer service 01/05/2014 to 05/11/2014 1 flight-a-week
Krakow year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
Lanzarote year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
Las Palmas service to 17/10/2014 1 flight-a-week
Limoges year round service 2-4 flights-a-week
Lodz service ended 29/03/2014 2 flights-a-week
Malaga year round service 2-8 flights-a-week
Malta year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
Nimes summer service 01/05/2014 to 30/09/2014 2 flights-a-week
Oslo-Torp ten month service to 31/05/2014;from 01/08/2014, 3 flights-a-week
Palma summer service 01/04/2014 to 05/11/2014 6 flights-a-week
Pisa summer service 01/04/2014 to 25/10/2014 2-3 flights-a-week
Porto summer service 30/03/2014 to 30/09/2014 2 flights-a-week
Poznan year round service 2 flights-a-week
Reus summer service 01/04/2014 to 05/11/2014 2 flights-a-week
Rhodes summer service 01/05/2014 to 25/10/2014 2 flights-a-week
Shannon service ended 25/10/2014 3 flights-a-week
Szczecin summer service 01/04/2014 to 25/10/2014 2 flights-a-week
Tenerife year round service 1-3 flights-a-week
Vilnius year round service 2 flights-a-week
Warsaw-Modlin year round service 3-4 flights-a-week
Wroclaw year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
flybe 2014
Isle of Man year round service 18-24 flights-a-week
Wizz Air 2014
Gdansk year round service 2-3 flights-a-week
Warsaw-Chopin year round service 2 flights-a-week
Blue Air 2014
Bucharest new service from 15/12/2014 3 flights-a-week
Norwegian 2014
Copenhagen year round service ended 28/03/2014 2 flights-a-week
CHARTERS AND I/Ts
With no regular IT/Charter flights, the charter scene at Liverpool continues to rely heavily on football-related flights and ad hoc charters. There were a couple of private ski charter flights, operated by Welcome Air Dornier 328s in January, April and December. Other private charter flights included use of a City Jet/VLM Fokker 50 from Antwerp and a Denim Air Fokker 50 from Brussels in January; a Jet2 Boeing 737-300 from Glasgow in February; a series of 3 flights by Smart Lynx in July from Tallinin may have connections with the Llangollen Eisteddfod; a short series of Isle of Man flights by Linksair Jetstream 31 in early June and a Van Air Let 410 from the Isle of Man in September, with in the same month a CityJet RJ.85 day-return from Amsterdam. In February an Air France A.318 brought in the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Paris; in April through to June, 4 student flights from Valladolid operated by Iberia A.321s; a golf charter Eastern Saab 200 in July; an Eastern RJ-145 out to Volkswagen in Germany in September and in October the Catalan Dragons arrived for a game at St Helens on a Carpatair Fokker 100 and there was an Estonian ERJ-170 which brought in WWE team wrestlers. Together these make the year seem busier than it actually was.
Bringing in-bound tourists there were six weekend cultural week-end city breaks, combined with a LFC home game operated from Norway, using Eastern Saab 2000 or RJ-145, Eurolot DHC Dash 8s, Thomas Cook A.320 and a Jettime Boeing 737 from Haugesund, Oslo, but mainly Stavanger.
The charters to Lourdes in 2015 featured just two departures, both by Titan Airways Boeing 757 in late July on behalf of the Liverpool Diocese.
FOOTBALL RELATED
Both our major football teams regularly used charter flights to and from away domestic games both for Premiership and Cup matches. For most matches they used either BMI Regional ER-145s or Cello Aviation with their BAe.146-200. Teams flying into Liverpool for the second half of the 2013/14 season featured more variety with operators such as Denim Air Fokker 50, VLM Fokker 50 and Eastern RJ-145. For the first half of the 2014/15 season much the same, with visiting clubs arriving mostly on BMR RJ-145s, but also a City Jet RJ.85, Demin Air RJ-145 and Cello’s BAe.146.
The summer ‘friendlies’ generated visits by LFC who used City Jet RJ.84 to get to Dublin and Cello BAe.146 to get to Copenhagen, while Dortmund FC used a WDL BAe.146 to get to Anfield. For their ‘big trip’ LFC flew from Liverpool direct to the USA using an Aeronexus Boeing 767. Everton used a BMR RJ-145 to get to their Austrian training camp, then a City Jet RJ.85 to get to Paderborn, while FC Oporto used a Carpatair Fokker 100 to get to Goodison and Paderborn a CityJet RJ.85.
With both Everton and Liverpool back in Europe for the 2014/2015 season, and Airbus UK in the qualifiers, a fair variety of aircraft and airlines appeared at LJLA. For the qualifiers in July FK Haugesund arrived on a Wideroe Dash 8 to play Airbus UK, while we are fairly sure an Eastern Saab 2000 to Aberdeen was for a qualifiers game too.
In the European Cup League Stage, LFC met Ludogorets, Basle and Madrid. For the away games LFC used a Titan Boeing 757, with supporters to Basle on a Jet2 Boeing 757; Madrid on a Thomas Cook Boeing 757, a Jet2 Boeing 737-300 and an extra Ryanair scheduled flight; to Sofia on a Jet2 Boeing 737-800. For the home games, Ludogorets travelled to Liverpool on a Bulgarian Air Charter MD.82, Madrid on an Iberia Airbus A.321 and Basle on a Hamburg Air Airbus A.320. Away fans arrived from Madrid on 2 Swift Air MD.82s and from Basle on 2 Air Berlin Airbus A.320, a further Hamburg Airbus A.320, a Luxair Boeing 737-800 and an Eidelwess RJ.100. They moved on from the League stage into the January 2015 knock-out stage.
In the Europa Cup League Stage, EFC faced Wfv Wolfsburg, Krasnodar and Lille. For the away games, EFC also used Titan Boeing 757s, with supporters to Lille on a Thomas Cook Boeing 757 and to Braunschwieg on a Jet2 Boeing 737-800. For the home games, Wolfsburg travelled to Liverpool on a Hamburg Air Airbus A.320, Lille on an XL France Boeing 737-800 and Krasnodar on a Nordavia Boeing 737-500. No away fans arrived at LJLA on charter flights, although there were a couple of biz-jets. EFC also moved on from the League stage into the January 2015 knock-out phase.
FREIGHT
Freight through LJLA is a shadow of times past. There were very few months when we had anything larger than a Metro – and a number of months with nothing at all. In March a Raf-Avia Antonov An-26 brought freight from Augsburg and in December a Polish Saab340A from Dole, France and a Cavok Antonov An-12 that made two flights from Gothenborg. During September a TNT BAe.146 brought in race horses from Shannon for a meeting at Haydock Park. There were too, a few freight flights that diverted in due to weather elsewhere, a TNT Boeing 737 and an Atlantic Airlines BAe.ATP in April and a Beluga in August.
MILITARY MOVEMENTS
Certainly the largest military aircraft for a while was ZZ172 a Globemaster II in mid-November performing a number of touch and goes while training. Three Hercules are known to have briefly called, or performed touch and goes while training in January and twice during November. Yellow ‘rescue’ Sea Kings called for fuel a number of times while in their last full year before replacement, while March a Chinook called, only to go ‘tech’, requiring another one to arrive with parts and technicians. BAe.146 ZE701 called in July, while RAF BAe.125s ZE395 called in February and ZD621 in July, these aircraft have now been retired. VIP helicopters of the Royal Flight are now civil registered, G-XXEB a Sikorsky S-76 called on a couple of occasions; while the Special Forces called-in with one of their Dauphins in January. There were a number of visits by Islander/Defenders of the RAF and Army spread throughout the year.
We have become accustomed LJLA hosting a variety of RAF and other aircraft during the Southport Air Display weekend in September. 2014 was a great disappointment, with nothing operating from Liverpool, not even making pass along the runway en route, as has happened for a fair few years past.
The Irish Air Corps brought one of their CASA.235s in during March, the French Navy a Falcon 10 in February stopped for 5 hours, not just the usual go-around, while most unusual of all was the German Air Force Transall in November that stopped overnight on a flight from Stornoway to Nantes.
AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS 2014
The number of aircraft movements, as reported by the CAA, for 2014 stood at 52,249, down -6.5% from 55,839 in 2013 and 60,270 in 2012, making 2014 is the lowest aircraft movements figure for decades. Of the 52,249 movements, 30,552 were ATMS (Air Transport Movements).
RESIDENTS
The total number of residents remains fairly steady. Just a slight decrease in 2014 from 84 during 2013 to 80, with 9 departing and 6 arriving - the maths complicated by 1 non-flyer in 2013 taking to the air again in 2014, but two other active aircraft in 2013 joining the unflown, stored aircraft in 2014. A full list of resident aircraft for 2014 follows at the end of this Review.
LIVERPOOL FLYING SCHOOL fleet were very active, but remained constant, with 4 Tomahawks, a Cherokee and Cherokee Arrow, all in smart blue and white matching corporate colours. Keenair Air Services offer third party maintenance and hangarage. Both ‘historic’ bi-planes in their care departed in 2014, Stearman G-BRUJ for Halfpenny Green in August and Tiger Moth G-AMCK for Gamston in October. However Gemini G-AKKB continues at Liverpool, although flew rarely in 2014. Arrivals into the hangar during the year were Seneca G-GFEY in January, Aztec G-OSJF in February, both moving in from Blackpool and Citabria G-BFHP in May, which moved in from Barton.
RAVENAIR Ravenair continued to be very active with training using Tomahawk, Cherokee and Seneca, along with their survey fleet of Aztec and Partenavia P.68s. Two departures were the sale of stored Cessna F172H G-MFAC and Cherokee 140 G-RVRT. In March Seneca G-VVBK was painted into corporate colours and re-registered G-RVNO in the company sequence. Of the aircraft hangered with LAS Malibu N186CB departed for Fairoaks in the first half of the year, but has been a regular visitor since, while Moss Aviation’s King Air 90 G-MOSJ changed marks in June becoming 9H-MOS.
LOMAC AVIATIORS after considerable expansion of their fleet during 2013, Lomac consolidated their activities during 2014 with 4 Tomahawks, 2 Cessna 150, Cherokee 140, Cessna 172 and a Cherokee Arrow registered to the company. Towards the end of the year one of the Cessna 150s was sold and departed.
MERSEYFLIGHT continue to be very active with 3 Tomahawks and a Cherokee 140. No changes to the fleet during 2014.
HELICENTRE continue to offer training and helicopter hire on a number of types. The Schweizer 269 G-CEBE left in February, but has returned for short periods since, while the Robinson R.22 in use rotated, starting with G-WADS, then G-PACL, G-OIIO then G-PACL again. Unfortunately G-PACL suffered an accident on 16th July and departed by road. In its place G-OBIO arrived during August and served for the remainder of the year. Privately owned Robinson R.44 G-GRZZ left early summer, with G-CJLL arriving in June for Helicentre. Robinson R.66 G-SYES with Helicentre connections arrived in late December. Eurocopter EC-120B G-OMEM operated throughout the year.
GA APRON SERVICES
Liverpool Aviation Services continue to handle the greater majority of incoming biz-jet and general aviation flights and their passengers. GA Fuels, launched July 2013 continue to supply AvGas for a consortium of Flying Schools, some resident general aviation aircraft and visiting privately owned aircraft.
BRITISH AIRLINES 2014
There were 11 British airlines listed in 2013’s review. However my definition of an airline (unlike that of Dave Graham) includes VIP operators using airline types, with reduced VIP seating, but not biz-jet luxury eg Cello Aviation and Titan. This brings the 2013 total up to 12 (Titan was included, Cello added). The 2014 total being 14 The airlines in 2014 but not in 2013 were: Atlantic, CityFlyer, Jet2, Links Air and Virgin, while British Airways, Loganair and the now part of Loganair Suckling Airways, failed to appear in 2014.
Atlantic Airlines NPT BAe.ATP
BMI Regional BM BMR RJ-145
Cello Aviation CLJ BAe.146
CityFlyer (BAW titles) FD CFE ERJ-195
EasyJet U2 EZY Airbus A.319, Airbus A.320
Eastern Airways T3 EZE Saab 2000, RJ-135, RJ-145
Flybe BE BEE Dash 8, ERJ-175, ATR-72
Jet2 LS EXS Boeing 737, Boeing 757
LinksAir W2 LNQ Jetstream 31
Monarch ZB MON Airbus A.321
Thomas Cook MT TCX Boeing 757
Thomson TOM Boeing 737
Titan ZT AWC Boeing 757
Virgin Atlantic VS VIR Boeing 787
Considered, but not included:
Reconnaisance Ventures REV C.310 diverted in several times on a small parcels service
Bond Helicopters BND Dauphin, couple of visits from Blackpool and one from a rig.
Capital Aviation EGL Navajo & King Air near daily on a regular contract
CityWing of IoM counted as Van Air, Czech Rep.
No British Airways, Aurigny or Loganair in 2014.
OVERSEAS AIRLINES 2014
32 overseas airlines were listed in the 2013 NWAN review, however as my definition of an airline now includes VIP charter airlines such as Gain Jet, Aeronexus and Airbus Industrie with their Beluga freighter, the 2013 total has increased to 34 with Gain Jet and Airbus added. The 2014 total overseas airlines stands at 40, although a further 8 were considered, but discounted either due to their aircraft being leased to another operator that has been counted, or simply due to small aircraft size.
Aeronexas/Universal South Africa ARN Boeing 767
Aero Nova Spain OVA Metro
Air Berlin Swiss regd AB ABB Airbus A.320
Airbus Industrie Transport France 4Y BGA Airbus A.300STA
Air France France AF AFR Airbus A.318, A.319
Balkan Air Charter Bulgaria BUC MD-82
Binair GmbH Germany BID Metro
Blue Air Romania OB BMS Boeing 737
Carpatair Romania V3 KRP Fokker 100
Cavok Airlines Ukraine CVK Antonov 12
CityJet Ireland Ireland WX BCY RJ.85
Van Air Europe (CityWings IoM) Czech Rep V9 VAA LET410
Demin Air Netherlands 3D DNM RJ-135
Edleweiss Switzerland WK EDW RJ.100
Estonian Air Estonia OV ELL ERJ-170
EuroLot Poland K4 ELO Dash 8
Flight Line Spain FT FTL Metro
Gain Jet Greece GJ GNJ Boeing 737, Boeing 757
Hamburg Air Germany HK HAY Airbus A.320
Iberia Spain IB IBE Airbus A.321
Nordavia Russian Fed 5N AUL Boeing 737
Jettime Denmark JQ JTG Boeing 737
KLM Netherlands KL KLM Fokker 70
Luxair Luxembourg LG LGL Boeing 737
Norwegian Air Shuttle Norway NAX Boeing 737
RAF-Avia Latvia MTL Antonov An-26
Ryanair Ireland FR RYR Boeing 737
Skytaxi Ltd Poland IGA Saab 340
Small Planet Airlines Lithuania S5 LLC Airbus A.320
Smart Lynx Estonia MYX Airbus A.320
Swiftair Spain SWT MD-83
Thomas Cook Scandinavia Denmark VKG Airbus A.320
TNT Airways Belgium TAY BAe.146, Boeing 737
Twin Jet France TJT Beech 1900
VLM Denmark VG VLM Fokker 50
WDL Germany WDL BAe.146
Welcome Air Austria 2W WLC Do.328
Wideroe Norway WF WIF Dash 8
WizzAir Hungary W6 WZZ A.320
XL Airlines France XLF Boeing 737
Considered but not included:
EasySwiss A.319/320 only op on relacement flts for EasyJet
Air Explore of Slovakia two B.737-400 a/c op on lease by Ryanair
Stobart Air an ATR-72 op by Flybe
Danu of Lithuania an ATR-72 op by Flybe
Danish Air Transport an ATR-72 op by Flybe
Travel Service of Czech Rep only a Cessna 680 Sovereign, not airliner types
Air Contractors two B.737-400 a/c op on lease by Ryanair
Swiss Airlines aircraft in Swiss colours used by Edleweiss
While Airbus industrie Transport, Beluga aircraft have been included.
Although CityJet and VLM were still merged early in the year when VLM visited,
they are counted separately as they were separate entities within the Air France/KLM Group.
MILITARY OPERATORS 2014
A total of 5 military Air Arms called during 2014, the same as in 2013. However we had the US Army (with 7 Blackhawks) and French Air Force (a Xingu) in 2013, while in 2014 we had the first visit by the German Air Force (a Transall) for many years and a return of the French Navy (with a Falcon 10).
Army Air Corps UK Islander/Defender, Agusta 109
Royal Air Force UK Globemaster II, Hercules, BAe.146, BAe.125, Islander/Defender, Chinook, Sea King.
Irish Air Corps Rep of Ireland CASA 235
Aeronavale France Falcon 10
German Air Force Germany Transall
The Dutch Royal Flight Fokker 70 PH-KBX deserves a mention, although civil registered as it not mentioned elsewhere!
REGISTRATION NATIONALITIES 2014
Aircraft from 41 countries, by registration nationality visited in 2014, this compares with 36 in 2013. 41 equals the record set in 2007, although new since then are the Manx and Guernsey registers.
United Kingdom G- Lithuania LY- Poland SP-
Qatar A7- Bulgaria LZ- Greece SX-
Canada C- Isle of Man M- Turkey TC-
Portugal CS- United States N Ukraine UR-
Germany D- Austria OE- Bermuda VP-B & VR-B
Spain EC- Finland OH- Cayman Islands VP-C
Ireland EI- Czech Republic OK- India VT-
Estonia ES- Slovakia OM- Latvia YL-
France F- Belgium OO- Romania YR-
Hungary HA- Denmark OY- Serbia YU-
Switzerland HB- Netherlands PH- South Africa ZS-
Italy I- Brazil PT- Guernsey 2-
Norway LN- Russia RA- Malta 9H-
Luxembourg LX- Sweden SE-
Those visiting in 2013, but not in 2014 were: Indonesia PK-, Iceland TF-, San Marino T7-, Croatia 9A-, Malaysia 9M- (5).
Those visiting in 2014, but had not been here in 2013 were: Qatar A7-, Bulgaria LZ-, Brazil PT-, Turkey TC-, Bermuda VR-B & VQ-B, Cayman VP-C, India VT-, Romania YR-, South Africa ZS- and Guernsey 2- (10).
GENERAL AVIATION 2014
Our enthusiast figures show that there was a rise in the number of General Aviation visitors compared to 2013, however this was entirely due to a rise in the number of different biz-jets from 232 to 277, as twins remains constant, singles dropped slightly 203 to 190 while the number of different helicopters remained near level, much of the difference being accounted for by including a single gyrocopter in 2014 into the helicopter figures.
AIRCRAFT TYPES 2014
The total number of aircraft types was 120 a decrease of eight compared with 128 in 2013. The next table lists by category and type all the 1,333 different aircraft that landed/departed from LJLA during 2014.
Aircraft types visiting in 2013 but not 2014 were: Boeing 787, Fokker 70/100, BAe.ATP, Saab 2000, LET-410, Legacy 500, Falcon 10, G100 Astra, Globemaster, Transall, Beech 76 Duchess, Beagle Pup, Beech Musketeer, Falco F-8L, Flight Design CTSW, Grumman AA-5, Pitts S-2, MS Rallye and Rotorsport UKMTU Sport (19).
Aircraft types that had appeared in 2013, but did not return in 2014 were: Airbus A.330, Dornier 328JET, Jetstream 41, Dornier 228, Falcon 50, BAe. Hawk T.1, Sentinel, Tucano, Eurofighter Typhoon, Hurricane, Spitfire, Embraer Xingu, Twin Comanche, Aeronca Champion, Aviat Husky, Jabiru, Luscombe Silvaire, Piper historics, Piper Colt, Robin HR, Sky Arrow, Agusta 139, Bell 47, Bell 407, MDH-900 Explorer, Rotorway Executive and UH-60 Blackhawk (27).
